For everyone who hasn't heard, my grandparents are being called as government affairs missionaries at the UN Headquarters in New York. It is anticipated to be an 18 month assignment, and they will report at the beginning of next year -- which means that they will be gone by the time I get back!!
Anyways, our last week was fantastic. I am so excited these days, it is hard to express it in words. I hope the missionaries in my Zone can feel my excitement and that it rubs off on them.
I didn't really have time to finish last week, so I will continue from where I left off. I am a Zone Leader for Brisbane Zone, with a big New Zealander rugby-playing companion with Samoan background. I am the first Chinese Zone Leader. Right now I still don't really have fully delineated responsibilities as a Chinese Zone Leader -- President mostly just talked to me about exploring possibilities. I am sort of a Guinea Pig, if you will. Perhaps in the future there may be more Chinese Zone Leaders, or even an independent Chinese Zone. I have taken upon myself the responsibility to collect information on all the Chinese areas, and even other areas in the Mission where there may be Chinese missionaries. I will gather this information and present it to President with my ideas on how to help the Chinese missionaries rise up. Perhaps one day my hope for a Chinese branch may be realized, although I don't know if this will happen while I am still in the mission.
As Zone Leaders, we do lot of work with the Zone to help train and uplift. Last Friday, we woke up early (5:30) to drive down to one of our districts before 6:30 to make sure they are getting up and exercising, and then we spent the entire morning with them until their district meeting. I felt like by the time we left they were all in a better mood.
One of our responsibilities is to go on Trade-offs, at least once with each of the companionships in the zone. Saturday was our first, with missionaries in Brisbane ward! I went into the area with the junior companion and the district leader came into our area. Do you want to know something? It turns our, I looooove tracting! I would have never guessed that I would enjoy it so much. We found 2 families in just a few hours. One was a single mother, New Zealander with Samoan background just like my companion with 4 children, and one was a single father, Aussie, a school teacher, recently divorced with 2 little girls.
I am, for the most part just a normal English Zone Leader, but my companion and I wake up early (5:45) so we can exercise from 6 to 6:3, get ready, then language study from 7:15 to 8. We have also tried to visit a few of the Chinese investigators in this area. It isn't too far from the city, but no Chinese missionaries in the city can make it out here since they don't have a car.
That is it for the week I think. Love you all!!! Have a good one and take care!
Elder J. Colton Ladd
No comments:
Post a Comment