Backflips at the Sydney Operahouse

Hey everybody hope you're having fun with the snow and the cold, it's in the 80s here in Australia. We had another good week and honestly a lot of cool moments. The biggest thing I'm learning right now is how to rely on the Lord and always trust that He has a plan for us even when we can't see it for ourselves.

We had an amazing opportunity to go to the Sydney Operahouse and watch a performance. Our mission president authorized it and sent all us missionaries from the city to go see an acrobatics show. It was so awesome, seeing people do flips and stuff was so exciting and reminded me of my life back home where I was always jumping off cliffs and bridges and stuff. It was the first time I've gone to a show and said all my side comments in Chinese, since half the missionaries there were the Chinese ones. It was a great experience to do something 'touristy', and it's forever crossed off my Sydney bucket list.

I went on a trade off with Elder Escamilla who's from the states. I had a good time in his area doing some Korean and some English work. There were a few lessons that day that really stuck out to me. The first was with a guy named Byron, a 22 year old guy who had just gotten engaged. He was elated and I couldn't help but smile as he told us about his dreams for a temple marriage. I could feel the Spirit coming from him and how excited he was to overcome all obstacles and be able to be married forever. He was inspiring to me because he was a returning member to the church. He'd been out of the church for years and now he was recently coming back. He said "Elders, coming back to church is the best decision I've ever made and I'm never looking back" and man I could FEEL his faith. I could feel the power behind his words and I knew it came from his own relationship with God. It was just a 30 minute blast of the Spirit and discussing how the gospel can bless our lives. I left the lesson with a smile on my face, I couldn't help it. The Spirit makes us feel good, and happy, and joyful. And I was inspired by that humble guy who was fighting for what he knew was right. 

The next lesson was with a guy named David who was trying to return to church. He had some serious struggles and I was sitting there just feeling like 'man some people's lives are so tough. God, how can I help?'. Then I felt all these Book of Mormon stories come to mind. We shared them with David and they tied in perfectly with what he was feeling. He left really motivated and I knew the Spirit was at work.

After some lessons, Elder Escamilla and I went finding in a Chinese/Korean area. It was so cool because we had all three languages locked and loaded. We'd go up to people from all cultures just ready to take them on. Oh, you don't speak English? Boom, I'll hit them with the NI HAO. Oh, you don't understand? From Korea? Take a look at my friend and take a big AN YEONG AH SEO. At that point there's nothing the people can do. So, we got to talk to a lot of people. It was awesome. Learning a language is such a blessing. Plus now I wasn't with my Chinese companions to back me up with Chinese, so it was pretty cool when I'd have conversations with people. And I'm thinking 'wow, I'm totally doing this right now, let's go!'

It was a great day. Elder Escamilla also brought his ukelele so we'd walk around singing gospel songs in Chinese and Korean. Just bringing the Spirit to everyone in hearing range.

The very best part of the day was when we were driving home, and we're talking about sports or something and then Elder Escamilla turns and says "I just don't have any SKILLS. Computer hacking skills... Skate boarding skills... I just need to get more skills.' 

I retorted with a 'man we've been chatting online for like 2 hours a day... I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious'

We ended up quoting the entire movie of Napoleon Dynamite on the way home and we were dying laughing. For some reason it just felt so good to have that connection with another American, it was hilarious and both of us were crying laughing. HEY NAPOLEON GIVE ME SOME OF YOUR TOTS

GET YOUR OWN TOTS

GROSS

Anyway it was a good end to a good day. Gotta keep it fun out here. I tried to quote the movie the next way with my Chinese comps and I just got a 'what' and a confused look. I think it's fine.

One morning we were looking at another day of no appointments and all finding but then within a span of 15 minutes I had texted a few people and we set up some miracle lessons with people who had been gone forever. We didn't even have time that day to do anything but teaching which was great. Except I honestly missed finding people to teach so between appointments I'd talk to the people we saw. That felt like a typical Preach my Gospel missionary day. I loved it.

We met with a 61 year old Chinese woman named Lily. She's been coming to the English class and then we asked if she wanted to learn more about the church. We met up and she started by spilling some stuff from her childhood, where she had grown up in a family of 8 in China and nearly starved to death because their family had no food. I could feel that lasting pain and the burden that had stayed with her through her life. I stopped her for a second, got up and wrote on the board 3 big questions. 

Where did we come from?

Why are we here?

Where will we go after this?

