Tuesday, June 5, 2012
New mission address and update
I am no longer in Wonthaggi but am much, much closer to the
city and am training again. Sister Peter has gone home to Venuatu and
I am now with my new companion Sister Wilfred, who is also from
Venuatu, but a different island than Sister Peter.
We are in an area called Mornington-which, if you look at a map of
Melbourne is the little Peninsula that sitcks out into the bay-that's
our area.
It's a good size, we have a HUGE ward, and they are WONDERFUL!!!
I love it here and could stay for the rest of my mission.
Actually, we had a miracle this last week. We have a mission
president's fireside in Wantirna (by the temple) on the first Sunday
of every month.
We were determined to go and I have been praying to find people to
bring. I had a list of people to invite but one by one they all fell
through. Last week we met a girl named Alexandra. She is the sister of
a less-active. We had only taught her a short lesson on prayer on
Friday, but that night I prayed about who we should bring to the
fireside. Her name came to mind very strongly. Although we barely knew
her I called her up and invited her to go. She was reserved but said
she would like to.
Sunday night, we rode up to the fireside with Alexandra and two YSA in
our ward-Bree and Eric, who are super missionaries.
It was a miracle to have her there and the fireside was on prayer-perfect :)
That's all for this week-but I love you all heaps and for those
interested my new mission address (if I haven't posted it yet) is
Sister Edmunds
76 Cathies Lane
Wantirna South, VIC 3152
Australia
Monday, March 26, 2012
March 25, 2012
I have finally been transferred. Before my mission I thought it would be horrible to spend 6 months in one area and now that I have done it I see that the hardest part is leaving. Geelong was my home and I loved it and the people there.
I am now in a place called Wonthaggi (aboriginal for 'wind and rain'). Where is Wonthaggi......exactly. Google it.
Our area is huge and pretty out bush but it is also very beautiful from what I have seen so far. Despite how large it is Sister Peter and I have been walking everywhere. They doubled us in and so we have been finding for the last week.
It's strange. My new companion and I couldn't look any different but personality wise she is more like me than any companion I have yet had. It works really well. She is from Vanauatu and this is her last 6 weeks. She is awesome.
When we go running in the morning we see kangaroos in the fields across the street. yup. They are the deer of Australia. I will have to send pictures of Kookaburras and Galaws and all the parrots they have in Australia at some point. They are everywhere and you get used to them. Some very lovely birds.
The people in Wonthaggi are nice. Very Australian, so most of them have little religious background at all.
It's lovely. I miss Geelong but could not be in a better place or with a better companion right now. We like to get out and get it done.
We have been able to do some impromptu service while we have been out tracting this week as well. Including helping a man named Dennis fill in a ditch in his driveway.....in our pros.
All good, and we are good getting around out here because one of the Elders going to Tazzie let me borrow his GPS while he's there. Thankfully, because there is no map for our area and it is massive.
Love you all heaps and will write when I can. I intend to put some lovely pictures on here of Wonthaggi and Geelong, and as my mother and father used to say, "Good intentions are like crying children......they should be carried out".
-Sister Edmunds
I have finally been transferred. Before my mission I thought it would be horrible to spend 6 months in one area and now that I have done it I see that the hardest part is leaving. Geelong was my home and I loved it and the people there.
I am now in a place called Wonthaggi (aboriginal for 'wind and rain'). Where is Wonthaggi......exactly. Google it.
Our area is huge and pretty out bush but it is also very beautiful from what I have seen so far. Despite how large it is Sister Peter and I have been walking everywhere. They doubled us in and so we have been finding for the last week.
It's strange. My new companion and I couldn't look any different but personality wise she is more like me than any companion I have yet had. It works really well. She is from Vanauatu and this is her last 6 weeks. She is awesome.
When we go running in the morning we see kangaroos in the fields across the street. yup. They are the deer of Australia. I will have to send pictures of Kookaburras and Galaws and all the parrots they have in Australia at some point. They are everywhere and you get used to them. Some very lovely birds.
