And that's fair dinkum

Hello everyone! Great week. Zone conference, good lessons, lots of great stuff. We'll jump right to it. 

Zone conference was lots of fun - several hours straight of mostly videos about using technology as a missionary. Big surprise, they don't want missionaries using smartphones the same way that they used them back home. So we had a lot of training on how to set "safeguards" to avoid falling into temptation or something like that. There's a hysterical example video of two elders walking down the street, one sees some couple making googly eyes at each other, and then he goes to look up his girlfriend on Facebook. Great fun. Every Elder in the room immediately felt either uncomfortable or trunky, without exception. I'll let you guess which I was. We're very excited to be upgrading - the potential for the mission and for our area is tremendous. 

Elder Liu and I have had a blast are first few weeks. He loves symphony music and studying English, and he likes GQing a little bit less. That's alright. We keep working. He offered to cook the first week, which has been a double edged sword. We cooks for me, great. But he's from Sichuan - which means crazy spicy. We're growing in more ways than one. 

I had my first real taste of Australian language this week. I mentioned before that they all swear - and yeah, that's true. There's also a few phrases that aren't swears but still very Aussie. "Fair dinkum" means "fair" or "true". A member used the subject line above while I visited in their home, word for word. I heard that it historically has something to do with miners talking to Chinese people about finding gold. I dunno if that's true, but I hope so, because that would mean that Aussie slang is actually Chinese. 

I got a well-needed haircut a few hours ago today. The lady cutting my hair was from Taiwan. She's coming to church on Sunday. Yessss. Teach when you find and find when you teach, my friends. Not that there was any teaching going on here. But hey, P Day. Sometimes the contacts you make aren't when you're out looking - but they're when you're doing your best to serve the Lord and He sends them in His time. We made a random call to a family in our area book and now we've got a dinner appointment. The come out of left field, sometimes. But they always come.

Our investigators are all pretty great, except all but two don't have time to meet with us. So, the two meeting with us are great. Ted and Bowen are approaching a baptismal date - we're really excited for them both. A major sacrifice for students to give us some of their time, for sure - but we know that the Lord will recognize their efforts. Those who seek will find. Those who find the gospel have their lives changed. And that's why we're here. 

We keep on pressing on. Things are going well here. I hope things are just as good back home. Congrats to all of the 2018 graduates - I can't believe you're all so old already. Feels like a month ago I was there myself. How time flies. I hit my year mark next transfer - isn't that insane?

Miss you all!

Elder Blackhurst

Hanging Rock

Man, my subject titles are getting worse and worse. I'll do better next week, promise.

Another week in Waverley! It was great first round with a new companion and we're off to a good start. We've got lots of work to do and we're excited for what lies ahead in this transfer. 

We've entered another investigator drought out here. All of the local Universities have started their test seasons, which means everyone is unavailable to meet with the missionaries. I've heard "wo zai liu yue zhong you kong" (I'm free in the middle of June) so many times in the last few weeks, it's starting to drive me nuts. Hopefully we've got a big build up now that will turn out next month, because right now, we're contacting lots. That being said, extra time has two good benefits: 1. More time for tracting and 2. More time to visit members.  

Okay, that's actually just one benefit. Tracting isn't fun. But we're meeting lots of people and making lots of friends and that's very much worth our time. 

We've had some fun experiences just going to visit members in the ward. That isn't much of an experience we get in the City branch. I've love going up to houses on the ward list and knocking on a door, and just getting to serve whoever opens the door (Ideally we do that at all the houses, but only a few of the random doors let us in, unfortunately). I love the members of this ward and I'm grateful for their support. 

We had an exciting P Day today - we went and climbed a mountain with a member in our ward. Great fun. Not a ton of exciting P Day activities in the city, and Elder Wang was always kinda busy getting ready to go home - so we're excited to have a chance to go hit some cool sights. Hanging Rock is a rock formation north of the city. Apparently, years ago, there were some girls who went exploring their on a school trip. Several went missing and came back without their memories. Several more got lost and never were found. Very exciting. Almost no one was there (who visits a national monument at noon on a Wednesday?) and we had a fun time hopping on rocks and enjoying the fog. Maybe not too exciting to all you, but hey. Makes great fun for the missionaries. 

It was a good chance to think, up on top of the formation and the adjacent mountain. You see so much farther, the higher up you go. From the right height, you can see Melbourne, 60 kilometers away. Of course, there is a parallel to be drawn. The Gospel of Christ heightens our vision, expands how far we can see. As we put ourselves above the world, we begin to see the world as it is, in the big picture. That being said, even a little fog just above the mountain can block everything and leave you only with the few feet in front of you. Is there ever anything that we let get in our way of our relationship with the Father? What mists creep into our lives that reduce our spiritual sensitivity? We can't let the world get in the way of the things that matter most. Sometimes, they're unavoidable. Trials and temptations come. Things aren't always easy. But just as we trust the sun will rise each day to dissipate the fog, so must we trust that our God in Heaven will give us everything we need to overcome every obstacle that comes our way. 

