May 15, 2011
Hello from Brahma Lodge!
We had a good week this week. Peter is progressing towards his baptism. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he has committed to live it. We are helping him overcome smoking. As of yesterday he hasn’t smoked for 24 hours. We will see him tomorrow and see how he is going. Peter has a friend named Thomas. After Gospel Principles class we committed Thomas to be baptized. He will be baptized In June. We are excited about Peter and Thomas. We see them just about everyday. We want them to be involved In the YSA. We have been taking members to help us teach, it is a bit more difficult to get the best I-care because we can only see Peter and Thomas during the day.
Elder Tad R Callister, who is the Pacific Area President, will be visiting Adelaide this week. I remember him giving an excellent talk about the Restoration during the beginning of my mission during General Conference. I believe he will also become apart of the presidency of the Seventy shortly. He will be holding a Missionary Fireside this Wednesday evening specifically for investigators, new members and less actives but probably more exciting for me is we have a Metro Zone Conference personally with him, except for missionaries in the Northern Territory, poor guys. We are looking forward to that.
We have been inviting members to invite some of our investigators for dinner for fellowshipping and it has been really good. I haven’t eaten anything too intense lately, no pig brain, eye ball and intestines this week. Although I did eat curry based meals twice last week.
I can’t believe Jarom is leaving soon. I remember the first hour or so after I was set apart. I was glancing at the television and realized, shoot! I am not supposed to watch that. I remember flying alone to Utah and thinking to myself this is the last time I will be alone for 2 years. I enjoyed it by eating at the burger king in the air port. It will be weird for me to drive a vehicle back on the right side and also to be driving a vehicle alone. There will be some changes for me when I do come back. Especially hearing my first name, I imagine I will get use to that pretty quick. I want to serve a mission for sure when I am older. And with my wife. That is my long term goal one day. I love missionary work.
I am going to go now. We are going to have a Zone P-day. Because the Wyhalla missionaries are down for the metro conference. We are going to play a big game of touch rugby. One half of the Zone against the other. I am the only American in the district, the rest are islanders and one other Australian. We are going to own.
Love you heaps
Elder Montgomery
Monday, May 23, 2011
"Happy Mother's Day!"
May 8, 2011
Hello from the Brahma Lodge
Happy Mothers day!
I just talked to you not long ago.
There really isnt much i can write to you, you are pretty updated i feel. We are just doing the work, We are pretty excited about Peter. Who received a dream that the church is true. June 7th is the date that is set as of now. We know he does smoke so we are going to teach him the Word of Wisdom in his next lesson. It was great to hear from everyone. That was my last phone call home. Amazing this chapter in my life is almost over. I need to make sure i live it today and take it all in.
Yes that is quite an update about Dan's graduation. Those are some crazy obstacles you guys went through. That poor car. Glad to hear everyone is okay
Talk to all later.
love you heaps
Elder Montgomery
Hello from the Brahma Lodge
Happy Mothers day!
I just talked to you not long ago.
There really isnt much i can write to you, you are pretty updated i feel. We are just doing the work, We are pretty excited about Peter. Who received a dream that the church is true. June 7th is the date that is set as of now. We know he does smoke so we are going to teach him the Word of Wisdom in his next lesson. It was great to hear from everyone. That was my last phone call home. Amazing this chapter in my life is almost over. I need to make sure i live it today and take it all in.
Yes that is quite an update about Dan's graduation. Those are some crazy obstacles you guys went through. That poor car. Glad to hear everyone is okay
Talk to all later.
love you heaps
Elder Montgomery
"There was a prompting and we needed to follow it..."
May 1, 2011
Hello from Brahma Lodge!
We had a good week this week. We had a number of powerful lessons this week. One we really had to be patient and work for. We are teaching this family and we had a good discussion about temples. I wanted to help them with a vision that was past baptism. I wanted them to look towards the temple. They are excited to be sealed for time and all eternity. I felt prompted to share a certain video that was on the “Church History” DVDs under the video, “Nauvoo, a Temple Reborn”. We brought a member to the lesson and he brought the DVD. We were in the living room and ready to watch this video about temples. But the family we are teaching didn’t have a remote controller to the DVD player. We couldn’t scroll down to watch the correct video, when we pressed the button on the actual DVD player to skip chapters it went straight back to the main menu. There was a prompting and we needed to follow it and do whatever it takes to have this family watch this video. The next day we brought another member to the house and this time he brought a lap top so we could watch the DVD on that. But of course he had thought he left the DVD in the lap top but we soon found out the lap top was indeed empty. We asked the brother if he would go home to retrieve the DVD. This he did, he didn’t live too far away. He returned, put the DVD into the lap top and of course the lap top would not read the DVD. I felt beaten by this time. But one of the brothers of the family reckoned that he could work the DVD player and we would be able to watch this certain DVD. I admit I doubted he could make a difference; I had pressed every button trying to work this DVD player to make it do what I wanted it to do. This brother wasn’t home the first time we attempted to watch the video. Thankfully this young man was able to work the DVD player, he scrolled down and we finally began to watch the DVD. I don’t even know what he did differently than me but it doesn’t matter, I will take it happily. The spirit was so strong in this house as we watched that DVD. I know they felt the spirit. Opposition was so strong, definitely there was something initially keeping us from watching this DVD. But God will always win.
