Week 11: September 17, 2019

Craziest week of my life so far, and probably the hardest! I'll go a little more in depth of everything that's happened because it's been super fun! So first off I left the MTC Monday morning at 11 and went to the airport and on the tracks we met some guy who actually went to Adelaide Chinese speaking so that was awesome! Then after that I looked out the window and MY MTC TEACHER sister Hendrix was outside the window so that was an awesome surprise. So anyway we finally got to Australia after a horrible plane ride, and then I got told my trainer was going to be Elder Setiawan, an English Speaker who doesn't speak a word of Chinese. I was honestly so depressed because I knew I wasn't going to be put in Sunnybanks, the main Chinese area but I at least hoped I would get put with a Chinese companion so I could practice my Chinese. So Anyway I got assigned to an area called Eight Mile Planes to whitewash, which is super cool and fun, plus I get to drive because elder Setiawan doesn't have his license because he's from Indonesia. And it's on the left side of the road haha. I've turned on the windshield wipers a couple times instead of the turn signal but besides that I'm pretty good at driving here now.

Australia is seriously so awesome, and so different though. It feels a lot like California in the summertime right now, so its gonna be blazing hot in the actual summer. Literally one of the first things the mission presidents wife told us is to watch out for the birds, because apparently around this season the magpies like to swoop and attack your head for some crazy Land Down Under reason. And she also said that the kangaroo are like deer around here, and you'll always see them run across the road and get hit by people so that's awesome. They have those watch for kangaroo signs all over the place just like in utah they have the watch for deer signs haha. I have yet to see a kangaroo, koala, or a giant spider so I'm pretty upset right now. Another weird thing is that there's this weird car around here and it's literally a sedan on the front and a truck bed on the back. It's super wack but super popular around here. And I've seen plenty of combie vans around here but not a single shrimp on the barbie. If you go watch the Land Down Under music video, it's spot on for how Australia really is haha just kidding.

Much to my surprise though, I was able to get a lot more opportunities to speak Chinese than I thought, but not near as much as I would hope. Every 2 weeks there's like a Chinese district council thing so we went to that on Saturday, and I could actually for the most part understand what the people there were saying even though they spoke way fast. Also in my area there was assigned 2 sisters and they're both from mainland China, so whenever I see them I speak Chinese. It's not much but it's a lot better than I was expecting and I hope to get more opportunities as I go along. 

Even though I was very upset about my calling as English speaking I know it's what the Lord has in plan for me. Some of the investigators we've met here in this area are awesome and I know that I was assigned here to help them. Whenever I get down on myself I turn to one of my favorite Scriptures of all time Alma 26:27. This chapter overall is such a good missionary chapter but this one is my favorite during tough times. I know that as long as I keep pressing forward the Lord will help me through my trials. Shoot me an email and let me know how it's going in Utah or wherever!

Love you all!

Elder Ensign

Sister Hendrix on the train

with my companion