Sunny days, wintery nights

Hi, everybody! It's me, Elder Reeder, here in Western Australia! Down in the city of Bunbury, where the last couple of nights the temperature has been 1C. Truly, it is chilly. Luckily, we're getting a new portable heater, so that's all good.

How's everyone's week been? Mine has been awesome. Monday was Western Australia Day (or Foundation Day), so everything was closed and our P-Day is today instead :)

Elder Fowdy and I have been doing a LOT of tracting lately. We've had some really good success from it so far, though, and have gotten many new potentials from it! Some of them are very keen to have us come back and share our message with them.

On Thursdays, we drive our car (yes, we actually have a car here!) out to the small town of Collie, about an hour away. This is a part of the ward, too! There are a few members who live out there, and some investigators as well! So we make a day of it, and get the work moving out there. It's been good so far. We're trying to help a couple of families out there as well, bringing them back to church. Our assistant ward mission leader lives out there as well. This past Thursday we had a cool opportunity to have a correlation meeting with the other elders and someone from the stake, over Skype! It was really cool.

Wendy, our investigator, is awesome! Elder Fowdy went on exchanges with her last week and taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They committed her to baptism, too! June 22nd. We're excited for her, and we're doing all we can to help her make that date. She has a really strong faith.

Jake is doing great as well. He's been at church with his mum and sister the last couple of weeks. He's all set for the 16th, the week after his family moves house.

Yep, so we're all set for a good week down here. I'm hopeful that Elder Fowdy and I stay together for the next transfer (It's currently week 5 of this one.) We've had a pretty good time together.

In miscellaneous news, I just received a referral from someone who sent an email to the wrong address. How cool is that?

Love you all!

Elder Reeder

Moving Along!

Hi!

This week has been great :) I've been working a LOT with Elder Fowdy, my new companion. We've got some good things happening here in Leschenault. Elder Fowdy's from England. He's been out about 18 months, and he's very diligent.

We have/had a baptismal date! His name is Jake, and he's 9. His mom is a member who's been coming back to church. He's really cool. The family is very nice, too. They're moving to Australind, (about 10 minutes away) in 2 weeks. Still in the same ward, but it's in the other elder's area. Hahaha. It was great, his mom has committed herself to coming to church every week again. She's setting a good example for her son, and her husband as well. :)

We've also got a really cool investigator we just started teaching this last week! Her name is Wendy. We taught her about the Book of Mormon, and committed her to read it. She has a great faith, and wants to follow it. We had a good lesson with a member coming along as well, and the member invited her to church! She wants to come, and was willing, but she really wants to be able to bring her family along as well. So we're going to help her out. She's very friendly.

So, I've discovered that I already know several families in Leschenault ward! I've met family members from all over WA, including Karratha! Hahaha, it was so cool. I also ran into the Williams family, which was great. Cameron Williams was the mini-missionary that I spent a few days with last year. Sunday fun. We had a member from up in Heathridge (Perth) that was visiting, and asked to give the lesson in the Gospel Doctrine Class. He spoke a lot about member-missionary work. We had a good class with him, and I think he did a good job of encouraging the other members.

Well, I love you all! I hope you're all happy and such :) Happy Summer!

Oh wow, I just realised that it's almost summer vacation! And Graduation! :D

Love,

Elder Reeder

Bunbury Funbury!

Bunbury is Funbury! Or so they tell me :)

Hi, all! Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a short email, it's a busy day today.

Guess where I am? I'm not in Rockingham West anymore! Seeing as how Elder Moore is going home, I'm in need of a companion. Since the other missionary and their area has a lot of things going on right now, President Lindsay decided to send me down to Bunbury, with Elder Fowdy, from England. So one 3-hour bus ride later, I'm in a new city! It was a hectic week, getting packed, preparing the area book and area for the Rockingham East elders, Elder Iumalo and Elder Bennion, who will be taking care of the area for the next few weeks until some new missionaries can be transferred in.