The people in Wonthaggi are nice. Very Australian, so most of them have little religious background at all.
It's lovely. I miss Geelong but could not be in a better place or with a better companion right now. We like to get out and get it done.
We have been able to do some impromptu service while we have been out tracting this week as well. Including helping a man named Dennis fill in a ditch in his driveway.....in our pros.
All good, and we are good getting around out here because one of the Elders going to Tazzie let me borrow his GPS while he's there. Thankfully, because there is no map for our area and it is massive.
Love you all heaps and will write when I can. I intend to put some lovely pictures on here of Wonthaggi and Geelong, and as my mother and father used to say, "Good intentions are like crying children......they should be carried out".
-Sister Edmunds
February 19, 2012
Sorry I have been slack about the blog, and I can't quite remember where I left off so I will just give an update of recent events.
We had another transfer on February 5th. Transfer meeting was Tuesday the 7th. We live a fair bit away from the Maroondah Stake Centre so we left our area (in Geelong) quite early. To make what could be a very long story very short, Sister White got transferred to Lynbrook and I am training a new missionary (Sister Harkness) in Geelong. She is an awesome missionary and works very hard. She also has heaps of good ideas for this area to help the ward. Geelong is the largest ward in Australia so it is quite a project to get everything together.
We also had a Zone Conference this last Wednesday (15/2/12) with the Deer Park and Wyndham Stakes (I'm in the Wyndham Stake) and Elder Watson of the 70, and his wife came and did the training. It was on the Doctrine of the Father. Very, very good :) He said that we truly need to understand our divine potential as heirs to the Kingdom of God and that will help us become more fully converted. Missionaries should not go home and become inactive members of the church if they truly understand the doctrines that they are teaching on a daily basis. He's right. How can we teach people about their potential as children of God and yet not realize it ourselves a few months later.
We had lunch at the Deer Park ward as well. Just as a side note..... the Deer Park ward has a Tongan ward as well and it was the Tongan ward that provided our lunches. Wow. I will post a picture later. They had a whole pig, and a basket of fruit the size of a small bathtub. And heaps of food in addition to that. They fed us more than we got at Christmas :)
It was crazy as. Sister Harkness and I sat next to Elder and Sister Watson and got to talk to them for a bit. They are lovely people.
That's about it for now, Sister Harkness and I found 9 more people to teach this week and we will start working with them as soon as possible :)
-Sister Edmunds
Sorry I have been slack about the blog, and I can't quite remember where I left off so I will just give an update of recent events.
We had another transfer on February 5th. Transfer meeting was Tuesday the 7th. We live a fair bit away from the Maroondah Stake Centre so we left our area (in Geelong) quite early. To make what could be a very long story very short, Sister White got transferred to Lynbrook and I am training a new missionary (Sister Harkness) in Geelong. She is an awesome missionary and works very hard. She also has heaps of good ideas for this area to help the ward. Geelong is the largest ward in Australia so it is quite a project to get everything together.
We also had a Zone Conference this last Wednesday (15/2/12) with the Deer Park and Wyndham Stakes (I'm in the Wyndham Stake) and Elder Watson of the 70, and his wife came and did the training. It was on the Doctrine of the Father. Very, very good :) He said that we truly need to understand our divine potential as heirs to the Kingdom of God and that will help us become more fully converted. Missionaries should not go home and become inactive members of the church if they truly understand the doctrines that they are teaching on a daily basis. He's right. How can we teach people about their potential as children of God and yet not realize it ourselves a few months later.
We had lunch at the Deer Park ward as well. Just as a side note..... the Deer Park ward has a Tongan ward as well and it was the Tongan ward that provided our lunches. Wow. I will post a picture later. They had a whole pig, and a basket of fruit the size of a small bathtub. And heaps of food in addition to that. They fed us more than we got at Christmas :)
It was crazy as. Sister Harkness and I sat next to Elder and Sister Watson and got to talk to them for a bit. They are lovely people.
