Week 16 - Double Rainbows

Chatting with Brayden this week was great. Although it was a slower week it sounds like he's been able to learn a lot and he and Elder Phelan have been making good impressions on the wards that they cover. They seem to continue to have a great relationship and Brayden has a lot of respect for Elder Phelan.

I'll add some extra info into the email from some of the information we get in our weekly calls:

Hey Everyone, it's the first week of transfer three! So far it has been super cool. We did so much stuff it was pretty neat.

On Wednesday we traveled 2 hours (traffic) to Brisbane so that we could go to the temple and do baptisms for the deceased. It was so fun to go to the temple and be with my district. While we were there I was really able to feel the spirit and I felt like some of the people that we preformed the ordinances for accepted them after we finished taking pictures in front to the temple we were about to leave, when all of the new missionaries that just arrived that morning came. It was kinda funny to see how awkward they all were and how tired they were after the 15 hour flight. Butt it was weird to think that I was in their shoes like 3 months ago.

*Brayden said that as they were leaving the temple they got to see the Mystery Machine! Haha. Cool enough to be picture worthy. He also said that the 2 new Elders that joined their district are great. The one from Vanuatu is in his last transfer and the American is hilarious.

On Thursday we had to travel an hour to Brisbane for a leadership training for my companion. It was pretty cool to see all of the leadership and how amazing all of the other missionarys are. The training went on from 10am to about 4pm, but we got pizza so it was great! The biggest thing that I learned was how to show disappointment in a Christ-like way.

*Brayden mentioned that it's been nice to learn with Elder Phelan. Since this is his first time being a District Leader he's finding out his leadership style and figuring out how manage these other missionaries while keeping them motivated and happy to do the work. It's great that Brayden can get a glimpse into the different areas of leadership within a mission.

On Friday we didn't have a meal for that day, so we hit up the WML (ward mission leader (he is extremely rich)) for Tweed Ward and told him that our dinner canceled and we were going to be in the area for the afternoon and evening. So we went around and visited some members and families with un-baptized children. After that we went to this super fancy Italian restaurant. I got a spicy salami pizza, and it was so good.

*This gentleman from Tweed Ward is a successful businessman who loves to share his knowledge and has had the opportunity to be a guest speaker for the business program at BYU Hawaii so it's been awesome for Brayden to pick his brain and ask him questions. Such a great resource and also a great example for these Elders on what a Ward Mission Leader calling should look like. This guy is always willing to go out with them and make visits. It's awesome. Plus he lives right across from the ocean so it's a nice chance for Elder Beattie and Phelan to see the water.

On Saturday we went out with the WML for tweed again and visited with lots of people. After the visits we were able to teach the plan of salvation to two unbaptized boys. It was really cool to be able to do that with them. One of them asks alot of really good questions, which is awesome. Today we played some basketball and after we shredded up the court, one of the Elders RM friends was vacationing over here, so he took us out for lunch. It was at a burger place called uncles. After that we went to Tweed Heads and walked around one of the parks by the ocean and threw around an Australian football. It was really fun.

Last Tuesday, I was able to have a really cool experience. I was on an exchange with Elder Fesola'i and we were going to a little sit down place while we called a couple of people, when all of a sudden this man ran by without shoes on, crying. We thought that we should try to check up on him, but we made a call instead. After about 10 minuites we felt that we really needed to go and find him, so we set off on an adventure. We went down so many streets based off of the feelings that the Holy Ghost were telling us. We were eventually led back to our flat, which was a little discouraging, but we decided that we were going to go down this one road and if he wasn't there, we would stop. About 3 minuites walking down this path, there was a little gap and as we walked by it, I spotted him! I was shocked. We ended up talking to him about his situation and we comforted him with some McDonald's then dropped him off back at his flat. It turns out that he was from Belgium, and has had a very hard life.

That experience really testified me of the power of the Holy Ghost. He will lead us to where we need to be and can help us through our trials.

It reminds of a scripture in Luke 1:37:

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

I truly know that nothing is impossible with God, especially because we were able to find that man after a long time of looking for him. He helped us do the impossible.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support! I appreciate it.

Emoji of the week: 🤑

Slang of the week: Clobber (Clothes) ex. nice clobber (clothes), you got there.

Love you all ❤,

Elder Brayden Beattie

*I'll just finish this post with 2 quick pictures. Bowling from their P-day last week and some super strange apartments that look like they should be in some space show like The Jetsons cartoon.