Returned with honour

Elder Kay arrived home safely and was released from his missionary service this afternoon. I forgot to take the camera to the airport but fortunately his brother remembered his camera, so here are the photos of his arrival. His sister made the Welcome Home banner.

We are so happy to have him home after two years, but so glad he had this opportunity to serve the Lord as a missionary. Thank you to all who have followed this blog over the past two years and have encouraged and supported Elder Kay with letters, emails and financial contributions.
As a family we would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.
Elder Kay's Mum

On the way home

The flight left Brisbane on time and some of the Crichton family went to see him leave. Here are some photos.

There will be more tomorrow taken at Newcastle airport after 25 hours of travelling.

Last emails from Australia

Well, a week or two late but here is the last email update from Australia for Elder Kay as he will be Skyping Christmas day and returning home on New Years Day. Anyone who would like to meet him at the airport is welcome to drop me an email. Unfortunately we cannot offer a lift and the Metro isn't running that day. His brother-in-law's sister's family will be giving him a good send-off from Brisbane. So far only four of us will be welcoming him home at Newcastle. Thanks for reading this blog over the last two years and being patient when I took a while to post updates. Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and signing off

Elder Kay's mum

On 9th December Elder Kay wrote: -

Man was this week a scorcher! My companion and I both got sunstroke I think. Man I love drinking water! Anyway, while I'm on the subject of weather someone told me there was a massive storm surge that swept through England and cut power lines between London and Edinburgh. Hope everything is all good. It sounds like everything will be different when I get back. Things are starting to slow down a little for the holiday season and I think this is just a great opportunity for us to reach out in ways that are more creative. (Isn't that a bit weird that just because it's Christmas it becomes acceptable to make cakes randomly for each other).  It's a little weird having Christmas in the heat again.  We went on Trade-offs with some of the young men and prospective Elders this week, it was great. This ward is really changing. EXCITING!! I will miss it when I'm gone. I love you all and hope you are not getting too caught up in the stress of the Christmas season. Remember who we are worshipping, it is such a wonderful time of year to reflect how we can more effectively serve our fellow men and our Lord.

LDK xxx

On 16th December Elder Kay wrote: -

Hey everyone,

I guess everyone is getting busy in the pre Christmas frantics. I hope we are all finding time to reflect upon the life and mission of our Saviour as we draw closer to the celebration of His birth I think it is such a wonderful blessing that we have this knowlege of our Saviour and we all see to often the world around us forgetting the origins of this wonderful time of year.

 

This week has been good but absolutely exhausting. We are excited for the families that we are teaching and we have been abke to contact a family who are under  the radar of the Church records who want their youngest children Baptised. We also went carol singing on Friday. It was wonderful and we invited each of the families we visited to a meet and greet breakfast at the park which was a great success and we had a great time. We laughed so much. 

 

The work is good, we are re contacting alot of people because the area is so small but we are meeting lots of great people. I'm really getting to know the ward well, I will miss it when I leave but I guess I'll be back someday (that's the plan).

  

Have a great week, I don't know if I'll be emailing again with the whole Christmas thing unless I email just before I leave while in the mission home. I love you all.

 

LDK over and out.

 

xxxx

 

MEEEERRY CHRIIISTMAAAAS!!!!!! HOHOHOHOO

A stormy fortnight and wet shoes

19th November

Hey!

This past week has been grand, it has stormed all week so it's been keeping the heat down a bit but today was a beautiful clear day so when the sun got up it was so hot. It's transfer P-Day today (why I'm emailing today) but all of us in the Collingwood Park flat are staying together, I'm glad as we are pretty tight and my companion and I are working really well together. We are seeing miracles, finding new people, seeing old potentials and getting people closer to Baptism and activity in the fullness of the Restored Gospel. One particular family are a seventh day adventist family who are wonderful people, one of the boys used to go to our church as the dad and his family are all mormon, so his uncle used to take him. He loves the church and reckon he will be the key to the family. They are so good. I Think the Lord has prepared this ward for a lot of real growth. We also received training on the Book of Mormon. It is such a special book and we've been issued an invitation to read it in 2 transfers (about 6.2 pages a day) sadly I only have the one transfer left so I'll continue to do it when I get home. I am so grateful for the book of Mormon, it is LOADED with spiritual and temporal instruction.

