My first companion is getting transferred

The sorrell family they are great and feed us every so often

 It is starting to really warm up here. Its transfers today, Elder Pitama is leaving. We find out tomorrow morning where he goes and that’s when I will get my new companion.

The blessing went great on Sunday.  I have never felt so guided in a blessing before.  It was very cool.

tim tams were on sale....we bought a case I'm getting fat but who cares eh

My first Baptism

Its been a crazy week we have been so busy the whole time but its good cause if we aren't really busy we are bored and ain't nobody got time for that.

The area here is really taking off there’s too much to do to leave now.

We had a baptism this week, Thomas, he is a uni student here and is from China. .Elder Pitama baptized him yesterday after church and I will confer the Holy Ghost next week in sacrament meeting. We met him at a bus stop last transfer, it was the funniest contact ever. We said hello and he’s like I gotta go there’s my bus so we said we talk about God can we get your number and he’s like ya sure.  So we rang him up and stated teaching him. At first he didn't even believe in God but told us straight away that if he found out there was one he would follow. Anyways 2 weeks later he tells us he knows God is real and that to be the best we can be we need to follow him and that's what he wanted to do. It was great. When we taught him the commandments he’s like why didn't you tell me these sooner I would have quite coffee and tea and came to church every week! Thomas is the man and it’s so easy to see the difference between people that have really been prepared and are looking for more in there life. He bore a powerful testimony after his baptism giving thanks to God for all the help he receives and guidance. He knows the church is true and wants to continue to learn more.

Thomas at his baptism

We also found 2 members one from china and one from Twain that couldn't find the church so they haven’t been in awhile. So we are helping to activate them There are getting to be a fare amount of Chinese and Asian young single adults its cool to see. We hope to be able to start a special Sunday school class for them soon.

Elder and I joke around about President telling us that we get to stay in downtown for a year and learn Chinease while we are here. It won’t happen but it would be pretty cool and would make the work a lot easier.

We play a bit of basketball whenever we can but not a lot and now that it’s nicer out side we go kick the rugby ball around on a field instead. Its a silly game but I like being outside and every Aussi and New Zealander loves rugby and that's the majority of our mission so they always want to play it . I am getting better though my kicking skills are pretty poor.

Things are going well and I am glad to be busy cause we I am not time goes by way to slowly but when we are busy all is good. I think that is the main reason why I am in this area cause its so easy to stay busy and that really helps me.

Thanks for all the love and support! love you all

Elder Hartley

 

                            Elder Pitman moms always sends us chocolate from New Zealand so good.

We had a baptism in the ward this week

Its been a great week and we are staying really busy, the weather is getting nicer and I don't wear a coat very often anymore, not sure how I will ever survive summer though.

We had a baptism in the ward this week from the sisters and it was cool to go to my first one on the mission. We took one of our investigators who is also hopefully getting baptized in the coming weeks.

 Its going good, somedays are better than others but we get lots of practice teaching people. We have 4 lessons tomorrow 2 Wednesday and a few others already scheduled for the rest of the week. The hardest is teaching around 1 cause I cant stay awake!

 Yesterday we taught the Gospel principles class, I shared an analogy about horses.....pretty sure no one had any idea what I was talking about. But it made sense to me so its all good.

They have tons of massive big bumper guards on the front of the the vehicles to protect them from hitting kangaroos. They are pretty massive and tough looking especially the ones on the big rig trucks. You could mow over a lot of deer with one that's for sure.

Thanks for all the love and support. Love you all

Elder Hartley

Tim Tam Slam

 It has been a good couple of days. The weather here has seemed really cold, I am turning into a wimp cause its around 5 and I am still freezing. Probably should of brought that coat I bought eh. It was cool on Sunday afternoon we had a first appointment with a Chinese student named Frank. He had no belief in God only believes in himself but he has a roommate who believes in God so he was curios to learn more. We told him to bring his friend along to the lesson as well. So yesterday we walk up to the Library and here is Frank coming with a Chinese member that we know. Turns out they are roommates and we were able to have a great lesson together. We are going to meet again and Shawn says he will bring Frank to church next week. Its funny what are the chances of meeting someone on the street that lives with a member in our ward, it was pretty cool. 

We are planning for a baptism next Saturday, another Chinese student named Thomas. (these names are just what we call them because we can't say there Chinese name, its kinda funny they pretty much just pick a name when they get to Australia and roll with it) Thomas is the man, he wants to do whatever he can to follow Christ. He came to Church yesterday and we are trying to help him meet people so he can have some support.

 It's been a really good week and we keep doing our best to meet and talk to all the people we can. At the end of the day that is what it comes down to, if we don't start talking we can never help them learn about God and Jesus Christ. 

We went to the temple this week. It was really good, I love getting to go. Its really small here and only open a few days a week. We took names through for a couple in our ward that is hard core into family history so it was cool to have a bit more of an connection with the person. I really have a hard time coming up with questions though for my studies, church and the temple so I don't think I get as much out of it as I should, but I really felt I learned about how important women and the amount of respect we should always have and show towards them. Even in the temple we don't learn about our Heavenly Mother. How much  God must care about and protects her if even there she is not mentioned.

The sausages start to mess with your gut after awhile haha but its getting used to it. We eat a fare amount of chicken because it is so much cheaper,  ground beef is really expensive. I never cook Elder Pitama usully cooks and then I clean and do dishes its a good arrangment. We eat a lot of rice as well cause we have a rice cooker.

I am really glad to be in this area, we went on a trade to a different area last week and I felt so bad for the elders there, they only have 4 investigators and they are pretty weak ones at that and know one to talk to, I am so lucky to have so many people to talk to and teach here,

Its kind of surprising I still hate the city, but we don't think about that we just think about the people and what we can do to help them. Just goes to show that when we aren't being selfish we are happier.

I keep learning but I keep on seeing knew things I need to learn, pretty sure the list is getting longer not shorter but its ok, that's why we are here to learn grow and progress. 

Elder Hartley

P.S. Had to sing a solo at a FHE we had at a members house cause I was new. I did my best to warn them and get out of it but they insisted. Oh well joke is on them, pretty sure they won't be asking me to sing again.

Thanks for all the love and support miss you all

Elder Hartley

P.S.

 During weekly planning we gotta Tim Tam Slam to keep the sugar levels up so we don't fall asleep. I may have a few more chins from doing this but it is worth it. Here is a step by step process to getting fat.

1. Prepare hot chocolate and get yourself a sleeve of Tim Tams

2. Bite a small chunk off of opposite corners

3. dip one corner just slightly into the hot chocolate and suck on the other end until the Tim Tam is soft and filled with hot chocolate

4. Eat it in one bite before it melts and falls into the cup cause that will just tick you off and then repeat until you are sufficiently filled.