Here are Elder Kay's emails from 19th and 26th March - last week I forgot to update the blog.

This week has been interesting. We were at a Samoan birthday party on Saturday and I kid you not I've never seen so much food for that amount of people. It was great as Samoans treat Missionaries with a lot of respect so no one starts eating till we do. There was a whole pig and everything! There were a lot of non members and less active members there we were able to talk to.

 

We bumped into someone we'd been trying to contact for a while on Tuesday and his cousin is the son of a former investigator we were going to contact. His dad was a member so it could be promising. We're also going to do a mission fast to find  families to baptise. Thanks for all those suggestions about service Dad. 

It's interesting to see see peoples responses to us while tracting. I quite like tracting because of the crazy people you run into; also it forces you to become more bold. It doesn't work very well if you're not sure of yourself. I've also learned the importance of the Book of Mormon in testifying because it's the only thing we can claim that is different; if you claim Priesthood authority others claim to have priesthood and it's not something tangible you can prove, if you preach about the plan of salvation people believe they will return to God's presence anyway regardless and if you teach them about prophets prophets they say there are false prophets. I've also been studying Hebrews in response to something someone we tracted into said; turns out he wasn't quoting it correctly or was quoting out of context and he accused me of reading from a bible doctored by my church. Well you cant help it if people aren't open to be taught, it's still sad though. so yeah anyway I was reading in Hebrews and found a great chapter on faith - chapter 11.  

We visited a less active member at Redcliffe hospital (out of our area but we asked for permission to visit) 

Elder Moore and Elder Richards told me they spoke to the Zone Leaders and suggested I go up to Cairns  but I reckon they are joking. It will be interesting to see where I get transferred after training, but that might not be for a while yet so I don't really need to worry about it. We're going to hike up Glass House mountains today for Pday and last week we went 10 pin bowling - it was fun.  

Thanks for all your emails and your prayers hope you are all well. Love to all

 

P.s I  go to the temple on my assigned Temple day it; we go once every transfer so we won't be going for ages!

Hey Guys!!

This week we had interviews with President. I'm not sure if I've told you much about President Langeland. He's so funny and he gives some great trainings. He really cares about the mission and the missionaries and because he's been out for two years he's well experienced. His sence of humour is very dry and when I got off the plane when I first arrived I was kinda nervous cos he looked so serious and didn't smile (I think he did that on purpose) and then at dinner I was the only one that got his jokes hahaha!!!  I enjoyed interviews.

 

The work is certainly picking up but we still don't teach as much I'd like to. We finally had an appointment with someone we met ages ago called Anthony (I think I might have mentioned him) but we also met with his brother and his friend. He's a great guy who has had previous contact with the church. Our first lesson wasn't very long, but we had a member with us and so it broke the ice and I think we could go further. I'm actually really glad Bro Lawton was there as he moved from Townsville (which is where Anthony and his brother spent a lot of time) and he also loves playing touch rugby and stuff so he was really able to relate where me and Elder Richards didn't have much in common with Anthony.  

We are also going to ask and assess what the ward has in place in the way of Missionary work and if it even has a Mission Plan. We had a training on the responsibilities of the ward and stuff and I was surprised at how easy missionary work would be if the ward did everything they should. 

We haven't seen seen Michelle for ages, but I saw her in the mall last week and she said she's still interested. I think every time we've been round we've not been knocking loud enough (we didn't want to disturb her son) as I told her we had been round a couple times and she looked a little confused. 

 

Sorry I've not sent any pictures - the internet's kinda slow in the Library. 

Dad doesn't it always happen that way - you always get a cold after winter. Actually talking of cold, we woke up this morning freezing and it was like 19 degrees hahahaha!. I think it's partly because the air is moving because of the fans and  little air con unit we have but still, I'm not looking forward to coming home to winter, glad its another 21 months or so. 

Love you all I hope you are all well and are making good choices.

 

Byeeeee! Elder John Kay

Spiritual thought: I must apologise I would have quoted directly from the Ensign but I forgot it sorry.

