Week 29

And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for........ 

Elder Tingey has been transferred........... To......... WOLLONGONG!!!! 

I'm so flippin excited! And guess what! My companion is Elder Barlow!!!!!! hahahahaha I died when I saw it. And elder Hixson is in my flat!!!! So awesome. Just the drive alone from mortdale down to The GONG, as the call it here, was soooo beautiful! Go look up pictures, cuz this place is paradise! The combo of beach and cliffs and rainforest is just so awesome! 

I had to say goodbye on sunday to everyone and that was a lot harder than I was expecting. Camden ward is a good place with some good people in it. It's amazing how life can change completely so quickly and all you can do is move forward and keep doing the best you can. Literally the only constant thing about missionary work is our message. And that in and of itself is what is really cool. no matter if I'm speaking English, Chinese, or samoan, jesus is still the Christ, yesu hai shi jidu. so awesome. K I'm going to have to cut this short because we are going to the Buddhist temple today and we have to leave and I spent all my time reading the 35 emails I had... hahaha too much love for elder tingey.

The conference was amazing with elder Nelson. There is not much cooler than being in the presence of an apostle. It seemed to me like his message was pretty much "you may not be much, but you're all the Lord's got." hahaha that might seem blunt, but it's pretty true. he talked about how the lord has a pattern of using the unlikely to accomplish the impossible. David and goliath, the virgin mary, joseph smith...Elder tingey.... hahaha but it's true. And when I got into my new flat, there was a quote on the wall that said "two people can do anything if one of them is God." Such an awesome quote. Remember that what we are asked to do sometimes may seem unlikely for us to accomplish, and somethimes it feels impossible, but with the lord, somehow it happens and it ends up working out just fine.

Things are going good. I'm so excited for this transfer. There's a uni in Wollongong so there's heaps of Chinese people here! so happy. Love you all! Sorry this is really short and you probably have heaps of questions, but i'll try to talk more next week! hahaha love you!!!!

love,

Elder tingey

Week 28

This week was good. I got to give a baptismal interview which was awesome! I was really nervous that something was going to come up and i wouldn't know how to deal with it, but Elder Phillips and Elder Katene had prepared her really well for baptism. She smashed all the questions. She got baptized on saturday and confirmed on sunday.

We got to stop by a Less-active Family on thursday and talk to the father. We shared a message about faith and after we had finished he asked us to stay for a bit and have an ice block (popcicle). We talked for about half an hour after that about his mission in Tonga. It was so awesome. He has such strong faith. 

It seemed like all the appointments we set this week fell through and all the people we went to visit weren't home or were busy, so it was kindof a long week, but on saturday Bishop gave us a list of people whose records had just been moved into our ward, but they haven't been to church so we are going to go visit them. That's always an exciting thing, so wish us luck! 

This week is going to be a crazy one. I'm going on trade offs tomorrow with Elder Coats, then Wednesday we have the conference with Elder Nelson, and wednesday night we are going up to Minto to teach a Chinese investigator because they don't have any chinese speaking missionaries there, and his english isn't very good, and his wife is samoan and can't speak a lick of chinese. Just goes to show how much they really love each other. and then on thursday we are going on splits with one of the Bishopric members and Friday we have a big service project and saturday we also have a big service project and we get transfer calls. I talked to Elder Hixson and elder Barlow yesterday because there was a big south pacific area broadcast at the stake center and all missionaries in the stake had to go and They are both in Wollongong and said they speak chinese every day. I'm not saying i want to get transferred, but someday i hope to use my language. I think one of us in Camden will get transferred. Not sure which one it will be, but i think someone will. 

I've been studying the New Testament to learn more about Christ's life and how i can be more like him. He truly was amazing. He was the perfect example in every aspect of life. Like it says in ether 12:27 "if men come unto me i will show unto them their weakness". It's like comparing those paint chips. Sometimes you can't tell that one is off-white until you hold it up to something perfectly white. That's when we can see where we need to improve and if we humble ourselves, we can become that perfect shade of white. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful valentines day. Love you all so very much, and i hope you kept an eye on mom so she couldn't sneak out and put valentines on the porch. And there were probably just roses on the porch and a Symphony bar from dad! Hahaha man i miss you guys so much! Love you heaps!