It was quite a surprise, everyone, myself included, assumed I'd be staying here. But I'm going where I'm needed :) We got up at about 5:30 this morning, and went to the chapel with the rest of the district. The Zone Leaders wanted to play basketball with Elder Moore one last time before he leaves. It was fun :)

Elder Moore flies out tonight at 5 to midnight. He's staying the day with some other missionaries.

I love you all, and I hope you're all well!

Love,

Elder Reeder

How much can a koala bear?

G'day! Happy Mothers Day, to all you mothers out there! You are loved.

I got to call home today, and I was very glad to hear from the family :) Sorry I didn't get to talk to everyone. Sounds like a lot of excitement is going on, hahaha!

This week has been hectic! The weather's been a bit cloudy (read "pouring rain"), so we've been having some great adventures travelling in that. Out of it, though, We've got a couple of people we're hoping will become investigators this week. One is an older couple, from Scotland. Missionaries actually met them down south, and they said they'd be happy to have them come by their house sometime. They're a very friendly couple, and they seem to have great faith already.

In other news, I'm going to have a new companion quite soon! (Oh, I just remembered I hadn't told anything about transfers yet. Confusion.) Here's the surprising thing. Transfers happened Wednesday, I'm going to be with Elder Moore for his last 6 weeks. So that's all good. Elder Moore is really starting to get excited again about the work, really looking forward to the next 6 weeks, with teaching, finding, etc. Woot.

Thursday morning, we get a call. One of the missionaries that was supposed to come in, didn't, so there's a missionary without a companion. President asked if he would be willing to move his release date forward a few weeks. He thought about it, and eventually decided yes. When?

May 20.

So next monday, I'll be with another missionary. Where? Maybe here in Rockingham, maybe in the other area. We don't know who it is yet.

Elder Moore's now very excited to go home. We're still working hard, though. :)

We've been working with a member family, trying to help them share the gospel with others. They're inviting a friend to Family Home Evening tonight, and we'll be there as well. I'm really looking forward to it! Hopefully they'll have a good experience.

Well, I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Reeder

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the Fourth be with you. Always.

Actually, it's May 6th, but oh well.

Hi, everyone! It's monday again, and this week is Transfers week! The only difference about this transfers week is that no one knows who's being transferred. President Lindsay decided to tell us Tomorrow, instead. So... We're all in the dark. I expect I'll still be with Elder Moore. This is his last transfer, so he probably won't be going to a new area for just 6 weeks.

So Elder Moore and I have been having an up-and-down week. We've gotten a couple of referrals, that's up. We also found out that Teak (not Tico, actually) lives in Baldivis, which is our Zone Leader's area. So that was disappointing. But hey, we're all on the same team! Elder Gardner and Elder Jordan, the zone leaders, are great missionaries, and I'm sure they'll be great for Teak as well.

We've been working with the Ward Mission Leader, Brother Cotterell, and we've gotten some new events organised! This next Saturday, we'll be having our first Cottage Evening (Members and nonmembers get together for some food, games, and a short spiritual message. Casual, friendly fun.) Also, this past Friday, they began a sports night! (Everyone's invited to gather at the chapel and play basketball, volleyball, ping-pong, etc.) These are some ways to help the members invite their friends along, and meet people from the church. We're hoping that as soon as it gets announced, then more people will come, this week we didn't have anybody turn up for it. Oops.

We had a cool finding experience, too! Two, actually. One, there is a former investigator named Joey, that we'd been trying to get ahold of. Missionaries hadn't seen him in a couple of years. We finally caught him at home, and he was super friendly! He invited us in, and told us that in the past couple of years, he still had his Book of Mormon, had read through it twice, and had been really trying to cut down on smoking and had quit drinking as well. In the past he was really impressed from the Plan of Salvation, and the fact that we can be together as families for eternity. I think he still wants that. He asked us if we could come by every couple of days again to talk with him more. Why, sure! He seems like a golden investigator!

The other one- We were meeting with a less-active member, when a lady walked up to us. We know her, she's not interested, but very friendly and social with us. She told us that she was at a friend's house, and was talking with him, and he mentioned some things that made her realise that he's a member! We asked her more about it, and sure enough, we knew who he was! We didn't know where he was until now. Cool! It's actually quite funny, this lady isn't a member, but she's been a help with us finding some other members as well.

