Parker's Aussie Adventure

ALL IS GOOD IN AUSTRALIA

Here are a couple of photos and stories that were not in Parker's last email. She and her companion, Sister Carroll were asked to dinner by a member and were able to go.

She got to try crocodile for dinner. I was surprised she did and I'm very proud of her embracing the culture. She said it was super yummy and that we would love it! She also has been dealing with getting her 'Working with Children card' (WWC Check) so that she and her companion can teach children under the age of 18 with adult consent. This is a requirement for people who work or volunteer in child-related work. ie missionary work. It protects the children by requiring a national criminal history check and workplace misconduct check. It is a compulsory screening strategy in Western Australia, The Christmas, and Cocos Islands. It is all about protecting the children.

She has also been trying to get her Australian drivers license. Driving in Australia is like Europe. The driver is on the right side of the car and the cars drive on the left side of the rode. We were told early on by the mission that they needed drivers and if Parker wanted to drive we needed to do some extra paperwork from the state we lived in before arriving. Little did we know that this would be a big hurdle we needed to overcome in order to make this happen. But this was definitely something Parker wanted to do. We were about to have an AMAZING BLESSING happen and we didn't even see it coming. See, Parker received a ticket right before she left as we were getting the necessary paperwork done for her driving record to be pulled by the state. She was driving WiThOuT insurance. It was totally my fault!! We bought an old jeep that had to be fixed before it could be driven. I got an insurance quote but never actually purchased it because the car wasn't ready. So when the car was fixed and ready to drive, it never dawned on me that it needed insurance. In my head, I had purchased it already. I was shocked when she called me to say she was pulled over and the cop was telling her she didn't have insurance. Me thinking I had purchased it, told her to pull up the Progressive app and show the cop we had insurance. Low and behold we didn't have insurance and bam, sure enough, she had her first ticket. This wasn't just an ordinary ticket as we came to find out. It was a ticket that carried a $400 fine and possible jail time if not paid. On top of that, it goes on your record no matter what. Parker saw her chance to drive in Australia fade away quickly and she was pretty upset. I called on the ticket and we got a court date well after her departure to the MTC. I mentioned she was going out of the country and the lady on the other line at Draper City Courthouse said, "We don't care about that. She needs to be in court when she is asked." I kept my cool (which doesn't happen often) and said very nicely, "are there any other dates available? Sooner rather than later?" In two weeks she was leaving and we needed this taken care of immediately. I was praying in my heart that she would be kind and that she would find another date that would work. She gets back on the line and says, "August 13th, 9am." That was 9 days before she would leave. "okay thank you we will be there". Scared at the thought of not getting everything done prior to her leaving and it going on her record which would prevent her from driving in Australia, I told Parker and she was like, "Okay, that will have to work." I had a different perspective than she had. I was looking at the ground thinking, what else could go wrong before she goes and she was looking at the sky thinking, okay we can do this. A great lesson for me to be more optimistic and leave things in the Lord's hands. Oh but hold on that's not it. The story doesn't end there. I wake up the morning of the court date and was inspired to call Progressive and ask them about the quote I got several months back online for the Jeep. Would they be able to find it? I wasn't even sure if I had logged into our account to get a quote. In fact, I was positive I didn't. But I wanted to follow the prompting, so I called. It took me two departments later but they found it. I printed it off, along with the actual policy for the jeep I got the night Parker got the ticket. Oh, yes, I went online that very night, got a quote and received insurance at 12:03am that night. (or next morning)

We went to court with the necessary paperwork and thought it would help us receive perhaps some leniency for the ticket amount and possibly not have it on her driving record. That was our hope. We get there and the courtroom is filled with people who needed to see the judge that day as well. It was first come first serve and we wanted to talk to the court-appointed attorney to go over everything to make sure we were not making a mistake with a plea in abeyance. Which means no contest. We thought this was the best way to proceed but not really sure. After talking to the attorney, it was perfectly clear. We had to go to trial in order for this to not go on her record. The next trial date was well past Parker's departure date. And who knows if we would win. We could just take our chances, plead guilty, pay the fine and hope it doesn't affect her getting a license in Australia. The attorney asked us to wait a little bit while he reviewed all the papers we bought. Remember the papers we brought with the insurance quote and the actual policy. He wanted to look at those. The attorney calls us over and said, "You have guardian angels looking after you because it clearly states on your policy that you got insurance the day after the ticket was issued but the policy coverage was effective the day before. That means you had insurance when Parker got the ticket. I am going to have the charge dismissed." We both looked at each other and grinned in disbelieve. Did that just happen?!? Parker was the first to smile with tears in her eyes and with that, I knew the Lord was watching over her! My first thought was, this kind of stuff doesn't happen to us. BUT....if I sit back and take a look back on my life, we as a family have had many blessings. Many times the Lord has blessed us and continues to. I have chosen to look at life as a blessing because it is. Heavenly Father sends blessings. He cheers us on through our trials. He is present in our lives but we have to choose to see Him.

