Koalas, Driving Tests, and Investigators :)

Hi there! 

This week was kind of interesting because our schedule was packed, and everything kept needing to be rescheduled, cancelled, or took a different amount of time than anticipated.  It was cool though to see what we were able to accomplish as our schedule would change, and to see the lives that we were able to impact. 

First off, we got two new investigators!  One came from tracting and a referral at the same time... Renata took a pamphlet from the sisters one day, and set it on her counter, not really interested.  That night, she had a birthday party for one of her kids, and a friend came over who knew what that pamphlet was, and was able to discuss what was in it a little.  She then invited her to church, and she has been going to the other ward for about 4 times now!  She met with us last week, and is actually pretty interested, along with her daughter. I'm so excited to teach them! 

The second one has been going to church off and on for about 6 years, but hasn't really been interested until this year.  So she basically told a ward member that she wants to meet with us now, and we just started teaching her this week.  Her name is Alexis, and she's interesting to teach, because she already knows a lot about the church.  She still asks questions during the lessons, but sometimes it's to connect things to what we are teaching, or to clarify something that still doesn't make sense.  It's kind of funny to watch the ward work with her, because so many of them already know her, that there's basically a fellowshipping war over her.  Two families really want to be involved with her lessons, but they didn't know the other family was doing it... I had a good laugh trying to get them to work out an arrangement for the fellowshipping.  Both of them can do it, so it's not really a war even.  Haha :) 

I had follow up training, which was basically a check up for all the Goldens (not greenies, goldens.) that came to the mission at the same time as me.  We were able to go over the same stuff in the first training meeting, but then President taught us more on those same topics.  It was pretty cool.  Probably one of my favourite parts was talking about crossing the Great Sandy Desert.  That is the name of the desert in the middle of Australia. Really Creative.  Haha :)  After training ended, the missionaries in charge of transportation needed a few forms, so I went into the office to give them those, and they decided that I needed to take my driving test that day so that they could check everything off.  So I got to drive the car!  Everything is reversed in cars here.  Like the indicator is on the right side, and the windshield wipers were on the left. The only thing that was the same was the gas and brake pedals.  It was super weird, and took some getting used to, but I passed, so I can drive once I get told to do so.  :) 

Aussie terms: Lollies (Candy), click (snap), pumpkin (any kind of squash), and pardon (Instead of saying "what?" which I guess is rude, they say pardon.) 

So back to the Desert. As you cross a desert, you look for little Oasis's and work towards them.  They're nice and you enjoy it there, but if you want to cross the desert, you will have to eventually leave that nice place and go back into the desert.  But you will find another Oasis along the way that you can stop at, and you notice that it is better than the first, and worth the long trek across the Sandy Desert.  The traveling from one Oasis to another is what we call Divine Unrest (Which is quoting someone I forgot to write down the name of.)  This is where our spiritual growth happens.  It isn't comfortable, and often takes a lot of effort on our part.  Our prayers become more sincere, and our Faith is strengthened.  1 Nephi 13:37. "And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be."

 If we keep on working and going to the next Oasis, we will be blessed for it.  I know that it will be hard, but know that I believe in you and support you. 

Love you all!  Have a great week! ​​

Sister Hollee Talbot

Pictures:  A Koala!!!  I got to see a ton of them, but this one was awake!!!!   Then some more Kangaroos, and a road that we drove, and thought was pretty.

                                 

Pretty drive, opposite side of the road...

Koalas!