Week 65

Hello everyone! 

Not sure if you all knew this, but transfers were this past week! I thought i would probably stay because elder Katene is so new to the area so i didn't tell you they were coming up... hahaha WRONGO! It's amazing how your life can change so quickly on a mission. But i'll tell you about that at the end of the email. Last week was great. We got to meet with a bunch of people and teach a bunch of lessons. Karka was really good. She said she was going to give us a referral for her sister who lives down in woden ward so that's exciting. get the whole family involved. i really think she'll get baptized. she just needs to not be so pregnant... haha she's great. We went with jimmy to hot pot again this week and had a great time. He's the man. He'll be a leader in the church someday. i'm excited to see what happens with him. We met up with wilma on sunday to say goodbye and it was kindof sad. haha she's cool and i hope she continues meeting with the missionaries and gets baptized someday. It's really nice to have today's technology so that i can stay in touch with these people. It makes leaving a lot easier. can't imagine what is owuld be like to say goodbye and know that it is very likely i will never see them again.

Saturday night we had a halloween party with ginninderra and belconnen ward. it was a trunk and treat put on by the primary. It was awesome. there were heaps of nonmembers there. we were having a hayday talking to everyone! i think there will be a lot that comes from it. Its crazy how successful the work is when members provide people to teach. Love those referrals.

We went to the zoo for a district p-day last week and it was pretty sweet. it was the national zoo and acquarium but it was  quite a bit smaller than hogle zoo. pretty sad, but still fun. i think i'll cut this email short so i have time to upload you guys some pictures.

okay so for the big news... saturday morning elder katene and i drove to the chapel to check the transfer details and i couldn't believe it, but i saw my name on the list! So i knew i was gone. Elder Bowcut was on there too, which was only fitting that we come together and leave together. So i was really sad about it all and wondering what was going to happen and where i was going to go the whole time we deep-cleaned our flat and then right as we were finishing the cleaning our phone rang and it was president back... every time he calls you just can't help but freak out a little bit especially when it's on transfer day. but i answered and he thanked me for my service as a zone leader and told me he was "promoting me to district leader" haha so i was happy about that. I don't think i would like to be zone leader anywhere but canberra. we had it easy there. So the weight of that calling just immediately lifted and while we were on the phone he told me where i was going! haha president back can't keep secrets to save his life. So he told me i'm going to be going to a place called Mudgee! hahahaha couldn't believe it. Look it up. i went from a ward of about 150 active members to a branch of 7. it's out near orange and dubbo. only one companionship in our branch and we live 2 hours from the nearest missionaries. Makes things pretty interesting. Lots of fun to be had up here. Yesterday i did a total of 9 hours of driving and i was so tired from packing the night before... it was dangerous. but it was a beautiful drive. Australia has some really pretty scenery that you don't get to see if you spend all your time in Sydney. I think i'll only have one more area after this and i think i'll ask if i can go to hurstville because i've never been very close to the city and i heard there's heaps of chinese people there. haha haven't seen a chinese person in Mudgee yet! but we'll find one. we cover a place called golgong as well, i think. pretty sure that's what it's called. so i'm pretty stoked right now. the closest thing i've ever been to a branch is doing the sacrament at the care center back home! hahaha hopefully there will be no fishing sacrament cups out of old people's mouths here.... hahahahaha but i will keep you posted on how everything is. we have a few investigators and hopefully there will be some more coming!

love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder TIngey

Kangaroos!!

me with The lanky family kids. they're so much fun.