I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Especially one with lots of snow!

Except we're here in Perth Australia, and Santa Claus wears swimming trunks and lots of sunscreen.

G'day, everybody! How's life? For me, this week has been very awesome.

First of all, we have two new investigators!

One, named Metala, is the friend of a recent convert. She actually called us, as a prank at first. But then it turned out that she actually had questions for us. Elder Tipene and I taught her over the phone, and she came to the baptism of her friend Taylor on Saturday, and we taught her a bit more. She's pretty solid in her own church, but she is curious about how the church works. Cool.

Our other new investigator is named Darrell. He's a friend of a member in the ward named Leka. We've met Darrell before, and talked with him, but on Sunday, out of the blue, he showed up at church with Leka! After sacrament meeting, he asked us for a quick rundown of the basic beliefs of the church. We taught him the Restoration right there, about the Book of Mormon, and he said he'd like to read it! He stayed for the whole meeting, and afterwards said that he'd like to meet with us again later this week. He told us that he'd grown up in another church, but hadn't been in a long while. He'd decided it would be a good idea to have God more of a focus in his life. He lives up in the city, but he usually comes down to Rockingham during the weekend. He is Golden!

Saturday was the baptism for Taylor. She brought her whole family along to see. The spirit was very strong during the program, and her mum cried. Taylor was so happy to be finally taking that step. She was confirmed a member on Sunday.

(Incident during the baptism- The person who was in charge of filling the font forgot about it, and left it running. It overflowed again.)

Thanksgiving is this week. I hope you're all prepared. I will be having a chicken. Possibly. :) I knew this week would be different! We really got into it, and we've been blessed with these two new people to teach.

So, I've been asked questions, and requested to do this questionnaire of sorts. :) Behold, here are the answers.

1. What is your favourite food in Australia? My favourite food? Well, I've discovered the wonderful world of curry out here. Mmmm, Curry... Red curry, green curry, chicken curry with rice...

2. Do people feed you? If so, what and how often? Well, that strictly depends on where I've been. Rockingham ward is amazing, probably because the majority of members are Kiwi or Tongan. We get fed ~4 times a week :)

3. Have you lost/gained/maintained weight? I am proud to say that I have only gained 3 kilos! Having been on a bike my whole mission, I can definitely see the perks, compared to missionaries who've spent their whole missions in a car. (makes it easier to talk to people, too.)

11. Are the bugs bothersome? Holy cow, yes. Mostly just in the spring, though, which is better. Right- so, Flies, yeah? little black things that fly around, occasionally land on your nose, etc? Not here! I think they have some sort of targeting strategy, going for your mouth, ears, trying to go up your nose, etc. etc. In movies about Auz, you sometimes see people with hats with little corks around it? Those can be useful. (except for the corks bonking your face all the time, too :D )

A Day in the life of an Aussie Missionary: We get up at 6:30, exercise (pushups, situps, etc. maybe running, too.) Showering and getting ready at 7. Breakfast. I usually have cereal, sometimes we make pancakes. Elder Tipene's a cook so he can make good pancakes. Personal Study at 8, Companion study at 9, at 10 we pack up and walk out the door of our flat. In the morning we usually work to contact potential investigators, former investigators, and find members on our ward list that we don't know (Member Locators). Lunch at 12, then back out at 1, with more of the same, some tracting, appointments with investigators and less-active members. Sometimes when we have a dinner appointment we try to work nearby their house. Depending on whether or not we have a dinner appointment, Dinner is sometimes 5 or 6pm, and sometimes 9pm (Last night we had roast steak with vegetables, pasta, and chips (Like big French fries). We're back in our flat at 9, plan out our next day, (usually half an hour or so), and then prepare for bed, and write in journals, or just talk. 10:30, Bed. And then, we get up and do it all over again!

And that's a day in my life. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me!

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Reeder

The week in review

Hi, all :)

This week has been a bit of a wake-up call. Things are starting to wear out on me, hahaha!

Saturday, Elder Tipene and I went on exchanges with the District Leader and his companion. I was with Elder Mason in Rockingham West, which was fun, seeing as how I'd served there before. Unfortunately, not much happened, as my body decided it was going to be sick that day. Not going into details, I'm not too keen on bacon right now. :) Elders Mason and Tipene gave me a blessing, and I'm feeling much better today.

However, that morning, We had a wonderful lesson with an investigator of the sisters, Taylor. She was interviewed, and she's going to be baptised this Saturday! (Remember, Taylor's the girl who went on the mini-mission a while back.) She's got amazing fellowship with another young woman, who is also a recent convert.

