Monday, January 12, 2015

Down to Port Broughton... Week 94

G'day all! 

We got mail! I don't know who's mail or who sent it because we haven't opened the three big, yellow envelopes that we have yet, but we will. If you wrote me recently, I probably have what you sent! Thank you!

Now for the week:

This week we made a trip down to Port Broughton; having become impatient with the lack of people whom we can preach to in Port Pirie (Elder Barnes has literally spoken with everyone), I brought to his attention that perhaps it was in the outlying towns that we would find who the Lord had prepared. We planned on it, prayed about it, prayed about it personally, and then reviewed our feelings the following morning. We both felt like we needed to go to Port Broughton, so we did. Upon arriving, we stuck to mainly walking, getting a feel for the town. I am so ready to teach somebody (our investigator pool became 0 yesterday) that I wasn't very shy about knocking random doors. I got the vibe that Elder Barnes wasn't really keen on tracting, but I knocked some doors anyways- anything to talk to someone who hasn't been contacted in more than a month. As we approached one house, I held in my hand a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, and I felt a very quiet prompting that the Plan of Salvation was the way to go. I hadn't felt such promptings at previous houses, so my hopes got up in that we might be tracting into an investigator-to-be. We knocked the door and an older lady came out. She is religious but because of her recent move, has been displaced from her chosen church. She was considering going to the one just across the road from her house. We got to talking a bit more, having decent conversation, waiting for her to say something that we could tie the gospel to, and we caught a break- she's recently had several deaths in her family, and though she stated that she remained faithful, sometimes she found herself asking why the bad things always happened to the good people. Was the Spirit spot on or was it spot on with teaching the Plan of Salvation? We leapt on the opportunity -as calmly as we could (well, Elder Barnes seemed alright; I was just so excited!)- and taught her using the pamphlet. She said she was going to be busy soon, but that we could stop by another time when she was more free. She also said she would give the pamphlet to her 13 year old daughter to have a look through, as well.

Well, we kept on with our little outing and walked about some more. The little port town has a nice, seaside feel to it (I reckon Dad might want to live there- I'll take photos next time if I can get my hands on a camera that actually works...). As we walked, we saw a group of six teens coming down a hillside- three boys and three girls. They looked like they were up to no good, and knowing the history of the Port Pirie area, my combat mind kicked in and I deduced that we would have more than a fair chance at winning if they decided to start something. My companion was better than me; he told me later that he was getting ready to turn the cheek, when in comparison, I was getting ready to turn theirs. Anyways, before we got to this group, we heard someone call out, "Elders!" from inside a house. We spun around and who should come out but a woman named Janine! I've never spoken of Janine before, but Janine was a less active member I knew when I serving in Evandale. She was the Assistants' less active and had made the decision to begin coming to church again. She had planned on taking us to lunch one day, me and my companion, but things fell through. She is a lovely lady and she loves missionaries!

The fact that we had found her in this little town with a population of maybe 1,000 was far beyond coincidence- I reckon that was inspired. We gave her our number and she told us she would take us out for a feed to catch up sometime when she came to Port Pirie next, and she'll be in the area for about a month. So we're anxiously waiting to catch up with a lady whom I met a year ago and somehow found in one of the smallest towns Australia has to offer. Far out, that was pretty crazy.

So anyways, we continued on, and two of this group of six teenagers engaged us; it was one boy and his less-than-confident girlfriend. He said something about wanting to talk about his Church of Satan or something like that. Elder Barnes kept going; I stopped and got ready to listen. I try to talk to people every day about my beliefs, it would be hypocritical of me to ignore him, no matter how muck-around he is being. Elder Barnes didn't get far, though, and soon he had both our attentions, and that startled him. He went on to stammer something out about how we have the ability to choose for ourselves what we will do in this life, who we will become, all the rest of it- he basically was teaching the principle of agency. Elder Barnes and I exchanged glances, and then in unison said, "Yep, all that is true." Talk about a shocked, 16-17 year old boy. What he had to say wasn't anything remotely satanic in nature, but in fact was true doctrine, and he was defending avidly the very thing which we fought for in the Premortal Existence: agency.

He suggested we check out Youtube for more information (didn't give us a proper title for which video he was suggesting) and then began to walk away with his girlfriend. His mates were laughing, as proper mates would be. I admired him, though; even if he had been egged on by his peers, he was the only one that had brawn enough to do it, and not only that, but what he thought would happen -two churchies keep walking past- didn't happen. For a moment, I thought about teaching him how to do proper missionary work; he had the approach down, bold and fearless, almost, but he didn't give us a proper place to find out more, there was no testimony offered, and he didn't acquire a means to follow up with us. But it was his first go, so he handled himself well.

Church on Sunday was splendid- I love Sundays, and I look forward to the days when I will be able to -before doing more Sabbath thingson Sunday like reading scriptures or Ensigns and what have you- take a mohe' (nap) as soon as I get home. I. Am. Trunky in my head. But I'm trying my best to stave it off. I must be honest- I really want to see my family again. It's been a long time, I am tired, Port Pirie doesn't have the Paewai's so missionary work is frustrating (Sister Paewai, because I know you read this, will you please come to Port Pirie and teach these members how to missionary?), and I miss Mexican food. Still haven't decided if I want real Mexican food or classic American food when I get home. There better be heaps of whatever it is, though (sorry, it's time for lunch over here, at least for me).

Anyways, I love you all heaps and I will talk to you soon! Please pray for us- we don't have any investigators at the moment and I really am getting tired of not having anyone to teach.

-Elder Schomburg

I saw this photo earlier today and it definitely reminded me
 of Elder Schomburg when he was just a little tyke...
and maybe as he is now, too.  Always pushing the envelope. :) 


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