Note and Pictures from Australia

Just a little note and pictures from a member in Melton:

G'day My name is sister Toi.   Just thought to let you know Your Son is a great missionary we have had him in our home on many occasions tonight was another.

He has been in our area for nearly 6 months now, he has a fantastic attitude & a great spirit about him. l see the patience he has with his companions that are not English speaking. Our daughter Mia loves to stir him up by calling him Elder Chapoo.

 

March 14, 2016 Springvale

This week there was an E.T.! That's right. Extra Terrestrial. Jokes,  no
that means emergency transfer. So yes I have been transferred! I am no
longer in the Australia Melton mission! I am back into the Australia
Melbourne Mission! I am now in Springvale, which is one the other side
of the city. Wahoo, East side baby! My new companion is Elder
Faamausili. He is a giant Samoan Rugby Playing Man Monster...Elder. He
is the man. He has already given me an authentic Samoan Lava-lava,
which actually isn't called that, but I forget the real name.

Springvale is very Asian! I went from an islander area to an Asian
area! It is full of Chinese and Vietnamese. I am again in a four man
flat. The other two elders are Vietnamese speaking. But one is from
Utah and the other is Aussie.

I finally got letters in the mail! They had been sending
them to the wrong address, so somebody found them and I received 

about 10 letters from months earlier. That was happy and frustrating 

at the same time. I will write a response as soon as I am not so busy.  

But I will respond to all of the letters that you have probably forgotten 

about and you'll probably be confused.

I am glad you have spring coming. Our weather is just now going
cooler! It's been really comfortable the past few days! I am enjoying
the transition. Everyone talks about how it gets so cold here in the
winter, but I think that's just cause they don't know real cold.

Guess what? You can now add Spanish and Vietnamese to my language
list! Also I forgot to mention that Chinese means Mandarin and
Cantonese, and Tagalog also means Cebuano (the dialect that both Elder
Sifuentes and Elder Seifert speak in their home, but all Filipinos
also speak Tagalog.) There are many Spanish speakers in this ward.

I got the valentine package from home.  It was great. The candy hearts were
a big hit. Mostly with me because I hogged them, but everyone else
liked the one that I allowed them to split between them. ;)

Our ward is much smaller, but our chapel is much bigger than Melton.
Go figure. Everything is going well. We don't really have anyone to
teach yet, I've only been here since Friday. But we will have a
massive teaching pool in a couple weeks! I have no doubt. I can feel
the potential in this area.

Oh I also got to go to the temple this week! That was a surprise
because I had thought I was going in April, but the transfer changed
the date for me and I went to the temple the second I was with my new
companion. I love being in the temple. It feels like home.

I drive a Holden Cruze now. For you Yankees, Holden means Chevrolet.
It's really nice. The key flips out when you push a button, kind of
like a switch blade, so we have fun with that.

We had a P day where many Elders gathered together for basketball at a
chapel, and President Maxwell showed up! He played ball with us and he
was actually pretty good! But don't worry. I trash talked and beat him
just like I do with Dad.

Speaking of Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! Thanks for everything Dad. I
love you and I hope someday I will be exactly the kind of father to my
children that you are to me.

It was a week of adjustments. But I am excited for my new area!

Love yous all!

Cheers

Elder Chappell

March 6, 2016 Melton

Good eventide everybody!

This week was a bit of a struggle. We were working really hard but
lessons fell through, people were not keen, and nobody came to church.
But weeks like that happen so no biggy! Next week will be killer.

The biggest thing that happened this week was a zone conference with
Elder O. Vincent Haleck from the 70. He is awesome. Man he inspired
everyone! Basically he spoke about how important our missions are.
They will shape our lives.

A quote from him that I loved. "you have been preparing for your
mission for eternity. You will be reflecting on it for the rest of
eternity. And you have 2 years to live it. So live it well."

