This last week has been spent following up on investigators and meeting the members. We now know quite a few people in our ward. I want to get to know everyone!! I'm usually terrible with names but I've been working at it and I only forgot one person's name from last week. Pretty good considering we met something like 40 people.

We headed up to Melbourne this last week for a mission president meeting. On the way there Elder Rawnsley directed us to get there in a way that took us right through the center of Melbourne. It's a really pretty city, but the driving is crazy. Most roads here have 4 lanes (2 right, 2 left). However, people can park in the left lane-and it's totally fine except for when you have to quickly get over to the right lane because there is a car parked in your lane. The city was like that, but if people don't want to wait they just go around you-doesn't matter what you are doing. Other than that the driving is good-no one speeds because they have cameras that mail you a ticket. Even if you go 3k's over the limit you could get a ticket, and they start at around 130$. Very expensive.

The meeting in Melbourne was nice, I got to see part of my MTC district, (except for an Elder who is serving in Tasmania-it's too far to travel). It was nice to see everyone again and learn more about how to be effective missionaries.

This week we also followed up with a lady named Anaka and her husband Frank. They are in their 80's and she is from Croatia and he is from Hungary. We shared a little about the gospel but mostly listened to her. She has had a tough time and does not get on well with her children. We talked with her and cried with her. She is so sweet and we asked if there was any service we could do, she said that she just wants us to come back and see her again :)

Meeting people from all over the world, some of them do not speak English well and some of them have very strong accents. I find that when I listen very hard, even if their English is not very good, I can understand them enough to know what they are saying. Anaka said the prayer before we left and even though it was in Croatian I knew what she was talking about. Not in the sense that I understood what she was saying, but that I knew what her prayer was about. There is an understanding of peoples that comes with the Spirit. :)

Speaking of languages. We met a lady the other day and set a return appointment to see her with her husband so he could translate. They are from the Congo and she speaks Swahili and a little French. Her husband's main language was French but he also speaks Swahili and pretty good English. When we first got there for our appointment her husband was not home so we taught the children and then taught her a little. Her English is not very good and my companion asked a question that she didn't understand. I was able to translate it into French-and thankfully she can understand my French. Whew. When her husband was there he didn't understand the name of our church so I explained it to him in French and he understood better. It was pretty cool, but my French definitely needs some work :)

To end: My mom asked what languages I have encountered and I thought I would list the ones that I have come across thus far:

Arabic (lots of Arabic)

Sudanese

French

Croatian

Hungarian

Samoan

Swahili

(a couple African dialects that I can't remember the names of)

Mandarin-Chinese

German

Cambodian-Tamil

Yeah, there's a pretty good mix of people here. Some of them speak English perfectly and others barely speak it at all. It's really difficult when you initially try to talk to someone and then realize that they have no clue what you are saying because they don't speak English.

Also, a side note about the weather. Everywhere I have lived people always say that the weather changes quickly. Like "If you don't like the weather just wait til tomorrow." Okay, never again can anyone say that in any place I have ever lived. The weather here is crazy. If it's sunny all day you just got super duper lucky. Because it will seriously be super sunny and warm and 5 min later be pouring rain for 10 min then back to sunny for an hour then grey, then rainy and cold, then sunny and warm again. All in one day but like 3 times a day. I've never had weather like this......Oh,. it will also be super calm and then you will get a roaring wind that lasts for days. It's lovely here but the weather is very sporadic. It sounds bad but it's really not :) I really like it here you just have to be prepared for literally any kind of weather when you go out :)

Until next week -Sister Edmunds