My companions English is great, he will have an American accent in no time.
Yes we are still in a bike area.
We were given a chicken by a member, the district had another Barbie, we are big into those at the moment, but I brought a live chicken. It took work to prepare him but we chucked him on the Barbie and ate him, even the organs. I don’t think I have actually killed, eaten or prepared anything before my mission. I think every Boy Scout should. Surely in wilderness survival you need to know how to do these things.
Thank you so much for the package mom. I am almost finished eating all of the lollies. I love Reeses. I have shared some of course.
Yes that wedding was pretty big here in Australia. These natural disasters are occurring way too quickly. Heaps of people were telling me about the Tornadoes in America. I had to tell many people I do not live near there.
I don’t know what we are going to do today for P-day. I think it will be a quiet one, I am going to get a haircut from a member for free, and that is exciting. I haven’t paid anyone to cut my hair since I was in Yuma. Usually I just cut it myself.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
Hello from Brahma Lodge!
We had a good week this week. We had a number of powerful lessons this week. One we really had to be patient and work for. We are teaching this family and we had a good discussion about temples. I wanted to help them with a vision that was past baptism. I wanted them to look towards the temple. They are excited to be sealed for time and all eternity. I felt prompted to share a certain video that was on the “Church History” DVDs under the video, “Nauvoo, a Temple Reborn”. We brought a member to the lesson and he brought the DVD. We were in the living room and ready to watch this video about temples. But the family we are teaching didn’t have a remote controller to the DVD player. We couldn’t scroll down to watch the correct video, when we pressed the button on the actual DVD player to skip chapters it went straight back to the main menu. There was a prompting and we needed to follow it and do whatever it takes to have this family watch this video. The next day we brought another member to the house and this time he brought a lap top so we could watch the DVD on that. But of course he had thought he left the DVD in the lap top but we soon found out the lap top was indeed empty. We asked the brother if he would go home to retrieve the DVD. This he did, he didn’t live too far away. He returned, put the DVD into the lap top and of course the lap top would not read the DVD. I felt beaten by this time. But one of the brothers of the family reckoned that he could work the DVD player and we would be able to watch this certain DVD. I admit I doubted he could make a difference; I had pressed every button trying to work this DVD player to make it do what I wanted it to do. This brother wasn’t home the first time we attempted to watch the video. Thankfully this young man was able to work the DVD player, he scrolled down and we finally began to watch the DVD. I don’t even know what he did differently than me but it doesn’t matter, I will take it happily. The spirit was so strong in this house as we watched that DVD. I know they felt the spirit. Opposition was so strong, definitely there was something initially keeping us from watching this DVD. But God will always win.
My companions English is great, he will have an American accent in no time.
Yes we are still in a bike area.
We were given a chicken by a member, the district had another Barbie, we are big into those at the moment, but I brought a live chicken. It took work to prepare him but we chucked him on the Barbie and ate him, even the organs. I don’t think I have actually killed, eaten or prepared anything before my mission. I think every Boy Scout should. Surely in wilderness survival you need to know how to do these things.
Thank you so much for the package mom. I am almost finished eating all of the lollies. I love Reeses. I have shared some of course.
Yes that wedding was pretty big here in Australia. These natural disasters are occurring way too quickly. Heaps of people were telling me about the Tornadoes in America. I had to tell many people I do not live near there.
I don’t know what we are going to do today for P-day. I think it will be a quiet one, I am going to get a haircut from a member for free, and that is exciting. I haven’t paid anyone to cut my hair since I was in Yuma. Usually I just cut it myself.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
Sunday, May 22, 2011
"This is my first time training on my mission."
April 26, 2011
Hello from Brahma Lodge!
I have a new companion, his name is Elder Tasi. He has been on Australian soil for less than a week now. He is from America Samoa, which is an American territory. He learned how to speak English in 3 weeks at the MTC in New Zealand. He probably was exposed to English growing up. But still we have language study to help him learn.