There are heaps of Filipino missionaries here. More and more each transfer. Sorry I didn't explain the
New Zealand. Almost every Samoan/ Tongan in Australia lived in New
Zealand for some time. Everyone is from New Zealand. So the NZ accent
is all the slang. Heaps, sweet as, etc. They sound really cool. The
funny part is that they struggle to make the "th" sound. It comes out
as an "f". "one two free". I am not picking up that part though. Yes
Jaide's family is kiwi. (local New Zealanders are one of two cultures.
Kiwi or Maori)

I still love the missionaries from the MTC district. Since I have been here, I have
had Elder Bennion, Elder Albechtsen, and Sister Rhodes in my district.
Elder Bennion left, then came back to this zone. He is my zone leader
now! I got to see Elder Porter at a zone conference. I have only seen
Elder Wiser and Elder Wheeler once since the MTC. But that was awesome
when I did. I seem to see Sister Johnson at meetings a lot.


Have a great week.  Love you all.

Elder Chappell

Hmm... I don't really have much to say, so I'll spice it up with some photos.

This is me looking fly, and the new group of four in the flat.

February 28, 2016 Melton

Jaide was baptized last Saturday! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! It was beautiful. I

felt nervous to perform the ordinance but when it happened I didn't
even have to think. I just did it and it was perfect. The Spirit

helped me with that. She is so
awesome. She is only 14 and she already says she can't wait to serve a
mission. Her whole family is coming around too. Her mom, (sister Boyd,
less active member) is giving up drinking, coming to church every
week. Trevor, her mom's partner is now asking heaps of questions. He
is the man. Her older sisters Amber and Shaydie have not been very
excited before, but they loved the baptism and also had heaps of
questions! Also the younger sisters Rhayne (rain) and Skylah are
begging their mom to be baptized. Skylah is too young but Rhayne is 8!
We will see. I have this vision of going with all of them to their
family sealing in the temple in a year. It can totally happen.

This week was crazy!! Transfers happened. Elder Seifert has gone to
the strange land of Tasmania. Fa Seifert!! (fa means goodbye in
Samoan.) We now have two new Filipinos, Elder Olan and Elder
Prestousa. And I am comps with Elder Ching.  We love being

companions. He actually knows Wayne from the 3rd ward! They went to a
youth conference in Hong Kong together! Ask him about Alan Ching. See
if he remembers. We are both 18 and so that is good. A lot of
missionaries kind of look down on the 18 year olds so I am glad I have

a young comp with me.

 We had a special broadcast Stake Conference with Elder Quentin L. 

Cook, Elder Kevin W. Pearson, and a couple others. It was awesome.

There was a lot more that happened, but in short, We were running
around, in and out of our area to help other Elders, and had almost no
time for proselyting. So that was stressful and hard. But this week is
going to be gun as.

I don't know if I use the slang a whole lot in my emails, I can see
that I use a little bit, but I have really picked it up. I still have
a Yankee accent mostly, but some Aussies have said I don't sound
American at all, so that was awesome. I am really starting to sound
Aussie (mixed with New Zealand).

Live long and prosper.

Elder Calvin Chappell

Photos: Baptism, baptism, and a random cool picture with me and my
former zone leader elder Ferris.

February 21, 2016 Melton

Hello world.

Transfers happened. I am staying here! The Australia Melton Mission!!!
Wooooot! That's what I really wanted. Elder Seifert is being
transferred to Tazzy! (Tasmania) I am kind of jealous, but I love
Melton so all good.

Shout out to Sister Spackman going to New York speaking Spanish! Watch
out New York. A small package full of a whole heap of attitude is
coming your way. You'll be a great missionary Kathryn!

So I guess none of my emails sent last week... Sorry! I promise I sent
them! I don't know what happened. Hopefully I can resend some.

We are super excited for this week! Jade is going to be baptized on
Saturday! Oh yeah, the date got changed back to the 27th. We are going
to get two more Elders in Melton. Elder Olan (another Filipino) and a
new missionary. We don't know who yet. Exciting! This area is one
where people are trained all the time. It also seems to be an area for
Filipinos....

The miracle this week is a couple named Jose and Elise. Jose is from
El Salvador. Spanish and Spanish accents and anything Spanish is
unheard of in this side of the world, so that is strangely
refreshing. For those of you missionaries serving in Spanish places,
that's probably funny to you. (Elder Eddy, Sister Beutler, Elder
Clift. I'm talking to yous). But anyway, We saw Jose on the street,
talked to him, and got his address. We came to his house the next day,
they opened the door, greeted us happily, and listened to our message
with heaps of soul searching questions. We taught the Restoration and
they said, "wow. That makes so much sense." Since then, they have read
half of 1 Nephi together! We love them so much and they are so
prepared!


