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.

"keep your stick on the ice eh"

Its been another crazy busy week. The first few days we had lessons pretty much solid throughout the day but then the last few days we did a lot of finding. I actually like finding usually cause we get to talk to some many interesting people. Its crazy how small the world is. 

We were able to contact 2 young families the other day and they even live in our area!  That never happens here so we are pretty excited about that. We also taught a Iranian muslim family the other day but then they told us to go "hunt" people that don't have a belief and leave them alone.  We get told a lot of funny things because people's English is bad and they don't have the right words to say.

 I am leaning how to say words in Chinese like prayer, baptize and things like that they never hear in English cause its the only way they understand. 

I also don't think Chinese people ever change there clothes. We taught  this one fellow and he has been in the same track suit for 6 weeks now. We have to figure out who is really interested and who is not cause some of them just want white friends its kind of funny. 

Our apartment  one of the nicest flats in the mission from what I have heard and seen so we are pretty lucky, kinda getting attacked by ants at the moment but we are poisoning the heck out of them so it should be good. We don't really tract much here just street contacting, we had 6 people  committed to come to church yesterday but then only one showed up so that's not ideal.  If all goes well we will have a baptism next Sunday. 

I gave a 5 min talk in church my first week here! But since then nothing, the bishop in the ward was actually the mission president  here in Adelaide 10 years ago. He has a pretty interesting story. One of  the hardest things the first few weeks of my missions was to talk about the church to people.  I can shoot the breeze with the best of them but bringing in the gospel and talking about that was really different. It gets easier everyday. Right now I am trying to figure out how to get more out of my studies any ideas?

If dad could see me now he would be proud, we eat so many sausages and potatoes its not funny, I don't think I can tease him about that anymore. We had dinner with a member yesterday and they fed us tacos just like home, they were so good. I always loved tacos. 

We have many people interested and progressing at the moment and are doing all we can to help them better know who God and Jesus Christ are, what they can do for us and what we can do for them. I learn new things each day and am happy to be here. Love you all

"keep your stick on the ice eh"

Last week I saw this guy walking down the street with a hockey stick and bag, turns out he is from Manitoba. Also saw a guy with a flames jersey on but he was sneaky and got away from us. Funny is when I see this Veitnames guy with a mighty ducks jersey so I went up to him and was like "go ducks go" pretty sure he thought I was crazy and he doesn't even know that he is wearing a hockey jersey.

Coldest in 10 years this week.

Its been a great week. It is transfers this week but we are both staying in downtown. I am glad.  I like it here and I'm not ready to leave. 

We have been really busy with lessons this week.  I guess the other day was one of the coldest in 10 years here. But I think it was around 6 or 7, these people don't know what cold is.

  Last p-day we went out of the city to a wildlife park and saw a bunch of kangaroos and koala bears and stuff. It was really cool to get off the pavement and see some country side. 

I am getting better at teaching and finding.  But  there is still so much more to learn. 

Love you all.

Downtown Adelaid

My first Wipe out on my bike

Its been one crazy of a week but all is well. We have had quite a few good lessons and currently have 5 baptism dates! The thing is that in the city most of them don't actually live in our area or ward boundries so we teach a few times and then refer them to the missionaries in there home area.  I think we are going to refer 2 of the people this week but it is good cause we get to meet so many people here. 
The other night we went street contacting on the main road and were able to get 9 potential investigators  phone numbers.  All in a hour and a half, we felt good after that day. We have had several small miricels throughout the week and we do are best to follow the spirit to where we need to be and talk to. Everyone says talk to everyone and it says it in PMG. But here we can't, there are too many people so we try to discern  who is ready to hear about Christ.  
It is a bit different and hard cause who am I to say one guy is ready and the other isn't. I love President Carter he is a great man and is able to help me more that I would have ever thought before.  I am lucky to be here with him. It is transfers next week but I am sure both elder Pitmam and I will stay in the city a while yet.
 We went back to our friend Jeronamos house (like the Indian) and had dinner with his family. Then he busted out the Kareokee machine and started going to town with this pillipeno love songs haha it was pretty funny. They are really nice but work so much that they can't come to church and don't want to commit to something they feel they cant follow through with. So we don't see them a lot just every once and a while. 
Its funny I am in Australia but have yet to teach an Australian haha .
We are going as a zone to the zoo today I am excited to check out some assui wild life. All I have seen so far are birds and a few rats. Theres not alot of rats but its weird they are like huge mice running around the streets. There is tons of pigeons in the streets as well, it takes all my strength not to stomp on them and kill em! But I decline, that's not very Christ like. 
I can't remember if I wrote this last week or not but I had my first wipe out on the bike awhile ago. Right in the middle of the street in front of a car haha. The guy stops and asked me if I was all good. I said yes and rode away really fast casue my pride was hurtung. So mum was right again I guess I should of brought a needle and thread cause I have some patch work to do. 
All is well and I am doing good, almost half done my training now. 
I love the pictures and emails keep em coming eh.



 Love you all take care

L