Sunday, October 6, 2013

This Hill Is Not Broken... Week 28

G'day from the Outback!

Well, where do I start off for this week? I haven't seen General Conference yet- we watch it a week after all of yous, which is unfair I think and I might write the Brethren... XD gammin' [teasing] XD But still, it's hard to read emails that say "Conference was amazing!"and not be able to do anything about it - yet. ;D

This week was slow and not super enjoyable but still enjoyable enough. I've had a cold all week and am just now starting to get over it (turns out that acclimatizing isn't really all that fun), so that has made working more than difficult, especially given the immense steepness of the hills here, but no matter; I'm alive and breathing (kind of) and that's good. To answer a few questions, Dad, yes Broken Hill reminds me heaps of Whitewater. [Whitewater is on the Western Slope of Colorado where we lived for a good portion of Elder Schomburg's young years.] The other night I woke up at about 3:00, went to blow my nose and I heard the all too familiar sound of dogs barking up a storm while the dingoes yipped and yapped all throughout the night as they became locked in their distant battle. That definitely aroused some memories from Whitewater. The main difference here is that we don't have any mountains to look at and the dust is red, not white. Also, I have been receiving mail from Grandma, the most recent letter dated September 5th. I still don't know how mail will work for us out here- usually all mail is sent to the Zone Leaders who then distribute it on P-Day, but seeing as our Zone Leaders are 3 hours away from us, we're not sure what the office is going to do with our mail. [I have been assured that Elder Schomburg will receive any mail sent.]

Man, I miss home. Being in Whitewater, er, Broken Hill doesn't help- I miss getting to do fun things with my family and getting to laugh and joke and be silly and whatnot. This week was lame for homesickness- not as bad as when I was in Tennessee though. I miss writing novels! And blasting epic music while writing novels... and getting to hug my mom and tackling my little brother and pestering my sister and filling my dad's head with useless information. XD Anyways! XD

We spent most of the week meeting up with the members, but as far as missionary work goes, it was slow. The first week in a new area always is- so many people to see and places to find and things like that, we're too busy trying to get established to actually do missionary work. Elder P is pretty nervous about it all and anxious and what have you, and very surprisingly, I am very calm. The Lord didn't send us to Broken Hill to crash and burn- He doesn't work like that. No, He has purpose for us being here and just that thought has made it very easy to adapt to the new situation. We dedicated the area and the flat our first night out and it was quite awesome- the Spirit was calm and peaceful, and I knew that whatever happened, it was in the Lord's hands. I have to keep reminding Elder P of those feelings.

Nighttime in Broken Hill is spookyaz (speaking of which... I'm going to miss the Haunted Mines... {insert super sad face}). The first couple of nights were windy; most of the houses are old mining shacks made with heaps of corrugated metal, and I swear you can see things move in the shadows out of the corner of your eye. It is pretty spooky, and it's a feeling that I like and dislike- the thrill keeps you on your toes, which is fun, but for the most part it's just freaky. The streets are extremely wide (for the massive mining vehicles) just for the record, and the town pretty much dies after 7PM. It's just spooky at night.

I've got some videos from Broken Hill and around Broken Hill and things like that- just missionaries playing around really, but I'll see if I can get them to upload properly. So, anyways... (sorry, this laptop has some faulty keys that aren't working properly so I'm trying not to get mad at this cursed machine). We didn't do much missionary work, just lots getting to know the members. We were able to teach one of their investigators early on, however, about the Restoration. Mick is keenaz, but he's living with some housemates who party heaps, and that's hard on Mick who is trying to overcome some Word of Wisdom issues. But he's pretty solid. I'm not too sure about his friend Brad, though. The context was this: our first night in the area with Elder W and Elder F we went and ate dinner at the Branch President's house. They didn't inform us that we were going to be teaching their two investigators, Brad and Mick but as we often do, we came up with something fast in our heads -Elders W and F taught Brad, while Elder P and I taught Mick. Our lesson was solid but Sister P had a poor baby who was hungry, President P had to take Mick home, and Mick had shears to sharpen (they're all of them sheep shearers), but Elder P drug the lesson out. I opened and out probably three times but every time Elder P would continue teaching. That happens a lot- we met a member last night, a late night stop, and she had 3 little ones that were wild and crazy -in need of sleep- and she mentioned more than once that it was time for bed, so again I made like we were leaving and Elder P kept going. Blarg! But no matter, he's a good companion! XD

I suppose there's not much more to report this week. Thanks everyone for writing me continually- I really do love and appreciate it!!!

Cheers!
-Elder Schomburg

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