Love,

Elder Tingey

I'm just so thankful that at least my FAMILY knows how to spell my name...

The Duck tongue was actually pretty good. And then this week Elder Peleuale came back to the flat one night all excited because he got ahold of some chicken necks! hahaha We cooked them up and had a feed on friday. They tasted great, there just wasn't a whole ton of meat on them.

I got the Valentine's package!!! Thank you sooooo much! Send everyone's moms my love! 

at the temple. with some people from the zone. for some reason nobody got into the picture. And i put it on self timer. pretty dang good photography if you ask me.

Week 27

ALRIGHTY THEN,

What a week, what a week. We had an awesome week. Do you want me to tell you about our week? okay i will. So this week we had our ward conference. Poor bishop, got put in and has 3 weeks to get ready for ward conference. It was a really awesome meeting, but the cool thing was the week leading up to it. Bishop wanted to really push for Less actives to be there so we went on heaps of rescue visits. There are a bunch of names on our ward list that i have never heard/met before. So Elder Cheng and I spend a lot of the week visiting these people and inviting them to ward conference. I'll tell you less-active work is probably the most rollercoaster-like a mission gets. Street contacting you know you will usually get ignored and rejected, and tracting you will most likely get told no thank you or the door slammed in your face. Visiting members is always easy and happy and usually unproductive, but with Less actives you just don't know. There were some people that were really cool and would let us in and talk to us for AGES and when we would invite them to church they would either accept, or tell us that now just isn't the time for them.... that's the worst. But We went to visit the relief society president's husband, who is less active. We talked for a while and he was HECTIC! AND he came to ward conference! So sweet. I love when that happens. 

This week President Lew decided to show up to our Zone Training Meeting on friday. It was really awesome to have him there. He brings a spirit to meetings that just makes everyone more receptive to the spirit. Elder PHillips and Elder Katene gave an amazing training and we had lunch as a zone after it was done. (the sisters were nice enough to make it for us) 

Things are going pretty good. Life is difficult. Missions are no different. The difficulties are different, but hard is hard no matter what it is that makes it hard. Bishop spoke on Patriarchal blessings on sunday so i took the opportunity to read over mine as well as my setting apart and father's blessing. Man i'm so happy i have all of those. It's odd how it takes certain experiences to make certain parts pop out at you, but there's always something good in there. Speaking of which, I think i might have sent my farewell talk home when i left the MTC on accident cuz i can't find it anywhere... Could you send that to me? 

We went to the Temple today and it was awesome. That's why this is coming at such a weird time. It took for flippin ever to get back to camden. But that's okay. TOtally worth it. 

Okay mom is probably mad that this email isn't longer, but i'm struggling for things to say. District leader stuff is going well. I have my first baptismal interview on thursday with the zone leaders investigator Tiara so hopefully i don't totally mess it up. WE've got a sweet district and it's fun to serve them. 

Love you heaps. Love being a missionary! Love the gospel. Love it all. that's really the only reason we do anything here is because of love, so remember that this Valentines' season:)

Love,

Elder Tingey

also, i left my camera in the car so you will have to wait until next week for pictures. I think i have a few.

Week 26

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone!!! 

I know you're all enjoying yourself. Hope the Hanks havent caught on to the fact that we use them for their cable yet... Not sure who i want to win between the seahawks and the Broncos. Both good teams. I think i'm going to have to go with the Seahawks though. Blame elder Hixson, but he got me to start following them and even though i love zane Beadles, i'm going for Seattle. But if Denver wins, then thats' okay, cuz denver's a favorite anyway. Seattle's just a little bit more favorite. but they're both good. THEY'RE BOTH GOOD. Hahaha Yes. 

