Piret, Party Pies, and Pens

Since noone else has written about the wonderful fireside we recently had I shall.....
The Rosnyites present were Marvelous Mari-Anna, Beautiful Bekalicious, Scottie too hottie, Fabulous Fiona, Eternally Gracious Emily, and Right-out Ritzy Rachel (have I forgotten anyone?) There was also the ring in....Joshy-boy. Known to some as Bridgey-babe and known to One as their lover :)
So it was in the lovely spirit-filled home of Piret. Piret took the fireside and spoke about her conversion and mission. The main theme was how we can support others that don't have family in the church. It was a GREAT fireside. I particularly liked the jokes Piret made. What a funny lady she is!! My highlight was when she told us she hit an investigator over the head with a bible. But it's ok cause she joined the church later on right? :P There was some great imput from one of our newest YSA converts and all others that attended. The spirit was felt and I hope we all left with a desire to be more aware of those around us and to strengthen each other. after the fireside PARTY PIES were served!! WE also wrote to the Rosny Mish-dawgs which now includes Elder CLUFF! Next time I'll bring the french/english dictioanry. Thanks Piret for a relaxed spiritual, yummy evening.

Sunday School

After singing for the second time in a day the hymn "Jesus Saviour, Pilot Me," the chamelic circle of Zarahemla was transformed into a ship's helm, and we discussed the parable within that hymn. As an example, the words of the first verse are: "Jesus, Saviour, pilot me over life's tempestuous sea; unknown waves before me roll, hiding rock and treach'rous shoal. Chart and compass came from thee: Jesus, Saviour, pilot me." We then read a scripture in Mormon 5:17-18 which likens those who forsake Christ and follow Satan to be "as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her." We were reminded of the importance of having Christ to guide us through the many trials we face in life today, even greater than those facing Mormon and his people in their days. As it was quite an educational lesson (always a good thing), what are some insights you gained that you would like to share? Comment below...

Congratulate the Graduates

Perhaps granting some assurance and satisfaction to Tania that institute was a success this year, the Seminary and Institute Graduation was held at the Stake Centre on the evening of 16th December. Those in attendance were treated to talks by James Docking (future Rosny ward YSA), Harley Watson and Tania Bashford, followed by the presentation of certificates to graduates and other students. Graduating Seminary were Harley Watson of Glen Huon, and Leah Docking of Rockin' Rosny, and the only institute graduate was in fact our very own institute teacher, Tania Bashford. 2 year certificates were presented to Fiona Bashford, Camilla Mitchell and Vanessa Watson, and a very grand-sounding 6 year certificate was presented to the ever-humble Mari-Anna ;) In her humbleness she decided to do away with her 10 page acceptance speech and instead with a simple smile to her adoring fans she graciously returned to her seat. After the graduation those in attendance went into the hall for some yummy treats, such as fruit kebabs and the ever tasty graduation cake. Mmm....

Flames and Choppers

The recent Bonfire Night at Seven Mile Beach was long awaited by many, with hopes of witnessing a repeat of the 2005 Bonfire Night which was ended by the arrival of a helicopter with a spotlight - shining on us! While the turn-up of this chopper most likely had nothing to do with us or the fire, it added a bit of excitement, with us running away and hiding amongst the sand dunes. This year's event did not happen quite the same way, with the weather causing an initial re-location of the event to the house of the Fab Fi, where we were able to have the planned barbecue. Chomping on the snags from Rosny ward were Scott, Mari-Anna, Emily, Fiona, Bek and Erin. After enjoying our meaty meal, however, Hayden and his pyromaniac groupies still wanted a bonfire. So those who were keen set off for Seven Mile Beach with a trailer full of wood for more fun and mayhem. Although I did not go to the beach myself, I am informed that there were no interruptions due to a helicopter.

Foreign Correspondance

Elder Scott Docking has sent another letter to the Rosny Ward YSA, as follows:
. . .

"Rosny Ward YSA,

Thanks for your letters, I enjoyed them all. It's always good to get mail.

