We GOT THE CAR STUCK! Haha it was so funny... Elder Tietjen and I were in the hood and we stopped to look at the map to where we were going next, right next to a grassy hill. And so I go to pull out and there was a 1 foot wide, 1 foot deep hole that the front right tire got stuck in. So what did we do? We used Books of Mormon to get it out, of course!!! Haha not really- they were picture books of the Book of Mormon -- and jammed those next to the tire for traction. Then as Elder Tietjen reversed, I lifted the car. Elder Tietjen said the Lord gave me Godly strength. But that was a fun part of the week. We got really nervous though!
Today we drove up to Port Douglas for P-day. It was amazing. I'll send a picture!
This week has been great! The Lord really has blessed Elder Tietjen and I because we have a lot of really keen investigators!
Oh- to start off the week we picked up the new couple missionaries on Tue. (we're not allowed to call them the elderly couple) They are Elder and Sister Eversole from Bountiful, Utah! They are very nice and Sister Eversole reminds me of a Relief Society President of the world!
We had a very trying week though. Humbling. We have all these keen investigators but had a lot of cancelled appointments. Satan has been working hard. One has her mother in the hospital and another- her uncle is going to die soon. But I'll give you the low down--
Darren: is awesome! This guy is so cool. Of course we have a lot of work with him but he is such a good guy. He was the one who is an ex-con for man- slaughter. I'll admit when he told me that I thought of running out of the door...but we have had a TON of progress with him. And he loves us too. We stopped in on him last night to make sure he was okay because a referral he gave us that we have been teaching too- told us he might have gotten in a fight. He didn't. Long story. But he was so happy we stopped to make sure he was okay.
Carissa: Carissa is the one who felt the spirit so strong . So amazing. We know she will be baptized. We didn't get to teach her a lot this week. But next time we will set a date with her. She is single and has 5 kids, goes to Uni (university) and has a job. Wow.
Patricia: She is the one with her mom in the hospital and get this-- we haven't even taught her yet. We tracted into her and hope to teach her this week. But she lives 15 K's south so we pretty much try to get down there when we have a car or its a 50 min. bike ride.
Fiona and Ashley: Fiona is the referral from Darren. She is pretty interesting. We only taught her once but she is coming to church next Sunday.
Lu-Lu Finiasu: She is our elders quorum president's sister. She came to church yesterday and we are teaching her tonight.
Those are our investigators who I feel really good about. So pray for them please!
Thank you for your prayers already. Us greenies have been so blessed!
Also- it's so warm here and my blood has thinned out. I hate being cold now.
To the Blog viewers-- To friends: Sorry if I haven't written to you in a while. I'll try.
Love you all.
God Speed-
Elder Adam Hales
Showing posts with label 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2009. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
What's for dinner?
OYE! (that means "hey!")
Yeah- it's such an honor to be sent up here to Cairns. Elder Tietjen and I LOVE IT!
Elder and Sister Miller left this morning so we had to take them to the airport at 4 am. :-) It was sad. They are from Orange County and are SO AWESOME! Elder Miller knows the scriptures like the back of his hand! And Sister Miller reminds me of you mom. Doesn't play games unless she knows she is going to win. haha
Haha -- Elder Winder is such a stud. That's funny- he is the humble one.
By the way- "stud" here means really good looking- so I need to get out of the habit of saying that as soon as possible!
Yes, I've seen kangaroos... and I've eaten them. It tastes so different. It looks like steak but has this interesting taste.
Thank you SO MUCH FOR THAT PACKAGE!!! Wow, it was huge with so much candy!!! I WAS IN HEAVEN. That was a lot! Almost gone. :)
Okay so this week was AMAZING!!!! So many things happened its CRAZY!! From Trade-offs to the Millers going home. And so many miracles! It was sad to see the Millers leave. They fed us every district meeting. And we would have scripture study right before district meeting. Amazing what we would learn. We studied the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. That is so much more than words on paper. Wow.
Well, this area has been fruitful! With the Miller's leaving, I got trunky as we said good-bye this morning and started wondering what it would be like leaving my mission. I don't want to leave! Not to mention Cairns... I don't want to leave Cairns!
