Another Great week in
the mission and in the service of the Lord has flown by!
What an opportunity it
is to serve the Lord and to see his hand in this great work.
As said last week,
the mission said goodbye to President and Sister Howes. They were kind enough
to take a picture with each of us as well as a Zone photo.
This week Elder Orr
and I, along with a few other Elders, had the opportunity to go up to Watson's
Bay which is at the North Eastern tip of our area. It truly is a sight and we
loved being there looking out onto the ocean!
In addition to that, we also had the
opportunity to have a Sisters Preach My Gospel Study with the Summer Hill
Sisters, Sister Sindorff (AUS) and Sister Smith (USA). They are great Sisters!
It seems to be a common trend that the Sisters are always so much better at
missionary work than the Elders! It's always good to be learning though!
I had the great
privilege to serve in the Ryde Ward for three transfers. It was a great
opportunity to learn and grow but also to teach the Chinese people in their
native language. Among the people I was able to teach was Kire and Shane. Kire
is from Taiwan while Shane is from Australia. They met here in Australia and
were soon married after that. They now live in Sydney with their two daughters.
I met Kire at one of our English Classes and at the end shared a spiritual
message to the class and introduced what we do as missionaries. She told us
that she was meeting with the JW's taking Bible Study classes with her husband.
We told them we also taught them and that we would love to spend time learning
with them. We soon started meeting with Kire and Shane. We invited them to
every FHE at the Ryde Chapel.
It was always hard to
meet with Shane because he would work during the day but he would always bring
his family to FHE. It was hard to sit down and have a lesson with him but one
thing he loved to do was to play Ping Pong. When he came to the Chapel, he and I
would always go off and play Ping Pong. As things went on, we often talked about
the Gospel while playing and having fun. It wasn't a sit down formal lesson, but
it worked. They came to church on a regular basis and came out for General
Conference. We had invited them both to be baptized but they said it wasn't the
right time. Shortly thereafter I was transferred. Last week we were having a
Zone Leader Conference call on Thursday night and the Harbour Beaches ZL's were
announcing the baptisms that were happening in their Zone for the weekend. They
announced Kire and Shane's name. I could not believe it!!!! After the call was
over, I called the Assistants to have them connect me to Elder Hung who told me
they were getting baptized on Saturday. I quickly looked through my planner to
find that we were busy all day Saturday. While sad that I would not be able to
go and support them, I was nonetheless happy.
On Sunday night, I was
able to go to a Recent Convert Fireside in the City. We arrived a little late
and the meeting had already started. I looked around the room and saw that
there was an empty seat behind Elder Hung who was there with Shane and Kire's
family! We went and sat behind them and after the meeting was over, I was able
to catch up with them. Shane came over and gave me a hug and thanked me for all
that I had done. I told him that I had not done anything and that it was the
Holy Ghost who had done everything. I thanked him for the opportunity I had to
learn from their family. We were then able to grab a picture before Elder Orr
and I had to head out the door.
The Lord works in his
own way and in his own time, but he accomplishes his work. I am grateful that
the Lord knows each of us by name and has a way for each of us to get back to
him. Being able to see them was such a tender mercy to me and brought back many
memories of being with their family. I love them so very much!
Thank you for the
support and encouragement that each of you give me. I hope that each of you are
able to find Missionary Moments in your own way!
Love,
Elder Wilde
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