 

Sadly my time grows short on the computer and I would like to email others but I love you all and pray for you often.

 

Fa soi fua. Elder Kay x 

27th November

Hello all,

Today was another temple trip. I was blessed to do sealings.  It is such a blessing to be in a mission with a temple and it strengthens my testimony of the truthfulness of this work every time I go.

 

The last week was great we taught quite a lot of lessons and are finding many potentials, this area is really taking off and it can rise higher is we step it up, there is still so much I need to learn and it seems so little time to do it, sometimes I have to remember that there will be revelation and experiences after my mission but it just seems that it will be different. The Samoan guy we are teaching is awesome, he came to church on Sunday for the first time in a while and seemed to enjoy it, we would like to get his Father in law to be more involved in the fellowship as it will help him become more active, they are such a great family, we are teaching quite a few people and I am trying hard to refine my techniques so that we can follow up and get return appointments more solid with fellowship. It's a bit of a shame that most of the members work pretty crazy shift jobs or have families to care for as it means they can't help us with teaching very often. We don;t have many prospective Elders or Missionaries that can help us either but we are slowly getting there, they are seeing that we are working hard and so are gaining that desire to help. This week we were hit by the biggest storm we've had yet, the lightning was incredible. It was just like on those movies that look like it's done in a studio as the lightning is just random flashes, but it really does look like that because of the huge amount of rain. we were at am appointment at the time but my shoes were left out side when the storm hit, they were under the porch but it was just so heavy it all just bounced into my shoes -.- AAARRRGH! aah well, we got a lift home.

 

I hope you are all doing well 

 

LDK

 

Late email

Elder Kay was late emailing this week due to a visit to the temple http://www.lds.org/church/temples/brisbane-australia?lang=eng. Here's what he had to say

Hey!

This email is coming on a Wednesday as it was our temple day today - it was wonderful to go to the temple. I had the opportunity to do baptisms and confirmations, it was great. I can't remember much of last week, it all seeks to blend now so I'm not sure what was this week and last week and three weeks ago hahaha! It was a pretty good week as far as I remember, I think the thing I most remember was trade-offs with the District leader, it was great learning from him. He is from Niue. He is a great missionary and is very bold. We were blessed to find a less active part member family whose children were being taught by the missionaries in the past and then just didn't go back for some reason. We've been doing a lot of finding but we really need to change it up. We are finding people but it really isn't that effective. We have been able to be with a Fijian family though who we found a week or two ago. The Husband is a less active member with non member wife and children, they are awesome, we are going round for dinner and hopefully will be able to start teaching them, the wife had a lot of questions last time. I've found that as I get closer to the end of my mission, temptation has increased and I find I have to be constantly on the move focussing on the gospel and the people, this time will be a time of real growth. I am studying Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage at the mo, it has some amazing insights and incredible gospel truths. The miracles and the teachings of Christ are incredible to study and ponder and motivate us to be more like him, better teachers and disciples. I find myself just like Jeffrey R. Holland fascinated by the Apostles, they remind me of myself, so impetuous and unlearned in the ways of the Kingdom of God and things. Obviously they are no longer like that and have progressed beyond all that and those same blessings are available to us. I was also on trade-offs this week with our Zone Leader and learned some great things from him. We were talking about how there are so many things that testify the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ is true and than we began talking about how each person is a child of God and began pointing at the passing cars say "he's a child of God... he's a child of God... she's a child of God.... he can become a god, and he doesn't even know it" As we remember that these people are all children of God, our brothers and sisters, we WANT to share the gospel with them. I am so grateful for everything I have, my family, friends and all of you wonderful people who give me the support and love I need.

 

Keep strong Keep the faith 

 

Love LDK xxx

Exercising bodies and faith

Hey hey hey!

This week has been great, we now have a new work out that President Henderson put together with a personal trainer, there's a beginner's, intermediate and advanced exercise. The advanced is HARD but I hope to be able to do it by the time I go home. 