Taken from the March 2012 Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

A general Authority tells of a time when his commitment to the Lords church blessed him and his family. This man was in the American Air Force. Towards the end of the Vietnam war he was posted back and forth so was never in a particular ward for long, but while in Texas he was called to be Elders Quorum President and was promised that if he magnified his calling he would be provided with protection and blessings. One time while flying back from an assignment, stopping off to fuel the other pilot in his two plane squadron asked him to stay the night where comfortable meals and relaxing lying in the next (Sunday) morning would be available, but wanting to be at church for his calling on Sunday persuaded the other pilot to fly on. On approach to landing his waiting wife was prompted to kneel in prayer. As this man banked his plane an engine failure occured and he was forced to fly off course into clouds. Becoming spacially disorientated he was prompted to fly left, bringing him out of the clouds and in line with the runway. Because of his commitment to his calling and his families faith he was able to be provided with the Lords promised protection.

 

The Ensign Rocks and I have a testimony that the Lord blesses those who keep His commandments and their covenants and commitments to his church.

(To read the whole article go to The Ensign)

 

Here is Elder Kay's email from today - 12th March

Hi all,

 

This week has been quite a good one. 

A week ago we cut a member family's grass. We had a great time. They live kinda far out and we saved some Km so we could save them a trip to the train station to pick us up. Brother Beaumont is so  so nice, they are a great family. We're working with their daughter and family (who live with them) to get the daughter re avctivated and her husband baptised. Their  middle child just got baptised about a month ago (we participated in the confirmation).

Last week we went Fourwheeling on Bribie Island beach with Brother Phillips and the Opies.  Brother Opie is fun and Brother Phillips (Sister Opies Brother) served his mission in Russia.  We watched Brother Phillips surf and it was nice to paddle in the sea (as missionaries are not allowed to swim). We also had a 'walk in' last Sunday at church. His name is Hady and he's Baptist. He was pleasantly surprised at how friendly and welcoming the ward were, dispelling stories of 'evil Mormons'. He wasn't at church this week but we're going to get in contact with him and we offered to help him move house.

 

I found that info on Taro and laughed (according to what Mum found on Wiki it is supposed to give you kidney stones if you eat too much). Don't worry I've not had anywhere near as much as Elder Richards has (who served in a Samoan ward for 9 months) and he doesn't have kidney stones. When they are raw they also give you a rash but hey lol you dont eat them raw. We also got some cocoa Samoa a couple of weeks ago. Its basically roasted cocoa beans squished into a hard concentrated block that you grind and boil into a drink. So it's a warm drink thats not against the Word of Wisdom. I like it when you get to the end you chew down the bits of cocoa bean... YUM!!! :P

 

When you told me Amelia was the only one signed up to my blog I smiled she is so great!!! Will you be able to get her address, I would like to write her. 

 

I studied the Book of Abraham a couple of weeks back and it's great. It really gives a sense of the Old Testament times and how ancient the gospel is. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, Joseph Smith was a true Prophet and Thomas S. Monson leads and directs Christs Church in these last days.

Here is the new ABM (Australia Brisbane Mission)  slogan:.... RISE UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL! President Langeland told us the following experience : -

"This last week, a couple of excited missionaries called us with the following miracle.    Two missionaries were walking home from dinner and 2 drunks, sitting outside a home, called them over.  They weren't sure they wanted to converse with 2 drunks, but went over.  The men questioned them about what they knew about Jesus Christ, but also began to mock them.  A wife came out and said that one of the men had to go to court the next day and asked the missionaries if they would give him a tie because her husband didn't have one.  They said no and she said that Jesus would have given them one if He had been there.  So they gave him a tie, understanding that the Gospel is for everyone and they didn't have a right to choose who would receive it.  The next day, they were walking by this home and saw this man out in the garden.  They stopped to talk with him and he now wants them to come back and teach his family of four.  They have an appointment this Wednesday." 

 

No photos from Australia yet, but this is Elder Kay at the New Zealand Temple Visitors' Centre as far as I know

This is the email from February 13th that went missing in the ether because there were too many photos attached so Elder Kay re-sent it to his brother this week.

Thank you so much for your emails one and all it's great to here from you. We had trade offs on Saturday and we walked about 10 miles. Nobody wanted to listen to us. It was a good experience though because I stayed in my area (Elder Richards went with the DL in Burpengary) so I got to know the area a bit better. Man it's crazy -  I put sun cream on and just sweat it all off so I have to keep re applying it. We are teaching a recent convert called Tiegan. She's cool, but she wants to know everything right now, we just teach her a bit at a time and have told her to let us know if she has any questions. We ask her after every Sunday School lesson if there was anything she didn't understand. She studies pretty good as well, but sometimes doesn't understand the scriptures so we have to help her.

