Mission Conference Jan. 2012

January 29, 2012

Hey everybody!!! :) Sorry after so many weeks of thinkin up subjects in the titles I'm running out of ideas! haha How is everybody!!! I hope amazing!!! So sorry about last week with the short email so this one will be a chunker to make up for it.  Especially for Momma! :) Well I hope and pray that all is well in Zion!! Things are going great here! We're hitting a bit of a dry spell as you do sometimes on the mission.. Parts of the work are going fantastic! Other parts not so much but we keep trusting and relying on the Lord knowing that he'll provide! Which he did a few nights ago and I'll share that miracle with you in a bit:) So!! Lets get down to business!

 

So I'll give a brief recap of the previous week since I didn't write much last week!! Well the beginning of the week we were up north in beautiful Kaikohe and Kaitaia!!! The Kaikohe trade off was a comfort buster that's for sure!! The two elders I was with I've worked with for some time now and they are both struggling with personal matters.  So I wanted to do all I could for these two because they haven't been having too much fun which is crazy!! It's the mission for crying out loud!!! So I really prepared for that one.  Went in there and did all I could for them, hopefully it helped them somewhat.  I came away better from it.  Than the next day we went up to Kaitaia and had trade offs with two of my favorites.  Elders Pohahau and Beckstead!! I went with my good ol MTC comp:) That was a lot of fun!! We got to go see some people in a very nice part of New Zealand called "90 mile beach". It really is about 70 but still!!! Huge!! Just a massive beautiful beach that runs for ages in the Northland!! So nice!! We had to drive on it to get to some contacts and the Corolla(shadowfax) got stuck!! So all these Maori kids came and pushed us out! haha It was a fun trade off though we worked hard, it was good to be with Elder Beckstead.

 

Came back to our area worked for a bit and than the next day the entire zone traveled down to Auckland to my very first chapel Redoubt Rd!!! :) Where we had the mission wide conference and all those general authorities came.  It was so great!! :) I learned so much it was wonderful!!!!  Than it was saturday and sunday is taken up with church because of both of our wards! So barely got to proselyte in our area so that was weird and frustrating!!! So the days we had we worked very very hard!!

 

This week was a very good week!!! :) Had some trade offs again that went very well and were fun!!! We've been very busy lately and we've been blessed with a lot of people to teach.  BUT Most of them are stuck in Limbo I swear!!! I don't know if I told you this already but we have 8 or 9 investigators that want to get baptized but their stuck because of the Law of Chastity.  LOC and WOW are HUGE concerns in New Zealand!! I swear I'll be able to be Dr. Phil when I get back! Jokes! So that's been frustrating! But it's all good! We found some very keen, sincere new investigators so we've been happy about that!!! :)

 

So the miracle that happened this last week was with this wonderful family:)  So we a week ago mowed a less-actives lawn and as we were doing so we noticed the house right behind had long grass so we decided to do that as well.  The owners came home while we were doing it and they were very thankful.  The mom, Fionna is a less-active but the husband and all the boys are non-members.  They invited us back so we did.  We brought  Bro. McQueen (cachow!) with us and had an awesome lesson with the family.  We taught the Restoration.. And these are my favorite times on the mission when we teach the Restoration to Heavenly Father's children  who are prepared.. The spirit was very strong and that was one of my favorite times teaching the first lesson.  At the end we invited all of them to be baptized!! The all accepted for the 25 of February!!!! CHEEHOO!!!! :) God is a God of miracles!!! They're everywhere!! We just need to be willing and obedient.  Have faith and patience as it says in Hebrews  6:12, and than we can inherit his promises.  I've seen it time and time again on my mission!! He always keeps his promises we just need to do our part and have patience that his word will be fulfilled if we are faithful! I know it's true!! :)

 

So things have been wonderful here as always!!! Never anything to complain about I am on the Lord's errand!! What more could I ask for?!  Well I love you all very very much!!! :) I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful week and may God be with you in all things!!!! :) Arohanui!!! (I love you in Maori):)

 

