G'day from down under! :)
So this week started out in Wollongong with the Chinese Elders! But guess what!? One of the Elders is from Minnesota! :D His name is Elder Quass. I was so excited! I had met him before at EFY so I kind of knew him before too! I was so excited! :D
The next day, Tuesday, we had Zone Conference where our mission president (the man in charge of all the missionaries in the Sydney South Mission), President Lew, spoke to us. Nothing too exciting or new. Just fun to see all the missionaries and I was able to reunite with my last companion Elder Coats so that was fun! :) That night we stayed in Nowra. I don't know if I've told you before but they have a super nice flat! It's got two bathrooms! That alone makes it great! But on top of that it's brand new and super clean looking!
Wednesday, we drove home for 2.5 hours then visited the Kamers. And guess what... PAPA'S HOME! Brother Kamer is finally back home after being gone for work for the past month. Which also means we are able to visit the Kamers more often because now we're allowed in the house again. As missionaries, we aren't allowed in a house unless there is a responsible male adult in the house also, for obvious reasons. So yeah, that's exciting :) Sister Kamer's parents are also in town this week so it's just a big family reunion! :) We ended the night playing basketball in town with the local boys, as always :)
Thursday was a great day. Simply because we saw a bazillion kangaroos! It was so fun! Apparently if you bring food you can feed them too, so we're going to definitely be going that way later this week or next week to feed them! It's at a place called Potato Point and they are all over the place! Got some pretty good pictures too :)
Quick shout out to Elias Kamer who got baptized this weekend! He got to be baptized by his father and it was a really cool thing to see and be a witness of.
Last night we came upon a problem. This boy that I recently baptized, about a month ago, has gone missing. Not in the sense of he's been stolen or he's run away or anything, but him, his mom, and brother all moved away and the grandma says they don't want anything to do with the church anymore... I'm not really sure what to think right now, I feel like if they would've told us they weren't interested that would've been a much simpler answer, but I guess we'll have to see! I think there are some family issues going on right now, hopefully we can do something to help!
Today I would like to share a scripture, John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments." I love that verse because it is short, sweet, but can be really deep and meaningful! The reason that we should be following the commandments that God has given us isn't to impress our parents, isn't to impress our friends, not even to just simply be a good example. We should be following the commandments of God because we love Him. If we truly love Him, we should be willing to do what he asks of us. What's great about that is when we do the things he asks us to do, we get blessed! So why don't we? Because Satan is a cunning man. Don't allow Satan to steer your life in a direction you don't want it to go! Be in charge of your life and make good choices that your Heavenly Father would be proud of! If/when you screw up, don't give up, repent for what you've done and keep pressing forward! God loves you and wants you happy! He'll always be there for you! :)
I love you all and wish you the best this week!
Elder Macfarlane