December 5, 2011

oy mateys sounds like everything is hektek back home! eli you sounds like you are skuxxing it up back home. abe you sound like the athlete of the year, i did get a door one year...to keep all you little craps out! haha jokes mate. Does sammi speak now? that is hektek i freaking miss all of the little ones. me and elder comfort today look at the family photos we had and his is just brothers and sisters...but mine in brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. he was jealous as...Jaxynn you can just use the money for someone else make someone else happy for christmas cuz mate i am full of joy already. Mrs morgan was one of my favorite teachers, she was da ish. im sorry that i havent written you back i havent written anybody back i feel bad as i hope nobody will have any hard feelings when i get back haha it just not the first thing on my mind im sorry. i plan on just bringing things back with me when i come back so i will have somethings for everyone when i get back it is just so expensive out here that i dont really have the funds to get everyone gifts. sounds like the perfect christmas tree. a little shabby on the outside but a story behind it. That is one thing that i have learned is to respect everyone because everyone has a story. never judge the book by the cover you got to read it first. This week is going to be awesome the sevusa family is going to be baptized this weekend it is going to be hektek it reminds me so much of home with 8 little kids jumping all over us when we are teaching the gospel of jesus christ. if i can sum up the mission in 1 word gratitude it has been everything i wanted for others and for myself and even more. I am so glad that heavenly father picked me to be able to do this and that i am able to do this. I am now becoming a desciple in thought, word, and action. hopefully one day i will stand before god and he can say, "My beloved son in whom i am well pleased" Im loving this all too much ive got alot more in me and alot more time to go so i am pumped. we were on an exchange down in bidwill we were tracting this little punk 16 year old boy just came and swore up a storm at us and the missionary i was with just walked away but i kept talking to him and was able to calm him down, he had a mouth like a sailor, i was to find the he had no belief in god because he felt if he was there he didnt love him at all he started swearing and i testified of gods perfect love...this was on friday. then on sunday morning i saw him walking with his head down through this pathway. i yelled out Josh! he said how you goin mate in a very sorrowful voice i said whats wrong...he said my nan passed away last night and almost started crying...i was able to invite him to learn and he said "ILL give you One Shot Bra!" the happiness i felt was tremendous i was able to act in place of the savior to represent him to be a light and the end of joshs walk of shame. I said well josh one shot is all we need! keep it hektek back home. ps just put about 20 lbs on mitt romney and then my face and then he will look like me fo sho you did send me my stocking but woopsy i dont know where it is.

November 6, 2011

Jaxynn i got your letter last week i am going to make sometime this week to write you back its hard because we are only allowed to write on pday and we dont get that much time with all the things we have to do on pday. haha sounds like everyone is doing good this last week. We had another baptism....hahahahaha! it is going crazy out here. Shane tareha, so the family of 8 is now almost complete. We just have to teach one more of the kids and he is a tough one 18 year old clubber, so he is pretty into the world but after the baptism he said well looks like im up! it was sweet as. Shane was pumped he is 17 a massive rugby player and his dad lance recent convert of one month was able to baptize him. Shane said, " when i went down into the water my mind went blank, it feels good...it feels like someone hit the delete button of all the wrong things in my life. Things are hektek! we are teaching this family we tracted into 5 weeks ago, Sa Sevuga, Sa Sevuga- the mom and dad have the same name...weird. this is all their children Sina, pou, bev, leki, jerry, jai, jennea, jalinna. A massive family and they made it to church on sunday. better yet, all their kids are under the age of ten. these islanders are crazy all they do is have babies and eat food haha. It was so cool to see them come to church and the moms and dads hearts have been softened because their children are falling in love with the gospel they always want us to come over and teach them and play games with them. things are really going good the power of prayer, fasting, and fast offering. we were at our recent converts house and there are these little twin samoan boys they are 3 years old and one of them started coughing and it turned to nonstop barfing for like 2 minutes hahaha. i said o my gosh it happening and the little boy cornelius just started mocking saying in a little voice it happening its happening, while his little brother was puking his guts out. by this time elder comfort was gagging i was laughing it was crazy. after he threw up he wasnt even crying he was making battle crys and was laughing it was nasty haha. we went home that night and the other missionaries at our flat, elder dade and elder larsen they always want to fight us everynight and prank us so we grabbed elder dade and we threatened him with a swirlie we locked him in the bathroom while in the meantime i filled up a massive water balloon, we opened the door and drenched him it was classic. I have gone on a diet because i hit 200 lbs. oh crap.... the thing is i dont look fat just my butt is getting huge. so now i dont eat until dinner because the members feed us till we hurt every night. the work is going sweet i am loving it im never coming home. love you guys.

October 2, 2011

Well well well we had a meetingon monday and we just talked about how influence of others had changed my mission. and it just made me realize what other missionaries had done for me on my mission and how they showed me how to work and to get things done. this week was a slower one for us we didnt get to teach much but i had an expirience that made up for it. me and elder comfort were a bit down and so we took our dinner break and just started driving and i brought up the fact that i had been here for a year and still hadnt seen a kangaroo. he said i know where some bush is we kept driving we got to the bush and it was the end of the road. the sun was setting we got out of the car and our eyes were peeled and their was nothing... so we just sat on the boot of the car and talked about how we could help our investigators get more invovled with the gospel...still no kangaroos. dinner break was coming to an end and so was the sunlight. so we got in the car and right as we started the engine elder comfort says look! and there it was the kanga mate. it stood up and looked at us and then hopped away boing boing boing. i am sure that it was a tender mercy from heaven. I have come to have a greater appreciation for nature on my mission..for life in general and how good we have it. sure we have rough times but we have gods creations all around us to create moment that wont vanish like cash but moments that will last forever like the smile of a single mother coming out of the waters of baptism with the hope of living with her husband who had passed on to the other side. That is what makes the mission small moments that make us step back and breathe the fresh air. peace. we have been seeing miracles and we will continue seeing miracles because of the faith we are developing in the savior jesus christ.

