Like always this week was a bit crazier than the last. It was transfer week this week so I found out if I am staying or going. I have not moved yet on my mission so I was kinda hoping I would get moved and thought I was going to get moved. 6 months is a long time!! But the Lord needs me here in Charters Towers and Ayr for another transfer. I am defiantly not complaining. This place is like home now. Just think, I lived in Luxembourg for a year. This is already half of that!! Crazy!! Elder Bodeeletkasam is still my comp. President told him he was going to "die" here. That means he will finish his mission in this area. So he will be here for 6 months too.
Anyway now that you know I am still here I can talk about how Ayr went. In one word I can describe it, BUSY!!
I think I said last week that Sipa was going to Brisbane and was not going to be here for her scheduled baptism date. So we planned on moving it later. I was pretty sad since I did not know if I was staying or leaving and her baptism day was the day we found out if we were leaving or staying.
Well we got a call from her and she didn't leave to Brisbane until Tuesday night. This meant that we could drive over to Bowen and teach her the last little things. She has been prepared by God. We got right through the lesson and had enough time to continue to the last lesson and go over the interview questions. We did this Monday and then Elder Pugsley from T-ville came over and interviewed her before she left. Well she got back on Friday night and wanted to get baptized Saturday still.
I was so excited!! We came to the problem of ok what do we do now?? We have no numbers for anybody in the Bowen branch, no way to prepare and let people know. So after a crazy day we finally got the numbers and made some calls and set things up.
Our biggest problem was the baptism. Where it was going to be, where to change, etc. We did some searching for a private bay. Bowen is the most beautiful place and has lots of islands that are on the reef. So it is a big tourist attraction. We found a good bay called Murray Bay, beautiful!! Lots of palm trees, crystal clear water. It was a great spot. The only problem now was where to change.
We meet at the chapel so she could change into whites there but where was she going to change after the baptism. We took down the Ayr Chapel curtain and brought a rope to hang them up and make a makeshift changing room. It looked good and would have worked but she wanted to change back at home since her home was close. So she got wrapped up in her towel and changed at home. No drama.
It was a really cool baptism. She had her cousin preform the ordnance and then we got to give her the Holy Ghost. It was amazing to experience a baptism. She was so excited and looked so happy!! What a wonderful day!!
The rest of the week was just complete craziness!! Like I said last week, we have a new flat but it has nothing in it and our beds were being taken back by the member that loaned them to us. So we were living out of the chapel still but sleeping in the new flat. Lots of back and fourth across the road.
We called the office and they have known about this problem we were going to have when they bought the place. Yet they did not have a solution. Being up north is great but we are a bit neglected up here. I ordered a small PMG 3 months ago and it just got here. That is about how much time it takes for them to get something done for us. It is a real pain but not much we can do since we are so far way.
So I was a bit skeptical about ever getting things for the new flat. The office called the Redd couple who live in T-ville and had them order and gather all the things we would need. The only problem was that they live in T-ville. About an hour away from us. Sadly the mission only has a Toyota Corolla. Not Tundras or Tacomas. On the bright side I did see a really cool Toyota Tundra while driving. Anyways, we do have a trailer hitch on our car but no trailer. So we drove to T-ville and borrowed the District Presidents trailer and followed the Redds all over a busy town with a huge trailer. It made it really hard to follow them and we lost them a few times. I have driven trailers before but not in a busy city. It was a bit stressful but we managed.
After a couple of hours we had most of what we needed. So we drove back to Ayr. Like I said before, I have driven trailers so it was not a problem to get back to Ayr. The road that our house is on is not that busy but that day it was one of the busiest. I took my chance though and tried to back the trailer full of stuff up the tiny drive way and in between our shed. It took two or three tries but I did get it right in perfectly. The only stress and problem was all the cars that were driving right past me as I tried to back up. Only one car stopped and gave me room. It was a big pain. We unloaded all the stuff and then went back out again into Ayr this time. We still needed to buy a fridge, washer and dryer. So we went to a store and called the office so they could pay for it. They loaded it up on the trailer and we proceeded to drive home and unload.
It took all day for this to happen and that was only to get everything. It was all still in boxes and we had to open and set everything up. That took the rest of the night and right when we thought all our drama and problems were over, the power went out. Only our power though. We went to the big power box and flipped all the switches and still nothing. So we called the mission office and they were making calls to the power company and nobody knew what was wrong. Randomly the power turned on and all was well. Our mission president said to us, “Before you do anything else, dedicate the home.” So we dropped to our knees and dedicated our flat so it would be safe and have the spirit.
It was the craziest day ever to figure out what to do with all that stuff but we managed.
Sadly with all of this flat stuff and everything we did not have much time for mission work this week. We managed and did pretty good. Got some lessons and did some finding.
We did meet twice with Sam. He is doing really good in his search for the truth. He really likes The Book of Mormon but has a hard time understanding it. So we gave him a Book of Mormon Stories book. He really loves it and has been going threw it and studying that and the real book. We gave him our number and he calls us a lot now. He asks us questions and wants to know about when church is and what we do. The spirit is really working at him and he is going to come around some day. It is pretty cool to see a man have a true desire to find the truth. Our only stumbling block is going to be the Word of Wisdom. I do not have the guts to steal his tobacco or beer but I think when we have the lesson he will understand.
We are back in Charters Towers this week. We got here Saturday night. Sunday morning about 20 minutes before church started the Branch President called and said he and his wife would not make it today. Well they were the ones that were going to speak. So me and Elder Bo had to prepare 20 minute talks in 20 minutes while also getting ready for church. It was so stressful but we managed. It is crazy the stuff that you have to do sometimes. It makes the mission so fun. Our talks went really well and we had a good service.
With this new transfer we are really going to work hard to find those people that are ready. We want to get the ball rolling for baptisms. Angus has put in his application for his birth certificate and that will come soon and then they can put in a marriage paper. I think if we really try I will be here to see him baptized!! It will be cutting it close like Sipa but I think it is possible.
The man who lost his camera has not gotten back to me. So I have been having some fun with it. I have messed around with the setting and figured out how to take star photos. The stars in the outback are just beautiful!! The Milky Way is so clear.
I am so blessed to be in this area for so long. I love it and hate it. The love is just that I love every part of it. The hate is the driving and soon someday having to say goodbye. These people have been in my life for 6 soon to be 8 months and one day I am just gonna pack up and leave! It is gonna be a sad but happy day. Lets make the most of these last few weeks. I don’t think it is possible for me to survive one more transfer here.
Hope all is well at home and everyone is good. I love you all. Have a good one.
Elder Cahoon
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