Also I wanted to tell you about our Branch President- President Collins. He was Pentacostal and he said the thing that hit him hard when he was being taught was the Plan of Salvation. He is the MAN! He got up this last Sunday and just pounded the ward for not paying tithing! IT IS SO SWEET! He does it in a good way of course... but he just says " If you don't pay tithing you're placing your trust in MONEY! AND NOT GOD!!!" He is just so Bold! Which has helped me be more bold too!
But we had an experience yesterday. The Power of the Plan of Salvation. Wow. After church we took Brother and Sister Smith, ward mission pres. and wife, to a lesson we had with a very promising investigator, Carissa. Carissa has 4 kids and is single. But she is Golden! We gave her both pamphlets over time about the restoration and Plan of Salvation. She read both and was confused about the P.O.S.
So Elder Tietjen and I began to teach it. The spirit was SO strong that she started understanding the Atonement and understanding deep scriptures and she was so full with the spirit that she started to get overly excited. So we commit her to baptizm after only teaching half of the Plan of Salvation. She said " I'm thinking that's what I need to do because I've been baptized before but its almost as if that didn't even count." Wow mom and dad. This is an amazing work. We tracted into Carissa.
There was a phrase Elder Holland told us in the MTC: " Its the truth, it's God's truth, and it means everything."
I love being a missionary so much.
We deepened our teaching pool a lot. We have around 7 investigators; 5 are legit.
Darren: I love this guy. He loves us. He really considers us friends. Last night when we called he was like " How long are you guys going to be in this area?" I told him I could be here for 4-6 months. He was like "sweet- when is your day off again?" I say Monday and he said we should do something. But we're going to baptize him...and I hope it will be this transfer but it might be next cause he still has some things to fix, like smoking. I REALLY WANT him to be baptized though.
I love being a missionary.
I love you all. And those who read the blog. haha
Elder Adam Hales
Yeah- it's such an honor to be sent up here to Cairns. Elder Tietjen and I LOVE IT!
Elder and Sister Miller left this morning so we had to take them to the airport at 4 am. :-) It was sad. They are from Orange County and are SO AWESOME! Elder Miller knows the scriptures like the back of his hand! And Sister Miller reminds me of you mom. Doesn't play games unless she knows she is going to win. haha
Haha -- Elder Winder is such a stud. That's funny- he is the humble one.
By the way- "stud" here means really good looking- so I need to get out of the habit of saying that as soon as possible!
Yes, I've seen kangaroos... and I've eaten them. It tastes so different. It looks like steak but has this interesting taste.
Thank you SO MUCH FOR THAT PACKAGE!!! Wow, it was huge with so much candy!!! I WAS IN HEAVEN. That was a lot! Almost gone. :)
Okay so this week was AMAZING!!!! So many things happened its CRAZY!! From Trade-offs to the Millers going home. And so many miracles! It was sad to see the Millers leave. They fed us every district meeting. And we would have scripture study right before district meeting. Amazing what we would learn. We studied the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. That is so much more than words on paper. Wow.
Well, this area has been fruitful! With the Miller's leaving, I got trunky as we said good-bye this morning and started wondering what it would be like leaving my mission. I don't want to leave! Not to mention Cairns... I don't want to leave Cairns!
Also I wanted to tell you about our Branch President- President Collins. He was Pentacostal and he said the thing that hit him hard when he was being taught was the Plan of Salvation. He is the MAN! He got up this last Sunday and just pounded the ward for not paying tithing! IT IS SO SWEET! He does it in a good way of course... but he just says " If you don't pay tithing you're placing your trust in MONEY! AND NOT GOD!!!" He is just so Bold! Which has helped me be more bold too!
But we had an experience yesterday. The Power of the Plan of Salvation. Wow. After church we took Brother and Sister Smith, ward mission pres. and wife, to a lesson we had with a very promising investigator, Carissa. Carissa has 4 kids and is single. But she is Golden! We gave her both pamphlets over time about the restoration and Plan of Salvation. She read both and was confused about the P.O.S.
