Here, There and Everywhere!

Hi, everybody! This week... Man. It's been busy.

A couple of weeks ago, we'd gone "service tracting," to see if we could get any potentials through that. We found one older couple, but they told us to come back this week. So Wednesday, we went over and mowed their back lawn for them. The man was so impressed and grateful, he said that no one had ever offered to help like that before! They were so nice, and we ended up having lunch with them. They said we could come back this next week to share our message with them :) This is the first time they've ever payed attention to missionaries, they said. Wow!

This weekend was the busiest, though. Friday, Elder Ariki went home! And then, Elder McNamee, who was his companion, went up to Queen's park until Transfers. Elder Bangerter and I helped them pack and move all their stuff out. Then, Friday Night, Elder Bangerter gets a call. He's being transferred! To Albany, which is about as far south as you can go in Australia before you hit ocean. He's excited! Albany, I've heard, is awesome. So he started packing.

General Conference was incredible! I absolutely loved it. I'm so excited to have 18-year old missionaries coming out! :D I think my favorite talk was by Jeffery R. Holland. Priesthood session, however, I have no idea. We had issues with the disc that it was on, and so we ended up hearing about every 5th word. And a frozen picture. President Uchtdorf was saying something about a piper cub plane... That's about all I got. Darn. Thank goodness for the Ensign.

And, as always, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was beautiful.

Sunday, we get a call from the Assistants. Elder Bangerter is actually leaving Monday Morning, from Perth! So that means that I have to pack a bit, too, because I can't be here alone, I'll have to go up to Perth with him. Hahaha, ironically, Sunday was the one day that we had completely booked. Some other elders in the district went on splits with us, to go to a couple different people.

So we get all packed, and leave Sunday night. We stayed the night up with some elders in Dianella, near the mission office. I still had to get sunday corellation done up there. Monday morning (today) Elder Bangerter left on a bus, for the ~5 hour trip down to Albany. I'll be spending the next few days here, in Dianella, with the elders, until Transfers. As I write this, I'm still waiting to hear from the zone leaders as to who my new companion is. What a weekend!

Because Elder Ariki and McNamee are no longer around, we've inherited their area as well. Suddenly we have a whole bunch of new investigators! Whee!

So I'm kind of a mental mess right now, trying to get a hang on everything. I should be getting used to this kind of thing by now, hahaha! Hope you're all doing well!

Love, Elder Reeder

The week in review

Happy Monday, everyone :)

So Elder Bangerter and I have been trying to contact our potentials this week, without much success. Nobody's home. So, it's back to tracting. And contacting. Still trying to work hard.

Our appointment with David and Lisa fell through, unfortunately. Something came up, and they had to cancel.

On the plus side, some fun new finding ideas came into play this week; One, I went on exchanges with another missionary in the district, Elder Rigby. He's from Idaho. We had a fun time out and about. We found some really cool people, and he is really good at starting a conversation with them. We were contacting people on the train, too! (Right now there is a carnival thing going on up in Perth, so the normally empty station has people getting on the trains this week.) I think one of the nicest responses there is to hear when you give them a passalong card, is "I'm definitely going to look this up!" So it's a positive contact :)

Second, This Friday was pretty fun for a lot of the district; Elder Ariki, who finishes his mission this weekend, went down to the city center, and Soapboxed! President Lindsay gave him permission, and he taught the missionary lessons to everyone in earshot. Then another missionary was singing some hymns in between, and about 4 other missionaries were contacting everyone nearby. I think there were actually a few referrals that came out of it.

I'm really excited for this weekend, We've all been hearing about General Conference from the members and emails and such! Lucky you all, getting to see it a week earlier :D

So the mission age has changed... Wow! Mind blowing! It's going to be so cool in the next while. Plus, General conference is just awesome! I love hearing the apostles and prophet speak. And I think it's good for investigators as well, to "come listen to a prophets voice."

I'm pretty sure that the weather is broken. I'm not sure if it's fall, spring, or summer! (The leaves are coming off some of the trees, the flowers are blooming, and some days it's really really hot.) Right now, happily, it's nice. Sounds like things are seriously cooling down in Utah, though!

