Monday, November 4, 2013

Halloween week in Narooma, Australia!! This week has been full of great fun and learning experiences! First lets start with the fun! So last Thursday was Halloween, but Australians don't usually celebrate Halloween. There is this one family in our branch (a branch is a small ward) that invited us over that night so we could join them in their first Halloween celebration ever! For dinner they made pizza's with ghosts on them made of cheese, blood to drink which I think was cordial, and heaps of lollies! Just to clarify, Australians call candy, lollies; and their version of kool-aid is cordial. And then they decorated their kitchen

 with dark lights, cob webs, and spiders! I was really impressed for it being their first Halloween. Also, Elder Coats and I carved a pumpkin! Nothing special, I just thought it was pretty neat to carve a pumpkin still! After the party we went outside and I jumped on their trampoline with Jacob and Elias (their two sons) while everyone else through water balloons at us! I was absolutely soaked. AND I was still dressed up in my white shirt and tie! But oh well, it was worth it! ;)

So that was a pretty exciting night, but do wanna know something REALLY cool? I saw my first live kangaroo and her little joey Halloween morning!! We were driving on a dirt road around a corner and there they were, about 25 yards ahead of us! I wasn't able to get a picture though so I've still gotta work on that! I WILL get a picture with a kangaroo though!

On Friday we had something called a Zone Training Meeting where a group of about 25 missionaries get together and we learn how to better teach and practice various skills to be better at what we do. What I thought was really cool though was seeing Elder Salter, my MTC companion, again for the first time in a few weeks! He basically became my brother while at the MTC and it was great seeing him again! After the training meeting we all played games like basketball, ping pong, and relay races together. It was fun being able to interact with so many missionaries at the same time and being in a non-formal situation.

In the area that I'm serving in, Narooma, there are very few members of the church and it is quite near impossible to find people interested in learning about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Well this last weekend Elder Coats and I decided to fast and to pray to find people who we can help come closer to Christ and teach. In our area, we can typically get 2-3 investigators per month and in the last few days we were able to get 2 investigators! :o One of them is a boy named Jimmy that we met from playing basketball with him. We had a great lesson on the Restoration of Christ's church and we asked if he would be baptized if, and when, he found these things to be true. He said he would and our goal is to have him be baptized at the end of the month! Jimmy had no religion before visiting with us so I think it is absolutely amazing how much of an impact we could have on this boy's life and how we can help him come closer to our loving Savior, Jesus Christ!

One thing that I've really grown a testimony of this past week is the power of the Book of Mormon. It truly can help you get through any struggles that comes your way! Reading the Book of Mormon is a beautiful way to learn more about Jesus Christ and what he wants from us. Once we align our will with the will of our Heavenly Father, and have faith in Him, we will have the power to move mountains. I love my Father in Heaven with all of my heart and I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon that he gave to us through His prophets. If you have not read the Book of Mormon yet in your life time, DO IT! The one thing that I've never understood are people who say they believe in Jesus Christ and love Him, but don't want to read the Book of Mormon. On the cover it says "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." If you truly love Jesus Christ, wouldn't the logical thing to do is read and find out all that you can about Him and his teachings? Even if the book is totally false (which it's not), it wouldn't hurt to read it and learn for yourself if the things which it says are true. That's one of the many things that I love about this wonderful church, we aren't going to try to convince you that this is the right church or that we are the perfect church, we just want to teach you what we believe. Then we simply tell you to pray and ask God if what we say is true and if this is what you need in your life. I can promise you that when you do this, you will receive an answer from God and you will know the truth of this glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" (James 1:5). I want everyone to feel the love of our Savior Jesus Christ and to come closer to Him. To do that, all you need to do is pray to Him, with faith, and he will bless your life.

I love each and every one of you and wish you all the best this week in life's many challenges! Life wasn't meant to be easy, but with God on your side, it becomes possible!

Elder Macfarlane