Hey, are you in touch with the Drapers? Sadie Draper taught a first lesson to a guy down here, Anthony Russell, with Sister Davey and Strawn(?). I think he lived in Footscray, and I don't think she knows that he joined the church, and so did his mother, and now we're teaching his father. He's got a baptismal date in his head, but won't tell us, which is strange, but whatever. He remembers her quite well.
The other day we stopped by the Samoans that fed us a few weeks ago, the Opapo family, and we were just sitting there talking and all of a sudden the dad goes "Get in the car. We're going." Uh, where is that that we're going? "To have lunch." There was no Are you hungry? Do you have any appointments? Do you like Foodstar? Funny. Sister Mesake kept telling me that they like me, which I don't get. They are leaving this weekend and want to bring me presents from Samoa. I'm excited.
Yesterday we went to an appointment Sister Mesake got with a guy who kept talking to her in the library. He's from Bosnia, and when his elderly mother arrived at home, we thought she would be old and bitter and immobile, but she was so animated and must have had a great sense of humor even though I don't know what she was saying because she speaks absolutely no English. I occasionally knew what she was talking about because of the several Slavic words I've collected. Rasma made these great gestures that apparently meant there is one God and we can all be friends even though we're of different religions. Amen. :) They gave us baklava that she'd made, and some suspicious drink made of rose petals that Fuad said you can only drink on the day of its making because it starts fermenting. I was worried about what would happen if I accidentally drank alcohol on my mission.
I lost my watch, which I really miss because it was just my style, and bought a new one, which stopped working an hour after I bought it, and so we carry around my little battery-operated alarm clock. It makes for some good laughs.
Last night Sister Mesake and I went to Ru's netball game. We hadn't seen her for about six weeks, and she'd forgotten that we'd mentioned coming, and she'd never told us what time her game was. We weren't sure if we should go because it meant we had to get home late, but she really really appreciated it, and said they're talking about getting Corey baptised and getting him to church, and coming together as a family to Saviour of the World.
Saturday was the I Love Frankston parade, and whenever parade people walked by to give us flyers, we traded them for a pass-along card or an invitation to church and the Saviour of the World program. Then I saw the mayor and tried to tell him about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ could help the youth in the community, but he got distracted. He said to call him at the end of January to see how we can help.
"Never open an email from Nigeria. That's common knowledge."
Some guy from South Africa said this to me the other day. It reminded me of that guy in The Princess Bride that says the most important thing to remember is "never get involved in a land war in Asia."
That family we found last week, TJ, Chris, and Kirsty, seem SO prepared for the gospel. We had a lesson with them on the Plan of Salvation, and I was telling them about prayer and how to know when God is answering your prayers, that he will answer by feelings of happiness and peace from the Holy Ghost. I realized, surprised, that I was feeling exactly that as I was explaining so I stopped and said "wait a second. I feel that right now. I know the rest of you do, because I do. Do you?" and they did. It was really special.
We have a new ward mission leader, and we just had our first meeting with him, and he has the same kind of big vision as I do, like inviting members of teh community to seminar-type meetings at the church, even if it's not a doctrinal topic. Just get them to the church and the Spirit will work with the prepared ones.
Anyway, I'm out. Busy busy busy day today. Meaning we have to wash the car for zone conference tomorrow.
With love
Sister Nilsen