That's about it for now, Sister Harkness and I found 9 more people to teach this week and we will start working with them as soon as possible :)
-Sister Edmunds
Sunday, February 26, 2012
January 22nd
These last weeks have been going well here in Geelong. We have seen
incredible miracles within the last week! The work had been going slow
here for a while so Sister White and I have been redoubling our
efforts to ask EVERYONE for refferals. It's starting to work :)
Suprisingly, most of our refferals have not been from members but just
people who aren't even interested in our message. We have been
improving our teaching and are constantly working on becoming more
bold as missionaries. When we are, I feel the Spirit testify of the
truth of what we teach, we are able to teach people and not lessons,
and we are better able to help them with the needs and concerns that
they have. We have some wonderful investigators. Our new investigator
Nikki is from Thailand, she speaks English well but has no Christian
background at all. She is interested in Jesus Christ-who he is and
what he has done for us and how she can know him. It's wonderful to be
able to teach her these things :)
This last week we were also blessed to be able to have Elder Cook of
the 12, Elder Callister of the 70 and Bishop Hamula of the Presiding
Bishopric to come and speak to us as missionaries. They provided
leadership training for the areas in Melbourne and spoke to us
specifically about missionary work.
I feel a renewed determination to serve and be a consecrated
missionary. For any of you not familiar with Tad R Callister-he gives
awesome conference talks that you should look up immediatly. One on
the Book of Mormon and another on Joseph Smith: Prophet of the
Restoration. He's the man.
This Gospel and work is true. I know becuase I see it bless my life everyday.
-Sister Edmunds
incredible miracles within the last week! The work had been going slow
here for a while so Sister White and I have been redoubling our
efforts to ask EVERYONE for refferals. It's starting to work :)
Suprisingly, most of our refferals have not been from members but just
people who aren't even interested in our message. We have been
improving our teaching and are constantly working on becoming more
bold as missionaries. When we are, I feel the Spirit testify of the
truth of what we teach, we are able to teach people and not lessons,
and we are better able to help them with the needs and concerns that
they have. We have some wonderful investigators. Our new investigator
Nikki is from Thailand, she speaks English well but has no Christian
background at all. She is interested in Jesus Christ-who he is and
what he has done for us and how she can know him. It's wonderful to be
able to teach her these things :)
This last week we were also blessed to be able to have Elder Cook of
the 12, Elder Callister of the 70 and Bishop Hamula of the Presiding
Bishopric to come and speak to us as missionaries. They provided
leadership training for the areas in Melbourne and spoke to us
specifically about missionary work.
I feel a renewed determination to serve and be a consecrated
missionary. For any of you not familiar with Tad R Callister-he gives
awesome conference talks that you should look up immediatly. One on
the Book of Mormon and another on Joseph Smith: Prophet of the
Restoration. He's the man.
This Gospel and work is true. I know becuase I see it bless my life everyday.
-Sister Edmunds
Monday, January 30, 2012
This last week we did a lot of finding and it didn't seem to be
getting us anywhere so we have tried going to public places-like along
the bay and trying to contact people there. I have actually really
learned to enjoy going up to people and just talking to them about
themselves and then introducing the Gospel. We have had some wonderful
experiences from doing this. We have also been teaching the partner of
a less-active sister who still has a desire to be sealed in the temple
one day. He is asking us a lot of questions and wants to learn and he
says that if he knows it is true he will be baptised.
Sunday was a day of miracles. We decided to finish tracting a street
in North Geelong. The whole street people were either not home or not
interested. We came to the end of the street and across the end of
the street was a huge house. Very old and very pretty. We decided to
knock just because we thought the house was cool-this street had not
been the most effective for finding on. And to our surprise the man
that answered invited us right in. We taught a lesson to their whole
family in their backyard, and committed them to read the Book of Mormon
and pray to know if it is true. They said they would and their
daughter Rebecca seemed especially interested.