So Elder Tietjen and I began to teach it. The spirit was SO strong that she started understanding the Atonement and understanding deep scriptures and she was so full with the spirit that she started to get overly excited. So we commit her to baptizm after only teaching half of the Plan of Salvation. She said " I'm thinking that's what I need to do because I've been baptized before but its almost as if that didn't even count." Wow mom and dad. This is an amazing work. We tracted into Carissa.
There was a phrase Elder Holland told us in the MTC: " Its the truth, it's God's truth, and it means everything."
I love being a missionary so much.
We deepened our teaching pool a lot. We have around 7 investigators; 5 are legit.
Darren: I love this guy. He loves us. He really considers us friends. Last night when we called he was like " How long are you guys going to be in this area?" I told him I could be here for 4-6 months. He was like "sweet- when is your day off again?" I say Monday and he said we should do something. But we're going to baptize him...and I hope it will be this transfer but it might be next cause he still has some things to fix, like smoking. I REALLY WANT him to be baptized though.
I love being a missionary.
I love you all. And those who read the blog. haha
Elder Adam Hales
Monday, March 9, 2009
Far Out!
Wow time is flying!
Its already been a week here in Cairns! And yes... this is Great Barrier Reef central. We can't go anywhere near the coast so I'm always flipped around thinking East is West and back and forth. But just so ya know- My area is in the middle of Cairns and south all the way to Townsville- which is a long way away. Its been really stressful being whitewashed into this area with Elder Tietjen. Using maps trying to figure out where everything is... but I love it so much. There are thousands of bats in the air at night... and the mountains look so beautiful! Whenever I get stressed or frustrated, I look at the mountains and I realize I'm in CAIRNS!!!
Elder Tietjen drove this week. Wow-- he is bad... but luckily I'm driving this week. And I know I'll be fine.
In our flat- Elder Nelson and Tohoro cover the northern Cairns ...basically the whole northern Australia. They are Studs! Good Good guys and Elder Nelson is the District leader.
There have been a lot of floods here lately .. but nothing while I've been here. I guess we had a cyclone here, but it passed Cairns. We have been getting a lot of rain though. Wow. I guess its a lot like Hawaii here.
This week has been full with great experiences and miracles! We have no progressing investigators so we have been doing a lot of tracting and finding lately. Just like Elder Winder said.. finding can be so fun! Last night we went to the Hood and played street basketball to get referrals. Hardly worked though. But we got in with all the players and got an appointment with a less active member there.
Elder Tietjen and I went street contacting our first night here.. and that night, we saw a Aboriginel woman beat up a white guy and prayed for a couple that were fighting. So we thought this area was going to be Crazy! But its been normal the rest of the nights.
This branch works a lot with less actives so Elder Tietjen and I had a lot lessons with un-promising people. We tried our 100 percent best.
This Branch is so amazing though. Great missionary- minded people. They had us get up and bear our testimony on Sunday. I really feel good about this area and mostly about this branch! I really feel like I love them already. We had a less active there on Sunday so they asked us to teach Gospel Principles. So I just whispered- lets talk about the restoration- to Elder Teitjen and we started this amazing discussion. I guess they don't have a Gospel Principles class yet. So we hope to see her next Sunday. Her name is Patricia.
We had a Ward Activity on Friday night for the Millers. They are the senior couple here. Amazing people. They both know the scriptures SO WELL! They leave on the 22nd.
As of right now we are getting a lot of potentials. I got my tracting approach down perfect now. I don't get nervous one bit anymore. Its nice.
We do have one baptism coming up. Her name is Teresa- and she is an old Aboriginal. Personally I don't know about her accountability. She is very slow. Her daughter got baptized a month ago and she felt the spirit very strong! She was crying and everything. I wasn't there.. but thats what I heard. So we try to teach VERY SIMPLE. President said to baptize her. But her daughter isn't much help. Almost inactive now. We are working with her.
We had zone conference yesterday. :) Just Elder Tohoro, Nelson, Tietjen, the Millers, President and Sister Richards and I. Great training! They taught us more about commiting someone. Commitments are telling people to repent. And the sooner they repent, the sooner they receive blessings! It was very good. We had lunch and then President did stewardships (interviews)
President told me that he trusts Elder Tietjen and I and that is why we were sent up here. But Elder Tietjen and I both feel like we are supposed to be here.