What's new? Well, I'm out of Hamilton, and am in South Auckland, with a lot of Tongans and Samoans. That means a new area to become familiar with, new investigators, and new members for me to meet. I'm still riding a bike, as I'm not quite cool enough to be given a car. I guess that I'll start picking up the Tongan and Samoan languages.

I just had Zone Conference (a meeting with missionaries and the Mission Pres.) which was good. It's always good to hear other missionaries veiws on things. Anyway time to go.

Have a good one,

Elder Scott Docking."

. . .

There are also some pictures which will be up on the noticeboard at church. Thanks to all who wrote to our missionaries at the last fireside.

A Puzzling Sunday…

These mysterious codes were analysed in Sunday School this week: AWDG, WESHG, LATDBUL, HTTL. Having gotten slightly less than optimal sleep this week, I cannot remember what any of these mean. Who can help me out?

A Frightfully Good Turn-Out

In a dark, cob-webbed corner, in a place called the stake centre, the Hobart Stake YSA Halloween dance was well attended, even attracting some of our northern friends. Rosny ward had an excellent turnout, with the Vicar of Dibley, two emo-goths, and the anime charater Sunako (Libby, Emma, Sarah and their friend Jane), three very lovely fairies with great hair (Erin, Bek, Fiona), a pirate and her witch friend (Emily and friend Jess) and of course Mary Poppins, who won best dressed female for the night (me!). That makes a grand total of 10!! Talk about drawing stars, eh! Now all we need is some male representation from our ward... David Greco of Hobart ward won best dressed male (in a very literal sense). There were many other great costumes from the night such as the incredible hulk (Dale), Caesar (Dallin) and Piglet (Fiona B). Well done to those who organised the event.

The Final Countdown

Our last institute of the year! What a monumental evening. We began by sharing scriptures or insights learned from the Old Testament this year, which was certainly interesting with input from many people in the class. Tania successfully managed to end it without cutting anyone off this time, and we moved onto the final book in the Old Testament – Malachi. The two most well known doctrines contained were identified as tithing and family history, and these are so important that the Saviour quoted the words of Malachi and commanded them to be written when he visited the people in the Americas, as we read in the Book of Mormon. The activity for the night was simply a party to celebrate the good times and the good food, I believe Biana’s vanilla slice was a great hit! Faithful Fiona and Mesmerising Maz were there and were not square!

Family History: Isn't it about time?

Yay! Another ward fireside! Pretty exciting eh? This month our fireside was presented by Sister Rebecca Read on how starting family history in her youth has been beneficial to her. As well as hearing some great stories from her experiences, we were also given plenty of helpful tips along the way. One tip was to start writing down our earliest memories, as once we are older we will not be able to remember many of them. An example was shared of an ancestor of Rebecca doing exactly this, and it has certainly helped her to feel closer to this family member. I’m pretty sure each of us felt much more motivated to get into our family history now and to start preserving our own. Thanks, Rebecca. While enjoying the food and socialising we also remembered our valiantly serving missionaries and wrote some notes of encouragement and entertainment to them. The stalwart attenders of the night were Emily, Erin, Bek and Mari-Anna, along with our borrowed male component, Josh and Nick, courtesy of Hobart ward.

What's it gonna be?

Sunday School. The classic and mandatory Zarahemla circle. What is it today? It’s... the number zero! Why? Because that’s how many members of the church there were in 1820. Colin proceeded to write the figures for varying intervals of time, until today where we have over 13 million or less than 1% of the world’s population (if anyone knows the correct figures feel free to post them in the comments). How is this relevant to the Book of Mormon? The prophecies stating that the true believers of Christ would be few in the last day could certainly be supported as true. Although membership continues to grow we will always remain in the minority, consistent with many prophecies. But as I like to say, quality is better than quantity and in the Lord’s strength we can do all things.

