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.
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