December was a time of great joy on our mission. During this time we were blessed to have Elder and Sister Ardern visit with us from Wednesday December 12th to Friday December 14th. Elder Ardern is the Pacific Area President and we felt very blessed and I was a little nervous, to have them come stay with us. They actually live in Auckland New Zealand and were in our home ward, Takapuna. They arrived at 1pm yesterday and we brought them back to our home. We had dinner in the evening together. Originally we were goung to go our to dinner but Elder Ardern wasnt feeling the best so I cook some chicken and vegies for dinner. We went for a walk in the morning at 6.15. They went at 6 am. We had breakfast together at 8am and then went to the chapel for MLC. Elder and Sister ARdern taught about preparing ourselves spiritually as gospel teachers, the ABD of council meetings and the pearls we need to adopt to become successful missionaries.
Elder Ardern said in the D&C 4, the word is already not all ready. Already means underway. All ready means at the point of starting.
In what way are we already, underway with the gathering of scattered Israel when this revelation was given in 1829? The reformation had begun. People were prepared. The Restoration had begun.
"Failure to act on inspiration, slows the flow of revelation" (Elder Ardern)
"If you write it down the Lord knows you will take action and He will then give you further revelation" (Elder Scott)
30% of the work has to be done by the MLC (Elder Ardern)
Sister Ardern:
Our first responsibility as teachers of the gospel is to prepare ourselves spiritually. Alma 17:2-4:
Still brethren in the Lord. Showed strength of testimony. Knowledge of Doctrine. Firmness of faith.
"Your confidence will be directly related to your knowledge of God's work" (Pres Monson).
President Nelson taught: We need first to be Firm in the faith of God the Father. Firm in the faith of His Son Jesus Christ. Firm in the faith of the Holy Ghost. It was a great MLC and we learnt much.
We also had Christmas singing in the malls here throughout Perth in December, which the missionaries loved and it really uplifted their spirits. It can be difficult sometimes for the missionaries when finding is not plentiful and people don't want to hear their message. During December we also had a special senior missionary conference and went to the Ballet to see the Nutcracker together at the Perth Concert Hall. It was amazing!
For Christmas Zone conferences on the 20th and 21st December, we had a morning devotional where 9 missionaries spoke for 2 minutes each on one of the Christlike attributes they wanted to develop. They all did well. I spoke and then we watched Mr Krugers Christmas, followed by a delicious turkey and ham lunch prepared by Sister Deb Hamon and her helpers. We then played Celebrity Heads LDS version and guess that christmas carol, then each district came up and sang a christmas carol. After lunch we watched 17 Miracles, which they all seemed to enjoy and then we gave them their gift bags. The elders received ties and the sisters a tree of life necklace and lip gloss. We had two wonderful days with our missionaries, celebrating the birth and life of our Saviour during these Zone Conferences.