The Amazing Race

On the very morn of the AFL grand final the Hobart YSA gathered at the stake centre for The YSA Amazing Race!! Representing the Rad Rosny-ites was the Majestic Mari-Anna, with team-mates Lego Lauren and Princess Mary. First up was the service activity, our team got to wash Lisa’s mum’s car, which was great other than the scary Hawthorn supporter which happened to be a neighbour and getting started a little early in the day if you know what I mean. Next we were led back to the stake centre to make an infomercial in one take (“Do you need shelter from the rain? I do…”) and then to kick 3 consecutive goals with a footy…each. (Your footy tips were much appreciated Lauren and Mary! We could have been there all day…) Then to the KFC parking lot, where Lauren and I discovered first-hand that we do NOT like oysters….bleh. Then at last, success!! We finished first, go us!! The best part was watching all the infomercials from the different teams. They have to go on facebook, please!

"Neh." That's all I have to say.

The second last institute lesson was on Nehemiah (also dubbed “Neh” for simplicities sake), who is known for the rebuilding of the city wall of Jerusalem, which took his people just 52 days, and also rebuilding the spiritual life of this people. Also, as a class we also considered three famous people: Sally Robbins (aka Lay-Down Sally), Jane Savilla (aka the running walker), and Lindsay Jacob-Ella (aka why don’t I take this victory in style by showing off a little first). Other than each somehow botching it at the Olympics, we concluded that they were three people each with great potential for success, but who for one reason or another (but always a fault of their own) didn’t quite make it. We too have great potential as children of God, but we can decide to botch it up or to give it our all and be successful in returning to our Heavenly Father.

The activity after was a great game of Family Feud (I’ve always wanted to play that!), with questions surveyed on a LDS audience. Teams Neh and Miah both competed well, with team Miah winning in the end. Representing the great land of the eastern shore was the amazing Mari-Anna!

The biblical cliff-hanger

This week's institute lesson was on the story of Queen Esther. We watched a dvd which depicted how the evil and proud advisor Haman convinced the King to sign a decree that all Jews should be killed. Apparently the King and Esther were yet to have a meaningful conversation since he didn't know she was indeed a Jew. Her cousin Mordecai asked her to go in unto the king and stop the decree and save her people! But she was afraid, since she would be condemned to death upon interrupting the king unless he held out the golden sceptor. Apparently they were still working on the quality of their relationship. So Esther asked her people to fast for three days, as she would also do, and then she would go in unto the king. Soon arrived the day of doom, the moment of truth, she farewelled her friends and took the brave plunge to enter the king's court, interrupting the proceedings and there she stood, awaiting her fate as the king made his decision. And then....the dvd ended!! So cruel!!! Now we'll never know if Esther lived or died!! Unless there's a book somewhere...

The fun activity afterwards was a charades/pictionary type game (did it have a name?) where two teams, team Esther and team Haman, were both miming at the same time, fastest correct answer winning that team a point. Round two was slightly harder with one person from each team being a prop to be used by the one trying to depict the answer. The Rosny delegates, Maz and Tyler did the ward proud on team Haman, winning by several points. Go team!

Don't want to be...alllll byyyy myyyyyself....

This week for institute, in the cosy location of the nursery room with the smell of KFC still lingering, we had a well prepared lesson by Alex primarily from the book of Jeremiah. Amongst the things discussed were forordination, patriarchal blessings and that Heavenly Father never leaves us alone...as in, he won't forget about us and leave us without his love and help! Thanks Alex for a great lesson and for bringing the spirit so well. The loyal Rosnyites present (who made up almost half of the YSA there) were Fiona, Libby, Rachel, Tyler and Mari-Anna.

Celestial transmitters and receivers

On Sunday night YSA from the stake gathered to the foreign land of the Eastern Shore (gasp!!) at Rosny Chapel to attend the Rosny-hosted stake fireside. Presented by our favouritest Sunday School teacher and geocacher, Colin Chick, we knew that it would be a great evening. He began by explaining to us about the art of geocaching, with the use of a GPS and we went outside and gave it a go, eventually finding the hidden box. He also had us experiment with our mobile phone reception at different locations around the building. These object lessons were likened to our communication with Heavenly Father, how we need to be in the right place physically, spiritually or emotionally to receive transmissions or answers to our prayers. We were given great insights into presenting our question in prayer correctly, for example not expecting to get a 'burning in the bosom' answer from a multiple choice question. I can barely do justice to the fireside from my summary, but be assured it benefitted many of us! Representing Rosny ward were Erin (aka Shazza), Fiona (aka Trev), Tyler, Scott, Jason, Libby, Rachel, Emily and Mari-Anna.

