Big City Life

Hey everyone, this week was pretty eventful. Midway through, I got transferred to a new area called Ryde, which is about an hour north of where I was before and just outside of the main city of Sydney. It feels like I'm a new missionary all over again. But it's been good and I'm excited to be working in a new area. This one has a full Mandarin ward so I am learning even more Chinese.

I'll start off with some experiences that I had in my old area, both finding, teaching and saying goodbye to the people I had met there.

We said goodbye to our friend Sidney last week when he returned to China. We met him his very first week in Australia, become his first friends, and had a great time with him when he would come to church activities like our basketball night. We missed Sidney, but not for long. Just a week later, I saw a younger guy on the street wearing a Lakers jersey. I asked him if he liked Lebron James and that seemed to be the only English he knew. He got really excited and asked me if I liked basketball, and if I knew anywhere to play. His was very similar to Sidney, they were even the same height. His name is Kevin, this is his FIRST week in Australia and we were the first people he became friends with. It's amazing seeing how the Lord will just put these people in our paths. It makes me really grateful that I opened my mouth and talked. I've learned that the Lord requires commitment and effort from us, and then He will take that and magnify it, blessing us beyond measure.

I finally saw the GIANT SPIDER

I was behind a huge construction truck pulling a trailer on the highway. As we followed behind the truck, I suddenly noticed movement. Something was scurrying across the face of it. I pulled a little closer and we realized that a Giant Huntsman spider was climbing with its alien-looking legs all over the back of this truck. It was pretty insane, we were going like 50 miles an hour and it was just hanging right on. I was so hyped to finally see the famous giant spider of Australia. The thing was bigger than my hand when it's stretched all the way out. I'm glad my first encounter with it was in the safety of my own car and looking through the windshield. It is literally a freak of nature.

As we got in the car one time to leave for an appointment, the steering wheel locked up. The brake wouldn't work, the car wouldn't turn on, and the wheel wouldn't turn. I remembered the same thing happening with my stick-shift back home but there was no clutch in this car for me to press (that always fixed the problem). So I got out the car manual and started thumbing through it, all while Elder Yi was making suggestions in Chinese and leaning over me from the back seat to try to turn the key, and while Elder Feng discussed it with him. There was a lot of chaos as I tried to find the solution in the book. Then I hear someone else talking and see that Elder Feng has someone on the phone. Within 3 seconds of Elder Feng explaining the problem he tells us what to do to fix it and hangs up (wiggle the steering wheel while you turn the key). I ask my Elder Feng 'who is that guy' and he explains that it's his old companion who is now back home in Taiwan. He's an expert with cars. I thought it was pretty cool that this return missionary in Taiwan just solved our car problem in Australia in 3 seconds and then went back to his daily life.

We were doing our planning on Wednesday morning. All of our phones have an app that missionaries use for planning and depending on where you are, it gives you information on the members in that area. When I opened mine that day, it said I was in a different area. We called the missionaries in that area (about an hour north of us) and they said that one of them was getting the same thing on their planner app. This other missionary and I had apparently switched areas. The weird thing was, it was nowhere near transfer day (every 6 weeks) and usually the mission president's assistants will call you if you are getting transferred. We thought it was probably just a mistake with the app, and we just kept going throughout our day until the assistants called 4 hours later and said I'm being transferred to Ryde and I should get ready to leave the next day. I was feeling a mixture of emotions at the time. I was excited to go to a new area and begin the work there. I looked forward to meeting a bunch of new people. But I was pretty sad to be leaving my current area. There are people I've met here who as we've taught them I've grown really close to. I wanted to be with them along the way while they progressed. I was sad to say goodbye to my companions, who have been super fun and have been helpful. It's weird to get moved, you get so attached to everyone and everything and then suddenly you're uprooted and planted somewhere else. This is missionary life. But I decided to make the most of my last day in the area and worked hard. We called some of the people we've been teaching to tell them that I'll be leaving, and it was really touching because they were all so sad. And they all wanted to meet the next day before I left so we managed to schedule a bunch of lessons all right next to each other. And most of them are people who can't usually meet during the week. Our friend Tina works every day. She's hard to schedule with because she's so busy, and can only meet on Sundays. But when we said that I'm leaving, she said 'can we meet tomorrow?' It was really sweet. And the members that we told were all really sad. They were all a little mad at whoever was in charge of the transfer: 'they can't do that, we need you!' It made me feel like I've really made an impact on this area for the time I've been here. Looking back, I realized that things have totally turned around. When Elder Feng and I showed up 2 months ago, there was 1 person to teach (who later lost interest) and that was it. There wasn't anyone to bring to church, no English class, nothing. But we worked hard and by the end we had 2-3 new people coming to church every week, we had restored people to activity in the church, members had received callings, we were teaching more than 10 new people the gospel and over 20 new people English. We had restarted English class and grown it up to a size where we actually had to split it up for multiple levels of proficiency, and we had 4 or 5 investigators coming to Sports Night each week. And that's not what really matters. We had come in and loved the people. Wherever we could, we served and lifted. It made me feel good to know that I had a positive impact on the people here and that I was an instrument in the Lord's hand to serve His children. After I thought about that, I felt at peace with leaving and motivated to go do the same type of thing over in Ryde.

