The Good Shepherd

Hi Everyone!

What an awesome week it has been! It has flown by though!

We have been visting a lot of people. It is so busy we barely have time to go finding. We have a bunch of progressing investigators which is so great! We are really happy. 3 of them have baptisimal dates, 2 are in this month. I love this area! 

We struggled with finding as I said, but we met a potential! He was directed into our path! We fasted to find someone and we did. He is really cool, a student and wants us to teach him at the university so we are going to be doing that this week! He was very accepting and open! So pumped! 

My companion Sister Funaki and I

On wednesday we had arrivers training so we had to drive to the mission office and we had a lesson with President Carter. It was so good and a lot of fun! He taught all of the new missionaries that just came in, but before that he made some announcements. He said that on August 11th... DAVID ARCHULETA is coming to visit our mission and talk with all the missionaries!!! I WAS SO EXCITED! I felt liking jumping out of my seat and dancing but I had to sit there and remain dignified in front of my Mission President. I am so excited. Woo Hoo! 

I saw Kangaroos for the first time this week! Again, I was so excited! So much excitement this week! We were driving and they were grazing just off to the side. 

We went to Multi-Zone Conference. I was really nervous because there was going to be about 100 other missionaries that I don't know! The only person I really know is Sister Funaki! The conference was excellent though. President Carter is a great speaker, he talked on the doctrine of Christ. I then got to meet a lot of the missionaries! Everyone is so nice! I don't know why I was nervous. I met a missionary, I think his name is Elder Empey, he is Ryan Karl's cousin, so that was cool to make that sort of connection. It is a small world! 

Adelaide is a beautiful city, I am glad I got to drive downtown twice this week. The university is so cool! I wish I could go and take a look around.

Nearer the end of the week we got dropped. It was such a sad moment for us. We went over to her house and there was a note on the door for us. It was a very nice note, but I am so sad she doesn't want to meet anymore! We only got to teach her twice. I wish her all the best though. 

Thursday evening I had my first trade off! Again, I was nervous thinking "Oh no, what if this sister doesn't like me, etc, etc." But she was so nice!! I switch with the Mount Barker Sisters, about 45 mins away from here. It was interesting to see how someone else works and what different areas are like. The drive there was my favourite though. The road was small and windey through the country. It was beautiful! One of the most picturesque drives I have been on, other than through the rockies. I wish I could have shared it with my family! I know they would've all loved it! 

We had a miracle during trade offs, we found a new investigator! YAY! I can't wait to start teaching her. 

For this week we had a goal to get 7 of our investigators to church this sunday (very ambitious). We had 6 of them come and 1 potential! It was so cool to stroll around the church with our little army of amazing investigators! They are all so wonderful. The 1 potential was one of our investigators friends, and she wants us to teach her now too! So many blessings! 

I don't have much else to say, unfortunately I didn't have another UFO sighting, and no they weren't fireflies Dad! Ha-ha. I really hope my pictures upload today, I am so sorry if they don't. Every week I will print out pictures and post them home. They can be scanned in and uploaded here. I know it takes longer but, oh well! Not much I can do.

Read Alma 5. It is amazing. My favourite part is about the Good Shepherd and His sheep (which is us). 

Love Sister Coultrup

June 28th 2015

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Anxiously Engaged

Hi Everyone!

I'm in Australia! Or as the people here say it: Austraya. I don't even know where to begin! So much has happened! 

The flights as you would expect were HORRIBLE! The 13 hour flight was the worst. I took sleeping pills and still couldn't sleep, I was just in a drowsy state, squished between to big men. My back is still sore from that plane. Also the guy next to me fell asleep and I really needed to wee but I didn't want to wake him up or crawl over him so I just sat there in agony for 3 hours. 