Faith Is Like A Little Seed...or is it?

Our lesson this Sunday was from Alma 32, and was of course on faith. The diagram of city of Zarahemla was cleverly disguised to look like a seed, representing the seed spoken of by Alma to the poor of the Zoramites. Emily pointed out that Alma 32:28 is different from the primary song which says faith is like a little seed; in this verse it is the word that is likened to a seed. Remembering that a seed, if not planted, will remain a dormant seed and will not grow or progress, we must plant the word in our hearts and nourish it if we want it to grow into a testimony. As we begin to see results from the planting and nourishment of the seed, our testimony begins to grow and we become more sure of it. Sometimes the growth is so gradual we don't notice it until we look back and realise how much it has grown.

We also had an exciting annoucement from Tyler, who received his mission call on Friday to the Halifax Canada Mission, French Speaking. He leaves mid-October. Congratulations Tyler!

A Specktacular Evening

On Saturday Rosny Ward hosted their own version of Spicks and Specks, the popular music quiz show on ABC TV. There was a good turnout from the stake YSA, including those in Rosny Ward - Bek, Emily, Tyler, Scott, Rachel, Mari-Anna, Erin (aka Shazza), Jason, Libby and Emma, as well as some of their friends :) We also acknowledge all those that were there in spirit! Despite an over-excited audience that kept shouting out the answers, and a strange spasmic disease amounst competitors which caused an over-zealous use of buzzers, the evening seem to go pretty well and all had fun. The grand winner of the evening was Scott's team, well done! The "show" finished with the premier viewing of Rosny's videoclip of their suggestion for a new YSA Tasmania theme, to Queen's "Somebody To Love", which turned out to be a great hit thanks to the brilliant editing skills of Esther Tavares-Tutida. A BIG thanks to all who helped or participated in any way with the activity, either on the evening or in the previous weeks. Rosny Ward also thanks Josh of Hobart Ward for agreeing to host the evening (and without a forewarning for the need of crowd control!). Way to show the stake a good time, Rosny-ites!

A Spiritual Feast...followed by dessert!

The institute lesson this week began, of course, with Sharing Time, with contributers from many individuals (although apparently 3 Nephi is the hot-spot to be reading in at the moment). Many insights shared were also from the recent Stake Conference, with Elder Baxtor the Area President. The lesson mainly focussed on understanding our relationship with Heavenly Father and the Saviour and knowing that they know us, as was talked about by Elder Baxtor at conference. We were given an experiment by Tania to try for a few minutes, writing a letter to Heavenly Father and seeing what we learnt from that experience. We also shared our favourite scriptures about Heavenly Father and discussed them. The spirit was very strong throughout the whole lesson and Bek, Tyler and Mari-Anna were in attendance to experience that wonderful blessing. After the spiritual feast, those who were keen headed to Mures for icecream (as you do on a freezing, cold night, whilst it is most likely snowing on the mountain.) Mari-Anna tried the banana flavour, mmm....

Look out, Hollywood!

Last Thursday night and Saturday morning the star music video clip by the Rosny YSA was filmed. This great feat involved Libby, Rachel, Mari-Anna, Emily and Phillip, as well as several of our Friends of Other Wards, either by starring in it or behind the scenes work. Thanks to all who came along and helped out. The hot footage is being edited as we speak by the reputable Esther Tavares Tutida (Train Movie 1 & 2, Smooth Criminal), also of Rosny Ward, and will be shown at the grande premier of the Spicks and Specks Specktacular this Saturday night, 7pm at Rosny Chapel. Don't forget to come along and bring your friends if you don't want to miss this exclusive viewing!