This was a miracle.
I am so thankful for the Gospel and I know it is true. I know the Book
of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was the prophet of
the Restoration.
-Sister Edmunds
getting us anywhere so we have tried going to public places-like along
the bay and trying to contact people there. I have actually really
learned to enjoy going up to people and just talking to them about
themselves and then introducing the Gospel. We have had some wonderful
experiences from doing this. We have also been teaching the partner of
a less-active sister who still has a desire to be sealed in the temple
one day. He is asking us a lot of questions and wants to learn and he
says that if he knows it is true he will be baptised.
Sunday was a day of miracles. We decided to finish tracting a street
in North Geelong. The whole street people were either not home or not
interested. We came to the end of the street and across the end of
the street was a huge house. Very old and very pretty. We decided to
knock just because we thought the house was cool-this street had not
been the most effective for finding on. And to our surprise the man
that answered invited us right in. We taught a lesson to their whole
family in their backyard, and committed them to read the Book of Mormon
and pray to know if it is true. They said they would and their
daughter Rebecca seemed especially interested.
This was a miracle.
I am so thankful for the Gospel and I know it is true. I know the Book
of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was the prophet of
the Restoration.
-Sister Edmunds
Thursday, January 26, 2012
These last weeks have been going well here in Geelong. We have seen
incredible miracles within the last week! The work had been going slow
here for a while so Sister White and I have been redoubling our
efforts to ask EVERYONE for refferals. It's starting to work :)
Suprisingly, most of our refferals have not been from members but just
people who aren't even interested in our message. We have been
improving our teaching and are constantly working on becoming more
bold as missionaries. When we are, I feel the Spirit testify of the
truth of what we teach, we are able to teach people and not lessons,
and we are better able to help them with the needs and concerns that
they have. We have some wonderful investigators. Our new investigator
Nikki is from Thailand, she speaks English well but has no Christian
background at all. She is interested in Jesus Christ-who he is and
what he has done for us and how she can know him. It's wonderful to be
able to teach her these things :)
This last week we were also blessed to be able to have Elder Cook of
the 12, Elder Callister of the 70 and Bishop Hamula of the Presiding
Bishopric to come and speak to us as missionaries. They provided
leadership training for the areas in Melbourne and spoke to us
specifically about missionary work.
I feel a renewed determination to serve and be a consecrated
missionary. For any of you not familiar with Tad R Callister-he gives
awesome conference talks that you should look up immediatly. One on
the Book of Mormon and another on Joseph Smith: Prophet of the
Restoration. He's the man.
This Gospel and work is true. I know becuase I see it bless my life everyday.
-Sister Edmunds
incredible miracles within the last week! The work had been going slow
here for a while so Sister White and I have been redoubling our
efforts to ask EVERYONE for refferals. It's starting to work :)
Suprisingly, most of our refferals have not been from members but just
people who aren't even interested in our message. We have been
improving our teaching and are constantly working on becoming more
bold as missionaries. When we are, I feel the Spirit testify of the
truth of what we teach, we are able to teach people and not lessons,
and we are better able to help them with the needs and concerns that
they have. We have some wonderful investigators. Our new investigator
Nikki is from Thailand, she speaks English well but has no Christian
background at all. She is interested in Jesus Christ-who he is and
what he has done for us and how she can know him. It's wonderful to be
able to teach her these things :)
This last week we were also blessed to be able to have Elder Cook of
the 12, Elder Callister of the 70 and Bishop Hamula of the Presiding
Bishopric to come and speak to us as missionaries. They provided
leadership training for the areas in Melbourne and spoke to us
specifically about missionary work.
I feel a renewed determination to serve and be a consecrated
missionary. For any of you not familiar with Tad R Callister-he gives
awesome conference talks that you should look up immediatly. One on
the Book of Mormon and another on Joseph Smith: Prophet of the
Restoration. He's the man.