Thanks for the prayers. Pray for Teresa!
Love you all
God Speed
Elder Adam Hales
Its already been a week here in Cairns! And yes... this is Great Barrier Reef central. We can't go anywhere near the coast so I'm always flipped around thinking East is West and back and forth. But just so ya know- My area is in the middle of Cairns and south all the way to Townsville- which is a long way away. Its been really stressful being whitewashed into this area with Elder Tietjen. Using maps trying to figure out where everything is... but I love it so much. There are thousands of bats in the air at night... and the mountains look so beautiful! Whenever I get stressed or frustrated, I look at the mountains and I realize I'm in CAIRNS!!!
Elder Tietjen drove this week. Wow-- he is bad... but luckily I'm driving this week. And I know I'll be fine.
In our flat- Elder Nelson and Tohoro cover the northern Cairns ...basically the whole northern Australia. They are Studs! Good Good guys and Elder Nelson is the District leader.
There have been a lot of floods here lately .. but nothing while I've been here. I guess we had a cyclone here, but it passed Cairns. We have been getting a lot of rain though. Wow. I guess its a lot like Hawaii here.
This week has been full with great experiences and miracles! We have no progressing investigators so we have been doing a lot of tracting and finding lately. Just like Elder Winder said.. finding can be so fun! Last night we went to the Hood and played street basketball to get referrals. Hardly worked though. But we got in with all the players and got an appointment with a less active member there.
Elder Tietjen and I went street contacting our first night here.. and that night, we saw a Aboriginel woman beat up a white guy and prayed for a couple that were fighting. So we thought this area was going to be Crazy! But its been normal the rest of the nights.
This branch works a lot with less actives so Elder Tietjen and I had a lot lessons with un-promising people. We tried our 100 percent best.
This Branch is so amazing though. Great missionary- minded people. They had us get up and bear our testimony on Sunday. I really feel good about this area and mostly about this branch! I really feel like I love them already. We had a less active there on Sunday so they asked us to teach Gospel Principles. So I just whispered- lets talk about the restoration- to Elder Teitjen and we started this amazing discussion. I guess they don't have a Gospel Principles class yet. So we hope to see her next Sunday. Her name is Patricia.
We had a Ward Activity on Friday night for the Millers. They are the senior couple here. Amazing people. They both know the scriptures SO WELL! They leave on the 22nd.
As of right now we are getting a lot of potentials. I got my tracting approach down perfect now. I don't get nervous one bit anymore. Its nice.
We do have one baptism coming up. Her name is Teresa- and she is an old Aboriginal. Personally I don't know about her accountability. She is very slow. Her daughter got baptized a month ago and she felt the spirit very strong! She was crying and everything. I wasn't there.. but thats what I heard. So we try to teach VERY SIMPLE. President said to baptize her. But her daughter isn't much help. Almost inactive now. We are working with her.
We had zone conference yesterday. :) Just Elder Tohoro, Nelson, Tietjen, the Millers, President and Sister Richards and I. Great training! They taught us more about commiting someone. Commitments are telling people to repent. And the sooner they repent, the sooner they receive blessings! It was very good. We had lunch and then President did stewardships (interviews)
President told me that he trusts Elder Tietjen and I and that is why we were sent up here. But Elder Tietjen and I both feel like we are supposed to be here.
Thanks for the prayers. Pray for Teresa!
Love you all
God Speed
Elder Adam Hales
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Transfer!
Oye! How ya goin? I'm doin right myself eh. Just teachin some blokes.
Translation: Hey! How are you? I'm doing good. Just teaching some guys.
:)
O my gosh! All of you are not going to believe where I am emailing you from and who my companion is. Let's just say I got transferred! I guess I'm done being trained!
Well, last 2 days I had a 30 hour bus drive!!! O gosh I'm in the most sought- after area in the mission. The coolest place ever! I'm in Cairns!!! Serving with my MTC companion Elder Tietjen! My area is huge!
Here is my address!
2/64 Dalton Rd.
Westcourt
QLD, 4870
Australia
(note to everyone- send things to this address. I won't get your letters for about 6 weeks at a time if sent to Brisbane mission address.)
