To the Bridge, Through the Storm, and Back Again

G'day! 

What an eventful week and a half! I am emailing on Thursday because we went to the Temple as a City Zone today! Hurrah! It was amazing as per usual.

Temple Trip!

So, last week we went to the Murray Bride Show! Never thought I would go back there. It was crazy to think that is where I was at the beginning of this year. We took the PVC to the show, we were set up in a little barn sort of thing, lots of other booths with people selling things and there was one other church booth. Outside there was a stage with a band playing and lots of food trucks and rides and games and things. It was pretty cool. It spanned over two days so we stayed with the MB Sisters over night. We were able to talk to many people and have a miracle! 

Don't know if you remember that last week I met someone in the City from Calgary who is actually our neighbour? WELL. I met him and his family AGAIN! In Murray Bridge! He remembered me and we were able to show his family some Mormon messages and we gave him a Book of Mormon in his language and he took all the pamphlets and requested the Elders come and visit them while they are still in Adelaide. And we also got the details for missionaries back in Canada to visit them too! How cool is that? So not a coincidence!

Also this past weekend we started ESL class. Sister Townsend and I are in charge of it, we teach and organize the lessons. We had the first one last Saturday. It was pretty good for the first lesson and this Tuesday we had even more people show up, so that is good that it is growing! I don't really know what I am doing... But I am trying my best, thinking of when I took English in school and how we can use that in the classes. It is really fun though. We play some English games and practice speaking to each other and always have a vocab part of the class too. We teach ESL in the City Teaching Center!

Just the Sisters

Quick funny moment on Sunday.. So I think I have mentioned before we are teaching a deaf lady. So she comes to church every Sunday and we interpret for her. (I have gotten a lot better at Auslan - Australian Sign Language) One of the assistants (we serve in the same ward as the AP's) asked me: "How do you say hello in sign language?" Then I just waved at him. LOL! It was so funny, Sister T and I laugh about it. 

Also on Sunday our investigator Niki had her baptism interview! She is really amazing, our district leader said she is an angel and such a blessing. We have only been teaching her for one month. She is so prepared. This weekend she will be baptized :) 

So yesterday we went on trade offs and it was the most adventurous trade offs I have EVER gone on! We received a text in the morning that apparently there was a massive storm coming in and that we will proselyte as normal until we are notified to return back to the flat. It was (and still is going on) the worst storm in 50 years! So Sister Collins and I were in the City contacting all morning and by afternoon, soaked to the bone. It was so insanely windy as well, everyone was saying it was a cyclone. At around 3pm we were right next to Rundle Mall on King William St and then all of a sudden ALL of the lights went out along the streets. People were screaming! It was like the apocalypse! Lol. We then found out that it wasn't just along the street, but the WHOLE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA was without power! Everyone then started filtering out of their office buildings and trying to catch the buses because all the trains and trams were down. I have never seen the City so busy and in such a panic. All in the mean time everyone is getting pelted with rain.

We still tried to contact even in the midst of this apocalypse. I said to one lady, "We share a special message about how the Church that Jesus Christ had when he was on the Earth has been restored today!" She looked at me frightened and said, "TODAY? LIKE TODAY? IS THAT WHAT ALL THIS IS ABOUT?!" She gestured to the sky and everything and I was like, "Oh nooo I meant in modern day times!" All the power was completely out throughout the state until 4am this morning. Our phone also was not working, we could not send or receive anything. Apparently there was a mission wide text sent out at 7pm telling everyone to get to their flats immediately but we did not get it! And everyone was panicking thinking we were in trouble, but nope, we were just still out trying to work! Then finally the APs got a hold of us and they were like, "Oh finally!!!" all relieved and such and we got home about 8:30pm. The storm is still going on right now, you cannot see the sky everything is just a gray-white. 

Back in Murray Bridge my old area

We did have a miracle in the storm! Our last contact before we headed into the suburbs was a lady holding an umbrella. She graciously offered cover from the storm to us and held her umbrella out so we could all fit. She realized who we were and asked us what our take was on why bad things happen to good people. We were able to testify of God's plan for us, how trials make us stronger and how we have a way to overcome these things through Jesus Christ. She said it was "crazy" that we were talking to her because she has been thinking about this all day because something really terrible happened to her just the day before. We had a great contact and taught about faith in the Lord and his timing. We were able to get her contact information and she wants to see the teaching space! 

So many things happened! I hope everyone has a great week and I also hope no apocalyspe storms happen up in the great white north!

Love you all!

Sister Coultrup

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Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Moon Cake is not Really Cake...

G'day!

