I Have Hit Two Decades

On Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 12:06 PM, Bethany Coultrup <bethany.coultrup@myldsmail.net> wrote:

G'day from Aus,

Tomorrow is Australia Day (January 26th)! Happy Australia Day! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!

It has been a great week. On Pday we had a zone activity where I got to see my old district and we all had a BBQ and they sang Happy Birthday to me. That was fun. I was grateful to see my friends.

It was one of those weeks where no one really wants to see you and no one is that interested. But that is okay, because weeks like this happen. In and out of the mission. You just have to keep pressing forward with faith and with a smile.

I got my haircut. Mum will be happy. It was down to my bum it got so long. It has been really chopped short. I know that is not the most exciting news for everything else but I know Mum will be pleased.

Me and my new companion Sister Freitas the only Brazilian in the mission

After district meeting this week, which was the day before my actual birthday, the district wanted to take me to see the mysterious "Bunyip" for my birthday. Now, I have heard lots about this Bunyip and no one would tell me what it is other than it is the main attraction of Murray Bridge. I asked if it is half bunny half turnip. But no. It was this silly monster thing. It is massive cage with a dark pool of water. You put one dollar in and this sea monster comes up growling and shaking the cage. It does that three times then turns off. "Is that it?" I asked and everyone laughed. They made such a big deal out of the lamest thing. The Bunyip is a myth from the aboriginals around the Murray River. They believed this sea monster lived in the river and called it the Bunyip. It reminds me off the Ogopoggo and Nessie.

 On my birthday Brother and Sister Watts from Happy Valley drove up to Murray Bridge (1.5 hours)and took Sister Freitas and I out for dinner to Fasta Pasta. They also brought Bianca and Wenjin with them as a surprise. I was so pleased. It made my entire day. It is the company of people you love that make any occasion special. I am very grateful for that. Also later that night at like 10 when we were getting ready for bed, Sister Freitas brought out sparklers! We played with some sparklers out side to celebrate and lit my cake my parents sent me. :)

birthday celebration

We have these two part member families in our area that we are working with at the moment. We are trying to get their marriage papers in so baptisms can follow shortly after. The marriages will hopefully be happening in the next 2 months. So I will get to attend some weddings out here! Yay!

On Sunday we went to the Samoan families house for lunch after Sunday (which we do every Sunday.. SO MUCH FOOD!). The whole family (half the ward) was there. After lunch they brought out this Canadian cake that said "Happy Birthday Sister Coultrup!" on it! I was so surprised! They put candles in it and sang to me. Even though they barely know me they made an effort to make a missionary happy. It definitely did make me happy. It was the coolest cake I have ever had.

awesome cake

It has been a great week where I have felt the love. Especially when I opened my email today and got lots of Happy Birthdays! Thank you! The work is great, we have our car back!!! The Elders have been given a car because the Elder with the Spider bite can't bike until his arm is fully healed from surgery. Everyone is calling him Spiderman. OH! Also the Elders baked us a cake out of cookie mix and dropped it off. It was... nice... Bless them for trying! :) 

 

Some members dropped off a massive order of Macdonalds. Just to help my Bum be even more massive.

feeding the missionaries

The picture of me in the middle of nowhere is our area. "Welcome to the middle of nowhere Australia!"

middle of nowhere

Have a great week everyone, I know I will! Lovin' the work!

Sister Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Miracle Bridge

G'day!

I have been transferred to a small town south of Adelaide called Murray Bridge. Lots of dirt roads and such. I drove myself there, we met with our zones at certain times in the morning on tuesday and all split with our new companions immediately and returned to our new areas. We also cover the surrounding even smaller towns like Callington, Mannum, Wellington, etc. Murray Bridge was a branch just about a year ago and has only recently been turned into a ward. The ward is about 70% Samoan. During the hymns yesterday I was blown away because they sing so powerfully! I thought it was just a rumour, but it is true! Murray Bridge is named Murray Bridge because we have a massive river named the Murray River that runs right through it and there is a huge bridge over it. We have to cross the bridge to get to church.

My new companion is Sister Freitas (Fray-tas) from Brasil. She is the only Brasilian in the mission. She only just finished her training, so we are learning the area together. We have a lot in common and just this week we have worked really well together so I am excited for the transfer.

Me and my new companion

The area really needs a refresher. We only have one progressing investigator, so we have decided to find like crazy. The hard thing about being in such a small town is every single door has been knocked and everyone already knows the missionaries. But, even though that is the case it was a week of miracles.

