December 28, 2015 Melton South

So I spend most of my email time responding to personal ones today so
this will be short!

Christmas was great, I loved Skyping my family. We spent Christmas
just mostly at the flat because we aren't allowed to proselyte on that
day, but we had an awesome dinner with members!

We have been teaching the Boyd family which I mentioned a couple weeks
ago, (single mom who is a less active member, 5 nonmember daughters)
and they are doing super well! They won't commit to baptism quite yet
but they will soon I am sure! The mom came to church last week which
was the first time in years so that was awesome.

Everyone here goes crazy about boxing day. It's like their version of
black Friday. Big shopping day. That was another no proselyting day so
we haven't done a whole lot this week!

Here is me with a metal Santa Clause and here is a schnazzy pic of the
Book of Mormon.  (And a few from our Christmas Skype.  That is the flat where he lives.)

Thanks for all the Christmas wishes! Happy new year everybody!
Elder Chappell

December 20, 2015 Melton South

Merry Christmas to all!!

Woooooooooot I am so excited for Christmas! My companion and I have
been making Christmas cards for everybody in the ward here and we will
send them home as well. But yous will all get them after Christmas.
Sorry for that. But they will be stupendous.

So in the Holiday Spirit, here is the Australian version of Jingle Bells!

Dashin' through the bush
In a rusty Holden (Chevrolet) Ute (wimpy aussie truck)
kickin' up the dust
eski's (cooler) in the boot (trunk)
Kelpie (dog) by my side
we're singing Christmas songs
It's summer in Australia
in singlets (tank-tops) shorts and thongs (flip-flops)

Jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way
It's Christmas in Australia on a scorchin' summer day Hey!
Jingle bells jingle bells
Christmas is a beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute

Well random story of the week, when driving home from district
meeting, we passed some fields. Most were empty, but I saw some horses
occasionally. Then out of nowhere, I here Elder Babneau say, "is that
a camel?" And I think, "whatever he is looking at, it can't be a
camel." Sure enough, There's a random camel in a field. Why?
....nobody knows. I will get a picture of it this week if I remember.
I thought that was funny.

So I have now learned what Australian heat is. And it is so much
hotter than Utah heat. It got up to 42 (Celsius) two days ago. I am
not sure the conversion but I'm pretty sure that's around 115. But
it's not just that. It's humid, and the wind is hot. When you step
outside, its like a wall of heat smacks you in the face. It's crazy!
The sweat comes immediately. And going in the shade makes no
difference. The air is just so incredibly hot. President and Sister
Maxwell said on days above 35 we cannot be in the sun. So we spent a
lot of that day making Christmas cards and seeing members. Too hot
man!

Miracle time!!!! So if you remember Niko, he is someone we have been
working with since I've been in Melton. Well we haven't been able to
see him in ages. But we saw him yesterday and he wants to be baptized!
He has a powerful testimony of the Restoration and wants to be sealed
with his family. There are some Word of Wisdom issues but he is
working on them and the miracle for that will be coming. You'll
probably hear about that next week. He is the man. So for now his
baptism date is Jan 23, but that could move forward or backward.

Congratulations to the Eddys for your mission call! You will be an
amazing Mission President family. I wish you were in my mission!

Merry Christmas to everyone. Remember that every gift given and
received represents the gift that our Father in Heaven gave us of His
Son Jesus Christ.

I love you all and will miss you.
Merry Christmas!

The pictures are:
Mary's baptism last week
me by the ocean (in my zone but not my area)
2 second video of a giant spider we found escaping our clutches and
reigning with terror on the flat.

December 13, 2105 Melton South

This week was a week of miracles here in the land down under.
We have been focusing on finding new investigators and building our
teaching pool. Seeing as we are both brand spankin new missionaries we
don't really know how to do that, but we worked hard and the Lord
poured out miracles on us.

Miracle #1 We were walking down the street to see a less active member
and a guy on a bicycle pulled over and yelled, "hey are you Mormons?"
I thought to myself he was probably gonna yell at us, but I answered
yes. He says, "ok come to my house in half an hour. This is my
address." His name is Chris and he and his 9 year old daughter are the
best. He has been searching for the truth and that morning he prayed
for guidance that he would be able to find what he was missing. Then
he ran into us and knew that was from God!! I am so happy to be
teaching him.

The next miracle was a referral! They are the Boyd family. The mom is
a less active member and she has five daughters that are not members!
(plus the husband, but he's not really interested right now. Still
supportive though!) The daughters want to learn and the mom wants them
to be baptized but she wants it to be their choice. I know they will
feel the Spirit as we teach them and then they will make that choice.
I am so excited! It is really fun to build up an area.

and the last miracle is the best one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mary got baptized!!! I would send a picture but we are at a different
library today and I can't figure out how... But next week I will! This
baptism has been a long time coming and now she got baptized and it
was great. One of the best baptisms I've ever been to. I loved it!

Well I love you all! Thanks for everything and Merry Christmas!

Elder Australia Chappell

December 6, 2015 Melton South

***AUSTRALIA ELDER CHAPPELL*** (this is for you Matt, Kanaue, Shadow,
and the rest)

Well right after I sent my email last week. Like, 10 minutes after,
President Maxwell called and asked me if I would train a new
missionary. I was kind of shocked because I just barely finished being
trained myself! It's like teaching someone how to be a missionary when
I don't know how to be one myself... So that's gonna be fun!

My new companion is Elder Seifert. Guess what? He's another
Philippino! He is actually from the same city as Elder Sifuentes (my
trainer). We are having a great time already. He loves to sing so we
just sing all day. We want to do a duet in Sacrament meeting.

