G'day!
Okay, so this past week in a half has been crazy as.
So the beginning of last week was really rough, I was in a
slump and not too much seemed to be working out. We were worried about one of our
investigators and his baptism date and that caused a lot of stress but, it
worked out so, phew!
We had a big surprise last
week! Sister Funaki and I were driving from one appointment to the next when we
received a call from the assistants to the President. They asked,
"Do you have an extra bed
in your flat?"
"No we don't."
"Okay well you will need
to come pick one up and pick up your new companion."
WHAT?! We have been put into a
trio! Two Sisters came early because they are foreign speaking and so now we
have a new companion! To be honest at first I was not at all thrilled. I have
heard that trios don't work well and I felt like they were splitting Sister
Funaki and I up early. Also because she is a brand new missionary she needs to
be trained. I am finished my training in a few days which means I can train
now. So when Sister Funaki leaves there is a solid chance I will be training
her! So I had a little bit of a panic episode because I am so new myself! I
can't train someone! Ahhh! Sister Funaki trained right out of her training as
well. We will see for sure on Monday and I will let you know. Anyways, we have
had her (Sister Rooarii, you roll both the 'Rs" and pronounce every
letter, yes it took me a while to get it down) a week now and she is lovely.
She is from Tahiti. Her first language is french, we have been trying to teach
her English and she is doing quite well, but it is hard teaching English.
This past Saturday we had two baptisms! HURRAH! What an
amazing experience! My first baptisms :-) I am so happy for them, they are
solid in their testimonies. It was a bit of a palava before the baptisms
though. One of them forgot to bring a white shirt so we were looking everywhere
last minute for a white shirt and there wasn't any. So we asked the Elders to
run home and grab one of theirs for him, so they did. Once they got home they
realized they forgot their KEY and ran back to get their key! While the Elders
were coming back one of the nice Men in our ward offered his white shirt that
he was wearing, so we gave our investigator his shirt and the Man just wore a
jumper. We started the baptism program 20 minutes late because of that! And we
didn't get a picture with him in his white because it was too late so we took
one with him and his parents afterwards. Oh well.It was so cool that his
parents came to support him, they aren't members. They also came for Sacrament
the next day to witness his confirmation!
My favourite part about the
baptisms was listening to them bear their testimonies right afterwards. Wow, I
cried. The spirit was so strong. It was beautiful to hear them and to listen to
their experiences and to see the happiness on their faces. I am so grateful to
have been a part of their conversion to this beautiful gospel.
Whoever said Trios don't work
is super silly because ours does!!! You just need to be a Celestial Planner
like Sister Funaki and everything works out. This whole week we have been going
on splits everyday to cover more appointments and we have been getting twice
the work done because there is an extra one of us. We all get along really well
too. Sister Rooarii teaches us french as well which is pretty exciting. One of
the most common questions I get asked is whether I speak french or not because
I am Canadian. Sadly, I cannot.
I had a few really cool
experiences this week. I went with a recent convert to an investigators house
to see how she was doing. I have only met her once before because the Elders
were teaching her but they have given her to us because they think she would
prefer Sisters. She stood outside with us and we had a nice chat. She expressed
to us that she has been suffering from depression. I asked her if she knew much
about Jesus suffering for our sins, she said yes. I told her that not many
people realize that Jesus Christ not only suffered for our sins but for our
pains, afflictions, sicknesses and every bad feeling you will ever feel. She
gasped and clutched her chest and began to cry. I was a little startled, but
then she said, "I never knew He did that, I never knew." Then she
hugged me and kept crying. I shared with her Alma 7:11-13 about the atonement.
She was so happy and kept thanking me and invited us back next week for
Cappacinos. I graciously accepted, not having the heart to tell her we don't
drink coffee. I will send her a text saying we don't before we see her haha.
One of our other investigators
is due to get baptized this Sunday the 6th. She struggled with Word of Wisdom
issues so we were a little worried but remained faith-filled and prayed and
fasted about her chosen baptism date that seemed just a little too soon. But
she has worked incredibly hard and this week she has completely come off those
things she was addicted too. I am so proud of her. She is proof of the power of
atonement. What an incredible woman I really hope you can meet her one day, I
love her so much! She WILL be baptized this weekend and I can't wait! 3
baptisms in 2 weeks! Woo hoo! I was told that is a missionaries average for a
year, so I guess no more baptisms this year for me then. Just kidding, I will
break that statistic.
Anyways that is most of what I
have to say for now. I feel like I have talked your ear off. Oh! One more
thing. Not too important, but we have a family that recently moved here from
England into our ward and the Mum made me a full traditional English Victoria
Sponge Cake. It was amazing. Thought Dad would like to know.
OH and we made a super fancy meal the night we got Sister
Rooarii and we had it outside on our Patio! Enjoy pictures!
Alright Ta Ta! Love you all so
much!
Sister Coultrup
--
Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup
Australia Adelaide Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
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