Foreign Correspondence

In response to the letters we wrote at the last ward fireside to our fellow YSA currently serving missions, we have received a reply from one of them, Elder Scott Docking. His letter reads:

"Hey YSA, it's good to hear from you, and to see that all is well. It's been raining a lot here in New Zealand. So far my mission has been pretty good, loads of fun.
The people are pretty laid back here, so it's fairly easy to talk to them. But you have to be careful, for the human-eating Maori. Just kidding, joking.
In a nutshell it's going good, teach people, getting wet a lot. Soaked through to the skin a number of times.
It's all good fun.
See ya, Elder Scott Docking. 3 Nephi 5:13."

It's nice to know our letters are appreciated, isn't it? So next ward fireside make sure you come prepared to use those letter-writing muscles! :)

The Field Is White...

Mt. Field that is. Covered with soft glistening white snow and with frozen lakes, it was a beautiful site for our stake ysa activity on Saturday. Fiona, Tyler and Mari-Anna braved the cold and represented our ward. After a nice long winding drive up Mt. Field we all walked through the snow until we found a nice big hill to slide down. That's pretty much what we did the whole time! There was even a jump created for the slide downhill which made things very interesting. There were no serious injuries but plenty of fun! As well as lots of snow fights and other general fun. Fiona made herself a nice snowbath and relaxed. Tyler attempted to become as a snowball cut out of the mountains without hands to fill the whole earth...somewhat unsuccessfully. Mari-Anna won the snow sculpting comptetition with her rendition of an octapus (inspired by Fiona Bashford). After stopping in at Banjo's New Norfolk the troops were on their way home after a cold and tiring yet fun day in the snow.

Fun and Games

Institute this week began with a new tradition of a sharing time of lessons learned in the last week or so, which had quite a few contributors this week, including Chris with a thought about those who make fun of religion...it's all fun and games until someone dies and burns in hell. In the lesson we talked about Elijah and Elisha and got confused plenty of times over, and also discussed the role of prophets and how they are called. Our post-institute activity for this week was indoor miniature lawn bowls!! Pretty fun actually. I think team Elijah won by quite a bit though. Yay for Tyler, Fiona and Mari-Anna who made it this week.

Whose fireside topic is it anyway?

Calling all YSA in the stake!  As some of you know, the fireside in August will be given by the legendary Colin Chick, and he has requested that the topic for discussion at the fireside be open to suggestion by us, the ysa.  He emphasises to suggest topics we feel need discussing, not just what we want discussed.  Let's not play "stump the apostle"...especially since there will be no apostles present.  OR will there? Hmm the intrigue...

Anyway, to make a suggestion click on the comments link under this post and type up your suggestion, choose the "anonymous" option (so there's no need to be shy), and presto! we get an idea of what you need, all from the comfort of your own computer! Impressive, huh? Please send your suggestions by the end of this month.

SO.  Let the posting begin!!

When Opportunity Knocks...

Sunday night we had our Rosny ward YSA fireside, yay!! We had a great turnout of 10 (picture the stars around the 10), namely Mari-Anna, Emily, Libby, Rachel, Lucy, Scott, Kat, Fiona, Tyler and also Brodie who is visiting her family. The evening was presented by the EQP Jack Dale and his wife Claire, and commenced with 3 brave souls volunteering for a blindfolded taste test. Scott, Tyler and Mari-Anna (the bravest of all ;) had to drink a concoction prepared especially for them by the other YSA. Tyler was treated to straight lemon juice, Scott's was...well...something that "might taste good over chicken", and to her great relief Mari-Anna had a well prepared lemonade. The lesson in all this was to liken the lemons to bad things or trials in our lives - we can either do nothing and have lemon juice, we can complain and murmur and moan and end up with garlic-chilli-ade, or we can turn it into a positive and make lemonade. The whole evening provided us with lots to think about, using many more examples, stories and exercises. We ended by taking a journey into our own minds to where we want to be, and asked ourselves how we got there! Thanks to all who attended, and a big thanks to Jack and Claire.

Would you like fries with that?

In our Sunday school lesson this week we all learnt some interesting things. We learnt that many names in the Book of Mormon start with either A or Z. We learnt that Mari-Anna doesn't trust Scott (too mischievous) but she trusts Denisha. We also learnt that it is possible to knit a hamburger. But most importantly we learnt about witnesses, and saw various examples of doctrines testified of by both Alma and Amulek in the Book of Mormon.

