April 22, 2012

yah things are great we are just teaching teaching teaching finding finding finding.

Im still with my korean tae kwon do master ehhh im going to make him teach me

that and also how to cook delicious korean food. the time just flys in this area

there is so much work to be done that you cant really think straight. this week was awesome

we had elder pearson from the 70 come and give us a training and during his training he gave a

deep as doctorine of prayer and how it is supposed to be done, and then said? who wants to now

come up here and teach me how to pray....? silence... I say lets go elder seok daddy!

we walked up there and he just stared at us hahaha it was nerve wracking he gave us a scenario

and said teach me i looked at elder seok and he said i no understand his words out his mouth...

i said we just teach him how to pray.. and we did our best elder pearson looked at me and said, when

you elders speak to me i feel the faith in jesus christ that both of you posess great job then we gave

each other a hi five... it was awesome. Later we had a meeting and he was role playing with one of my old

companions elder watkins and me and elder watkins were like brothers we know each others stories. and

elder pearson looked at him and said elder watkins i know that you have a life changing spiritual expirience

and i need you to share it with me right now.... elder watkins looked straight at me because i was the

only one that knew...but elder watkins wouldnt share the story. elder pearson began to basically read elder watkins

thoughts...it was a bit creepy i was just like wow this guy is leggit it was hektek. a sweet miracle this week was our

investigator jerry an atheist kid from mainland china...he had been praying all week and explained

that he still had no belief in god..we asked if when he prays he listens? and he said no. so we got him to pray and

ask if god was there and to listen....after a minute he said in the name of jesus christ amen...he looked at us

and said i felt it! he was dumbfounded it was a miracle haha, his desire changed instantly and now from being one

of our toughest investigators to one of our best it was awesome, this are going great im loving this things are really

good right now.

April 8, 2012

this week was swell we had a baptism this weekend,

and on saturday the baptism was at 600 and we had

already called colette that afternoon, but i had the
impression to call her again... and when i called her

she told me that her sister just called her and informed

her that her grandmother died....what an exciting day

to be baptized...? we asked if she still wanted to do it

she said yes and we were very impressed with the faith

she exercised. instead of anger at god she wanted to

come closer. It was a very nice expirience. Elder seok

confirmed her in his broken 3 month english...i havent

heard a better confirmation. Later in the week on sunday

we taught this chinese hard case william and we shared

with him miracles and the restoration... he felt the spirit

when we asked him...he was silent. he said, " I didnt feel

anything." we stared at him and i said i know you did.. elder

seok says, dont you lie william because spirit of god tell

us you feel god... william put his head down and accepted the

invitation to read and pray everyday. It has been great with this guy

we have been really patient with him really taking time and it is working.

anyways i dont know what i need to do for school all i know is I want to go

but i dont know where and i dont know what i want to learn i dont want to go

to slcc i just want to start over. we can talk more about it on mothers day.

March 26,2012

yah im undercover no badge no book of mormon just backpack and my planner it is sweet i have never taught so much on my mission yet. I have fire bum from all the korean food my comp is cooking. He took me to a thai restaurant and it was so hot i almost threw up my eyes were crying i am weak sauce now ya all we teach is students we just teach and if we dont teach we just find on the university we are finding alot of people it will just take some time to baptize them because they had no beliefs before. Its funny sometimes when i talk to the aussy girls, and i ask for their number then they get all flirty with me and i have to set them straight" mate im a missionary, so i can only teach you not go out with you..." yah i got some funny stories anyways i will go hard.

March 19, 2012

 it was a long journey but yah i got transferred to the university of new south whales to go hard for my last 3 transfers, it is hektek we wear our normal clothes? yep that right shorts and t shirt all day every day haha its almost like a vacation my new comp is a freshie from korea he is cool as though we will make for good friends. the work is very different here, we teach heaps and find heaps...no more member feeds dam im gonna miss that tarro. it is completely different way of doing the work so it will take me a while to adjust but it like its gonna be fun as. it was hard saying bye to everyone in the mt. druitt, i was there for about 7 months almost 8. i said by to all the fob islanders and say hello to all the chinese..i mean ni how. yah i have never seen so many chinese people in sydney the whole time that i have been here. things are really good and i am ready go hard these last 3. as for school i just want to start over i dont want to go to slcc. i dont know where i want to go i want to go but i want to start from scratch and build a good foundation i havent looked into universitys' because i didnt know how to do any of that. but i do need to go to skool i dont know if that helps everyone but yah. things are sweet i hit 20 months today wow look at that haha, keep it real back home catcha
> elder stoddard
>

