Sun, Surf and Sand ( and I am in a tie, shirt and slacks on a bike...I love my job!)‏

Free at last! Free at last! God almighty, I am free at last! Those words have been running through my mind quite a bit in the past 48 hours! It feels so good to be out of the office and back on the front line again. I won't lie. I am sad to have to leave because I have learned so much there and became close to a lot of people but I seriously needed to get out of there because I was going stir crazy. I am thankful for my time and the opportunity I had to serve in the office but I am thankful as well to be in Manly.

First off I need to repent and just say thank you to everyone who has sent me a little bit of holiday cheer. I really do appreciate it whether it be from family or friends. Knowing you are not forgotten at home means the world to an overweight, sun burnt, tired elder. I love you all so much and I honestly can't express my gratitude for every ones support! Now that I will actually get Preparation Days I will be able to reply and show my gratitude a little bit more personally. Thank you all again!

The mission had a killer week last week. We had 22 baptisms last week. Now I know all of you who have served in South America would say that is a really bad week but it was a miracle! That is about how many we get in a month! So the mission is on fire right now. Our goal is 111 by April 1st and we are already at 46. Crazy! I just love how inspired goals plus diligent work equals heavens help!

So here I am in Manly! Name suits me, eh? :) Manly is an area coveted by many and I am lucky enough to be here. We live about a 15 minute bike ride from Manly beach. I think that is way cool. We were riding the bikes yesterday and I looked down a street right to the ocean. I won't lie. It is pretty legit! The ward is about 80% Tongan and I have heard a lot about it. Elder Colton Dana served here and he actually trained Elder Hill here, my companion in Cessnock. So I have heard the good and the bad but I am seriously so excited to be here! They baptised the only investigator for the ward last Saturday so we are back to square one but I am excited to be here anyway!

I am also the district leader in the Northern Beaches District. There are four companionships. The Zone Leaders, Elder McConkie -yes, he is his grandson, and Elder Branco from Brazil. They are in Harbord Ward and they share the ward with Elder Stoddard from Utah and Elder Monson-no he is not related and he is from Rhode Island. He is also called Spanish speaking. They are all way cool and I am excited I get to serve with them. There is also a senior couple in my district, the Lambarths. They are from St. George, Utah and they are in the Greenwich Ward. We don't do much with them but I guess they are cool, too. But that is the district and I look forward to working and learning from them.

Now to my new companion, Elder Lasalosi, from the Kingdom of Tonga! He is a riot. He is a big man! So if I am to be mugged or jumped on my mission I hope it is now because I think he and I could put up a good fight. He has been in Manly for 3 transfers and has been on his mission for 7 months. He is excited to be here which always makes me happy and he is on cloud nine because he had his first baptism last week so I think that is pretty cool! I love him already and I am looking forward to this transfer with him.

My experience in Manly has been pretty awesome. Yesterday I arrived here and I honestly was a little nervous because I didn't know what to do. So we fixed the flat tyre on the bike and for four hours we did my favorite kind of finding - Bike GQing. I love it because you just ride up and down the street and if you see someone you talk to them and plus your bike is your loyal steed so you just look legit riding around. Well since Manly has no investigators we started searching and we set a goal to find 5 potential investigators or basically get five numbers or addresses. So for the first hour we got nothing and I was getting discouraged but I knew they were out there and they were. We found one from India two from England and one from France and we were really feeling good, but it was getting late and we still needed one more to reach our goal and at this point, I am embarrassed to say I lost my companion so for about 10 minutes I frantically searched for Elder Lasalosi and I found him talking to a man on a moped. Elder Lasalosi told me he handed a lady a card and she looked at it and threw it on the ground. So he went to go pick it up off the ground when he heard a guy yelling, "Hey, young man! Come here". He saw this guy on a moped and he went and talked to him and the guy on the moped, which we now know is named Ross, said he has heard we teach about how Christ appeared in the Americas and how just recently that was making sense to him and then he saw the Mormon missionaries. It was way cool and I love how God will show us that He lives as long as we do what He asks of us. I love this church and I love being here!

I love you all and I hope all is well in the USA. Till next week.

Elder Landon Brough