Something I enjoyed this week was we bought MacDonalds and drove up to this lookout. Its an awesome view It looks over the Glasshouse Mountains (which are hills North of our area). It was gorgeous and we had a laugh. There was a banana plantation in the valley and you could just see the sea then it got dark and you could see all the lights below, I wish I'd taken a picture but never mind. We'll probs go up there again. 

 Send my love to the branch 

Week beginning Feb 27th was Transfers week. Elder Kay didn't move, but the District Leader did so there was no time to send an email. We did receive one this week though - March 7th

Hey all!!

We had another temple day so It's Wednesday Pday again, but dont worry it'll be back to normal again next Monday. 

 

Well not a lot has happened since last time I've emailed apart from we've not been able to do as much as we'd like or work with all the people we like due to Km  restrictions so we've asked for more because some smaller areas have nearly the same amount of Km and they can't use them all even when they never "car fast" [i.e. go on foot or public transport] We we can't actually car fast here because the two companionships in our apartment take turns using the car. We have a New District leader who replaced Elder Webster. He's called Elder Moore, This week we had a Ward council and Bishop gave us some less active members in the ward that we can go visit.  We're strengthening the members even though we have no investigators at the moment. Also we found some former investigators who might be related, we think so because we met this girl from Thursday Island knocking on a former investigator's door, who she said was her uncle (we think so cos there are very few no Aboriginals from Thursday Island, and we felt it a little more than coincidence) so we have three baptizms as a goal this month.  

 

Well theres not that much more to say apart from an investigator's member step son recovered from almost impossible odds from surgery so hopefully his heart will be softened. 

The nights are begginning to get a little cooler because the summer's pretty much over, but it's still rained quite alot. Oh and my trousers are getting tight. hahahaha. I'm also beginning to like Samoan food quite a bit :P I LOVE TARO!!! 

First Few weeks in Australia

Excerpts from Elder Kay's emails. Hopefully I will keep this blog more up to date in future!

 

6 Feb

Hey everyone!!!

It's so great to here from you all. Guess what?!!! FIRST KANGAROO SIGHTING!!!  I'll send you the picture (half of them were wallabies)  Elder Richards and I went exploring one day (he's not been in the area that long so we wanted to get to know it better) We went to a little garden and saw a few lizards. On  Wednesday we went down to the city to a new missionary training meeting at the Kangaroo Point chapel (which is the one right next to the temple). We walked from the train station along the river and it was a lovely walk, probably the hottest it's been so far. We saw loads of water Lizards just sitting there and Elder Taufa (who is training Elder Reiri) tried to catch one. The meeting got me fired up a little.

Someone asked if I'm in Sunshine Coast? I'm a couple of hours south. It's also only a 30 minute drive from the city. About the weather the summer is actually the rainy season so it's pretty humid most of the time. Today we're going to play lazer tag and theres not a cloud in the sky so it's pretty hot. I thought I'd lost my sunglasses this week but I found them in my bag this morning :P.

 

We taught Michelle this week who turns out to have a 23 year old son with Angelman syndrome. I think thats what its called, its like a severe brain damage so he can hardly talk and he's wheelchair bound. The first lesson went well so we're seeing her this Tuesday. In district meeting Elder Richards and I taught an awesome roleplay of the Restoration, but theres still alot to get better at.

 31 Jan

It was raining last week quite heavily for a time and parts of Burpengary had an evacuation warning. We didn't though -  it'll be really unlikely our flat is actually flooded. Rain here is so much nicer as it's warm although if it doesnt rain the day after it gets sooooo muggy. Apparently it's forecast to rain for the next couple of weeks but not as bad. It was only light rain this morning and I think it's stopped now.

 

My exercise consists of push ups.  We played touch rugby on P-day with most of the zone. It was great fun and I met alot of cool missionaries. These are the members of my district - Elder Taufa, Elder Reiri, Elder Caby, Elder Stuart and then of course the ones I've mentioned who are in my flat. Elder Richards is a good missionary, he is teaching me a lot. 

