New President

Elder Anderson, my companion from Utah

Its  been a great week. Elder Anderson and I have a lot of good ideas we are going to try out this transfer. My trainer Elder Pitama is now an assistant to the president.  It’s weird there is starting to be talk of when we get a new president and the Carters go home that's going to be a strange day. End of June is not to far off.

 I am doing great. The weather is really good and I have leveled of at 200 pounds for the last transfer of two so that good haha.

love you all thanks for all you do have a good week!

Elder Hartley

Visiting a wildlife park

Heading out to do service work

They LOVE Corner Gas and the Red Green Show

Had a really good week.

We were able to find another Investigator who accepted a baptismal date.

I was really happy to hear this morning that neither Elder Anderson or myself are being transferred.  I really hope to be here for awhile. There is so much to do and the members are really good. We are really close with several of them. The District has a big turnover and change.  But Elder Pitcher and I are both staying and we are pretty excited to get a fresh start here and really kick things off strong.

The weather is also changing here. It’s weird because its cool enough to sleep with sheets on the bed now! It’s really nice now around the high 20s during the day.

 It’s always so good to hear how good things are at home and that everything is going well. We are all pretty blessed aren't  we.

Happy birthday to Chris eh I would tease him about being old but then I realized he is younger than my companion! Elder Anderson is good he’s always cracking jokes and helps keep me from getting to serious or stressed and mostly grumpy.

Thanks for all that you do to help me out and for the prayers. We go see a family every Monday...the Olsons, she is Australian but the dad is from Utah. They LOVE Corner Gas and the Red Green Show its pretty funny, small world even over here red green is famous to some people. They are champs the Olsons and they have the funniest twin boys who are 2.  They keep us pretty entertained.

Glad to hear you all are doing well.

Keep pushing forward

I am 35 min from the mission office.The weather is changing.

It’s really nice because it’s starting to cool off. Our area isn't to bad.

We found 2 new investigators this week and things are slowly building. It is taking some time because we started from scratch. The district is really struggling. The place is known for being slack in the mission so we are trying to pick it up and get people working.

Thanks so much for teaching me how to think and work hard. The missionaries here all think they are working hard and doing there best but honestly know one pushes themselves and things are really casual.

One of the zone leaders for our zone is Dan pitchers nephew, so it’s fun to get to know him. We are trying to push the missionaries and help them see that there is so much more to be done.

I almost hit a koala bear on the road the other day,

Love Travis

I am learning a lot about time.

It was a holiday here yesterday so I am a day late emailing, It is only a holiday in Adelaide.  I can’t remember what it is called but its basically just a horse racing gambling day.

Things are going good here.

 Elder Anderson and I get along good and we work hard. We are teaching a man named Chris at the moment he is on date for April the 25.  We found him sitting out on his porch one day. He is a 25 assie fella.  It’s fun to teach him he’s a guy I would hang out and fish with back home.

The ward here is so different than anywhere I have been so far.  There are actually more than 2 members in our area,  it’s strange. We get fed 3 or 4 times a week, it’s like a whole new world here.  I could get used to this.

We are always out on the bikes trying to talk to people even though we have a car. 

Crazy that the girls are almost done. Time really does go by fast. I am learning a lot especially about time management and what is most important. There’s really not enough time in the day to get everything done, so we gotta pick what is most important.  I was getting stressed for a bit but its all good now.

We have a training from president Carter tomorrow, they go home in a few months. It’s going to be a strange time for me I love them and all that they do. Hope everyone has a good week, love you all.

Elder Hartley

Never thought I would have an older companion.

 I got moved to a new area called Paralowie its still close to Adelaide. 

We were flushed in. It has been closed for several months. I am training an Elder Anderson from Salt Lake. He is 26! Never thought I would have an older companion haha. 

Still district leader, its nice here and one of the Zone Leaders is an Elder Pitcher from Brooks. He is Shawn and Dans nephew! I like the new area.  People are really nice and humble its going to be fun. 

There are heaps of really good members as well! Its going to be a good few months. 

Sorry for the short one today things are crazy today no time. 

Love you all and keep working hard.

 Elder Hartley

My heart sank

We had a great experience Friday night and Saturday morning. We had planned to do a service with a single Sister in our area Saturday morning to help move a bunch of soil in her garden.

She had also invited her neighbors, a husband, wife, son, and daughter to help. When we got the call from the Zone Leaders Friday night about going to the big service project at the Sampson Flats we were so excited to go to it and we made all these plans how we could move our service to later in the day and everything would be ok and that we would be able to do what WE wanted to do. So we headed over to this Sisters house to talk to her and move the times around and things so it was going to be no big deal, As soon as we got there we talked for a few minutes and were just about to ask if we could move the time when her neighbor came out of his yard to confirm for the next morning. My heart sank as I realized that it was going to be really hard to get out of this now with him here as I selfishly thought about my self. In our minds we decided to stick with the original plan as we were there talking to the Sister and her neighbor and confirmed it with them. Right after we did, this man started firing questions at us like a machine, all about what we believe, why we are here, what we actually do, how we do it. They were great questions and he had an honest desire to know the answers. Were spoke for 20 min all about the Church and then we had to leave to be home by nine. The next day we went (a bit sad) to the service and were able to work side by side the great family and single sister. After it all she told us how impressed here neighbor was with us and that he always thought we were the weirdest, strangest people with know freedom and that we were always forced to follow all the rules and things. But after talking with us he said that his opinion was totally changed about who we  were and what we did. Then the best part was hearing this Sister bear her testimony of the experience on Sunday as she was able to tell about how her neighbor was so helpful and able to learn more about what we believe. We hope that the ward will catch the wave and start inviting more as well. Sacrifice brings blessings, we really wanted to go to Sampson Flats but we know that wasn't where we needed to be. 

Thanks for all you do love you all!!!!!

We are going to the temple!!

Its been a busy week. We had a member of the second quorum of the 70 come and talk to us Elder Halek he is the first councilor  in the area 70. He talked all about member missionary work and relationships. It was great and he gave us a lot of things to think about and work on. 
Its been a good cool week and we have been out on the bikes everyday. It's really nice to bike and be able to move more than sitting in the car. 
We are going to the temple next week so I won't email until next Thursday. We have been working really hard trying to find some people to teach, our whole district is pretty dry at the moment so we are really trying to help each other. 
We meet so many really nice and great people and families but they just don't have any desire to learn or believe in God. We will get it figured and start snatching them back up.
 Love you all and thanks for all that you do!!