Love Elder Devey

January 22, 2012

Hey everybody!!! I hope you all had a wonderful week!!! :) I don't have to much time so this one will be a quicky!! But first of all I love you all SOOOOO much!!!! You better know that!!!:) This week we were up in Kaikohe and Kaitaia all week on trade offs which was really fun and useful we feel!!! Did what we needed to!!! And than Friday with the whole zone we went down to Auckland and listened to Elder Quentin L. Cook, Elder Tad R. Callister, President Hamula and his counselors from the area presidency, Etc Etc!!! it was so awesome!!!! Fun to hear from so many authorities from the church!!! We got to shake all their hands in a line and that was powerful.  You could just feel the love from all of them!! So that was a lot of fun1!!! Not much else to update just lovin serving!!! Miss you all and love you so much!!!!! :)

January 15, 2012

January 15, 2012

January 15, 2012

Kia Ora everybody!!! :)

 Hope everyone is doing awesome as always! I miss you all very much and you're always in my prayers!! This last week was a really good week! On monday night we had an awesome lesson with a lady named Christine.  Her and her son we set for baptism in the beginning of February. But!! :( Her partner came home from jail so now the marriage issue comes in play once again.  And she wants baptism sooo bad! It was really sad teaching her the law of chastity and just seeing that discouragement overcome her persona.  She's determined to find a way though.  She talked with her partner and he's a bum and says he doesn't want to get married.  So now another investigator stuck in Limbo!! :( And they all want it so bad.  We now have Lesley, Bertha, Christine, Liza and Dboy, and Paula who all committed to baptism and want it but have "partners" a great stumbling block here in New Zealand!! People don't believe much in marriage anymore which is really sad.. Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity are commandments that get mocked and abused like crazy here.  Those are the main concerns with everyone! But besides that they've got the 'believing blood' and are very spiritual already! And that's a beautiful thing:) so we're still working with all of them and trying to get them all married!! haha Liza and Dboy agreed to marriage at the end of this month so we'll see how that goes!

 

On Tuesday we had our trade off with the assistants! That was A LOT of fun!! Heaps of miracles and blessings came forth that day! It was an awesome day! We double covered our area and just went crazy! I got a member Brother Lilley with us who is the man! He has his own radio station and is pretty wealthy to say the least! He lives up on the tip of a mountain nearby that overlooks all of Whangarei(we had dinner with them this week so I'll attach pics) He was with us all day so it was way fun!! I was with Elder Ward who I really enjoy and we had a lot of fun.  Learned heaps!! Just a jam packed day!! Than we of course had more trade offs like we usually do.  I went with this greenie on one of the days who is from South Africa so he has a wicked accent.  But being just pulled out of the world he's pretty dang prideful!! haha so it was super interesting.  Even after he said prayers in lessons he'd go off on how amazing he is at praying! I was like somebody please get this guy a rameumpton!! haha jk!! That's what I love about being a leader! We get to see and be with all the missionaries heaps so it's just an incredible experience for me aye! I've learned a lot how to be a better instrument in the Lord's hands and also how to just better trust in the Lord in all things!! Hold up if I start going off on all the things I've learned on my mission we'd be here for awhile!!! It's honestly neverending.. I'll never be able to pay back to the Lord for all he has done with me.  You know I still remember a conversation I had with Dad and we talked about how the Lord had given us so much so it was finally our time to give back.. But I just realized something!! Now he's giving me even more!!! I'll always be in debt! I came out here on my mission wanting to consecrate and dedicate myself to him and his will.  But he has changed my life and given me more than I ever thought possible!! How could I ever pay him back.. It's impossible, but how I serve and live reflects my love to him so I'll do my best with those things and hopefully he'll accept that payment..

