Port Hedland

This week has been really cool - but hot. It's been 40°C (104°F) every day at least. Elder Faagase made eggs and toast on a metal table in the back yard.

The members here are so cool. Our Branch Mission Leader, Luke, is handicapped. He was born premature, so he can't walk and has a hard time speaking, but he is the man. He is a convert and has a SOLID testimony. His goal in life is to be sealed to a Tongan honey.

A recent convert, Rhiann, is a school teacher and is so nice. We might be able to email more at her house after school. The 1st Counselor in the branch presidency, Michael, is Tongan and really cool. He drives a taxi and calls me Elder Sampson because he can't say Jamison right.

The Young Single Adults are legit... Charlie and his sister Rhonda are Cook Island Maori and so funny. Joey is Samoan and a little Asian (I think) and he cracks everyone up all the time. They took us out to eat twice already and we will be helping them set up for the Halloween activity on Friday.

Sister Wyllie is funny and she has a son, Jonathan, who has down syndrome, but he is the coolest funniest kid ever. He is between twenty and thirty. It's hard to tell. He loves WWE. Ha ha, man he is cool he has heaps of DVDs and has a funny sense of humor.

Faagase is the man. He is always laughing about something. We always sing too. We are both awful, but any time something we say is a song lyric, we sing it. Lots of Michael Jackson going on in here.

We do lots of service here. I wear normal clothes more than proselyting clothes. We are teaching a few people. This lady, Leigh, walked into church and said, "Hi, I'm an investigator from New South Wales." So we will be seeing her more and more once we get the car. She will be here for six months as a nurse.

Quax is from Zimbabwe and has been learning since Elder Elkington was here almost a year ago. He is so cool though... once we find his concern, we will be able to help him more.  Thirty people came to church Sunday, which was awesome and the Branch President wasn't even there. He has six in his family. Seini is Luke's caregiver and is so nice. Honestly, we have seen her every day. She takes good care of us.

I only have five minutes left and I still have to email the Mission President, so I love you all and hope to email again today.

Love,
Elder Jamison

Week 72

This week has been exciting. The biggest thing was early Sunday morning. Okay, picture this... its 5:00am... I wake up because nature calls... anyways I am too lazy to get up, so I figure I will hold it for as long as I can... I dont know if that was inspired or what, but here's what happened. Around 5:15am we hear shattering glass. I was only half asleep, so I woke up quick and got out of bed to look outside. It sounded like it was at the neighbors house, but I soon discovered that our kitchen window had had a brick thrown through it. Then I heard another shattering of glass and the sliding glass door in the kitchen had a brick hit it as well. I yelled, "OY! GET OUT OF HERE!" as loud as I could... I had a really husky voice from being asleep, so I scared the guy off. I ran back to the room and grabbed my jacket because I was in my underwear and ran after the guy. By now, Elder Ho had fully woken up because of my yelling and was fully dressed too. I called 000 (911) and Elder Ho watched the guy from a distance. We got a description and the cops came. The guy also threw a brick through a car window across the street. Man it was so crazy. I duct taped cardboard to the window and we should get it repaired tomorrow.

I love Broome.

Too bad I am being transferred. There are more than ten missionaries leaving this transfer and not many coming in so there aren't enough missionaries to cover Broome. Elder Ho is going to Southern River and I will be going east to Port Hedland. I'm still up in the country. I will be in a slightly larger branch with a building. Elder Elkington served there. He told me all about it. He is going home in a few days... I will miss him. He is only my second companion to go home... crazy huh? The next one won't go until March. I'm older than a lot of my companions. Anyway, my new companion will be Elder Faagase. I don't know anything about him yet, but I will soon.

We went to go buy pizza the other day because I have been having cravings. It was like eating a hot circle of garbage. I miss America so much. The people here don't like it much because of the government and other dumb things that I don't really care about. I love America because of the good fast food, TV shows, and 24 hour stores. Other than that, Australia is good.