This is my first time training on my mission. I am enjoying it so far just starting from scratch teaching everything on how to be a missionary and Preach my Gospel. Also one thing is new for me. For the first time in my mission I am in a bike area. I almost went through my whole mission in a car. So this is definitely a whole new chapter in my missionary life. But it is good, you can definitely talk to more people on the bike than you can in the car. My legs are a bit sore. My area has hilly suburbs. When I feel the burn in my legs I say to myself in my head sometimes, Glory to God Glory to God.
This week I have been introducing Elder Tasi to all the members and investigators in our area. The Hunts had us over for dinner last night, which was also my birthday. They put a candle in a cookie, it was sweet.
Ya it is pretty weird I am 21 now. I miss telling people I am 19 or 20, people are always shocked to hear my age. They usually think I am 25. I think it must be the tie. It makes me look mature.
Yes I will live with you for a year. I will choose Glendale and then transfer to Mesa community or to ASU a year later. I am not decided what I want to do when I go home. I really should start praying about that. I have a question, how much are you going to sell the house for? Maybe I have someone who is interested in buying our house, with a bit of money up front. He has family in America who could do the transaction for him.
I am glad you enjoy the videos and pictures of Darwin. Special place it was. I wouldn’t mind going there for a holiday in the distant future, during the dry season. I do know Elder Carlson. He is out bush at the moment, I might not see him before I go home.
My package is at the office the mission secretary tells me.
Yes I told Sister Maude you loved Donny Osbourne. J/k Osmond.
I will have to buy a phone card. I will have more details of what time I will call you later. I know skype is used in some missions but there is no word we could do it in this mission.
Well I am going to go and celebrate my birthday this P-day.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
Hello from Brahma Lodge!
I have a new companion, his name is Elder Tasi. He has been on Australian soil for less than a week now. He is from America Samoa, which is an American territory. He learned how to speak English in 3 weeks at the MTC in New Zealand. He probably was exposed to English growing up. But still we have language study to help him learn.
This is my first time training on my mission. I am enjoying it so far just starting from scratch teaching everything on how to be a missionary and Preach my Gospel. Also one thing is new for me. For the first time in my mission I am in a bike area. I almost went through my whole mission in a car. So this is definitely a whole new chapter in my missionary life. But it is good, you can definitely talk to more people on the bike than you can in the car. My legs are a bit sore. My area has hilly suburbs. When I feel the burn in my legs I say to myself in my head sometimes, Glory to God Glory to God.
This week I have been introducing Elder Tasi to all the members and investigators in our area. The Hunts had us over for dinner last night, which was also my birthday. They put a candle in a cookie, it was sweet.
Ya it is pretty weird I am 21 now. I miss telling people I am 19 or 20, people are always shocked to hear my age. They usually think I am 25. I think it must be the tie. It makes me look mature.
Yes I will live with you for a year. I will choose Glendale and then transfer to Mesa community or to ASU a year later. I am not decided what I want to do when I go home. I really should start praying about that. I have a question, how much are you going to sell the house for? Maybe I have someone who is interested in buying our house, with a bit of money up front. He has family in America who could do the transaction for him.
I am glad you enjoy the videos and pictures of Darwin. Special place it was. I wouldn’t mind going there for a holiday in the distant future, during the dry season. I do know Elder Carlson. He is out bush at the moment, I might not see him before I go home.
My package is at the office the mission secretary tells me.
Yes I told Sister Maude you loved Donny Osbourne. J/k Osmond.
I will have to buy a phone card. I will have more details of what time I will call you later. I know skype is used in some missions but there is no word we could do it in this mission.
Well I am going to go and celebrate my birthday this P-day.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
"...zone barbie today and also go to St. Kilda"
April 17, 2011
Good to hear from you!
I have only 2 minutes left! sorry. short Email. safe and healthy. We will find out transfers tonight. I have a feeling i am being transfered. but i have been wrong many many times. I will get those scripture cases to you, i hope they werent wiped out from the floods.
We are going to have a zone barbie today and also go to St Kilda, i went there back in october 2009 with my district.
I love this work.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
Good to hear from you!
I have only 2 minutes left! sorry. short Email. safe and healthy. We will find out transfers tonight. I have a feeling i am being transfered. but i have been wrong many many times. I will get those scripture cases to you, i hope they werent wiped out from the floods.
We are going to have a zone barbie today and also go to St Kilda, i went there back in october 2009 with my district.
I love this work.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
Sunday, April 10, 2011
"I want to travel the world someday but I need to start on my own country. "
Hello from Adelaide!
