May 19 2014

Whew. The Mission Tour is complete. It was an incredible opportunity, because at each different venue, Elder Hamula and his wife discussed different doctrines and topics.

Following P-day on Tuesday, we picked up Elder and Sister Hamula and President and Sister Henderson from the airport. On Wednesday, we drove to Kangaroo Point for the Northern Brisbane Mission Tour, with missionaries from the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane North, and Brisbane zones. On Thursday we drove down to the Gold Coast, with missionaries from the Cleveland, Eight Mile Plains, Coomera, and Gold Coast zones. Finally on Friday we were at Karawatha for Ispwich, Logan, and Centenary zones, and Elder Hamula and Sister Hamula were taken to the airport by President and Sister Henderson.

In Cairns, Elder Hamula taught about faith. We know from the scriptures that faith is a hope for things not seen, which are true; that faith is a principle of action; and that faith is a witness. How can faith be all of these things at once? For example, does hope precede faith or vice versa? He explained all of these and fit everything into place. Faith has four parts, and these parts are also steps to a process; therefore, faith can be said to be any of these elements, strengthen any of these elements, and be strengthened by any of these elements, all at once. It suddenly came together so beautifully in my mind, one of those "A-ha!" moments. The steps are: 

1. Witness 
2. Hope 
3. Action 
4. Personal Witness 

Draw them in a circle, with a line flowing from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, and 4 to 1. There you have the nature of faith. He went on to teach the relationship between faith and miracles, and more.

In Kangaroo Point, Elder Hamula included some of these items as he spoke on a different subject: how do we overcome the adversary? He taught about our pre-mortal existence and how we overcame the adversary in the "War in Heaven," and explained that we can overcome the adversary in the same way that we did then: See Revelations 12:11 (and JST).

In the afternoon, we had Missionary Leadership Council (the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and Chinese Training Leaders). Here, Elder Hamula directly addressed what the Australia Brisbane Mission needs change to reach the next level (planning with faith was the main point). He also had a Q&A session, as he did in each succeeding tour.

In the Gold Coast, he taught a mixture of what we learned at Kangaroo Point, as well as at the MLC, with many new insights and stories. One of the most poignant questions during the Q&A was asked by my former companion. Elder Hamula was asked what his greatest desire for us was, and he responded, "that we know the Lord." My former companion then asked, how can this be possible? When are missions are so short, how can we possibly accomplish what is expected of us? His answer was, that it isn't possible--because nobody, save Jesus Christ, is perfect.

Finally, at Karawatha, he taught on a different matter entirely. Something the mission needs and something WE need is the ability to ask, like Joseph Smith. The Lord said, "Ask, and ye shall receive". If we are to succeed, we must learn to ask! He taught about the asking, the listening, the faith, what it means to pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and more. It was perhaps the most meaningful session of all.

It was a wonderful blessing for myself and my companions to be able to attend all of the tour. Whereas most missionaries only go to their tour, of course, we were truly grateful to be involved in all of them.

In the background all week we had a miracle in the making: our investigator progressing towards baptism. Before the day before we flew up to Cairns a week ago, one of my companions and I went with President Henderson to teach our investigator, the ex-military amputee. President taught with such great power and Spirit. We set a date with the investigator. However, when Sunday came, opposition came, stopping him from coming to church. Negative thoughts and feelings, and even headaches and sickness, caused him to not want to come that Sunday. We thought he was slipping back again, when the same thing happened on Tuesday: we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and invited him to Addiction Recovery, but he didn't come. However, when we went back, taught him, and gave him a priesthood blessing, his cravings for cigarettes, and his headaches, just went away!! He came to church yesterday and is excited for his baptismal date on the 31st.

That is it for the week. Love you all!!

Elder J. Colton Ladd