Happy Chrissy from down unda!!!

Hey everyone!!!! So, no, that's not how they say it here, but it definitely is the quote of the week. 

This week was kinda eh. Christmas week in Canberra is pretty dead. On top of that, a heat wave came in and we hit 100. Almost every night our bedroom was 90+ degrees at 10:30pm. Woohoo, no air con!!! My favorite! But that's okay. 

Hey so i just want to share a couple miracles and fun experiences this week. 

1) Matt has been off the radar for the last 3-4 weeks. Hes literally the most busy 18 year old i've ever met. Its crazy! So since our first time meeting with him, we havent really seen him. Been rough. But last night he texts us out of the blue and says "hey guys, i want to get baptized." So we told him that he needs to meet with us. Well, we now have an appointment with him!!!! I'm so excited!!!!! I'm really looking forward to teaching him again. Hes a great kid! 

2) So i would save this one for last because of chronology but i want to save a really cool miracle for last. So today we went and hiked the highest peak in Australia!!!!! Mt. Kosciusko. It actually was a wayyyyy easy hike. That's okay though. It was sooo fun!!! When we got there the temps were cool but really nice for a long sleeve and shorts. Then as we kept hiking, the winds picked up. Towards the top gusts of about 50mph were hitting us. Hahahha. It was so cool!!! We chilled on the top for a bit, i got my yoga pose in, and we headed back down. About 1/3 of the way down, that wind was added too by rain, then thunder hahahhahaha. Well, needless to say, it was an amazing time had by most (my comp is now seeming like he's gonna get really really sick... he'll be okay) But yeah. That was a party. It was so nice to be out in the actual wilderness again and hiking. 10/10 my happy place. Aspirations for 7/7 each continent's highest peak is building. Everest and Antarctica is a stretch though.... not sure i'll ever even think about doing those. 

3) So Elder Jarvis and I have been planning a devotional for a little over a month now. That happened last night. At first, we were really really excited about it and were keen to make it happen, but as time went on, we realized a problem... there might only be 5 people that show up to it. And that was a realistic thought. That very much was a possibility. Well, we decided we were in too deep and couldn't pull out, so we went for it. One thing that kept running through my mind yesterday was "attempt to be creative, even if the results are modest." I felt that we had attempted and we were about to see modest results, but that's okay. Well, we show up and at around 6:30pm, a couple people trickle into the chapel. Then at about 5 till, many more people showed up! We had an attendance of about 40 people!!!!! We thought there would actually only be a max of 20 people. But that was a miracle!!! Then the devotional started. The speakers were absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!!! In each of their topics that we assigned them, they took a different twist than normal and they all flowed together so well!! The musical items were great!!! And most importantly, i felt the Spirit sooo strongly. I accredit that devotional's success 100% to the Lord because of His infinite mercy and kindness. He was willing to make our little devotional something memorable, at least for me. 

Well everyone. I hope you have a great new years!!!! Love yall heaps!!! 

Elder Maxfield 

Christmas zone pic

Because everyone knows how tough i am, i cant smile. 

Gotta take a yoga picture on every mountain

SKI MAP!!!!!!!!! Wait... isn't this Australia...?

"Im not palagi, youre palagi"

Holy driving! Man, we went up to Sydney twice this week and I'm absolutely smashed. Driving that much really makes you tired. (thanks Mom for being a taxi driver while we were growing up!!) Well despite the long drives, the trips were a lot of fun! The first one was MLC. We had a really good meeting. President gave a training on sacrifice and helping people understand what sacrifice actually is. Sometimes people will sacrifice things like their bed until they get a baptism or other things like that, and President basically told us to chill. hahaha. It was a really good training though and he taught us a little more about the meaning of sacrifice. 

Sister Runia gave a great training about faith in Christ, not faith in outcomes. That was some hardcore wisdom right there. Its sometimes hard to find the difference. A lot of people will say (including myself all the time) "I have faith that _____ will happen" when really your faith should be in the Lord and His ability to make that happen so long as it is His will. It was a really great training. 

After MLC we had trade offs with the AP's. That was a ton of fun!!! We were able to work hard and have a good time. It was so cool! We made a goal to teach several lessons that night, and then we headed onto the street. Literally the first guy we talked to was like "yeah I have time right now, what do you have?" So we taught him right then! SO cool! I love street contacting. ahhaha

Coming back from Sydney, we helped Bishop move. That was a crack up!!! So he has like 4 sons, and they all speak Samoan. One of them, during the middle of the service was like "Hey palagi!" (white boy) To which I responded, "youre palagi" He said "I'm not palagi, youre palagi!!" Thus i was stuck in a battle with a 7 year old samoan kid. hahahaha. It was pretty funny. Such a fun family! 

Well, Mike got baptized this week!!!!! I taught him in Sydney, so we headed up on Saturday for that! It was really cool to see him again and everyone else. Crazy though! We got to the chapel at 4:30pm for the 5pm baptism. The font (which takes 2-3 hours to fill up) hadn't even started yet. So everyone grabbed buckets and filled them up in sinks to speed up the filling process. The baptism that followed also made it a more memorable one. It was really great! 

