Advance Australia Fair!

Happy Australia Day my friends! :) 

Let's see... What have I done this week? We went tracting, we had fun exchanges in the Sister Training Leader's area, and yeah, did the normal work. :) 

So for this week, the Zone had a goal to Teach Testify and Invite 2100 times in this week.  And because I think I'm funny, I came up with this line: "Team T is ready to TTI until our Tongues are Tied!"  If you enjoy that line as much as I did, good.  

Oh yeah!  We also had 3 baptisms in our district this week!  Two in our ward, and then one in the other ward.  So we combined them all into one service, which was awesome!  Both wards came out to support both, and it was fantastic!  I got to play the violin as well, which was so fun! 

Aussie word: Sus.  You can use it in so many different ways: Let's sus it out, meaning let's figure it out, or let's look and see. Or you can say Don't do that, you'll look sus.  Meaning you'll look suspicious.  haha :)  Odd words.  

Alma 26:3:  3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

We sometimes start listing all of the physical blessings of serving a mission. But when we get right down to it, just being able to be a missionary, to be the tool in which Heavenly Father uses to convert people, is the greatest blessing you can receive.  I love the examples of the member missionaries here, and it makes me consider how I will be better when I get home.  No, you don't need to be like a proselytizing missionary to serve.  Find one way to share the gospel with someone this week.  You'll bless their life and Heavenly Father will bless you.  Pray for opportunities to share the gospel. 

 Love you all! 

Photos: 

Me and Sister Green

Some Sisters in our Zone

A look at what we had this transfer.. No wonder we're tired! :) 

Sister Talbot and Sister Green

Some zone sisters :)

Transfer calendar! No wonder they are tired!

Cyclone Joyce Came to Visit Us!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​So in case you didn't know, Cyclone Joyce came to visit Perth! :) It rained solid from 8:00 Monday morning to middle of the night. :) I soaked through 2 pairs of shoes, but hey! They really needed a good cleaning, and now they look all nice and clean! :)


It got really hot and humid after that, so I got another little taste of summer, which is still yet to come full force, I hear that February is the month that we will most enjoy summer. :) But one thing is certain, the spirit has to be fairly powerful to catch people while tracting, because it's certainly not going to be two sweaty missionaries on their doorstep. :) Good thing the Church is True and the spirit touches hearts. :)


I just loving doing service. :) Unfortunately we haven't been able to do too much of it in this area, but we now have two different houses that have asked us to help them with yard work, and it means that we can work hard in the yard! I forgot how nice it is, (Except it was really hot while we did it, gotta love sweat running down your back. :) haha) I really like working the yard and seeing the progress that happens that way.


Aussie convenience: We don't have clothes dryers. Now you might think that the absence would be something bad. But it's so hot out here, that we wash our clothes, put them up on the clothes rack, and in 1 hour, everything is totally dry. :)


Scripture of the week: Alma 7:11-13: 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.  13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me. 

I don't know how many times I've read over this scripture, and never really given it much thought. He is taking upon Him our pains, our afflictions. It's not just "the world's sicknesses," It's Sister Talbot's sicknesses, it's yours, it's specific. He did it for me, so he'd know how to comfort me the most. He did it for you, so that he'd know how to heal you, how to comfort you, how to succor you. And that's where we get our comfort and remission of sins. Let's choose our actions in order to be able to fully use His power more strongly in our life. 

Love you all!


Photos:


a group photo from a while ago, random selfies, and our tags in the rain. :) 

Be a Little Boulder! (Bolder)

Haha :)  Guys, I can't remember if I've already used that title.... But it applies so much!  

Sorry about the short email last week, hope you enjoyed it anyways! :)  haha 

So to give more details about my short sentences. :) 

I am still alive, and really enjoying my mission.  To anyone who's thinking about it, I highly suggest it.  It isn't easy, but mate, it's so worth it. 

It is really hot, but it's only gotten to about 37 Celsius (only 98F!!), which is 8 degrees below what it promises during the summer.  :)  We really enjoy our aircon (air conditioning), and the kindness of strangers who give us water at their doors.  :)  

It's so true!  We have heaps of miracles happening!  Lots of people that tell us they're interested truly are, and are letting us come back.  Plus, it is such a cool blessing to have a prompting to go just a few street out of your way to talk to someone, have them be at home, and just watch their face light up with joy when they see you.  :)  It may be small moments like that, but it is so cool to be that reason for the excitement in their eyes. 

