Avoiding a kiss
Hey everyone,
I saw my FIRST KANGAROO this week... dead on the side of the road. But it's a start.
Last week we went to a national park and I learned that in Australia they have jellyfish in the rivers and the wild birds will land on your shoulder. When I found a dock over the river it was really tempting to send it and do a backflip.
We went back to 90 year old Yaermela's house to do service for her and it turned into one of the most unique series of events on my mission. First, we knocked on the door and after a while she appeared at the window, frantically exclaiming that she once again couldn't find her keys. She was locked in the house. She tried in vain to open the window and then went back to looking for her keys. Elder Feng, apparently not getting enough of the climbing from last week, decided that the best course of action would be to scale the fence and investigate her backyard. As we climbed over the fence in our white shirts and dropped into the forsaken landscape that was Yaermela's backyard, I felt like a secret agent. We dodged black widow spiders and what looked like man-eating plants as we made our way through 50 years of accumulated junk to the back door. Now we were in a woman's backyard, trying to help her escape her own house. We finally managed to get inside and then help Yaermela. Things only got more interesting.
Yaermela was running out of food. She is too old to drive and has to walk to the store. We offered to go pick up groceries for her but she insisted on coming because she wanted to pick out the items herself. We volunteered walk with her and carry her bags for her. She said that she needed some time to get ready since it was much too early in the morning to go shopping (it was around 11:30 AM). We told her we would come back later, and after a few other appointments we arrived back at Yaermela's house at 2. When she opened the door, it was clear that she had made a great effort to prepare herself for the outing. She was wearing makeup, bright lipstick and all. Her hair was done up like she was going to a dance. I was excited to help her. She genuinely has nobody to help her and doesn't even have a phone. So the fact that we could help her get some groceries made such a big difference. And as the events went on, I realized that the Lord put us in her life right when she needed us.
Leaving the house took longer than I thought, because Yaermela had a lot of things to bring with us. Right when we were walking out the door, she turned around and began to shout "I can't leave my CHILDREN". She hurried back into the house and hobbled back out with a small box.
We learned soon that her 'children' were 3 small stuffed dogs. She was very worried that while we were gone, her ex-husband would come to the house and steal them. She asked me "if you were looking for something, where would you look?" She wanted to anticipate the worst hiding places so that she could protect her possessions.
Then Yaermela told me that her ex-husband lives in Germany and I was just looking at my companions in bewilderment. But, to alleviate her concerns, we ended up bringing two very old-fashioned handbags full of Yaermela's dolls and stuffed animals to the store with us.
It was raining lightly, so I escorted Yaermela down the street and held an umbrella over her. As she told me stories of the old times, I felt like I was a soldier just home from the war, a true gentleman with a fine lady on his arm. She was so cute. She kept holding onto my arm and saying things like:
"It's been years since I went on a walk in the rain with a handsome young man"
"I should have worn my high heels!"
It made me smile.
It took about 20 minutes to reach the store. Once inside, Yaermela selected a few items like bread and milk, and kept wanting to buy us food as well. We assured her we didn't need anything but finally gave in and allowed her to buy us a Twix bar. Feeling very fulfilled for how patient we were with her and how much we would be helping her, I brought all the groceries to the counter. It was all going very smoothly until Yaermela put in her card and it was declined. She couldn't understand why and of course we had no idea. This was her only card, she had no cash with her or at home, and now she couldn't even buy groceries. As missionaries we aren't allowed to buy things for people, so I tried to help Yaermela find a solution. I found her bank's number and called them. I began to explain the problem but they wouldn't talk to me for privacy reasons, saying that they would only talk to Yaermela. After learning how to hold a mobile phone, she spoke with the bank and grew frustrated because she couldn't hear the girl on the phone that well. Finally she hung up and cast a sidelong glance at me "these people".
