Good Morning from Australia!!

Dear family and friends,

It was an incredible week.  It was one of the best weeks for me so far on the mission.  I saw many miracles.  I felt the Spirit and saw the gospel bring light into other people's lives. Our companionship continues to be really good.  I am having a blast in serving with both Elder Marker and Elder Pham. 
 We had several experiences that I will never forget.  This week, I am continually reminded how is truly a God of miracles.  This was clearly shown in several different experiences that we had this week.  There was a couple that we have been trying to meet with for several months.  They come to every English class, but were reluctant to meet with us.  They have been asked several times, but I felt a distinct impression to ask them again.  They initially said no, but Elder Marker had an inspired idea to invite them to watch a movie with them.  They then willingly met with us and we shared the message, "Good Things to Come."  As we discussed the video, it became that coming to Australia and all of the pressures associated with it, have humbled them.  They needed some source of hope for the future, because we feel their stress, anxiety, and perhaps even despair over the current situation.  We made the connection to having hope in Christ and His Gospel.  We discussed this for awhile, but I then felt a prompting to bear my testimony about the hope that I have in this gospel.  I felt the Spirit in very real way and I could feel that hearts became softened.  Testimonies were shared and now we plan to meet them several times a week.  This experience has reminded me of the marvelous work we are engaged in.  I remember His mercy and faith in me to allow me to be involved in this great work.  Life is going really well.  This was just one experience, but as Elder Pearson said from a Area Presidency message yesterday in that "we call down the miracles of heaven," we can truly call miracles from Heaven.  I know we can call, but also that He answers in a greater abundance we could ever imagine. 

We were in the city basically the entire week.  The area is a little different because the Vietnamese are more spread out in comparison to Sunshine and Footscray.  My area is several hours by train.  It is huge, so we spend a lot of our time in the city.  A lot of people we find, we do not teach, but I have seen as we work hard, other missionaries have found Vietnamese people that we can this glorious message with.  I feel that we can qualify ourselves for blessings as we "put our shoulder to the wheel." I have definitely seen this to be true.  Many of the people that we talked to even last week are now learning about the gospel.  It is amazing.  I felt the Spirit strongly on many occasions.  One of those themes I have testified a lot about recently, is the potential that God sees in each of us.  I know that God's vision of what we become is greater that what we can or see of ever imagine.  I saw many people reflect seriously on this point and desire to learn more.  

Life is going so good.  I wish I had time to write all the miracles.  I feel so happy to be here.  I love sharing the gospel.  It has been a great blessing in my life.  Love you all.

Jonathan