Well everyone, I hope you're having a great Christmas and that you're able to remember its true meaning. Christ came for each one of us so that we could come to Him and be saved. I love Him and I'm trying to learn more about Him. This Christmas, I invite you to give yourself the best gift ever, and do the same; learn of Christ. Love you all heaps!! Merry Christmas!!!! 

Elder Maxfield 

The baptism

Hey party people! Its Christmas!

Hola and hi all of my friends and family.

Well, this week was pretty awesome. We kicked it off with a MEAN trade-off in narooma! So let me explain narooma real quick. It's basically a super super tiny, extremely pretty beach town. The elders flat down there is like a 5 minute walk to the beach that literally no one is ever on (so missionaries are allowed on it year round). So it's just a nice place to be. So we did trade offs down there and it was a lot of fun! We taught soooo many lessons. We taught (both companionship total) about 6 lessons on Tuesday and talked to heaps of people! Also had a service project in there too. So it was a pretty full on day. It was a lot of fun though! Elder Greenig and Petersen made it a lot of fun.

Friday was mean as. We did a trial run for a mission challenge. Us against my first zone (Harbour north). Of course we SMASHED them!!! They had no chance. But it was a lot of fun. We worked really really hard and found a ton of success from it! We were able to knock into a guy who studies religion and is willing to hear more about us. He invited us in right there and we taught the first lesson. We weren't able to set a return appointment cause he doesn't know when he's free, so we'll just stop by another time. Also we taught a lesson to Kai. He's a really nice Tongan guy. He's super huge but literally the most gentle guy ever. So cool! He really loves christ and loves the church. Just needs to put that into action. We had a really good lesson and the spirit was felt. So that's good. 

Other than that, just a typical week. It was a ton of fun. We worked hard and found a lot of success which is really good to see.

I love the work people! I hope you are all having an amazing Christmas season!! Love ya heaps! 

Elder maxfield

Narooma

Pizza for days!!! After destroying a house. I'm keen to do construction hahha. 

Also narooma. 

The fruit of the Spirit is joy

So for my subject today, I'm gonna address something that I've thought has been pretty funny throughout my mission. Lots of people say to me, "you're having so much fun! Are you even working?" "are you being obedient? You're having too much fun!" or simply "you're having too much fun!" I've always thought this has been pretty funny. Because I definitely am having a ton of fun out here. I love my mission. 

One thing that I've really come to learn on my mission (among many many other things) is that the gospel is joyous! When you live the gospel, you tend to have a good time. You're surrounded by fantastic influences, you have so many opportunities opened up to you, and most of all, you have Him who is called "Comforter" with you at all times. How could you not have a great time in those circumstances?

Now this isn't to say that the mission isn't tough. I'm getting whooped every day here. By Sunday I feel as if my whole body is screaming for me to stay in bed for just 1 (or 5) more hours. But hey, this is like a Ragnar, it's sometimes tough in the moment, but when you're looking back on it, you only remember the fun times. (Plus no one wants a depressing email).

So my mission has been fantastic. I've had some "mean as" times out here. So the gospel truly is happy. It's full of fun. Satan doesn't want us to think/know that, but it's true, following Jesus Christ is the most happy path in this life and in the life to come. I truly do know that because I'm experiencing it right now. Hard times come, but like it says in Alma 36:3, if we put our trust in the Lord, we will be supported in all our trial and afflictions.

Now, on to the week. 

WOW! #flewby! This week was ridiculously fast! I don't even really know what happened. However, I'll report a few things.

1) Matt is on baptismal date for the 5th of January!!! He is so solid and really wants to learn. He told us after the lesson that he hoped practice got canceled so he could go home and read the pamphlet we gave him. Who says that?? Hahaha. He has a deep deep desire to know more of the gospel. He really cares a lot about it. Plus, hes such a cool guy! He told us on Sunday "I was looking to find out where you guys lived" a few minutes later after some discussion "hmm that sounded pretty creepy when I said that huh?" hahahahhahahahahahahhaaahhaha!!!! But he's the man.

2) YVETTE!! (remember her from the city?) GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! oh my gosh it's been a long time coming! There were quite a few missionaries there. Elder Ngatuvai (who I replaced in the city) was there, Elder tobler, Elder Fang, Elder Cowdrey, and Elder Tan were all there to support her (along with many other missionaries currently serving in that ward. The Spirit was so strong during the baptism, especially during the actual ordinance. It was one of the happiest things I've seen on my mission. We really really put in a lot of time planning for her, and she was finally able to make the decision! Everyone was so happy! That was a great end to the week.

Well this next week is projected to be a fast one again. I'm just kicking it off with a nice round of golf. I did terrible, but that's okay, I'm golfing hahaha. This week we have a flat inspection, foot appointment for elder jarvis, a car service, then Christmas conference with the mission. It's loaded! Oh and then transfer calls on Saturday night. 

Well, hope yall are having a great week! Love you heaps! 

Elder Maxfield. 

1) Golf is life

2-the rest) YVETTES BAPTISM