This week we managed to get in touch with another one of our investigators too, Jason Teatonga. Jason's been meeting with the missionaries for a long time, and has a pretty cool story. He knows the Book of Mormon is true. He has a very strong testimony of the gospel. We're trying to help him act on it now. He has a problem with smoking that he has to overcome first. But he's a really nice guy, who loves the missionaries. We talked with him about baptism this week, and he agreed that it was something he wanted to do. Hopefully we can get him to that point soon :)

Talking of things wearing out, my bike has just about had it. 6300 k's of riding later, and suddenly the chain just bends. I took it into the bike shop, and they were pretty impressed by the mileage. They also told me it'd be $176 to repair the chain, chainwheel (next to the pedals), and rear sprocket (gears on the back wheel). Ha. In the end, I became proficient at using pliers to bend the chain back again. Lucky there are lots of bike parts in the shed at our flat.

I had a temple recommend interview on Tuesday. It was good to meet with President for that :) We also discussed a bit about the work in this area. He gave some good ideas to follow, to help us try and get things happening in this area.

Aaand, that's pretty much been my week. I'm actually looking forward to this week more than others; I don't really know why. I just think it's going to be better :) I love you all! Have a great day! The church is true!

Love,

Elder Reeder

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

es, indeed, it's coming to that wonderful time of the year, once again, when everything begins to melt. It actually got up to 40C yesterday! Not a cloud in the sky. I feel sorry for Karratha, they've been hitting 40C already, and it's not even January yet. (If you remember, record high last year up there was 47C.) Apparently, since it was such a record-breaking rainy winter this year, it's going to be a record-breaking hot summer.

Elder Tipene and I have been continuing in our efforts to find and teach, which has been a bit difficult lately. We had a wonderful lesson, however, with an older man this week, named Peter. When Peter invited us in, he showed us a copy of the Book of Mormon, that he'd been given back in 1987! That's a while ago. And although he hadn't seen any missionaries in 10 years, he'd read the book of Mormon, and he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet! He isn't at home this week, but when we next go visit him, we're hoping to be able to commit him to baptism.

We've got some seriously awesome members here in Rockingham ward. Manaaki Walker, and Sam Peihopa are two elders in the ward, both getting ready for their missions. Oh! Sam just got his mission call on Saturday, too! He's going to be serving in Auckland, New Zealand! (fyi that mission also covers the Cook Islands, now.)He's leaving March 31st. Manaaki is about ready to put his in. We've been taking them out with us a couple of times to teach and meet with members and investigators. They're really eager to get out themselves.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week! I'm hoping to get a lot of good things done here this week.

I love you all!

Elder Reeder

What do we do in the summertime?

When all the world is green? (or brown)

We can't fish in a stream (except on P-Day)

or lazily dream... (haha)

You know the rest.

Anyway. It's officially summertime here in Perth! Today's forecast is supposed to be around 30C. It's getting hot.

Elder Tipene and I have been doing a lot of service for people around the area, trying to pick up some new investigators. Saturday was good as well- Our district had a blitz in our area. Us, the other elders, and the sisters, came in to our area and did some tracting for a while to help out. We saw some good success come from that. Cool story about it- The sisters brought some young women along as well. One is Toree Ngatai, a recent convert whose dad is a reactivated member (he's awesome), and the other was a girl named Taylor, who isn't yet a member. Taylor came on the mini-missions a while back, and gained a testimony and wants to be baptised now! The sisters are teaching her and she has a date set for December :)

So these two girls came along with the sisters to go tracting. They ended up finding a new investigator together! He told them at the door that he believed it was true already, and we have a return appointment later this week. Woohoo!

We had a zone conference this last Friday. We had some good training from President Lindsay, on inviting people earlier on to be baptised. There are a lot of new missionaries in our mission lately, so it was also a great opportunity to go over our purpose again, and for some, to refocus.

Well, that's my week here. Hope yours is great!

Love you all!

Elder Reeder

Halloween

G'day, everybody :) Elder Reeder here, with another report from the outback.

So I'm in Rockingham again! I have officially been in every area in this district, now. Kwinana, Rockingham East, and Rockingham West. (I think I know the ward pretty well now :) ) Elder Tipene is a cool guy. He's Kiwi, living in NSW. He's a chef back home, so he knows his food.

We've already gotten off to a good start this week, with a baptism! Elder Iumalo and his companion were actually the missionaries who first began teaching him, and Elder Tipene and I were the missionaries that got to be there for the baptism. His name is Jackson Enua. He is from the Cook Islands. His family are all members in the ward, so it was really great to see him make the decision for himself as well.