September 25, 2011

well this week was bomb az. we started off with a p day playing basketball, and none of my shot would go in the basket. Doing wrestling and taking off 4 years of basketball really destroyed my bball skillz. that night we went and taught the tareha family its a maori family from new zeland the kidz and the mom were just recently baptized and now we are just trying to get the dad and the two older boys baptized...but their desire really isnt there so i guess we gotta be patient and put it into the lords hands. That night we did an exchange and i went with this little kid elder dade from johannesberg South africa, he is a hektek missionary. we saw miracles left and right it was good as. we also found this guy that told us to come back and when we went he just looked up anti mormon things and just started throwing down... so i said that is enough did you even read the book of mormon we left you with...then he tried avoiding the question. and the he said that he hadnt. We both testified of the truth and how he would be judged out of both books whether he likes it or not. Then he said we were going to hell. and elder dade started laughing and then we just invited him to church and were killing him with kindness. It is sad how rude some people can be. We found like 20 people that said they were interested that day it was insane. We had this family the Yeo/Norman family. we have been teaching them for about a month and they got baptized this weekend. it was awesome they were so prepared the mom gave up smoking the day we taught the word of wisdom and now they are members of the church...well not yet we were supposed to give them the holy ghost on sunday but kerry had some back problems and so she went to the hospital..so next week they will be members. we found this mom named stephanie she had just recently split from her husband she has two kids and we knocked on the door gave are pitch and she invited us in. but we couldnt go in cuz there was no male so she got some chairs and we taught her on her porch and then we went back and did some service for her and basically won her heart. so we are in good standing and hopefully she will recieve the gospel. definately a kingdom builder fo sheezy. we had and investigator Funaki Tuitupou, and he had committed him to church because he really wants to get baptized. we were pumped waiting for him to show up...but he never came we a call during elders quorum...funaki. He said elders im sorry i couldnt come i had an accident..What was it funaki?....oh nothing.. Nah mate tell us whats up?..My son rovy pooped all over my church clothes so i couldnt come today. We felt like that was a legitimate excuse. anyways this one was legend i love all you but i dont miss anyone except the nieces and nephews. happy birthday to maya and ethan good on ya mateys

September 19, 2011

well the week started out good we went on two tradeoffs this week. i went with a tongan elder from auckland new zeland elder uele. he used to be a professional rugby player and came along ways to get on his mission. we had heaps of fun i love islanders so care free and so happy all the time. lots of good things are happening right now we have been teaching an aussie family and they will be getting baptized on saturday it has been really cool watching the change from "Im Catholic, well in the catholic church they do this..." to " I want to be baptized so i can be washed clean and be with my family forever." we are still struggling to find people that are elect we talk to everyone we see, so just patience and dilligence and faith will give us some hopefully. Me and elder Comfort are having a blast still just doing the work but laughing at the same time. It is hektek. i went on a trade off two days ago with elder wang foo- a tahitian elder who just learned english he has only been a member for about a year now. When he would teach he didnt speak the best english but he had the purest teaching and the spirit was pumpin. we were driving back and he was teaching me some french because they speak that in tahiti. and i just thought how much god loves me to give me such cool as expirience riding in a car in wester suburbs of australia with an elder who speaks hardly any english from tahiti teaching me french and bringing the most important message to the world. We talked to each other about it and just laughed because it was too crazy. we had heaps of fun, now he calls me crazy utah boy. I was reading in the doctorine and covenants the other day i dont know where at but it was talking about how the reward comes after the tribulation. and it got me thinking about choice and how everything in life comes down to a choice. Our becoming is determined by our desire but desire is acted by our choices. we can either choose freedom or captivity, no one but ourself can interfere with with the outcome either good or bad. Me and elder comfort were tracting the other day and we found a dead dog on the side of the road. so of course i waited for the cars to stop coming and grabbed it and got a picture with it. so now i have a rat, a possum, and a dog. all i need now is a kangaroo. I havent seen one yet and this it is the national animal freak. maybe one transfer i will get sent to the bush.. who know.

September 12, 2011

Freak time gets going faster and faster, and im getting fatter and fatter. i hate food with a passion now we have about 3 tongan feeds everyday and it is catch up to my butt. i think i might go belimic. we are having the hardest time finding investigators. It has been about three weeks and we havent been able to find new investigators too teach. We have alot of good investigators right now but we need some new people to teach. this week we are really trying to focus on our goals but also charity me and elder comfort decided that we needed more of the pure love of christ in our life. im reading the new testament in acts and the apostles were the man! all of the apostles and prophets at that time were hardcore they were getting smashed thrown into prison and they still pressed forward in proclaiming the gospel to the world. we went to the temple today and it was sweet i always find it so hard to stay awake at the beginning i dont know what it is... elder comfort and i are having a blast we are and awesome team. we just gotta come up with some new ideas to get some investigators. we gotta think outside of the box. so i have started running everyday, i am slow as and i can feel my fat jiggle as my feet hit the pavement. freak i dont know what to do the just give us too much bread and KFC. but i love it at the same time. Australia is hektek, im not coming home alright bye.

