The Next Heat

Holy cow, (or, if you want to go Reeeally aussie, you could say "Stone the Crows!") it is hot out here! G'day, everybody! It is definitely summer out here! The last few days have seen temperatures of around 40C! I found out that my helmet has been saving me from sunburned face most of the time- but I left it in Rockingham for a couple of days, and I paid for it. Word of advice to all: Sunscreen more than once a day is definitely not a bad idea.

Anyway! This week has been incredible! Transfers happened, and I am now in Noranda, with Elder Ward! He is awesome. Elder Ward is from Logan, Utah, and has been out for 3 months. He played the clarinet in marching band. (What are the odds of that?) We've been getting along really well. He's also a really hard worker, so we've been hitting the area hard, too.

We've got 2 baptismal dates in this area! Their names are Clea and Nicholetta, a mum and her daughter. They are from Albania, and have been here for only about 7 months. It's so cool to teach them; they're both so willing to learn about and to follow Jesus Christ! They're getting baptised on the 8th of February.

We also had a really cool experience tracting this week. We met a young guy named Siniell, who told us to come back in a couple of days. We did, and he invited us in! He didn't really have much of an expectation or reason to do so, he said, he was just curious to hear what we had to say. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the gospel. He really paid attention when we explained about the book of mormon, and said that he would definitely be reading it himself. He invited us back to learn more! We're excited for him :)

So far this transfer has gone pretty well. My only wish is that it would cool down a bit. Again, there is no air-con in our flat. This one heats up quite a bit, too.

We're having a zone conference this Thursday, so that's something to look forward to again. Also, in March, apparently, Elder James Hamula, of the seventy, is coming to the mission again!

Things are looking good!

Love,

Elder Reeder

Last minute turnaround

Good morning, all you wonderful folks! Today is the dawning of a new morning, a beautiful summer's day, and a new transfer! I've been excited for these next few weeks here in Rockingham East. I really love this area, and especially the members here! We've been really starting to work well with them, and some results were just seen this past weekend, with the baptism of Brother Hodges, who's joined his family in the gospel :) Last night Brother Hodges then had the opportunity to baptise his son, who is 8.

So yes, great things are happening here.

HOWEVER! Very unexpectedly, transfers happened! I've been assuming that I'll be staying in Rockingham for the duration. Everyone's assumed that, actually :D However, that is not to be. Turns out, I'm being transferred up to Noranda area, with Elder Ward as my companion. That's right, back up to Dianella Zone, somewhere I've been before, too! Interesting. I'll miss this place a lot, but I know that Elder Liehr and his new companion, Elder Shin, and the other new missionaries in the other area will be very good for the members and investigators here.

Hey! Also, it's my birthday! I appear to be 21.

I love you all!

I'm planning on making this next transfer the best EVER, wherever I am.

Love,

Elder Reeder

Summer days

Good morning, Family and Friends :) How goes? Since last Thursday, the week has progressed a bit slowly, but we have seen some promising potentials coming out of the woodwork.

Friday evening, we went to visit the Ngatai family. One of brother Ngatai's daughters, Crystal, isn't a member, but she has always been very friendly to the missionaries. We started out sharing a message about making covenants (it being new years, etc), and then Crystal surprised us by asking us some questions about covenants! We answered her questions, and then we all began discussing the Plan of Salvation, and how it related to each of us. She's been gaining interest in learning over the past few months, which is pretty cool to see. We asked her what her thoughts were on baptism; She doesn't feel ready to yet, but she is thinking about it. Cool!

Sunday was the first fast and testimony meeting of the year. There were a Lot of people who came up to bear their testimonies :) The spirit was strong. We also had a couple of members commenting on member missionary work. It woke up the ward a bit, and the fire is being rekindled again, I think. There were several volunteering to come out with the missionaries when we do splits on Thursdays.

After church finished, I had the wonderful privilege of interviewing someone for baptism! Brother Hodges has been coming to church with his family for a few years now, and decided just a few weeks ago that he should take the lessons and be baptised! We're so excited for him. I really felt the spirit testify as we met, he is ready to take this step :) He's going to be baptised this coming Saturday.

In other news, David, from Greenmount, was just baptised and confirmed a member of the church! Hooray!

This is the last week of the transfer here. I'm interested in seeing what's going to happen in these next few weeks :) And I'm looking forward to it.

