Best Transfer of My Mission

Ahhhh Everything here is going so great It was an incredible week and we are just smashing it here!! I'm Loving life here. You should check out Black Swan Park in Maroochydore and also Maroochydore Rotary Park, this is where we GQ like 3 times a week, we were there yesterday morning before Church and it is Paradise, the Sand, Sea and just the best Weather! :) The Reason it was such a great week was because Anthony got Baptized on Saturday and Confirmed yesterday :) I will try and get you the pictures :) It was the best thing, I can't tell you how much I Love Anthony and wanted to see him enter the waters of baptism!!! Ahhhh I felt the Spirit so strong and was just so humbled. I remember when I had first met Anthony nearly 6 weeks back I had known him for only 5 mins from the time we knocked on his door and had walked to the park next to him home to teach him, I then talked to him and shared my conversion story with him for 15 mins and then we committed him to be Baptized and he said Yes, and Wow since that day he is a changed man!!! Like he is so comfatble around us and we see him like every day :) and He has really come out his Shell. He is a great man, he is 34, looks like he is 22 hahah :) I'm just so Happy, This has been the Best Transfer of my mission. So many Blessings. We actually should be having another Baptism in 2 weeks time on the 7th of December :) her name is Lynn, her husband is a member, we had the most powerful lesson with her, I hope so but I don't know if you saw the picture i sent you with me with the glasses, saying I'm loving the work here, having a great night in a tropical storm, well after i got those pictures just for kicks and giggles, we taught her and asked her to be baptized and she just said YES. We are just trying to find out a date that would be best for her!!! :) Also I have to show you something 'cool'' hahah So the church was established in the year 1830 on the 6th of April, and there were 6 members of the church at the time. so if you go to your scriptures and go to Mosiah chapter 18 verse 30. (1830) and then read that verse you will read the word Mormon 6 times ;) 1 for each member hahah :) So guess what in like just over an hour we are actually going to the Australia Zoo, I'm taking the District there, as it is the last week on the Transfer! It should be awesome, can't wait to hug me a Koala. Also I got to interview a woman for Baptism, her name is Nisha, she is from Karikkatoor. Kerala in India and she got Baptized on Saturday 2 hours before Anthony so we went and watched her get baptized and took Anthony to that :) Also on Saturday night we went down to Mooloolaba, to the Esplanade to watch our friend Sing and play guitar :) Which was amazing, he is the Man!!!!!! and he smashed it and the whole Atmosphere was just awesome!

G20 Summit

 So it has been hectic here because of the G20 summit, like so many cops it's unreal. and Today is a Zone P-day so we are going up to Gympie, so you can check it out, I have no idea if there is anything cool to do there, but that is where the Zone is meeting up :) Also it turns out my friend in this ward helped set up the church In Malaysia and all and he done a heap of work out there and then I was thinking back earlier this year when I was able to Baptize this girl from Malaysia and thought about how awesome that was, that he help set up the church there and then someone i taught was from there and went back there!! Also I got a phone call yesterday, and that same guy was like I just met this woman on the streets and she is a member from Crawley Stake! Her surname is Collings maybe your Dad met the Collings family?? We knew heaps of the same people as when he was talking to her on the street he called me and put me on the phone to her hahah! then she came to church the next day to meet me, she was in her 40's. So that was really random but pretty awesome :) Also Anthony is doing really great and is getting baptized this coming Saturday at Noon now and it is very exciting, I'm also interviewing this Indian woman for baptism this Friday at 2pm which is awesome :) Also guess what I caught another dog and got a picture with it, I actually caught 2 dogs recently one was called Chloe and one was Pepper! #thedogcatcherstrikesagain #10 Also there are heaps on Pelicans here that you can just go and feed it is pretty awesome you should check out this park called Cottontree Park in Maroochydore :) we go here to GQ people :)  It's crazy for me to think the sisters I came in with are going home next week!!! So many amazing things are happening here the work is going sooo great, I'm really giving it my all!!  Yesterday here it was about 34 degrees Celsius :) I Love this tropical weather!!

RISE AND SHINE

I forgot to post last weeks email, so I will post them both together- Amery

November 3rd
  I'm Loving life right now and loving the Sunshine Coast! The work is going amazing, just totes ripping it up!!! just soo busy, even with today being P-day we have a few lessons during our P-day, just because we are that busy right now!!! I have sooooooo much to tell you, like it's crazy!! ) So i got a cool little email from my boy Danny he said ''literally know everyone. Two girls in my ward, Michelle Skonnard and Emily Rowe apparently met you in Utah when you were on the train. These connections are crazy hahaha!'' That is pretty crazy hahah.  I also had a cool experience where I met this person at church she was from Orem, and I said you might know this family I know in Orem and I dropped a few names to her and she knew them :) Or like This one time we went to see this elderly man who is nearly 80 and he said that he lived in Charters towers ages ago, and I said I we know the same man, I was very close with this one man, who used to be the mayor of charters towers, i used to go visit him 4-5 times a week, then he had to go to a care home, but it turns out he knows my friend who was the mayor there and that was awesome to see, even though this man was so much older, we still had the same friend from there :) Also, I was able to meet a family in my ward and I know there family on the Gold Coast because off when I used to serve in the Coast I was in there ward. :) It;s having little experiences like this that I treasure as well :) So we are having a baptism this week, her name is Vicki, she is 57 and she is amazing, we actually when and visited her daughter yesterday and started to teach her :) Vicki, is just incredible and she is being baptized this Saturday the 8th at 10.00am and it is at stake conference and in the evening she is going to talk at stake conference, what a boss!!! just no fear :) and it's awesome because at this baptism obliviously stake president will be there, and also our mission president and also a General Authority :) also had the best interview with President yesterday :) Great things are happening here in Buderim. we having a saying here in the Sunshine Coast, when someone shouts out 'SUNNY COAST'' our response is ''RISE AND SHINE''. Also we had a few more people at church, but Anthony the other one getting baptized on the 25th is just loving everything and is soaking up church. I unfortunately have to go now :/ but All is going well all is going great!! Sunshine Coast is amazing :) 

November 12th
So I have just got back from the temple it was a long journey down to Brisbane and I have barely got any time as P-day is nearly over and we are hectically busy, but i love being busy,  Ahhh I can't believe it because as i traveled back from the temple up to the Sunshine Coast I had to go through my old area Brisbane North and the train stopped for a brief second at Zillmere station that is where Caitlyn lives and she lives really close to the station, It was crazy as i was there nearly, well pretty much 1 whole year ago!! Big shout out to Caitlyn and her beautiful kids :) It has gone so fast but so many blessings have happened, I'm so glad Caitlyn was able to enter into the waters of baptism and that President Henderson was there!! The baptism with Vicki happened the other day and it was soooo incredible wow!!!! It was so lovely and President was also there :) So that was super neat!! The work is going amazing, Anthony is now going to be baptized a few days earlier on the 22nd of November at 10am!!! It is always a blessing being a instrument in the lords hand and helping these beautiful children of his change and grow in the gospel :) Everything is going super well, we are really smashing the area and the area has never ever since this much success :) Also on the way back we also had to get a bus back and it took us to the Australia Zoo :) So we will definitely properly go there one day and I'm going to try and get the whole district to all go together :) Also you have to check out the Glass House Mountains!!! So incredible and Beautiful, I Love it here, and seeing them!! 