September 4, 2011

 this new area i am in is da bomb i love it! we are having good success with the area and the people me and elder comfort are having heaps of fun. we are teaching this aussie family who is scheduled to be baptized this month. they lost their pops about a year ago and they are on fire ever since they have heard the gospel. We just have to help the mom get off cigarettes. We saw this maori lady get baptized. So now we are just waiting on the dad and the two younger boys to get dunked. We have been finding but we havent been able to find anyone leggit for a while but we keep on keepin on. we had a miracle this week we went to go print off some paper and one of the computer guys was asking elder comfort questions about our church. We left and while we were getting in the car one of the other employees came running "my friend wants one of those book of mormons." he told us that when we left he just kept asking questions. So this guy...mr Talmege? whos great great granpa was james e. told him to just read the book of mormon, and pray about it. a nonmember did missionary work for us. it was a pretty cool miracle for the week. we have got good things going on and we are just praying for things to get better.

August 30, 2011

hey so this week has sweet as we are trying our best to do this work to work it hard and to work it smart the ward i am serving is really good just heaps of islanders i may not know my scriptures by the end of my mission but i will know how to eat... we got a chin up bar at the flat so i can get stacked again. we have had some sweet miracles this week and i am loving every moment of it. I got put in this area president said, You are good at helping people who have had crappy lifes and that is why he put me here. Trent what is something that you can let me know that worked for you so that i can apply it out here. how did you get the members and the missionaries pumped?

August 22, 2011

well well well, look what we have here... i left my trainee elder watkins and got transfered to hebersham aka the heberstanki. We are right in the thick of it, the ghetto. But the coolest thing is i am with my Mtc Comp Elder Comfort. So im stoked its gunna be good. We have alot of things goin on in the area i dont know much and so i cant write anything really.. except i have a testimony on cleanliness. we deep cleaned our flat because it was filthy and we re dedicated it.. and it then felt like the celestial kingdom in there and so now for the rest of my life i have decided to clean up after myself. until next time hoorah for israel.

August 15, 2011

this week has been hektek my good mate elder modlick goes home this saturday so he has been working with elder watkins and i and we have been seeing the miracles unravel. all i am waiting for is my second wind i realized week how special i was and my life and this opportunity, i took the time too look around and breathe in the air and realize what god has created for us. I street contact the second biggest city in sydney and it just amazes me that god can know all of these people. I am pushing it right now but i can say that i need some boost from heavenly father letting me know that i can do this. I know that heavenly father directs me and the words in which i speak to these people. I cried this week for the first time in my mission we have this family that we have been going over too. they are from Iran, the father lived here for 3 years preparing the way for his family to opportunity. He just got his family into the country and we went over. and talked he told us about how tough it has been and how it makes it hard because his son has a dissabillity. He looked at us and he said, i would invite you guys in but it is shame in my country to not have something for you to eat and sit on. I started crying wondering if there really was a god. He told us that he had no furniture no food only the one pair of clothes, no car and his son cant see a doctor for his dissabillities because they have nothing. i have never wanted to do so much but felt so innadequate. i cried for hours thinking about this family and what they are going through. We told the ward council about this on sunday and they just sat like a bump on a log and no one wanted to do anything about this. It hurts me to be in this area i am seeing things that i would never want to see in my life. right now we are just pushing forward with the faith that heavenly father is going to make ends meet.

August 8th, 2011

Well right now we are in the push the rock stage, i love this stage but i dont at the same time nothing is really going right now. we just wake up and do our thing and hope that we will see some miracles around us. we have been teaching this guy named george and he is from lebanon. his parents only speak lebaneze, and they cook us delicious lebaneze food. Its better than mexican food. yep i said it its my new favorite food i think i might have to marry a lebaneze lady heck jacki gets to marry a mexican?? haha well george has had the book of mormon for about two weeks and he is already at jacob! he is smashing it. oy but he is also in trouble with the law. i always get to teach the winners. haha he was a body builder and then he just went on a 9 month journey to the bush to find himself. and now he is getting the gospel. He was telling us that the limelight was everything he said that he hung out with whoever wherever, he was mr. Australia for body building. So he lived the pretty crazy lifestyle. he told us that he was never able to find happiness he accomplishes things but then he is back to square 1. he is really cool and he loves us coming over and meeting with him. We were on trade offs yesterday and in the zone leaders area there is a mosque. Where all the muslims go.. it is there temple and only muslims are aloud it looks really cool and it made me think about what others think of our temple. about how cool it is but how the cant go in because they are not members it made me appreciate it even more even though i dont understand any of it. i felt blessed to have grown up in a gospel strong family. Elder Watkins seems a little bit down because he realized how tough this really is and how many trials are going to come before him in the next two years. I am teaching on of the brothers of a missionary that served a little while in our ward the tongan elder from new zeland. well anyways they are looking pretty good him and his wife just need to get married. junior is there friend that lives with them. He said that he knows that what we are teaching him is true but he just wants to live party life for a little bit longer. Im pretty much adjusted to australia now...meaning i dont even remember about utah really what it is like. i hope that everything is good back home over and out.

June 26, 2011

Alright mateys! We had a Baptism Woo! bout time. Peter Jang was baptized on saturday and was confirmed a member of the church. He did it all on his own and went against his parents will he said that he had to do it or his family would never except the gospel in this life he knew that god would soften their hearts for his decision. Peter bore his testimony in elders quorum about how when he prayed and asked god about baptism that he knew it was the right thing to do because of the way that he felt. Solid mate, now we just gotta find some more, teach some more and baptize some more. Things are going good im really stressed out though but hey that is the mission lifestyle. I learned that i have to read my scriptures everyday or else i will go crazy out here. I hope all is well things are chilly down here. Peace.

