Still in Chatswood

This week was alright. Not much going on besides a whole lot of doors closed on us. That's alright, we're gonna find those people that have been prepared to receive our message. 

So, updates on investigators: Amy (the crazy lady from Malaysia) she moved to Campsie, which is in the city. She still calls us every now and then for an update on her affairs. Shes interesting. 

Dong is moving to China on friday and we are only able to meet with him one more time. I guess he's been super busy these last few weeks. So hopefully when he comes back next year, he'll be more ready to receive the message. 

Joseph is progressing well. He shared a dream he had a long time ago that was very similar to Lehi's dream in 1st Nephi 8. So we shared with him the dream and he seemed really excited about it!!!! We have another lesson with him tomorrow and we'll follow up on that as well as teach him the gospel of Christ. We're really excited for the lesson tomorrow. We're going to invite him to be baptized! Hopefully hes excited and says yes!!!

Not much else this week. We had zone conference and transfer calls. I'm not moving and everyone is staying in my flat, so no changes there. 

Oh, the birds here (except magpie) are super chill, so you can handfeed them! I dont know how good of quality this picture is, sorry. 

Love ya heaps guys!!!

Elder Maxfield

English class is the bomb

HAHA so. Dong (the Dr from China) is awesome. We've been teaching him lessons and just found out and got approval for him to be baptized before he leaves again for China. Since its so soon, he would not be able to go to church the normal 3 weeks in a row, so we needed approval. Now, we just need Dong to accept the invitation to be baptized. HAHAHAHA. I think he'll accept though. Also, the pictures are of Dong and I at English class. I'm helping him write his essays. So he wanted to take a super cheesy photo of me pretending to teach him. I love him so much. He's hilarious. 

When we taught him about Joseph Smith's vision, he asked why he was the one chosen. We explained that we only know that God chose him for a reason. he replied "Well, he probably chose him because he was close to the book. If he chose me, Id have to go all the way to America. And they probably wouldn't approve my Visa. 'BUT GOD SENT ME TO TRANSLATE THIS BOOK!! YOU NEED TO APPROVE MY VISA'" He is the funniest guy. So he's progressing a lot.

We also met Joseph this week. An old investigator from past missionaries. He's super keen and we hope he joins the church. He's a Lebanese man. About 55ish.. and lives with his mom. She prevented him from getting baptized the last time he agreed to be baptized. We'll see what we can do. 

Well, to be short, I drove for the first time this morning. It was scary. We almost died but we didn't, so that's good. Now i guess i'm Approved to drive. So we'll see when I actually get to do that. It might not be any time soon. 

Conference was amazing guys, if you didnt have a chance to watch it, watch it. Really good advice given in it. Follow the words of the prophets guys, they know whats up and you dont. I have a testimony of that for sure!!!

Love you all heaps!!!

Elder Chris Maxfield

Its cities and farms, its open arms, one nation under God, its America

So I have a cool story about this subject this week. Ill get to it later. 

This week was super busy and went by so slow!!

Tuesday, we went on splits with the zone leaders. Elder Peterson is so awesome! I learned so much and we got like 3 return appointments. Of course they were all in his area.. Dangit. Oh well. He also told me about this great talk. The need for an atonement by somethin Skouson. Super super good talk if you have 2 hours to listen to it. It took us 3 days to listen to it. 

Wednesday was so busy!!! We had englsih class in the morning, then district meeting, then we had the english class that the missionaries teach to people that want to come. That was so fun. I helped a doctor write an essay on the flaws of Chinese public hospitals. He's from China. AT the end of class, Elder Graffe asked if he'd like to learn about our message that we normally share. he said yes!!! So we taught him on Friday and he wants to be baptized so that he can go and be a missionary. (hes like 35 ahhahahaah) Oh well, he's a good guy. On friday we also met Amy. Shes sorta crazy but super nice. She thought we offered jobs so that's what she came to us for but is now actually interested in the message. SHE CAME TO CHURCH TOO!!! She's from Malaysia and when we met, she said probably 50 times that I have beautiful eyes and that i look like David Beckham and Edward from Twilight.... Okay... HAHAHAHA so funny.