Hope all is well up there in Canadia land and England! All is swell down under. I met one of our neighbours yesterday contacting!!! He lives in the neighbouring suburb back home and knows the stake center I attend back home as well! It was crazy! It is a small world even though I am on the other side of the world!

This week has been really great. It was the first week of a new transfer! My just previous companion Sister Maea is still in my last area and is training. So this week while she waited for her new companion to come in from the MTC she stayed with us for a few days! That was cool. The weather has not been good. It has been teasing us with a day of 20 degrees and then it drops straight back down and rains for a week.

Got to hang with Sister Maea

On Sept 15, it was Moon Cake day! Now you are probably wondering what that is. It is a Chinese Lunar Festival, they have these things called "Moon Cakes" and have big parties to celebrate the "most round" moon of the year. (These are just things I was told by some of our Chinese investigators). Sister Townsend and I found out about this festival about a month ago and suggested we have an event in the City for all our Chinese recent converts and investigators. It was approved so we did! We had an amazing event, it was very successful and we will continue to do one similar to it each month. It was over 3 hours, we had a video presentation where we showed a series of selected Mormon messages IN CHINESE, then we had dinner (Chinese food and moon cakes of course), then we all played ping pong and "mingled". All the Senior couples were there as well as the mission President and his Wife. It was great fun for all that attended. We definitely had miracles! We were able to find two new investigators from this event and one of our investigators that did come felt really touched (felt the Spirit) while watching one of the Mormon messages about the Plan of Salvation. 

It isn't really cake

We had a temple tour with Dana, our recent convert which was beautiful! :) Loved it! She loved it as well, we walked around the gardens and sat in the waiting room and discussed the importance of temples and how they bless our lives. How they can seal families together forever. Something I am grateful for.

Another miracle from the Moon Cake festival, we had three more people at church than usual. Our investigator Niki, who is going to be baptized in a couple weeks, was a mini missionary! She embraced these new people and did her best to make them feel welcome, she sat with them in sacrament meeting and classes and interpreted and explained what was going on. It was awesome! She isn't even a member yet and she is already doing missionary work. What an example!

I have had a few things on my mind recently and came across a scripture that really spoke to me.

"Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." - Joshua 3:5

Ponder what that means for you in your life. It reminded me of the scripture that says, "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow will think for itself..."

Hope you all have a great week!

HEAPS OF LOVE,

Sister Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

G'day!

It has been an amazing, crazy week! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to be at the Royal Adelaide Show and to teach and testify to all those there. We were there everyday but only for 5 hours. Other Sisters would switch off with us so we didn't have to be there for 12 hours, otherwise I think we may have gone crazy!

We had many wonderful experiences! One of my favourites happened yesterday actually. Two little children under the age of 8 walked by our booth and saw the large image of Jesus in our booth. They both joyfully gasped and exclaimed, "JESUS! WE LOVE JESUS!!!" My heart melted. They ran in and started grabbing at the pamphlets with His picture on the front. We let them have them and they immediately started flipping through and looking at the pictures, then hopped off to join their parents.

Looking good in flourescent

We had a less active member enter the booth and bring a friend who used to investigate. Sister Townsend talked to him while I conversed with the less active member. He had so many questions and doubts, was bringing up all of these issues and random things that didn't make much sense. He would jump from one topic to the other, saying that it is impossible to see God like Joseph Smith did, that no one else in the bible has. I then showed him Exodus 33:11 (KJV), "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend..." There was further discussion and then I just decided to testify because I could see he was not willing to accept anything I said. I explained how I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this past week I have never had so much opposition surrounding that topic, but that it has only strengthened and confirmed to me that it is true. He was a prophet, the Book of Mormon is true, that is something I cannot deny because the Holy Ghost has witnessed it to me. This is my simple testimony, but something unbreakable. I expounded that he knows this too, he has just forgotten. Because at one point the Spirit witnessed it to him and that witness caused him to act in faith and be baptized. This experience for me was a testimony builder.

We definitely did receive a lot of opposition but also a lot of positivity as well. I felt like I had to be really strong and I constantly prayed for the Spirit to be with me and fill my mouth. And He did, I would not be able to do this work without the Lord by my side. I know He lives and loves me and I know that His church has been restored and if anyone doubts that then I encourage you and God encourages you to find out for yourself. Read the scriptures, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, feast upon the words, ponder them and pray about them. Our Father in Heaven is not the source of all this confusion, he is a God of order and will always answer someone's sincere search for truth.

I loved this past week! So much fun! And I feel spiritually reenergized as well. This is the start of a new transfer, both my companion and I are remaining! Which is awesome :) Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Ps. We found a blue tongue lizard in our backyard this week! It was hissing at us...

wildlife

Heaps of Love,

Sister Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Let the Show Begin...

G'day!