Dang I have so much to say! So tomorrow is transfers... but they ship us up early so we can get going quick! So last Friday I got a call from the Assistants and they were singing the song "My Girl" but changed the lyrics saying "Transfers" instead. And you only get called that early if you're going up north. The north is a zone. There are 8 zones. So on Saturday at noon I left on the Greyhound bus. That was way too long. I'm going to miss Elder Nielsen! He and I were a lot alike so there was no companionship inventory to really take care of. :) It's a bummer I don't get to see Danika get baptized in 2 weeks but Elder Nielsen said he would send the picture.
So I'm in the best area of the mission, a worldwide famous vacation spot, best scuba diving ever... bummer... but I am in a 4-way-flat again. It's pretty nice but there are cockroaches everywhere. :) fun fun. A District leader of the northern zone is in our flat...and they cover the northern area of Cairns and Elder Tietjen and I are whitewashed into the southern area. Whitewashed again... but I'm excited because Elder Tietjen and I are super excited to work super hard.
I loved the emails this week! And I got the pictures of Chan-man! He is such a stud muffin! He is going to be an awesome surfer and missionary! And cool letters with dad's name on the front, eh! And mom- Elder Nielsen asked if you were my sister. No joke. (*I could have edited this out, but nah -- I'll leave it in.) :-)
Tell Elder Winder I say what's up and that I loved that letter! Those are some really good ideas!
And this new place we send emails is nice. On the bus...I got to see ALL of Australia! So that is cool!
Today's Pday will be fun. Just clean our new flat since it looks like it has never been cleaned. And catch up on sleep. Last week we went lawn bowling. Boring, but had to experience it at least once.
Love you all so much and miss you!
God speed!
Elder Hales
Translation: Hey! How are you? I'm doing good. Just teaching some guys.
:)
O my gosh! All of you are not going to believe where I am emailing you from and who my companion is. Let's just say I got transferred! I guess I'm done being trained!
Well, last 2 days I had a 30 hour bus drive!!! O gosh I'm in the most sought- after area in the mission. The coolest place ever! I'm in Cairns!!! Serving with my MTC companion Elder Tietjen! My area is huge!
Here is my address!
2/64 Dalton Rd.
Westcourt
QLD, 4870
Australia
(note to everyone- send things to this address. I won't get your letters for about 6 weeks at a time if sent to Brisbane mission address.)
Dang I have so much to say! So tomorrow is transfers... but they ship us up early so we can get going quick! So last Friday I got a call from the Assistants and they were singing the song "My Girl" but changed the lyrics saying "Transfers" instead. And you only get called that early if you're going up north. The north is a zone. There are 8 zones. So on Saturday at noon I left on the Greyhound bus. That was way too long. I'm going to miss Elder Nielsen! He and I were a lot alike so there was no companionship inventory to really take care of. :) It's a bummer I don't get to see Danika get baptized in 2 weeks but Elder Nielsen said he would send the picture.
So I'm in the best area of the mission, a worldwide famous vacation spot, best scuba diving ever... bummer... but I am in a 4-way-flat again. It's pretty nice but there are cockroaches everywhere. :) fun fun. A District leader of the northern zone is in our flat...and they cover the northern area of Cairns and Elder Tietjen and I are whitewashed into the southern area. Whitewashed again... but I'm excited because Elder Tietjen and I are super excited to work super hard.
I loved the emails this week! And I got the pictures of Chan-man! He is such a stud muffin! He is going to be an awesome surfer and missionary! And cool letters with dad's name on the front, eh! And mom- Elder Nielsen asked if you were my sister. No joke. (*I could have edited this out, but nah -- I'll leave it in.) :-)
Tell Elder Winder I say what's up and that I loved that letter! Those are some really good ideas!
And this new place we send emails is nice. On the bus...I got to see ALL of Australia! So that is cool!
Today's Pday will be fun. Just clean our new flat since it looks like it has never been cleaned. And catch up on sleep. Last week we went lawn bowling. Boring, but had to experience it at least once.
Love you all so much and miss you!
God speed!
Elder Hales
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