Transfers and Baptism Plans

So My week has been awesome, I did not go to Transfer Meeting as I'm staying in Eight Mile Plains which I'm super happy about, I will be here for a while, Elder Naumann is staying as well, but this will be his last transfer here, which means I will stay again most likely :) I just had to sort out a load of things, we had to move all the furniture in the flat as we are have got to new elders in here with us, they are both part of the Chinese programme :) They are super awesome, one is a new missionary, and the other one, I was with in the Gold Coast, but did not live with him! Now I'm the only one in the flat not from Utah hahaha not from the Factory!!! 3 Utah white boys, my worst nightmare hahaha!!!!  The last week of a Transfer is always interesting as there is so much to do, especially if you leave and want to say goodbye to everyone, but it was super good we done heaps and taught heaps of lessons :) So Some really great news is that Chelsie, and her friend Neve are still super excited about baptism on the 1st of March. :) Chelsie is the daughter of Kelly, who has that disability, I never knew that stopping Kelly on the street that night, would lead to her daughter wanting to be baptized and all and then her friend happening to be sitting in on the lessons and her wanting to be baptized etc :) So amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! So Chelsie, has also gone through a lot, she is 15, coming on 16 in April,  well I has a massive phone conversation with her yesterday, and This whole church concept to her is so exciting and all :) Like it really means a lot to her, and when we were talking on the phone, she was on about how grateful, she is that we are here and I was on about how thankful I am to be able to teach her, I will be baptizing on the 1st of March, So it is super exciting :) I have never baptized anyone before But I can't wait!!!! I know she will be blessed exceedingly for this decision and especially at the age she is doing it at. I also explained about the church uni's in America, and how many doors will open to her when she joins :)
So this week there was also a Presidency Broadcast going on across the Pacific, so Australia, NZ, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands etc :) just addressing about the work in these areas :) It was really great!!!!!!!! I always enjoy the broadcasts as it also gets the members, more involved in the work and they always seem to step it up afterwards :) 
So, I have been obsessed with Languages lately as you can probably tell hahaha, I Love learning words from different languages especially cheeky words haha, but like just basic greeting like Hello, How are you and I'm now able to do it in 54 Languages. People Love it as well and it always makes them smile, I Love to make people laugh and smile hahaah!!!!!
So also we have been teaching this man English, the one from Iraq and in exchange he has been teaching us Arabic, but I have been learning about fast like surprisingly quick, as I have the best teacher a man from Iraq who can only speak Arabic, mainly and it was soo awesome. In the week, I knocked on a door and a woman came out she looked like she was from the Middle East and all, and I asked where she was from she said Iraq and I just started speaking Arabic to her, I asked her in Arabic, can I Please have a drink, and then she replied come, in, and we started speaking and she was impressed, then I said in Arabic, 'We teach about Jesus Christ' and when she feeds us, I'm able to say things like this food is delicious, Your house is very nice, is there anything we can do to help you at all? It was lovely meeting you, have a great rest of your day etc, she was shocked, then asked me where learned to speak Arabic, I said, well I don't know that much but I'm learning of my friend from Iraq :)

Great Week for the Gospel Down Under

I had a great week this week!!! It went super well, and the work is Cranking here, one of the other words I have been using!!!! But the work is going really well here!!!We had 7 Investigators come to church yesterday!! Smashed it!! It was so awesome to see them all there :) They really enjoyed it, we hoped for 10 investigators to come, but We were so pleased when 7 came!!! :) Hopefully we can have that many come again this week, or more, and Transfers is happening again this next Sunday. So you know I told you about the woman the other week, who I was thought was drunk, and well we have been teaching here family, I set a baptismal date with her daughter and her friend and they will be getting baptized on the 1st of March :) It was so awesome, we had a great lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ :) So also this week a cool thing happened, I was able to go in this Jeep Cherokee, that had been done up and had, all the seats taken out except for the front 2 and the rest of the inside of the car was a massive Speaker, with mini Speakers around it, we got in closed the doors and the owner wanted to give me the full experience of the 4 massive sub-woofers in the back, it's about 5,500 watts all together, which is crazy. Also we had Trade-offs and I went with my Tongan Friend Elder Fifita!!!!!!!!! He is the man, We had a great time!!!!!!!! and then we went on Splits in the evening, so I went with a guy from Elder Fifita's ward and he had been a member just under 2 years and So have I and we taught a guy who has been a member for one year, but just less Active, and he needed to be re-taught, so we taught him the Plan of Salvation, and we all had such an awesome chat about joining the church :) So We met some people from El Salvador this week, different families in different locations, It was super random, but i learnt the other week, My Name is Elder King, I'm from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Spanish, so that was really cool, I was able to use it to introduce myself, I'm still practicing my Spanish :) and I got to learn a few basic words in Afrikaans and it was weird as the guy that taught me served in South Africa, he is 27, but one of my good friend's back home was his District Leader when he served :)  I have to get going now! I hope that you have an amazing week and that everything goes well.  -Sam XX