I love you all! and I hope you're all having a great time in the snow. (If you're not, then go and do it. I can't because there's no snow here.)

It's 34C here today. (93F)

Love,

Elder Reeder

Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year, family and friends! It's now 2014, the beginning of a new year!

Did anyone make any good resolutions for the new year?

It's a great time to do so :) It's like turning over a new leaf, making a fresh start on life. Something I found in the scriptures to relate with this can be found in Mosiah 18:13. Helam, after being taught by Alma, desires to change and work to become a better person. As evidence of his desire, he enters into a Convenant with his Heavenly Father to work to become that person. Resolutions are much the same: each year we make a resolution to change something about ourselves, to try and be better :) Sometimes they're personal goals, like resolving to lose 10kgs during the next year, etc. And sometimes they're spiritual, like resolving to read the scriptures every day throughout the year. Either way, I love ringing in the new year, with that great opportunity to make that year the best yet. :)

So! I'm writing on Thursday, today. Our library closed for the Christmas season, until next week. So all the missionaries tried to go to the only other libraries in the area, to find out that their computers had all died. Bummer. They're fixed now, so... Elder Liehr and I spent Monday trying to find our way around via bus. After we arrived in Mandurah, we realised we'd boarded the wrong one. Oops.

In zone meeting this past week, there's been a lot of focus again on working with the members. Tip: Next general conference is going to be really focused on missionary work, in case you hadn't already guessed :) There are still many members who are nervous about missionary work. What we're focusing on is bringing them to appointments with us, so that not only do our investigators have some great fellowship with the member, but joining in on teaching serves to strengthen their own testimony of missionary work.

Sounds like stuff we've done before, but there's still plenty of work to be done, and plenty of practice to have :)

Love to everyone, and hope everyone's having a great new year!

Elder Reeder

Christmas Bells are Ringing

G'day, everybody! Today is Monday, December 23rd, 2013, and it's a beautiful sunny day here in Rockingham. It might get a bit warm later on in the day, but oh well, it's summer. :D

Apparently, back home, it's exactly the opposite. Lots and lots of snow, cold(ish) temperatures, etc. etc. And it's Christmas! The best time of the year.

This week has seen some blessings happening here in Rockingham! We have four new investigators to work with! On Saturday, we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Bunda, down to Baldivis, and Elder Patuaka came up to Rockingham with Elder Liehr. During the day, they tried a few former investigators. One of them, named Paige, answered the door. Turned out that she hadn't really been taught in the first place, but had listened in a couple of times when missionaries had taught her sister. They shared about the Restoration with her, and she really wants to know more! She asked for them to come back this weekend, after Christmas.

We've been trying to meet with Darrel, Brother Lolohea's friend, but it's been difficult. We had an appointment with him on Friday. However, Darrel has been looking for a house, and found one the day before, so he wasn't able to meet with us. He's still interested, though. Hopefully the missionaries in his new area can get in touch with him soon.

This upcoming week is going to be interesting. Today is our P-Day. Tomorrow morning, after district meeting, we've been asked not to go tracting, and same with Christmas Day. We'll be spending a lot of time with members, I suppose.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Although I'm out here, and won't be able to talk to you all on Christmas Day, know that I love and miss each one of you! Thanks for your support and your prayers, they really do help out from day to day. This work is amazing.

Love,

Elder Daniel Reeder

On the...16th? day of Christmas

I think I got mixed up somewhere along that line...

Anyway!

How is everyone going? I'm excited for Christmas. Last night, we all were able to watch the first presidency Christmas Devotional. Personally, I think this is one of my favourite parts of Christmas. I love hearing the songs by the choir, as well as the messages from those who spoke. It always helps me feel more like it's really Christmas :) I really liked Elder Rasband's words on remembering the reason for the season: "How will we worship Him this season? Endlessly shopping? Hustling about and adorning our homes? Will that be our tribute to our Savior? Or will we bring peace to troubled hearts, good will to those in need of higher purpose, glory to God in our willingness to do His bidding? Jesus put it simply: “Come, follow me.”

Elder Liehr and I have been working more with the members in the ward, this week. Christmas is coming, of course, and so people are out of town. One of the best ways that we've found to help members share that love and spirit they have, is sharing a Christmas message with them, and inviting them to bring a friend by for Christmas, or to an activity. This week, we also had our ward Christmas party. One of our investigators, Darrel, came along as well! We're meeting him later this week, and we'll be able to start properly teaching him. He really wants to learn, I think.