We decided to try a nearby ATM. I was relieved when it accepted her card, she selected the option to withdraw some money, and it all looked good. However, once she pressed OK, everything went downhill. The ATM said 'invalid card, retained for security.' Then it sucked her card into its depths and would not return it. At this point Yaermela grew very upset: "how can they do that? That's not right! They can't take my card I have no money!" I totally agreed that it left her in a very serious dilemma. She had literally no money, no transportation, and she was too old to walk very far. I realized that we really needed to help her because she literally would starve if we didn't find a way for her to get some money from her bank. Yaermela was flustered and I calmed her down and assured her that we would help her figure it out. I got some information from the manager of the store and then we trekked back to her house. I called the ATM company who redirected me to the bank. Meanwhile, my companion helped Yaermela sort through ancient-looking bank statements and old cards, looking for identification. The bank again needed to speak with Yaermela. Instead of answering their identification questions so that they could give her a new card, she wanted to know "why every single time I go to that store it will swallow my card? How can they do that to me?"
I helped Yaermela through the process and finally the bank and I concluded that the only thing to do was for Yaermela to go into the nearest bank to get some cash, since she hadn't been verifiable over the phone (she couldn't remember her birthday). I wrote down everything Yaermela needed to know and prepared her bag to go to the bank in the morning (luckily only a 10 minute walk). At this point it had been a few hours and it was too late to go. She was very grateful for our help and I was glad to offer it. I don't know what she would have done. She really might have starved or stayed locked in her house, unable to find the key. But of course the Lord was looking out for her, and led us to her at the perfect time.
We went back to her house a few days later and helped her uncover her dusty old piano. She was delighted when I played a few tunes for her and she was sad when we had to leave. She calls us "E, Phone, and Albert" (Elder Yi, Elder Feng, and me, respectively).
She thanked us on the way out and then grabbed Elder Feng's face and kissed him on the cheek. She went for Elder Yi next who still hadn't realized what was going on. When she came for me I was prepared and stood up to my full height. She wasn't tall enough to get to my face so she just blew me a kiss.
Only on my mission could I have such a unique experience. Yaermela is a sweet spirit and I'm glad I got to spend time with her.
We went to the neighborhood of a less-active member, knocking doors and trying to locate them so that we could see how they were doing. We never ended up finding them, but we did find a woman from Fiji named Wuka who wanted a Book of Mormon and also wanted to meet with missionaries to learn about the gospel. It was pretty awesome seeing how the Lord turns a failure into a success.
After a long day's work, we were excited to get back in the car and head home for dinner. But, when I turned the key, the car wouldn't start. The battery was dead. I recognized this as an opportunity to try a new method for finding people : "excuse me, do you have any jumper cables?"
I felt a lot of fulfillment when we went to a woman named Grace's house to pull the weeds in her garden. She is from Syria and a very kind person. She is suffering from cancer and was overwhelmingly grateful for the simple service we did for her. At one point she came out, pulled me aside and teared up while she asked me:
"I just want to know why. Why are you doing this for me? How could you be this kind and this good?"
That got me. It was so tender and genuine. It was moving to see how much joy I was able to bring to this woman's life. And all I could say was: "Because I believe in Jesus Christ. I'm trying to be like Him and I want you to feel His love for you".
She looked at me for a long time. I could tell that she was just processing the love that she was feeling. I could feel the light of Jesus Christ touching her heart. It was lifting her. Then finally, before she turned to go back inside, she whispered: "God bless you, young man".
It was just such a sweet experience. The true joy and love that I can feel when serving others comes directly from God. It's a gift from heaven and it's what makes me love being a missionary.
Whenever we go to visit members with little kids, I love to spend some time with them. Children are precious and innocent and being around them just makes me feel good. I love seeing the way they find joy in everything and how they are so trusting. I also really like making them laugh. I totally understand why Jesus wanted to be around the children. They're awesome.
While teaching Sofia this week, I felt God giving me the capacity to speak the language. We were eating lunch, and during lunch I made a few comments or asked questions to make small talk, but my Chinese just wasn't working too well and Sofia didn't really understand what I was saying. It's always a little disheartening when someone doesn't understand you. Then after lunch we began teaching the gospel. Sofia had a really important question about one of the principles we were teaching. I began to answer the question and immediately I was filled with confidence and my words flowed smoothly and fluently. It was a massive change from the ability I had to speak just a few minutes prior. In that moment I knew that God was helping me to speak the language because He wanted His daughter Sofia to understand an eternal truth. This has been a pattern on my mission thus far. Sometimes I will struggle to say everything I want to say as well as I'd like to say it when I'm just talking to others about daily life. But without fail, whenever the Lord needs me to share His gospel, I am able to do so without effort. The words just come. I have learned to rely on the Spirit and not get down when my language skills need improvement, because I know that each time the Lord really needs me to speak fluent Chinese, I'll be able to.
