Oct 31, 2010

This last month we had 6 people set for baptism at one time but they all fell through except for Eddie so we only had the one soul saved.  We've been repenting for our lack of qualifying for these successes and these souls lost.  It's really amazing how you come to love the people here.  Last night Eddie had a horrible relapse. It was so hard to see.  The Lord and his timing though is always perfect and we were there to help him.  But we had a lot of stuff planned this weekend with him and his brother Pa and the kids.  They were gone all weekend, Pa and them were at a Maori cultural weekend thing.  But Eddie totally fell off the boat and was gone all weekend living the life he used to live.  It was so hard to see, but we're going to try our best to continue to show our love for him and help him to come back.  We know how great of a guy he is and the potential he has.  We've seen him grow so much so it was very difficult to see, but we know he'll realize how what he was doing didn't bring him happiness like what he's been receiving. 

But besides that one event everything else went really good this week.  We were very blessed.  We've been sacrificing more and more and are starting to see the blessings as we fight to help others.  We set more people for baptism!  We have 4 set for this upcoming month and they all look very promising.  Some of these sets are people we found this last week and already set for baptism.  One lady, her name is Ardel, said that her life was just horribly going downhill and she was feeling disgusting about her life.  And she said all day she was hoping for a miracle and was praying to have someone come and help save her life.  After her prayer we showed up! All thanks to our mate bro Watene.  He's our old ward mission leader and he's the man! But anyways and so she knew we were the answer to her prayer.  We had a long discussion with her and helped best we can and taught her.  She than asked me to give her a blessing to help overcome all these trials, after the blessing we set her for baptism.  Just like that in the first meeting with her.  We were definitely blessed.  That was the beginning of the week and she just has been progressing like nothing I've ever seen.  She's started the book of Mormon and is already past Nephi I think, and is just eating everything up.  She's completely turned cold turkey on everything and has the strongest desires to change her life and keep progressing.  It's amazing, and she tells us to come and give her day to day contact! Amazing huh?! The lord truly does lead us to his elect. 

Yesterday we taught her and had a great conversation and we moved her and her daughter's baptism to this upcoming Saturday!  So we found her this last week and she wants to be baptized this Saturday!  Incredible!  Every time we’re over there she's so emotional too.  She needs this and she knows it.  So that was one of the amazing miracles this week.  We had heaps of lessons this week.  We have found heaps of new investigators too. The trials we went through the last few weeks feel like we received the blessings this week.  We had a lot of success.  It was a great week except for at the end with Eddie.  We even had investigators come to church! That's been our problem lately and finally we saw some success there! Things are looking very promising this next month but we got to work so much harder to make sure these blessings don't fall through on us.  This Thursday is transfers.  Elder Atkin has been here in this area for 7 months now.  So he's defiantly most likely out of here, so I'll have to keep the wheels moving and get a new companion.  I'm excited but a little nervous to though.  But when we struggle we grow!  So I'm excited for this opportunity to continue to grow as a missionary.  So it'll all be good!  I love the opportunity to be here in such a blessed land serving the Lord.  It's incredible seeing what this gospel really can do!  I love it here! But of course I miss you all very much!!  And sorry about that pic with the kids! I didn't notice that little girl in the back was doing that! My mistake! Haha the kids have a pretty rough world to grow up in here, so a lot of them are pretty much like that! Haha sorry!  But things have been going good here! 

 I miss you all very much and love hearing from ya!  God be with you all! I love you all very much!!  Have a wonderful week!! Ofa Atu!! :)

Oct 24, 2010

I'm excited for P-day today.  P-days are always so fun! Rugby is everything here so we always play touch at Jellicoe Park, its beautiful there.  There are palm trees everywhere! New Zealand honestly is the most amazing place I have ever seen! But we have heaps of people coming today it's going to be way fun.  All the investigators that ever come usually get baptized.  That's usually what we do all P-day after we do all our errands and stuff.  But things have been going great here.  We had a lot of tradeoffs this week again.  I wasn't at our flat like at all i was all over Manurewa.  It's so fun, I learn so much from other missionaries and I get to see more of our area.  I'm blessed to be able to go on so much tradeoff because of my companion being the district leader and all.  I learn so much from other missionaries and am growing for myself.  It's been really good, our areas been having lots of success.  We're all falling under our goals though so we've all been fasting and have been sacrificing a lot so we can qualify for the Lord's blessings. 