How is everyone! This week has been crazy! And I am sorry but I do not have much time to write an email this week.

So the Royal Adelaide Show started!! It is kind of like the Calgary Stampede... We have a booth for the church with the PVC and we are the missionaries in the booth that people can talk to at the Show! It is amazing and so much fun! I feel so blessed to be able to do this. It is a long day, 12 hours... So we have two other Sister companionship's that relieve us. We have the PVC to use as a teaching tool, playing Mormon messages and so on. We are giving out Books of Mormon, pamphlets, etc. It is a great way to get the churches name out there and reach out to more people across Adelaide. The show has about 700,000 people attend! We have a lot of members stop by the booth too, to say hello.

Doesn't this look nice?

In the Books of Mormon we are giving away, we have placed a testimony in each one. We had missionaries all over the mission visit the members in their wards and write their testimonies in their native language! Then we put their testimonies in the Book of Mormon that is in their native language so everyone who gets a Book of Mormon can read a testimony of it in their language. We received over 200 testimonies from members all over Adelaide!

This has been so much fun but also exhausting. We have been getting home a lot later than missionaries should be! But the show goes on until 9pm so we don't get home until past 10pm. We have had some amazing experiences these past few days.

I would like to share a  few small miracles we have seen at the Show. On the small wooden table below the TV we put a Chinese Book of Mormon and some Chinese Pamphlets. Later on an older Chinese man saw the Book in his language and stopped and picked it up and started flipping through it. In his broken English he said: "I love YESU" (Yesu Jidu is Chinese for Jesus Christ) and he pointed at the Saviour PVC display. We explained what the Book of Mormon was and how special it is. He gladly accepted the Book and said he would love for missionaries to come and teach him more about the book.

Perfect place for missionary work

Also today we had the massive bibles out on display beside the Books of Mormon in the booth. An African man walking by saw it and hastily walked straight into the booth and picked it up. He asked how much it was and we said it was free. We were then able to also introduce the Book of Mormon and after explaining what it was he said, "So, this will help me understand the Bible better?" YES! He gladly took it and is happy to have missionaries over as well to help Him understand the Book better.

There are many other experiences but as you can see the Show is helping us reach out to people from all over Adelaide (and Australia!)

Ready for another day

We had an experience where a man was trying to argue with us about how Joseph Smith is a false Prophet and quoted the scripture that says many will false prophets will come in His name, wolves in sheeps clothing, etc. I said, I completely understand and agree with you but it also goes on to say that by their fruits ye shall know them, and the Book of Mormon is the fruit Joseph Smith brought about. We opened to Moroni 10:3-5 and told him that through the Holy Ghost he can know if it is true. He didn't accept the Book of Mormon, but he also had nothing else to say after that.

Hope you all have a great week and I will update you on the end of the show next p day! The show ends on the 11th.

Heaps of love,

Sister Coultrup

**Img_6995 is of Sister Townsend dead tired on the ground after the Royal Adelaide Show haha.**

-- 

My companion after the show

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Stepping Into the Light...

G'day!

It has been a great week, we have been tested heaps but everything worked out in the end. Lots of people cancelled on us and no one answered the phone. I feel like it is karma when I used to put my phone on silent and never answer it. I can hear Dad now, "Why do you even have a phone if you never answer it?!" That is how I have felt all week. Alas, it was great anways! We had a baptism!

There were a few scares, we saw her every day this week leading up to her baptism on Sunday and there were two days where she showed up with concerns that the adversary had placed. He is really tricky and tries to stop people because he knows this decision will only bring happiness! But the Spirit lead and we were able to work something out. The baptism was beautiful. Dana bore her testimony and shared some of her experience leading up to this point. We met her exactly 6 weeks ago, on the bus. She explained that she was a lost girl in her darkest part of Australia, and the gospel brought her into the light. She is Chinese and explains that being baptized isn't her abandoning her Chinese culture, but actually embracing it! The gospel standards are parallel to many of the traditional Chinese ways. She chose the closing Hymn to be, "I Believe in Christ". I really felt the Spirit at that moment and reflected upon my mission.

I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!

From him I'll gain my fondest dream;

And while I strive through grief and pain,

His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."

I believe in Christ; so come what may,

With him I'll stand in that great day

When on this earth he comes again

To rule among the sons of men.

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life so that I can always have that guiding light, Christ. Christ is the Light and Life of the world. I love Him, I am so grateful for his atoning sacrifice. I am grateful that through Him I can start again, and that there is no end. It is such a privilege to be able to see closely how Christ works in other peoples lives as well.

Heaps of love,

Sister Coultrup

--

Sister Bethany Victoria Coultrup

Australia Adelaide Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints