Sydney Harbor at sunrise

What's up everyone, this morning I went to the Sydney Harbor Bridge and watched the sunrise which was pretty awesome. I am convinced that if you look at the sky long enough you will believe in God. It's just so awesome.

This week I've been working hard to get this area moving. That means we've been doing a lot of finding. Talking to new people all the time always leads to some miracles and some cool experiences. 

When I got to this area, I asked Elder Wang where he liked to go tracting and he said that no one in this area goes tracting because it doesn't work. In fact, in the 6 months he had been there he hadn't knocked a single door. But when I told him that I had a feeling we should try it, he was willing. The first 2 days we were rejected more times than I can count. After hours of little to no success, we were ready to give up on tracting. I thought that maybe everyone was right in saying that it doesn't work and it was a waste of time. But I kept getting the feeling that we just needed to try a new approach. I was reading in Alma 8 about when Alma gets really discouraged and leaves the city because no one will listen. But then an angel tells him to try again. He goes back and 'enters the city by another way'. I felt like I needed to go into our area by another way and so that morning when we did our plan I didn't mark anywhere in specific to go to knock doors. When I started driving, I just felt prompted about where to turn. 10 minutes later we ended up in an obscure culdesac. We knocked one door, no answer. Another, no answer. A third and a lady looked through the curtains and then ignored us. Then we arrived at the end of the culdesac. I knocked and a young Chinese woman holding a baby opened the door. "Nǐ hǎo" I said. Apparently that was all she needed to hear because then she motioned for us to come in, bustling about getting us comfortably seated and offering us drinks. It was so opposite to what we were used to that Elder Wang and I were looking at each other in amazement: 'is this real?' The feeling that we were witnessing a true miracle increased when she sat down with us and after a few minutes of us explaining who we were, she asked us when we would be free to come back and teach her family about the gospel. She was so excited to make dinner for us and have us come over and share our message with her mom, husband and 3 kids. I was so taken aback at how kind and willing she was. Her name is Lily and I know that being led to her was a miracle. It showed me that God didn't want me to give up, he just needed me to show some faith. And as a result, we were led by the Spirit to find a new family to teach. God is using us to build this area from the ground up.

We try to visit members on occasion and one morning while planning I looked at the map and had a good feeling about this one lady named Yi Jie Chou. We showed up at the house and an Australian guy answered the door. I asked if by any chance he knew Yi Jie Chou and he said that's his wife. Then he invited us in and told us he was a member but he and his wife hadn't been to church in about 6 months. We sat down and had a really good conversation where I know he felt the love God has for him. I told him that the Spirit had led us to his house that day for a reason and he agreed. He felt like God was reaching out. He shared about what he's been going through and I was able to share some applicable scriptures. He really appreciated us coming and I know he felt the Spirit. It was amazing to see how we worked as instruments in the Lord's hands.

Advertising English class with the sisters in our district was a lot of fun. One of them is American and so when the two of us speak Mandarin to the Chinese people they completely lose their minds. It never gets old. Also one funny thing I've noticed is that when we say 'free English class' to Chinese people that already speak English, they always want to make sure we know that they speak English. But most of them are too shy or too polite to come up and say 'hey I already speak English' so they find creative ways to do it. Like one guy right after he heard us say 'free English class' pulled out his phone and started talking to clearly no one but just wanted to flex his English. I think the Chinese culture is pretty funny. The Chinese word they use (保全面子) means protect your face which is basically saving face. That's what they're all about. I love Chinese people.

Although my Chinese is improving, I still make funny mistakes. One of my favorites from this week was while finishing a conversation at the door with a Chinese guy we met. He was complimenting my Chinese "it sounds fluent!" and then of course I decided to try to show off and compliment his flower-patterned shorts. But instead of saying 'I like your shorts' I said 'I like your belly'. The guy looked like he wasn't sure whether to be offended or scared and then shut the door. It's all part of the learning experience.

I received a marriage proposal this week when I went up to a Chinese man on the street and started talking to him. After a few words he interrupted me to call his 25 year old daughter in China, then introduced us on Facetime. Apparently he wanted me to marry his daughter. I was flattered but don't worry I didn't accept the offer :)

So... we were tracting one day and realized a problem around 5 PM. We were no longer the only ones going from home to home and knocking doors. Suddenly there were little kids dressed as ghosts, witches and all manner of superheroes everywhere to be found. I guess I had forgotten it was Halloween, probably since I'm not used to Halloween being 90 degrees and sunny. But anyway, I'm pretty sure a bunch of people thought we were really big kids dressed as business people. We didn't end up going trick or treating. Maybe next year.

I like to mix things up and keep things fun while we're out finding people to teach. At one point I told my companion that no matter who they were, I would speak only Chinese with the next person we met. He didn't believe me until 2 minutes later when he was struggling to translate my Chinese into English for the native Australian we were talking to. It was good practice for both of us. I think the lady we were talking to ended up thinking I grew up in China or something. 

When we went to Lily's house for dinner, I wasn't expecting the chaos of her 3 kids who had been anxiously waiting for us to arrive. Lily had told her 5 year old daughter Elsa (yes, she is really named after the princess from Frozen) about her new 'teachers' and Elsa presented us with a picture of a little girl with two guys. She explained that it was us and her. She had drawn us based on the way her mom described us, before we even met her. It was so sweet. We spent a while helping Elsa pronounce English words and got to know the family more. I loved sitting on the floor with Elsa and reading her a book in English. It just felt so special to be able to sit in a home with this precious little family, the grandma in the kitchen making Chinese food for us and the kids wanting to show us their dance moves. Lily is one of the kindest people I've met. Even though it was only our first time visiting her, I felt like we had been friends for years based on the way she treated us. I am so excited to be able to share about Jesus Christ with her and watch it bring her family closer together. 

One upside to the dilapidated apartment that we live in is that it has a balcony that opens up to the rainforest. In the mornings I read my scriptures out there and one time I tried lining the balcony with little pieces of bread. Within a few minutes there were 15 cockatoos and parrots fluttering all around me. They even ate out of my hand. Now they come back every morning. I'm still trying to figure out how to attach little Book of Mormons to their legs so they can deliver them all over the jungle.

We had a lesson with a lady named Jennifer after church on Sunday. She didn't know anything about God or Jesus Christ and so it was a special experience to share with her that she has a Father in heaven that loves her. She started crying when she learned about how she can talk to Him through prayer. It was amazing how the Spirit came in and transformed that little classroom into a powerful place of learning. I was grateful to be able to help Jennifer realize her own divine nature, that she is a daughter of God and that He has so much in store for her. In these moments, I am always edified just as much as the person we're teaching. It's like I'm learning it for the first time all over again. Taking someone through the process of gaining a knowledge and testimony of God is a blessing for me.

This week was a challenge, but I always look for the good times and we saw a lot of little miracles this week. And I think if it's not hard it's probably not worth it. I'm learning a lot and experiencing a lot. It's pretty awesome to be a missionary and do this full-time.

Hope you all have an awesome week, I love your weekly updates. 

我差点丢了你的名牌，但是我找到了。加油

Elder Halverson