When I first heard I was being transferred to Ryde, I remembered the flat that they stay in there. I had a flashback to my first night on the mission when I stayed at that apartment. Dirty, dark and certainly not sanitary are words that I would use to describe that forsaken place. Oh, the irony of being sent back there. I committed to deep clean the place, until I had a better idea. I realized there was a vacant flat just down the street from the one I would be living in. So I called the mission office and asked if we could move there instead. They did me one better and told me they would hire someone to clean the new one before we move in. So, I still have to endure the gross flat for a few days until we move into a sanitary one on Wednesday. We're incredibly blessed over here in Australia and the mission office really takes care of us.

We went to visit Isaac, our friend from Nigeria, one last time before I left. We walked onto the driveway and his whole family was outside. I loved talking to him and his kids and he explained how he runs a business to send clothes back to Africa for people in need. I just think this guy is so awesome, supporting 7 kids, serving others and always smiling. I love how in Australia I get to meet people from so many different cultures. It shows me that everyone is a child of God and it's pretty easy to love anybody.

When Sister Lam, a member in our ward, found out I was leaving, she insisted on taking us to dinner. She told us to meet her on this street corner at 7, and when we showed up we expected to eat the typical Chinese street food and didn't think much of it. Then we walk down the street with her and we're led into this massive building that looks like a palace. It's a country club and we're just looking at each other like 'where are we' because this place was crazy nice. There were fountains left and right, perfectly trimmed hedges, and everything seemed to be covered in gold. We take an elevator up to the buffet and there's literally every food imaginable. We had planned on just eating noodles that night so it was pretty nice. While we munched on some crab, sushi and shrimp, Sister Lam told us her amazing conversion story and the subsequent 19 people that were baptized as a result over the next 40 years. I really appreciated her being so generous to us. Some members treat the missionaries so well and always look for ways to serve us. It was really sweet. And I took advantage of the chocolate cake they had at the buffet. That was also really sweet. I haven't had American food in so long.

At a member's house we were presented with some kind of noodles, floating in vinegar with cucumbers and onions. Then Annie, the member, handed me a bottle of a new kind of hot sauce that she had just bought and wanted to try. I wanted to overpower the vinegary taste so I dumped a liberal amount into the bowl. As soon as I did so, my companions and Annie looked at me in surprise and then told me to be careful. They each took the bottle and put just a few drops of the sauce into their own bowls. They said it was REALLY spicy and you don't need that much. Too bad I already had a bunch all over my noodles. So, out of respect I began eating. My first bite wasn't too spicy, I looked at them wondering why they had made such a big deal out of the sauce. I ate a few more bites and then it started to kick in. Over the next minute what started as a spicy tingling sensation transformed into a wildfire in my mouth. I thought the only way to stop it would be to keep eating so I kept shoveling in the spicy noodles. Finally I had to stop when my entire head was red and I was unable to speak. It was among the worst pain I've felt in my life. The fire wouldn't be quenched by the cups of water I drank. I realized I had made a fatal mistake and there was nothing I could do now. I did my best to just get through the pain and learned a new definition of 'enduring to the end'. I was only comforted by the fact that everyone else at the table seemed to be experiencing the same thing, also misjudging how spicy that sauce really was. For a frame of reference, this sauce would put the Blazing Challenge at Buffalo Wild Wings to shame. After about 20 minutes, the pain began to subside and it was pretty funny. 

