Upside Down

G'day, folks. What a week, down here in Auz!

The work's been continuing at a slow pace. Elder Fowdy and I have been having a good time going out to Collie with a member, brother Van Dijk, who is the elder's quorom president. We're organising some activities to try and help bring the members there out of the woodwork, bring them back into contact with the rest of the ward. Everyone's feeling positive about it.

Tuesday, we had a dinner appointment with an older couple in the ward. While talking with them, they told us they've been on 3 missions as a senior couple! And the husband was on the temple presidency for a while, too. It was really cool to get to know them.

So, the big news of the week: As of 3pm, we will no longer be in Leschenault! Short explanation: President Lindsay is doing some shuffling around in preparation for Transfers next week. So, Elder Fowdy and I are being doubled out, to spend this week up in Noranda, in Perth. Noranda is about 2km from the mission home. Wow! A bit sudden. I'll miss a lot of the members down here, seeing as how I already knew half of them and their families from other areas. Noranda, coincidentally, is a part of Elder Fowdy's first area, so he knows many of the people there :D After this week, we're not sure what's going to happen.

So that's my crazy week. I hope you're all doing well, what with thunderstorms back home, etc.

IT IS FREEZING DOWN HERE. Like 5C at night! Lucky for us we have a heater. and jackets.

Love you all!

Elder Reeder

P.S. Just forgot to add an update about our super amazingly awesome newspaper article, that was to be published in the local paper!

We were so excited. It was going to be great! A short article about the missionaries here in Bunbury, what we do, offering service, etc. and a picture of us all. Woot!

Here's what ended up: A 1" x 2" paragraph of text, without a picture, about Elder Fowdy, from the UK, doing voluntary service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

But hey! We got a couple comments from members.

Good Morning Australia

Hello, and welcome to this week's installment of "Missionary: Australia!"

Guess what? Our article's getting published in the paper! This week, The Bunbury Mail will have an article about the missionaries here in Bunbury (10 of us), that will go out to the 80,000 people in the paper's distribution area. We didn't get to write the article ourselves, it was written by a reporter, but it's from information that we gave him.

We're looking forward to seeing what happens with it, and we've been talking about it with many of the ward members here in Leschenault Ward, encouraging them to share it with their friends.

We also had an awesome zone conference this last Friday! President came down, along with the assistants, and two elders from up in Butler (furthermost north point in the city of Perth) to give us some aweosme training on making the most of our planning. It'll help us in the future in helping investigators progress. Heh, there was a bit of a fun side to it, as during the practice sessions, we planned to help investigators such as Frodo Baggins, the Malfoy Family, and Bruce Wayne, come to church, etc.

The rest of this week has mostly consisted of finding finding finding. :)

In an interesting turn of events I have made some discoveries this past week, such as cousin Micah Wood, in Armenia, was companions for a short time with my companion's best friend!

So yeah, fun :)

Thanks for tuning in, sorry it's such a short email. It was a short-email type week.

I love you all! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers :)

Love,

Elder Reeder

Temple!

Hi there!

This week has been a bit rockier than usual, I have to say. However, there were some upsides.

Thursday we got to go to the temple! Wednesday night all the elders in the district stayed the night at the Zone Leaders' flat, (sisters at another sister's flat). We got up a bit after 5am, made a big district pancake breakfast, and drove the 3 hours up to Perth :) It was great to be able to go to the temple again.

This week Elder Fowdy and I have really been looking for ideas on finding new investigators. We came up with one particular idea that only seems to have been tried a couple of times before, by other missionaries. We called up a local newspaper, the Bunbury Mail, and now we're working on getting an article published in the weekly paper about the missionaries down here :) Last time missionaries tried this, they got heaps of phone calls from people for service, etc. So hopefully we'll get the same. We're working together with our district, so that it'll benefit all the missionaries in Bunbury.

We've got no car, suddenly! Long story short, Elder Fowdy isn't able to drive anymore, so we no longer have a car in our area. Unfortunately, it's cut out a lot of work, since Collie is only accessible by car. We're hoping to work with some of the members to get out there a little bit, still. However, we're already seeing some new progress since that Leadership broadcast! The ward is suddenly a lot more focused on doing missionary work, and I'm eager to see the results in the coming weeks and months. A lot of less-active members are suddenly being made a priority as well, including those in Collie, which we're excited about.

This Friday, we have a zone conference! President Lindsay is coming down to Bunbury, to meet with us all. It'll be a lot like a big district meeting, since the zone only has one district.

So this has been yet another week in the life of an Australia Perth Missionary. Love to you all :) and Happy 4th of July!

Love,

Elder Reeder

Hastened

Dear Family and friends,

Hi there! Today is Monday, July 1st, 2013. We have had an interesting week.

Wednesday we went to help out a member shift some sand from his yard. He was planning on replacing it with good sand from a field a short distance away. We loaded up the trailer, drove his 4WD over to the pit, revved up a hill. It started sliding in the sand, so the member backed down again, and got stuck there. At that point the 4WD got completely bogged down in the sand, and we ended up spending a while digging underneath, deflating the tires, etc. to get it out. Eventful day.

Thursday was good as well. We went out to Collie with our Elder's quorom president, Brother Van Dijk, to visit some less-active members. There are only two active families in that town, and one of them is a recent convert. The ward's focusing its efforts on re-activating more of the members out there, and hopefully one day it'll be strong enough to support a branch of its own.

