Big rain

A happy Thanksgiving to everyone back in the states, I hope you've all been doing wonderfully! Elder MacPherson and I are super grateful for another week of work out in the field. The Australians and the Chinese don't have Thanksgiving, but that won't stop us from having a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow in celebration and being more grateful than normal for the blessings around us. This last week was a lot of fun, and we have high hopes for this coming few weeks. 

Our investigators and members are one by one disappearing and going back to China, so the number of people we need to contact gets shorter every day. More time for finding new investigators, I guess. We've made a lot of good friends recently. We have a young man from Malaysia who is interested in the church because he initially saw The Book of Mormon musical. He came to an activity last week and he's committed to come to church this coming Sunday. He invited us to go and play games with him and his friend today at a game shop, which was a ton of fun. It was a good way to connect and let them see that we're human too. I love the process of getting to know people as a missionary. You can't just "teach" and move on - in listening and identifying their needs and looking for ways to serve, you can't help but start to love these people. I hope to find many more people who can learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Investigators are ranging. Lots of people have time recently if they haven't gone back to China, so we've got a handful of people coming to church for the first time this Sunday. I got a random call from a contact I made a few weeks ago from a guy who wants to bring his family to see a "white people" church when they come in town from China but decided that we'd do because we speak Mandarin too. Who knows what'll happen - we just go and make sure they have the best experience they can. Brother He is improving, and Tian has recommitted to learn more after being so busy. Li Xin and his wife came and had dinner with us a couple membrs on Sunday. Very, very powerful lesson on God and the Plan of Salvation. Lots of other people are starting to show up to. Exciting time.

Last Thursday was Elder MacPherson's birthday. A member planned to take him out to a nice dinner, so we had to do some careful work to get him to the location without him suspecting. Long day of work with a nice break at the end to recognize my companion - definitely a good day. I love working with this guy, Elder Mac is the man. He is working hard (working me hard) and we're accomplishing so much. 

Yesterday it rained. It only rained for a couple hours, and it only rained really really hard for a few minutes, but we happened to be outside for the whole of it. They two of us got so wet. 

We didn't stop and wait for it to pass like we should've, we just decided to run back to the church. Bad idea, we were drenched to the bone. Melbourne weather does that sometimes - crazy high to crazy low. Only thing to expect is that which you don't expect. So, sometimes that will be giant rainstorms in the city.

Anyway, this week was good. Powerful. The two of us are feeling the desire to become the best we can be and serve as many people as possible. We're setting goals, studying hard, preaching harder. We love the Lord and we love His work. I pray His spirit be us and you that we all might know how we can better serve the Lord our God. Have a great week and a lovely Thanksgiving, I'll hear from you all soon!

In which we keep on plugging along

Hey everyone! 

Good, regular week. Nothing out of the ordinary, just getting out and grinding. Lots of new contacts, lots of potential investigators. Few good lessons. Elder MacPherson and I are working hard and doing good.  I try to look for new things to tell you all, but sometimes, it's just going and talking to people. That's the bulk of missionary work here - looking for people we can serve. So many amazing people out in this world, and even if a lot of them don't want to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, they have their own passions and concerns and want to learn and grow and share what they love as much as we do. I stopped to talk to a young lady yesterday and three other Christians of another faith came up to talk to us. The five us us - two Australians, a Chinese, a Singapore人，and an American - at least three different faiths, but brought together by a love of Jesus Christ. It was such a tender moment to listen to them and their stories. That's what we're here to do - help others learn a little more about the Savior. No greater work.

As far as the work, we're kinda stuck in a spot where a lot of our contacts are going back to China so we're trying to get some more people into our teaching pool. We've got a sister named Sherrie who has met with us two weeks in a row and has committed to keep coming back, which is really exciting. Lots of new friends. We're moving. Ideally, we find all of the people who aren't going back to China for break. Those ones are golden. 

We went out to the beach again today, gorgeous as always. I was standing on the edge of a rock thinking about how much dang fun it would be to go diving when I may have been caught by a surprising and unnaturally tall wave. Oops. Don't tell President. 

I've had some days where I've realized there's some major repenting to do. I can spend a day using my time to my maximum and stil not really work hard. I can give more effort. One of my major flaws is a bit of laziness, that's something I've really found about myself on the mission. I can do more. And I will. I want to give my all to the Lord. I had a wonderful chat with a couple of Christian guys on the street the other day - definitely not our church, I think they were some born-again group. But we connected with our love of the Savior. You could feel the love. I need to keep that in my sights, in my focus - returning that love. 

Besides that, nothing too out of the ordinary. Meetings, lessons, contacting, cooking, sleeping, studying, all over. Zone conference on Friday. We're plugging along and loving the work. Have a lovely week, everyone. I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

Elder Blackhurst

November 6

Hello, everyone! Hope you've had as wonderful a week as we have! These last few days have been a blast and Elder MacPherson and I have been seeing blessings all around. We're very excited for the progress of some of our friends and pray that the Lord will continue to guide our work. 

We've spent the last while talking to a lot of people, the most of which ignore us because they're too busy prepping for finals. Finally, we're starting to get somewhere as test season is coming to an end. We've got one new investigator already this week and several more coming to church for the first time in the next couple days. Awesome. We met Sherrie the other day for the first time - super sweet, very interested in the message we share. Brother He is progressing and keeping commitments. It thrills me to think about the potential the gospel has in these peoples' lives. 

Our district consists of my area, Heidelberg, and the West Melbourne Sisters, so three areas. President Vidmar has recently been pushing for the mission to set better standards and goals and expectations for ourselves in the work and all three of our areas have caught the fire and vision of what President imagines we can accomplish. It has been a miraculous week, watching the faith of these seven other missionaries bring miracles to pass. I'm grateful to be serving as their district leader. I feel almost unworthy to be surrounded my such wonderful people. I'm grateful for the Lord and I know that He loves us - when we trust in Him, He puts us in the places He needs us to be. 

We have a funny relationship with the Australians, they're very real people. We're sitting in the library and there's a guy going off on one of the attendants because his computer is having problems. Another guy gets up and goes off on this guy for being loud and rude about his computer. Another guy goes off on him. Another guy gives up his computer for rude guy number one and goes off somewhere else. They're all very sure of what they know and believe and let you know it. Very often they'll come up and tell us what they like about us and what they don't like about us or that they think we're great but could never be part of our religion. They're great fun. I'm happy to be here with the Asians, but the 'Straiyans are good too. 

I spent a lot of time studying the story of the Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon this week. I love his example of faith - just trusting that the Lord will always be there and do all things necessary to help us return home to Him. I want to do more as a missionary and as a son of God and as a brother to everyone around me. Sometimes, the Lord will let us make our own plan and take it to Him, just like the Brother of Jared smelted the stones and offered them to God. We do our best, according to the minds He's given us, and we trust that He'll take care of everything else. He does. I know He does. He loves me and cares for me and I hope more of us can better rely on Him. 

I love you all. Miss everyone tons, but I've heard lots of good from back home. Stay off the streets, Eliza is driving. Keep on praying, keep on studying your scriptures. Have a great week, and I'll talk to you all soon!

Elder Blackhurst

Happy Halloween!

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a happy Halloween. Halloween isn't nearly as big here as it is in the states, so we just keep on plugging along. I for one am already for Christmas, but so it goes. We had a great, great week. Lots of good work, lots of dedicated hours just getting out and talking to people.

Transfers have come and gone, and Elder MacPherson and I are still together. Not a big surprise, but we're still both very happy about it. He's growing lots. He is a great example of trying to be led by the Spirit at all times and in all things. We do our best to seek the will of the Lord and then get to work. We miss Sister Wu and Elder Gao who just went home, but know that the Lord has great things planned for them back home, and we're excited for our new Sister McConkie who has just joined our Chinese program. We love our Chinese missionaries.

I'm a little short on stories this week - sometimes, you have a week of lessons and activities planned and they all fall through. On Saturday alone, three of the four people we committed to visit the branch fell through, and the fourth left right after to go on vacation. But sometimes, that's how it goes. The 2nd chapter of 2nd Nephi teaches that there has to be opposition in all things. There has to be slow days for there to be hard ones. Some days have to have no investigators, and some days get to have lots. But we keep on pressing on. The joy is there in the work, regardless of "successful" we are. The Lord blesses us with little miracles all over the place - little miracles you can't explain or tell stories about, but make a world of difference in the moment. Studying the right thing in comp study that makes your testimony that much stronger when you're GQing, or when your zone leaders come and share something with you that just makes your day - there are blessings all around.

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, I hope you've all been diligently reading, especially since the prophet invited to do so this last conference. I myself have started again and will read it from cover to cover in Mandarin. For any of you back home who think it is too difficult or too hard to find time to read, I'll gladly switch languages with you. I'll even wrap the book and send it back to you. 

Kidding aside, my Chinese has really improved so much. I can get through a chapter of characters and be able to read 85% of it. Slow and steady, we're definitely getting there. What a blessing it is to have been called to serve the people in this magnificent language and culture. I love it so. 

One story from this week - we set one new investigator on date this week for baptism - a man named Brother He. We have the same Chinese surname, which is kinda cool. He's got a big problem with the Word of Wisdom, but he's cut his drinking by half since our last meeting. Praying that he can find the strength to get off of it altogether. 

I hope you all have a great week! Miss you all tons. Send good pictures of Halloween costumes, and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Elder Blackhurst

Contacting, Beat-Boxing, and other missionary adventures

G'day, everyone! Great, great week. Elder MacPherson and I were on fire this week - he's growing, I'm growing, our investigators are growing, everything is going great. Not easy, but we're working hard. Hard work is what we came here to do. 

