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.