Howdy all!
We’ve been swapping companions around again, so I was with Elder Jones for part of the week, and with Elder Malkovich for the rest. Being with Elder Jones is great! I think he must have a resting heartbeat of 180! If we have three minutes to get to our next appointment, he’ll try to go visit three people on the ward list before we get there! It’s really good, he pushes me to work harder, and especially because he’s really good at finding new investigators!

This week we had zone conference. That was fantastic. I don’t know if I’ve told you or not, but Elder Phillips is the new assistant to the president. I got to see him again, and have a good talk with him. It’s been over a year, but I still think he’s probably my favorite companion alongside Elder Lavulavu. He’s a crazy good missionary. I also got to talk a little bit to our mission mom, sister Back.
We did have a baptism this week, which I guess has another interesting story as well. Her name is Angie, she’s 17, and some of her siblings and Mom have already been baptized. Her mom was never confirmed, she relapsed on drugs, and there’s a bit more to her mom’s story as well that I don’t think I’m a liberty to say much about, but to sum up, it’s been causing Angie a lot of stress. Elder Howse, our Zone leader, came down to do the interview, but he wasn’t able to do it because Angie’s mom ended up in the hospital and she had to be there. Well, Elder Howse came down on tradeoffs to do the interview, and his area is 2 and a half hours away from ours, so he could’t do the interview. Our district leader, Elder Jones, is teaching her, so He’s not allowed to do it. So we were a bit stuck on what to do. We talked to president at interviews, and he told me to do the interview. I’m not a district leader anymore, so I don’t technically have the authority to do it, but President said essentially, I’m still a district leader, just not assigned to lead a district at the moment. So I did the interview! I also got to give her the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the first time I’ve done that on my mission. She’s going to be a strong member though.
Alright, time for some questions:
How is the branch, do you like the members? The branch is small, around 20 people, but I like most of them. I don’t know some of them yet, mostly because of some awkward circumstances revolving around previous missionaries, but it’s pretty good.
Do you have to cook for yourselves now or do you still have dinner appointments with so few members? Actually, I’m not sure. Thinking back, we’ve only had a couple of dinner appointments, but I’ve only cooked once, and I think I’ve eaten every night…. Not sure how that works.
Have you seen a kangaroo in the wild yet? Well, I saw them in Merimbula all the time, but yes, I’ve seen them here too. Out here was my first wild Emu though.
Who was your companion this week? I was with all three of them.
Tell us a miracle or spiritual insight you had this week. We just got out from visiting someone, and were about to hop in the car when a puppy ran behind it. It had no collar, so we took it tracting with us to find it’s owner! People are so much more friendly when you have a puppy! We actually found a new potential investigator from it, so we’re exited about that!
Have you met any Aboriginal people? Heaps. Angie is 1/2 to 3/4 Aboriginal, although it’s hard to tell. She doesn’t consider herself Aboriginal though. The Aboriginal gene is apparently really recessive, and is gone within 4 generations of mixing with another race. Angie and her Mom look Cacasian as they come, Angie is even a redhead, but the gene is so recessive, a lot of people are aboriginal and you can’t tell. There are a lot of hardcore aboriginals out here as well. We have a sports night every saturday, and a lot of the neighborhood kids come to it, and they’re all aboriginal. They’re usually a pretty pleasant group of kids, but they also have a troublesome side as well. They break into the church grounds to play rugby if no one is there to let them in.
What ethnicity are the majority of people there? I’d guess Mostly Aussie, although there’s probably a decent part of them that are mixed aboriginal as well.
Well, love you all. Have a happy Thanksgiving! I’ll be home for the next one!
-Elder Shelton