The Sydney Surfer- Aug 19, 2018

Hello family and friends!

It's fun to hear about all of the news from back home! Pace's cliff-jumping looks pretty awesome! The wildfires are unfortunate.... we've had quite a few here in Sydney as well. In fact, the whole state of NSW is officially in a drought right now.

To Pace: I'm not sure I understand the question about the 'whys and wherefores' of family life. If you're asking "why is family life important?" I may have a few insights.
(long story leading up to this point)...Bishop Croft and his family had befriended a 22 year old guy named Jack. Jack had always lived life on the wild side and was doing pretty well living the "bachelor life". For reasons we won't go into, he and bishop got into an argument and stopped talking for a while. With the recent events still running through his head, Jack went out one day to go surfing. As he got to the beach, he saw lots of other surfers riding large waves just a little way out. He jumped into the surf and paddled out a fair bit. When he got out to where everybody was, he stopped and looked around, only to find himself alone with no waves coming in. Confused, he just sat there for a while thinking about life. All of a sudden, he was hit with this overwhelming feeling like he needed to go back and apologize to Bishop and his family. He paddled back and went and did just that. But even after he'd made things right, the overwhelming feeling didn't go away. So he started coming to church, then the feeling pushed him to start taking the lessons, then to read and pray, and finally to be baptized and confirmed a member of the church. (this all happened in the 5 months I was gone from the ward) The point that I'm trying to make here is that there are so many people just like Jack, except they never figure it out. They have fun for a while, but eventually end up in Claymore hahaha (think socialism mixed with drug cartels). We're teaching a few people right now who are like that, and you can definitely see the deterioration that happens in their lives. God is the Supreme Creator, and as his children, we are meant to build things. The joy comes from building a family, a skill set, or opportunities for future generations. In this story, Bishop Croft is building a family situation that attracts others and is focused on lifting others up. I hope it helps, but that's my two cents anyway.

As far as other news goes, not much has changed since last week. All the Elders who came in a transfer before me hit their year mark (crazy I know). When I first came to Australia, this certain kind of tree was in full bloom, and I've just started to see a few blossoms coming out again. It doesn't feel like it's been that long, but I'm still not even halfway, so we'll see hahaha.

Thanks for all the emails! Keep the faith!

Elder Nelson