I was picked up in Adelaide by my mission president and his wife and a few of the other senior people who are serving in the mission office. President Carter and Sister Carter ARE SO NICE! I was super nervous to meet them but I relaxed instantly as I was welcomed with warm handshakes, friendly smiles and a big hug from Sister Carter. They said they are excited they have a "new daughter". They showed me the temple and we took pictures outside of it. Then we went back to the mission office and we got to business with sorting things out, I had an interview with president then that evening we had a dinner and a devotional and I was assigned to an area and a companion. I am in the Aberfoyle Park area in the Happy Valley ward. Which is just south of downtown Adelaide. I am sure you could find it on a map. My comp/trainer is Sister Funaki who is also an STL. She is the best! She is from Brisbane, I feel so blessed to have had two awesome companions in a row. She is really hard working and obedient, but kind and patient. I think I got the best trainer in the mission. 

President told me that I would be expected to drive, but not for a few months so I can get used to driving on the left side (like England). But then, an hour later he asks to speak with me and said he changed his mind and wants me to drive NOW because my companion can't drive. Yeah so they put me in a car and expected me to figure it out! ON MY FIRST DAY! I also hadn't slept in over 24 hours! But I am still alive and I am completely comfortable driving here now. Lots of round-a-bouts, just like England. Our area is really hilly and so gorgeous. On my second day here I saw my first Koala! A wild one in a tree just hanging out! It was so cool! 

Me with President and Sister Carter

I am sure you are interested in the spiders and snakes and I am happy to report I haven't seen a single one! What a blessing! haha. Our flat is SO NICE. We are one of the only ones with central heating, it is a fairly new one with three bedrooms, a garage, a nice kitchen and bathroom with a bath and a shower. I will send pictures next week of it. 

Everything here is so green and beautiful. The trees, birds, landscape, everything is different and it is very refreshing! I can't wait to get to know the area better. We have a really big area! 

I have absolutely LOVED every investigator, inactive member and member that I have met. Everyone is so awesome and just plain lovely! The people here love asking me about Canada and are shocked at the temperatures. Right now it is the midst of winter and I don't even wear a jacket, everyone else does. An old lady at church wearing a blanket ( yes a blanket, and it was 10 degrees ) said to me: "Don't you dare ever leave the house like that again! You're making me cold just looking at you!" I was completely fine! haha. 

Oh also at church, there is this English guy named Brother Coleman. When I met him he was like: "Oh Hi Bethany" and Sister Funaki and I looked at each other and weirded out asked how he knew my name. Then he goes on to say: "You got your call around Christmas time, you are from Calgary Alberta, your Dad had a dream about you coming here on your mission.." And a bunch of other accurate things I don't remember. At this point I was convinced he had some weird gift to look into my soul or something. But it turns out he found out I was joining the ward and GOOGLED me! He saw my mission call video. Sister Funaki says he creeps everyone. It was really weird... But we had a nice chat about England and Tottenham because that is where he is from. He said he lived right across from White Hart Lane! 

We work really hard, we never ever have a single second where we aren't doing something productive and focused towards the Lord's work. We have an investigator, Lucy (not her real name), she is older and has done hard drugs since she was 17. When I first met her and went into her house I was a little shocked, it makes me so sad to see her live this way. But she has so much faith and is working SO hard to give up drugs, smoking and alcohol. I am proud of her and I love her already. She told me on the first day that she is glad that I am staying because she likes me compared to the other sisters that come on trade offs. That touched my heart!  

We have a lot of investigators. Sister Funaki said that she and her previous companion were master finders. I have taught lessons with all of them now (about 7 'gators) and they are all wonderful. The members are the best!  They have spoiled me rotten! We have had a dinner every night and Sister Funaki says that never happens! I love them all. I am so grateful that I am in a great area. 

We have a companionship goal to baptize this transfer, we have one planned already, but we want to find a golden person. So we have been praying and knocking doors and contacting a lot and tonight we are opening a fast so we can find someone. But yesterday we had someone directed right into our path like it says in the scriptures. His name is Huong, he is Vietnamese and he is very interested in learning more so we will be seeing him at the end of this week! YAY! I WAS SO HAPPY! He is really friendly too, so we are hoping he is our Goldie. 