I Know Like Everyone

I have soooo much to tell you but like no time :/ I have kept getting phone calls during email time as we are sorting out things for tomorrow like I will be training to the Zone and doing Role Plays and just sorting out heaps of things, but I'm glad I have this little amount of time, prob like the best week on my mission, I just want to always be able to tell you all the exciting things that are happening here. I Love the Sunny Coast, I Love this place so much and I know I'm here for a reason, I don't want to sound like big headed, but I know like everyone here hahah, i don't even know how i just meet people and I already know them, or they have heard all about me. My first 2 days here, I set 2 Baptismal Dates, totally smashing it like this week was crazy taught so many lessons, just going As hard As i can, my companion, i love him dearly we get on great, he was shocked with me just inviting people to get baptized, but now we have 3 baptisms coming up in November, one on the 8th of November Vicki, and then Sarah on the 15th of November and then Anthony on the 25th of November. Blessings and miracles are happening here in Buderim. By the way my Love I'm totally bringing you to the Sunshine Coast, we are so going here together, it's the best :) So I had like the craziest and coolest experience on Thursday, we were out knocking doors, in the beautiful weather and we saw 2 sales guys, approaching us, it turns out that these 2 random guys on the street happened to be RM's, one served in Chile. Then the other guy turned out that he served in my home mission and he was the one that was visiting with my parents and family :D he had just got back his like last ward was my home ward :) He saw my family often :) his name is Dean Ormsby and he is the man!!! we got on well and got some pics, they are up on FB, I have no idea if you have seen them??? How crazy is that????? this random business man on the street happened to be the one who was seeing my family :) SOOOOOOO AWESOME :D I had always wanted to meet him, ever since I heard about him, and then we meet randomly on a street in the middle of the Sunshine Coast. Then On the Opposite side of the road there was this guy having problems with his car so the guy who served in Chile, he actually just moved in to our ward, well he is a mechanic and sorted out the problem asap, and it turns out the girl spoke Spanish so I'm speaking to her in Spanish, then he comes in Speaking Spanish and we are just throwing in around like there was no tomorrow, it was like for a short time, i entered into the Spanish speaking program, it's coming along well and my companion had served in Chile, it was pretty awesome.  I just can't believe I met Dean on the streets!!! It was not by chance, i don't believe in coincidence's i know that the Lord's hand was in this. And because I'm DL I'm going to go on trade offs to there ward and have dinner with the Ormsby family one night :)  I have sooooooooooo much to say but no time AHHHHHHHH!!!! So on Saturday night a few days later after meeting Dean, I go to this guy's mission call opening, well i think it is just this guy, well when I walk in with my companion we already have met each other and guess where we met??? He meet me my first like 3 or 4 days when I had arrived here in Australia, he listened to my first ever testimony at church in Australia, it was my 1st Sunday here!!!! He remembered me like just yesterday, it's so crazy and that testimony I bore that day has had an everlasting impact on him, like just the way he was talking and telling every one at the opening about it, I never knew that I had such a big affect on someone and he is also called Sam :) It was soo awesome to see him again and now be serving at the end of my mission and to see him on my first week!!! Then I met this Girl at the Mission opening and she is from South Afirica, I spoke some Afrikaans to her and it turns out she is leaving in 1 week to go to my mission, so hopefully she can see and help my family :) and she had actually just heard about me from Dean before, so she could not believe she was meeting me and I could not believe she was going to my home mission. And I asked her if she knew my friend in South Africa, who actually met my mum and she Knows him :D All this crazy stuff is happening, we knew some of the same people in South Africa. So we got a few pictures :) and Then at church the next day, I met her again randomly she is not in Buderim ward  and also Dean was there, so we all got a picture together!!! I really hope she meet's my family as well as she is friends with Dean. And at Sam's mission opening there was my really close friend from Eight Mile Plains was there, he is Georgie's cousin the one who we  got to baptize on like my last day there. Then at church on Sunday there, were other random people from EMP there as well haha!!!! So many exciting things have happened here!!! I LOVE THE SUNSHINE COAST, I'M SO HAPPY!!! 

District Leader in the Sunshine Coast!

So here has been so hectic lately so much has happened and I have like no time on email to tell you everything. So today was Transfer day and I'm emailing you from my New Area, that's right, I got transferred and I'm now The District Leader (DL) in the Sunshine Coast :) I'm in a place called Buderim I just arrived here 15 mins ago, P-day is pretty much up and it took us over 2 hours to drive up as I had to go to Leadership training after transfer meeting, this is crazy for me because the Sunshine Coast is the hardest Zone for missionary work in the mission, Cleveland was about next and Now I'm District Leader in like one of the toughest areas, but there is a reason I was called and sent up here to serve these other missionaries and especially the people of the Sunshine Coast, I was so sad to Leave Camp Hill It killed me hhaha, It was so tough, i love everyone so much there and I love that ward, one of my closest friends just got made Bishop there on the Sunday just gone, I can't tell you close I am to his family, they have 5 young kids under the age of 10 and we are soooo close so I got him a gift when he was called as Bishop I will have to explain what it was I got him when I got back, I used my imagination :) We got pictures and i will have to send them to you some day,  He is the man!!! Such a champion and the best Bishop, I was so happy for him :) I had people come up to me in Camp Hill and just grab me and hug me and say Don't leave!!! I really Love that ward, more then I ever knew I would. So I have my new companion he is brand new on his mission and has just came out and yes he is from the Factory, his name is Elder Meyers, but I will make sure I set the best example for him that I can, and Love him and serve him and help him grow as much as I can as a missionary and in doing that I will also grow myself. I've had quite an amazing change these last few weeks, General Conference, really helped me and I've had a lot more Spiritual experiences things happen, great things are happening here in the ABM. I was shocked in Transfers when I was called into Leadership haha and with a new missionary, but I'm definitely doing my best to rise up, I'm making the most out of my time :) Great Things are happening here, I'm a different Missionary now then when I first came in, I'm really Obedient and have seen a great change, It's awesome as I started in the Gold Coast, I was born there, and now this will probably be my last area before I finish, which is crazy but it will be awesome to know that I went from 'COAST TO COAST, FROM THE GOLD COAST TO THE SUNSHINE COAST'' :) Which Is really cool. I'm excited for the work I have heaps to learn and do in my new role especially as this time as like November will be the most exciting month in the whole South Pacific areas :) I can't wait to meet the ward :) I'm excited for everything. 

General Conference

 So I had a great week, It was really great the reason being is because I got to finally watch General Conference, which I Loved! I always love General Conference and when our leaders address the world, it is just wonderful it was a very powerful weekend. I thought it was awesome the President Hamula, gave a talk because I got to meet him and shake his hand not that long ago, while he was working here in the South Pacific, I was hoping that he was going to share a story and say something like 'when I was working in the South Pacific, I came across'' and then go into a story but unforunatley he did not haha. My Favourite speaker from General Conference, was David A Bednar, he smashed it and made it funny at the same time, I really enjoyed what he shared and how he delievered it I found it very powerful, he also shared like my favourite scripture which is in 1st Nephi Chapter 8 and it is verse 12. I had a cool experience as well on Friday night, as we were working with a family that is very close to my heart, they are a part member family and we have really built up a great relationship with them and I Love them dearly, can't wait to see them again this week. I shared with them a spiritual thought, I had a feeling to share Helamen Chapter 5 verse 12. so me and my companion resighted Helamen 5:12 out loud to them and also there Home Teachers were there haha, but it was awesome it was such a wonderful night that was Spiritual and what I Loved is that over General Conference they kept reffering back to Helamen 5:12 which was really awesome. I will never forget my first General Conference when I joined the church it was a week and half after I joined and i still remember Part of President Monson's address which hit me so strong, and now to think for my next GC, I will be back home, it's crazy how quick it is going. I have already been going over my notes heaps and have been learning a lot of new scriptures that were mentioned in this conference, I had one of the best Personal studies this morning and I gained many insights. Conference is what I needed to help me in the work. It's tough here in Cleveland Zone, it's like the hardest Zone in the mission, but Miracles can and will happen, even if it is my last week here, I know I have been called here for a reason, I hope to stay, but we will see what happens. So also I keep seeing the most adorable thing outside our new flat and it is a mother Possum with a baby Possum holding on to the Mother's back and they are walking on the ground then, climb into the tree's I Love Possum's so much, The Possums here are different though to the one's in the States, I might be wrong but do you call them OPossums there??? Apparentley from my companion, the Possums here are a lot nicer looking. I'm excited for this coming week and for everything:)

Nightmare Experience

So This last week was hectic, It was a roller coaster of a week that is for sure with some great things happening and some not so great a things that occurred. Well last P-day was awesome, it was a great day and we got to play heaps of sports and It was funny because there were like 20 other people in the park and most of them spoke Spanish, it was super random, but Spanish is coming on really well at the moment, and my friend Elder Bejarano, has not heard me speak Spanish yet to some one from like South America, so I he was listening to me speak to these people in Spanish and was really impressed about how quickly I was learning. On Tuesday it was a massive Zone Conference, from 8.30am-4pm, which was a great and amazing day, it was a shame that for that day that I had an eye like infection thing and i was in a lot of pain, but it went the next day which was great. But at the Zone Conference we were doing Real plays so we were just teaching these other people in a big group, and we smashed it. I have not felt the Spirit so strong in a long time, and I felt it sooo strong there, I was teaching some women from England. I can't tell you how strong I felt the Spirit then, i Loved it and I really needed it. It definitely has helped me keep going this last week. So we moved Flat also, we spent the whole on Wednesday and Thursday moving in and had to clean all the walls etc and move all our furniture in we live at the top so we had to go up 4 flights of stairs. I was on the phone so much over those 2 days, like a little business man calling and sorting out everything, it was awesome though as when we officially moved in it was just such a good feeling getting a nice newer place. We still have no fridge and sofa etc but we are expecting it all to come today. Also we were in a hardware store getting some supplies and I met this man again, and we remembered each other straight away his name is Jason and I knocked on his door over 1 year ago while I was serving in the Gold Coast, not it is crazy to think that come tomorrow the 8th of October I have 6 months left and come the 8th of April I will already be back home, that is crazy for me to think and I have had some great spiritual experiences this week :) . I taught him a few times as well when i first knocked on his door, it was so awesome to see him again, I could not believe it, it was an awesome experience, it felt just like yesterday though when I first knocked on that door. It was a shock when we saw each other and it was in the most random place we were getting hoses for our washing machine to hook it up and make it work and there he was hahah. So come Saturday, Saturday morning we got a phone call, from a member inviting us around for dinner, we said we need a non member to be there on the weekend other wise we cannot come for dinner so we call our investigator Brad up to see if he is available, him and his family and is free for Saturday night, so Saturday night comes and we are all at the members house having dinner and it was a wonderful wonderful night all was going so well, Brad's kids were playing with the members kids in another room we were all at dinner having a great time, then 10 mins before we are about to leave and call it a night, Brad just starts dropping swear words shouting them out of no where, like dropping the 'F' Bomb. and the 1st time he dropped it we were like that's ok, but then he kept doing it and then burst up out of his sit and started smashing the table with his fist and screaming and swearing at the member and challenging him to a fight and saying let's go let's take this outside, absolute has gone completely crazy at this point while sitting next to the members wife, this was absolutely out of nowhere, he is about to go and attack them member and I just burst out my chair and push him back now I'm toe to toe with him and I just calmly say  Brad think about this, you don't want to do this. He replies to me ''you know I can hurt you'', so ''I say I know you can'', but let's take this outside, instead of in front of everyone, I'm like let's just go out side and you can get some fresh air, so I gently start to push him back towards the door and I make him walk out their house and I go outside with him and he is going crazy, not at me but on about how he wants to fight and go and smash the member all apparently because he gave him a ''weird look'' he then just ran off into the night ran up the road and that was it. my companion then walked out the house and I was like he just ran off. we went back inside and we were just in shock about what just happened it was the most embarrassing night of our missions, we were so up set and disappointed with Brad's behavior and the way he acted it was honestly out of nowhere just imagine every is sitting having a great time, then all hell breaks loose in the matter of seconds. I felt so sorry for the member being threatened in his own home but a crazy man. Then obviously later that night the calls come, from that member who was about to be attacked and he was totally ok with us, as we did not know that such a thing would happen and he was just happy with us, he was not mad at all, then we got a call from Bishop and others etc. Then came Sunday we obviously thought Brad would not come to church on Sunday after the scene caused the night before and it's fast and testimony meeting so open Mic and who comes busting in the chapel but Brad and a few people knew so we were all on edge he went right to the first row and then we sat with we knew that if anything happens we would have to do our best to restrain him, lucky my companion is also a bigger guy, we were so on edge, he stayed for the whole of church and nothing happened,  but It was nightmare experience. The last few days for us have been hectic trying to sort everything out, the members wife came up to me after sacrament and just said thank you for intervening, by standing up to him and taking him out side, I just was thinking I don't dare want to see any one else get hurt I don't care if I get used as a boxing bag haha but I know I can defend myself when it comes down to it, but i did not say that to her, i did not say much, but as long as  he did not hurt the member or his wife or some one else etc that's the main thing, and also the Lord watches over his missionaries. So nothing bad happened to us..... few want an eventful last few days.  Also I had a cool spiritual experience during personal study, so I love to memorize where scriptures our like for example in 1st Peter Chapter 3 verses 19-20 it talks about the spirit world. So there was this one section all about the spirit world in section 138 of D&C and I thought I don't know this section so i turned to it to look at it and the revelation was received on the 3rd of October 1918 and it was by Joseph F Smith and it was on about him pondering about the Spirit world on the 3rd of October while he was sitting in his chair and I was going over section 138 and it was the 3rd of October when I was looking at it and I was pondering and sitting in my chair about the same thing that he was but like 96 years later hahaha It was pretty awesome at the time. I'm excited for General Conference this coming weekend here in Australia :) I'm really looking forward to it.