It's beautiful

The first experience we had was when we were knocking a street. We were having no luck and it felt useless. So we decided to go back to the car and pray and ask if we were in the right place, if we should continue knocking or go somewhere else. When we got into the car I tried to turn it on so that we could pray with A/C because it was about 35 degrees. The key would not turn. It felt stuck. So I took it out and put it back in and tried to turn it again. Would not budge. I tried many different things, even my companion tried and the key would not budge. Sister Freitas looked at me with wide eyes and recounted a story from just the previous week. Her and her past companion were walking back to the car when she saw someone and she felt impressed to go talk to that person. Her companion got into the car and she said a prayer in her heart that said, "If you want me to go back and talk to that person make the car not work. Make it stop right now." The car at the time worked, so she took that as her answer and they drove away. As she told me this I felt the need to get out of the car. We said a prayer and continued to knock the street. (Kinda had to since the car would not work haha). We ended up finding two people who scheduled return appointments with us. If we had just walked away because it felt useless, we would have never found those two people. When we got back to the car when we finished the street I put the keys in, and they turned.

Ready to hit the roads

Another experience from this week. Our new district leader was bitten by a White tip spider. They are deadly and the poison eats away at your flesh. He had to be taken to the hospital in Adelaide and to get there they needed our car because they don't have one. We expected they would be back later that day. They stayed the rest of the week in the hospital and he had surgery. In fact, they are still there as I type this. So what does that mean for me? Bikes. All day, everyday. We biked in 40 degree heat all day these past 4 days. It was... great. Because we both have no idea where we are going we attached the GPS to my bike! We called it the Bat Bike.

Yesterday we were biking to an appointment and a guy in a car slowed down beside us and yelled, "ARE YOU THE JEHOVAHS?!" I yelled back, "NO, WE ARE MORMONS!" He had no idea who the Mormons were, he pulled over and asked us what the difference was. I showed him the Book of Mormon and explained this is the main difference between us and all the religions. It is another testament of Jesus Christ. He was very interested and we will be having our first lesson with him next Saturday!

 There were many more little miracles throughout the week. Heavenly Father answered my prayer by showing me why I am here. There is work for me to do and I cannot wait to see what this transfer has in store for me!

I love you all,

Sister Coultrup

PACKING

G'day M8s,

I have a lot to talk about but I don't know where to start!

I guess I will say, I am finally being transferred. I have no clue what to expect. I have never been transferred before, been in Happy Valley 7.5 months. They have changed everything about transfers too. We no longer have a transfer meeting. So we will find out where we are going tonight, and will transport ourselves to our new area via bus or train (by ourselves!!). One of my companions Sister Reyes is leaving too but she has been told that she will be on an airplane. We are quite sure she will be sent BACK to Darwin. I am sad I am leaving Happy Valley, I have many fond memories but I look forward to seeing where the Lord will have me serve next. Wherever I go I know that there will be people I have to find and help. 

The saddest service project

Last Pday we went to Victor Harbour, which I am so glad we did because it will probably be my last time since I am being transferred. We got to go to the grave of the first missionary in Australia. He stayed here and died here and was burried in Victor (people here call it Victa). We had fish and chips for lunch, it was delicious. I was told the F&C down in Victa is the best and they were right. Fresh fish on the coast :)
 Also my dream came true. I got to serve down in Victor Harbour this week! The Elders had a lady who would much prefer to be taught by the Sisters so they set up an appointment with her and we went down and taught the first discussion. It was a great lesson and she is excited to read the Book of Mormon and went to church down there yesterday. The Sisters will continue to travel down there every week to teach her.

Finally!  It's never too late!

I realize I did not share anything about New Years last week. We were in the flat by 4pm for our safety. Aussies know how to party. We just cleaned and studied and planned and then we had pizza for dinner and opened the left over Christmas crackers.

Yesterday I received my Young Womanhood Recognition in Happy Valley sacrament meeting. I made it a mission goal to completely start over my Personal Progress and complete it on my mission. I never did it as a Young Woman and I regret it to this day. I am so grateful I was able to complete it and I learned so much from it. The program is truly inspired of God and helps Young Woman see their divine potential and recognize their true identity as daughters of God. It helps Young Woman draw closer to Christ and prepare to make and keep sacred covenants with their Father in Heaven. I received a plaque and a necklace as proof I did it. Haha. 

Saying goodbye to Victor Harbour

We had dinner with one of our investigators. She is one that I found with Sister Rooarii. She is a beautiful soul. I love her and will miss her when I leave. We have been teaching her for a little while and at dinner we gave her a Book of Mormon. I bore my testimony and told her that I KNOW that it is true and that this a gift and that there is nothing better that we could give her. I wrote in it my testimony as well and inserted a piece of paper where I wrote down all the questions of the soul from Preach My Gospel and the places where they can be answered in the Book of Mormon.

We have had a new family move into our ward this week. They were just baptized in Marion last month. They are so lovely! They are from the Middle East and have the most incredible conversion story. Which I won't share here for privacy reasons. Just know that they are true Christians who are dedicated and I am so grateful to have met them.