I had the coolest experience (while it is not spiritual I thought my sister would be interested) the other night! We were on our way to Anne's house (investigator), it was about 8pm and really dark outside. We were walking when I saw this weird light fly by up in the sky. I stopped Sister Funaki and pointed up where I saw it, then 6 more popped up! There were 6 flying orbs in the sky floating around in an unorganised pattern. We ran towards them to get a better look, meanwhile freaking out and yelling "UFO UFO UFO"! It was so weird! They were just flying there floating around, there were no beams of light where it could be coming from. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. I feel like I need to go on one of those UFO television shows now! Ancient Aliens? Our mate Georgio? "THE ANSWER IS YES!". Haha, only my family will get that.

Anyways that is all for now! I am looking forward to this week, although I am dead tired and still jet lagged. It used to take me hours to fall asleep and now I am out like a light in 5. If I don't send pictures I am so sorry, I want to smash these library computers because of how slow they are.

Love you all,

Sister Coultrup (The coolest Sister in the Adelaide mission)

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Travel Itinerary

SLC to San Francisco depart @ 5:12pm June 15 arrive at 6:20pm June 15.

San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand depart @ 9:45pm June 15 arrive at 5:45am June 17th.

Auckland, New Zealand to Adelaide depart @ 8:00am June 17 arrive at 10:25am June 17.

As I'm crossing the international dateline, I don't experience June 16th!

And So It Begins...

HEY EVERYONE! 

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS DAY FOR A WEEK! My hands are sweating because I am nervous I won't have enough time to explain and go over everything I want to. I will try to start right from the beginning. I was picked up by my Aunty Susan and Savannah, we spent the day in SLC in Temple Square which was awesome. I am grateful for their hospitality. 

The first day at the MTC. Oh boy I was so nervous, but as soon as I was greeted by my host, a sister who came to take me to my residence then my classroom, all I felt was excitement and anticipation. My companions name is Sister Nelson, she is from Springville Utah which is 15 mins south of the MTC. I LOVE HER! She is the best, I am so lucky I got such an amazing companion. We get along and agree on everything and we have helped each other so much. She is going to the Australia Sydney North Mission. We have two other sisters in our district who are going to the same one, I am the only sister going to Adelaide. The two other sisters are AMAZING! Sister Spainhower and Sister Ballif. By the end of the first day we were already inseparable and I love all of them dearly. We haven't had a day where we don't laugh until we cry, it's awesome. We have orientation and a 50 missionaries to 1 investigator role play, then we went to bed.  

The next day was awesome. We spend a lot of time in our classroom just studying by ourselves and with our companion. We have two teachers that teach us for about 4 hours each day. We also do role plays with them and pretend they are our progressing investigators. I was assigned to be the Sister Training Leader in our zone and district! What the heck! And I am the senior companion. I have to look after all the sisters and the new ones that are coming in this week into our zone. Also I have to do my own orientation presentation today with the all the new missionaries coming into our zone! I am excited! 

On friday we did service and cleaned all the toilets in one building... yay service! We also went to Elder L. Tom Perry's funeral service. What was surprising was, it wasn't that sad. We are so lucky to have the knowledge that we will see our loved ones again. The music in the service was beautiful and I was so exhausted it was lulling me to sleep. You know when your head bobs down, then you yank it up in a groggy stupor? Yeah, that was me haha. Oh something funny, so the food sucks. It makes me feel so sick even just looking at it. For the past 7 days for every single lunch AND dinner I have had a salad and a banana. For breakfast I have a banana and a bowl of honeydew melon. Every single day. I think I have lost weight, but honestly I just cannot understand how these people eat food like this. I see elders and sisters with plates and plates and it's just blehhh! Sister Spainhower LOVES the food and I have no idea how she stays so skinny. Something funny that happened was while we were writing in our journals  before bed there was a group of sisters outside the door gossiping about how much they dislike their companions, but while they were doing so they were also saying: "I bear testimony that if you..." It was just so weird. Then Sister Ballif goes: "I bear testimony that you ARE going to get into a fist fight with your companion tonight. We all laughed so hard. I also dislocated Sister Spainhower's shoulder! LOL oops. She was being silly and slapping me in the face with her pillowcase (she sleeps on the top bunk) and so I pulled the case out of her hand and it apparently pulled her shoulder out of the socket so I had to push it back in and massage it for a while. What was funny was she was laughing the whole time and so we thought she was joking. But then she would say " no no no it hurts " and then start laughing again. 