The weather's been truly heating up. Today it's supposed to be 39C (102F). Woohoo. I'm relieved, however, because one of the young men told us there was a heat wave headed this way, and temperatures were going to be in the 50's! Fortunately, this was a joke, and we will not be melting after all.

This week is looking up. We have a few appointments with investigators, and I'm looking forward to it. I love you all, have a great week and a merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Daniel Reeder

Ps: By popular demand (mom), here is the other 11 days of an aussie Christmas:

On the First day: An Emu, up a gum tree!
On the 2nd day: 2 Pink Galahs
On the 3rd day: 3 Jabirus
On the 4th day: 4 Kookaburras
On the 5th day: Five Kangaroos!
On the 6th day: 6 Platypuses
On the 7th day: 7 Koalas Climbing
On the 8th day: 8 Dingoes Dancing
On the 9th day: 9 wombats working
On the 10th day: 10 Lizards Leaping
On the 11th day: 11 Numbats Nagging
On the 12th day: 12 Parrots Prattling
Have fun!

On the 9th day of Christmas!

I'm sure you'd all love to read 9 days worth of that song :D

Hi! How's everyone's week been? Here in Rockingham, things have continued to move forward, despite the confusion of transfers. I'm here with my companion, Elder Leihr now. Elder Leihr's from Sydney. He's been out about 4 months, and is a very social guy. He's already gotten to know a lot of the ward here :) Elder Tipene is up in Karratha now. He called us the night he got in, it's already close to 40C up there! He loves the branch, though.

So! Elder Leihr and I have continued work down here. It's been a little tough this week, with Christmas coming near. I think more than a few people have headed out of town to visit their rellies. We decided to start going through the now Updated ward list, and visit members that no one knew about. Awesome experiences: Met a man named Richard at one door. He was incredibly friendly and social towards us. We also had our ward mission leader with us. He's got a son with a disability. Mentioned that he's been looking for activities, sports, or Anything to bring his son to. Coincidentally, our ward Christmas party is this Saturday! As well as a very special sacrament meeting the day after. (not that sacrament meeting isn't special in the first place...) Richard was very keen to come along. And said that we could come by again and visit him and his son sometime!

Sunday night was pretty fun. The Tini family, from the Cook Islands, had an early Christmas dinner. And they invited their whole family along, many of which aren't members yet. They invited us over as well, and we shared a Christmas message from the book of Mormon with them all :) There are some nice people in that family.

(Also, I'm pretty sure I'd like to return to Australia someday, for the islander parties. Kiwis, Tongans, and Cook Islanders have some of the best feeds Ever. :D)

So! I've received some more questions from some people, wondering what's up. Here are the answers to said questions :)

1. What is the thing you get fed the most? Usually something involving steak, here. And rice.

2. What is the WORST thing you've ever been fed, that you had to stuff in your socks rather than eat? Oyster cakes.

3. Do you have to shave every day? Well, yes and now. Yes, because I have to as a missionary, but I'll bet I could still get away with it for a day. ;)

4. You know those flipflops you had to take with you? Have you ever actually used them? Flipflops are referred to as shoes, thongs, or jandals here. I like Jandals, but I haven't actually used my own, due to the fact that a certain companion of mine was in need of a pair, having no shoes. You can get some really good ones here.

5. Does anyone ever get sent into the outback? to teach the Aboriginals? Yes, yest they do. The outback would be considered Karratha and Port Hedland. There are a few aboriginal members here, too.

6. Are you glad you went on a mission? Why? What would you say to someone who isn't sure they want to go? I am SO glad I went on a mission! I have learned so much about who I am, and about the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are so many people out here that I am happy to have met, and been able to help them strengthen their own testimonies. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that His Plan of Happiness is for each and every one of us, that we can Do it, if we do our best, and rely on Him. If there was someone who wasn't sure, or having doubts, I would say Just go for it! Missions are hard. They can be tough on everyone. But the feelings you receive when you're working hard and you see people begin to make those wonderful changes in their lives, there's not much that can replace it. We've only got these few years to help participate in such a way, and I can Promise that anyone who goes on a mission will never regret having done so.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Daniel Reeder