Wowzers! This week has been awesome. We ended up leaving for Perth on Tuesday morning, so we didn't really get a whole lot of time to do much before we left. Luckily Elder Naruo said all of his goodbyes before then, so we just packed up on Monday night and shot off Tuesday morning. Monday night was fun though. We had dinner with Monique and her husband Peter. We had a really good time with them and we could really feel their love for us for everything that we've done for them. We did get a surprise. They told us of their desire to quit smoking. They said they feel like they would just be happier without that ball and chain in their life. We told them that we would love to help them do that and that we have a program that will help them. They were more than willing to accept that and to try out that program. Especially Peter, who I though would be the less receptive one, he was keen as. He just told us to bring it over and he'd love to do it. So maybe that will be happening this week as well. It's funny how when you do that program with one person (or plan on doing it), 3 or 4 more people come out and say they want to quit smoking as well. So we're happy to see progress there.
So now I need to tell you about my Perth trip and my new companion. Perth was the greatest. I love it there. I think something that I love is just the atmosphere of being around other missionaries that hold the same calling as I do. The Spirit is always so strong whilst in the midst of them. On Tuesday we got picked up by the Assistants and the Port Hedland Elders' flight had arrived at the same time as ours so we got to see them as well. The assistants (Elder Foster and Elder Semu) brought us back to the mission office where we got to see President and Sister Cahoon and all the office staff. There we waited for the Warwick zone leaders (Elder Metekingi and Elder Nahrwold) to come pick us up. I got to spend the evening on exchange with Elder Metekingi, and Elder Naruo went with Elder Nahrwold. We had a fun night, and did something that elder Metekingi and I always seem to do when we're on exchange together. Walk for ages and get lost. We did service for this elderly lady in their ward and then had to start walking to a dinner appointment to which he had no idea how to get there. So we tracted as we went and asked people if they knew where the street was that we were looking for. Nobody knew, of course, but we found a physio that was open and went in and asked the lady at reception if she could help us find where we were going. She was willing to get on to google and help us get to where we were trying to go. Elder Metekingi and I always just seem to rely on the Lord when we're together. No need to bring maps or anything haha. The funny thing was, we realised that we were going to be about 30 minutes late to our appointment by that time if we continued walking, so we called them up and they came and picked us up for dinner. I guess the lesson learned there was to do all you can do, rely on the Lord, and He'll provide for you in some way or another. But yeah, we had an amazing time.
Wednesday morning was the first of 3 mornings in a row or waking up at 5:30 to play touch rugby with some other elders, which I didn't mind because I wanted to get the maximum amount of time being with other missionaries as possible. But by Friday, I was really feeling it. Luckily I got to sleep on the plane ride back to Karratha. So Wednesday we had training of trainers meeting at which they introduced the new training program that the church has put out called "The First 12 Weeks". Kind of ironic since this is my last 12 weeks. But it looks like a great program. It lays out the first 12 weeks of companionship study with the new missionary and also gives us specific tasks to complete such as "let the new missionary take the lead in....". It also gives us 2 hours of comp study a day instead of just one. So that's 3 hours of studying a day that I get to do now rather than just 2. I'm really going to love that. I love my study time. I wish we could get 2 hours of personal study as well. That's where I do a bulk of the learning. Comp study is more of the applying part rather than the actual learning. Transfer meeting was great because I got to see heaps of missionaries that I missed. Elder Hodgkiss wasn't there, but I got to see most of the missionaries from my intake, Elder Shobbrook, Elder Ulas, just heaps of people. It was like a mini reunion, for me anyways. They see each other all the time, but when you're in a country area 1800 Ks from the city, you get kind of lonely sometimes haha. Wednesday after transfer meeting was pretty relax. I just spent the rest of the day with Elder Weber and Elder Harvey, who were also training. We were kind of all over the place for the rest of the day. We had to drop some missionaries off in Greenmount which was way out of the way from where we were going. We met up with Elder Abel and Elder Oswald (the Southern River ZLs) for lunch around 3:30, so we had a massive late lunch. Elder Oswald was feeling a bit sick so I volunteered to go spend some time with him in his flat so Elder Abel could go with Harvey and Weber to get some work done. So yeah, like I said, we were all over. It was good to catch up with Elder Oswald. We talked a lot about home since we're both going at the same time. I'm glad that I'm not serving with somebody that is going home at the same time as me, it's good not to think about it a lot, so that the time goes faster. But I still liked enjoyed talking about It with Oswald. But I digress.
So my new companion! His name is Elder Ford. He's from Sydney Australia. He has 3 brothers and one sister, he's been in the church his whole life, and he's way excited to be here. Most Aussies aren't always the most excited to be serving in Perth, but he said that he got what he wanted, so that's really good. I was excited that I got an Aussie as well. There were only 3 elders in this intake, and the other two were American. Elder Harvey, Elder Weber, and I were all talking about who would get the Aussie before we actually got our companions. I don't know why, but none of us really wanted the Americans. I was the one that scored! Elder Ford is a great guy. A lot of his mannerisms actually remind me of my trainer, Elder Glover, and Zach as well. He's a funny guy. He said that he was disappointed that I did have an Oklahoma accent. He said he and his brothers used to mock the Oklahoma accent all the time. I think the reason we didn't want the Americans is because it's much easier to train somebody when you don't have to teach them about the country itself as well. And trying to teach Americans how to play rugby, that's a fun one. Almost as hard as trying to teach Aussies how to play Gridiron. I'm sure I was just as bad though haha. But I'm glad to be serving with Elder Ford. I think he is just the man for the job when it comes to being my last companion and sending me out with a bang.
Speaking of a bang. Martin Kumar and his wife Jay are the best! We taught them again on Saturday and this was Elder Ford's 3rd teaching experience I think. He did really well, but what was even better was the fact that the lesson just went famously well. Martin has already read all the way up to Jacob (well he's probably in Mosiah by now), and Jay had already read half way through 2 Nephi. It's amazing the joy it brings when investigators keep commitments, especially to read. When we asked them if they had been reading, Martin said "yeah, I have a bad habit of reading". Haha, I wish all of my investigators would have that bad habit. More importantly, when we asked them how they felt as they were reading, they said they felt a feeling of sincerity. Like a calm peaceful feeling. Jay is on to it as well. She said that there was no way that Joseph Smith could have made it up. THANK YOU! That's what I've wanted every investigator ever to know. But all they need to do is read it, that's the only way they can know. We watched the Restoration DVD with them and they said that they felt that same feeling of sincerity as they watched it. We explained that that feeling comes from the spirit, and that the feeling is one that you can have with you always. We asked them that if they found out these things to be true if they'd be willing to act on the knowledge they have. They said yes, so that sets us up perfectly for a baptismal commitment down the road. Hopefully the short road at that. What an awesome lesson though! Elder Ford is getting right into the good stuff, which is great.
Well that's about it for this week. I hope that you all are having an amazing start to the school year. I pray for you all. I'll see you all in 10 weeks!
Much Love,
Elder Tanner
PS. The time for writing me a letter is growing small. GET ON IT! Thanks :D
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