Week 45

Hello all!

Looks like this week is full of surprises, I got a call from president that I'll be zone leader, and then my niece decided she wants to come out! Her name is Kimi. 

I was really sad that I will be moving out of Capalaba Ward. I tried to visit all the members before I left but didn't get to all of them in time. Luckily I get to send pictures now in the new area. 

We found Anne a while back and finally taught her on Friday. She has been meeting with the JW's. She said that she prayed to God with questions, and then 2 days later, JW's knock on her door. So I guess she took that as an answer. She hasn't joined their church yet, so she still has hope haha. She is always willing to listen to others. All she needs now is a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

As we were saying good bye to some of our investigators, Morgan, the non married one, told us that he actually really wants to be baptized, but his wife isn't really keen, even though she is a less active. So we will have bishop talk with them. We have 5 baptism dates in Capalaba, they are not too solid, but at least they have begun reading the Book of Mormon, so they should start progressing soon.

Well, there will be much to learn a zone leader and much growing to do, that will be exciting!

See you all next week.

Love Elder Westbrook

Week 44

Hello all

Tamara's baptism was great. Lots of people came and there was a lot of support. I spoke on baptism. On Sunday, she went to the YSA classes which is good that she has friends in that class. We can let her on her own now.

We have been teaching three families, which is a huge miracle. Steph and Delane Nathan, Phili and Nikki Brown, and Morgan and Ash. None of them are progressing because they haven't been reading the Book of Mormon. So we have been looking for scriptures to help them have a desire to read the Book of Mormon. If any of you have any suggestions for us, that'd be great. We did a lot of door knocking with not much success. No new investigators this week. 

We did Liliane Nicol's lawn. She is a Less Active in a Wheel chair and her lawn hasn't been done in weeks. She is from Tahiti so she gets along well with my companion. 

I will send pictures of the baptism once I get them.

Love Elder Westbrook

Week 43

Happy New Year! 

Tamara will be getting baptized this Saturday. She is amazing, I have realized that as missionaries, we don't actually do the converting, our investigators convert themselves. All we do is speak statements of truth and have the spirit testify to them. We invite them to act, but they become converted as they act on our invitations. Tamara is one of those people who converted herself. We did our job of teaching, but she did the actual converting, if that makes sense...  

It was a great week! We found some potential investigators after some fasting. I know the Lord answers our prayers! We met Tony, he has been looking for more in life, so he came to church with us. He has some of his own ideas so we will have to help him with that. Other than that not much has happened, just super super hot and humid.

Love Elder Westbrook

Week 41

Merry Christmas!

Very different here with Christmas in the summer. Definitely not a white Christmas. We had a Tri-ward Christmas Party on Saturday. It was a great success. Many non-members and Less-actives came. We ran the popcorn machine. I felt bad for Santa, because he had to dress up in this hot weather.

We found two new families to teach which is amazing. One was a former investigator and one was a referral. We haven't really taught them much since Christmas is coming up. It's a little frustrating. 

Anyway gotta go.

Merry Christmas

Elder Westbrook

Week 40

Hello all!

It's been a great week with my new companion. Even though we can hardly understand each other, we get along just great. He reminds me of Afui a little. Just speaks a different language. 

We did a lot of visiting Less actives and members. We have been GQing and door knocking on those hours that are slower and visit members when most people are home. We are slowly building up our ward and getting them to do missionary work and following up. Following up is vital, it shows your love and reminds the members to keep doing missionary work.

We had two return missionaries give talks this Sunday. One went to Perth(Western Australia) and one went to Portugal. Both of them opened my eyes to the difference between knowing the Savior and knowing about the Savior. Any one can do the latter, but not everyone is willing to actually know Him by applying His Atonement in their daily life(John 17:3). I can see that here in Australia and everywhere else. People use the Bible to prove others wrong and argue doctrine, but they are missing the point. We come to know Him as we exercise faith in Him, repent, being baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and try our best in being like Him. Just like the Pharisees in the Bible, many people just don't get the point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We come to know and love Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven as we experience the cleansing effect of the Atonement. That is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about.

Love Elder Westbrook

Week39

G'day Mates

Pretty exciting week, we got a mini missionary this week. Brother Hillier from a nearby ward came with us for half a week. He is a 17 year old preparing for a mission. 

Also, I'm training!...again! Elder Etilage, he is from Tahiti and speaks French. His English is really good for just a couple months of learning. It will be exciting to see the Ward and Elder Etilage grow. We will be going Mountain Biking with the YM today after we email so it will be great! The kids in our ward really need a role model so I am glad that our bishop has asked us to get more involved with the youth. 

Door knocking has been a little easier after the new Christmas initiative began. People are more prone to listen even though they are still not interested in learning about the gospel. It's still good to plant seeds.

Hope everyone has a white Christmas!

Love Elder Westbrook

Week 38

Hello 

We taught Tamara the Plan of Salvation this week, she is learning really well. We have been explaining very simply all the lessons because she is a slower learner. She has started reading the Book of Mormon and starting to pray, she is progressing really well.

Bishop has advised us to be more involved with the YM so we have been going to their activities and priesthood class. I miss those days when we used to be in the YM! Sadly the youth in the ward aren't that close. All of the YM go to different schools so it's hard when you only see the kids once a week. Other than that it is great being with the YM! We built fires during the activity and saw who could build the biggest fire. 

Elder Ho and I have been visiting some members more frequently instead of door knocking. Door knocking isn't the most effective here. We have been visiting a part-member family, the Browns. Phil is his name, his sister is the only member and Phil's family and the member's family(Regina) live in the same house, so it can get quite crowded there. Phil has been taught by missionaries in the past, but we have started teaching him again. He has committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We will follow up on Thursday.

This week is the last week of the transfer, hopefully I get to stay here!

Love Elder Westbrook