Rocky East had their baptism on Saturday! The person being baptised was married just prior, so it was a very special experience for them. It was apparent to everyone there, and at the confirmation as well, that this was a life-changing event for them.

Heh, while the missionaries were in the chapel, Elder Moore and I were waiting outside setting up chairs. Suddenly Elder Moore noticed water creeping under the door to the restroom. The font hadn't been turned off all the way! I raced outside to open the drain while he ran to the water faucets. It turned out all right, and we got most of it mopped up beforehand. Heh.

So, fun week!

I'm excited for next Monday! (It's Mothers Day.)

Love you all!

Elder Reeder

Raining on April

This week was cool. Especially Thursday and Friday. Rockingham Zone is doing well right now. We were getting ready for the Calder's baptism on Friday, organising clothing, programs, etc. We also found out that there is only One key in existence for the cupboard to the baptismal clothing. Why that is, I do not know. But we got that sorted out. I think we rode about 40 kms that day.

Thursday was ANZAC Day. We had permission from President Lindsay to attend a Dawn Service, at 6AM. There were about 1000 people gathered around the armed forces memorial, to remember those who served and gave their lives for the country. It was a nice service.

Friday was the baptism! It was good to be there, and we were so happy for the Calders. Orlando and Mohia were both excited for it. Rachel was still a bit nervous. The whole family came. There weren't too many of the ward there, because the younger two were nervous about doing it in front of a whole bunch of people. Elder Moore got to baptise them.

Brother and Sister Calder were so happy for them! They've been making a lot of big steps, in getting back into church. Their eldest son, Sonnee, has been talking with his dad, and mentioned that he might quit playing basketball and be baptised himself! He's considering going on a mission. That is so cool. They're really hopeful that their whole family will be a part of it.

I had the privilege of confirming the three of them on Sunday, in Sacrament Meeting.

That sacrament meeting was cool, too, because our ward mission leader, brought someone to church! His name is Tico. Brother Cotterell met him at the shops a week ago, and just invited him to come! Tico told us that he had been impressed with the service, especially the last talk (A missionary just returned home), he'd be there next week as well, and he'd like us to come by after that to meet with him! How cool is that? I was excited.

This week will be great as well, because the other elders in Rockingham ward will be having a baptism this weekend. The work is truly hastening! I love you all, and I hope you're all doing well.

Love,

Elder Reeder

Nearly There

Hi there! How's it goin'?

Plans have been made, lessons have been taught, and discussions have been had. Elder Moore and I are really happy for this coming weekend! Orlando, and most likely Mohia Calder will be having their baptism this Friday! We went by yesterday, to sort out some details, make sure they were still for it. Orlando's ready. Mohia still wants to see what it's all about first. There's a stake baptism happening the day before, that they're planning on viewing.

So it's going to be a very busy week for us, getting everything ready. But worth it! Sister Calder is awesome, she's been getting right back into church, going visiting teaching, helping out with different events. The whole family is being positively affected, I think.

Friday was really great as well. We travelled up to the Warwick Chapel for a mission-wide conference. The country areas (Karratha, Kalgoorlie, Bunbury, etc.) weren't able to attend, but they were on a conference call so they could still hear. We got to meet with Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Elder Michael F. Watson, (Area Presidency) Bishop Gerald Causse, and Elder Peter Mears (Area Seventy). They shared their testimonies with us, and it was a wonderful meeting. Elder Rasband, at the end, opened it up to questions from the missionaries, too! We got some good council from him and his wife.

It's been a good week for finding. Elder Moore and I tracted into a few people who said that we could come back and share our message with them. We gave a book of mormon to one of them. Also, there is a lady from Africa who showed up at church a few months back. We found out that she's not actually a member, but she's really been enjoying coming to church each week. We went by and asked if we could teach her a bit about the church, and she said yes. Cool!

We're hoping for a good week this week, and I think we'll get it. I can't believe it's already week 5 of the transfer! It's flying by.

The season is finally changing, as well! I actually wore a jacket yesterday, partly because it started raining. A lot.

I love you all!

Elder Reeder