I'm really hoping that I remain here for the remainder of my mission. Rockingham is an amazing place to be in. Hahaha, everyone remembers me, too! Several people came up and said, "Welcome back!" So it's been pretty easy this time to get to know the new area :D

The only difference about Rockingham East now, is that it's been split. We used to cover Rockingham, Cooloongup, Hillman, and Waikiki suburbs. Now, sister missionaries have been brought into the ward and they've taken Waikiki. Which is great, they've got some great investigators there. But they've gotten All of our investigators. Our teaching pool has suddenly been emptied of everything. Bummer. Fortunately for us, the ward's been great with referrals lately. So we'll still be working hard finding and teaching.

So, halloween is this weekend! I was here last year for the ward activity, a trunk or treat. It's amazing every year :) Lots of nonmembers show up to it too, so it's a good chance to chat with them.

Well, I love you all! Hope everything is going well back home.

Love,

Elder Reeder

Rocking the boat again!

Hi there, everybody! Have I got news for you!

This week has been great! I've been really getting to love this area- Us and the sister missionaries have been working together, as well as the zone leaders, and suddenly we've got more people to teach coming out of the woodwork! I think there are serious miracles beginning to happen here. Let me give you a few things that have happened:

1. We have A BAPTISMAL DATE! David Tanenui, Ella's husband, is going to be baptised on November 2nd! We met with him and his wife, and told him that we really felt that he was ready for this. He's got a strong testimony, and he is SOLID on keeping commitments. He's been taking his book of mormon to work to read every day, etc. Coming to church each week. We also told him that once Edward and Vitania were ready, he would have the priesthood by then and would be able to perform their baptisms. He asked us, "Well, can we set a date then?" He told us that this had been on his mind for quite a while now, and he was really eager to go through with this.

I'm so excited!

2. We've been able to get in touch with Teresa again! We've got an appointment with her this Wednesday. Solid, this time.

3. We've got two new investigators! Almost. A lady named Suzy, who has been taught by the sisters for 2 years, is finally being baptised! She and her husband have a marriage date for the 7th of December. Here's the cool bit- one of her good friends, named Elizabeth, is a nonmember, and the mother of a less-active member in the ward. Since Suzy has been coming to church more often now, and is progressing, suddenly Elizabeth has started showing up as well, with her children! The sisters went and talked with her, and she wants to be taught! Referral!

4. A girl named Mica, (pronounced Meesha) is good friends with a member in the ward. A couple of weeks ago, she talked to the bishop and told him that she really wanted to be baptised! She hasn't been taught by missionaries much yet, but she already has a really strong testimony that the Book of Mormon is true.

And all this, happening in our areas! Woohoo!

Now, a bit of sad news;

Today is Transfer calls! And guess what? I'm being shifted out! Elder Iumalo is going to be the new district leader, and training. I am going down to Rockingham East! Where Iumalo was before! (I swear, I've spent so much time in that district. Kwinana, Rockingham West, and now the other half! Woot.) Rockingham is awesome, though, so that's all good. I'll be with Elder Tipene.

So yes, that's an update about what's happening with me. Hope everyone's doing well back home! Love you all! Stay safe, stay happy! I know the gospel is true :)

Love,

Elder Daniel Reeder

Exclamation Point!

Wasn't Conference just awesome?

I think some of my favorite speakers were Elder Bednar, on Tithing, and Elder Scott, on the Atonement. Then again, all of the things that were spoken on were very powerful. I liked what President Monson mentioned at the end, that he'd never been in a more inspired conference.

I took lots of notes, and I hope you all did too! Exclamation Point!

This week, we've been working with the members! We've got a new thing the mission's trying this month, called an MLX, or Member Lesson Xtreme! Exclamation Point! Basically, a lesson at a member's home, but in and out within 20 minutes, having shared a gospel principle, two scriptures with it, left a commitment, and asking who they know that could benefit from the message that we've shared. They're pretty cool. We've gotten a referral this week, too! His name is Tony. He's the husband of a member in the ward. Nice guy, loves to laugh. He hasn't been religious for a very long time, and has been having a bit of a hard life. But in recent months, he told us, he's been thinking that he should be paying more attention to God. So we've begun teaching him :)

Me and Elder Iumalo are still working hard with the Turners and with Teresa as well. The Turners came to Conference Sunday Morning, and really enjoyed it! We went over that evening and taught Vitania the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is really interested in learning, and has had some really good insights into what we've taught. We hope that the spirit will touch her and Edward and they will take the steps neccessary to be baptised.

We're a bit baffled with Teresa. We haven't been able to see her in a month. Appointments keep falling through, etc. Hopefully we can get in touch with her soon.

Well, seeing as how our Zone has achieved the standard of excellence for last month for baptisms, and beat it, President Lindsay is taking us all to a place called Nando's. Nando's is like Maddox Chicken, but Australian. It is AMAZING. Exclamation point! But we have to be there very soon, so I will be signing off for this week. I love you all! My prayers are with you :)

Love,

Elder Reeder

Exclamation Point!