October 23

Okay, first miracle to share, from English class! My companion and I teach English class every week, and every week I feel like the least qualified person to teach :) We had split off into groups and were practicing different topics of conversation, asking questions, English class stuff. Then Elder Chen comes in, writes out a question in English, asks me if it's correct, and it says, "God is our loving Heavenly Father. We want to invite Ms. Chen (the member of the class) to pray and ask God if He is really there." I was so surprised! But he handed it to her, and she treated it first like the other questions we had done, finding the noun, verb, and adjective. Then he started teaching her about prayer! It was amazing to see the transition, and how receptive she was to try prayer because there was another Chinese, testifying it was true. I've known all along how amazing it is to have Chinese missionaries, but here I got to see it firsthand. My testimony of how prayer works was fine, she brushed it off saying she was Chinese, so basically doesn't apply to her. Then Elder Chen testified, and what a difference! She committed that she would pray, and we found out things in her life that she really needs God's help with, and is starting to believe that there would be a God there to answer her.

This week we had a lesson with our recent convert Niki. She asked the question, why do only men get the priesthood? Sister Coultrup did a great job explaining the different responsibilities of men and women, what great blessings God has given to all of us, but I wanted to find a scripture to back it up. I was looking and looking, not finding anything, and just prompted to continue in my personal study, where I am currently at in the Book of Mormon. It was Alma 32, and in verse 23, there was my answer! I had never appreciated or noticed it before. "And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned." I know that that is true. We are all able to receive answers to our prayers, knowledge that comes straight from God. How amazing is that? I am so grateful for the little promptings and all the help Heavenly Father gives to us.

One more miracle, we were walking down North Terrace, and 2 men were at a restaurant and called out "Hey sisters!" we waved, figured they were members, and kept walking. Then we saw them again! They are members from Alice Springs, haven't gone to church in years, but are here for major brain surgery. So good we got to meet them, make contact, and now the elders are going to visit them while they are here. God works in mysterious ways, but sometimes we are able to know and recognize exactly why and what He wants us to do :)

Back in Mildura

October 17
This was the week of the Mildura Show. So Wednesday my companion and I packed up for the 5.5 hour drive to Victoria. Though it started out a bit discouraging, (there were very few people there the first 2 days) things picked up and we had more success on Saturday. One man came up and asked if he could purchase a Book of Mormon. I told him we could give him one free, which he eventually accepted. As I started to ask what led him to request that, he shared that he wanted it because he had heard a lot of things about it, and wanted to find out for himself. I encouraged him, saying that was what the Book of Mormon asked us to do. He said I had misunderstood, he already knew the Book of Mormon was false, and all this stuff about Joseph Smith, but he was going to prove it himself. He knew all about us, and believed we misrepresent ourselves claiming to be Christians. He kept talking and sharing, seeming to be nervous about giving me a chance to speak? It was so sad for me, hearing all this stuff. Finally as he was leaving, he took a breath and I took the chance to bear my testimony to him of the Savior. Of what I have come to know about all that Christ did for us, and how the Book of Mormon was a big part of that. Although he didn't seem to respond much to that, it was a powerful witness to me of the Spirit, and of how much Jesus Christ is a part of this church, and aware of everything that we do here, in His name.
ALSO at the show, I got to be on the radio!! Weird, can check that off my bucket list! A man that I met on the street 7 months ago when I was serving in Mildura remembered me, and wanted to do an interview on the radio, because he's a radio host. Great opportunity, I was able to share what we do as missionaries, and share a bit about what missionaries everywhere do! Whether a lot of people were listening or not, who knows? Still fun :)
Another experience I would like to share comes from my personal study this morning. I was reading about Ammon, a great missionary in the Book of Mormon. In Alma 28:12 it says "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."
So powerful, I know there are mighty miracles all around us! I am definitely guilty of not appreciating them sometimes. Then I thought of this scripture from the Bible, Phillipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
The miracles of God are all around us, I wish I had more time to share them with you. But I love hearing about little miracles that happen in your lives!
All my love, all the way from Australia,
Sister Townsend

Family

October 10

I really really loved the zone training we had this week. Our leaders gave fantastic training on becoming more consecrated missionaries. Especially grateful for the Spirit that was felt. Of course the Spirit is the master teacher, and emphasizes what we can do. Each companionship went up and shared what they would do personally to not waste time/become more of a missionary that says "I want to..." (do whatever is asked). Sister Coultrup and I were given the scripture D&C 123:17, one of my favorites. The phrase "cheerfully do all things that lay in our power" stood out to us, and we committed to be more cheerful in all aspects of the finding we do. The nature of the area seems to be we find a lot of people for other missionaries, but that is definitely something to be cheerful about! There are so many people who want to learn more about God's plan for them, we just get to help them recognize that :D

Miracle this week with one of our new investigators. I learned more about the power of everything that we say. We would mention something like, "God has a plan for you," and she stopped, looked shocked, and said, "Really? He has a plan for me?" And it was such a foreign concept for her, as well that God would love her enough to have that plan. Then the same concept was highlighted again in conference, what a great knowledge we have, and responsibility to share God's Plan of Happiness with all that we meet.