Many New Investigators:)

So at the start of the week, we were driving back at night and we it really dark out we saw a woman falling around, holding onto a bottle as tight as she could, she looked really drunk from the distance so I wanted to go to make sure she was ok, we pulled up and I got out and ran over to her and checked if she was ok, it turns out she was not drunk at all and the bottle she was holding was not alcoholic, well, she was falling around as she had a disability, she actually got hit by a truck when she was younger and it really messed up how she walks etc, I felt really bad that i thought she was drunk from the distance haha, well we got chatting and she told me who she was etc, she lives right near us and that she had a daughter who was 15 etc, she said how her dad got mad at her and kicked her out of the house, she is 36. Well I just wanted to make sure she had somewhere to go she reassured me that everything would be ok, and I asked if we could come and see her the next day to teach her, because I explained who we were and she said yes and we went around taught the 1st lesson and the daughter was there and really liked and also taught the 2nd lesson this week, they have been reading from the Book of Mormon and said they will come to church, and the 2nd time we taught the daughters friend was there and we gave her a book of Mormon and she said she wanted to come to church and try something new :) It has been awesome teaching them, and i will let you know how it goes :)  The awesome thing with this woman was hit by the truck, well she was told she could never have kids, because it was so bad, and well she has a 15 year old and we were talking about how wonderful that is It was so awesome :)Another awesome thing that happened was we were on Trade Offs me and my wonderful friend Elder Connolly from the Factory, yes Utah, from Highland. Me and him and really good friends and just have a good time and work well together, well we were out knocking some doors and we walk around this corner, and there is a road a car slams on the brakes in the middle of the road and a woman calls us saying 'Come here' Come Here' and we go over she says she has not got long, but she has been looking for us everywhere, all over and has been waiting for us, and wants us to come and see her at another day, well the next day we go to her house and she says how she wants to join the church :) and how her ex was a Mormon went on a mission I believe, and she knows all the standards and has no problem, so we are going to start teaching her when her work schedule free's up. It is awesome!!!!!!!!!! Also we have been teaching English a few times this week, to some people from Iraq we started it and it has been soooooo much fun teaching these people, we will continue to do so, over and over and he has learnt a lot already, I thought i would be the worst at teaching English, but It's going really well we are seeing them tomorrow :) So I was sick over the weekend, I still went out and taught English, but I could barely walk, don't know why, it was super weird I went to bed Friday night fine work up and was feeling really bad the whole of Saturday and Yesterday, I had to cancel dinner and all I had no idea what was wrong with me, then i woke up today and I'm fine, like back to normal, I have no idea haha!!! Also something awesome that happened this well it was super cool, I just felt prompted to go and find this woman from Afghanistan who wanted to learn English, we met her the other week and we knew what complex she was in, but for some reason we did not put down the door number, we knew whereabouts as well as it was not a very large complex, well because English lessons had been going so well with this lovely Arabic couple i wanted to go and talk to this woman so I went on the hunt, we knocked a few doors and could not find her, well we were just about to turn back and get in the car to go somewhere else when I wanted to knock on this last door, my companion was not up for it, so i just knocked and some massive island guy came to the door and i started to talking to him, and he was like come in, so we went in, sat down, then this woman walks down the stairs, it is his sister, they are both in there 20's and she is like hello Elders, they explain they are both Inactive but want to come back to church, and I was talking with the guy called Ezra, nicest guy by the way, so sincere and he has not been in chapel doors since he has been 14, he asked me if i was born in the church, they usually expect to hear a yes, I said No I have been a member coming on 2 years now, and he just looked amazed well he just said I'm so proud of you and have so much respect for you, we got chatting and he said you know I think I will come back to church, then he said NO I WILL COME BACK' like really determined he said, I'm going to have to get a new wardrobe, so he is going to start coming back to church after nearly 10 years, and we are seeing him again this Saturday with his sister, who has a child and is pregnant with the 2nd and wants to raise them in the church :) So also the other girl we have been teaching who is 18 and has a kid, says she wants to get baptized :) we need to sort everything out and see if she will get married but also teaching her has been amazing as we talked about the Plan of Salvation she cried!!! It was so touching, her partner, he is not of the same religion, he is of a religion from NZ :)

