Transferred

HAPPY EASTER!

I know I am a day late, but our P-day got changed to Tuesday because of transfers yesterday and because all the libraries were closed.

I got transferred! Sister Freitas and I were really shocked, we thought she would leave because she had been there a lot longer than I. I am now in the City Sisters area. We are literally in the heart of Adelaide. We live right outside of downtown and bike into the City everyday and contact all around the city (downtown). I am really excited because this area is really fast paced, complete contrast from Murray Bridge. We don't have a car, only bikes. My new companion is Sister Taufa. Her background is Tongan (my third Tongan companion!), but she lives in Sydney, born in New Zealand. She is really cool. We have gone on trade offs before. We share a flat with another set of Sisters which I have never done before, it will be interesting. 4 Sisters. 1 shower. We will see how it goes. I am excited to be in the City and see what this new chapter brings to my missionary story.

Saying goodbye, feeling pale, love my gift

This past week has been good. It was pretty slow because people were busy for Easter and also I was sick again. Easter was great. We went to church and I told the hummingbird story off by heart to the Relief Society Sisters which is about the atonement and it makes you cry. We also went to one of our Catholic friends baby baptism lunch, everyone there was Philippine, I felt very white. We had dinner with the Ete family. When I found out that I was being transferred we went back there and they gave me a special Lava Lava which is a traditional Samoan skirt that they all wear. I will miss Murray Bridge. I sent some pictures of me with the people I had the opportunity to say goodbye too. I only had an hour to run around and say ta ta.

 

How can I say goodbye these adorable kids?

Yesterday we switched companions and got straight to work. I almost died. THE HILLS in the City are massive. I will definitely get whipped into shape in this area. We ran around like crazy appointment to appointment. It was awesome. I love being busy, the City is all hustle and bustle. Most of the investigators are Chinese as well because we have heaps of Chinese in Adelaide.

My new companion Sister Taufa

I hope everyone had a great Easter and took the time to remember Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that He made for all of us. I am so grateful for my Saviour. I know that He died for me and through Him I can be redeemed from my sins and downfalls. I feel so blessed to have this knowledge and to have Him in my life. I love to share His word and help others feel His love in theirs lives as well. God is great and His love is great.

Love you all!

Sister Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

G'day mate,

How is everyone? I had a really awesome week! I have so many pictures and stories to share.

On Tuesday we had PDAY and we went to the Adelaide Central Market, which is world renowned. Even Jamie Oliver says it is one of the best markets in the world. We went with a member who was kind enough to take us and I had so much fun. I felt like I was in a movie, has anyone seen the movie Push with Dakota Fanning in it? When they are in this underground Chinese market place and it is dark and busy. That is what it was like. So many different smells accompanied by yelling market people trying to get your business. So cool! I hope I get to go back there. They had food from all over the world and it was all fairly cheap and delicious. I got to have an Italian donut called a Zeppoli. We had a great day. I will send some pictures of the City but they may not be that good because I took them while in a moving car.

Sa got baptized

This week we got a call saying we will be going on trade offs and that I will be going to HAPPY VALLEY with Sister Vaitaiki! So I got to go back to my birth area. I was so excited and I had the best time. It gets even better. I was surprised by... Sister Funaki! She came down from Brisbane this weekend for Brother Watts' 50th birthday party. I got to spend my trade off with Sister Funaki as well because she came out teaching with us pretty much the whole time. We got to see our recent converts and teach those who we all used to teach before together. It was so cool being with two of my previous companions in the same area we served in together. I got to see a lot of the people I dearly love. I really had the best time!!! I am still excited about it.

I also got to see Sister (Lisa) Travers this week as well at a fireside, she was a Sister I served around went on trade offs with in my training and she came back to the mission to visit as well!

Trainer came by for a visit

Also this Saturday Sa got baptized!!! We had President and Sister Parker come, as well as the senior missionary couple the Larkin's. It was a beautiful baptism and she got to be baptized by her new husband Foe. It took them a while to get the right positioning in the font, dancing around one another. Everyone giggled a bit before the ordinance actually took place. It was lovely to see her take the step to follow Jesus Christ more fully in her life.

Another visitor

I hope you all have a lovely week. That is all for now, sorry it is not too long, but I have lots of pictures to make up for it.

Love

Sister Coultrup

Hitting the streets

The market

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

It's the Little Miracles that Count

G'day mates!

It has been a really great week.

We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday, which was a miracle. We have been trying really hard to get people to attend church to see it for themselves, with no success. We only ever have Sa at church, the one who is getting baptized this week.

But we had a few from two families that we are teaching attend! And they both said they will be back next week.

This week I received this big package from my parents which I was really confused about because I was not expecting anything. While we were on the phone at night to our District Leader I was opening the package. I opened it and out popped a stuffed camel. I looked at the camel in confusion and Sister Freitas burst out laughing! "Why do you have a camel?!" She asked. I had absolutely no idea. The Elders laughed about it and asked if they could have the camel. I said no because there has to be a good reason why I have a dromedary camel. I thought, maybe Benjamin went onto my Mum's iPad, opened one of her tabs and somehow accidently sent me a camel? I could not think for the life of me why. After the call and my companion was off getting ready for bed I sat there at my desk staring at the camel. Then it finally hit me. HUMP DAY. Camels have humps... and it was my hump day... haha. I laughed so hard because my parents are so witty. Sorry I am a bit slow but I eventually got it. Thank you! I named my camel Moses.

Hump Day

On my Hump Day I woke up with a massive headache which quickly turned into a migraine I spent most of the day under the covers to keep out the light because it was making everything worse. I even forgot it was my half-way mark because I was not feeling well at all. I eventually felt well enough to go out and proselyte for the rest of the evening, especially since we had a set appointment with one of our investigators. We had a great lesson with her. The first thing she said was, "Sisters! Prayer works!" She said one night she prayed to have a good sleep, and it happened. Then the next night she prayed for something else and it happened and so forth. So now she has been praying every night for at least 10 minutes she said. Then she asked the million dollar question.

"So what do I have to do to get baptized?"

Sister Freitas and I were shocked! We explained how and she committed to be baptized. She said ever since she first met with us she has given up alcohol and coffee. We did not even teach the Word of Wisdom. She is the elect that God has prepared for us. This is the investigator I talked about the other week, the 20 year old girl that is into video game design.

This week I got a flat tire on my bike. I rode over some pokey evil Australian weeds and they popped it. We had to walk the rest of the day and I sprained my ankle by running because we were late for an appointment.

A funny moment from this week... We had dinner with Bishop and his family and they have a vegetable garden. Bishop asked if we wanted some Zucchinis and sized them by holding his arms out wide. And I laughed and said yeah right you have Zucchinis that big. I should not have laughed because he was serious. For some reason these Zucchinis are became Super - Zucchinis. There must be something in the water in Australia.  We gave them to President and Sister Parker yesterday as gifts to help them with their healthy eating regime. They thought it was funny and promised to make something for us with them.

1. The Holy Ghost

2. Faith

3. God is our loving Heavenly Father (Understanding our divine identity)

4. Focus

I believe that these apply also to just daily life, not just missionary life. I don't have enough time to explain why, but I invite you to ponder and study how these four principles can help you in your life and with the decisions you make daily.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love

Sister Coultrup

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The biggest zucchinis you've ever seen

Yesterday we had a mission conference with our Pacific Area President, President Pearson and an area seventy Elder O'Riordan. Both of whom I have met before at the last conference. It was a fantastic, revelatory conference. President Pearson talked about four principles that will help us in our missions.

Hump Day

On Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 1:01 PM, Bethany Coultrup <bethany.coultrup@myldsmail.net> wrote:

G'day everyone,

It has been a great week!

We saw lots of success through out the week. We got to see a lot of people which was great compared to the weeks where no one is home or wants to receive us. We biked ALL week. There are many times I look behind me and can barely see my companion because she is so far away. She says I bike too fast. I suppose that comes from trying to keep up with my Dad.  I have actually begun to enjoy biking here, many blessings come from it. We get to speak to more people and the Lord sees us working really hard all day long and he blesses us with little miracles here and there!

Sa and Foe got married! Sa is bride, she is our investigator. She will be baptized in the following two weeks! I have never witnessed a marriage before. It was beautiful and people told me I would cry and I thought, "pfft nah I won't cry, why would someone cry at a wedding?"

I cried.

It was so beautiful! I am very happy for them. The wedding was awesome, lots of food and the families did cultural dances for entertainment which was so cool! They even did a Haka, because they lived in NZ for a while.

We helped decorate for the wedding as well, which was fun. Lots of balloons and things.

Beautiful couple

Cute wedding party

We had a special Stake Conference this Sunday. We had a broadcast specially for Australia and New Zealand from SLC. So we had to go down to my last area, which is the stake center. It is an hour and a half away and Sister Freitas fell asleep in the car. Yes, I took the opportunity to evilly take pictures. Also everyone in the car did not know the way to Onkaparinga from Murray Bridge so I had to guide them. I am not even a local and I know Adelaide really well. At Conference I got to see all my family! (Mission family) It was so nice to see Brother and Sister Watts and everyone else. The conference was great too. The main theme was having faith and trusting God. There was as story shared that I loved and want to share too.

Evil picture taker

Back a while ago there was a famous tight rope walker. He would walk a tight rope that went over Niagara Falls. I don't remember his name but I am sure some people know who I am talking about. He would walk this tight rope over rushing death waters and would do it with his manager on his back. He turned to the crowd and asked, "Who thinks I can do walk this tight rope while pushing a wheel barrow?" Everyone said, "Oh yes we believe you can do it! You are fantastic and talented!" Everyone cheered. He got everything set up then asked, "Alright, so who will get into the wheel barrow?" Everyone went silent. No one volunteered to get into the wheel barrow. They all believe that he could do it, but did not trust him enough. This relates to us with God. We know that He is omnipotent and we have faith in Him, but that is not enough, we need to trust Him. With everything, turn to Him in all times of need and He will lift us and make things easier to bear.

This morning a member picked us up in her 1939 Chev. It was so cool! She offered to let me drive it, but I don't know how to drive manual so it didn't happen. This car was brand new right as the Second World War started. I loved the experience of driving down country roads in Aussie in a 1939 Chev. Who else can say they have done that?

Nice ride!

It is my hump day this week. On March 3rd, 2016. I turn 9 months old on the mission. Meaning I am half way through! I cannot believe it. Time flies.

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week.

Love

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