But it is sooo much fun being a missionary!! I love everything about it.  All the ups and downs so far and the experiences and memories I'm having are incredible.  You really do fall in love with serving the Lord.  It has so many blessings.  It really is true like it says in the call letter, as you serve the Lord with all your strength you will have happiness that you have never known.  It's true! Nothing better than the restored gospel on the Earth today!! :)

 But this week had a lot of fun events.  We got to have interviews with the President this week.  It was after District Meeting and I and Elder Atkin were first so I got to talk a lot with Sister Porter.  She asked me all about home and mom and my favorite things mom makes so I told her all about the pumpkin cookies and how to properly make them! I think she said she's going to make me some! haha but she is such a nice lady.  The Porter's are just incredible, loving people.  No wonder they're serving for one of the most successful missions in the world.  The interview with President went amazing!  He told me of things he has in store for me and why he sent me to the city right off the bat, unlike the country where he usually sends new missionaries.  He wants me to learn and experience things as fast I can so he can start using me in the field.  It was really cool all the stuff he said.  It meant a lot to me.  But it also got me excited because he made it sound like a lot of big things may be coming my way if I keep my head on straight so we'll see what the future holds.  Elder Atkin has been in this same area for 5 transfers, 7 months.  So Pres. Porter says he's most likely leaving.  So this second transfer I'll probably have to take over Rowendale ward! Haha little nervous about that! We'll see how that goes!

 The transfer's already almost over I can't believe it.  Time goes so fast it's so unreal!  I can't believe how fast everything has been going I kind of don't like it.  This week we also had a temple trip!!!! hurray!!  We had a Stake Investigator trip and we took investigators to Hamilton.  It was like an hour and a half ride.  It was so beautiful…I got to see a lot of New Zealand.  It's rolling hills, and it is so green and so stunning.  The trees and everything, it really is incredible here.  The temple was beautiful.  I'll put some of those pictures on.  It's an older temple but it still was beautiful.  The weather here has been perfect lately.  Not a cloud in the sky and just the perfect temperatures.  The summer weather is perfect here.  Feel bad for you guys getting into winter!! Haha while I'm here in paradise! ;) ha just messing! But a week ago it was raining every day and was bitter cold! So the weather's really random but the last week it's been just amazing...perfect conditions.  The temple trip we just got to walk around the temple and look in the visitor center and watch the Joseph Smith movie.  It was such a spiritual experience.  My testimony just keeps building and building each and every day.  The day of the Interviews we had lessons with Pa, Eddie's brother.  Eddie we just baptized.  And then a guy named Chey.  We set them both for baptism!  More blessings from the Lord's hands.  I definitely don't deserve any of this.  Atkin gave me the honor of setting them both.  It was a lot of fun.  Some great men with real good desires and beliefs.  So this week was another great one!  Things have been going good.  I miss you all very much and wish you the best week! And yes they celebrate Halloween here, they have most of our holidays just not like thanksgiving and independence day and stuff of course.  But this weekend we have a fireside with Justin Williams, some guy from American Idol, I guess he's a member and we all get to go with investigators.  So that should be good. 

 I wish you all the best! You're all in my prayers! Thank you for the support I love you all very much!!! Ofa Atu!!:)

Oct 17, 2010

But ya this week was wonderful!! We baptized Eddie Etu Eta! He's such a cool guy! Great guy, it was amazing to see his faith in Christ and his progression towards baptism.  He's continually doing great things, it's amazing to see a souls heart change and come back to the truth.  I was so grateful to be a part of it all.  I had the privilege to baptize him.  It was an amazing feeling and it all went so wonderful.  It was such a great experience.  It made it all worth it.  Atkin confirmed him on Sunday and he got the priesthood too.  He's just cruisin and he's loving it all!  Church has still been a struggle for us, we've been pretty successful but we just can't get people to dang church!  So our sets have been falling out until next month. :( But a lot of big things have been happening lately.  Yesterday we got to have a missionary fireside where we had to all get a ride from our investigators and take investigators with us.  It was all the missionaries in the city areas.  We drove with bro Wittihera and took Eddie and his son and his brother Pauro.  It went great, President Porter is such an inspired man.  Pa loved it and even started clapping at the end he was so into it! haha but we have a temple trip this Saturday!! And than some fireside coming up with Justin williams? Some American Idol singer guy, he's a member apparently and he's gonna do some concert thing that we all get to go to.  So it's all good!  We have interviews with President this Tuesday.  I'm excited for that.  But everything's been going great.  South Auckland is pretty rough but it's so amazing at the same time.  When we went to the fireside it was pretty far away so we got to see more of New Zealand.  And man it's beautiful! I forgot what it looks like since i've been in Manurewa.  I had 3 trade offs this week in a row.  So I was living all over the place here.  They all went great I learned so much from all of them, they're such great guys.  I saw a lot of scenic beautiful areas to since we were in cars with the Samoan and Tongan Elders.  The other one I was in my area.  But honestly from the two trade offs with Elder Fakahou and Elder TuuFunga I gained so much weight probably! We just drive around everywhere and I've never ate so much food in my life.  Some crazy delicious food though! Weird stuff too but their cultures are just all about the feeds and they love feeding the elders and they just didn't let back on us.  And since I'm a palangi they just watched me and kept telling me to keep going so I would.  Man oh man!! But it was fun though.  The lessons were interesting because if it was a person that could speak a little English too I'd just sit there listening to the language having no clue what's going on than randomly the elder would just be like, we're talking about baptism.  So I would just have to teach than.  It definantly kept me on my toes.  It's awesome because though I don't understand the languages I could still feel the spirit so strongly.  It's amazing what the spirit can do.  This week we have 3 trade offs in a row again so I have no clue where I'll be going.  But I'm excited.  Everything's been going great, we've been working very hard and have a lot of good stuff coming our way.  Here are some pics from this week and the one from the baptism.  And yes Ben I wore your baptismal suspenders as tradition.  They were quite the hit. Ha but everything's been going great! Hope you all are doing spectacular! I love hearing from you all thank you all for the support! I love and miss you all very much!!