(If you don't believe this story, I have all the papers to prove it <3 )

HELLO EVERYONE IM STILL ALIVE. last week was crazy and I didn't really exist last Tuesday having left on Monday and arriving in Australia on Wednesday. (So no Pday) kinda funny kinda fresh. But we're excited and I'm so happy to be here!!!!

Some things that have happened (instead of 'da weekly recap' I'm sorry I know u all look forward to it)

-flying is exhausting and jetlag IS real. Still trying to get over it. Last night was my first good night's sleep. Sometimes I start falling asleep around 1-3pm here bc that's around 10-12pm in ut :')

-once I got to Adelaide, we went to the temple and its tiiinnnyyyy. Look it up. I think it's a part of the "Gordon B Hinkley" temple phase where a bunch of temples were built the same way *info courtesy of long lost bestie Sis Anderson*

-the first night I got to Adelaide they announced during arrivers testimony meeting, our new trainers and I was informed I was going to Darwin! Look it up bros. It's at the tippy top of Australia so ANOTHER plane ride. I'm gonna have so many miles racked up who wants to travel in 17 months?????

-got to Darwin Friday of last week so Thursday for you guys and it was crazy. We went to our flat (fancy word for an apartment) and it's so cute. We have a balcony with an awesome view of the sky and we can see a smidgen of the ocean from here. I feel like I'm in Jumanji sometimes bc of the jungle. And speaking of. This is the build-up season. It was dry for 6 months and the next 2 weeks and this past week is the build-up of humidity in the air. And then starting in October it's a rain depression for the next 6 months with 98% humidity. So when my comp and I tell people we just got here they go "eeehhhh ooohhh you've come at a baaaaad time mate"

-we basically got started right away and we are working on Quality Gospel Conversations. QGC. Every day!! President Ballard talked to President Manes who talked to the missionaries here right before I came and said that we should have 20 each day! Crazy and seems easy but try bringing up the gospel next time you talk to someone in a non-akward flowing kind of way. NOT EASY.

-sunday was very humbling. The ward here has about 40 people and they're all so kind. I got all teary-eyed and was being a total baby but I realized how lucky I have it. How blessed I am to live 4 minutes from a temple and to have 200 + people everywhere at church followed by another 200 and then another 200. You really don't know what you have until it's gone. So it was a very tender moment for sure. But my love was able to grow for the people here and it was only day 3 :')

-Sunday we found 3 new friends to commit to church!!!! 2 of them invited themselves. DOESNT HAPPEN. We'll see if they come next week. Pray for them!!

-being a missionary is hard. And the first couple of days were expected to be a struggle. Especially doing something I've never done before. Especially involving something that's so personal. I wasn't wanting to even touch the doors we were knocking on and I didn't want to say much Fri and Sat. Sunday I spoke a few words here and there BUT THEN MONDAY!!!!!! we had a district council. And Elder Foisa from New Zealand shared a beautiful beautiful message about faith. We're on the Lord's errand! It's truly crazy what missionaries do. And it doesn't matter if they reject the message. It's not about us. We were taught that in the MTC. "Be Outward" and it's such a good reminder. It's literally not about me. The people here have no idea who God is or they have an idea about the "Mormon people of Joseph smith" or they've heard but don't care. but I've come to realize that I could truly be the only person to bring up the gospel to them ever on this earth. Think about that. If you see someone and you realize you might not ever see them again.. talk about God! talk about the joy the Gospel brings in your life. It could be the only chance they have until they're in Heaven. Which is a scary thought? So that's been helpful in motivating me to just OPEN MY MOUTH. and remember that "faith cannot preside when fear is present" and that struck me so hard!!! I'm here for a reason and there's no time to waste. Trust in the Lord bc I already do and JUST TALK!!!!! He'll literally do the rest. Just a really cool thought from that elder and it really shook me. So then RIGHT AFTER THAT I JUST POURED MY HEART TO PEOPLE. AND WE CONNECTED IT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING.

*tiny miracle*- we went to a house in Stuart Park to follow up with a guy named Robert and turns out it's a chick and her name is Nastassja not Robert. (We still don't know who Robert is) And she was so needing to hear our message. Hehe. I shared with her my testimony of the Book of Mormon and offered her one that we have with tabs which have "questions of the soul" on each page with a scripture as the answer. And she took it! And then she said "I'm looking for a church actually the one I kinda went to is too far away now" and I said, "WELL OURS IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER"!!!!!! so cool to see Heavenly Father talking to his children THROUGH ME!!! If any of you are thinking about a mission...do it. I promise. I'm on day 5 and its absolutely the hardest thing ever but when you see God speak through you and you feel Him right by your side, it'll change your life :).

Doctrine and Covenants 6: 32 // 60: 2-3, 7 // 100:4-8

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH GO OUT AND BE MISSIONARIES TO EVERYONE. LOVE EVERYONE AND BE KIND TO EVERYONE. WE ARE ALL GODS CHILDREN.

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