Lessons & Languages

The new flat we moved into is awesome, expect for there is no hot water, so it sucks just have a freezing cold shower in the morning!!!!!!! Also not 2 much happened since last time, but we have been teaching this girl Georgie and Patrick the ones who are 18 and have a 3 month old and it went super well when, we shared the first vision with them, Patrick said he had Tingles and so did Georgie and Georgie knows it is true :) and Then i shared to Patrick about the first time I ever prayed when I met with the missionaries, and I invited him to Pray and just reassured him that he would be fine and he said the perfect prayer it was so sincere and heart felt and then Georgie came to church this Sunday!!! And we are going to teach them again this week and I want to commit them to Baptism, then we see what happens about them getting married etc it will be awesome :) We have been teaching a guy called MJ he is from Iran and he can never go back, as it is illegal to change religion there and because he fled and came to Australia and wants to become a Christian if he goes back he will be executed, it is so sad, that he left his family and it is sooooo crazy!!!!!!!!!! but he came to church yesterday and we are going to catch up with him this week and see how he found it!!! also we are going to be starting up an English School and teaching people from like the middle East English and I'm going to give someone a lesson tomorrow, he is from Iraq so hopefully that will go well!!! and it was awesome the other week as i met someone from Afghanistan and they spoke Hazaragi as a first language and so i learnt a few simple words and i thought i would never be able to use, then a few days ago and i knock on a door and a woman comes out from Afghanistan, and I ask her to you speak Hazaragi, and she said yes, then i said a few words to her in it, just hello how are you! because that is all i knew, the shock on her face, was unreal, she was like how do you know this language, and i explained i just met someone and asked them, and she should also be coming to the English school then she taught me how to say like God Bless you in it and also in Persian!!! :) So Also Next week, I Believe is Australia Day!! So i think all the shops will be shut, so i might have to email on Tuesday or something!  I really want to have a bbq here on Aussie Day it would be mean!!!!! :)  i Have no idea how teaching them English will go, we will see!!! Hopefully i can learn some Arabic from the guy tomorrow, even just a word or 2, :) I was able to say how are you to someone yesterday in Malayalam, and Language spoken in the South of India, and the woman understood it as are next door neighbors speak it, I learnt a bit more Hindi, so I can say like hello, how are you, my name is, what is your name, nice to meet you, Do you speak English, I'm from England, Thank you my Friend, and like Very Good etc, so real basic, but it is awesome to be able to say it, because they just love that an effort is being made!!!! :)  It is pretty funny, so I only know like 3 words in or so in Mandarin, and one of them is like No worries or No Problem, so that is the only thing i say to them and then they think i can speak Mandarin and they just start going hard, and i have no idea what is going on, then i say to them i can't really speak it, that is one of the only words I know haha, I want to learn in Mandarin and say to a Chinese person, 'Yes I'm Fluent in Mandarin, In fact Mandarin is my Mother Tongue' and then just sit back see what happens, and have no idea what is going on a just keep smiling at them and nodding my head haha!!! I have heard back home, that it has been the wettest January in History or something like that and that the floods have still be causing problems!!! That is so crazy!!!!!!!!!!!! While over here apparently we have been getting a heat wave, which I have been loving!!!!!!!  So here in the ABM we have to learn scriptures and do memorization, so obviously i know my purpose as a missionary, then i have learnt D&C 4 The Standard of Truth, Helaman 5:12, My missionary commission and Moroni 10:32 and there will be more to come!!!! 