We had a good week. We found the most total new investigators this week than any other since I have been in Paralowie Ward. There are also a handful of good potential investigators still awaiting further follow up. Overall on the mission I haven’t been great with taking photos but I have gotten better than the beginning of my mission. We taught a pretty good amount of lessons this week, above average of what we have done so far in this area. The area has greatly improved since Elder Latu and I got flushed into the area together. But there still haven’t been any baptisms yet, not yet. One investigator we found but moved recently to a different ward is going to be baptized in a couple of weeks. We caught up with that investigator on Saturday so that was cool.
I watched conference this weekend. I missed the Saturday afternoon session but I heard the prophet speak so that is most important. We had a district companionship study briefly in-between one of the sessions. We shared what stood out to us and what we learned. I have been out on my mission the longest in the zone. They were joking with me about getting married. Everything goes round circle; I did the same to older missionaries in their last stretch of their mission. The talk of marriage also stood out to me while I was listening to conference, the speakers did mention it a couple of times didn’t they. I will marry when I am ready to be married. Rushing into anything is not wise. There is a balance to everything.
On my flight plan home I should of just told the office to fly me to South Dakota and then to Indiana and then make my way to Arizona. I probably wouldn’t be able to pull it off. It is pretty dishonest anyways. I told them the best way to get me home. I am excited to visit my siblings out of state. I haven’t been to either of those states I believe. One ice breaker I use when contacting with people is that I let them know I am American, if they couldn’t catch my accent. So many Australians talk about how they visited there and visited here in the states. Many of them have been to places I haven’t even been to!
I want to travel the world someday but I need to start on my own country.
I am excited to hear Fort Collins, Colorado is going to have a temple built there. I wouldn’t mind moving to Fort Collins eventually in my life. I wouldn’t mind living with you mom for while if things don’t work out with Tanner and I. I know some of my friends talked about everyone chipping in to rent a house, the same situation that Dan did when he was in Phoenix. But you know how I do like to save money. I probably have changed on my mission, but not that, I think. I can’t remember if I answered one of your questions about my shoes. But to answer, I am doing fine on shoes. There is a member who owns a clothes shop. And he hooks up missionaries with free shoes. The echoes are long gone; I haven’t even worn the other shoes I brought with me on my mission, still brand new.
It is amazing everyone is coming home this summer, the weeks are flying by. I remember being nervous and not too excited about sacrificing two years of my life. I remember looking back the previous two years and thinking about how much happened in that time span. I wish I still had 6 more months added to my mission. People tell me they are going on holiday and they will be back in August and I think to myself, man I won’t even be here when they get back.
That is exciting Jarom will receive his endowment. I definitely want to attend the temple often in the future. Going to the temple last month which was the first time in a year for me is not enough. There is power in the temple.
Even though you will all be in Phoenix, will I be able to speak in 2nd ward in Yuma? I want to speak to my home ward.
I will send a little box to you. It has some souviners and stuff in it, and a Sd Card. I should of sent this ages ago but i get to busy on P-day. I can't beleive i am almost 21.
I think we will have a district Barbie today.
Going to go now. Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
We had a good week. We found the most total new investigators this week than any other since I have been in Paralowie Ward. There are also a handful of good potential investigators still awaiting further follow up. Overall on the mission I haven’t been great with taking photos but I have gotten better than the beginning of my mission. We taught a pretty good amount of lessons this week, above average of what we have done so far in this area. The area has greatly improved since Elder Latu and I got flushed into the area together. But there still haven’t been any baptisms yet, not yet. One investigator we found but moved recently to a different ward is going to be baptized in a couple of weeks. We caught up with that investigator on Saturday so that was cool.
I watched conference this weekend. I missed the Saturday afternoon session but I heard the prophet speak so that is most important. We had a district companionship study briefly in-between one of the sessions. We shared what stood out to us and what we learned. I have been out on my mission the longest in the zone. They were joking with me about getting married. Everything goes round circle; I did the same to older missionaries in their last stretch of their mission. The talk of marriage also stood out to me while I was listening to conference, the speakers did mention it a couple of times didn’t they. I will marry when I am ready to be married. Rushing into anything is not wise. There is a balance to everything.
On my flight plan home I should of just told the office to fly me to South Dakota and then to Indiana and then make my way to Arizona. I probably wouldn’t be able to pull it off. It is pretty dishonest anyways. I told them the best way to get me home. I am excited to visit my siblings out of state. I haven’t been to either of those states I believe. One ice breaker I use when contacting with people is that I let them know I am American, if they couldn’t catch my accent. So many Australians talk about how they visited there and visited here in the states. Many of them have been to places I haven’t even been to!