June 19, 2011

Hey thanks for that champ everything is going awesome we have a miracle kid name peter he is from korea but he is kiwi- a new zelander. He has only been meeting with us for two weeks. his family is completely against him getting baptized and think the book of mormon is false scripture. I asked him well if the say yes you'll be baptized, but if they say no what are you going to do? He said i cant deny what you have taught and i asked god if this was what i needed to do to be saved and he answered me through the feelings i have felt so i am going to do it anyways. He told us last night that he is gunna do it an undercover baptism so that they wont know. I thought about this and i wondered could i do that? Could i go against the family i have for something i knew was true or good for me it was a scary situation. It is amazing what the spirit can do to people. Also porschia and nikki committed to be baptized and so amazing things are happening right now pray for peter jang and the epiha family.

June 14, 2011

Mate you wont believe it but i can invite someone to here about the gospel in chinese...and they understand me. I had a cool expirience this week with a kid named ricky. we were contacting i said hi to him and he looked at me and gave me a sour crusty. being me i was a agrivate i said Hey!! in kind of an angry voice, he stopped i pulled out a picture of christ and said Ni Shing yesu Ji du Ma? and he started smiling and said yes yes! i said we teach of christ and we want to tell you of his church, he said i want to join your church we taught him and he said i feel god i feel peace and we asked him to be baptized and he said huh? then we showed him a picture of christ being baptized and he smiled and said of course. it was awesome. Mate this is really cool being on the mission just waking up and serving and surviving everyday for god and these people. sounds like everything is going swell i cant believe school is going to be out time is going. mate i need some ideas for visual lessons for people and i know that you have heaps up your sleeve so let us have it. sweet as love everyone, elder stoddard

June 5, 2011

mate we are having ensign moments this is incredible. We have been teaching this Maori family from new zeland weve been teaching since me and elder tehei were together from the beginning she invited us over to teach her little kids, because she wanted them to have a sense of god and direction in their life so that they would go through what she went through so we have been teaching them and they are pretty much members now. Nikki 9 she says that she really wants to get baptized, but before we ask we want the whole family to get on board. So when we have been teaching Porschia- the mom she always distanced herself while we were teaching her kids and it wasnt till the 4th lesson after the kids went to make us some oranges and apples Porschia started asking some questions....haha got her. So now we are best friends with this family they come to church on there own and great things are happening i can see their family coming closer together because of this gospel. Porschia still thinks that it isnt all cooked up to what we say it is... but now for the good part, we taught her on sunday and we just said ask your questions and she didnt really know what questions she had.. i then asked "do you not see the change in your family and the warmth that is in you home?" Then she just broke down and told us all of the spiritual witnesses that she has been having since we have vistited her and told us that she has been feeling the spirit. She told us that she wants to keep rolling with this and see where it takes her family. we just listened the whole and she just resolved her own concerns and truly realized all the simple miracles that have come from the gospel the only thing she needs to do is read the Book of Mormon. And get married dun dun dun mate this is the biggest worst problem in australia, people have familys and still arent married yet. We simply said mine and elder richards job is to help you and your family live together forever. it was awesome. well that is the miracle of the week

May 30, 2011

we had the Coolest week ever we have found 20 new investigators in the last 3 weeks! we taught heaps last week and are hoping to do the same this week we had transfers on monday, and elder tehei got the boot, i am still in the beaches haha they call me king of the beaches. right now im with elder richards a samoan elder from new zeland and we are going to baptize this transfer. Well we had a couple of hektek things happen this week we found this guy name adam who look like he wanted to kill himself and we started talking to him and he said his life was at a low that he had never felt before, and he was actually catching a bus to go do some drugs at his mates house. We said no way your coming with us we took him to the chapel and gave him a tour and committed the bro to get baptized and he said he really wanted it so hopefull we are going to be able to get down to some business now. We also got a hold of yasmin for the 3rd time finding her haha I said well if we find her for the third time it is meant to be and we found her. Found out that she went back to brazil but now she is back and wants to continue learning more. I am loving this right now i dont think im going to come home it is hektek. we are out of food like always and are just praying and fasting for more people to find and teach. keep it real my niggys.

May 15, 2011

thats right mate whip that body into shape...GOTTa LOSe a MILLION Pounds!! haha we had a sweet week this week we found 6 new people. it was awesome the lord really blessed us on this. my patience was running slim and i thought i was going to go CRAZY!! We met up with a maori family that we were teaching the Epihas. And the mom invited us back just to teach her kids and little did she know that we were teaching her as well. they went back to new zeland for a couple weeks and came back and met up with them again. One of the best lessons on my mission so far The mom Porschia just opened up her soul to us she said that she really likes the church and wants to see her family get involved with it. she said that she could see herself becoming a member in the future it was sweet and then we got her to say the closing prayer that she refusablly rejected on 5 other occasions and it was a great moment...priceless we have the perfect fellowship for them its sweet as. this family will partake of eternal life it was really good. well im sick of writing now but i hope you have a sick week keep skux in the 801.