Oct 10, 2010

Aloha family!! :) I miss you all very much! Hope this week goes great for everyone! Good luck especially to Pey Pey! Be strong Brooke and Steve everything will be okay! I love hearing from you all! I hope everything is going great with everybody! I love and miss you all very much!! This last week was a really good one! The weeks are starting to fly by now, I can't beleive that it has already been a week! It's almost going to fast than I'd like! I already had a couple of opportunities this week to feel what leadership feels like. 2 of the days we did trade offs and I stayed in my area so I had to be senior companion and plan everything out with guys who have been here for awhile.  But it went surprisingly good! I love bein in the driver seat of the work.  I honestly don't like being junior companion that much, I feel like he just assumes cause i'm a greenie that he needs to do most of the work.  So I have to shove myself in there and take over, cause i love teaching! I can just go on forever im surprised on how comfortable I am with it.  But I've been doing great! It's been a lot of fun! Don't get me wrong we teach great together I just wish I'd have more opportunities to start showing more of my potential!  This Saturday we have my first baptism! Eddie! He's such an awesome guy! I've been there since we've began teaching him and I think I'm doing the baptism.  We went to confference with him this last weekend and he comes plays rugby with us every monday.  He's so keen and he's one of those guys that just make it all worth it.  He gave me a suit jacket last time we were over.  Last time we taught him i was on a trade off with a kid that flew in with me elder Rehak so we're both newbies and it was an intense lesson!! He had all these questions and doubts about things and he told us if we couldn't answer them all and help him to see the truth his doubts would grow.  I've never bore testimony like that before.  It was such an incredible experience and at the end he told us "no doubts, i know it's true" it was awesome!! He's for sure this saturday.  A lot of other stuff has been falling through, but we have heaps of potentials and people who want to hear more.  It's awesome because people are so loving here, even if they're not too interested when you talk to them on the streets they'll still let ya come in their home and that's all you need, than that's where the spirit does his part as we testify!  This mission is very successful! Our zone has a goal of 50 baptisms this coming month.  Everyone is baptizing multiple monthly which is the standard of excellence.  I'm so lucky to be in such a successful area.  Though I don't get to really see the beauty of New Zealand here in South Auckland, the beauty lies within the people.  And if you go by that fact, this is the most beautiful place in New Zealand!!  I'm excited to continue to serve the lord and thrust in my sickle with all my might.  I've been growing and progressing so much every day.  I'm learning so much it's insane.  I feel like a completely different person already.  The lord's work really changes lives and it's changing mine most of all.  One thing I'm seeing everywhere is how the Lord's hands are in absolutely everything!! He provides ways for us missionaries to do his will and bring people to the truth and light.  It's amazing to be able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.  I love it more than anything!!  It definantly is a completely different world out here, but i know it's where I'm meant to be.  I'm excited for all that lays ahead of me!  I pray for all of you back at home and wish the best for you all!  Cowboys need to step it up it sounds like! Must be because im not there! That must be weird watching games without the true number one fan actually being there.  Oh well somehow you'll manage! Not gonna lie i missed moms cinnamon rolls on conference morning! Sundays are so stressful on the mission biking to everyone trying to make sure they come.  The mission can be so devastating but it's so rewarding at the same time! A lot of our sets have been falling through and we've been working our buts off to have these people build their faith.  Conference definantly was the most amazing thing! You really take it for granted before the mission!  What a blessing to have the prophet and all these wonderful men of god speak to us and unveil scripture!! It was about the most awesome thing ive ever watched! Definantly missed the wingers race after priesthood! It was weird our priesthood was saturday morning cauz everything was this weekend.  These people in our ward and area are so amazing and loving.  Islanders are truly the elect i swear!! So it's been great, during one of my trade offs I did a preach by the way and the guy wanted to hear more there so we walked and talked and i taught him a lesson there and he ate it up! He said he'd been looking for the truth and he felt like this was it and i gave him a book of mormon and he just loved it! It can easily be like that here, everyone we talk to is so important.  God really is preparing these people and putting them in our path for a reason.  So I gotta do my part and be strictly obedient and faithful and serve with all my heart mind and strength!!
    And ya that is the best way to mail and do all packages and that stuff I'm pretty sure.  I'm worried on how often I can get them though! Because the zone leaders need to get them and they do that only every once in awhile or when we have some big event where we all get together.  So hopefully i can get things quit.  But President Porter and his wife did a specialized training with us not that long ago and i pulled the dad and just participated like crazy and volunteered to do stuff though I was new and he even said in front of everyone "this is a perfect example that being new means nothing, we're all missionaries, and this one is a heck of a missionary."  I wish you guys could meet this man.  He's such an incredible president, He's so loving and kind.  He is so inspired to i swear, he definantly is perfect for this mission.  But ya my trainer's awesome though, we get along great.  So is our district, it's been a lot of fun.  It can be hard but it's all so worth it.  I love hearing from you all and thank you so much for your support.  May god be with you at all times!! I miss you all very much.. I do get home sick at times i can't lie! Especially during conference and when Jeffrey R. Holland spoke of gratitude towards his parents it his me like a ton of bricks.  I take so much for granted what you mom and dad have done for me.. Thank you so much for everything.. But i know this is where I'm meant to be so I'm gonna give it all i got.  I love you so much and just wanted to express my gratitude to you for everything you've done for me.  You guys are truly the best parents this world had to offer and I somehow was lucky enough to be blessed to be your son.. Thank you!! :)  I'm glad the job stuff is going good and everyone else is good.  The lord truly does bless missionaries families!! Have an amazing week and I can't wait to hear from you all again!! I love you so much!!! Ofa Atu!! :)

