Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Bathurst.

Beautiful day!!
Well, since p-day happened a long, long time ago, I have lots to tell you. First thing first, I LOVE BATHURST! Honestly, I'm so happy here. Let me tell you about my first week so you can rejoice with me! 
Tuesday (the 19th) after P-day we went and met the Branch President's family. They're so sweet! And the only Samoan family in Bathurst! Which is such a tender mercy for me considering I haven't seen so many white people in like a year! 
Wednesday (the 20th) was great. We started off the morning by doing some service for a Sister in the ward. She's redoing her kitchen so we got to smash some tiles and it was pretty awesome. We also found a new investigator named Belinda! She's so funny but so sweet. She said her first prayer with us and she started crying. It was such a neat experience. Then we met Terry! He is a less active member that lives in a nursing home so we read the Book of Mormon with him every week. I like him. Also, every Wednesday the Branch has an activity night! It's small but cute. It was a nice way to meet a few members before church.
On Thursdays we do service at the Seymour Center. It's this fun place that elderly people can go for socialization. So cute! They are so stinking funny there. Then we met a few less active members. Boy oh boy are they a hoot or what! Then again, the Lord blessed us to find a new investigator! We'll call her C. She's a teen mum but wants to see if this would be a good way to raise her new daughter. Well certainly it is the best way, so we'll see if she's prepared! 
Friday, what a beaut! We have a less active member that is a hoarder so she lets us organize things and read the Book of Mormon with her. I was impressed! She actually let us take stuff to the op shop, which I have never seen a hoarder do. Then we went around and met some of the members of the Branch. Everyone here is so sweet! I'm excited to get to know them better. We also met Kalira, one of our investigators with a baptismal date. She seems pretty cool, so I'm excited to help her progress!
Saturday was another beautiful Bathurst day. We met this INCREDIBLE lady named Tiffany on the street and she made an appointment for us to come back the next day. Then we met this lady named A. She's super religious.... Like she built her own chapel in her yard so she can worship... it was interesting but she's really lovely. We saw a few more of our investigators and everyone here is just so nice! I love it. We also met Sister S. Pretty sure she's going to be me when I'm that old. She went on a huge rant about how awesome musicals are and how Rock of Ages is life. She's so funny. 
Sunday was beautiful! The branch is SO SMALL. There were maybe 15 members in Sacrament meeting? 24 or so if you count the kids. Only 4 in Sunday School. Only 3 in Relief Society. It's so small. But it was great because I have everyone's names memorized. ;) Haha. I spoke in Sacrament and then Sister Kurita and I taught Relief Society. It was fun. We taught on "Behold Thy Mother" by Jeffrey R Holland so I got to brag about my mum. After church we had Branch Council. Once again, so small. I LOVE IT. Remember Tiffany from Saturday? Well, we went and saw her, taught her the restoration, and she accepted to be baptized! Aah, Heavenly Father is the BEST! :) 
Monday we went and did some service for A. She's really nice and actually enjoys reading the Book of Mormon with us. Hopefully she'll start investigating this week. We also saw our girl Tiffany! We went and did some service and read the Book of Mormon with her. She was reading it Sunday night and prayed about it and said she felt like a different person! it's so good to see the Gospel change people's lives.  We also saw two of our investigators, T & C, they're twins! And they accepted to be baptized too! Aah, Heavenly Father, once again, is the best! We also met a really nice potential named Janice that invited us back for later in the week. :)
Tuesday (yesterday) the Zone Leaders came and picked us up at 6am to drive to Sydney. It was so weird being alone in the car with Elders!!!! Don't worry, President Back knew about it and permitted it. But we had a 9 hour meeting with President and Sister Back and the rest of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in Sydney. Being on the Mission Council is quite the experience... I was the driver on the way back to Bathurst. Such a long drive! But I prefer driving through the Blue Mountains rather than being a passenger. It's too much winding and climbing and stop and go for my liking in the back seat. 
So yea, it's been a CRAZY week! But I am so happy here. Honestly, it feels like home to me. I feel like Bathurst is a mix of Idaho Falls, ID, Logan, UT, and Skowhegan, ME. Three of my favorite places. Heavenly Father is the best and He truly has a plan for us! I still miss Woden but I'm just so grateful being there and now being here is part of his plan for me. :)

Love,
Sister Danielle Laree Stott

P.S. Sorry for no pictures... I forgot my camera... And I forgot to take pictures.
P.P.S. Don't write to Sydney for mail, please write directly to me for atleast the next month. :) 
Sister Danielle Laree Stott
2/129 Keppel St
Bathurst, NSW 2795

Australia

Monday, April 18, 2016

Bitter...sweet?