We found a new investigator the other day. She is really nice, but as usual, was so drunk. We will be teaching her tomorrow but we are leaving, so the investigators will have to hold out for at least eight weeks. New missionaries should be soon I hope. The investigator's name is Debbie. She wants to be baptised. She was talking about how there are so many white people religions and none of them know the true God. We shared with her some scriptures and explained that our religion is not a white man's religion, but is the true church of Jesus Christ being lead by a prophet. She asked us, "Do you really believe that? Are you telling the truth?" I was so glad that I could quickly and honestly answer, "Yes. I know that it is true." I told her how. It's because God told me it is through the power of the Holy Spirit. I told her that she could also know. I don't know how much rubbed off on her because she was wasted, but I felt the Spirit and I know she felt something too.

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Week 71

This week has been a good one... ish. Well, every week is awesome with Elder Ho, but missionary-work-wise it's been rough. No one keeps their appointments. People don't really take us seriously I think.

We did get to see a few conference sessions! They were really good! I love hearing from the apostles and prophets. It really shows how true and amazing this gospel is! To know that the same organization that was in the church Jesus Christ established while on the earth is here today is so amazing to me.

We did get a less active member to come to conference. That was cool. She is a great lady, but she has no support from her children or partner so it is hard for her to come. It is really hard for anyone I guess because the branch is so small. But, the church itself started with only six members and we get more than that... sometimes... so it won't be so bad.

I heard there is a new Weezer album coming out. Enjoy :'-( Ha ha, just kidding. Don't worry about distracting me. I know what I need to do and why I am here. It doesn't matter what I'm missing out on. I'm becoming who God wants me to become.

This transfer is a short one... Only four weeks, so Elder Ho and I will probably say goodbye next week. I will know on Monday for sure. I hope he will stay though. We have big things coming. I can feel it!

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Week 70

What?! Week 70? Cray cray. Also I feel super sick right now... I bought a 2 litre of chocolate milk but Elder Ho didn't want any and we had no refrigeration by us... so guess what.... I drank it.... all and now I feel sick.  So, yeah.

This week has been a spiritual roller coaster. So, do you remember the drunk lady we walked home? We saw her on Thursday and had a great lesson about the restoration. She committed to be baptised on November 1st and she is so keen! We set an appointment for the next day and she committed to come to church. Sounds good right? So, we go by for the appointment the next day and no answer. No big deal. We came back thirty minutes later... still nothing. We come back at the end of the day and she is home and drunk as a skunk. She confessed that she had been home the whole time but was ashamed she was drunk so she didn't answer the door. We sat with her for a long time talking and comforting her, when her neighbour comes by. It was the husband of the woman she was yelling at the other night. He starts yelling at this lady because hes looking for his wife... he was wasted too. He wouldn't leave for like ten minutes. He hadn't done anything violent yet so we let them be, but she was starting to get really mad and escalating it all, so I had Elder Ho try to calm her down while I tried to get the man to leave. Neither of us were very successful. Elder Ho got an earful of bad words and his bag was thrown onto the lawn. I had a drunk guy put his forehead to mine and ask me if I was gay... his breath stank... I have never been more angry but more calm in my life it was so bizarre. Finally, the guy starts to leave (because we called the police) and it all calms down. We still weren't sure if the woman was still keen to keep seeing us but a miracle happened on the ride here this morning. We rode right up to her on the sidewalk and had a nice chat. She is so nice and calm when she isn't drinking. I am now convinced that alcohol is sent here straight form the pits of Hell and when you drink it, demons enter your body. As extreme as that sounds, I promise that it is accurate. Alcohol makes people do the stupidest things.

We also found a new lady to teach. Her name is Anna. She is a less active Jehovah's Witness and has some issues. She feels like a failure as a mum because she tried to teach her kids right from wrong but they all drink and use drugs now... so she turned to those things as well. She saw us, though, and wanted to change. We came by the next day... (Friday) but she was drunk too, so we said we would come by Sunday (usually a safe day for not being drunk) and we did. We had a pretty good lesson. She has some different beliefs than us, but that comes from being Jehovah's Witness. I think something that really helped her feel better was how we said that Heavenly Father is just like a parent on Earth. He is perfect and He helps us to try to be as well, but sometimes His children rebel and make mistakes. That doesn't make Him a bad parent, it just means that the child didn't choose to use their agency correctly.

That's pretty much the week. Elder Ho is great - so funny. We found out we both like Pokémon so we have been talking about that pretty much all week. It's always fun too when he learns a new English word. When he learns something new we say, "Elder Ho level up!" Ha ha. So funny!

Anyway...
I love you all!
Elder Jamison