Sunday Oct 3, 2010

Were so far ahead on time it's weird. And it's just warming up here turning to summer. It's very beautiful here. Even though I'm kind of in the ghetto of New Zealand. It's the poorest areas in New Zealand.  But the people are so humble.  Not saying it's all just love and bliss.  I've had some scary moments already where the spirit prompted me to leave when I felt that somebody may have caused me harm but i don't know! That’s why it's cool being a missionary the Lord protects me.  But things have been going great!  I've been working very hard and have been trying my best to become a better missionary each and every day.  I have already had many moments where I physically could see the spirit change someone's heart.  This one guy named Solomon, a big Maori guy who we set for baptism was changing his mind on the whole thing and one night we had an appointment he told us how he didn't want to go through it.  The spirit literally took over and i testified and poured my heart and soul out about the gospel.  He even got a little emotional.  At the end we had him pray, and I and Elder Atkin think that when you can truly see an investigator's heart is when you have them pray.  And he said some incredible things.  By what he said you could truly see that he wants to know the truth in this time of confusion.

 Other people are very keen here as well.  We have some great sets; we got 5 investigators to church this Sunday and a bunch of less active recent converts.  We've been pretty successful and it's been pretty fun.  I teach our gospel principles class and were holding a fhe at the Bishop's with a lot of investigators and members where were teaching.  I wish i could have known I was good at teaching before i came out because I’ve loved it out here!! For my month anniversary out here and Atkin's one year we got some KFC to celebrate.  That's like all of the islander’s favorite food! Haha I don't know why! But I’ve picked up on some Tongan and Samoan, just little phrases.  But were serving as Palangi's or white speaking English.  Me and Elder Atkin are like some of the few white people here! haha But our day we don't do much proselyting we usually have appointments set or we ride around and do preach by the ways and see less active members and investigators.  Just visiting all those that we see essential too.  Were always very busy and we never really just go door to door.  People are so nice here even if they're not really interested they let you in their home to teach them and their family which is a wonderful step.  Cause once your there and testifying the Lord will take care of the rest.  So that's some of the reason were so successful.

  Big dates coming up are the 16th and 23rd we have I think 6 people set for those dates.  Some are very keen, others not so much.  So please pray for those dates.  I miss you all and i miss all those things about being home dad!! haha my comp just has to put up with them!  I'll pray for Pey Pey, good luck and may god be with him.. I'll pray my heart out for the little guy.. He's strong he's got this. I love you all and miss you all very much!!! New Zealand is very beautiful and such an amazing place. Though I don't see too much of it cause I’m in this little area South Auckland in Manurewa.  It's lower poverty people here, but still the "flagship" of the mission president Porter says.  It's been doing record numbers lately and were hoping to keep that up.  I haven't been really nervous for anything lately; I've just been excited to be out here serving the Lord! You all are always in my prayers, may the Lord continue to pour out blessings to you all!! I love you all!! OFA ATU!!!!