May 3, 2011

man that fish is awesome man good on ya guys. abe sounds like the man at everything haha we can talk on the phone this weekend. well we had a ward spit roast, where they turn a pig on a stick over some coals, did some finding. The members have really picked it up. i know the god really does inspire people. Elder Tehei and me made up family mission plans for everyone. The lord gave us the idea in studies and all the members are on board. and we have about 20 referrals that will come in probably next week because of it. I went on a trade off with the tongan elder. It was really good heaps of miracles you get more miracles on foot than in car i figured. we were able to teach a man from china and his friend was their to and he said his first prayer those are my favorite. We got out of the appointment and it was raining and freezing and no umbrellas or coats so we made our walk back about 2 miles and it wasnt a good idea..i thought to myself you are so stupid! Ooooo Man....... I got the flu really really bad and was out from thursday till tuesday throwing up, having, diaherra, and bloody noses. i litterally thought i was going to die we almost went to the hospital but i said no. i havent been able to eat for the week but i started working again man its harder than ever now...well its mothers day so i will you guys on sunday from sometime between 12 and 2 pm australia time. and i will call both familys so i can talk to everyone for a little longer than last time. but for the mean time always wear jackets when its rainy and cold, and trent get on a treadmill, please mom and dad wouldnt be happy.

April 24, 2011

Mates my week was good, we found, ate lunch tried to visit no one was home, so we found, ate dinner, tried to visit less actives and they werent home...niether were the members. so we found. it was a beautiful week. we did have one cool kid we met his name was JP Prisida it was cool we prayed for were we would go tract and a street popped in my head and so we went knocked and this bro was prepared and so we were able to follow up on him and he has some really good potential. Im a little upset with my companion he bought a gigabyte thing for his camera...and used his mission funds so i had to shout our groceries for the week and now we have no money. and were hungry...so i think we might fast or something haha. Just pushing the rock we are bound to have a good one pretty soon i dont want to right much about this week because it will make me depressed but i just want everyone to know that i love them i pray for you guys all the time and i am greatful for everything you guys do for me and i hope everyone is doing well. go hard or go home.

- Elder Stoddard

4/11/11

Oy our week was Crap haha, we had three meetings and i broke my moller and had to go to the dentist, swedish fish are death to our teeth. But my mauri comp and the tongan elder in our district think that american oreos and sour patch kids are the best thing to hit australia. So i went to the dentist last week and this week i have broke both of the fillings...i think these tongans are feeding me rock mixed with meat. We had some refferrals come in this week so hopefully good things come from that. Thanks Heaps for the Box yeaaaahhh mate, that was the sauce everyone covetts beef jerky, and thinks that our family is doing some underground mormon gang stuff to get it over here. We havent baptized for ever like 4 months so we are due pretty soon I can feel it in my bones. Im Still in the Manly area and President told me that i got one more here and then it off to a "chinese area"? WHat?? who wouldve thought that i would learn some mandarin on my mission. But it hasnt happened yet so we will see in the future. We got a car in our area because we started getting heaps of lessons done. driving on the other side of the road...Crazzzzy. Elder Tehei and me are having heaps of fun, for sure we were mates in the pre earth life. We are teaching quite a bit and then dropping people because it seems as if no one wants to progress in the gospel..there loss. I had a trade off with this FOB as Tongan elder (fresh off the boat) and we had the darkest expirience i have ever had. The ones where you say to yourself i wouldnt want one of those expiriences... and it happened. It shook me up pretty good and slowed me down for the day. But elder Tehei said, "satan knows that our area is going to explode pretty soon and he is going to do everything to slow us missionaries down." I took it as a challenge and started back to work. He gave me a hair cut last night and lined me up like a real gangster as missionary. Ill send some pics, i forgot to bring my charger so for sure next week and i will make sure i will take heaps of pictures for the family. We had Conference this past weekend, Those men speak with so much power it is crazy they would be the best missionaries ever. My hopes are that one day i can speak to people the way that they can. The mission is good the mission is great, we just need to baptize. Thanxs again for the package, and I hope everything is well back home. Jeff happy birthday.

***I decided to post Trents response to him....cuz I don't want to lose it!......

So for the second time in the last month Q has cut her hair. It is now very short. When we asked her why she keeps cutting it she replies “I want to look like Andy…from Toy Story.” That’s right…the boy Andy. So the picture you see is her version of Quinci-Andy. She really is very cute even with short hair. I think if we buzzed it she would still top the charts of cuteness and naughtiness. She has a wild streak in her as most of us in the family do… must be in the blood. She also came up to me on Sunday and said “Dad can I bear my testimony?” I was worried because last time she just laughed into the microphone really loud for a couple of minutes and then said “Amen.” So I was worried that same thing was going to happen. She told me was she wanted to say and I said she could bear it. She was so excited. She ran up to the front up the stairs and over to the podium to discover somebody had beat her there and was already sharing. I was worried she was going to kick him in the shins but instead she turned toward us on the bench and smiled big and said “heyyyyyy!” Then Bishop Benson grabbed her and helped her know she could go next. She got up to bear her testimony and was too short to be seen above the pulpit. The voice came out clear and true though. “I want to bear my testimony. I know this church is true. I know my family loves me and I love them. I know Jesus loves me too. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen. Abe and Jax also shared powerful testimonies. It is great to be part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love reading about all the experiences you are having. I pray for you and your investigators and I know that all your effort is worth it. This underneath is a story I heard a long time ago.

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing it with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Noticing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind. “You have been pushing against this rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These troubling thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. “Why kill myself over this?” I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough.

And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his thoughts to the Lord. “Lord” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even been able to budge that rock. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, When I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?”

“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”

I have thought a lot about it. I think that pushing the rock shows our obedience to the Lord and our faith that he know what the future holds. At the same time it gives us the strength and the talent that is required for us to be better tools in the Lords hand and accomplish all that Heavenly Father wants us to do and become in life. Whenever I feel like what I am doing is not having a very great effect I remember this story and I remember to push the rock.