One of the new senior couples that just came in is pretty special, well everyone's special :) but this man's uncle happens to be President Russell M. Nelson, or as he calls him, "Uncle Rus". 😁 He shared that there is this one picture, the one with Jesus wearing red, that sometimes looks happy, sometimes upset, or half justice, half mercy? That's the one PRESIDENT NELSON says looks most like Christ. And why is that? WOAH.

This week I had a san churro sundae at the best chocolate cafe in the world, and ate waffles :)

Dearest family, I love you and pray for you. Thank you for continuing to keep going, regardless of challenges or tests of faith. They come, and we get the opportunity to show Satan who's boss.keep going, keep trying (keep re-watching Elder Holland's talk from conference April 2016😀 ) and remember I love you!

Sister Townsend

Part 2
A slightly drunk man shared an acronym with us the other day that is pretty cool
Positive
Energy
Activates
Constant
Elevation
Always seeking to elevate (improve) ourselves, right? And I am learning that only comes through action, and we are able to see that joy in ourselves and others as we share the light of the gospel :) love it!
So I fell off my bike again...but don't worry I am well take care of. It was a rainy day, and I slipped. But before I could even pick myself up, a man had run across the road and was there to help pick me up. just a bit of blood, and some nice security guards helped patch me up. Then this morning we were with president, and because I hadn't bought any more bandages yet, I couldn't shake anyone's hand. BUT president is a doctor, and he checked me out to make sure nothing was broken. It is a great blessing to be a missionary, and be protected. Unfortunately, another elder in our zone had a more minor fall than me, but he broke a bone in his hand, had to have surgery, and will be in a cast and sling for a few more weeks :) We all have our challenges :D

October 9

Message to Vivi
Yes we went to a members home and they had a buffet lined up for us to make our own vietnamese cold rolls (those are some of my favorite things to eat here) and you should look them up! that's so good about your profile picture, keep it up! Sorry I don't have much else to talk about except missionary work, that's all I'm doing now...but I love hearing about everything you are doing! remember Rach and I will both be praying for you, and hope you have an awesome week!
Message to James
So well!!!!!! 2 baptisms in the past month, and many many miracles besides that. Because my companion and I get to travel around to different areas, we find people for other missionaries to teach, and now some of those people are going to be baptized as well!! Similar to football, I've been thinking how it doesn't matter what part you play, you contribute to the overall win. We each have different responsibilities, whether that is at church, school, with friends, on a team, or in the mission, God knows what we can do, and we do our best to live up to that!! Then we are so happy when the success comes. Even if you're not playing offense and your team wins, of course you'll still be excited! you contributed to that :)
love you! Sister Townsend

The Storm of the Century

October 3
G'day family and friends!!!!

This week Adelaide, Australia was hit with the biggest storm they've had in over 50 years!!!!! The entire state of South Australia was without power for about 6 hours, during the day, different parts gradually got their power back bit by bit during the night. For myself, I was on trade offs, so not even with my normal companion! But I was with Sister Tamana, a previous companion. We've been having some pretty heavy storms lately, heaps of wind and rain, and yesterday morning we even had hail! But back to the blackout... When it happened, we were in the city, where there is always people in the streets. When the power went out, people actually started screaming. The end of the world was coming!!! All of the trains and trams were down (obviously, because the run on electricity) and that left so many people in the city with only buses to take them home. But it was a great time for people to come together, to LOOK UP, because now they had to, it was a really great experience! At our flat, we didn't have any source of light, so we went over to the mission home (lucky we live next door) and got to borrow some candles.

Then the very next day we were so lucky the storm stopped enough for us to go to the temple!! Bright sunny skies, a beautiful day. And what was really cool was that Raymond was able to baptize her, and he was just baptized himself 2 months ago! Then just a few hours later, we were told to not go outside under any circumstances to stay safe from the storm that had come back! Just ridiculous.