Bend It Like Beckham

Friday... 1900 hours... Elmsleigh Rd... missionaries... investigators... young adults... put these together and you get Friday Night SOCCER!! Last week was another great example of why I keep coming back to social soccer each week. Although I am not the greatest soccer player (you're shocked, I know) I do like to play a little and I have fun fine-tuning my (lack of) defensive skills, though I probably haven't quite got the whole goalie thing happening yet... So after pulling some pretty funky moves that did very little to stop the opponent scoring goals, I decided to get up the front there and try some attacking, which was pretty interesting since I have very little control over the direction of the ball once I've kicked it. HOWEVER! I decided to just try it anyway and would you believe it, I kicked not one, but two very awesome goals! (And I'm not afraid to boast). Yes, I can name several eye-witnesses if needed. It's a great feeling knowing you've achieved something (like 2 goals!!), it's also a great feeling driving away to The Final Countdown playing loudly on your ipod! But the point of all this is: even if you think you can't play soccer, or you've never really played before, that shouldn't stop you from coming along to Friday Night Soccer! Get out there, give it a go, and you never know what might happen! You might even enjoy yourself - I know I have. So that's every Friday, 7pm @Stake Centre.

Just another manic Sunday

Last Sunday in our YSA Sunday school class we had a great attendance, namely those pictured in the main blog photo below, looking lovely as ever. We officially welcomed (and possibly scared off) our new-comers, Tyler and Fiona Cluff. The land of Zarahemla did feature on the whiteboard again, but mainly Colin's lesson was focussed on the difference between being hard-hearted and of humble heart, and ways we can try to be the latter.

Pot of gold

Hobart Ward's open-invitation potluck dinner turned out to be an eventful night, with quite a good turnout, even from our ward! Bek, Emily and I stunned the masses with our amazing wit, charm, and dinner conversation. Sometime into the evening we happened upon a very exciting discovery - we have 2 new ysa!!! I know I was excited about it. We met Fiona and Tyler from QLD who are moving into our ward. After dessert (I had chocolate pudding and icecream...mmm) those who were crazy enough decided to go to the park and play soccer in the twilight (and cold!!!). Note to self: next time bring warm jacket.

Mari-Anna

A Touch of Frost

Touch footy occurs each Saturday at the Parliament St Researve in Sandy Bay, the players consisting of missionaries, investigators, YSA and friends. I am not usually a fan of sports of the touch footy variety, but thought I would give it a go. It was rather cold, but after playing a bit we warmed up and it wasn't too bad. I had never really played before (just enough to get injured and decide I don't really like it), so I had my trusty side-kick and team-mate Sam Self explain the rules and how to play. Despite getting a shoulder in the throat fairly early into the game, I persisted and I must admit that after I while I got into it, I even got a few touch-downs or whatever the proper term is, even making an "awesome-as slide!!!" in a very good attempt. And...well...since we're all friends here I guess I can safely confess...I actually enjoyed playing touch footy and wouldn't mind going again!

Mari-Anna

P.S here is some proof that I actually played, in the blue shirt going for a touch

Fireside Fun in Glen Huon

A big thanks to Bek, Jason, Scott and Emily who along with me attended the stake ysa fireside in Glen Huon a couple of weeks ago, some of us had quite a road-trip down which included a close encounter with the "bright lights!! arrg!!!". Once we got down there we were amazed - the guys out numbered the girls!! Crazy, I tell ya. Soon more people showed up and I'm not sure that lasted?? The fireside was all about missionary work and taken by the Glen Huon missionaries and the zone leaders and we broke into smaller groups for workshops (I think my favourite was "flirt to convert" hehe). Way to show our presence in the stake rosny-ites!

We have a blog!

I know this will just over-excite you all, but I thought that such a great, fantastic, talented, good-looking, fun bunch like us deserved our own blog! So I have created a blog for us and it's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiive!!

So view it. Use it. Love it.

Maz :)
(your favouritest female YSA rep)