I want to travel the world someday but I need to start on my own country.
I am excited to hear Fort Collins, Colorado is going to have a temple built there. I wouldn’t mind moving to Fort Collins eventually in my life. I wouldn’t mind living with you mom for while if things don’t work out with Tanner and I. I know some of my friends talked about everyone chipping in to rent a house, the same situation that Dan did when he was in Phoenix. But you know how I do like to save money. I probably have changed on my mission, but not that, I think. I can’t remember if I answered one of your questions about my shoes. But to answer, I am doing fine on shoes. There is a member who owns a clothes shop. And he hooks up missionaries with free shoes. The echoes are long gone; I haven’t even worn the other shoes I brought with me on my mission, still brand new.
It is amazing everyone is coming home this summer, the weeks are flying by. I remember being nervous and not too excited about sacrificing two years of my life. I remember looking back the previous two years and thinking about how much happened in that time span. I wish I still had 6 more months added to my mission. People tell me they are going on holiday and they will be back in August and I think to myself, man I won’t even be here when they get back.
That is exciting Jarom will receive his endowment. I definitely want to attend the temple often in the future. Going to the temple last month which was the first time in a year for me is not enough. There is power in the temple.
Even though you will all be in Phoenix, will I be able to speak in 2nd ward in Yuma? I want to speak to my home ward.
I will send a little box to you. It has some souviners and stuff in it, and a Sd Card. I should of sent this ages ago but i get to busy on P-day. I can't beleive i am almost 21.
I think we will have a district Barbie today.
Going to go now. Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
Sunday, April 3, 2011
"I can’t wait to hear from the prophet and hear what he has to say to us."
Hello from Brahma Lodge!
It is good to hear from you mom. Glad to hear the family is doing well. We have Conference Weekend this coming Saturday and Sunday. I can’t wait to hear from the prophet and hear what he has to say to us.
Elder Latu is from Tonga, He is probably related to that Elder who hurt his knee. Everyone on the Pacific Islands is related to each other, they are all “cousins”. What is that Elders name?
We are going to set a baptism date hopefully this week for Til Chen’s son whose name is Tecorum. Til Chen has a baptism date for the end of April.
That sounds pretty wise renting out the house. I am just interested how much you are going to rent it for. I wonder how the market and economy back home are going, actually not so much me but many Australians. The Australian dollar is better than the American as of now. This is good for me when I convert a bit of money back into American.
We had a Zone Conference this week. I got heaps out of it. Some very good training. I like the direction the mission is working towards. We are much more Preach My Gospel and more obedient than the beginning of my mission or from the traditions from the previous Mission Presidents era. President Poulton is an amazing man.
From the people we have contacted this week I am not sure who will progress and who will go on by the way side. We found a family from Liberia, they seem to be the most promising. I reckon Africans from Liberia have the most potential.
We had a Missionary Fireside in Modbury Chapel. I saw some members from my previous areas and old friends. We had a handful of investigators show up to that so that is good.
Today we are going to have a barbie with the Modbury Elders. And then we will play basketball at the chapel. Clean the flat and shop for tucker.
I want some Reeses.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
It is good to hear from you mom. Glad to hear the family is doing well. We have Conference Weekend this coming Saturday and Sunday. I can’t wait to hear from the prophet and hear what he has to say to us.
Elder Latu is from Tonga, He is probably related to that Elder who hurt his knee. Everyone on the Pacific Islands is related to each other, they are all “cousins”. What is that Elders name?
We are going to set a baptism date hopefully this week for Til Chen’s son whose name is Tecorum. Til Chen has a baptism date for the end of April.
That sounds pretty wise renting out the house. I am just interested how much you are going to rent it for. I wonder how the market and economy back home are going, actually not so much me but many Australians. The Australian dollar is better than the American as of now. This is good for me when I convert a bit of money back into American.
We had a Zone Conference this week. I got heaps out of it. Some very good training. I like the direction the mission is working towards. We are much more Preach My Gospel and more obedient than the beginning of my mission or from the traditions from the previous Mission Presidents era. President Poulton is an amazing man.
From the people we have contacted this week I am not sure who will progress and who will go on by the way side. We found a family from Liberia, they seem to be the most promising. I reckon Africans from Liberia have the most potential.
We had a Missionary Fireside in Modbury Chapel. I saw some members from my previous areas and old friends. We had a handful of investigators show up to that so that is good.
Today we are going to have a barbie with the Modbury Elders. And then we will play basketball at the chapel. Clean the flat and shop for tucker.
I want some Reeses.
Love you heaps
-Elder Montgomery
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