March 5, 2021

Good'ay mates! We send our love & greetings to you all. There is a young sister in Perth that is beloved by Senior Sister missionaries. She is so very thoughtful... bringing us little gifts for Mother's Day, birthdays & other special days; cards to express her love for us as she knows we are far from our own families; thoughtful little crafts she makes (sometimes for dozens of RS sisters that she doesn't even know & at her own expense) to brighten the day of anyone she thinks might need a pick me up. 

    'Bloom where you're planted' handouts           a Mother's Day quote on a key ring

Card of appreciation & love to me

She's a convert of about 2.5 yrs & at times, is very insecure in her faith. The only member in her family, they are often very vocal about her affiliation w/the Church & express their disappointment. She had many fights w/her father before being baptized & sometimes thinks that is the only reason why she was baptized...to go against his wishes. Still living at home at the age of 32, she doesn't really believe she will ever marry & have a family .She often doubts her abilities to receive answers to prayers, doesn't think she qualifies to receive promised blessings, is convinced of her worthiness to go to the temple. But in all my dealings w/this sweet gal, it is apparent to me that she is not only deserving of all these things, but is exactly the kind of person the Lord is desirous of us to find, teach & baptize. 

Yes, she questions lots of things. But that's ok because she wants to believe & is willing (usually) to ask, seek & knock...Her prayers are simple & not always believing, yet I can tell her heart yearns to know of a surety that what she has been taught & is still learning, is true. At times she can be negative & snarky (I call her my snarky Australian girl) & makes light of those things that make her a little crazy. Sounds like a lot of members I know, except she is vocal about her concerns & really wants to have answers...while so many of us just let things simmer until the pot boils over & covers everything/everyone is a sticky, uncomfortable mess. However difficult her challenges, she never gives up but just keep trying. She is totally focused on learning, growing & becoming.

My reason for pointing out/writing about this sister is to illustrate that we all feel this way at some point during this journey we call life. Whether we are life-long members of the Church, new converts, returning to activity or a non-member or not interested at the moment, our journeys are more similar than different. We all experience doubts, fears, disillusionment, grief/sorrow, disappointment, rumors, finger-pointing, trauma...the list goes on. On the positive side, we all feel joy, enjoy smiles & laughter, experience inclusion, discovery, satisfaction, happiness, find answers, acceptance & count our blessings.

So where are you on your journey? What is your focus & purpose moving forward? How do you propose to accomplish your goals/dreams? Are you including the Lord & seeking His direction?

We are constantly learning from those we are teaching. Our Chinese friends are such good examples to us of having that laser-like focus. See how intently they are looking at the screen & listening to Elder Tate as he helps them understand what they are seeing. This is why they succeed...they give it their all. Teaching them the gospel is more challenging because the language/words can be very difficult to translate & the principles are so very new. But we are patient & know the Lord is aware of their limitations & will bless them as they make sincere attempts to learn. 

We have been having couples over every Friday night for the past few weeks for dinner & to introduce them to the 'Invite to Invite' invitations. This was something we did all the time with great success up in Karratha so we were very happy when the mission introduced something very similar. We then share a ten minute message filled w/great ideas/suggestions that would make an awesome FHE to teach/inspire the whole family. We would encourage everyone to utilize these new videos found in the gospel library app under 'Sharing the Gospel' & 'How to Share'. There are 12 very short videos that demonstrate how easy it is to share & give great ideas on how to go about doing it. We promise as you put this to the test you will be successful & find great joy...unexpected & wonderful blessings will come into your life & the lives of those you invite into your homes. 

We've been having dinner groups for the past several weeks to get to know all our members, include some less actives & introduce non-members to others of similar background, work, kids, etc...Here are a few that we've enjoyed spending time w/so far. 

 

                  Brother & Sister Riquelme (from Chile)   Sister Thompson (made the cake!)

  CeCe & Josh Katene; Sherayne & Nathan Lui 

  Tureia & Elaine Kaese;  Adeedas & Jessie Lemusu                                                                                                         w/new baby boy                         

We've also been having FHE on Monday evenings in a local park & have shared some photos of those gatherings. Some are very well attended while others, well...not so much. But even when the group is small, we still enjoy those who do come. Game nights will be starting up again soon but the different auxiliaries will take care of planning & putting it together. We're happy to let them take over & run the show because we are MLS missionaries... that's Member Leader Support...not in charge. 

Above is Mason, our littlest cancer survivor! His mom is a member but his father is not. His dad would like to get baptized, but we need to get his parents married first! They are progressing, so please keep them in your prayers so this can happen soon. The other little tyke calls Elder Tate Papa...for grandpa. She is adorable! Her mom & dad are great members & part of a large Polynesian family from NZ. We love them. Her mom is the one that made the incredible, three layer black forest cake pictured above. 

Here are Eason & James, two of our Chinese guys playing ball in the park at FHE. They love B-ball & soccer!  

A big welcome to guests joining in at our first Rootstech seminar! Here's the Sheck family (Bro Sheck is our new Bishop!!). They were excited to get in touch w/their New Zealand & Maori culture & roots; helping members get connected by setting up accounts on FamilySearch & problem solving. Those who attended had a good time watching a few of the videos, learning more about their Polynesian culture & experiencing new things as families. This will be a new annual event & will become a very powerful tool in drawing family's closer to each other; bring the community together w/members & a way to unite generations past, present & future. Such a blessing to be a part of this amazing Church sponsored event!

This is the boy's basketball team Elder Tate's coaches. They have been working very hard to improve & be more unified as a team. There is only six boys left after two moved away last December & it has been very tough getting them all to commit to coming every week to practice & show up for games. Their hard work has begun to pay off though as they have won the last two games against much bigger players & teams w/more boys to sub in & out. Last night they rallied & came from far behind to end up winning by one point. They are now in second place going into tournament play. Fingers crossed that they do well! 

Here is a sign we often see around town which was very confusing. We had no idea why people would be cutting down then restumping trees...didn't make any sense to us. Come to find out, houses are often built on short stilts or stumps here because of flash flooding, which we now know about. So 'restumping' is too replace or reinforce the girders supporting the house from underneath. 

Sometimes I think we should wear a sign that says, 'needs restumping'! At times we are all in need of girding up, strengthening, support or reinforcement. These are a few of the reasons why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so invaluable to each of God's children...it provides us all w/these needful things to assist us on this journey of life. 

Fortunately, we don't need to call an outside repair guy to come in an tell us what's wrong, how much it will cost & how long it will take for the repairs or reinforcement to take place. We can make a call to our Heavenly Father through prayer at any time & in any place; much of the work to build up our supports can be done ourselves through studying our scriptures, pondering & consistent attendance at Church & in sacred worship in Temples. It doesn't cost us anything for the reinforcement or supports to be put in place...just hard work & dedication to keeping the commandments & our covenants to the Lord.

We've been instructed, counseled & encouraged to put our houses in order & to more diligently #HearHim. The Lord is the master builder...He alone knows what is needful in our lives & how to assist us as we attempt to rebuild ourselves to more fully become like Him.

As we prepare to see/listen to General Conference in April, it is our hope that we may be more willing to let the Lord prevail in our lives & follow the counsel of our Prophet & other leaders more quickly & with exactness. 

We love you all & pray for you daily! May the Lord watch over & bless you/your families. Hurrah for Israel!! 

Love...Elder & Sister Tate

PS...from Elder Tate:

Things are really changing very quickly in our home town of Boise, we will return to a foreign city that we no longer desire to live in.  Seems like the rest of the US has discovered the Mountain regions and our once easy pace of life no longer exists.   

We are well...yes we extended our time here and are still serving in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.  We will be the last Senior Missionaries to leave the mission.  June 22 is our projected departure date; 8 days prior to President & Sister Bennallack's end date.  We are working with success around every challenge; reactivating members one by one just as Elder Bednar encourages us all to search, find and nurture the One.  Many personal spiritual experiences, those small at first impressions of guidance, have turned many hearts.  We keep on keepin' on in the face of adversarial challenges until we can see the light guide us...and lead us to the next level of understanding the One.

We are excited to participate in this great work through our learning curve.  Since we have moved past our 18 month mark, the results of our work is showing us what MLS is really all about.  Patience, perseverance, humility, regrouping with our companion and moving forward with faith. We get a glimpse of heaven here on Earth with moments of pure joy; though, insignificant as it may seem during the moment, the building blocks to get back on track take a lot of faith with the correct words and actions inspired by the Holy Ghost.  Then the magic of the moment appears...it is hard to express.

We are full of excitement as our prayers are answered and guidance is received.  The Lord is keeping us safe and secure.