We met an astrophysicist (thanks for auto correct because I had no idea how to spell that) this week, and talked to him. He didn't believe in any religion, but was a nice guy and told us some interesting things, like how there have been an estimated 72 billion people that have lived/ever lived on earth. Pretty crazy if you think about how much that really is. Just thought I'd share that cool insight with you...
Anyways, it's been raining a bit this past week, which has been nice! It's also been a bit cold, being winter, and it makes it a bit more tempting to sleep in in the morning when it's cold and raining outside.
I also got to meet the father of a famous person! Kind of. We had a meetup with some of the stake members, and did a rescue visit kind of thing with them, and I got paired up with brother Striplin. He told me about his son who has sung for a few bands or something, and is on American Idol and America's Got Talent or something like that. I think the best part though was learning about how a lot of the stuff we see on TV is scripted, sorry if I ruined your perception tv shows. The competition itself is real, but apparently for some of the people who audition, they'll have them re-audition a few times to get the right camera shots. And the golden buzzer sometimes doesn't work, so they have to re-film it. And the best part is the part where the family greets their relative who competed after they walk through the doors after auditioning, and if the family isn't excited enough they re-film it. Yep, that's what I'm learning on my mission in Australia.
Well, we did a bit of teaching this week, and met an investigator who was really nice, but slightly intoxicated. We talked to him and shared a little message with him, and then before we left he gave us these two really cool coasters from New Zealand (they're actually pretty nice), and also a little plant in a pot that was sitting outside. Thanks. We don't have a yard or anything though... so it kinda sits outside near the walkway. Not sure if we're allowed to have potted plants in our apartments, but I'm grateful for his gifts nonetheless. I guess the Lord blesses us in mysterious ways too.
And now slightly getting a bit more mission-related and spiritual, read 2 Kings 4:40 - that describes the mission life when it comes to food, whether it's what your companion cooks or sometimes the members, although so far I've been able to eat and enjoy all my meals with the members so far.
Also, just thought that I'd mention prayer and and advise you all not to take it for granted. We've been teaching someone who doesn't really understand prayer, or how God works, and so we've spent two lessons, and nearly 2 hours, just talking about prayer. It's actually pretty tough to explain it to someone who didn't' grow up with a Christian background who's only prayers are to family gods. But it's been a good learning experience for us, and has made me truly grateful to understand the role that prayer plays in my life, and how it works... which makes a nice lead into the spiritual though.
God's will is not our will. (Hopefully I haven't talked about this in a previous email, you start to forget after being out on the mission for a year). In the bible dictionary I believe it mentions that the purpose of prayer is to align our will with God's, not to change God's will to match ours. He knows what's best for us and is prepared to bless us as long as we seek His guidance and follow it. There's a mormon message titled "The Will of God", which is pretty good. Watch it, because I don't really have time to explain it all, but it's worth the few minutes of watching. God's love is perfect, and sometimes we have to thank him for hurting us. Which will make since if you watch the video.
Anyways, love you all, thanks for your love and support, have an awesome week!
Elder Ho