So we are in Melton South now. (again). This is where I was when I was
with Elder Sifuentes! Deja vu all over again. I love it though! One of
our investigators is Taylah. She is living with her partner Stevie who
is a less active member. We have been working with them for a long
time, and she has wanted to be baptized from the beginning but she
couldn't because they aren't married. They couldn't get married
because of a lack of money and also some legal issues. But the Lord
has been preparing the way for them and has given them a miracle. They
are officially engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! I am very happy. They will be married sometime in
January and then she'll be baptized after that! Stevie is also working
on his W.O.W. issues so he can receive the priesthood and be a good
dad. Oh yeah, they are pregnant btw. They are going to be an awesome
strong family in the church.

Hey everyone! guess who's birthday it is on the 10th? That's right, My
amazing beautiful Mum. I will wish you a happy birthday now. Happy
birthday! I love you Mom. I am so thankful for everything you have
done for me. Elder Holland's talk in this most recent General
Conference about mothers has really touched me. I listen to it all the
time. He compares a mother's love to the love of Jesus Christ. I can
really see that that is true. Thank you for everything Mom.

So this area has just a few investigators. So we spend most of our
time trying to find new ones. It's fun. Next week we will probably
have like a thousand investigators. But if we don't, that's ok. Just
the trial of faith before the miracle! The miracle will come though.

Love you all!

Elder Chappell (the Aussie version)

This is my new proselyting outfit, courtesy of my Tongan Ward Mission
Leader Douglas Tui'onetoa. (jk we can't wear that proselyting. But I
will wear it when I come home)

This is me and Elder Seifert!

November 29, 2015 Melton

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood moooooooooooorning sweet world!
How is everybody?

So guess what? I am staying in Melton! Woot! I am super pumped for
Mary's baptism. I am very very thankful I get to stay.  All three of us are staying. 

They almost never leave three-somes. 

So this week was crazy! But before I get into that, HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TYLER!!!!!!! (3 days ago) 9 years old (and 3 days). Crazy crazy! I
hope you had an awesome day. And I hope the theme of your party was
super heroes.

I enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner and I hope you all did too! I
have so much to be thankful for and Thanksgiving helps me remember
that.

So here's a super awesome quote I heard recently. When somebody told
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland that they were "broken" and there was no hope
for them, he responded with this, "God loves to work with broken
things. He uses broken clouds to make the rain, broken ground to take
the seeds, broken seeds to grow the plants, broken grains to make the
bread, broken bread to feed the Spirit, and broken hearts to come unto
Christ." (paraphrased) I think that quote speaks for itself. That
gives me so much comfort. We have weaknesses so that we can grow.
Ether 12:27

So today is the last P day of the transfer and the tradition in this
zone is to watch the sunrise from the top of a mountain in the You
Yangs park. That was way fun! But when coming back, I, along with some
other Elders went off of the path for a "shortcut". I have always been
taught to not do that. But come on, I had to. It's so much fun! Anyway
we did end up losing our way, losing the path, and wandering through
bush for about 30 minutes. In all honesty, nothing bad happened and we
found the path eventually, but the principle is the same. It
(obviously) made me think of Kevin W. Pearson's talk, "Stay on the
Path". If you haven't read that one, read it. It's great.

So crazy story! Elder Babneau was in the hospital overnight Friday
night! He had an abscess that had to be cut out. They don't allow
visitors after 8 p.m., so they kicked me and Elder Deng out! It was
crazy. He was all by himself with no companion! We didn't know what to
do so we called our mission President. He said it's ok because it has
to happen but we got him first thing in the morning! He is all good
now. But that was an interesting night!

We had Stake Conference and that was awesome. Elder Dudfield of the
seventy was there. They announced that the Melton Chapel, which is way
too small for the ward, will be renovated and it will become a stake
center that can hold 3 wards. That was awesome. I am way excited. It
will be finished in a year so I might be able to come back and see it
depending on where I am serving. But it is just really cool cause it
shows how much the church is growing here. I love it.

Well here's some pictures! the You Yangs mountain view.

And our budget decorations.

I love you all! Have a great week and be excellent to each other.

Elder Chappell

November 22, 2015 Melton

Happy Thanksgiving soon to everyone back in the land where they
actually celebrate thanksgiving! Don't worry, there's an awesome
member who is going to feed us turkey and potatoes and pie on that
day!

So transfers are next week so next email you will hear if I am going
or staying, but if I am going, I won't know where until Wednesday. I
really hope I am staying because Mary will be baptized on the 5th of
December. I don't want to miss that! But I will go where the Lord
calls me willingly.

This week has been fun. We have focused a lot on part member families.
I intend to do that throughout my mission. We have gone through and
contacted every single part member family in the ward and most are
very willing to talk with us. The next transfer here could have like 5
baptisms. The field is white already to harvest!

It was really cool this last week because I was able to go on
exchanges with Elder Albrechtsen who I met in the MTC. He is the man
and we will probably go to school together after the mish.

So some of the best Aussie food is meat pies. Mom, you need to figure
out how to make them, because hose are incredible. You would bless the
lives of everyone around you if you made them. I buy a bag of freezer
meat pies every week and eat them constantly.

One of the biggest temptations for me is movies. The world is going
crazy about the new star wars movie. I can't tell you how many members
have tried to show us the trailers for it. I can't tell you how hard
it is to say no. AAAAh! One family we are teaching, actually Mary's
family, her brother is a huge Marvel fan. As am I. temptations. I just
want to talk about it for ages, but I can't.

Well, I hope yous are getting snow! If so, I am jealous! It is
starting to get very very hot. Maybe I'll be transferred to Tazzy
where it's much cooler... hmm.. Anyway, if there is snow, I wanna see
pictures!

Love you all.
Bye!
Elder Chappell