Thanksgiving is Good

I love you all so much! I miss you a ton, especially since it is the holiday season! But I know I need to be here! There have been moments where the spirit has told me so. And as much as I would love to be home with family and friends, someone, somewhere is praying for me, not just for the missionaries but praying for me. It is just a matter of finding them, that’s the tough part! But I am searching, no worries! So I ran into someone who knows Jordan, small world. His name is Ben Walters, he served in the Spain Bilbao Mission in 01 but went back to spain for school and lived in San Tan Der (Santander) I guess and he remembers Jordan and how he would receive his emails. I thought that was cool Man I love Australia! Australia is so diverse! You have no idea! I will explain later.

Answers:

1. My Preparation Day ( President Scruggs does not like abbreviations so we have to call it preparation day, district leader and so on and so forth) is on Monday last week was unique because we went to the Temple. Expect the letter on Monday, Your Sunday.
2. My companion is a life long member, oldest of four boys and one girl, has a brother going to Brazil on his mission I forget which one, and he has been out 20 months. We have nothing in common but I love him the same.
3. We meet in the Baulkham Hills Chapel along with two other wards, I forget which ones. And it is super diverse.
4. I have an hour to email you I can receive from immediate family, grandparents and other missionaries.
5. They feed us heaps here so it is good. I had curry the other day that was neat.
6. Received the Thanksgiving package my first day here, sorry I didn’t mention it. They do have peanut butter here and they have raisin bran here as well it is called sultana bran. But I loved the package mom. I made stuffing yesterday. It was easy I don’t know why you women complain about making a thanksgiving dinner! Just kidding I love you mom.


Jordan Zach Dalton and Caleb I love you all and would love to hear from you! I will be sending a package with some souvenirs! You will love it. It might be after Christmas but you will enjoy! So yeah hope that helps I love you all so much!

Keyora! That is hello in Moary (Maori). I love you all and miss you but Australia rocks! It has not been the most progressing week but still it was good. We are pretty much sifting through the wheat and the tares. We had to drop a few more investigators which was sad but hey it happens. We have not dropped Telly or Chloe. Telly will call us he said but we will see. He sounded interested but he wants his wife to be there and she sounds like she is not interested so we will see what happens. We are still waiting on Chloe and her family so right now is a waiting game. Teatawhie and Teremedia are so close to baptism but we are still waiting for the green light from their mom for baptism! Oh man they are so close! That is pretty much all that is going down with the work. We tract heaps and street contact but it is good because I am getting more and more comfortable with it! I love talking to people about the church!

So I hope you all have had a great Thanksgiving! I was very sad to miss it this year but we had a tender mercy this past week. On Monday Elder Vernon and I were about to leave when we received a text message. It was from President Scruggs and he invited us over for a Thanksgiving lunch featuring Pumpkin Pie! Holy Moly it was good. We live really close to the President's house so we were lucky enough to be invited it was amazing and it made my day! Just one of the many tender mercies of the Lord.

So I went on my first exchange this past week. I went to an area called Glennwood and it was with Elder Bybee. He is from Santa Clara, Utah and I love him. I would consider him my best friend on my mission (no worries Seth, Kevin, Mitch and G’s). But I loved the Exchange. He and I were constantly laughing and talking , of course we were still working but I had a blast tracting and getting doors slammed in my face. He made it enjoyable and he works flipping hard. I ran into my first Jehovah Witness with him so that was fun. We were talking and then all of a sudden he took a stab at us, not with a knife but with words, and immediately the spirit left. Bible bashing is no good, even though we would have smashed him, but that is not the point Bible bashing is no good! But overall the exchange went well and I learned a ton. It really fueled my fire to be out here and I just love being here!

So there is this prophesy flying around that all the missionaries and members are talking about. I guess Henry B. Eyring said that in the year 2010 that the church is going to explode, in a good way, in Australia. There are three things that will happen.

1.Missionaries will do priesthood ordinances everyday
2.We will have to schedule appointments weeks and sometimes months in advance
3.And there will be a change in the members hearts where they want to help the missionaries

I don’t know how true it is but I would not mind it happening! Plus I would be here for the bulk of it so that will be cool. Australia could be the next Brazil. Now that would be cool.