I asked Lily if she knew the answers and she got quiet. She said that this was the first time in her life that she had ever heard or considered these questions. That took me by surprise and made me so grateful to have the knowledge I do about our purpose here on Earth. We taught Lily about her identity as a daughter of God, about Jesus Christ and how He can help her overcome any trial, and about her end goal of living with Heavenly Father again. She told us "Thank you. I believe all of this. I wish more people knew this. They need it." It was an amazing experience to see a woman go from over 60 years of not knowing and then have it all click. It's a blessing to share these truths with others. 

We went to a member's house named William, who is a single guy in his 50's. He's just this super kind man who has so many challenges and trials. While he was toiling to make us dinner he was opening up about how he was hoping he'd get his paycheck the next day because he was worried about keeping up with the bills. I couldn't believe it. Here was this man who barely had enough for himself and he was inviting us over and giving us food. I honestly couldn't even handle how much love I felt from this man who had every reason to not be so kind but he still was. It was deeply touching to me and I felt so humble after that. I realized that I have SO much to be grateful for. There are some true disciples of Christ out here in the world and I'm so blessed to get to meet men like William. 

We were driving home when I slammed to a stop to avoid hitting something I saw in the road. It started moving and scampered off to the forest. I pulled over and relied on the Spirit to help me spot the little guy in a tree. With my flashlight I could point out the little wombat to my companions. I love the moments when I realize I'm in a totally different country. 

We went door knocking on Sunday afternoon and the first guy we knocked opened and offered us to come inside. Elder Chang felt a little 不好意思 which means he was a little embarrassed or didn't want to inconvenience the man. So we stayed on the porch and talked for a bit and then headed out. After that, I mentioned to Elder Chang that if someone ever invites us in, it's totally fine to go and share a little lesson in their home (as long as the person isn't sketchy). Anyway, I didn't expect us to get another chance because people very rarely invite us inside. But, we ended up going into several people's homes that day which was super cool. It was a miracle day.

The first guy was pretty funny. He opens the door and just stares at us. He's a super old Asian man and we can't tell what language he speaks. We try English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese and finally get it figured out with Korean. He's just blankly staring at us and then once we say one word in Korean it's like the password or something he opens the door wide open and let's us in. We all stumble inside so confused because he still hasn't said anything. Then he just points at the light fixture in his living room. He looks at us expectantly. Elder Hsu whipped out the handyman skills and fixed his light which had been broken for I don't know how long. Then the Korean guy showed us pictures of his family and we tried to communicate but it didn't really work. He was super grateful that we fixed his light. We dipped after that since we didn't speak Korean, but I love meeting nice people like him.

The next lady turned out to be that guy's neighbor. We knock and ask if we can share a message about Jesus Christ. She said sure and then lets us in and we sit down. She says her name is Ita and she's from Malaysia. She's a mom in her 40s and we share about the Plan of Salvation. It was a really simple lesson but she liked it and we invited her to church that next Sunday. Another little miracle find.

Then we get to the Polish lady who let us in and showed us key chains from every country she's been to which looked like just about every single one. She had an accent and Elder Chang was getting pretty tired of listening to her since she literally wouldn't take a breath. We were in there maybe 20 minutes just trying to find a way to get out. Elder Chang was too shy to end the conversation but he kept quietly saying 'thank you thank you' to interrupt her but she just kept plowing right on through about all her different adventures. We finally made it out but then talked on the doorstep another 10 minutes. We escaped at last and all really enjoyed our lesson in geography. That lady was super awesome too.

The last one was someone we visited that night. She was a Chinese lady we'd only talked to once and it was over a month ago and only for 30 seconds. But we roll up to her house and she invites us in, feeds us strawberries, tries to give us tea and instead gets a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. Then we share all about the church and she explains that she actually really wants to learn about it and had gone to our church in the past. It was such a great lesson and she enthusiastically accepted the invitation to come to church the next week.

These experiences are small and simple but to me they are God leading me to people that I can help in some way or share the gospel with. Of course between these experiences we face some crazy rejections but at this point I don't even think twice about those and keep pressing forward to find the people who are ready.

As a missionary it's a little sad to say that your mood at church is largely dependent on whether or not your friends come. The past two weeks we had no one show up, and this week it was the same way. I was sitting there in sacrament meeting as the opening song was playing and I was pretty discouraged. Then a scripture came into my mind: 

Alma 26:27 "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

I got out my scriptures and started reading it. I felt comforted and knew the Lord had my back. As soon as I read the word 'success', I turned and saw one of our friends walk in the door to the chapel. We hadn't even invited him to church but he came and I knew God was looking out for me. It was a small thing that showed me that we just need to keep pressing forward because the Lord won't let us fail.

It's awesome being a missionary and being pushed all the time to improve. It's working :)

圣灵会引领我们来到准备好人的面前！

Elder Halverson