HI FAMILY!!!!!
HI! sorry i got on a computer late today! :( We had a very strange p-day today, but it was the funnest thing EVER! in our area, we have an area called Stradbrook Island. It is the coolest thing in the world. We ferried to it right after studies and then hung out on the island, took pictures, explored and stuff. It was so much fun. I'll have to send you pictures later, the computer I'm on right now isn't working too well. hahahaha, so Next week, there'll be a few crazy fun pictures :)
Anyway, basically, this island is GORGEOUS!!!!!!! soooo pretty. We saw so many surfers and the cliffs, and beaches, oh wow. It was like Hawaii. DOn't worry, I didn't go onto the sandy parts or anything. :) I'll send the pictures next week. At the end, we played a bit of rugby on a field there, and then went and searched for coral peaces and shells. I found a crazy fish bone O.o hahahaha, but it was pretty cool. I want to make a necklace out of it, but I'm not sure how it's going to work :). We'll see. Anyway, we took heaps of pictures and it was amazing. Sorry I haven't been taking too many pictures and stuff. Hopefully soon I'll be able to send a few more, but for now please be patient with me :D hahahaha. Next week :D
Well, funny story. We had zone training this week and it was super funny. The sister were trying to present a training on Family Home Evening in their area and they are soooo funny. They aren't very good at spelling so they tried spelling Jeopardy, but ended up writing Jepperty, and stuff. It was so funny. We were trying to not laugh, but it was hard. We also had a competition of who knew the rules the best and my team won!!!!!!!! sadly, we didn't get a prize, but we all went out for KFC afterwards, which is probably the reason I'm a little bit fatter now :P hahahaha. KFC IS SOOOOOOOO big here. There's a member here named Natasha, and she saw us at KFC with a friend. Her friend was like: "Oh man, look at those rich kids eating at KFC"... so I guess KFC = Fine Dining. hahaha. It was a good opportunity to introduce her friend to the gospel. Hopefully soon she'lll want to meet with us. Right now she's going to dances and FHE, so we'll work on that eventually :).
OH YES! I know I always ask you to help me out with stuff and I'm so grateful for you helping me with EVERYTHING. There's a sister here that's going on her mission soon and wants to go to Provo a bit earlier, but she doesn't really ahve a place to stay. I thought maybe since your nest is empty you might be able to help.... hahaha. If you can't that's fine. I thought it'd be cool because she needs a companion (mom) :D and wants to go to the temple. anyway. Maybe contact her. Her name is Trefyn Francis (sister Francis by the time you'll meet her). :) She's the best. She helped us teach christina for a bit but she's super busy. haha.
FUUUUUN fact. I'm teaching a sumo-wrestler. :D hahahahaha. oh my goodness. Sho was a sumo wrestler, but he quit because the doctor told him that he was getting too fat. Something about having too much fat on the kidneys that results in a bit of health issues. hahaha. Anyway, he's the man. I never thought Id meet a sumo wrestler, but here I am. :) Teaching a Sumo Wrestler who goes back to Japan pretty soon. We send SO many referrals to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It's so crazy. And we go through phases. A month ago, we got HEAPS of Taiwanese investigators. A few weeks ago, we found heaps of Vietnamese and now we've run into so many japanese people. It's pretty awesome. I think it's a sign that I need to learn a few more languages :P hahahaha. Just kidding. They're so hard.
We also ran into this awesome Japanese Sister this week (surprise) and she was so funny. We talked walked up to her and said "Hi" and then she started laughing, covering her face, and grabbing my companion (which was super weird for us hahahaha). Turns out she couldn't speak english very well. I talked to her a little bit in Japanese, found out where she's from (DId you know that there's a city called Toyota? Cool eh?) what she was doing here etc. And then she told us that she was trying to get to Central Station. Central station was on the other side of the city ( i know, it should be in the CENTER!!!! but Australia is like that :P) hahaha. So we walked with her to central station, got her number and said goodbye (she's back in Japan today). Well, the next day, we saw her AGAIN! talked to her, and emergency called a brother in our ward (he, thankfully, was next to where we ran into her, MIRACLE) and so he explained to her some things and we invited her to church! she was SUPER excited and interested in going to church. it was awesome. Sadly, we had to refer her to the Nagoya mission last night, but I'm sure the Japanese missionaries are wonderful. One day, I'll find an investigator from Fukuoka(sp?). You know ELder mitton's mission, and I'll have them look him up. BUT I still need to find an investigator for Vicky. Nobody here is from Shuanghe. :( HEAPS from Taizhong and Taipei. hahaha.