And last but not least we were very privileged to see our friend Niki be baptized this Saturday! Hard to believe, but we started meeting with her just a month ago, and she was so prepared. We first met her back in July, the day before she was going home to China for 2 months. Sad, but we got her phone number and hoped for the best. Fast forward to the end of August, we were really struggling to find people to teach, so we called up all the people on our phone. NO ONE answered, except for Niki! She agreed to meet with us, and now has entered the waters of baptism, received the Holy Ghost, and feels so clean and excited to share this gospel with her friends. A great testimony to me of what happens when we truly believe in God and Jesus Christ and what the belief then motivates us to do.

I love you all, have a marvelous week!

Sister Townsend

The Moon Cake Festival

September 18
Hello dear family and friends!!
So many things to share this week. First, Dana (a recent convert) came to another lesson of someone we were teaching, and bore a very powerful testimony of the blessings she has seen come into her life since her decision to follow Christ and be baptized. It was so cool to see and hear :) As well, it helps to build friendships! I think I've said this before, but I'm really learning how great friendships can be built on shared experiences in the gospel. I love it.
This week we had a special celebration. In China, there is something called a mid autumn festival, on the day of the full moon in the 8th lunar month (I think). Anyways, it is also called a moon cake festival! For myself, when I hear "cake", I think CAKE. But this is a moon cake Basically made of a paste, a very sweet paste with lots of sugar, and an egg yolk in the middle! But it was super fun, we were inviting literally everyone we could, because we were kind of planning it last minute. But it was still great! We rented out the basement floor of this building we're in, they have a movie theater and everything, but it hadn't been used in a LONG time, so we spent 2.5 hours as a whole zone (group of missionaries) cleaning it. When everyone got there, we watched some short Mormon Messages about who God and Jesus Christ are, the Book of Mormon, and God's Plan of Happiness for all of us. And the videos were in English and Chinese! Then we had the food :D The senior couples went all out and provided a great feast of semi-authentic Chinese food :) And it was such a success that we will be having something similar once a month. There were so many people there who had never met missionaries before, but wanted to come to a moon cake festival. After, they felt the Spirit from what was shared and wanted to be with the same people again, and asked to come to church! The girl in the front in the yellow jacket, her name is Misa, and she came to church yesterday and loved it. She is super busy all during the week but wants to continue to learn about God. Sometimes it amazes me at such simple and strong faith. But like it says in the Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it shall be given you." I know that is true, that all we need to do is ask God and He is there for us.
I've been studying more this week about the life of Christ. In everything He did, He exemplified such patience and love, traits I am continually working on developing! And in John 21, we receive the answers of how we can show our love and gratitude for everything Jesus has done for us. "Feed my sheep". I know it's possible for all of us to follow this counsel, and I want to encourage everyone to do so this week. To look out for someone you can help and lift. I KNOW you will be happier for it, because that is where we can find true happiness in serving others. I love you all SO much!!
Sister Townsend and Sister Coultrup :)

September 11

Message from the Mission Mom, Sister Parker

Can I just tell you how incredible your daughter is! President Parker has the utmost confidence in her as she has been given an incredible assignment. That is being a PVC sister. She was called because she is exactly obedient, very talented, works extremely hard, is 100% trustworthy and people are drawn to her. That is quite a list and all true. Sister Townsend is the cream of the crop and has been given great responsibilities because we know she can handle it and will go forward with a smile on her face finding a way to get the job done. She is a joy to be around and a leader in every sense of the word. Thank you for sending her prepared in every way.

Answer to "What is the PVC?"
Portable Visitors' Center. Brand new calling/assignment, only one other mission in the whole world has the PVC, and that's the Boston mission, they developed it. They have a website portablevisitorscenter.com that might show you more of what we do, but we take care of these displays, go to different events, (firesides, ward conferences, activities, and non member events too, like markets and the show) and teach people using a portable visitors center! Kind of like visitors center sisters :) but we also proselyte in the city, use the teaching space there, and preach in the Mall as well :) lots of really great things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Because it's a new assignment and we're still working out the kinks of everything, President asked us not to tell our families, who then might spread it to other missionaries, its still in the learning phase. That makes it have that much more pressure, but without pressure, how would we learn and grow? :)

(note here from Janet- since Sister Parker told me about it, I figure it's okay to share on the blog)

I have been officially asked if I could extend my mission until March 25, 2017. I have prayed and fasted about it, and feel it is where Heavenly Father wants me to be. I know that it will be a great sacrifice, and that there may be some things I miss, but remember how many blessings and miracles have come thus far! There is so much more in store for all of us as a family, and I know there will be a much sweeter reunion when it comes.

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments, I would like to respond to President today..

Any homecoming things haven't been scheduled in stone yet, have they?

Love you all SO much!!!!!
Sister Townsend