Sunday, August 8, 2010

"I ask you all for your prayers that God will provide a way for these kids to progress and come unto Christ."

August 8, 2010

Hello from Mt Gambier!

Me and Elder Jensen are staying in Mt Gambier. By the end of this coming Transfer i will have done 6 months in Mt Gambier, the same amount of time i was in Murray Bridge.

Things are going well. The children we are teaching are progressing at the same amount of time. We have started to teach them. They are all at the same level. We are teaching them all the same lessons. We started off by building their foundation on Jesus Christ. We watched the movie, “Finding Faith in Christ”. They each have their own circumstances and challenges we will have to work with. One group of kid’s mother doesn't want her kids baptized unless they can feel and recognize the spirit. We are dealing with Shannon and Tyson who are 8 year old male twins who are usually off the walls. Nevertheless this can be achieved. Taila and Daishun’s challenge is the distance, its hard for us to get there and for them to come to church. Jordan we only teach when we are at her Grandma’a house. Her mom lives at her boyfriends 90% of the time and she will not tell us where that house is. Another kid we are teaching named Zion lives part time with his mother, the mother is too young for us to visit alone so we go to his Grandma’s house, the grandma is an excommunicated Aboriginal Elder but believes the church is true, she just felt guilty because she is unable to keep the Word of Wisdom and asked for her name removed, the father of Zion has joint custody. So those are the main dilemmas that we are working with. Some are easier than others. I ask you all for your prayers that God will provide a way for these kids to progress and come unto Christ.

Got to go. Love you all heaps

-Elder Montgomery

"We have alot of children that we are working with, this transfer can be described as 'waiting for the dust to settle'."

August 1, 2010

Hello from Mt Gambier!

We finally got in contact with Debbie and her family! They just decided to do a random two week holiday to New Zealand. I was so relieved when she picked up the phone. I was just calling the house everyday. I was beginning to not even expect an answer. My companion was holding the mobile phone on loud speaker while i was driving and then she picked up. I quickly pulled over and took the phone, Debbie doesn't even know Elder Jensen so i grabbed it. We have an appointment with her this Thursday, we are going to get them on track.

We have alot of children that we are working with, this transfer can be described as “waiting for the dust to settle”. We have just been setting up things. We have return appointments this week for all of the 7 children we are working with. They are all at the same level and we are going to start teaching them with the same thing. We haven't begun to start teaching them but we will this week. We are going to just start off with a movie. Probably “finding faith in Christ”, or “The Testaments”. Probably will depend on how much time we have to spend with them. Children learn best by visuals and movies are incredible with keeping their attention. The parents, the bishopric, and us the missionaries want to make sure that these kids are truly converted, as much as children can be converted. We are not just going to baptize them just because they want to be baptized. Our job is to make sure they feel and recognize the spirit. So they can establish their faith and hold onto the iron rod. The older generations may be apostate, but there is still hope for the rising one.

Elder Jensen is a funny guy, he is from Queensland. He wants to go into the film industry. He wants to make movies. It is great because i feel like i can give some meaningful criticism and feedback on certain movies and philosophies. So now that i know him i can email him in the future and say, “what the heck are you doing!?”.

I was in contact with my two male adult recent converts from Murray Bridge recently. Bart and Kevin, they are still active and they will receive the Melchizedek Priesthood in November.

I have to go now. I reckon we will look at the “Cave Gardens” here in town. It is a collapsed cave or a sinkhole and they just made it into a garden. And maybe climb Mt Gambier to this lookout tower thing. I am lucky to be in an area where there are things to look at. Otherwise there wouldn't be much to do on P-days since they are no missionaries nearby. Got to go. Love you all heaps.

-Elder Montgomery