Mar 13 - 19, 2018

Monday, March 19, 2018

Cockburn, Western Australia

I have been transferred out of Bunbury! I left Carey Park three days before L* was baptized!  But it's good! He was baptized, and he is now on the path back home to our Father in Heaven.  It just sucks that I didn't get to see him baptized. Last P-day, we got together with the other district in Bunbury;  That was also really fun.

Last P-day in Bunbury

Playing a game with the elders.

Saying goodbye to L* before transfer and before his baptism

But all is good.  I have gone up north near Perth in Cockburn, and I also have a car now.  And, I am the driver... [Elder Kleven is serving as the District Leader.] I haven't crashed; it's been weird though driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road -- I've hit the curb quite a few times though... but it's a sturdy car.  

Driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road with the elders from Narrogin.

My new companion is Elder Christofferson, distantly related to the apostle.  He's cool and he's tall.  The Elders in my district are in Kelmscott and Narrogin.  Narrogin is a country area. I love my new district; it's fun. I am one of the oldest though.  There is one sister in my district who is almost going home, but otherwise I've been out the longest.  It's a young district.  

Elder Kleven & Elder Christofferson

But me area is HUGE compared to me last area.  Of course, I've got meself a car now, and shopping 'as never been easier. [Don't you wish you could hear him talk, week by week, as he picks up the Aussie slang and accent?]

District Meeting was on Friday this week; it was good.  Elder Hunter (one of the Zone Leaders here in Southern River) brought a bag of Carolina reapers; apparently, they are the second hottest pepper in the world, and we all ate them.  I did fine... it was all too easy -- waxing me legs was worse!

P-day today was fun as!  we got up early and drove out to Narrogin, a two hour drive (but we have enough Ks, or kilometers).  We haven't had a chance to email until we got back to the city, so that's why I'm emailing a little late.  

The 3-story flat in Narrogin where the elders live.

That's about it.  I'll share a spiritual thought with you, though.  Lately I've been studying the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and something that I've been focusing on is why we need it.  And, it's not the answer I have been looking for, but as I have studied the Plan of Salvation and the Fall of Adam and Eve, it's stood out to me that the Lord knows best.  We may be looking for answers that the Lord isn't going to give us right now -- maybe it's because we aren't ready for them or we aren't looking in the right places.  But even though we may not have the answers, He still knows what's best, His plan is perfect, and Christ's atonement was needed.

Elder Kleven 

[Note from Mom: Upon researching the city of Cockburn and its surrounding areas, I discovered that this city was named in honor of Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, who led the British attack on Washington, D.C., in the War of 1812 and was instrumental in the "Burning of Washington."  I'm not too sure how I feel about him living in a place meant to revere the man who nearly destroyed a place that I love! 😜  The irony is not lost on me that he is now serving his mission in a city that honors the man who once tried to burn down the city in which his twin sister is serving her mission!  Here's a link to a cool article from Smithsonian Magazine about how divine intervention saved Washington, D.C. in August 2014.]