Every week, missionaries report their "numbers" to their mission leaders so that other mission leaders can talk about those numbers and figure out how to make them higher. These numbers don't actually measure anything that really matters, but they do help in making sure the people meeting with us are moving in the right direction. These last few weeks have been fantastic, not because we've had high numbers to report - we've been turning in all zeros for three weeks straight - but because we've seen so many small miracles in the work. Finding a powerful scripture in personal study that turns your day around, that's a miracle. Finding a little bit of extra strength to talk to someone you don't really want to talk to, that's a miracle. Your golden-greenie companion reporting that he made sixteen new contacts while you were gone on exchanges with other missionaries, that's a miracle. Being able to understand people, that's a miracle. The Lord showers down all these little blessings on us and we have to be paying attention to receive them. Nothing is better than watching the little blessings add up around you into something important. We don't always know the Lord's will for us - but we always know He's taking care of it. We do our best and trust that He'll do everything else. 

That being said, we statistically had a very poor week last week. But we've been making lots of new friends and sharing the message of the gospel with every person we meet. 

We are sustained by the Lord. I love being a missionary.

One of the highlights of the week was on exchanges last night. I was serving with the Heidelberg Elders, Elders Feng and Hansen, and went with them and our Zone Leaders to a member's apartment and ate dinner with the member and all of her roommates. We ate and we having a nice chat, and the subject of music came up. Somehow they got all five of us performing a musical number - I Am a Child of God, complete with harmonies, ukulele and beat-boxing. I'd attach the video if I could. It was a fun chance to connect with these people and use our talents to show them that we're human too. We're here to do the Lord's work, but we're still us. The Lord uses us, His imperfect children, to spread the word abroad that we might learn too. I love serving and being a missionary and sharing my love of the savior with people on the street each and every day. Lots of bumps along the way, but there's no greater work.

I love you all, have a great week. I've been slacking on the photos recently. I promise I'll try and do better. May the Lord bless you all, wherever you are, whatever you're up to! 

Elder Blackhurst

We are Zombies

Hey everyone! So sorry that I didn't get an email out last week, we were in the temple in the morning and didn't get a chance to email. It has been a fantastic couple weeks. Lots of adventures, lots of contacting. Elder MacPherson and I have been doing great and looking forward to the coming week. 

The to start, the elephant in the room - general conference was absolutely incredible. Wonderful. It was lots of fun to see my companion's face in conference. For those of you who don't remember, Elder Rasband is Elder MacPherson's grandfather. The picture at the end of his talk featured my very own comp right smack dab in the middle. He was a little abashed about it, especially when every other missionary he met would comment about seeing him in conference. All of the talks were excellent, and there is so much good to be got of them. I loved Elder Holland's and Elder Bednar's and, of course the Prophet himself. I hope we're all looking for a little bit of course-correction from the teachings of our modern day prophets.

Elder MacPherson has been doing great. Growing lots, Mandarin in improving. He still loves talking to everyone and taking him out contacting is great. I love working with him. A couple members took us out to dinner last night for hot pot, which was exciting in itself. And then the members ordered 猪脑，which Elder MacPherson recognized probably as well as most of you from first glance. But when the waiter set a plate of small pig brains down on the table, he just about flipped. I just about died laughing. But he got his composure and ate one, which I was proud of. I had two. I thought they were nasty too, but I couldn't seem it. Also featured in that meal were weird Asian mushrooms and duck blood. Wonderful. 

We're looking forward to contacting and working with a lot of new investigators in the next few weeks. We love the work, we love the Lord, and we pray all we meet can come to know Him!

Have a great week, everyone. Keep on studying your scriptures and the words of the prophets. Love you all and we'll talk to you soon!

Elder Blackhurst

30 Minute Meals with Elder Blackhurst

Hey everyone! Great, great week. One of the best in the mission. Not because of the great things that happened, but because of the work that got done. Elder MacPherson and I have been studying the section in Preach My Gospel about what makes a successful missionary - not our results that define us, but what we put forth. We're giving the Lord our all and trusting that He'll take care of everything else. Lots of lessons and contacting and the likes but hey, so is the life of a missionary. 

Elder MacPherson, our new golden, is doing great. Still working and growing. Reminds me of my first few weeks. Chinese is still highly rudimentary, but gives it his all and learns tons every single day. His last name is too hard to pronounce for the Chinese, so he tells them to just call him "Mac". This leads to jokes to "Mac and Black", which inevitably ends with the other missionaries singing AC/DC's Back in Black with our names inserted. Lots of fun. 

Speaking of last names, I'm beginning to realize that the majority of people I work with can't remember my Chinese name because it sounds nothing like my English name. I'm considering changing it to something else because, hey. I can. The character for "black" is waaaaay cooler than my current name. So, we'll see. 

So, Elder MacPherson can't cook. I've mentioned this before. So I'm cooking. And as you can tell, I haven't poisoned us yet. Pastas, noodles, rices, curries, stir-fries - I'm passable now. Stay updated. 

Fun experience on Saturday, the branch had a caligraphy activity. We practiced writing traditional Chinese characters with paint and brushes. Not an easy activity, but very interesting. Teaches you a lot of patience. I'm just now beginning to study characters and learning to read and write in Chinese. It's such a deep, complex language. So much to learn and discover. I find myself saying this all the time, but it truly is an amazing language and culture. I love being a part of it - and even better, being here inviting them to come unto Christ. 

Investigators are growing and progressing. No new news on anyone there, but expect good things soon.

Have a great week, everyone. Love you all lots. Have a good one!

Elder Blackhurst