Love your bro,



Trent Julie and the Fam

Eli: Turtle named yertle how original buddie, of course i will teach you wrestling moves. ANd you have a little girlfriend Eli? good on ya matey.

Abe: Undefeated? were you wrestling a bunch of wimps or something? haha just g'n you up. Competition wrestling? man that would be way legit, but way hard. it depends if you want to go somewhere for wrestling, if you start getting serious now, then you could pry go to college and that. But if you just want to do it for fun then you can do b ball as well. and you are in lego league and soccer man you are just busy as. your the boss matey.

Quinci: Quincizzy, Thats great that you are playing with your friends and doing ballerina stuff haha cant wait to see it when i get back eh.

Sammy: Yours made me laugh the most. Sounds like you are becoming quite the young lady now. dont stand in the toilet you goof.

Julie: Wow sounds like everyone is doing heaps, must have a good mom eh? Jaxynn is doing good singing and dancing still? that is hektek. How is everything else besides the baby? haha youve done it this time...its going to be a zoo. How is the ward how is the missionary work going?? Thank you for everything you ever did.. even though you might not have thought i appreciated it, i always did have a good eh.

Sunday March 27, 2011

Alright we had some miracles this week it was a week where we really saw the lords hand in the work. The Coolest one that i will right about is Tom Waggs, a 20 year old American kid i met him at the bus stop and started talking to him. He asked me for a cigarrette, and i said what are you doing with your life? he said he didnt even know i said what is something good your doing tonight? He went on to tell me that he was just going on a camping trip with his mates and was gunna do drugs and all that jazz i told him that god loves him and if he didnt do that,that night that he would feel better about himself. He said he would do his best, i got his number and i said i would give him a call. I called him the next day and he said on the phone that he gave into the peer pressure. he said we could go and visit with him so we went there and taught him how he could be clean. and it got on the topic of the word of wisdom, he said that he would never be able to give up smoking and drinking. I said tom do you want to change your life around he said yes, i said go get your smokes. With a sad face he grabbed his pack of stogies. i told him to smash him, there was silence and he crushed them. It felt like the spirit just hit all of our hearts right when he crushed them. He came to church on sunday and said he felt the holy ghost at sacrament so much that he wanted to get fresh air, we taught him in a room while sacrament meeting was happening and he was just saying how he like the christian church but feels something here that he has been looking for. we asked him to pray right then and after his 3 second prayer he said...ope...uuahh..its happening ahhh the burning is stronger, yep the church is true. "I want to deny it... but it wont let me!" haha it was awesome but just so everyone knows god answers the prayers. It was awesom as.

March 22, 2011

Man, That make me miss good old utah. Fishing sounds good, abe looks like he still has the gift of catching all the fish and eli just looks like he is freezing his little ones off. We are fishers of men, every day we are finding and ocassionally we are getting to teach some lessons. It was another good week for us we taught alot and got people to church. good things are going to happen in the northern beaches i will tell you that much. Me and Elder Tehei and me work very well together because we both try to talk to everyone so we contact anyone who is in our path. but sometimes they arent interested but lately we have been finding alot of good people who are actually looking for something in life. We have an investigator named robert he is russian he lived in lithuania when he was younger in a school with 150 other boys and the german gesstappo came in and killed everyone, he was the only one o survive. He has no family and he feels all alone. so right now the church is all this man has. Hes really good we have been having alot of success just no baptisms yet, That is sad that bishop fackrell is gonskyz he was the man, what does that place you at what is you calling in the ward? Anyways keep it real back home and let me no what else is happening. anyways laterz

March 8, 2011

Alright dude you are the man and Im not worthy. but i am stoked for
your new baby, ps that will be my year mark. I have had a crazy
mission so far president wont let me stay with a companion for more
than 1 transfer. My comp elder brough had way bad depression last
week to the point that he was having suicidal thoughts. So they had
him talk to the head psycologist of the church and they got his butt
on a flight home. It was sad because he wanted to finish but his mind
wouldnt let him. But he was honorably released which was good. I got
moved this transfer to manly which is right next door to our old area
haha president just wants me on the beaches my whole mission i guess,
my new comp is Elder Tehei he is a mauri from new zeland but they call
them "kiwi" his accent is whack az but he is the man we are going to
get some real work done in our area because i dont have to be
babysitting anyone anymore, I still love elder brough but his attitude
just put downers on everything but this new guy is really good the
ward is bomb az they already got some referrals for us. anyways this
week was crazy so the work was slower so i dont have much to report
but this next week looks more promising.

March 1, 2011

Whats up matey, we have just been finding and teaching we had to drop alot
> of our investigators this week with the faith that the lord will fill the
> empty spaces. But we were working with wendy i tracted into 5 months ago
> atheist and she was progressing to the point that she read the book of
> mormon, bilble, came to a baptism... and we went back and she said that she
> wouldnt ever be able to make a committment of being baptized but she said
> that she is grateful that we installed a belief in god for her and admitted
> to feeling the spirit. I then told her that we wouldnt be around very much
> more and then we got in the car. I wanted to cry, i felt like the biggest
> poofter in the world it was like someone punched me in the face, There was
> nothing else i could do. and it hurt me pretty bad. Marvin is a 16 peruvian
> that we have been meeting with but his family is baptist and wont let him
> come to church. We asked him about the book of mormon and he said it makes
> his heart burn when jesus christ speaks and believes that it is true but
> there is not much we can do because hes only 16. we just set a date with a
> brazilian surfer girl named yasmin who is very sincere and wants to get
> baptized but her visa will end shortly and we might not have enough time to
> teach her everything so that she understands. Alot of good things are
> happening but it just seems like the world is smashing down on everything.
> Still at the northern beaches, and it has been a while i want to see
> something new, its almost too the point where i have talked to everyone i
> see haha. We taught a man named rob last night and we taught about the
> apostacy and restoration using buckets instead of cups, and then when it
> came to the apostacy, he took his beer bottle and killed the
> apostles/prophets and so the church fell. We taught him of joseph smith and
> he thought it was amazing and said we touched his soul but he said he
> couldnt make a change like that. We have a goal that every companionship
> baptizes in march and its march and we havent been able to find anyone solid
> yet investigators are dropping like flies, and potential investigators are
> few and far between. My companion Elder brough has depression and they put
> him with me? he was telling me how he is just trying to survive for the next
> 7 months. he is doubting his testimony and feels like he brainwashed to go
> to the temple to make covenants... is was pretty crazy and then its me just
> like alright elder lets go find some people to teach and that is probably
> the last thing on his mind. He has mental problems, but president doesnt
> want to let him go home because he has made it this far so i have alot of
> responsibillity on my shoulders, anyways Keep it up back home.!
>