Transfers is next week, I'll probably be staying, though. But will I still be in a 4-man flat? Tune in next week to find out.

I love you all :) Have a good week!

Elder Reeder

Potential

Good Morning, everyone! Today is Tuesday. Yesterday, Monday, was the Queen's Birthday. So it was a public holiday. So P-Day is Today.

This week has consisted of more tracting! (Can you believe it?) We have had some very long discussions with people at their doors, and a few angry faces, mixed with dogs and locked gates and funny children. However, we have 3 new potentials from it all! And one new investigator!

Actually, the new investigator has a fun story;

We were tracting (yep) a couple weeks back, and came across a young lady. She told us to come back later, when her partner was home. So we came back that evening, and met with them in front of their house. We taught them a bit about the restoration. She asked us a bunch of questions about our beliefs. We weren't sure of their interest level at that time, and it was a bit of an awkward lesson, standing right there. But they said that we could come by again, if we wanted.

Sunday, we decided to introduce them to the Book of Mormon. We knocked, and the lady was on the phone. But she heard us, and said "Oh! I've got to go! I've got Christians at the door!" She came over, said "I was hoping you would come back!" No way! Awesome! So we taught them about what the Book of Mormon was, and she accepted it, and said "I'll read this if you promise to come back!" And her partner invited us to dinner this coming Friday, so we can share more with his kids and her.

That was seriously the coolest moment I've ever had tracting.

Also, another story; We knocked on a door, and a lady answered. We shared how the gospel blesses families, and how families can be together forever. She agreed with it. We asked if there was a time we could come by to share more, and she said yes, how about Tuesday? :O We're going by tonight.

Wow! I've never seen this much success from Tracting before! Elder Bangerter hasn't either. We nearly started dancing on the way home.

In other news, it was 34C yesterday. Which equates to about 95F. IT WAS ROASTING. Also, spring means pollen! Apparently I have hay fever out here. Bad. Bought some Claratyne, and nothing happened. So we had to spend the evening indoors so my nose didn't run away from the rest of my face. Ugh, not a fun night. A couple other missionaries are having the same problems. Whee!

Aaand, that's my week. Lucky you all, General conference is this weekend! For me? Next weekend. (I can't wait!)

Cheers! Elder Reeder

The Long Walk

The Long Walk" is a pretty cool book. It also accurately describes this week. We pretty much spent it tracting. And Tracting. And then, when we had an appointment, it'd fall through, and we'd tract some more, because that's really all there is to do.

The whole district is really needing new investigators. We've been going all over our area, trying different streets, and talking with everyone as often as we can. There have been quite a few interesting experiences we've had while doing this, too. We went past a house with a trampoline in front. There were two small kids, about 6 years old. They started talking to us, something like this;
"Hey, what are yous?"
"Missionaries!"
"Oh, ok. Well I'm Brian, and this is Jayce!" (Jayce is eating the foam from one of the poles.)
"Hi there."
"This is my house, and I have a trampoline!" Then Brian does a superman jump onto the ground and runs over to his dad, who just came out.

I love little kids :D

We've made some really good, postive contacts with a lot of people. Nobody to teach yet, but we're still working on it.

Friday, during district meeting, it was us, the Kwinana elders, and the Rockingham West elders. Really small meeting. One of the sisters hurt her back from a bike crash, and the doctor told her to stay home for a while. The zone leaders went and heart-attacked their house, just to cheer them up :)

Saturday, I went on exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Reid and I had a good day together, and we got some good work done in their area.

Aaand... Yep. That's pretty much how my week has been. On the plus side, in a bizarre turn of events, it is currently quite cool during the day. (Cold front). Oh yes, Tuesday and Wednesday, we had the storm of storms! Elder Bangerter and I found that we could lean our whole weight into the wind, and stay upright. Boo yah. And then the clouds dumped. And Dumped. Kwinana actually had a flood warning going on for a few hours.

So, I hope everyone is doing well :) Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Reeder

Things are heating up!

Literally. It was about 27C yesterday, with warmer weather in the future. And it's barely spring!