Some cool things about Australia:

• It is so diverse! I have met people from every continent a few times over. Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, China, Korea, France, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, Russia, Estonia, Canada, The States, Sudan, Congo, Iraq, Iran, South Africa, Argentina. Chile, and Colombia just to name a few. It is so cool! I actually taught a Persian the first lesson on a street corner. The ward is also very diverse. In Correlation meeting there was one from India, Micronesia, Australia, Argentina, France, Germany and then the states. It is so awesome!
• Some funny words Heaps- A lot, Tip- Dump, Too Easy- Sounds good, and my favorite Fair dinkum- Legit. That is just to name a few.

Well I love you all and am excited to be here and I cant wait to be able to tell you all my crazy stories in 22.5 months. Haha! God Bless and you are all in my prayers!

Elder Landon Raphael Brough

What We Are Doing is Jesusness!

I love you and miss you. It is tough right now being the missionary because I don’t really know what is going on so sometimes my thoughts turn back to home and I wonder what is going on there but this letter was amazing. Nathan is going to Brazil!!! I will be honest that is the last place I expected him to go same with Kevin I didn’t see California coming but that is awesome and I am excited for both of them and I would give anything to go through the temple with them! So dad prison sounds intense how often will you go there? (He is referring to a prison ministry program that Don participated in with some members of our stake, just in case you thought Don might have served some jail time!) Mom I love you so much and I miss your cooking I am tired of Rasin Bran for breakfast and Peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch. But my clothes are not fitting, the good way they are not as snug as they used to be. Jordan and Zach thanks for the emails I will try to write you back but I doubt I will get to it. Dalton and Caleb I love you and read your scriptures!!!!

(The following is him answering the questions we asked):

* I am about a half hour from Sydney. Some times while riding our bikes and we are on a hill I can see downtown Sydney on the horizon it is way cool.
* We have a car but we only can use 1000 kilometres a month
* I am riding my bike which is used but I have not paid for it because I still have to work all the details out with President.
* The ward is great! There is about 150 members and all the other Elders say this is the best missionary ward.
* The medicine was beautiful! (Referring to the Dramamine we sent him for the plane ride)
* The flat is way nice. I took a video tour of it the other day. Zach is going to think we are spoiled. Three bedrooms 2.5 baths, microwave, toaster tea kettle, rice cooker. We have a nice set up. It is just me and Elder Vernon
* The trailer was not tagged anymore. (Referring to a mission trailer they use to transport the missionaries luggage.)
* I can email family and other missionaries
* No sisters in my district but who needs sisters, just kidding I am not a sister hater.
* Don’t remember where E. Brocksby went. (an elder from Phoenix that went into the MTC the same day as Landon)

I love you and please always write your questions like you did in this email.(We have found that the best way to get him to answer all our questions is to list them and bold them.)

So this week was tough, lots of rejection, I really hope my mission is not preparing me for finding a wife and it is preparing me for rejection. We had to drop a ton of investigators, and right now we don’t have a ton but yesterday we prayed like there was no tomorrow and we have a few potential so please pray for us. We visited Telly again, it is funny we saw his face on a real estate sign, he is a realtor and when I saw it it gave me a good laugh! When we saw him he seemed interested but he wants his wife there so we are going to call him this week and see what's up. We also stopped by Chloe’s, we gave her a Book of Mormon Stories and she has read a quarter of it. She also has permission to learn and her mom might be interested. While we were talking to her she said her mom was wondering if we knew if her husband would live again. We both were yeah we do. But we will have to see what happens our next visit because we have not talked to her mom in person yet so pray that the spirit will touch her heart. There are also two girls from a part member family who are about to set a baptismal date. They are Maori, Te Atawhie, pronounced te atafie and Teramedia they will hopefully be baptized by the end of the year.

So we had an intense experience. We were about to start tracting when this guy who we talked to the other day rolls up on a bike. He starts talking to us but we cant understand him because he is mumbling, he then starts getting really mad especially Elder Vernon he is using a very colourful vocabulary and he pushes Elder Vernon a little he then trys to take his badge and Elder Vernon jumps in the car so here I am with a super mad shirtless man he then turns to me and points his finger in my face and says but I like you and he gives me a hug. At this point I realize he is drunk as! So here I am hugging a drunk, shirtless man in the middle of Australia! So to get out of the situation I start agreeing with him and saying Elder Vernon was being stupid and he wasn’t thinking and all this stuff after that he gives me another hug and rolls off on his bike. I thought it was hilarious. Elder Vernon said it will not be my last run in with a drunk because Australia is built on beer.

Also another cool experience I think at least. I street contacted a guy and he was not interested but he really liked what we were doing and used the word Jesusness. I laughed at it at first but it is true in a way what missionaries do is very Jesusness because if Jesus was here he would be doing what we are doing. Because the sick need a physician not the healthy, right? I don’t know, I thought it was cool.

Thank you to those who wrote I received Morgan’s, Meredith’s and Ariel’s letters. You have no Idea what a letter is like for a missionary like a cat and cat nip! It takes a little over a week to get here just so you know. But thanks a million. I will try to write back as soon as I can but the preperation days in December end at one so it will be tough to find time, but don't give up hope I have not forgotten your letter!

Congrats to Nathan Askins and Kevin Jones on your calls! I love you both and I have been thinking about you two this past week. I know you will do well and shake hell.

So some random cool things about Australia.
• There are a million kinds of birds you have pigeons and sparrows but also Kacatos, and parrots and a heap more. They are super noisy and everywhere! I proposed that we play bird bingo while tracting, Elder Vernon just laughed. But thought it was a great idea.
• At 8:00 bats fill the sky, hundreds of them, but it is only for a few minutes. I am talking BATS! Like take a cat and throw wings on it and there you go they are huge!!!
• It is so hot here and humid. But what is weird is that it will be hot and humid one day and then cold the next. It is crazy, almost like a girl and her moods! What a lame joke!

I can also email other missionaries and I am looking for elder Joshua Smith's and Elder Mitch Janda's email addresses so if you have them could you get them to my parents. Thanks a ton.

Well I love you all amiss you a ton. Please send me a line I would love to hear how you are doing!

Elder Landon Brough

Photos:
A funny sign (This is for you, Rake!)
In flat
Attempt to take photo of bats (you can kind of see them)
In flat with Elder Vernon
On bike on Bevan Street (Aly, we'll get you a copy of this)
Walking stick

Oh, I Love the Land Down Under!

What an awesome week! So much has happened it is incredible! I have been humbled over and over and over and over and over and over again and again but it has been an amazing and an incredible learning experience I am so physically and mentally exhausted that it is all running together and when I go to bed it seems like I just blink and I am back at it again but I honestly love it! It makes me a little sad to know I only have 23 more months.

So before I begin I want to clarify whenever I talk about a day remember that I am a whole day ahead of you so when I say Monday it is really Sunday. Also I am going to try and use as much Australian slang as possible because I think it is so garsh darn funny.

So this past Tuesday, your Monday, I left the USA and began my flight to Australia. Man was it long!!! We first flew to Los Angeles from Salt Lake City and then had a two hour layover there. From Los Angeles we made the giant leap over the Pacific. 15 hours!!!! Oh my gooseness! It was so long! The plane was huge too. It was like getting into a building with wings it was huge! Luckily I was blessed and I slept a good part of it but still, me sitting still for 15 hours is tough! But I made it and we, me and six other missionaries, landed in beautiful Sydney! The lady I sat next to was really nice and told me I could sit at the window as we landed. From the plane I saw the Sydney Harbor Bridge and downtown. It was beautiful! So when we landed President Scruggs and Sister Scruggs picked us up! I love my Mission President! He is an amazing guy and super hilarious! So we threw our luggage in trailer and headed to the Sydney Opera House. At this point I had the amazing opportunity to experience driving on the left side of the road! It is so trippy especially when you ride your bike around. I am always nervous when I cross the road now because I don’t know which way the cars are coming! It is frustrating and I am nervous I am going to get killed! But ni am kind of getting the hang of it… kind of I said. I am excited to drive here! They say in about three months I will get to try driving so I guess pray for me! So president Scruggs took us to the Opera House! BEAUTIFUL. I don’t know if I have used that word enough but everything was perfect! The temperature, it was a clear day and it just looked amazing. I got a picture with President and sister Scruggs in front of the Opera House and then they let us look around and I touched it! Yeah I am cool we then took pictures of the Harbor bridge and then went to the Mission Home. When we got to the there they did a bunch of paper work and what not but they did feed us meat pies, pretty much a pot pie but full of meat and deliciousness. A meat pie is to Australia as a hot dog is to America so they are super popular and super good. They also gave us ginger beer! Oh man that was good. They gave us this candy treat called a TimTam which was amazing. After that we took and nap and got cleaned up a bit. The Assistants then took us to go find kangaroos! It was awesome! We ran into, not with the cars, like a herd or flock or whatever you call a bunch of roos. There was like 15 and they were wild. I have some awesome pictures and a few videos. It was so cool! We got like 5 feet away, it was intense. The assistants were kind of immature to be honest, here hell and damn are not considered bad words I guess so the assistants, who were both American, each said their share and some of their driving was a bit intense. I guess they felt they had to show off for the new missionaries or something I don’t know, but besides that the assistants were really nice. After the kangas we went to presidents house and had dinner that consisted of Lamb, Kanga Bangas (Kangaroo sausage) and a salad and potatoes. Kanga Bangas were pretty nasty, not necessarily the flavour but the texture. But I can say I have eaten Kangaroo! We then spent the night at this hotel thing the church bought a while back so people could come to the temple and have a place to stay.

Thursday was amazing We had breakfast at Presidents, nothing crazy this time and then we had a mission orientation which went over the rules and the different areas. So I found out you don’t have to part your hair but I look good with it so I am keeping it! After the Orientation I was assigned my trainer. Elder Vernon from Fort Collins, Colorado. At first I didn’t know what to think. Pretty short, super quiet but I love him to death. He really knows what he is doing and I am excited to work with him. So we then threw my stuff in the car and headed to our flat (apartment). In my first area, Winston Hills. So to start out my mission experience we started with tracting on Watkins road. A little nerve racking but I got the hang of it. We actually got two new investigators. One was a 30 year old man named Telly. It was an amazing experience. He opened up to us completely, hetalked about marriage problems and how his kid might be handicapped and how easy it would be to just leave but he still loves them. It was crazy to m to think I got off a plane 24 hours ago and this grown man is asking me for advice! So humbling. We taught him a part of the restoration and we are going back this week. Hope everything works out! We also went to a door and the family was not interested but as we were walking away an 11 year old girl named Chloe ran out and said I want to learn so we taught her the first lesson and we are praying that her parents will give her permission to learn more because there is nothing like the faith of a child. After that we went and did trade offs with the ward mission leader. Brother Egan! What an awesome man he has been a member for 15 years but he just gets it and helps the missionaries a ton! So went out and visited people in the ward and then went back to the flat and slept which was needed.

So I will finish it up my first week next week and then be detailed love you all! Almost out of time.

Photos:
The plane
In front of Opera House
In front of Sydney Harbor Bridge
Kangaroo Crossing
W/other new missionaries
W/kangaroo
Mission home
Kanga Bangas (Kangaroo Sausages)
Tim Tams (candy)
W/trainer, Elder Vernon

Daylight Savings Time

So first thanks to all who wrote me this week you have no idea how much I enjoy reading your letters so please keep them coming. I love the mission! Loving it more and more each day! My eyes were totally opened about what a mission really is about. A teacher named Brother Campell told me how you need to teach to the investigators needs and it is so true. My district also watched the Miracle of a Mission by Jeffery R. Holland and it was money. It changed my view of a mission completly! So daylight saving times started! Loved it. I got a whole extra hour of sleep that day it was awesome. Arizona should strat that. But it must stink when they go back an hour. Ouch! But this past Sunday was way good. We had Fast Sunday and it was incredible to actually see how everyone is in the same boat where they miss their family but know they need to be here it was awesome. We also had a mission conference and the mission presidency spoke. It was way good I love how every speaker is inspired here and you can always find some thing you can apply! and then the rest of the Sunday Elder Perry and I had meeting after meeting dealing with zone leader things this past Monday we went to the R.C. which is a place where people outside the MTC come and you teach them and Elder Perry and I rocked. Our investigator was emotional and we felt we actually her it was way sweet. On Tuesday President Rasband came and spoke he is in the presidency of the seventy and he rocked house he taught us that we need to be bold! So true. So Elder Perry's visa didnt come in and he got a temporary mission call to the Arizona Tuscon mission. He leaves on Tuesday so I will miss him... . . . Anyway the new district came in the other day and I just happened to receive a package of cookies that same day so if you take a bunch of 19 year old boys and give them cookies you become their friend and I found this to be true! The new district is way nice and they actually listen to me! It is incredible! I am so excited to leave this Monday my flight is at 9:30pm I am so excited. I love the church and am so happy to be here! I love you all and if you are planning on writing me send it to my Australiam address. Remember Who you are.

Elder Brough