Week 20 World Wide Mission Training

We were in Ayr this week and our week started out ok, and by ok I mean terrible. We had our wonderful p day and at the end of the day we went to see the Ellis's. We see them every night to read the Book of Mormon. He has had a coffee problem. Well last week he found a coffee replacement. He wanted us to try it so he went into the kitchen and made some. I tasted horrible! I don't know how he drinks it. He told us he puts a little special something in it. I asked what and he went and got it. Vanilla. I was reading it and it has 10% alcohol in it. I got so mad and asked, “Why would you give it to us. You knew it had it in it. WHY???” I was pretty mad and everyone could see. Must have been from all the alcohol I had drank. haha no but I was mad. I called our mission president and told him about it. He was upset that this member did that but could not stop laughing. It is pretty funny and I guess the heat "kills" the alcohol so really I did not drink any. I was still frustrated. It was a pretty crazy way to start off the week.

Things only got better from there. We got a call from the branch president in Bowen. A town about an hour south of us. He needed us to come over and teach an investigator. I guess this girl, Sipa, went on holiday to Tonga and the missionaries taught her there for 3 weeks and when she came back there were no missionaries in her area. So we got permission to go and teach her.

We sorta talked and got to know her. Her whole extended family are members and her boyfriend in a RM. She is super solid. She said, “Tell me more about temples.” So our first lesson with her was about temples. Crazy!! She is gonna be really good. The only downside is she is an hour away so we only see her once or twice a week since the drive is so long.

On Thursday we had our big World Wide Mission Training. Pretty much right as I was really getting into the swing of things they went and changed it all on us. The big change was the schedule. We wake up at the same time and eat and exercise at the same time. The big change was that our study is more flexible. We can pretty much do it whenever we want. So for our mission we can do it at 1 or 2 when it is just too hot to go out. And then at night when we come back to the flat we usually had to plan for 30 minutes but now they say write in your journal and go to bed, even before 10:30 if we want to get more sleep. So now we do all of our planning in the morning. It has been weird to get used to it. It is helping though. The other big thing they changed was a thing called key indicators. Now for you older veterans out there it is the numbers we send in to show how our week went. We had 9 and could add our own on but now they said only keep track of 4 - investigators baptized, investigators on date, investigators attending church, and new investigators. It is going to help us focus on the new investigators and progressing them to a swim. It will be interesting to see how the changes play out long term.

We did our normal thing this week. We taught lots of people, we found door knocking, and did lots of door knocking. Today we go to Charters Towers. Not much happened this week beside what I have already said.

Oh we did go back to Clarence after he told us about his vision. I spent my study using the bible to have him come to his senses. He thinks the Salvation Army is the true church but they don't hold any service like church or even have baptism. So I found scripture where Christ pretty much said I set the example and got baptized and so should you. He was caught so off guard. It was awesome. He felt the spirit but did not know how to take it. He understood that his scriptures that he reads are telling him to get baptized, not just the Book of Mormon. He really started to wonder “wait why doesn't my church do baptism.” We are gonna let it sit and ponder.

Oh another thing. Man ok maybe this week was crazier than I though. The Ellis's told us last night that they are applying for a divorce. I was devastated. I could not even read the scriptures with them properly. I messed up every word. It was so sad to find out they are done. She is gonna move to USA with another man and he is gonna stay in Ayr and continue to come to church. It was a really sad day. I have put in so much effort everyday for 4 months. Visiting them every night and now it is over.

On the good news side of things, we got a call from our housing agent for the church. He had us go across the road from the chapel and look at the units for sale over there. And I am happy to announce that in a few weeks I will no longer be living in the chapel. They are really nice units. Huge and made perfect for missionaries!! It is two stories with a big cabinet perfect to hold all of our supplies. I hope we get it. It would be awesome to move out of the church. It has been a good home but I am sick of hiding my stuff when church starts and having members eat all my food after church.

Thanks for all the love. I think I remembered everything from this week. I guess it was a crazy week. I gotta run though. Love you all and have a good week. 

Oh also it was Australia Day on Thursday. Lets just say the 4th is the best. Americans really know how to celebrate. Nobody did anything here. They sell a whole bunch of cheap stuff at the supermarket. Stickers, wristbands, fun little aussie things. I think even though I am American I celebrated more than most Aussies. Nobody was out that day. Everyone was just in watching cricket. Boring. Where are the fireworks and explosions? The Olsen family had us over. It was Sky's birthday and Aussie Day. So we had some kangaroo and then cake for her b day. I thought it was funny we were celebrating Aussie Day by eating the national animal. Aussies are so weird. Well sighing off AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI
LOVE, 

ELDER CAHOON