Well sorry for the short email today. Here's some sunrise pictures
from our pre-transfer early morning zone hike. This time the sisters
slept in so we had some good old fashioned man fun. Which means
running around pretending to be zombies or guys with guns. It doesn't
get much better than that.

Elder Chappell is out. PEACE.


Oops never mind, I forgot my camera.. Pictures will come next week. Sorry!

February 14, 2016 Melton

I don't know why this didn't send last week...

Happy Valentines day! I forgot that that was today, cause... Well it
really doesn't matter to a missionary. But it was actually yesterday
for me. Today is the 15th here! Which means it is my 7 month mark!
What in the world?? Where did the last month go? Far out.

Oh btw, Hopper's Crossing is the name of a suburb over here. I am not
actually in it but I'm there all the time for district meetings and
what not. I thought it was a funny name. (hopper means Kangaroo if you
didn't know)

This week was awesome! We had zone conference and I always love that.
Transfers are coming up! On the 23rd!

So the big news this week is.... Jade changed her baptism to this week
instead of next week! That wouldn't be a big deal really except that
means that I will for sure be here for it! This is the last Saturday
of the Transfer so we will all be here! We are so excited. The family
is doing so well. They are seeing Jade's light and the sisters are so
much more interested than before, and even the man of the house,
Trevor! He is a massive man that looks like a beast but he's really
super nice and kind. He is from the Cook Islands, a tiny little group
of islands in the pacific. He is Sister Boyd's partner. We are hoping
they will get married soon. But we are so happy to be teaching this
whole family now!

MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we have this new way of finding people.
It is called "talk to every Filipino and ask for their Filipino
friends". People from the Philippines are just super nice and love the
missionaries, so we just try to find them. Anyway, we had been growing
our Filipino teaching pool, and we asked for their Filipino friends,
and we were referred to a friend named Chona. They knew which street
she lived on, but not which house, so we just decide to tract the
street! Well, we met Chona, and she was cool, but the miracle was
someone else! Her name is Victoria. She is an Aussie. Single mom with
3 little kids. Basically she is golden. When we mentioned families
being together forever she was touched and felt that she should listen
to us. So we told her a simple Plan of Salvation and set a return
appointment. She is super awesome. We haven't had a sit down lesson
with her yet but she is great. She read the pamphlet cover to cover
(which nobody does). And she prayed about it! She felt a peaceful
feeling when she prayed.
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
We are happy.

Happy Valentines day everybody! Eat heaps of lollies!

Elder Chappell

February 7, 2016 Melton

Goooooood evening sweet world!

This week was pretty good! We set a baptism date with Jade! The 27th
of February. She asked me to baptize her! I am super excited. We love
this family. She is an amazing singer but she is super shy, but she is
going to sing a solo of I know that my Redeemer lives at her baptism!
It will be awesome.

Elder Seifert and Elder Ching are doing awesome. We have a blast together.

Ooh funny story! Today the Jehovah's Witnesses came to our door! The
best part was the reaction of the guy when he saw us. "oh...
Mormons... hmm... ok" He then proceeded to give us a memorized speech
using his ipad as a guide. The poor guy. He was so nervous. Reminded
me of myself at my first door. They wouldn't accept our pamphlets :(

We have really been struggling to find new investigators! It is hard,
but we will find them. The field is white already to harvest so I know
it will happen soon!

So the explanation for the subject line is that this week I was able
to try two meats that were new to me! Octopus and Horse. Octopus I
guess is pretty common in the world, but not for me! It was all right.
Really chewy. Horse is very common to eat in Tonga. So a Tongan member
fed us, I had no idea what it was, but it was great! So I asked, what
is this meat? Yep. It was Horse. Now one of my most favorite! They
also eat dog, but I haven't been able to try that yet.

Sorry for the short email, but not that much happened this week!

Love you all!

Elder Chappell