Sidney came to Sports Night before going back to China this week. He was so so grateful to be there. He wanted a picture with me and said "you are my first friend in Australia". We can have such a big impact on people without even realizing it. I was touched by how much he appreciated the missionaries' friendship.
A lot of the missionaries here in Australia are from the islands (Tonga, Samoa, etc). There are also a ton of Islander members. I've learned a few things about the Islanders:
-Most of them are very big people. Like a brick. Just big and solid. I learned that they have a food called 'taro' which is basically a potato except 5x as dense. So eating a lot of taro makes you big.
-They love to laugh. They laugh at everything, super loud. It's very lively around them. And they are very friendly. They love to make friends with everybody.
-They are stellar volleyball players. They love to hit things as hard as they can, so when they get up in the air and spike the ball with Hulk-like power, it looks like a bullet. Stopping the ball can result in a broken finger. I witnessed firsthand this week that after someone broke their finger playing volleyball, the Islanders decided that the best way to fix it was pull on it as hard as possible. They distracted their friend and then when he wasn't expecting it, pulled his finger without restraint. Then they all thought it was hilarious when he yelped in pain. I don't think it did anything to fix the finger but it was really entertaining. I love this culture so much. These people are awesome.
-They believe that the more they feed the missionaries, the more blessings they get. This is a real thing. So it is commonly known in our mission: 'if you work in an Islander area you will gain a lot of weight'. They LOVE to feed the missionaries and insist that they eat as much as humanly possible. (The standard for humanly possible differs between me and Islanders)
-They have even bigger and stronger testimonies than they do muscles. When they talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's powerful and moving. They inspire me with how much they love God.
I'm so excited about Tina. We have been teaching her for over a month now and she is really progressing. She finds a lot of joy in the scriptures. After she expressed how much happiness she feels because of God, we thanked her for bearing her testimony. She said: "that's a testimony? I have a testimony?"
We assured her that she definitely did, and it was awesome to watch her countenance change as she realized what she knew to be true. I've watched the gospel bring light to her life and it's beautiful. Seeing other people come to a knowledge of the truth is really special. I'm so grateful to be a missionary and be able to be part of such an amazing process.
I love seeing how the Lord lines things up perfectly. One such experience was this week when our friend Mr. Wang called us and told us he had just lost his job. He's been working here for a while and sending money back to China to support his family. Since he doesn't speak English, finding work in Australia is difficult. On the phone, he sounded very discouraged and sad. I could feel his worry for his family. I wanted to help however I could. Then came the miracle.
We received his phone call while we were out advertising our English class. Upon learning about Mr. Wang's job, I said a silent prayer in my heart that we would be able to help his situation in some way. Then I went back to work, talking to everyone I saw on the street about our English class. Not 30 minutes after the phone call, we met Mr. Zhang, a man who was remarkably similar to Mr. Wang. Both are from China, here in Australia working in construction to support their families back home. Like Mr. Wang, Mr. Zhang wanted to learn English. We were able to sit down and teach him right then and there. As we got to know him, I saw the Lord giving us the perfect opportunity. Mr. Zhang randomly told us that a position had just opened up at his construction company and was looking for a worker. When I heard that I just said to God: "Thank you". He set it up perfectly.
So, we got Mr. Zhang in contact with Mr. Wang and the rest is history. Pretty amazing miracle. I believe that we can see miracles every day in our lives. The Lord is always lining things up for our benefit- we just need to look for it.
Being a missionary can be very discouraging at times, like when people just hate you on the street even though they've never met you. I think a much more fun attitude is to love people even though you've never met them. It makes life a lot better. I am learning to rely on the Lord and He always helps me see the miracles of the day. I love helping others and doing my best. I'm grateful for the hard times because they help me grow. Before we all came to Earth, no one said it would be easy. But amidst the challenges there takes place a miracle: growing closer to our Heavenly Father and eventually returning to live with Him again. That's the goal. Can't wait to keep spreading the good news.
你什么时候会结婚
Elder Halverson
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