Our investigator is on Baptismal date now, and the elders serving in this ward have two, so this ward is having a great start to the year!  :)  ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

One thing that I've learned and am still learning on my mission is to be bolder.  If you're not bold, things won't move as quickly, and you may miss some opportunities that only happen because you're bold.  Be lovingly bold, but let yourself be bold. :)  I have seen a few chances go by to be bold, and have missed them, and now I'm working even harder to catch them again.  :)  A few months ago, Sister Fife held up a little rock, and said "Be a little boulder (bolder)"  I thought it was so funny and clever that I later found myself a rock, and wrote on it those words.  :)  Now I have a little boulder to remind me to be a little bolder.  

Aussie term: Lead (Leash, like for a dog) and 'brallas which is short for umbrella. We're experiencing a bit of a cyclone at the moment, so we're getting wet over here. haha :)  

Scripture for the week: Alma 5:38:  Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.

Mate, shepherds are so cool.  They don't need to keep their sheep on leads, or have dogs to pull them in, they stay with their sheep, and their sheep stay with them.  He'll call us by the name that he has given all of us, and we will be blessed as we answer him.  :)  

Photos: A Funny sign that Transperth had for the holidays. :)  A random selfie this morning, and the temple! 

TransPerth Sign for the Holidays

Perth Temple

Random Selfie :)

Gotta Be Quick!

Hi guys!  

I've only got a few minutes because we're headed to the temple this lovely morning, so a few quick updates: 

I'm still alive! 

It's hot here in Australia.

Heaps of miracles are happening left and right.

And we now have an investigator on baptismal date! :) 

Also!  If you have the opportunity to go to the temple, I would say go!  We take for granted our closeness to the temple.  I'm only allowed to go once every six weeks, but some missionaries don't even get to do it that often. :)  Go, enjoy the blessings of the temple! 

Also, I didn't upload any photos either, so... No photos this week, sorry!  

Love you all!

Sister Hollee Talbot

(Photos added by Mom with permission :)

Sister Talbot in her happy place, the temple!

On 4:13 Team T Celebrates Like Warriors!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​So as Warriors for our Saviour, we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!  

To explain the title of today... 13 Years ago on New Year's day, I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  4 years ago on New Year's day, Sister Tuifua was also baptized a member.  As we celebrated our cool little connection, we decided that at 4:13 on New year's day, we would celebrate!  So we paused in our tracting, pulled out little confetti poppers, and celebrated!  We then picked up the confetti and resumed tracting. :)  

This week has been awesome! This week we tracted into a family of 7. As we've been working on our different approaches, sometimes we still go with the basic "have you met the missionaries before?" To this house, we did that approach, to which the daughter (who we thought was YSA) went in and got her mom. We asked the same question to the mom, and she said that she hadn't, and in the conversation that followed told us that she hadn't ever really been religious before, and that she didn't think that they would have time until 2019. After hearing that, we simply started with "Well, as missionaries we teach about Jesus Christ, and how learning about Him strengthens our family relationships..." While slightly transitioning to the Plan of Salvation, she opened up, and the kids came closer to listen to us. :) We gave the mom a pamphlet, and the kids immediately reached for it as well. Even though she said that they wouldn't really have time initially, they were still listening to us, saying that it was something that they wanted to learn more about, and told us to come back the following Wednesday. It was so cool to be able to share with a family like that. It has been a big dream of my mission to share the gospel with families, because the gospel has impacted my family positively since the beginning. I have already seen the changes in the Abbott family, and the joy that came into their lives, and I have been praying to help and love another family the same way. I've been praying every night that we can be able to keep this interest in them going, and am excited to see what happens when we follow up with her tomorrow. :) 

Aussie life problem:  When you're waiting for the bus, and look at a car, and think that it looks funny... Only to realize that the driver is on the Left side instead of the right!  It looked so weird!  haha 

And for the Scripture this week: D&C 4:2. For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul.

This is a scripture that as a mission we recite every day.  As we were reciting it one day, "blameless before God" stood out to me.  It made me think of  what I would like to do, and what I need to do to be found blameless before God.  Then it took my mindset to Negative Self Talk, and realized that I am not the one to be placing blame on myself.  That's not my job.  My job isn't to blame myself, or to talk negatively about myself.  To those who think that they have NST, know that there is happiness and freedom outside of it.  Know that continual prayers to our Heavenly Father can slowly start to unwind you from those cords.  You can still want to be perfect, but you can gain a better appreciation of the Atonement of Jesus Christ through it.  I have honestly struggled every day to beat NST out here on my mission.  I would like to think that I'm doing pretty good about winning that battle.  I still have my days, but I'm getting better.  :)  I love you all, and am so excited to see all that you're doing in the New Year! 

(For those who want a longer story on this, please talk to my momma, who can share a letter I wrote a while ago.  It goes into battle strategies on how to beat NST.) 

