Christmas in Dundee

This week was a good one. Even though we were all sick and had 2 days off for Christmas and boxing day, somehow we still managed to get a good amount of stuff done. We taught the most lessons that I have taught since I got to Dundee. We had 2 investigators at church, and we had a good overall week. It was a well needed success after a long and very difficult transfer. We taught a lady named Cheryl twice, she was a referral from a recent convert in the other ward and she is stellar. She is really receptive to the gospel and just the spirit in general. She came to church and really enjoyed it. So we will teach her again today and extend a Baptismal date for the 17th of January. And the other Elders have an investigator who was being taught online who they have taught heaps who is being prepared for the 17th as well. So things are finally looking up. Hopefully we can increase the teaching pool and be teaching a few people here. That would be awesome. 

Christmas was great and it was really good to get a couple of days to relax and hang out. We watched so many family movies, it was awesome. Absolutely loved it. It was so good getting to Skype you all as well. That was a great blessing. It was just great to see everyones faces. It is sad that it was such a short time, but a short time is better than no time. We will get new years day off this week so we have got one more day. And then back to work everyday. Pretty full on time over the Christmas period, you would think as a missionary it would just stay the same still but it gets way busier with all the ward activities and stuff. Its been Chocka block full. 

Well. Love you heaps. Here are some pictures from the last little while. Much love. 

Elder Tang

photo: me as rugged up as I can possibly get. It didn't snow, everything on the ground just froze because it was like -3

Christmas Day Skype 

Wet feet in a country that always rains not good

PRETTY DANG IMPORTANT! The boots you got me were faulty I think. Well the right one. Because the left one is fine, but the right one got a big crack in the sole and water is soaking through the bottom when its really wet. Im not sure what you want to do, but my right foot isn't waterproof anymore. Elder Mulville has these Ecco shoes that are pretty good. The are called Ecco Gore-tec, pretty dang durable and waterproof as anything. Or just more Rockports, because they are really good aside from the crack in the right shoe. 

Moves call was this week. Elder Mulville is off to Ireland. Im gonna miss him, he is such a good companion. And my new companion is going to be Elder Allred, I know him a little bit, he is cool. And Im getting "promoted" I guess to be a District Leader. So Im staying in the same area but my job has changed, Elder Merrill who was the District leader is moving to Glasgow and Im taking his job I guess. So that should be fun. It will be weird having to give instruction and stuff like that. 

So moves call is probably the biggest thing this week. We also were in a Christmas show at the church that was pretty fun, all the missionaries in the area sang in the choir, it was all about remembering the true meaning of Christmas, it was really fun. Ill send some pictures. I also found a guy named Aiden who looks a lot like me, he is an American exchange student in the Bingham ward here in Dundee. Pretty cool. 

New comp..

. This week was really tough for teaching too. We have been praying really hard to meet someone who is receptive, because we are really just feeling like nobody cares right now. There are so many people so caught up in so many unimportant things that demand their attention constantly that sometimes, we just cant even get people to stop for a minute to talk to us. That's a hard part of the work. 

One thing we did that was really fun this week was we sang in a choir that was part of a big Christmas show. It was a play about remembering the birth of Christ for Christmas. Really awesome. Ill send some pictures because it was heaps of fun. 

We have had quite a few chances to give service to ward members in small ways, I am really grateful for those opportunities, I love helping people, and as a missionary sometimes you can feel like nobody wants to be helped, but when you help someone who wants and needs it, rather than needs it but doesn't want it, the feeling is just stellar. 

Here are some pics from my last week or two.

Dad forgot to post this one

I must admit, I am not a great writer either. But hey, the atonement is real, I will repent. 

We haven't taught a lesson yet since Ive gotten to Dundee, there were no investigators or less actives being worked with when I got here. So Elder Mulville and I are basically starting from ground zero. We are getting along really well, I love this kid, he is a cool as a cucumber and he is a great missionary. We are working hard with the members trying to serve them so that they can trust us. The reputation of the missionaries over the last year has not been great, so we are really struggling to get the ball rolling. I love the Ward though, they are fantastic, and I love Dundee. Last week we were just out finding people all day everyday. Its really exhausting business, Im so tired every day haha, I fall asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow. 

The boots are great, dry feet are a tender mercy. It rains so much in this place haha. Im looking forward to getting back to sunny Brisbane one day in the far away future. 

I just finished the Book of Mormon again today, this one took me a while, about 3 months. I was studying about humility, all of Christ like Character depend on humility, you cant have any of Jesus' attributes without having some degree of humility. Not teaching has been a humbling experience. Its really hard to get things moving when nothing is happening. I cant even imagine how hard it is for the Lord to get his work moving, I guess he is all knowing so he is more efficient, but Im sure its still a struggle. 

Elder Tang

Falling out my third Story window

Sounds like it was a really great trip! I love the photos! Dads beard is killing me! That thing is flippin awesome! Im so jealous. Thou shalt not covet thy fathers beard... At least I think that's what the scripture says. 

This week was pretty rough. Coming off a week where we had pretty successful finding I had a hard time when this week no one really was listening to us. We were just talking to brick walls all week, lots of rude people and heaps of really closed minded people too. By Friday and Saturday its safe to say I was more than frustrated. I hate it when people will not even listen enough for us to tell them about the restored gospel, it really grinds my gears when they just keep walking when we try to speak to them or they just shout NO NO NO NO to everything we say. They don't even know what we are telling them, and its the most important message they will ever hear. Its really hard to preach to people who are so hard hearted. We had a man this week whos door we knocked on who said "for me to believe in God he would have to come down, stand in front of me, and say 'Im God, what can I do for you?'" He told us that he didn't believe in God basically because his neice died and he said that if God was there his life needed to be better. He was so arrogant and blasphemous, we then testified about how opposition is a part of Gods plan and that he would never learn anything if God was just his butler, to which he responded "YOU WONT PREACH TO ME!" 

That was just one of many people that just grinded my gears this week. Its so humbly to have to just not say anything to these people who are so prideful and contentious. Suffice it to say I did not have the best week. 

In order to combat a bad week this week we are starting fresh and we have to have a good week. Im trying to avoid thinking about the pressure. 

The Church has launched a HUGE Christmas initiative online and across the world, its a great opportunity to try and help people realize what they are actually celebrating, especially because I think that every year the real spirit of Christmas is getting pushed more and more aside. You have probably already gotten the whole run down from the sisters, if you haven't though, ask them about it because its a lot bigger in the states than it is here. Hop on facebook and share the video that's on Christmas.mormon.org its awesome. 

Well that's about all the news for me this week. Pretty boring. Sorry I don't have anything too outrageously exciting. We did have a great thanksgiving dinner at the Bishops house, that's was good. 

Love you. 

Miss you. 

Elder Tang