There is a lot of work to do still and we were blessed with miracles this week as we were diligent with the work. We found a less active part member family who live on the street we're always around as our area is tiny. It's so strange that there are so many people to work with in such a small area, it's because of all the Samoans. Some missionaries think it's like Utah here. We were also able to catch up with a family that we've been trying to contact for weeks and found out they were sort of messed about with the house they're in by their landlord so have to move. They would like to stay here in the Ward but they might not find a house here so we are praying for them, they are such a good family. There is a non member there who struggles with the English gospel terms so my companion has given me his Samoan Preach my Gospel and hopefully we can teach him, Elder T's Gospel Samoan isn't the best as he wasn't really around the church speaking Samoan a lot but he managed to teach the restoration last transfer, apparently with much effort. I'm only going to be learning Samoan in my spare time as I obviously wasn't called to a Samoan speaking mission so don't want to take it out of my study time.

 

We were blessed this week with 6 Baptisms in the Ward, 2 of them were from our area and it was such a wonderful event. I kind of wish I hadn't eaten Taro with the refreshments as it's really heavy and we had a dinner appointment an hour and a half later :/ I'll miss the Island food, I'll bring some koko Samoa for you all to try :D 

Our teaching pool is kinda dry at the moment after all the Baptisms but we are trying to find people and work with those we have. Lots of appointments fell through this past week but hey, it happens! There are so many great people here, if I get transferred to another area for my last I'll be disappointed, but I guess I'll be happy that the Lord has me where he needs me.

I love you all so much, strive to always be the best you can as we work together in becoming like our Heavenly Father. Help everyone you can. Have a great week.

 

LDK xxx

Skip 3 months

A friend messaged me on facebook to say she checked in on this blog and it hadn't been updated since July. Sorry to anyone who was following. Here is an excerpt from Elder Kay's latest email. He is now in a small area between Brisbane and Ipswich which has a large Samoan population. If anyone wants to catch up on the bit in between please let me know and I will update you in an email or facebook message. We haven't had any photos since July. Elder Kay will be leaving Australia on January 1st 2014, but we are not sure what time and which way he will fly home (via the Far East or via the USA) so he could arrive home on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd January - Elder Kay's mum

28th October 2013

Hey all you wonderful people, Brothers and Sisters.

This week has been such a blessing. A wonderful sister came to the waters of baptism this week and we are meeting many wonderful people, hopefully planting the seeds of the Gospel in their hearts. We have two more baptisms coming up this Saturday with 4 more from the other Elders area, some of the children of a family coming back to activity from the Aiga Samoa. [This was a breakaway church that formed due to misunderstanding and has now disbanded] They are both wonderful families. I am really learning how to love people whatever their situations, of course I'm not perfect yet but I am getting better, the key is listening. you realise that most people in this world nowadays don't REALLY listen and this is something the gospel teaches us to do because that is what the Saviour did. When we listen with love, we can really discern peoples'  problems and characters and are able to have a deeper understanding of who they really are, of course remembering that they are our Brother or Sister. We also had interviews training this week and it was great to be with President Henderson and receive instruction from our Assistants and leaders. We have some really great Assistants in the mission at the moment who really have a love for the missionaries and for the Lord. I am so grateful to be serving the Lord at this time, at the time where the Lord is hastening his work, and although my time here is growing short I am preparing for a life of service in the Gospel, I hope I can help the work move along when I return.

 

I must admit. at the start of this week, we struggled, it is getting really hot and humid here, and it's so important for us to drink LOTS of water. Isn't water incredible?!! it sustains life and gives our bodies so much. I think it incredible that such a simple molecule of Hydrogen and oxygen does so much. I marvel at what our Heavenly Father has given us. I am grateful for the mission at this time, there is exciting change happening, let me share a part of President Henderson's weekly email to illustrate our culture of Faith:

 

"We are creating a culture of faith in this mission. We know that faith comes by. . . . hearing . . the word of God (Romans 10:17). We are adding fuel to our faith every morning when we have focused and inspired personal and companion study. During this sacred time we are able to read inspired writings and have the Holy Ghost build our spirits. The Holy Scriptures strengthen our faith. In Helaman we read, “ . . . ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth, . . . are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart” (Helaman 15: 7,8). It is this mighty change of heart that is the focus of who we are becoming. When the change is permanent, all things around us begin to change. When things change because of faith, requests from God come with power to accomplish His designs. We find power to complete all that He requires of us." 

He is such an inspired man.

 

I love you all and hope you are all well. Keep Calm and Carry On!

 

LDK xxx