THings have been pretty good here in Camden. I went on two trade-offs this week and i still have 5 more before the end of the transfer. We usually teach a lot more lessons when we go on trade-offs. I went with Elder Perkins on Saturday and we went to visit Ken, but he wasn't there and we talked to his daughter for a while. She's going through a rough time, so i asked if i could share a scripture with her from the Bible. She was hesitant and said she's more of a spiritual person and not like scriptures and religion, but she said okay so I shared with her Matthew 26:41. It's an awesome scripture that I had just read that morning. I testified to her that God lives and that he loves her and that he is waiting to give us strength for us to ask him for it. The spirit was really strong and it was just one of those moments that make all the other less-happy moments worth it. 

So yesterday i woke up and went about my sunday morning routine. (except it was fast sunday so i didn't put rice in the cooker before i showered) I went into the bathroom and put shaving cream on to shave, but when i tried to turn on the faucet nothing came out. I turned on the shower...same thing. No water! Hahaha I walked out of the bathroom to ask the other elders what was going on and they had no idea. we were calling people all morning and trying to figure out what was going on and why we had no water, but no one was answering. Luckily we have 12:30 church or else we would have been late. We even tried calling the other missionaries, but they were all in church or meetings or something so they didn't answer. Then i remembered that one of the flats they don't have a key so they leave the garage door unlocked and so anyone can get in so we took our towels and stuff and drove down to their flat and showered and then went to church. When we got back to the flat last night the water was back on and all is well now so no worries! hahaha it was great. 

On Saturday we went and played footy (football (not american football. it's touch rugby)) with the macarthur elders and some less actives and non-members.  It was awesome. I couldn't walk the next day, but It was fun. I still don't understand the game fully, but when i come home i will and i will teach you guys how to play. 

I can't remember if i told you, but on the 19, Russel M. Nelson is coming and we are having a joint North and South Sydney mission conference. It's going to be awesome. I'm so excited. 

This week for chinese New Year Elder Cheng's family sent him a package. It had heaps of chinese food. I ate Duck's tongue and it was pretty good! I thought it was weird that there was like a bone in it, but it tasted good and the meat was nice. not as chewy as i thought it would be. Hahaha GOod stuff. 

Okay i'm done. Love you all Heaps and heaps! THe church is the true church of God on the Earth. and that''s pretty cool, i think.

Love,

Elder Tingey

Ps i got the video of us doing the Hakka at the Christmas conference but it's way too big to send over email, so if dad ever figures out the drop box, maybe it will work through that...

Week 25

Happy Australia day everyone!!!!!

That's the reason i'm emailing today. Because all the libraries were closed yesterday because it was a public holiday. The real thing was on sunday, but Australians love their three-day weekends just like Americans so everyone had work off on monday so that's when all the mormons celebrate it. 

Sunday morning there was a parade down the main street of Camden so we watched it. On monday our ward had a barbecue. Then we went to a park in campbelltown to play some volleyball with the other missionaries. It was great. 

Mom wants to know how we get to the temple so i will say that we take the train and it takes about an hour or so. I've only gone once and i can't really remember. 

Vicky the chinese girl we met canceled on us last minute on friday and we haven't been able to get in contact with her since. Probably not a good thing but we'll keep trying. We're going to go visit Ken tomorrow and ask him about the stuff we gave him to read and see if he has any questions. Right now we have a ton of potential investigators, but it's just a matter of getting to see them because no one seems to be home, like, ever. Someone who looks like they have a lot of potential is a kid named Lachlan Mackenzie. He's in 10th grade and he visited Mormon.org and asked for missionaries to be sent to him and he said he wants to learn more. Hopefully he is one of those prepared people to hear the gospel!

This week I decided to start studying the Life of Christ a little bit more so i started reading the New testament. Matthew chapter 10 was really cool to read. It's Christ talking to his apostles, but it really is talking to missionaries too. Go have a read. 

I feel like i'm getting into the swing of being a district leader. almost. well, not really. hahaha struggle buddy. We have a district leader training meeting on thursday which i'm hoping helps me get a little bit better idea of what i'm doing. 