Love you all!  Have a great week! 

Photos: APM (Australia Perth Mission) A family photo, A Heart, and a Companion New Year's Eve photo! 

Sister Hollee Talbot

Christmas Skype Family Picture

Happy New Year!!!

Australia Perth Mission

Merry Christmas!!!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​My P-day next week is Christmas, and so I'll be skyping my family instead of emailing next week.  It's nothing personal, it's just that I like my family more than emailing.... :)  

This week has been prettying interesting!  We have had a lot more time to tract, which I don't know where that's coming from. haha :) It also means that we've had a lot more moving around with our schedules each day, with people asking to move their appointments to different times, and sometimes days.  It really helps a person learn how to be more flexible when everything changes and doesn't go the amount of time anticipated.  :)  

We've had a lot of guys answer the door without shirts on... Awkward... But thankfully many have told us to wait, put on a shirt, and then talked with us. It's totally an issue with the weather, we didn't have this problem in winter.  But a blessing of it being so hot outside is that people constantly offer us water to drink.  Which we can then turn into more time to talk as we drink from their cups.  :)  People are very nice here.  

Guess what!  We tracted into a guy who gave us a fingerspelling chart for Auslan! That's Australian Sign Language!  I didn't take a photo of it this week, but I will for next week.  :)  

For those of you who want to laugh, I stacked it this week.  Walking on a flat footpath, somehow I tripped and fell flat on my face.  There was a car driving by too, so it didn't go unnoticed.  I only scuffed up my hands a little, but yeah, tripping on a flat surface.  :)  We laughed about it the rest of the way home.  

Aussie Christmas:  Instead of dressing in more and more layers, we wear summer clothes, and people are saying that 30 degrees is too cold for Christmas.... haha :)  

Scripture of the week:  This one comes from the Living Christ.  "We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."  I have been memorizing this during this past transfer, and I love how strong this paragraph is.  He is who He says He is.  We are celebrating Christ's birth because He came to earth for us.  I love Him, and I know that He loves me, you, and each and everyone of us.  God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.  

Merry Christmas!  I'll talk to you in the New Year! 

Photos: A few Selfie photos and the temple! 

Sister Hollee Talbot

Sister Talbot and Sister Tuifua in their happy place--the temple!

Perth Australia Temple

Sister Tuifua and Sister Talbot

Happy Birthday to Me!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​I would like to start off by first saying Thank you!  For all of the well wishes, both last week, and this week! :)  I really felt special, and all the love that came from you guys meant so much to me. :)  I love you all! 

Little Miracle! So a few weeks ago we were trying to contact a less active in the Elder's area, and were on the bus home when we met John.  He approached us (that doesn't normally happen) and started asking us about religion because he noticed our badges.  We talked to him about it, and invited him to come to church with us the following day.  He was very enthusiastic when he said that he would come.  He didn't make it.  Since he lives in the Elders' area, we gave them the information, and forgot about it.  Fast forward to last weekend, we get a call from an unknown number.  When we answer it, he identified himself as John from Girrawheen, and that he wants to come to church!  He had lost the card with our number and church address on it, so we texted him the church address again, and he said that he would come!  He showed up the next day, and absolutely loved church!  He has already started to talk about becoming a member. :)  It was so cool to be able to help him with those first few steps.  

Other than that, we've had a few member present lessons, which is great!  I just love the contribution to the lessons that the members bring.  :)  I hope that the investigators feels that as well. With a lot of our investigators being male, member presents are the only way that we can teach! 

Aussie Problem:  Only in Australia could you be in a car with a member, and have them complain about too many kangaroos or sheep on the road. :)  Hitting one is like hitting a deer.... 

Scripture for the week:  2 Nephi 9:26-27.  26 For the atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel.

27 But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!

There are those who don't have the commandments, and then there are those who do.  We have a privilege of knowing the commandments of our Heavenly Father, and with that comes the responsibility of following them.  We are accountable to our Heavenly Father for the things that we know He has given us.  We can account to Him each night and tell Him how well we filled out our part of the bargain.  We may sometimes think that it would be easier to not have any of the commandments and live in ignorance, but look at all the blessings that come from obeying those.  I've been working on a project where I have been writing my testimony of each individual commandment that we teach, and wow, I have been blessed so much.  Count your many blessings my friends, it will take you so far in life. <3 

Love you all! 

Photos:  The District, a view of Perth City from my area, a birthday selfie with Dolly, and my hello kitty band aid! 

Sister Hollee Talbot

District Selfie

Birthday girl Sister Talbot, Dolly Pritchard, and Sister Tuifua

Hello Kitty Bandaid

Perth