你好 from Sydney! : Give Me Mountains to Climb Letter from August 10, 2015

"You never quit and you never turn back when you're in the middle of a hill".

This whole Gospel is about endurance. We chose to come to Earth to become like our Heavenly Father. We need to learn and grow from our experiences...both the good and hard and bad.

G'day from SYDNEY!

We had transfers! This was a big one. There were 76 or so missionaries at the parking lot in Normanhurst where we met. Many of my very good friends are leaving, but so many are coming in and miracles are going to happen in the Australia Sydney North Mission.

I got my transfer call on Thursday night, and President Checketts called me on Friday to extend the assignment of being a Sister Training Leader. Last night, I found out that I was coming BACK to the city!!! So now, I'm e-mailing from my birthplace. :D

Harbour City district 2…all that's left of us.

My new companion is Sister Valdes and she is absolutely beautiful! She was companions with Sister Weiss and Sister Cluff, two of my favourites! (I love all the sisters). We are excited to work together and allow the Lord to smash the work and love the sisters that we will be working with!!

This week has been full of miracles!!! I love and miss Sister Uitu dearly :( But she will smash Newcastle. I was sad to say bye to the members and those that we work with, but I know the Lord has great plans for them.

With Jess at Time Out for Women

Janet and Evelyn Parkes

With June

Marlies and Chris Reed

Jess came with us to Time Out for Women down in Sydney! That was FANTASTIC! Sheri Dew wasn't able to attend, but she skyped in for her presentation. Sister Dalton, Sister Turley (Cosette on Broadway 10 years ago!!!), Sister Swenson (the author of Pres. Monson's biography), Brother Wilcox, and Brother Archuleta were all presenters. I reckon there were about 1,500 women there. The spirit was so strong and I was able to receive a lot of revelation, especially going into this new assignment and loving and serving the sisters. I got David Archuleta to sign my PMG ;) It was awesome how he shared experiences from his mission. I don't have my journal with me at the moment, so it's hard for me to share everything that I learned. God loves us. The healing and enabling power of the Atonement of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, is SO real! We can overcome ALL that we face as we fully rely on the Lord for all things. I'm truly blessed for this sacred opportunity I have to help people discover and remember the Atonement for themselves.

Meeting David Archuleta

The Fukofukas

Jenni

Nicci and Sister Metcalf

So, I didn't really get to say bye to anyone in Newcastle. Thankfully, many of the sisters went to TOFW. We drove down with members and Jess, and they dropped us off at Temple Accomodation. We stayed in Sydney for the weekend before transfers. We were with the Ryde sisters, so I got to go to the Mandarin speaking ward!!! It was great!

Before the members dropped us off, we went to macca's and krispy kreme for a final hurrah! It was lovely. I also got fed heaps this past week. I can't wait to lose weight!

I honestly can't remember all that happened last week. It was such a busy blur...and being back in the city makes Newcastle seem like a dream. But it was amazing. I'm so grateful for the privilege I had to see the Lord work miracles.

Last night, we had a mission fireside with David Archuleta, the Daltons, and the Swensons. That was amazing. David sang a beautiful acapella version of Come, Come Ye Saints. One of the greatest things I learned from him was humility. We have this privilege to serve our Heavenly Father. Christ has called us to represent Him, and He is the one directing this work. Everything is so inspired in this work. I saw it today, especially, as we were going through transfers. We can't do anything in this life alone. We need to purely rely on the Lord to help us.

So much has happened and words can't express what I'm feeling right now. I'm just trying to serve the Lord with all of my being and letting Him take control of it all.

I would like to invite you to ask Heavenly Father to give you mountains to climb. Ask Him what He needs you to learn so that we can become more like Him. Ask him to show us our weakness (Ether 12:27) so that we can make them strengths. Write down your impressions.

Have a great week! I love you all heaps!

Love,

Sister Lew