I feel like there is more to tell you but i just can't remember it all. Maybe i will take mom's advise and write stuff in my planner that i want to tell you... we'll see. 

Love you all! Be good! Do member missionary work!

love,

Elder tingey

We all got Lava lavas. yes, i'm one of those missionaries that because i've lived with a samoan i think i'm samoan. 

But i don't care.

The parade sunday morning.

Week 24

Hello everyone.

What a week. it's been crazy. I gave my first district meeting training this week. it was on the book of mormon. I think it went okay but no one will tell you straight to your face that it was horrible so i don't know if i can trust anyone... hahaha it's okay though. I have five more weeks to improve before they kick me out. It was really intimidating to stand up in front of my district and try to give a training to missionaries that are almost all more experienced than me. They're all great and i think i will be able to learn a lot from them. 

On Friday we were driving in a suburb called Currans Hill and there was a girl walking with an umbrella because it was like 38 degrees outside which is really hot. But usually people don't carry umbrellas so we kept watching her and elder Cheng said, "she's chinese." So i pulled the car around the corner and we jumped out and contacted her when she came around the corner. Hahaha i started talking to here and then i asked her where she was from and she said taiwan so i asked her what part of Taiwan in mandarin and she was so shocked. hahaha her face was priceless. So we explained who we are and what we do and she said she'd be fine with talking to us so we are going to meet with her on friday! and they said we couldn't find a chinese person in Camden! HAH. Then later that day we got a call from the APs they said that they had a present for us! We finally got our new car! It's a white Holden Cruize. It had 65 kilometers on it when they dropped it off. It smells new. and it has voice control. So nice. The blessing comes after much tribulation. hahaha

I got a haircut this week from a sister in our ward that is a professional barber. She actually won a competition a few years back for the best barber in Australia. It looks good. i'll take a selfie and send it to you so you can see it. hahaha it looks like a missionary haircut. that's it.

Things are going well in Camden. We were able to get in contact with Jimmy! It was cool because in weekly planning we were discussing how if we couldn't see him by the end of this week we would drop him, and then like five minutes later the other elders called us and said they were visiting a member and he was at their house! So they got his phone number and gave it to us and i called him and set up an appointment for tomorrow. Hopefully he remembers and isn't sleeping. Hahaha

So turns out elder Randal didn't come in this transfer. Not sure if he didn't get his visa or if he's in the north mission or something, but we'll figure it out. haha i hope it's just that he didn't get his visa.

Other than that, there's not much to tell. Did i ever tell you guys about the time i ate horse? I was thinking and i can';t remember if i told you or not... if i didn't... then i did now. Tongans eat horse all the time. It was pretty good too! tasted like beef but just a bit different. not sure how to explain it. you'll just have to try it for yourself sometime.

K love you guys. THis church is true. There's a quote in PMG that says "every man is eventually backed up to the wall of faith, and there he must make his stand" I think it's by Ezra taft benson. i'll let you guys go find it! (ch. 5) I love that quote because being a missionary, I have to "make my stand" every time i talk to people. It's just comforting to know that my "wall of faith" is rooted in something that cannot, and will not give way. Love you heaps, everyone!

-ELder Tingey

Oh yeah, This past week the bishopric of the Camden ward got reorganized. Bishop Apulu is moving to the states and i'm really sad because he is such a cool guy. He would always come out teaching with us and was an awesome bishop. The new bishop is bishop Croft. He will be awesome and i can't wait to work with him. He and his wife love missionaries and have us over all the time for dinner. They were the first people i met from the Camden ward. It was cool to hear him speak after it was announced. He has a strong testimony and will be an amazing leader for this ward. He talked about being overwhelmed, but knowing that He is not alone in the work and that the Lord will strengthen him. I couldn't help but apply his comments to my recent calling. even though it's a heck of a lot less responsibility than being bishop, i still feel a little bit of what he was expressing and hearing him speak made me feel better. Just thought i'd share that with yous. k love you bye.