Learning Many Languages Even in Australia!

The area is awesome, we have heaps of opportunity for upcoming baptisms, well 4!! This less active women wants her child baptized, so we will start teaching her and then set a date for the baptism, that is if the child wants to get baptized, then get in contact with the family and then they will fly in from America for it :) Then this other Family, well they are less active and the daughter is 18 and has just had a baby, and her partner is 18, so it's a young couple, and she has been asking a bunch of questions about Baptism, and thinks it sounds awesome, and I remember when I was talking to Patrick I was sharing how i was 18 when i joined the church, it's weird to think that I'm nearly 20 now! It has gone so fast!!! Well I shared my story with him and about how the gospel can bless us, we are going back tomorrow for the first proper lesson :) So we will need to get them married, before they are baptized, but I can deff see it happening in not that long a time, then there is another connection to this family, and the niece lives in Northern Queensland, she is 18 and wants to get baptized as she knows joining the church and loves the standards etc is the right thing, so is coming down these ways to live at the end of this month, so we will start teaching her and she should be baptized so heaps of miracles have been happening!!! We are really working hard, and we had interviews with President Henderson yesterday and this was the best one so far!!! It went really well, and he pretty me said how I'm training Elder Naumann, and how i will be training one day, someone who is new so like i will eventually get someone who is 1st day out on the mission! which i was awesome as we talked about this, and i can see how I have been progressing loads as a missionary lately :) smashing out the work :) also with the Languages I have been fascinated with Languages the last few weeks I can now say hello and how are you in 42 languages :) this week with Sinhalese, Tamal ) and I'm learning to bless the food in Mauri :) It has been so much fun, also I have properly been trying to learn French lately not just like hello, how are you bye, but the whole thing and it has been going really well, had my first proper conversation in French with some yesterday :) It has helped as i have picked it up quick because I have been living with a French person, so in the last week, i have just been studying it and i have remembered it, then i just talk to him with it and make sure the way i say it is clear and that he can understand :) but I don't want to move houses from him as i have been with him for nearly 7 months of my mission, i have lived with elder Ly Waut like the whole time so we are super good friends, me and him are real close now and his English is Boss!!!!!! We were also able to do service yesterday, by just helping some guy, lift a washing machine quite some way to his house, he found it on the side on the road and was trying it on his own, we were able to helped him, found out that he has just came from Iraq and has been in Australia for 2 months, we are going to help him out as he lives near us!!! also we found a fridge at the side of the road, it was was kind on a mini fridge but a lot bigger, but not bigger enough to be a proper size one, so like in between medium size hhaa, well we some how fitted it in the car, we made it fit haha, then cleaned the crap out of it, and it worked fine, going to go hard a just fill it with drinks, like Mountain Dew or something hhaha :) So I'm out of time now, have a great week!! 

Fantastic Week In His New Area!