So, Saturday sucked. It was sseriously the worst. Nobody wanted to talk, our appointments fell through, it was terrible. Elder Warth and Phimphan didn't have any luck either, so it was rough. So, all 4 of us decided to go get food. (probably kfc). Then we found this burger place and decided to check it out. There was a member there that insisted on paying for us, so that was nice. So this place was a classic American burger shop kinda place. It was rockin classic rock and they had shakes and burgers, it was awesome. So Elder Warth and I were in our happy place. It seriously felt like I was home again. I was beyond happy. So when we got home, Elder Warth and I sang patriotic songs at the tops of our lungs. HAHAHAHA. So, it' America yall. 

Other than that, not many occurrences. Just keep doin the work. Lots and lots of study this week about the atonement!!! It was so awesome!!! I love the fact that Jesus suffered and died for me so that I can repent for being stupid. Its just so great!!! I cant wait for conference!!!!!!!!!

Love you guys!!

Elder Maxfield

1) Our movie theater to watch the district

2) The glory of a good burger place

America

So, Ill get to the subject title in a bit. 

This week was interesting. Tuesday I did exchanges with Elder PhimPhan (PimPan). He's from Thailand and is crazy. He's a funny guy. So we had almost no luck all day, but at like 7:15, when normally we'd be back home since there's no luck after 6 here, we were walking through the market just to do one last round, and we met Denis. He's a super nice guy who's from the Philippines. He's here being trained for a new position at work. He's an IT guy for a company that sells pet insurance.... for some reason pet insurance is a thing here. HAHAHA Super weird. So he wants to meet with us and we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet. 

The rest of the week was a little uneventful. Friday though, Elder Warth and I, my homie, went on exchanges. He's so awesome. Like seriously, I'm so happy I'm in an apartment with him. We've been talking a ton and hes a super cool guy. So we did exchanges on Friday and we were walking down the street. By the way, hes a blonde kid from Idaho. So we were walking down the street, and this huge group of girls on the other side of the street were like "You guys are so hot!! Come talk to us!!" No thanks Satan, not today!!! So we left. HAHAAHA So that's really the only funny story for the week. Elder Warth and I were joking about how that's why you don't put two American, blonde missionaries together in a foreign country. 

So, onto the subject title. So for the last few weeks Elder Warth and I have noticed that they talk A LOT about America in church here. Like, some of the talks have been centered on America. Super weird, but they have all had a point to them. So yesterday, apparently there was a 70 that came to church. The Bishop was the last person to speak in Sacrament and he talked about how the US government is how the world should be set up. (Not talking about like modern politics, but like democracy). And he asked a rhetorical question. "When was the last time you read the Constitution or the Federalist Papers?" I was a little confused by that. He had a point in everything though, so it was all good stuff. I just thought it was funny that even in Australia, America is awesome. HAHAAHAHAHAAHA 

Oh, and at some point last week we got a call that said that a lady had called the temple and wanted to learn more about the church. Her and her husband came to church yesterday! They're from Armenia. Super nice people though. And Elder Graffe and I went over to Wayne's house yesterday and will follow up with him tonight. Pictures below of his house. Its pretty cool. 

Well guys, this week has been good. Love ya'll and hope you're doing well in your various activities/en devours.

Elder Maxfield

1) Elder PhimPhan and I at Milson's point.

2)Our Area

The rest) Wayne's house

HOLA FOM CHATSWOOD!!!!! (one month)

I FOUND MEXICAN FOOD!!!!!!!!

At least that's what I thought. It was so nasty. I don't even know what kind of food it was, but it wasn't Mexican that's for sure. 