Greetings from New South Wales!
Wow, I haven't been able to type that in 5 months... Let me tell you about how I came to be up here once again.
This week was up and down, up and down, up and down, UP and DOWN. We visited a lot of less active members and a few of our beloved faithful members down in good old Woden. There wasn't much anything of excitement to tell you about. Sorry to be a boring little thing over here. It was just a hard week, there were some good parts too though! I'll tell you something funny that happened. We were visiting a less active part member family with one of the brethren from the ward, right? Well, they have a 13 year old that is just a HANDFUL. He was hitting me the whole time we were there and I just had my arm out so he would be hitting that rather than my face. As we were walking out of the lesson I said, "That's it, I really don't think I can have children." And the Brother that was with us said, "It's okay Sister Stott, all mothers have their strengths. Yours just happen to be your biceps." Haha. I don't believe in hitting children but it was pretty funny. If I've learned one thing on my mission, it's patience. Well, I'm still learning it. Always a work in progress. :)
Saturday night transfer calls came and Sister Swan and I both needed to leave Woden. So we went around saying goodbyes on Saturday and Sunday. It was SO HARD. I love Woden so much. The people there are incredible and they honestly consumed a huge piece of my heart. I think that was the hardest group of goodbyes for me to say, which is something considering how long I was in mourning over leaving Wollongong. I really hope to be able to return some day. Probably not in my mission life, but maybe when they can call me by my first name.
Monday morning we said a few final goodbyes, loaded up the car, picked up the sisters and headed to Sydney! I dropped off Sister Swan and the other Sisters in Sydney and  they were able to meet their new companions, But the Elders bringing our luggage took AGES. Honestly, we sat at the chapel for a few hours waiting, no phone, no nothing. But they finally arrived with the baggage, then I drove to pick up another sister then I drove all the way up to Bathurst. I actually had to leave the mission boundaries on the road I was taking to get all the way up here! So 11 hours later, I was finally in my new area just in time to meet my companion, plan the next day, and go to bed. Haha.
Today has already been exciting. We tried emailing a few hours ago but the Chinese restaurant next to the library caught on fire... Don't worry, no one was hurt.
About my new life: Welcome to BATHURST! A little po-dunk town up in good old Orange Zone. It reminds me of Iona or even downtown Logan by the Blue Bird and such. It's a pretty nice place and I think I will be happy here. My companion is Sister Kurita, she is from Japan. She seems really nice and I'm excited to get to know her. Together we are the Sister Training Leaders, so our purpose is

to help all of the other sisters in the zone. It should be good. I'm excited! My new address is:
2/129 Keppel St
Bathurst, NSW 2795
Australia

I will probably be in Bathurst until I finish my mission. So please write.

Love you! The church is true!
Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Monday, April 11, 2016

I love General Conference!

Well, hello there once again! 
This week wasn't as exciting, no miracle double baptisms fell out of the sky or anything, but it was still a pretty rad week because of the weekend. General Conference is the best. :) But leading up to that....
Monday was alright. I dragged the poor Tuggeranong Sisters and Sister Swan to the Parliament House. It was pretty cool being able to sit in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Unfortunately nothing was in session that day. Which is actually good since I wouldn't have been able to watch it anyways. After P-day we went and tried stopping in on a few families but no one had the time. We did end up meeting a funny older couple. The wife is from China and loves dancing, so when Sister Swan mentioned I used to dance she started trying to dance with me! Haha. It was pretty funny. 
Tuesday was a good day. We met a less active part member family in the morning. They weren't too keen on letting us share a message but they thought we were funny and cute so they let us share a little one then invited us back for dinner and a lesson this next week! Then we went to see some investigators with Sister Barron but these investigators were offended by a different member last week so instead of having a lesson we just did damage control. That's never fun. We ended the night by seeing our beloved Nana Julie. If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, EVERYONE needs a Nana in their lives. 
Wednesday was Restoration Day! :) 186 years ago on 6 April, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established. Check out: Mormon.org or Lds.org for the full story. ;) The rest of the day was pretty neat. We went and saw Amanda and Peta. They are doing great and are so happy! Then we went and saw a referral that a member gave to us.... Oh I & J.... What a funny couple. That's all I can really say about them.
Thursday was great! We went and did some service for a less active family which was heaps of fun. We also had the quarterly relief society activity and that was fantastic! There were a few nonmembers that came and it was really cool to be able to get to know them and the sisters of the ward in a fun environment. 
Friday we had our district meeting as usual. We visited a potential that we met and started teaching him and his partner the discussions! That was pretty cool. They seem pretty special so it will be neat to see them progress. Then we went over to Nana Julie's and did a little service. :) We're totally capable handy-men if you ever need a desk put together... 
Saturday and Sunday was GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! Oh it was so good! So many powerful and inspirational messages! My hands hurt from taking so many notes! We even downloaded the Priesthood session and watched it during lunch. Aah, I just can't get over how good it was. I think the message that stuck out most to me was make the temple a priority! Living somewhere that is so far from a temple and only being able to go once in the last year has really put into perspective for me how much I love the temple and how much I need it in my life! It's been pretty humbling to see how dedicated some members are down here by making the 4 hours each way drive to go to the temple regularly when often we have a temple 15 minutes down the road and don't make the time. I'm not trunky, but I am pretty excited in 4 months to be living within walking distance of my beautiful Logan temple once again. 
Have a beautiful week! I may be emailing you from my beloved New South Wales next week, I guess we'll see how the transfer dice roll.  