Our zone conference next week is all about prepping for technology rolling into our mission in the next month or two. We're very excited for the changes happening in our mission. 

Have a great week, everyone! Congrats to all of the graduating seniors. Super proud of you all. All you prepping missionaries, best of luck! Maybe one of you will get called to Melbourne, if you're super lucky. We can't all get called here, unfortunately. But so it goes. The Lord gives us what we need. We do what we can and He gives us the rest. 

Elder Blackhurst

A hail of a rainstorm

Hey everyone! It's been a busy week. Transfer weeks always are. We're excited for this new transfers and all the opportunities that come with it. 

The weather this week was crazy. It's Winter down here, so everything is generally pretty cold. At the beginning of last week, we had a few days that ranged from hot to rainy to cold back to hot again. A few days later, foggy in the mornings and rainy in the evenings. One day - think it was Saturday? - a huge storm all day long. When the storm started pelting us with as much ice as rain, I asked Elder Wang how to say "hail" in Chinese. He told me it was 地狱. Glad to always be improving my vocabulary.

Anyway, we're hiding from the cold and wrapping up tight. I hope all you Arizonans are appreciating your sunshine. 

Speaking of Elder Wang, he took off yesterday on a plane back to Shandong. Elder Bibb was stuck in a car and driven out to good old Heidelberg where he will serve with my previous companion and missionary son, Elder Liu. My new companion out here in Waverley is also Elder Liu - a different one, but the same name. That's not uncommon among the Chinese - there aren't a lot of surnames, so you'll often bump into people by the same name. Anyway, Elder Liu is from Sichuan, China and has been serving for a little over a year. I'm very excited to be working with him.

Zone P Day was last week - we had a cultural food celebration. Everyone was supposed to make a food native to their hometown and bring it to share. I threw some Chicago-style hot dogs together with what I could find and they turned out pretty alright. I expected the asian missionaries to avoid them, but to my surprise, it was the Chinese sisters that loved them the most. They called me last night for the ingredients and I think they're making them again today. Gave me a good laugh, thinking about two tiny asian sister missionaries making American hot dogs. 

The highlight of last week was, of course, being a part of Jesse's baptism. Jesse Niu was baptized last Saturday and was confirmed on Sunday. It was a beautiful meeting, such a strong, peaceful spirit there. He bore a powerful testimony of the blessings he's felt - maybe not a knowledge yet, but of what he's found so far - and expressed his desire to keep learning and coming unto the Lord. For a student from China to find Christianity in Australia and to commit to follow the example of Christ (especially among test seasons like right now) is humbling to me. I am so very grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. The simple and sweet guidance that comes as we do the will of the Lord changes us. It helps us become more than we ever could do on our own. I know God answers our prayers, because He answered Jesse's and He answers mine and He promises to teach each of us who humbly comes unto Him. May we all continue to better seek His will and have the humility to accept what comes. 

As far as news from home goes, best of luck two our newly-called Guatemala missionaries. I'm so proud of you both - best of luck out there. To all of you prepping for missions: the Lord has great things planned for you. Trust in Him and He will take you all the way. 

It isn't Chinese, so sorry...but hey. Guatemala isn't bad. 

Thank you for all of the constant love and support, I'm grateful for you all. Keep up the good work, I look forward to hearing from you next week!

Elder Blackhurst

Wang's funeral

The mighty Elder Liu

Jesse Niu's baptism

Flat tire while on exchanges -- lots of fun

Too many people

Hello everyone - another fantastic week out in the field. The blessings of the Lord are all around. Our language is improving and investigators progressing and we have high hopes for all the people we're meeting. Things are going well and we feel good. 

We learned a lot about our investigators this week. Jesse finished the lessons and passed his interview and is looking forward to getting baptized this Saturday, three days from now. Very excited about him - he's awesome. Cui, our other baptismal candidate, gave us a call the other day and told us to take our Book of Mormon back because he doesn't like it. We also took that as code for "I'm not going to be baptized on Saturday", so there's that wasn't so good. But we're holding onto our relationship with him and praying the Lord helps us know how to meet his concerns. We decided to invite everyone we could to accept baptismal dates this week. Crush and Jiawei both accepted the challenge and have started the few month process of coming to their Father in Heaven. A few others weren't so excited. So often we see that one of the biggest factors is their desire to know God and change their lives. If someone is too comfortable with the way things are, or too afraid to find that they might be wrong, they very rarely will have any progress. Those who are humble and ready to accept the will of the Lord will find what he has planned for them. 