This Gospel and work is true. I know becuase I see it bless my life everyday.
-Sister Edmunds
Monday, January 9, 2012
No I have not died. The library has been closed for 2 P-days in a row. And......Transfers......me and Sister White are now.....
Still in Geelong.
Yes, nothing has changed. I see everyday that we have so much more work to do here in Geelong! We are talking to more people than ever and working with many of the less-actives in the area. I think the work is going much better with them than with finding more people. However, we continue to see miracles in this area everyday that we are out. :)
We have been doing service for one sister in the ward and had been getting her rides to church because she does not have a license.
This last week while we were doing service her husband (who is a little anti) said that he would take her to church on Sunday and that we did not have to find a ride for her. We were not sure if he was simply trying to get us to stop finding rides but we decided to have faith that it would work. Sunday came. And there she was!!! I think she knows that we truly care for her and she wants to start coming back to church. We are continuing to work with her and show her how much we care. It really is true that we love people into the Gospel :)
This Sunday was actually quite amazing. Heaps of less-actives came to church without us finding rides for them (as is usually the case). It is so good to have other members in the ward actively reaching out to these people and helping them be where they need to. They are such a blessing to the missionary effort.
To share a quick fun story-Last P-day was really fun. They have an open range zoo in Werribee and the weather was (as my mom would say) "Africa Hot." It was about 44 degrees C at the peak. Which honestly felt kinda nice. The weather here cannot make up it's mind to be hot or cold. But I digress. We had a zone P-day at the Werribee Zoo and it was super fun. They have a bus you can ride on out around the animals so you can see them. I will include pictures when I remember to....
Side note: Before we left for the zoo we ran to the store to get some lunch foods. We were in the car and Elder Hart saw someone who was broken down, right down the street from the flat. He immediately called the Elders at the flat so they could go help the guy move his car. I thought about this and remembered a quote that "a missionary is the first to rush to the aid of others." This example of continual service to others has stayed with me. I want to be that missionary that rushes to the aid of others and I am so grateful for the wonderful example of those around me.
-Sister Edmunds
Still in Geelong.
Yes, nothing has changed. I see everyday that we have so much more work to do here in Geelong! We are talking to more people than ever and working with many of the less-actives in the area. I think the work is going much better with them than with finding more people. However, we continue to see miracles in this area everyday that we are out. :)
We have been doing service for one sister in the ward and had been getting her rides to church because she does not have a license.
This last week while we were doing service her husband (who is a little anti) said that he would take her to church on Sunday and that we did not have to find a ride for her. We were not sure if he was simply trying to get us to stop finding rides but we decided to have faith that it would work. Sunday came. And there she was!!! I think she knows that we truly care for her and she wants to start coming back to church. We are continuing to work with her and show her how much we care. It really is true that we love people into the Gospel :)
This Sunday was actually quite amazing. Heaps of less-actives came to church without us finding rides for them (as is usually the case). It is so good to have other members in the ward actively reaching out to these people and helping them be where they need to. They are such a blessing to the missionary effort.
To share a quick fun story-Last P-day was really fun. They have an open range zoo in Werribee and the weather was (as my mom would say) "Africa Hot." It was about 44 degrees C at the peak. Which honestly felt kinda nice. The weather here cannot make up it's mind to be hot or cold. But I digress. We had a zone P-day at the Werribee Zoo and it was super fun. They have a bus you can ride on out around the animals so you can see them. I will include pictures when I remember to....
Side note: Before we left for the zoo we ran to the store to get some lunch foods. We were in the car and Elder Hart saw someone who was broken down, right down the street from the flat. He immediately called the Elders at the flat so they could go help the guy move his car. I thought about this and remembered a quote that "a missionary is the first to rush to the aid of others." This example of continual service to others has stayed with me. I want to be that missionary that rushes to the aid of others and I am so grateful for the wonderful example of those around me.
-Sister Edmunds
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