Dear family,

It was a good week.  Not a easy one, but a good one.  I am always how many dropped appointments we can have in a week.  That is alright.  That is alright.  People will tell us the night before that they are coming, but then they don't show up.  I feel though because we teach mostly at the church in the city, so it is easy to just go outside and get back to into the work.  We are very common sight in downtown area.  We have 2.5 zones of missionaries in one building, so there are a lot of of fun, but it is really fun.  We give strength to each other, and I have learned a lot from other missionaries in how they explain the gospel such as on a short church tour.  That is something we do very often here.

I lost my wallet this past week, so that made things a little crazy.  I kept telling myself that it would all be fine in the end and it indeed has.  I am sure exactly how it was lost, yet, the last time I remember I had my wallet was talking with a Chinese student about prayer and bringing out a picture of the family.  I guess it is difficult to find lost things in a city.  Haha.  I guess someone who needed it more as found it.  One interesting thing about the situation was, that same night, the first person I spoke to on the train, was actually in the exact same situation as mine.  I kept thinking  that maybe this situation partially happend, so I could give empathy.  We discussed the power of prayer and I promised her that her prayers would answered--perhaps through simply, feelings of peace, or a thought that would help her find her wallet.  I know prayers are always answered.  I know they are aren't always answered in the way we want them to be, yet, they are are answered.  I have definitely seen this, in my life.  Meeting this woman on the train reminded me again of how God is truly aware of us and even the "little details" of our lives.  He wants us to succeed and willing to help us through great gifts such as prayer and scriptures.  The scriptures to me are basically a travel book as I live her for a short time on this earth.  They really are to help navigate us through the mountains, the valleys, and the streams, so we can live again with God and be in a state of everlasting happiness.  I know this be to be true.  As Alma 32 explains, this fruit of eternal life is very possible and contingent on us.  

I love this work.  It is not easy.  I am learning to just not take these too seriously when people try to disparage me on the street.  I am just amazed by what people say on the street.  Yet, it also makes street-contacting so much.  I honestly meet every walk of life.  I know most of the homeless people in Footscray by name and often talk to them.  It is so much fun.  We had a wonderful opportunity to meet with a Seventy this past week.  It was fabulous.  One thing that really stuck out to me was that for our mission, I have been called more to serve with the President and Sister Maxwell than to serve in Melbourne.  It is an interesting thing to think about.  He challenged us figure out what that meant for ourselves. 

Thanks for all the packages.  I will send pictures next week.  

love,

Elder SHumway