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So apparently these new library computers upload pictures in seconds! Expect pictures next time, hopefully! 

Lots To Do!

Well this week was quite a busy one, there was a lot of driving! We have a large area book that is filled with lots of notes and people to see, so we've been going all over the area trying to follow up on all the investigators and less active members that the previous missionaries have been visiting and teaching. We did have some successes though, we had dinner with and taught these really funny Persian guys (one's a recent convert and the other is an investigator), we met up with and taught the son of a member, who's a nonmember, and he loves talking and seems like a cool guy. And this week we'll be seeing a Japanese investigator who came to church last week, who has the nickname of "Yoda". He seems great, and he just got a job as a bar tender, so that will make things a bit interesting. But yeah, it's been a fun week!

My companion is great, and I've been able to learn a lot from him. He's been out for over a year, I think he's about 3/4ths done with his mission. His name is Elder Tonga, so just about every member we visit or meet makes the same comments or jokes about his name... but it's been fun getting to know the members!

Anyways, not sure what else to email about... but a little spiritual message I guess. The opposite of faith is fear, it's the only thing that can get in the way of our faith. There's many things we can be fearful of, whether it be doubts, the opinions of others, questions we have, things we have to do, but don't let it affect your faith! Faith is the power by which God works with us! When we have faith we have power, and we can do many mighty things in the name of the Lord and reach our full potential, so have faith and be fearless! That's something I'm trying to work on more.

Love you all, thanks for all your support and emails,

Elder Ho

Transferred!

So Saturday night we had a conference call and that is when I found out that after 6 months of being in Windaroo... I'm leaving! I'm pretty sad that I only got to be with Elder Ahn for one transfer, we had an awesome time together and I was able to learn a lot from him! Well, now we're white-washing Holland Park, which is in the same stake that I started off in. My new companion is... Elder Tonga! From Tonga. Honestly my mind is a bit overwhelmed right now with all the information I've got to take in and stuff, so bear with me through this email...

Well my final week in Windaroo was good. I got to start it off on Monday with a mother's day call/skype! It was awesome being able to see and hear from my family (Shout out to my sister who woke up just to talk to me, thanks you!)! 

On Wednesday we had our p-day, but since we skyped we weren't allowed to email, hence the lack of emails from me. We were able to go to the temple though, which was awesome! It was crazy how much I learned from this visit, which made the long train ride there and back worth it. Yup, we had to catch the train, because they didn't want us getting stuck in traffic on the road. We also had a zone get-together after, where we played jeopardy, played some sports, and then ate a lot of food.

Other than that, this week was just full of door knocking, cleaning, and packing up for the transfer. We were able to find a new investigator though, Michelle, who has been taught by the missionaries in the past. She has been searching for the truth for a while, but she's afraid that if she "chooses" a specific church, it will be the wrong one and she'll be punished for it in the end, which is why she loves us teaching her but doesn't really want to come to church or be baptized yet. I'm no longer in Windaroo though, so hopefully my ex-companion will see some miracles with her!

Anyways, I guess the little message I want to share with you all is about Jesus Christ. I've been reading a lot about Him recently, and It's been awesome to learn more in depth about each and every parable, the miracles He performed, and the services He gave to others. He is the King of Kings, yet He was always serving, helping, and performed the greatest sacrifice that anyone could. So the message today is short, but important: Don't take the atonement of Jesus Christ, or His life and teachings, for granted. He is a God, who creates worlds under the Father's command, who can cause the dead to rise, the deaf to hear, the seas and storms to calm, and yet He became mortal, subject to death, and suffered the pains of all who have lived and yet lived, just so that you and I could have eternal life. He who had control over the elements, over life and death, gave His life for us. Pretty crazy if you think about it. So my invitation is just to remember Him this week.

Thanks everyone for your love and support, and thanks to the Windaroo members for taking great care of the missionaries there!

-Elder Ho

ACCIDENTS!