My last lesson with Tina was really powerful. I have come to love her so much and have such a strong desire for her to learn more about the gospel. She loves the scriptures and told us about how she's even started sharing then with her boss at work. I loved explaining to her the change that I've seen in her since she started learning about the gospel. We began teaching about the Plan of Salvation and Tina had a LOT of questions. It's a really good thing to ask questions but we ended up getting down so many tangents that I felt like she was getting a bit overwhelmed by all the new information. I was praying to know the best way to teach her and then I had a prompting. We were at the chapel and I felt like I should play her a Primary song on the piano and give her the Chinese words so that she could read along. I brought the gospel discussion to a pause and told Tina that I wanted her to listen to a song. I sang along softly the parts I knew in Chinese. The Spirit came in while I was playing and Tina could FEEL that we really are God's children and that He loves us. It was just what she needed. The simple truths portrayed in the song are ones that little children can understand. Afterward, we bore our testimonies and Tina expressed her gratitude for teaching her the gospel, and her faith that it is true and that she wants to continue to learn. It filled me with joy and I was really sad to say goodbye to her. I'm grateful for the opportunity I've had to see the gospel really change somebody's heart. It really is a miracle how much light and joy the gospel can bring to a person.

So on Friday morning my companions and I drove to Ryde where we switched companions. My new companion Elder Wang is pretty cool. He's from China and one very interesting thing I learned about him is that his birthday is messed up. He was born in March but because whoever wrote his birth certicate messed up the number, his legal birthday is in July. So when he wanted to get a driver's license, he had already turned the correct age in March but had to wait 4 months. He even celebrates his birthday in July. Who knew the government could change your birthday? Worst typo ever. Anyway, Elder Wang is great and I'm really excited to be his new companion. 

I went to the main city for our first meeting as a new district. I really enjoyed it, Sydney is amazing. It's right on the water and the huge buildings and the Operahouse combined with the big blue bay just looks so cool. And there are SO MANY people of every nationality imaginable. It was a complete change of pace from my last area. The chapel is part of a huge skyscraper which is different from what I'm used to. One thing I really liked was that even though the church was in a different building than normal, the Spirit there was the same calm and peaceful feeling as always. No matter where you are, God will always be with you.

My new district is pretty awesome. Between the 14 missionaries, we speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Tahitian, French, Samoan, Mandarin, Cantonese, and a few dialects I've never heard of. Most of the missionaries speak more than 2 languages which I think is so impressive. Only 4 are American including me and so it's a lot of fun being with all the different cultures. 

We went to visit a member who lives in the main city. It was a long and crazy drive to get there because the drivers in the inner city are insane. But we finally showed up and then when we got there, we realized that the lady we were trying to visit had moved. Someone else answered the door, so naturally we told them about the church and the gospel. Her name is Jenny and is a university student from China. Miraculously, she decided to come to church the next day and bring a friend with her. The Lord has such an awesome way of turning things around and making them even better than we had hoped. All we have to do is try and He does the rest.

Elder Wang and I had a lesson with a guy named Sky. We met him at the chapel where we were going to teach him English. He is a carpenter from China and a pretty funny guy. He kept calling me 'buddy'. I wanted to get to know him better since it was our first time meeting. He got to practice English by answering my questions about his life and family. I realized that his mindset on life was mainly about getting money which he told me makes him happy. He seemed to just live in the moment and never wanted to think about anything else. He also said he was an atheist, but wanted me to convince him about God. He said that he had no proof of God so he couldn't believe. I bore my testimony of the power of prayer, and how God will always answer those who ask with sincere desire. Sky had a lot of walls up, built over decades of his personal belief (or lack thereof), so the learning came slowly. But he left the lesson with a better understanding of who God is. It can be hard to teach people who come from a background of not believing anything about God. But I felt the Lord working through me and helping me know what to say. The truth is, there is no scientific evidence that would convince someone who doesn't want to believe in God that He exists. But on the other hand, those who have a desire to know God will see evidence of Him in everything. It really depends on whether or not we are ready to believe. As a missionary, I am grateful for the opportunity to meet people at all different steps on this path, and to do my best to lift each one higher.

For the past 3 days, Elder Wang and I have driven past this one guy in our apartment complex every single time we leave the apartment or come back home. Each time, we see him polishing his big blue Jeep. He's been cleaning it for the past 72 hours. It's sparkling. 

When I showed up to this new area, it was a big adjustment. Back in my old area we had found a bunch of people to teach but it looks like here we will have to start over. I'm committed to working hard and spreading the gospel here. It's a big change but I know the Lord is by my side and I'm ready to hit the ground running.

I love all of your updates, it's always nice to hear about what's going on back in the States. Keep smiling everyone 加油

小海

Elder Halverson