Upcoming Baptisms

So I don't have too much to email about today. But just thought I'd let you all know that I made spam musubi for my companion, and he loved it!

Anyways, we had a lesson with Tyson, and he asked how he gets baptized, and we ended up setting a baptismal date for the 22 of April! And this saturday is the baptism of the 9 year old we've been helping to teach, which is also pretty exciting!

I guess another cool thing is that I saw my second snake in Australia! It was night and I was with our ward mission leader trying to see a few people, when he almost stepped on this small snake! It was no longer than 2 feet, maybe not even a foot, and we pulled out our cameras to take a picture or two. Then, a car pulls up, a man jumps out, asks if it's a snake, says, "just the one I was looking for". Then, for about a minute, while trying not to get bitten, he grabs it and takes it back to his car and drives off. Welcome to Australia!

Anyways, general conference is coming up next week I believe, but we only get to watch it a week after in Australia, so no spoilers please!

Thanks everyone for your love and support!

Elder Ho

Miracles!

So this past week has been a good week. It had it's ups and downs, with days where everything seemed like it was falling through. But there were many "ups".

First of all, after weeks and weeks, even months of heat and sun, it finally rained! And it's been raining off and on for just about the whole week, which has been very nice. It also made everything a lot more green and tropical looking.

Another "up" is that, while door knocking, we ran into a 16 year old (who looks 20), Flynn, that asked what we do as missionaries. He then told us that he'd be willing to have us around again to teach him the lessons, and he seems more interested than any other people we run into while door knocking. We have an appointment with him on Tuesday and we're looking forward to that.

There is also a guy named Tyson, who has been coming to church for around a month now. We actually door knocked into him before he came to church, and he said to come back later, but nobody answered when we came back. We assumed he wasn't interested, but then a few weeks later a friend brought him to church, and upon introducing ourselves we realized it was the same person we met while door knocking! He wasn't ready for the lessons at the time, but just this past Sunday, he came to us and asked us if we could start teaching him, so we'll be seeing him today!

I'll just finish off this email by talking about obedience. On the mission we say that obedience brings blessings, and exact obedience brings miracles. We know that obedience is vital, especially for our investigators and those we teach. When they are obedient to the commandments, they receive blessings, see miracles, see changes in their lives, and reactivate or convert. On the other hand, those who think that a little disobedience is ok, change their "spiritual trajectory" by just a few inches, and in the end they often fall away and miss the mark by quite a distance.

Thank you all for your love and support!

Elder Ho

3 Days Later...

So it's really only been about 3 days since I last emailed, but I've got a bit more stuff to talk about this time, including things I forgot to mention.

I think it was a little over a week ago, we got to listen to a group called "The Brown Hymnbook" sing at a fireside, if we brought an investigator. It was a really good performance, and the singers were really good (One of them was Sammy J).

Also, did you know that there are free electric grills in Australia? You can just go to a park, press a button, and the surface heats up and you can just cook food! We've done it a few times on P-days. Australia has some really nice public facilities and stuff, like very clean public bathrooms, mini zipline things, cool jungle gyms, free electric grills, and much more. It's pretty cool.

And this past Saturday, we got a referral from Church Headquarters; apparently a less active member used the church website to ask the missionaries to come around, so we ended up seeing her and her nonmember fiance, and they told us they'd come to church on Sunday! So Sunday came around and my companion and I were waiting at the door, hoping that they'd turn up. Family after family came, but they didn't show up, so we assumed they weren't coming. But during sacrament meeting, we turn around and there they are, sitting down and listening to the talks! They came a bit late, but the stayed for all three hours of church and they enjoyed it! They said they'd be coming next week Sunday too, which is really exciting.

Anyways, just a short spiritual though. I think it's in the second chapter of first Nephi, maybe around verse 14, and it reads something like "And my father dwelt in a tent". That's Nephi talking about his father Lehi. The reason why he may have written this verse is to show all the sacrifices that Lehi and his family made to follow the will of the Lord. They had a lot of gold and other riches, and I'm assuming a good house and many friends, BUT, they left it all behind to travel in the wilderness all because their father claimed to have a vision. Soemtimes we're asked to make sacrifices, and we may not always be too sure about it, but if it's from the Lord, we know that we'll be blessed for our obedience. Lehi and his family were blessed; they reached the land of promise, they weren't destroyed with Jerusalem, and their seed where ministered unto by Christ.

Love you all and thanks for the support!

Elder Ho

Another Week in Australia

First, sorry for not emailing on monday, they moved our P-Day to friday since we were going to the temple today. 

So it's been another usual week I guess. The only exciting thing about this past week/week and a half is that Asa, the boy we've been teaching, is planning on being baptized on the 1st of April! So we're really looking forward to that! In the mean time we've just been doing door knocking and searching hard for new investigators.

Anyways, I can't think of much else to email, my mind is blank right now, so I'll just leave the rest of the email for a spiritual thought...

The spiritual message I want to share today is about charity! In the bible, I think in corinthians, there is an entire chapter on charity, and it says that among faith hope and charity, charity is the greatest. It says that even if we are miracle workers, even if we prophesy of the future, or do other great things like that, it's all meaningless if we don't do it out of charity. Charity, or a sincere love for those around us, should be the motive for the good that we do. Without charity we can't make it to the celestial kingdom. If we're doing good only for popularity, greed, or other similar motives, then we are doing it for the wrong reason. As a missionary I've noticed that the missionaries that I admire the most are the ones who work out of charity. Many of them aren't leaders, or well known on the mission, some of them haven't had as much success as they deserve, but what I really admire about them is their sincere love for those they serve. Regardless of the outcome, regardless of who knows and sees, they teach others and serve others with great love. That's something that I really need to work on; having charity for others. So, it might sound weird, but I put a coin in my shoe to remind me, every time I step on it, to love others. When I'm door knocking, I'll be reminded that these people are my brothers and sisters, and to love them. When I'm walking into a less-active's home, I'll remember to make sure I'm there for the right reason; because I love them. So I'll just leave an invitation with you all, you don't have to put a coin in your shoe but try to figure out a way to remind yourself throughout the week to have charity, even for those who you don't know to well, or maybe don't get along with.

Thanks for all your love and support!

Elder Ho