Feb 22...with pictures!! Finally!

Its going to be a boy mate, sorry to break it to you, bro i am not near the floods and im still on the northern beaches. we had a way cool week Were are working both wards now on the northern beaches. We found heaps of miracles this week a leboneze family a brazillian surfer chick and a chinese kid Zheng. It was a miracle week. I have a strong testimony of ask and you shall recieve the past weeks i have been asking for people to teach and it has been happening. I realized the the first 5 months i wasnt even asking for them. We found a baby ringtail possum on the street riding our bikes home and we got to hold it and play with it we got home a little late because of it but we felt it was a tender mercy from the lord they are way cool so look at some pictures of baby ring tail possums. Indy is what i was going to name my kid, so tough luck. im sending some pictures, on pday we went to long reef look out point and looked in the tide pools and found jelly fish and crabs so we are gunna send some pics with this. Oh and just so you know it right by the water..and no we are not apostate so no worries about that. Elder Brough is my comp the big one with glasses, and Elder mcconkie yes...bruce r'z grandson and elder branco a brazillian elder.

February 13, 2011

We had a crazy week, Elder Monson my son got emergency transferred and i have a new companion named Elder Brough he is from Arizona hes been out here for about 16 months he has some depression anxiety problems at the moment and almost went home 2 days ago because of it... i think they stuck him with to work his butt off so he doesnt have time to get depressed. We have some good potential but we havent had a baptism for about 2 months now and its making me frustrated. but its been good im still in the northern beaches and i will pry be here for a longer time seens how this Emergency transfer came out of nowhere, i know this area now like i know murray so thats pretty good. We had a insane tracting week we got in 4 houses and taught 2 familys it was hektek. We have a guitar at our flat...finally. and no its not apostate to have them here. They even play guitar at the pulpit here in aussie. But its been really good having music again alot of my stress is just gone because i can play again. Im wearing out of the brown mercedes benz shoes i got and my black ones are keeping up alright i had to buy some "church" shoes that i only wear at church so they dont get munted. i lucked out only 15 dollars, and if i got at a store that wasnt like D.I. they wouldve been like 300$ so pretty much everything is expensive as, all my clothes i have to wear em and wear em out mate! Everything is sweet as we just gotta get a baptism and then all will be good. One Love too everyone back home and what is the Babys Name gunna Be??

February 6, 2011

Sweet az man you are the man, your lucky you get to make friends with general authorities... man i cant get my head over this, but i told myself that i could never get into the gospel...mate im in it and i love it. it is hektek we had a really really good week we taught 7 member presents this week our zone got twenty. Our investigators are pretty much at the point where if they dont get baptized then they are going to have alot of explaining to do. Carol is our stubborn one she still thinks that there is not one truth but all is true no matter how much we explain to here nothing seems to be working haha i guess patience is the key matey. It was really good though, Watches...if your on the lords time you know life is taking its course of who you are and where you are going, with your own watch plus the lords watch...it can get confusing. Humility is the answer and complete trust in the lord obidience is the key. Man my suit is officially drowning me and falling off me i think im going to send to youz with the family aussie gifts because it is just taking up space. anyways im lost in the work and i am falling in love with it keep it real on the roo! elder stoddard

January 20, 2011

Man This week has been the worst week since ive been here so
far...Elder Monson is starting to think that he is the man and was
complaining the whole week about how lame our week was, but i just
told him too suck it up and to grow up! we are dropping investigators
with the hope of finding some new ones that will start progressing we
are teaching an old lady named carol she has come to church 4 times
and she is doing real well she just needs some time because she is
older and thinks she knows too much to give it all away. Elder Monson
has a foot fungus and i cant stand it anymore i told him that if it
doesnt get fixed then im going to have to call president and get him
to the doctor. We are getting super skinny because we dont have time
to eat dinner because were on foot and we have to find some people to
teach.
were in a 3 way right now with the district leader because his tongan
fob companion jumped off the balcony and jacked up his legs. I
finished the book of mormon for the 2nd time and right when i finished
i just felt the spirit confirm to me that it was true. im trying to
just stay positive and be consecrated because that is pretty much all
i can do right now. Elder Monson is getting a little too comfortable
and is slacking, slobbing and making us late...i dont know what to do
i tried being nice but that wasnt getting through his head. I dont
know what i should do to light the fire under him again i love the kid
but oh my! grow up. Im still in freshwater starting the 4th transfer
here everything is good in the neighborhood.