March 4, 2012

 Howz it goin mateys, well god really is testing the patience again we
> have been struggling to find some new investigators were doing heaps
> of finding but nobody will take the bite. We are in the gold mine
> "henrys lake" but were getting skunked it will happen we just gotta
> keep doing our thang. oy the summer here has been hektek it has only
> had 4 hot as days the rest has been bucketting down rain nothing feels
> better then knocking on those doors in the pooring rain. I have been
> losing heaps of weight i have lost 15 lbs since last month oh yeauhhh.
> Our flat in cockroach infested, wasp infested, and spider infested it
> is great. My companion snores so loud i am about ready to slap his
> face. Im starting to only get about 4 hours of sleep because of it. im
> gonna give em a hiding. the area is still sweet im still in the dirty
> ghetto of sydney but president told me in the interview that i will be
> moving this transfer. We had some of our recent converts go through
> the temple and do baptisms for the dead it was awesome. the savusa
> family i dont know if you remember but it was the samoan family we
> found, well anyway, saifitti read the whole book of mormon he is a gun
> as member I realized that the mission is teaching me more than i would
> have learned in my lifetime. I always wondered who i was and who i
> was supposed to be...i finally figured it out. i am a servant of our
> heavenly father. the best way to send me funds is to just mail it
> because i have no debit card but yah ill pry talk more about it when i
> call in may for mothers da

February 12, 2012

D&C chapter 11 verse 7 powerful today in my personal study i was
reading this today and spirit hit me really hard. I love the first
hour of my studies, i am starting to know how to study the scriptures
and it is a big help i dont know how i survived 19 years of my life
without doing it. We have implemented this new plan to help with our
unity and our companionships and it is to share spiritual expiriences
with each other in our companionships and it has put the work on
fire!!! we had call ins last night and we have set 11 baptismal dates
for february and march that is unbelievable! there is a really good
spirit about the way we are working and communcicating it is awesome
and I know god is blessing us for doing this. Revelation is real i am
seeing it occur more and more with the missionaries and the
investigators that they are teaching this gospel is living it breathes
it is insane what has been happening. I will tell you of a cool
expirience we had this week. so a month ago we were visiting the
pules' a less active family, who is now going to the temple to be
sealed, they brought they cuzzy over and we taught and that was pretty
much that. Then 5 nights ago a missionary called me and said "elder
sto ee, you need to go and ask the pules about mele again..." i put it
passed me. the next day all of our plans fell through and we were next
too the pules and i said lets stop here and ask about mele... we went
in and of course they fed us. and i asked sam "hey where does mele
stay?" he put his food down and looked at me and said "who sent you
here?" he looked like he was going to smash me! then in his broken
english he said elders, you follow the spirit. Mele had just moved
into there house that week, she had family dramas because she wanted
to be a member.. we were able to teach mele soon after and set a
baptismal date for the end of this week. God leads us every day and
sometimes we dont even recognize his promptings things are awesome, we
also set a baptismal date with lana and she said yes to march 17
please pray for these souls. mele and lana. thanx heaps love you guys
hope the wedding goes well.

February 7, 2012

 um sweet no emails again thats great. jokes i know everyone is busy
> with the wedding and all that jazz we had a stellar last week for
> elder uelese he finished strong and now he is back home i have a new
> companion from america samoa, elder satele. he is awesome he served in
> the infantry and went to iraq before he came on his mission so hes got
> some good stories. we will work well together i am excited. our
> investigator lana is awesome she came to a recent convert fireside on
> sunday and then after she told us that she wants to be baptized and
> the scripture that made her want to change was Rev. 3:20 she was in
> love with it so she is making alot of progress. pray for her i hope
> everything is sweet back home everything is good over here. i love all
> of you
>
> elder stoddard