Well, this week wasn't too interesting. A lot of street contacting (which is so hard, but can be really fun) and a lot of door knocking. 

We ate at some members homes this week and had some awesome food! The Nelsons made some BOMB kabobs and the Jarvis's made some awesome noodles. Very authentic Chinese noodles. (shes from China). 

The members are getting better I think and I think I'm gaining their trust. I'm trying so hard to get to know them, its crazy. And Elder Graffe is doing the same. We taught Elders quorum yesterday and talked about virtue. I think I burned their eyebrows a little ( as  Elder Holland would say) on the topic. It was pretty dang cool. I am so excited for the rest of my mission!! 

So Elder Warth and I cleaned out our ears last week with the fire sticks and the money here is kinda cool!!

GOOD'AY MATES!!!

I havent heard a single person say that so far. So I dont know if its a real thing. However, my area is 90% Asian and 10% Aussie so I dont know yet. 

So the work is hard. Im loving it, but its hard. My trainer is awesome! Elder Graffe. He's form Tahiti and is working me pretty hard. He has only been out for 6 months so we're learning together but we're doing a good job as far as I can tell. 

There aren't a lot of people that want to talk to us. So that's pretty difficult, but it's whatever right? We'll find those people that are ready for us eventually. 

We are teaching an old guy though! His name is Wayne. He's super cool and is crazy into Edison phonographs. He has over 100 machines and probably over 2000 records. It's nuts. His house is like a museum. Its so cool. And he loves to talk. We invited him to be baptized on Saturday, but he says he's reluctant to give up his church. He has a hard time letting go because it was his parents and grandparents church. So we'll work on it and just listen to what he has to say and what his concerns are. 

HEY EVERYONE!!!!! LISTEN UP!!!! 

IF YOU AREN'T DOING MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK, (as Elder Clayton would say) REPENT AND SIN NO MORE!! Us missionaries can't do this work alone. It's almost impossible to bring lots of others to the church if you aren't sharing!!! So, SEND THE MISSIONARIES REFERRALS AND HELP THEM OUT!!!! (drop mic)

I love this work everyone! I hope you all are doing great at school and at home and a bunch of other things too!! 

Love yall!

1) View from my MTC classroom

2) MTC district 

3) My boy Elder Rex

4) Elder Graffe and I (Yes, that's the opera house) 

5) View from a house in Wollstonecraft SICK!!!!

I'm coming home, coming home, tell the world I'm comin home

No, that doesn't mean I'm coming home to Tracy. Sydney will be my home
for the next 2 years. So I'm calling that home. We leave Monday !!!
I'm so excited!! But the plane ride is going to be AWFUL!! Oh well.
It'll be really cool.
Anyways, this week was ai'ight. (The studio C skit forgot to put in
the apostrophe). We had 4 investigators Monday! And then on Tuesday
one of them had to make a last minute trip/move to Arizona. And then
we had 3. So we taught them a flew times.Thursday we had 3
appointments set up. 2 of them were no-shows.. and never got back to
us. Then there was 1. We met him again yesterday and asked if he would
be baptized. After explaining to him "baptism by proper authority" he
asked what he needed to do to be baptized!!!!! So I'm excited for him.
I hope he gets in contact with the missionaries in the field so he can
get baptized.
I hope you guys took a look at those videos I sent last week. They're
great!! So good.
I got to run 5 miles last night and that felt AMAZING!!! It was all in
door on a track that was .1 miles=1 lap. So did 50 laps. That was fun.
Not much else happened this week. The MTC is pretty bland. But yeah.
It was a cool week.
I know this church is true. I know Jospeh Smith was a prophet called
of God and that he restored his church on the earth. We have a prophet
that receive revelation from God today. His name is Thomas S. Monson.
He has apostles that also receive revelation from God. This church is
amazing everyone. If you don't believe or have a small testimony in
it, I encourage you to seek it out and grow that testimony. I write
this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen
-Elder Maxfield