On Saturday our recent convert Melanie had us over for dinner. Little did I know that it was a birthday celebration for me! She knew my birthday was coming up and she knew transfers were coming so just in case she wanted to celebrate my birthday a little early. She decorated her house and made a lovely meal and gave me a beautiful skirt as a gift. I am so grateful for that. I was not expecting it and she didn't have to do that. She is a beautiful soul. 

Forgot the sunscreen

We also did a service this week where we chopped up over 100 onions. There were many tears and we joked about it being the "saddest service we have ever done". The picture of us holding buckets is from the service. There were four more buckets.

I would like to end off by bearing my testimony. I know that God lives. If you are having doubts, that is okay, we all have doubts now and then. But doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. I have been so blessed by having the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, it has been a strength and support for myself and my family. To know that I have a loving Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ who died for me and has suffered my pains, sins and sorrows brings me great comfort. Growing up with the gospel in my life is something I am truly grateful for. My parents are great examples to me. There is no better way to raise a family than in the gospel. I have never been more happier in my life than the times where I was truly living the gospel of Jesus Christ, following His teachings and walking in His way.

I love you all so much, have a great week. I have yet to find out where I am going but I cannot wait to!

Take care,

Sister Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

So This is Christmas, and What Have You Done?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Chocolate restaurant, great idea

I really had the best Christmas WEEK ever! The mission put on a four day celebration thingy it was awesome! I will start from the beginning.

So on the 22nd it was a normal day but we got permission to go out with my Ward Mission Leader and his wife somewhere out of our area. We weren't quite sure where we were going. They took us to Marion shopping center and to Chocolateria San Churro's. It is a Chocolate Restaurant! Why don't we have these in Canada? We had plates of all this fancy chocolate, my favourite was the Chili Chocolate. I don't know how Spicy + Chocolate works, but it does. That was part of our Christmas gift from them, it was a lovely evening and I really enjoyed myself.

All the Canadian missionaries, all from Alberta, until recently, Bethany was the only one

On the 23rd we had Sisters Conference. All the Sisters got together at the mission home. We went Carolling in the morning. We split off into two groups, our group went to a shopping center. I was the chorister. People came up and starting filming us and then turning the cameras straight onto me! It was so embarrassing! Nonetheless, it was a great time and we handed out 50 pictures of Jesus Christ, like the one we have back home in our living room. Then we had lunch and a training all about Christmas, and we all shared our favourite Christmas memories. Then we watched Mr. Krugers Christmas. It was a great conference. I also got to Skype Sister Rooarii who is up in Darwin! When we saw eachother we started crying... I miss her so much! 

Christmas Eve was a very busy day! We had so many people to see! We had lunch with an investigator, which was so nice. She bought me a Christmas gift. Les Miserables DVD. I did not have the heart to tell her I can't watch it. We helped put up someones Christmas tree too! In the evening all the missionaries got together at the mission home and we had dinner, then went carolling around houses in groups. We made a family start crying because it was so awful. Just kidding they were crying because they felt the Spirit and then they tried to give us $50. They said that they had literally just said a family prayer over their meal and then we started singing "Joy to the World". Afterwards all the missionaries got back together again and we watched the movie '17 Miracles'. It was SO SAD! I felt depressed afterwards. I am used to watching the Muppets Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve. Don't get me wrong, the movie was outstanding! I recommend all watch it! Very touching. Then afterwards we were all sent to the gym where they had ALL the Christmas gifts from family on the stage and handed them out like little Christmas Elves.

Christmas Day was the best!! We opened our gifts from family, friends and ward members. Thank you so much everyone! My companions and I feel so blessed. Then we had a beautiful breakfast at Brother and Sister Watts' house. We all got to skype our families after that. That was the highlight of my day! It was so wonderful to see my family! Then we had a turkey roast lunch with the Watts and then we headed off to the mission home again! We watched the missions Christmas DVD which is a slide show of pictures from the whole year! Then all the zones did little skits. I thought it was going to be lame but the skits had me in stitches the whole time. Our skit was the best, just saying. I got someone to film it and I will send it home eventually. All of the skits were about missionary work but they were very creative. We had a BBQ for dinner and then we all went to the chapel and enjoyed the spiritual part of Christmas. President and Sister Parker spoke to us and it was wonderful! 

Christmas Day

Boxing Day we had a WHOLE DAY Christmas Multi-Zone conference. It was excellent. All the Zone Leaders gave talks and so did Sister and President Parker. They fed us Brunch and Dinner. Something I liked the most out of it was when they gave a training on fasting. Fasting is so powerful. We are extra spiritual and have extra power when we fast. It helps us stay focussed on our purpose as missionaries, depending on what you fast for and a fast is not complete without a fast offering.

As you can see I had a very eventful week. It was the best ever! Hope you all have a Happy New Year! 2016! Love you!

Sister Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints