News from Cessnock

So this has been a good week! A very good week. So Tuesday was transfers and I had to wake up at 3:00 so we could get Elder Chan to our district leaders' flat by 4:30 so they could get down to Sydney for transfers. It was tough but I survived. I then worked in the Maitland area for a bit and I worked with Elder Shoobridge. He is from Tazmania and a pretty good bloak. We worked in his area till his new companion and my new companion got there, Elder Hill. I will talk more about him later. But once he got there I said hi and said well let's go back to Sydney and we had to drive down so we could trade our car with another so we are not driving around Cessnock with a huge chunk of our bumper missing. So we drove down and did that and we had heaps to talk about. He is the man! He is from Walla Walla, Washington and he has been a life long member and reminds me a bit of Mitch Janda so that is way neat. He went to BYU-I for a spell and now he is here. His dad is a baker and he is walking in his fathers footsteps. He is a good baker. Last night he made bread, straight up made a loaf of bread! It was so delicious. I was not even hungry and I ate half a loaf. But besides that he wants to work and has been able to strengthen me and help me become a better, stronger, faster, and better looking missionary so I am excited to have Elder Hill as my companion. But I won't lie. I do miss Elder Chan's broken English testimony.

So a little bit about Robert... it went so well. We had his baptism at 11:00 but he didnt show up until about 11:02. Knowing me I was pacing and worrying up a storm but he made it. There was also a very good turn out. He had about 9 friends and family members there as well as half the ward so it was so good. The service went so smoothly and the spirit was there. It was so cool to see him have a nervous/excited appearance and he loved it. The next day at his confirmation he showed up in a T-shirt so we grabbed him a shirt from the baptismal cloth closet and he looked fine. The confirmation went very well and then the testimony meeting began and he bore his testimony to end the meeting. It was so cool to hear and to be there but above all to see how the gospel has changed his life. He has truly received of the spirit of Christ and has developed a personal relationship with our Savior. The more I think about it the more I realize how I really did nothing. I basically showed and brought the spirit and really felt how I can be an instrument in the Lord's hands and I pray I can be able to see the gospel influence more lives!

The Church is true and I am learning so much about myself and how real the gospel is. I love you and I am looking forward to talking to you next week.

Elder Landon Brough