 I Have actually had a fantastic week :) It has been super good, and I'm loving my new area it is really awesome, but what is making me love this new area is my new ward!!! It is super awesome, the people are so friendly and welcoming and they were sooooo pleased I was from London England, as it is super super rare to have an English Elders serve out here, there is one other English elder and he does not have that long left, and then I will be the only one!!! For most people, in this side of the world, I'm the only English Elder they have ever met!!! So it is super awesome getting to meet all these awesome people!! I have been trying to learn just like hello and how are you the basic in different languages and I can say it in about 30 different languages, the crazier ones being Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Mauri (the native language of New Zealand) and Hungarian etc!! and plus it's like i'm serving in Asia here, no joke, just Asian people! There are 9 missionaries in my new ward and me and my companion are the EMP English elders and the rest are Mandarin (Chinese) Speaking :) I had some of the coolest experiences this week, one that just happened about 20mins just as we were heading to emails, are next door neighbour is deaf and is this Black African from London England and I was talking to him, with whiteboards, I would write something on a white board, he would write back, we then would erase it and write more, he was the coolest guy and As i know some people in the deaf community, we are going to arrange for them to meet :) The other night we went out to Dinner with the Ward Mission Leader, and we went to this Thai place, I just had Spicy Pork Belly, but it was pretty mean :) So on Saturday it was the hottest day here in Brisbane since like 2002, or 2005 something like that it got to 42 degrees Celsius which I'm not sure what it is in Fahrenheit deff over a 100 and we were knocking doors in it!!! An awesome experience though, as i would not be serving here in the 'Sunshine state' if it was not 42 degrees and knocking on doors haha! It's super quick and i have been just loving my mission, the i have become a changed missionary lately and I can feel the difference!!! and with 2014 here it's just become a little bit more real that I'm coming back not that long!!! and My companion is super quite, and does not talk a lot, a great guy, love him to death, just trying to get him out of his shell, because if i don't talk to him, then like no words are said!!!!!!!!! Im running short on time, but next week, i will write you this awesome thing that happened last night :) So about the miracle that happened before this happened my last week in Bracken Ridge, so i was church and woman came and sat next to me and thought she recognized me, i remembered her face but not where from, so we were talking and she asked me if i used to be on the Gold Coast, and i said yea i used to serve there, and then we realized who each other was, i was working with a less active down on the GC, it was her cousin and i was around his house, and i met her had a great chat with her, then said goodbye, she was not sure if she should come to church, up in Brisbane North ways but felt like she was prompted to go and then met me there, a few months on, she said it was a sign from God as she has been praying, she said how much of blessing and how much i meant to her etc!! and then the next day, she needed a blessing on the home and family members, she did not have my number, called the mission office and got the number for Bracken Ridge, she called it and another Elder answered she was super disappointed it was him and not me, that is what she said, she said it had to be me hhaha, then the elder told me we need to go give a blessing, he was not my companion, just another one i lived with, so i did not know i was going to see her, we went there knocked on the door and she came and she was so pleased to see me, and apparently i had to be the one to give the blessing, because she just felt something about me hahaha, it was an awesome thing that happened!!!

Transferred Again!!!

 HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! well as I right this 2 you, It is new Years Eve and I have to be back in the flat soon! Also as I write this to you, I'm writing it from my New Area!!!!!! That's right I got transferred here about 30mins ago hahah I'm now in Eight Mile Plans :) I have my new companion he is new on the mission, been out just 3 months and is from the Factory, Yes Utah hahaha! I'm excited for this transfer, going to smash the work here! Can't believe I already finished my time in Brisbane North! Saying goodbye to Caitlyn was super difficult and hard, but I told her it's not goodbye, It's only a See Ya Later!  I had a great time in my last area! I know I was meant to have been there! and have met Caitlyn and go to the Temple with her!  I can't believe 2014 is here! and that when I will be in 2014 it will still be 2013 for you haha! I'm looking forward to this coming year and to share this wonderful spiritual experiences with you as well!  So one of the sisters was from Finland like i mentioned before my friend Sister Pherminson and she was baptized my President Henderson. the mission presidents son, who I met today :) I got a picture with him! It was awesome as he served there 3 years ago! Such a small world and it was crazy as i was talking to this sister missionary who i was in the mtc with, she is from Colorado Springs, Colorado and well i know the people in her ward hahah! Such a small world! It's pretty awesome and I did'nt tell you about my friend Elder Blinkov he is from Russia, I met him a few months back, he awesome, we get on super great, it was funny as i learnt a little bit of Russian of him, then later met a woman in the streets who was from Russia and got to use it yesterday! :)  also I have been working on my study journal lately and have been making it all fancy and flash or whatever and It's really helped me! I know having a good structured and organized study journal has already helped me become a better missionary, and the work will keep on being smashed! my new Zone will be awesome, I have a lot of awesome people hear! so my friend Elder Ly Waut from Tahiti, well I lived with him for the half a year i was in the Gold Coast and guess what I'm living with him again, when we saw that we were living with each other again we went crazy haha, it was sooo exciting haha! Have a Happy NEW YEARS AND START TO 2014!