January 17, 2011

WEll i just wrote a big az letter and noone responded....? So anyways we had a special suprise last friday Elder Anderson from the 12 came and spoke to us?? out of nowhere, it was hektek! he taught us heaps of cool things Elder Callister was there and Bishop Edgeley from the presiding Bishopric. When elder Anderson taught us he Said that were not out there to show people how to be saved instead of hell but how to bring them closer to Jesus Christ and feel the Love of God then The spirit will take care of the Rest. Elder Anderson Bore Testimony, and it was incredible...i thought this guy really really knows. we went home woke up, and found 6 new investigators the next morning its awesome. Elder monson Faith and my Faith went up and so the Miracles went up it is sweet az.we taught a lady at her house but the rule is you cant teach them in there house without a male. so i sat on her porch and taught her through her screen door it was awesome. Elder monson fell on his bike saturday, it was a tender mercy from the lord for me. We met a born again christian he cooked us dinner and was way nice...once dinner was over he opened the bible and started bashing...uggggh. I said well lets read from the book of mormon and you can find out for yourself. we started to open up and Elder Monson started bashing with him, i was going to kill the kid. we found a less active who is from new way islannds who hasnt been to church for who knows how long. ITs crazy this week we plan our finding hours, and then we dont get time to find because within the first couple houses they let us in and we start teaching i dont know what happened but the lord is blessing us and i have no complaints.

January 9, 2011

Alright ill try too write more, but man i just dont like emailing or writing and i know that you were the same way, because we are pretty much the same. Alright morning too sundown...630 wake up depending on how groggy i am i either sit and think, or slide right on too my knees and say my morning prayer. Depending on whether the night was hot az or chilly decides whether i am sweating perfusally. I get up and take my morning pee, i always drip on the seat. And both elder goodrich, and elder monson get mad at me for it. Because they both pee sitting down. i go in and make the bed, and look at my self in the mirror. By now Elder Monson is still saying his "prayer" but the spirit just told me that he actually fell asleep on his knees. I Slap his but and tell him to go exercise, He Then gets mad and says he was praying.... but i just asked him and he said he is asleep. Elder monson smells horrible his sweat is awful and he has a foot fungus. So i make him put his socks and shoes on the patio. After he goes in the other room to exercise i pull out the push up bar and do 50 the i use some rusty az dumbells and do some other exercises. Im so much smaller than when i came out. I get in the shower and our shower head almost pierces my skin. It leaves welts on my back. I get out and shave my face, im getting quite a bit of face hair now.. I go and pick out my tie for whatever i am feeling and pull out my wrangler dress pants. Get my white shirt and go iron it. so it is crisp. Depending if im hungry or not i cook some food or just do cereal. I go slick my hair put my glasses on, Which some old dumb man told me i needed new glasses because im a nerd? Man thats why some people become less active. 800 Comes and on the knees when my watch beeps to do personal study i Start with something in Preach my Gospel and then either plan for my investigators: Carol, Anjali/Akash, Casanova, Sakiasi, Ramhuri,Chris, Jacob, Sandie, Charolette/ Wendi. Then i read some new Testi or some BOM.Get down at 900 and start some comp study. We read white handbook, discuss personal study, and then depending on who the companion is we do different things. Elder Goodrich just talked to me about life usually, but since im training Elder Monson, we always role play either the lessons, or giving committments to people. We usually practice giving baptismal invitations by using the doctorine scriptures in the book of mormon, 2nephi31 alma7 3neph11 mosiah 8. We always plan to give the baptismal committment every lesson we go to. Sometimes the spirit tells us to wait to give it to them though. 1000 end personal study with a prayer. Elder Monson does language study for spanish for an hour and i usually clean or read more. 1005 or 1105 depending on companion. put some pass along card in my pocket. We Kneel down and say the prayer to go out an work. Right now our mission goal is 111 by april so we always prayer for that. We stand up and i always try to pump myself up like it is a sport or a crazy mission, because it is time to rage. then we get on the bike or get to the bus depending. and slap the 111 sign and fun down the stairs.


That is the typical beginning of the morning, Ill finish the rest next week. because we got to go shopping for food. keep it real famo

January 3, 2011

Oy mates! yes elder monson and myself have been blessed with some new investigators a 60 year old english lady named carol who is probably the smartest person i have ever met she is the best at reading scriptures, never messes up. i could listen to her read all day. Also a tongan kid saki 20 years old taught him the restoration and he wants to be baptized. we were out of book of mormons so i had to let him borrow my quad. another tongan man named casanova, he cried when we taught him the atonement. Our teaching pool has filled up. we have about 8 pretty good investigators that we are working with right now. we had a crazy week though every day got crazier and crazier. there was a man on the bus swearing at us calling us a colt and saying we should die and was making fun of garmets and what we do. We took it for a while, but he kept talking and talking. I told him to shut his mouth. but he kept talking... i said listen if you dont stop talking your gunna have a hurt day. He said by who you!? i said no by god. And he did say anything after that until we left. some people make me angry after that me and elder monson were furious and we knew we couldve handled better but its learning expiriences. Its hot az up here its around 40 degrees! we got flashed on the street the other day...there was a drunk lady at the bus stop that just told us jokes that made no sense at all it was funny az. went tracting and one guy thought we were the coolest people ever because we dont get payed to go on a mission. had a man tell us about how the bible has hidden messages about how jews are taking over the world. Amongst all of the confused people the work will go on, and people will come unto christ. Thanks heaps for the christmas presents they were bomb hope everyone had a good new years. Ours was good we had to be home at 5..party! Keep it real in the 801, Kamille Australia is cool, but im not sure if i want the family coming here...