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