Love,
Sister Danielle Laree Stott



Picture: House of Representatives, only picture of the week but kind of neat. :)

Monday, April 4, 2016

Happy Tears!

What a crazy week! It was the week of Amanda and Peta. :) Tuesday after we emailed we had to forgo the rest of p-day so we could go teach Amanda and Peta. Which was more than worth it! Then we went over to an elderly sister's home for a visit and worked on Amanda and Peta's baptismal program. 
Wednesday we went over to Amanda's and did a bit of service with some Relief Society sisters. It was a lot of fun and was a good opportunity for her to bond with them. Then we all got cleaned up and had a lesson. After the lesson Amanda and Peta had their baptismal interviews and... THEY PASSED! :) Oh happy day!
Thursday was crazy! We had one final lesson with Amanda and Peta, woo! Then we had a lesson with a part member family all the way on the other side of the area. In the middle of a lesson we got a call from Amanda and we really felt like we needed to leave and go to her immediately. So we did, and there was all of this drama with the family since it wasn't Amanda's weekend for the girls and Peta was upset and AAH! So we called Peta's dad and explained why she needed to be there this weekend and he said he understood and would come watch her be baptized. Crisis averted. :) 
Friday was okay... We saw Amanda and Peta in the morning before we went to our district meeting. Then at our district meeting... Well... It almost became an all Sister district.... The Elders are our District Leader and Zone Leader so they told us that President Back called the night before and the whole mission was going on a car fast starting immediately for the next few days.... But our appointments were all over the area that afternoon so we hurried and called and cancelled them to be courteous and give them notice because we knew we weren't fast enough to walk between 6 suburbs... A few hours later at the end of the meeting they tell us it was all an April Fool's joke.... Which you know, I love jokes and all but it took us a month to set up those appointments... 
Saturday! Amanda and Peta were baptized! They looked so beautiful in white! Aah, so many emotions filled my heart as I saw them walk into the water! :') And then.... CRAZINESS! The Ward Council has been praying and fasting to find and reactivate less active family, the Forbes, since last April when the father passed away and Bishop conducted the funeral.... Well, guess who Peta's father is. D. Forbes, the son of the man who passed away. And guess who was watching the baptism, D. Forbes. The ward has been fasting and praying to find and reactive Peta's dad and grandmother (Amanda's ex and ex in-law) and we just tracted into Amanda and Peta! The Lord is with us in the work, I can testify of that ten fold! This was no coincidence. Heavenly Father knew that the Forbes wouldn't be ready to come back if the ward did find them, but he knew that if we found someone they loved, taught them, and brought them into the fold, that would help them come back. Miracles happen. :) We made the connection after Bishop signed the baptismal record for Peta and so we ran up to D and said, "When were you baptized?!" And Amanda yells, "YOU'RE A MORMON?!" It was incredibly hilarious. The women's broadcast was that night as well. So good. :) I love this Gospel! I'm excited for Conference to be broadcast this upcoming week! 
Sunday was beautiful. Amanda and Peta were confirmed members of the church, I cried bearing my testimony, it was a good day. :) Peta's dad and nan even came to see it happen! 
So yea, it was a week full of Peta and Amanda, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. :) The church is SO true! And God is with us. :) 
All my love (and my hearts about bursting right now),
Sister Danielle Laree Stott




The newest members of the Woden Ward! :')