No, we didn't get into a car accident, if that's what you're thinking from the title. But another pair of Elders did! They work in an area that is right next to ours, and one day we got a call from them asking to come over and help them out. Turns out that they were having a lesson with someone when they heard a loud noise from outside (probably their tire popping), and as they went outside to examine the situation they found out that their investigator's neighbor had been teaching his son to drive, and his son ended up hitting the Elder's parked car. We ended up helping them change their tire, and the car is still somewhat driveable.

And another accident happened while we were on tradeoffs with those same Elders! One morning I got a call saying that my companion had a little accident, where he ended up rolling his ankle as they went for a morning run. It was sprained, and so we haven't been door knocking in a few days.

Some good news though is that we had an awesome stake conference! There were talks about self-reliance, scattering sunshine, and the temple! The talk I loved was the one from the Temple President about how the temple can bless our lives. He shared some experiences of people who were doing the work for their parents who had passed on, but initially refused to be sealed to them because of the horrible things they had to go through as a child. He then talked about how things are different in the next life, and that people can change and it's our responsibility to give them an opportunity to do so by performing their ordinances for them here on earth. He then talked about how many people are struggling in life, whether it's with family, sickness and health, or personal testimony. Each person can benefit from the atonement of Jesus Christ, and we all need to reach out to others, since we don't know who is struggling on the inside.

Thanks everyone for your love and support!

Elder Ho

Back to 2...

I've got very unfortunate news to share... we're no longer the three amigo's, the power three... now it's just 2 of us again. Elder Apable is flying home to the Philippines on Tuesday, and is in the mission home at the moment! So he was supposed to go Monday morning, but we got a call during Church that he'd be getting picked up at 6. Church is from 1-4 by the way, and he wasn't packed yet. Then at 3, we get another call saying the Office Elders are on the way now to pick him up... so we left, got him packed, and said our quick goodbyes. It was pretty sad to see him go so suddenly, and now our tiny apartment feels so empty, but that's ok. Now it's just me and Elder Ahn, and we're still having a great time!

So this past week we've just been doing a lot of door knocking and visiting less active members. We're having trouble getting new investigators, I think it's the biggest struggle we have in our area. So I don't have too many things to talk about, so this email is going to be pretty short.

I'll end it with a true story that I heard at a dinner from one of our members, brother Triffitt. Now I'll re-write it as accurately as I can, but not all of it may be correct because It's been a while since I heard the story. So his father, I'll call his father Soldier Triffitt, was fighting in World War II. He wasn't a very religious person I guess, and one day he was wounded in battle, I think it was like a gunshot wound to his stomach. He was lying in a trench waiting for help, and night came. He had put a cloth on the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Rescue boats were going around that night, picking people up and taking them to safety, but a storm had hit and was getting worse every minute, and that combined with gunfire was making it very unsafe for the rescue teams. Soldier Triffitt said a prayer though, asking Heavenly Father to help him make it home safely so he could have a family and continue his life. The final rescue boat got a call saying that there was one soldier left waiting to be rescued, but to do so would be very dangerous and probably not worth it. Yet for some reason, they all felt that they should go and they went, and through the storm and gunfire were able to rescue that one last wounded soldier. Eventually he was sent back to Australia and hospitalised, and after he got better he was able to start his family and continue life. Many many years later, when he was around 70 I think, they were having a get together reunion thing for all the veterans. And so Soldier Triffitt decided to go. He sat all the way in the back when he got there and was listening to all the speakers and stuff. One speaker got up, and he had been the rescue team leader. He told this story about how, against all odds, his team went back and rescued one soldier, and he said, "I always wondered what happened to that soldier we rescued that night". In the back, Soldier Triffitt stood up and said, "that soldier was me". And because of him, many children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren were rescued. So, how does this story relate to the gospel? Well, I think this story was actually shared in an ensign or general conference a while back, but it's about rescuing the lost. We never know how many lives we'll affect just by rescuing one person, by bringing one less active back or a nonmember into the gospel. We may never see the results of our rescuing efforts, but maybe in the next life many people will come up to us and say, "thanks for saving me that day".

Thanks everyone for your love and support!

Elder Ho