Wow this past week has been super eventful! I have to say, the highlight of my week was seeing Tyler, the young 11 year old boy, get baptized!! It's been so great seeing him progress in the gospel and come closer to Jesus Christ! I was lucky enough to be the one he asked to baptize him too! I got to baptize him in the PACIFIC OCEAN!!! Is that awesome or what!? The waves were crashing down on us while we were performing the ordinance and it was just great! On top of the spiritually exciting fact that he was getting baptized and coming closer to the Lord and the mentally exciting fact that I get to say I've baptized someone in the ocean, I got to swim back to shore after the baptism was done! Normally missionaries aren't allowed to go swimming because we are obviously supposed to be helping people come closer to Christ, but on the way back to shore I rode a wave coming in! That was awesome! :) The next day (Sunday), Tyler was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and received the gift of the holy ghost! That was cool to be apart of that as well!

Friday was Valentine's Day and how did I celebrate it you ask? Just like any other missionary in Australia, of course! Having missionary training in the morning and later playing footie (rugby) for 3 hours with 22 missionaries! That was AWESOME! Rugby is a super fun sport. I've always been interested in it, but now that I live in a country where it's actually a popular sport, it is so awesome! We only play touch since we're missionaries, but it's still fun nonetheless!

Something that was super fun this past weekend was that I got to meet the legendary Elder Somsen! He was a missionary who served in Narooma about a year ago and was very well liked! He finished his two year mission and is traveling around all the areas that he served in with his parents! It was super cool meeting him and his parents! It made me think of my parents and how great it will be going around with them when my mission is over! However, I've still got another 19 months and 3 weeks, but who's counting right? ;)

Yesterday I got to go to Canbera with Sam and Mel Watt, two members of our branch. I was super excited because it's out of our zone and about 2.5 hours away, which means that normally I wouldn't be able to go there. The reason going to Canbera was so exciting is because I got to go to Costco!!! That is one thing that America takes for granted. After the wonderful experience at Costco, we went to the mall with them and pretty much just walked around looking at stuff and eating gelatin and stuff like that :) That night we had a pizza party at Islandview Beach Resort.. wow, that was just an all-around fantastic day! :)

Quick spoiler alert for next weeks letter! I get to meet and shake hands with a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles tomorrow!! :D If you are not mormon, you probably don't know what I just said. Basically, I'm meeting a mormon celebrity who is a spiritual giant and is an apostle of the Lord! It's going to be great!

Here's a quote from my dad that I apply to my daily life, "Be the answer to someone's prayer, everyday." I really take that to heart and it has a great message. Do all that you can to be the best person you can be and help others everywhere you go! You never know who's life you touch each and every day.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Macfarlane