Stake conference was this week. Fantastic meeting - the Maroondah Stake has some incredible leaders. The stake choir was a highlight - you could tell which parts each of the men were singing based on their head movement. The basses would follow their line - next stretched out facing up, drop down, drop a little lower, stretch back up to strain for a high note. The tenors started up and stayed there. Great fun. 

We got kicked off of a university campus this week, that was great. We were invited on by an investigator and were just chatting in one of the main study halls before security came and kindly asked us to leave. We weren't even wearing our badges, but they pegged us anyway. We'd like to think they found us because of the light we give off, but it's probably because we're the only college-age kids on campus who wear suits in the study halls.

When Elder Andersen made his visit to the Australia Melbourne mission, one of the primary invitations he gave us was to know more people. By his standards, we didn't know enough people. We need more contacts and more friends. Not more investigators, he explained - just more relationships with more people. He invited us to make a list of 100 nonmembers we knew in the mission. As of recently, I've taken this challenge to heart and have been writing down people I've met and had conversations with and made connections to. I've been forced to take note of the little things people say and do as I meet them on the street. It really has been a big thing for me in the last few weeks. That being said, it's driving me crazy, for this reason:

There are too many people. 

I can't keep them all straight. 

I need everyone in the continent to line up and let me write down their information. And maybe give them a Book of Mormon.

Anyway. We're learning a lot about how to better connect with everyone around us - not just those ready to accept the gospel. I've got a dozen people or so outside of Monash University that I know by name that might never want to read the Book of Mormon - but at least they're my friend. They know the missionaries aren't strangers. Maybe a little weird, but good guys. Good people. And I've found there is more charity in my heart as make these people my priority. Because that was Christ's ministry, was it not? Just go and love and serve. Each person is a son or daughter of God and I can love each of them.  I bet the Savior had better memory than I did - He knows each of them by name. I don't yet. But I can keep doing my best. 

Have a lovely week, everyone. I miss you all. Looking forward to seeing my family this week - I get to Skype home on Sunday. I'm so excited. Keep on studying, keep on learning. Trust in the Lord and He'll take us all the way. 

Elder Blackhurst

I apologize for generally not attaching pictures. I know that most of you just open my email to see the pictures anyway. Here you go. No promises for next week. 

I'm running out of funny titles

Hey everyone! Another great week. Nothing too out of the ordinary - lots of lessons, lots of contacting. We're coming up towards the end of the transfer, and Elder Wang is getting ready to go. He spent about $50 dollars on Tim Tams alone this morning, the sure sign of the end. We're working hard and happy to be here and grateful for the success we're seeing. 

In our area, we currently have four baptismal dates. Two of them are scheduled to be baptized a week from this Saturday. I'm still blown away by the amount we have to do, compared to my first five transfers. We're super excited about Jesse and Cui. The other two - Ted and Bowen - are progressing as well. We see so much good on a weekly basis. I hope and pray they will all continue to grow. 

I'm coming to a realization. I spent the last two transfers forcing my poor golden missionary (sorry, Elder Liu) to make all of the phone calls because I knew it would be good practice for him. Now that I'm back and making calls again... I hate it. Making phone calls is the worst. I can't speak Chinese in the first place, so forget doing it through our garbage brick phones. Anyway. Hopefully it will improve in the next few weeks because - drum roll, please - we're becoming a technology mission in the next few weeks. Smartphones for all of the missionaries across Melbourne. Better contacting and better language study and WeChat for communicating with Asian people. I'm very excited. It also means we don't have to go hunting for flashcards anymore, which makes all of us learning a language very happy. Hoping that good things come from this. 

We had a baptism in the Zone this week - the Waverley Sisters' Michael was baptized and confirmed. Such a sweet experience. We had a little trouble getting him under the water - he's got at least four or five inches on Elder Wang, which made things a little tricky. But he was baptized and confirmed and we're very excited for him. 

These last few weeks have been weeks of growth for me. I've taken on a lot of challenges I've never dealt with before and I've certainly learned a lot. We forget sometimes, when we get into the swing of things, just how much we need to rely on the Lord. I've been forced to make every decision by his counsel, and it's a blessing to see the results. The Lord will bless and guide each of us who seek His help - we just need ask, and act on that which we receive. We've all got a long way to go, but He's with us, every step of the way. 

And with that, there's not a lot that happened this week. Other highlights include Elder Bibb getting excited about cooking gumbo for next week's Zone P Day ("It's like Thanksgiving, only multicultural!") and Elder Wang eating Vegemite. We're working. We're loving the work. How grateful I am to be right here. 

Have a great week! I love you all. Keep up the good work.

Jiayou!

Elder Blackhurst