Week 33

Just another beautiful week in the GONG! Things are going great. I'm not sick and guess who's back down to 95 kilos?!?!?!?! I think the diet is working!! Hahaha but we were miserable last week, so we decided to throw the diet out the window, and try a new workout routine. I'm pretty confident that will work. Plus it's hard to keep a diet when members feed you...

This week we met some cool as people that we helped move into their new flat. They're from CHINA!!! Frank and Shelly are their American names. we spent most of Saturday with Frank and he is such a solid guy. He said shelly might want to study the bible with us and that would be awesome.

We started a new tradition of Wednesday night hot pot with all the Chinese speakers. One of the Chinese recent converts of the other elders was moving to Adelaide and so he gave them a hot pot stove. So now on Wednesday nights we go over and have some hot pot. spicy food doesnt' really bother me anymore. You could say I'm a Sichuan 的 人. It's funny because we'll go to white people's houses for dinner and they'll say, "it's pretty spicy. Sorry, I hope you're okay with that.." and then I can't even tell it's spicy at all! I just pound lao gan ma and rice all day.

I don't know if I've told you this, but our ward choir is like legit. We don't mess around. We're called the Wollongong Pipes. And the reason I'm telling you this is because yesterday I made the switch from bass to tenor. I know, I know, I'm crazy. But we've only got one other tenor so it doesnt' sound very good. We'll see how it goes, but judging from yesterday, we're gonna smash it. We're singing a song called "because he lives" for easter sunday.

I found a cool scripture in Corinthians that I figured I'd share with all yall. It's 1 Corinthians 15:10, I believe. if not, then its 10:15. But it is paul speaking. he talks in the verses before about how he felt unworthy because of the things he'd done in the past, and all the problems he caused the church. But then in that verse he says something that I really liked. He says "by the grace of God I am what I am." I loved that because It truly is the grace of God that brings each of us the point we are at right now. Everyone may be at different points on the journey, but Everyone has the same opportunity to progress and become something better tomorrow than they were today. We need to just look forward with faith, and then get going!

I'm really worried because transfers are only two weeks away, and elder barlow has been in Wollongong since we all got to Australia so he is most likely going to be transferred! Dangit! We've been having a party these last 4 weeks! hahaha it's funny how quick you can go from praying for change, to praying for things not to change! But it's okay. Whatever happens will just mean I need to learn something else.

This morning we were getting ready to leave and all of the sudden I heard elder barlow yelling from the other room. I go running in, and he is staring at the wall right above my head. I looked and there was a big old huntsman about the size of my palm right above my head. Hahaha we were all screaming. I tried to get a picture, but my camera was dead, so i'll have to try to get one of the other elders pictures. But next thing I know, barlow has the vacuum and is trying to suck the thing up, but it's running away and he is chasing it and knocking stuff over, and when he finally got it we all gave a victory cry. But then we were all scared it was going to crawl back up the hose so we started sucking up other stuff to make sure it died. We worked up enough courage to open it up, and found the carcass so we're pretty much sure he's dead.

Hope you're all having an amazing time watching all the basketball games without me. We have to do things to cheer ourselves up or else we would all fall into a deep depression over missing march madness. hahhaa kai wan Xiao. Lov eyou all! peace and blessings! Take luck!

Love,

Elder Tingey

Oh yeah, I was going to say this as well, but I forgot. We have Bats here! Heaps of them!! Every night they fly overhead. I think they live in the cliffs, and then they go out to the water for food every night. It's so cool. I thought they were birds when I first got here because they're about as big as cockatoos. It's nuts.