Elder Bangerter and I have been doing a lot of tracting lately. And contacting. Mission President came up with a new key indicator to report how many people we contact each day. (Basically, anyone that we talk to, and try to share the gospel with, whether or not they accept, is a contact.) I think everyone's really excited for it, one- it's a really big number, and two- the more people contacted, the more new investigators will be found to teach! Elder Bangerter and I have already seen some cool things come from this. The first day we found four people who were interested! Two were at bus stops, and the bus came before we could get their names, but still! It's awesome.

We came across a less-active member this week, as well. Guess what his name is? Daniel. (Serious.) He's nice. Originally from NZ. He wants to get himself sorted out, and regain his faith. We're going to meet with him again this week :)

District meeting went pretty well. It was a bit of a shock, though, when President Lindsay showed up and said, "Mind if I join your district this morning?" O.o He sat through the meeting, got involved in our discussions, and gave us some great training as well. We all enjoyed it. President is awesome.

This week, hopefully, we'll have more work to do. The whole mission is focusing on finding new people to teach this week.

I love you all!

Elder Reeder

Kwinana Banana

So here I am now, in the town of Kwinana, in Western Australia. More specifically, in Leda suburb. Leda is a very quiet place. And I mean QUIET. Right now, we have I think 3 investigators.

Our area is actually split into two areas right now (due to a lot of new missionaries coming in a while back), so I'm in a four-man flat. With me are Elder Bangerter, Elder Ariki, and Elder McNamee. Elder Bangerter is my companion. He's pretty cool. Very quiet. He's been out just longer than me. Also, this is Elder Ariki's last transfer.

And I'm district leader. So far it's been ok. Kind of a trial-by-fire thing. The zone leaders came by and explained how to do some things, and what my responsibilities are. Then, last night, I did correlation with the district. Ouch. It's pretty tough if you don't know everything you're supposed to be getting. It's all good, though. All figured out.

There is a lot of responsibility involved in this. I need to be an example for the other missionaries in this district, and to be able to help them in their efforts as well.

This coming week we're going to be working a lot on finding new people to teach. Our goal is to make this area "where it's happening." ;)

So, new week, new place. I hope you're all doing well :)

Elder Reeder

A New Horizon (for everyone!)

Guess what? This week has been AWESOME. Mostly.

So, Tangate's boyfriend from QLD flew out on Tuesday. His name is Pat. Long story short, he is a new investigator! We've been very careful to make sure that he wants to be baptised for the right reasons. He does. Yesterday everyone came to church, including Pat. He really enjoyed it (Fast and Testimony Meeting. Very good), and then we went over after church, and taught the restoration to him. He prayed for the first time there, too!

Also, Leon received the priesthood! And Tangate, Leon, Alisha, and Sis. Hembrow are all going to the temple on Wednesday to do baptisms! I think everyone's on a spiritual high right now, it's great.

We've been working a lot with less-active members this week, too. One story- We ran into a lady at the train station, who'd been in the area for 2 years, and didn't know there was a chapel around! We got a ride for her and her son, and they stayed for the whole 3-hour block. She seemed pretty happy. And the son loved having sunday school with us. Cool.

So. in other news, This past week was my 6-month mark! Wow!

Also, this week is TRANSFERS. I think the whole district was pretty excited for it, seeing what would happen, who's going where, etc.

And pretty much everybody is going everywhere!

Elder Beck and Elder Evans are being doubled out, both going to Kalgoorlie! Elder Templeton, a Zone Leader, is going to be training, with another zone leader as well. This means there will be a 4-man companionship! Holy Cow! Elder Iumalo is staying in Kelmscott.

Guess what's happening to me?

I'm going to Kwinana! (I have no idea where that is. Near Rockingham?) And not only that, I got a call from President Lindsay. I'm going to be in Kwinana, serving as District Leader. :O

Wow. I'm excited, and nervous.

Man, I've been in this area for 6 months now! I'm going to miss it. But There'll be some good work to do out in the new area, as well :)

So that's the week out here :) Still working hard! Happy Fathers Day! (It's this week, here.)

Love, Elder Reeder

Oh, by the way, I got a new camera. I actually found the exact same one at the store. So. :)