Sister Alldredge Down Under

Halo! (hello in pigeon, aka broken english :))

So this week flew by.. we have so much going on these last few weeks of the transfer! This past week on monday, the assistants called us and asked if we could come pick up a sister from the Solomon Islands to stay with us for the rest of the transfer, so we went and got her. Her name is Sister Hoiesi. She visa waited in New Zealand for a transfer and then had to go to Vanuatu to await for her australia visa, and now she is finally here! She has been out for 6 months, and was baptized 3 years ago. She is so humble and the sweetest little thing! :) So it has been fun to have her with us! But when we got there to pick her up, there was another zone who was having a full day pday with president because they reached their baptism goal last month, and so they invited us to stay for dinner and FHE. :) It was soo fun. We played a game and man, President McSwain was getting pretty competitive, hahaha, but it was really fun!

Also we did a few tradeoffs this week... one I went to Heritage Park with Sister Sau, and the other I went to Kenmore (closer to the city), with Sister Anitema and Sister Butler. It is so fun to be with other sisters, and in other areas too.

One experience we had this week.. so we have this investigator, Ted. He is greek orthodox, very friendly, and has lots of questions and knows a lot about different religions, so at times it is hard to keep him on the same topic because he will bounce from one random question to another, so we told him to listen to the part of the restoration without interrupting, and he had me teach it. As I shared about the apostasy and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, the spirit was soo strong that I started to cry. (i know this sounds like a normal thing i would do, but I honestly can't remember the last time i cried in a lesson ha) My companions were tearing up, and we knew he felt the spirit. But as soon as i finished, he told me that he knew that I believed what I said and that I had conviction, but that this religion was all i know, and so it wasnt that convincing. He said that others would believe it more if Sister Hoiesi, who was a Catholic for 21 years told about her beliefs. It was a humbling experience for me, and I am so grateful that Sister Hoiesi was there and so she could testify and teach. He committed to read the Book of Mormon, and we have an appointment with him tomorrow, and I KNOW if he reads it, he will come to know it is true. This is what I have been praying and fasting for to witness this transfer, true conversion. Not necessarily a baptism, but to see someone change because of the Book of Mormon. I have faith that it will be Ted. So please please pray for him that he will be able to feel the converting power of the Holy Ghost as he reads it and that his heart will be open. But ill let you know what happens next week. :)

We also got to have zone conference! It was amazing. We had Elder Walker, who is an area 70 come and we had some awesome trainings from him, President and Sister McSwain about the new Christmas initiative and video... (get pumped), and from the AP's about obedience and the Book of Mormon. It was soo good, the best one i've been to I'd say. And so I'm looking forward to more when we have MLC this coming week!

But I will talk to you next week........ can't wait to see you all! :) It hasn't really hit me yet, which is good. I am excited for the miracles ahead this week and I will continue to give everything that I have! Love you all soo much!!!!

love, Sister Alldredge