Heads up, next week is transfers, so I won't be able to email till tuesday... I know you'll wake up and this'll be in your mail box so chabuduo. but just a heads up :). So don't worry mom if I don't email for a bit. Cool thing though, we broke our record for baptisms in a month so president is taking us to lunch on friday :D yay! I'm gonna be a bit fat when I go home :( hahahaha. RUNNING TIME! Our mission is so lucky. Our flats are really nice and we even get cars! how wonderful is that? it's pretty wonderful. I think it's super awesome. But these past two weeks we've been biking everywhere to save money for the church and my thighs are getting MASSIVE hahahaha :D oh man. Ok. Fun story over. my stomach is growing somehow....
Elder Monsen (my companion) and I started working with a sister in Brisbane ward named Ivy Ho (sp?) she's from Hong Kong and was baptized pretty recently evidently, but she has so many struggles so Elder Monsen and I want to work hard to help her out. We really want to get her back to church because she hasn't been to church in a while. We saw her at church last week and were really excited, so we've been trying to make sure she gets to church from now on. She has two kids and she's by herself here. We promised her that if she came to church and read from the scriptures, she'd feel more peace in her life as she went to work and as she took care of her kids. It's so amazing because this sunday, we went to her house because she didn't come to church, and she told us that she's been reading from the book of mormon and she's feeling happier and more peaceful... calmer. It's AMAZING how powerful the Spirit is in her life!!!!!!!!
Another cool story for this week happened when I was out contacting people. I was laughing so hard after this because I thought it was so funny. Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem funny at all, but that's ok. hahahaha. ANYWAYS. what happened is this. I went up to talk to this girl at King George Square and just started a conversation at normal. We talked for a bit and then she asked me what Iwas doing in Australia (because she heard my accent) well, I told her I was a missionary. Turns out, she was a missionary tooooo! hahahaha. She was here from california and was working with something called YWAM. I'm not sure. anyway, we kept talking and she asked me what I did as a missionary, and I told her my purpose and then I asked her, and she just kinda hangs out here. It was really cool because by the end, she was telling me about her concerns of going home and what she'll do afterwards, and where she'll go to school, if she wants to stay in Australia for longer... etc. I thought we were super similar, but then I realized that there was a huge difference in what we were thinking. As a missionary, I've learned to do what proverbs 3:5-6 says. Lean not on my own understanding, but to trust in God. We, as missionaries, are out for two years. Life continues and we will eventually go back home. We could worry about it all the time and let it distract us, but if we trust in God, and know that he's there, we can have comfort in the fact that He has a plan for us.
What a wonderful work this is! I'm so glad that I don't have to worry about all those things at home. As long as I'm lost in the work, doing my best and keeping my eye single to the glory of God, Everything will turn out the way that He wants it to turn out for me. It's so wonderful! I just want to yell it, but that wouldn't do any good to you because I'm typing, but I LOVE IT!!!!! I'm not saying that I've never been homesick or thought about things at home because I have. The problem with that is that if I do end up thinking about it too much, I'm not as happy as I should be. This work is the best thing in the world. I'm so happy to be out here. Sadly, the time is going too fast. One of the missionaries out here,Elder Higham is going home soon :( sadly. He's one of the funniest elders out here and I've gotten to know him pretty well in the time I've served around him. He's going home soon and I've started to realize how short the time is that we can serve the Lord with our whole time. I'm just going to work hard, and have fun! so I think that's the moral of this email. Work hard, and have fun! Trust in the Lord and do your best! It reminds me of one of my favourite quotes ever. "Work as if it all depends on you. Pray as if it all depends on the Lord"
I hope you all have had a WONDERFUL week! I'm sorry I didn't get this to you all till you all fell asleep. Maybe mom is awake and will wake you all up. If so, I apologize :P Next week, I['ll send a few pictures of where I'm serving my mission. you should show it off to my friends and make them super jealous. I would be. Oh wait... I'm serving here :P hahahaha. YAY!
Love you!!!!!!
Elder Chen
Elder Chen
Ps. No... actually my pants are too big now so don't worry about sending pants. I got a new pair of SUPER stylish slacks the other week for 30 dollars. I don't really spend much money here on things other than food.... so.... yep :) Don't worry about me. I have plenty of money. It'll last me my whole mission. There really isn't anything I'd want to buy here that we can't get in the states except for Nandos (Chicken shop... OSOOOOOOOO good :)), music sticks, boomerangs, and a digeridoo, and that won't take up the money that I brought. Yep. I'm good on slacks. PLUS if I get too big, the Islanders always give us slacks that they can't fit anymore. :) YAY For loving brothers and sisters. Last month,Elder Haiane (Elder Higham's companion) gave me an ie lava lava. YAY! it's purple. Andelder Tito wants to give me a green one as well. hahahaha. SO MANY CLOTHES GOING AROUND!!!! HOORAH!. Transfers soon! Cross your fingers! actually, just kidding. All the chinese missionaries are really good :)
sorry, that was a long ps. Photos soon.. I promise, yes, I still have the camera :)
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