 

Our washing machine broke :/ but it'll be all good. Thanks about the journal I am trying to keep it. I made notes in a training meeting by Elder Person of the seventy, so they will be of great value.

 

The missionary work continues to progress, I'm getting to know the members of the ward, which is a great blessing. I met the Bishop and his family for the first time yesterday as he had been on a buisness trip to New Zealand. They are a great family. Me and Elder Richards are also slowly trawling through some less actives and former investigators. We found a lady called Miriam from central America who we think will accept the gospel. She also has two children. I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with health, as we do quite a lot of walking when it's not our car day, which reminds me of a time last week when I was on Trade off's with Elder Wallace. We walked for ages, but I did not faint. but when we got back to the flat I felt as though I couldn't have walked any further. The Lord keeps his promises for keeping the word of wisdom (run and not be weary, walk and not faint). The work is sometimes difficult but I feel blessed to be here. When Elder Richards and I were tracting, one lady was interested. We told her who we were and the message we share and asked if that would be something she'd be interested in (people nearly always say not really or try to dodge) but this woman just said plainly and boldy YES! We were taken aback a little but that day was one of the days we'd prayed specifically to find someone. Heavenly Father certainly answers prayers.

 

Send my love to the branch. "Onward, ever onward as we glory in his name. Onward, ever onward as we glory in his name. Forward, pressing forward as a triumph song we sing God our strength will be, press forward ever called to serve our king!" (Hymn no. 249)

23 Jan

My area is called centenary lakes but we actually live in the Burbengary area cos we're with the District Leaders. I'm in the Brisbane North Zone and I stay around Brisbane while I'm being trained which is two transfers. My companion is Elder Richards. This first week has been kinda quiet on the missionary front as on the first day (Thursday) we had a District meeting in the morning, and some appointments fell through in the afternoon but we did go and meet a recent convert and we talk with her and got a teaching appointment from her sister. On the Friday it was weekly planning so that takes up the whole morning, then we had to go into Brisbane to the office to pick up a form then drive back out to get it signed which ate up our time and we had to ask for more K's (km for the car).  I'm in a shared car area so we have the car every other day. Our area is huge. We'll be using the trains quite a bit so I need to get a GO card (which is like the queensland version of an oyster card).

 

I'm learning lots including that this is absolutely nothing like my missionary experience I had in England. The Centenary Lakes ward seems cool.  We had a dinner appointment with the second councillor and his family and on Sunday we had a meal appointment with an English family. I had probably my first and last Cornish pasty in australia. They were home made and delicious.  They  kept feeding us carrot cake.  The district leader is called Elder Webster and his companion is called Elder Wallace. I went on trade offs with Elder Wallace on Saturday and that was really good but I learned not to got tracting without suncream. Oh and I've put on weight! I dont know how much cos we dont have scales but I can tell.

 

 Elder Kay at Newcastle Airport

Elder Kay with some of the Elders from his District at the Hamilton, New Zealand Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

MTC experiences

Elder Kay left home at 4:45am on Tuesday 27th December 2011 to serve a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He left from Newcastle Airport and travelled via London Heathrow and Los Angeles, arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 29th December (having completely missed out December 28th as his flight left LA at 10 minutes to midnight on December 27th). To quote Elder Kay "On the flight to LA it was clear over the rockys and was so beautiful. The flight over was fairly uneventful apart from the fact LA airport makes no sense but I found the gate in time and waited... and waited... and waited"

He finally arrived at the MTC about 10am. MTC stands for Missionary Training Centre, where Elder Kay spent just over 2 weeks, from December 29th to January 17th, It's situated near Auckland New Zealand. Most of the missionaries there were from the Pacific area, with one or two from England and Ireland. Elder Kay made friends from England, Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and New Zealand. His companion in the MTC, Elder Kolose, was Samoan and at first struggled a little with the English language, but soon improved. He gave Elder Kay an i'a, which is traditional Samoan dress.

Time in the MTC is spent in intensive gospel study interspersed with sports, meals, household duties (washing clothes, keeping the room clean and tidy) and of course sleep and, on one day, a trip to the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. Elder Kay said the coach trip was incredibly beautiful and it was lovely to do some work in a different setting. He didn't say much about the food over there, except for some biscuits called Tim Tams which he thought were sooooo good.

Elder Kay said the MTC experience was over fast but he was looking forward to arriving in Australia.