Sawyer's adventures in Australia

Hey Merry Christmas everybody🎅 This week a big change was that I got a new companion. I am still training Elder Chang but we were also unexpectedly joined by Elder Hsu from Taiwan. He's been out for over a year and loves basketball. So now the three of us are in a trio. And I've officially been companions with every Chinese missionary in our mission. It's pretty fun.  This week we had some awesome experiences. The Spirit is strong here in Sydney. We were planning a lesson for our friend Lily who we've been visiting for a while. We wanted to really connect with her and help her see how the gospel can affect her life. We sat there for a long time trying to come up with a lesson that we felt good about and we were just hitting a wall. We couldn't come up with anything. Finally the thought came that we just needed to ask questions. I remembered the promise from Jeffrey R. Holland that says if you ask questions and then listen, people will always tell you s...

---------- Forwarded message --------- From:  Ting Zhang   < zhangting0345@gmail.com > Date: Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:55 AM Subject: Fwd: 2019 Christmas cards to missionaries To: < hai.chen@missionary.or >, < hui.yi@missionary.org >, < jing.chang@missionary.org >, < rachel.berger@missionary.org >, < sawyer.halverson@missionary.org >, < songmingming@missionary.org > Dear Missionaries of Ryde Ward, This is Ting. Thanks for all the happy moments you help me to enjoy my life on earth. I am so fond of you guys, you made me want to be 10 years younger and serve a mission with you guys. Because I care so much that I really hope your success in your growth and your happiness everyday. Hope we can become long term friends. Please refer to the attached for a little Christmas greeting card (serves as a key to my house🤗). love, ting And I am excited to share my journal today titled “My big progress from September Stake Conference”...

---------- Forwarded message --------- From:  Ting Zhang   < zhangting0345@gmail.com > Date: Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 8:53 AM Subject: Re: a bond between mothers ^_^ To: Sawyer Halverson < sawyer.halverson@missionary.org > Cc: Jeremy Mo < Jeremymo2529@gmail.com > Elder Halverson, Please pass along this letter to your special mother for this Christmas. Dear Sister Halverson, This is Ting, a member of the Chinese ward in Sydney that Elder Halverson serves in. Pardon me for my abruptness in writing a letter to you. Ever since Elder Halverson introduces you as "my mother is very special" and I noticed the blue t-shirt you made for him writing "Forget Yourself" in Chinese, I have this burning feeling in my heart that I want to connect with you somehow.  I am a mother of three little boys, to the modern Chinese culture and a convert to the church, it is an out of norm thing. When I see Elder Halverson and his companions' dedication in ...

Hey everybody, this week is transfers, tomorrow Elder Song will be taking off with a different companion (my old companion Elder Yi), and I'll be training Elder Chang. Now we're going to have 6 missionaries in the Ryde area. The president feels there is more and more work to do here which is really encouraging. Elder Chang is an awesome missionary already and he's so helpful with teaching me Chinese. The goal is that by the end of my mission I'll be able to call someone in the phone in Chinese and they won't know I'm white. Shoot for the stars right? It's been a good week and we had a lot of opportunities to share the gospel and especially LEARN and GROW. Man I used to be such an unteachable person, I thought I knew everything (Sorry Mom), but being out here and relying on the Lord really shows me how much room I have to grow. I am trying to be humble and remember that God has a way bigger plan than I do. That's when you always find the miracles. I ...

Hola everybody, this week has a ride- it started off with a huge meeting with all the missionaries. Our Christmas conference was a blast. Every missionary in the whole mission came. Some are 6 hours away and made the long trip to all be together. We had a big meeting at the chapel and it was really powerful to be with all the missionaries and feel their dedication. I also got to see all my old companions which was super great. Our mission president's wife, Sister Runia, helped us all see a miracle that strengthened my testimony. In her preparation for the conference, she was studying and asking the Lord what He wanted her to speak about. She said that she felt inadequate and wasn't sure that she was the right person to address us. She doubted herself and asked the Lord for help. Then she heard the words to a song come to mind. "Yet what I can, I give Him. Give Him my heart". The words to the song uplifted her and helped her know that she was doing her best and ...

Hey everyone, I think it's pretty crazy that it's cold over in America because where I am it's in the 90s every day. I hope everyone had an awesome week, I know that here in Sydney it was a good time. Elder Song and I got a lot done and had fun along the way.  The weekly sports night at the chapel is pretty fun, but it comes with its challenges. As a missionary, whenever you invite someone to a church activity, you are almost solely concerned with whether or not they enjoy it. Combine this with multiple people to watch over as well as church members that you want to further develop a relationship with, and you feel as if there are too much to do and wishing you could be two places at once. Most of the Chinese people I've met, particularly the girls and women, are pretty shy. If no one talks to them they will stand isolated in the corner. Seeing that happen brings one the worst feelings that a missionary can have, since we're so worried about whether or not th...