Week 70

Putting my best side forward...

Good morning from beautiful Mudgee! It really IS beautiful right now because it's been raining all week and the landscape has gone from all yellow and brown to green and it's awesome. It's a true answer to prayers because it hasn't rained for a long time and the farmers were suffering big time. There wasn't much for the animals to eat. and that's all anyone would ever talk to us about when we contacted people. haha but now we've gotten the rain that we needed. Last night was crazy. It was pouring rain and the lightning was nuts. i don't know why but we get heaps of lightning here. if it rains, there will be lightning. and last night was the coolest thing ever. we both woke up to a huge boom of thunder that sounded like it was right above our roof, and then we sat awake for like an hour watching the flashes of lightning. haha good thing our flat is dedicated!

Last monday our branch president called us and asked if we could come over for dinner and FHE so we went over and had dinner and then our man Greg Barto came over for FHE! it was really good. Greg is the man. He's like the busiest man i've ever met, but i think we're going to try to go help him out on the farm and hopefully free up some of his time so he can do things like come to church. I really hope something happens soon.

We got a young men's president for the branch last week and he's gun as so i think that will be a really good thing. we've only got 2 young men, but they're pretty keen to get their friends coming to activities and church and stuff so i think something will happen with that.

At our ZTM this week they introduced the "He is the Gift" initiative. Are they doing that back home? haha i guess it would be less likely for you to know because you only have one companionship for the whole stake. but if you haven't yet, go to christmas.mormon.org and watch the video! It's pretty sweet. but we have all these special He is the Gift pass-along cards that they want us to hand out all of them before christmas. so we've been trying to hand all those out. Apparently it's supposed to be a church-wide thing.

I got my christmas package on friday! hahahhahaha good thing you sent it early! haha thank you i opened it and i love all the presents! hahahaha Just kidding! i just get to stare at it for the next 3 weeks. haha so i put it in one of the closets we never open.

It's weird to me that this is the last week of the transfer. I can't decide if it's gone by fast or slow. It's interesting how the Lord works. i've constantly been growing on this mission, but i feel like each area has shaped me differently. Some areas help you become a better teacher, some a better planner, some a leader. I feel like this transfer was meant to help me find where i stand in life and what kind of person i want to be for the rest of my life and ultimately eternity. I'm extremely grateful for the Holy Ghost that can help me distinguish between truth and people's philosophies. haha not sure if that makes sense, it does to me, but it's hard to explain.

Yesterday we fasted as a mission for every companionship to get a baptism in January. It's gonna take a miracle for us, so it's a good thing we're in the industry of miracles! haha Love you all. have a wonderful week and if you go to Winder Dairy you better get a picture with all the kids on santa's lap and send it to me. and also a picture of the scones. man i miss waiting in that line for 3 hours.... hahaha dang it i love christmas time.

Love,

Elder Tingey

PS  i am able to skype again this year so i'll do it on the 26th for me which will be christmas for yous. not sure of what time yet, but i'll let you know.

PPS a chinese girl just sat down at the computer next to me. she was speaking cantonese to her friend but we'll talk to her anyways... hahaha