Athanasios's Birthday Party at church
"Hi! It's been a great week, we had 6 lessons which was fantastic. We have a new friend who is someone that Athanasios found on the bus on his way to FHE at church! We had three lessons with him, and we've also started teaching M. again after a short break."
"On Thursday we spent a large section of the day with Austin Heder which was a lot of fun, we got lunch with him then had him with us for two lessons. He's a really nice guy, and it was nice to hear about his mission in Quebec and how it compares with the mission here. (Although the truth is that no mission compares to this one really! ;) ) On the way back to the mission home we had a minor car accident where a guy on a scooter hit the back corner of our car as he went past in the middle of the two lanes, which dinted the car a bit. He fell and hurt his hand a bit, but no one was seriously injured. It also popped the tire and Austin and I put the new one on while Elder Mead directed the traffic around us! It was an exciting end to a great day. The car will have to go to the garage, so we'll have to take care of that at some point this week."
"What you wrote about explaining what you're doing reminds me of training a new missionary!"
( Elder Teals mum has a student Physio with her for 6 weeks)
"Although it's always amazing how quickly new missionaries pick things up, and it's no surprise, they've been set apart for the job! The added complication with training, is that you're explaining everything in a language that they're still getting to grips with!"
"It's great to hear that the stake is focusing on the area plan so much. I've seen it make a difference over here, and it's such an inspired plan. If a person really can become spiritually and temporally self-reliant, and then is enabled to do missionary work for both the living and the dead, they're really on the right track!"
"It's always funny that we have 6 lessons and call it a really good week, whereas there are missions where that's your average day! I don't know how they would have time for so many lessons! But having so few means that we really value them. I was thinking about it a few weeks ago as well, and one of the reasons that I'm glad I was called to a foreign-speaking mission is that I think if I had been always teaching in English I would have been focused too much on explaining things well and presenting logical arguments, like a debate that I could use to convince someone that what I'm saying is right. The process of learning a language has made me have to be based on simpler things, and now that I can speak about and discuss complex topics in Greek, I don't over-do it, as I've learnt the importance of relying on testimony and not having to prove that I'm right all the time."
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