Also I accidentally flashed people. It was windy on Saturday and yep my dress FLEW straight up, Sister Ballif asked if I was trying to fly away ahaha. Oh best part, there were Elders behind me and one of them is going to my mission. I can't look him in the face. I was SO embarrassed, of course that had to happen to me in the MTC!!!

It was fast Sunday so we went straight to class. We had a branch meeting with the president and zeds and district leader. Then I was interviewed by Brother Hobson, he kept me for an hour because we were having such a nice chat. He told me "I think I need to tell you something, I have a feeling you are going to need to sing on your mission. Do you sing?" and I said well I try to haha. Then he asked me to sing for him (reminded me of the phantom of the opera) So I sand O My Father. It was a little awkward. But the spirit was so strong and he told me he thinks I am going to be the "awesomest" missionary. Keep in mind he is like near 80 years old. He said I just have a glow apparently so that 's cool. We also had mission conference and I watched the Character of Christ by David A. Bednar which you can only see in the MTC. Everyone was saying that it will change your life but I was skeptical. Then I saw it, and yep, it changed my life. The best talk I have ever ever ever seen! I will write a letter about it and send it home today because I don't have time to include it in my email. 

Monday was the hardest day for me. It started out well then it crashed and burned. We had an awesome member lesson with this 17 year old boy who is a convert and so I showed him the paper cross object lesson and I blew his mind. We also related it back to the scriptures a lot and had an awesome discussion. But then all our other lessons tanked that day it was really discouraging. Then in the evening the whole district had a horrible experience because our district leader was really harsh for the stupidest reason and it effected me greatly and I couldn't get the spirit back. I knelt in prayer and cried and Sister Nelson and I did so as well and it came back and I am feeling much better. It took everything in me not to argue back at him, but I was able to control myself and I am proud that I did that rather than act out because he is a jerk. 

Tuesday (yesterday) was the BEST DAY! Everything went so much better, it was the complete opposite to Monday. All of our lessons rocked, our investigator prayed in front of us for the first time, Sister Nelson and I both cried.

This morning I got to go through the Provo Temple. It was awesome!! So glad I got to do that. 

I got my itinerary, funny thing, I was the only one in our district (that is going to Auzzieland) that got their Visa. So everyone else is getting temporarily reassigned. I am flying from SLC - San Francisco - New Zealand Auckland - Adelaide. I leave on Monday, June 15th. 

I have had the best time ever hear. I am so grateful for this experience. I LOVE the MTC! I am nervous to enter the mission field next week though. I am constantly tired, even though we are obedient and I get in bed before 10:30. This work is exhausting mentally and physically and I am not even really out there yet! 

 My testimony has grown so so much. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ lives and that they love me. I have so much love for everyone and everything. I can feel the spirit working through me. As I teach I am amazed at what is coming out of my mouth. My tongue has been loosed and I have been called to serve and bring others unto Christ. 

I don't know when my P-Day will be next week since I am flying out on Monday. I think the MTC might let me email before I leave, but maybe not.. We will see! Please please keep sending me Dear Elders. I get mail at lunch and dinner and the days I get mail are just the best days ever! Everyone is getting packages and letters too. Sister Nelson got three packages on her first day! Anyways, I love you all so much. I think about you lots and you are always in my prayers. I have shown everyone pictures of my family and friends and it just makes me happy when I get to talk about you all.

ALL MY LOVE,

Sister (Bethany) Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints