Thanks for the news and the package, I really needed those things! Starting in July, President Simmons will take over both missions, and be in charge of over 200 missionaries. The Australia Sydney mission will cover almost all of New South Wales. It is going to be a big change. Its because the church is already well established here, so they need missionaries in areas of the world where the church isn't. The church is really starting to push member-missionary workOur ward had a big Luau to kick-off ward conference on Saturday, and that is when we had the Hangi. It's basically cooking food in banana leaves in the ground. It was very good. I have been thinking about life after the mission when I move back here and get married to an Aussie hahahaha. I have had to speak in my last two areas, but I have not spoken in this ward yet. I am keeping busy here, so that is good. There is a lot of work and potential in this area, so I am looking forward to staying here a long time.Next week I will remember to bring my camera, and send you some pictures.Love, Elder Blake Gammon

January

Next week, p-day will change to Monday permanently. You'll need to write to me on Saturday. Well, this area has a lot of the lower class and poorer people in it. On of our investigators is a Fijian lady named Grace that lived in Las Vegas for almost 10 years. She was a manager at Tony Roma's. It was cool to catch up with her. We have met some crazy people here. It also has some nice suburbs. It is a lo tof fun to contact all of the Polynesians that live around here. They are generally more friendly than others. We also tracted an Iraqi family. They were cool! They weren't Muslims, but were some religion that worships John the Baptist. We are about to give them an Arabic Book of Mormon. I look forward to staying here a long time.It sounds like you are more concerned with what was behind my companion in the photo, rather than my companion himself. Haha I didn't even pay attention to those when I took that picture. It just happened to be where we were emailing. Those were some good photos of Kyan, thanks. There really isn't much to say. I wanted to hear more about what happened with Dad and the City.Love,Elder Blake Gammon

January News

The church is upgrading our email. They have been working with google for a better email service. I have a new email address, blake.gammon@myldsmail.net. Send the package to the mission office. You can hold off on the hair gel. The Bishop Monga doesn't have a close relation to Joe, but his father is from the Cook Islands so there has to be some relation. This area is great. The ward does heaps of missionary work. The area is a west of Sydney, and is less stressed out than the city.It's great. You can tell the ward that I have worked in diverse areas, and have had a lot of Polynesian companions. The work is difficult, but rewarding. I am also gaining too much weight. I also know that as our family makes the sacrifice for me to be doing this work, that the Lord will make everything turn out for the better.Love,Elder Blake Gammon

more December

Haha, I am now in Wattle Grove. My new address is 3/26 River Park, Liverpool. My last area was beautiful, but this area is on fire for missionary work. The members are all missionary minded. My new companion is Elder Uere (wet-ay). He is from Kiribati (bet you have never heard of it). He'll only be my companion for this transfer. The bishop of this ward is Bishop Monga haha. I have not met him yet, but I know that his dad is from the Cook Islands. I was happy to be transferred because nothing was happening in Ulladulla, but this Ward and area has a lot of potential. i will warn you next time that p-day is on Tuesday. It happens once every six weeks.

more December

Hey,This past week has been pretty good. We had the first convert baptism in the branch in over a year. We should a few more coming up as well. The Christmas spirit feels so much different during the summer. It doesn't even feel like Christmas. Other than that, nothing really exciting happened. On Monday we visited a volunteer firefighter who had investigated before. I traded one of Dad's medallions for a bunch of patches of the different fire depts. in Australia. Kyan's blessing looked really fun. It's about time! That's all for this week!

December news

We just had transfers the beginning of this week, and I am not moving anywhere, neither is my companion. We have a baptism on Saturday of a 14 yr old girl named Kai. Google "Mollymook Bogey Hole" to see where we are having the baptism. It has got to be the best spot for a baptism in the mission. Right now the coast is having what is called "King Tide". The waves are massive and powerful. It's awesome. Anyways, why didn't you tell me that Denalee Dear John'd Jacob? It was a long foretold prophecy, and I couldn't help but chuckle when Jacob told me. I wonder who she did it for....hahaThere also is no Thanksgiving here, that is purely an American holiday. My companion isn't American, so we didn't even celebrate it by ourselves.We are lucky to get at least 25 people at church every Sunday. One Sunday, our investigators made up about 2/5 of the attendees at sacrament. We usually have to sing without a piano, unfortunately.Well that's all for this week...

November letter

This week has been pretty slow. There really isn't anythingnew that has happened lately. Everyone here loves the banana bread that I make though. The branch president always asks me to bring it to branch activities. Not much has been happening lately. We have a baptism next week, but we are having difficulty getting our other investigators to progress. We have a study room in the attic of our townhouse, and every morning I bring up some crackers for these beautiful parrots that fly up and visit me haha.Everyone would be quite amazed with the scenery down here as compared to Las Vegas. The beaches are amazing! Anyways, that is too long to wait to get packages! Oh well.. At least I don't have the pig flu haha. Just about everyone in the area I am serving in is Aussie, unfortunately. I really like Polys; I wish there were more of them here. That is about it for this week, I am about to play laser tag with the missionaries in our district. Talk to you next week!