On our way back, Brother Van Dijk saw this awesome sign on the road, and had to get a picture. (attached)

Sunday was awesome! For one, Jake Watson was confirmed a member, and his father was there! We're all sure that he really felt the spirit there as he watched his son receive the gift of the holy ghost.

Also, we got to see the Leadership broadcast! It was played in leu of the last two hours of the block, so most of the ward was there for it. It was very inspiring, and I'm excited to see all of the changes that will be coming here, in regards to member missionary work. I know for certain that one member, who we'd just talked to that morning, had a concern answered through that broadcast.

Heh, I'm also excited for the new changes in missionary work (namely, iPads, etc.) It'll be awesome to use that instead of trying to decipher bad handwriting. And no, my handwriting is not this bad. :D Missionary work is changing, for the better! I'm so happy to be here at such a time, to be a part of this "Hastening the Work of Salvation."

Thank you all for your thoughts, emails, and prayers :)

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Reeder

A baptism!

Hi there!

This week has been interesting. We had a great ending to it, though!

Transfers happened. Elder Fowdy and I are still in Leschenault together for another 6 weeks. Most of the district has changed around, though. We have a new Zone Leader and District Leader, among other shifts.

We've also discovered that it's the beginning of the Flu season. Unfortunately, Elder Fowdy came down with it, so we weren't able to get out much those days. It was good, though, it gave us an opportunity to plan for the weekend. Sunday was awesome! We had the baptism for Jake Watson! We were amazed at the support that the ward showed for his family. The chapel was filled, and afterwards there was a big potluck dinner. I found out afterwards from the bishop that the ward has been focusing on them for about 18 months. They're well on their way to full activity again, and we think Lee (her husband) may become a member soon as well. He's really become friendly towards the church in the past little while. Some of his friends are members too :)

This coming week will be good as well. We just found out this morning that there is a temple trip planned for the missionaries here! Also, in a couple of weeks we'll be having a zone conference up in Rockingham. I've been hearing from a couple of people that there was a really good church fireside on missionary work last week. It hasn't come here yet, but I think (I hope) it comes down here to Australia as well. It should.

We managed to get in touch with a couple of our missing investigators this week. Wendy is back in Bunbury, and we'll be able to meet with her again this Friday :) The work continues.

Love you all, and thanks for your prayers! Sorry this is another short email update.

-Elder Reeder

A report of a sort

Hey there :) How's everybody going? I hear it's getting very hot back home in Utah land?

This week is Transfers week- And again, nobody knows what's happening. I think we'll be finding out from now on on Tuesdays. Elder Fowdy's certain that he'll be staying here in Bunbury. I've no idea what I'll be doing. Probably staying here as well.

So this week has been a bit of a hard one as well, we're still trying to find new investigators. There hasn't been much success yet, but we had a tender mercy this week, in the form of a referral! The other missionaries down here have been teaching some people, and every time they go over, there seems to be a new person present as well. This time was a girl named Hagen. She's from New Zealand. She wasn't religious, but wants to learn about God, and Jesus Christ, and learn how to follow them. Turns out she lives in our area! We went over on Saturday and met her. She's very interested, and was asking all sorts of questions. We've set up an appointment to go over and start teaching her :)

Jake is ready for his baptism. however, we've been having some difficulties in meeting with them, and we need to make sure that the family is committed as well. I'm not sure what's going to happen, to be honest. We're trying to get things sorted out, so that the family is ready to go ahead with Jake.

We spent Tuesday up in Perth! It takes an incredible amount of time to travel by bus and train from Bunbury to Perth, and back again. Elder Fowdy had a doctor's appointment. We found some time to contact a few people up there as well :)

So everything is up in the air right now. Elder Fowdy and I are trying all that we can to keep the work moving up here :)

Love you all! and Happy Father's Day!

Love,

Elder Reeder

Move Out!

G'day, all! Elder Reeder here, with this week's news and events.

This week we witnessed something very much unexpected in our area. Suddenly, all but 2 of our investigators have moved away! I've never heard of this happening before. So Elder Fowdy and I have been brought back to the beginning of the pipeline again, trying to find find find.

On the plus side, it's been a very pleasant week, (albeit short) After a couple of VERY rainy days, it's cleared up and become nice and sunny again. ~18C.

This Saturday, the entire elder's quorum turned up at the Watson's home, to help them move to their new house. It was awesome, It was all put onto the truck, moved, and unloaded within 2 hours. Sis. Watson was happy, and Lee was blown away by the help that was given. He's grown really friendly towards the church lately. Also, we found out in the process that they're still in our area! So Elder Fowdy and I will still get to teach Jake and get him ready for his baptism. It'll be on June 16th.

We were out in Collie this last Thursday, and were able to meet several less-active members in the ward. They were very friendly, and welcoming. One thing that we're working with the ward on right now is to get some support for the members out there, in helping to bring them back to church :) We've found a few new potential investigators in Collie, too.

Sunday was really good- We had a missionary fireside! It was called "The Lord is My Shepherd." Some members bore their testimonies, and there were some Mormon Messages played, as well as some beautiful musical items by members and missionaries. (No, I didn't get to sing, they started before I got here.) It was really powerful, though, and everyone felt the spirit, I think. Elder Fowdy and I were really pleased when the Watsons showed up to it as well, along with Lee! They had a good experience. There were a lot of nonmembers that showed up to it, a really good turnout. One man, especially, liked the singing, and kept applauding after their performances. :)

Well, that's pretty much this week. We're getting ready for this weekend. We're hopeful that all goes well. It's the last week of the transfer, too! It's gone by fast.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Reeder