 

So ya the rest of the week was great!!! :) These new standards in the mission have truly caused us to stretch but now we're stronger because of it!!! So I love it!!! :) Oh goodness I love the mission so much I just can't get over it!! And don't think it's been super easy!! It's been very hard, that's why it's so rewarding!! Everything tough in life gives such great rewards later and that's why I love it!! All the blessings upon my family, upon myself, and being able to truly get to know my Father in Heaven and who he is.. Even my Savior.. They're beautiful.. And they're love is neverending.  I'm so grateful for their love that encompasses us and their watchful care and devotion towards us.. For I have made many mistakes in my life, but his patience with me and his grace and mercy have changed me entirely.. I know with all my heart that this work is true.. Nobody could ever stop it or get in the way, because it's the truth.. We are paving the way for our Savior to come again.. How great is our calling!!! :) I love you all!!! Not much else to update you with just that I'm alive and breathing and loving serving!!! Thank you for your prayers and support!! This week we are going to Kaikohe and Kaitaia to work with all the missionaries up there.  They've been struggling, actually heaps.  So President really wants us to go and do all that we can for them.. So please pray about that I need the strength I'm so tired all the time!!! haha :) But the Lord is my strength so it's all good!!! We push on as we always do.. Is there any other option?! I don't think so!!!! Than later this week we get to see an apostle and other general authorities of the church are addressing our mission!!!! and they want us to arive in a thin window of time! So gettin the whole zone there will be fun!!! It'll be all good!! Elder Quentin L. Cook I can't wait!!!! Well I love you all have a great week!!!!! :)

 

Love Elder Devey

ps pics at Whangaruru my favorite and also with the Lilley's at their awesome house and than us with Sis. Anderson(haha almost sounds like matrix I know!) saran wrapping Imrahn's(a RM) car right at the end of church in the parking lot!

January 8, 2012

Hey everybody!!!!! :) That's right that's where the mission is heading in 2012! Saving 2,012 souls!! The mission got around 1,800 last year.  More than a stake!!! Sweet as aye?! Oh how glorious it is to see the work move forward!! Things have been going awesome here!! Hope all is well back home! Sounds like things are way fun and getting exciting!! Especially for Amber and Russell!!! Cheeeehooo!!! :)

This week was really good! Let's see where to begin! Oh I know! With the miracles!! haha So one day Elder Tucker and myself had a goal to talk to 100 people and inviting at least 5 to be baptized.  We did so and 3 more now have a date for this month!!! haha oh the believing blood of New Zealand!! I love it!! So God was merciful and helped us refill our pipeline after our end of year baptisms.  So that was very exciting and fun!! haha one of the mission's new goals for this year is to talk to 200 people every week!! So it's on fire!! And i'm tellin ya my body is feeling it!! I'm tired ALL the time! As those who have served would know and i have a constant cold that I've had for a coon's age!! haha all goods!! :) The Lord is my strength so there's no stopping us!!!

 

So this last week we had interviews with President.  So last pday we ran around getting things ready for that and also zone leader council.  Than we traveled up north to Kaikohe and spent the night proselyting with them and stayed the night there for interviews in the morning.  While President does interviews the Zone Leaders have to give a training to all the missionaries.  So we did that with the Kaikohe district and Kaitaia elders:) That was fun!! Interviews were really good! I love President! It feels like we just had interviews I swear!! Times just cruisin by it's not even funny!!  Than we followed behind the Lekias' to Whangarei for their interviews as well.  Did the training again there!! haha and Sister Lekias was watching all of it so that was added pressure!! Went good but most of our day that day was gone!! That took most of our Tuesday and plus we had to travel down to Auckland that night to stay for Zone Leader Council in the morning.  So Monday Tuesday and Wednesday basically out of our area!! ZL council was really good! I love those they are a lot of fun!!! Learn heaps and makes ya feel like there is SO much more you need to be doing! So that went super good also freaking awesome food they always have at the mission home!! haha But than the night we stayed there some hooligans tagged our car with permanent marker! Still haven't gotten it off! Mission office is supposed to let us know what we're going to do.  Dumb aye?! Oh well! 

 

When we got back to our area the commitment we had with the assistants was to hit the new standards in every aspect of missionary service with lessons, preach by the way, baptism, all that jazz.  And we were determined I'll tell ya the least! But we had 3 days taken away from us! So we went to work!!! haha Worked very very hard oh my goodness!!! And so many miracles came forth! Brownie was confirmed:) Set those new people with dates.  They all came to church!! :) Had heaps of lessons.  The Lord just blessed us greatly!! I really learned that if we're willing and we act in faith and do all that we can in our power he will take care of the rest and his hands were truly manifest this week in the work.  I loved it so much!! Great week!! :) So now we're going to have an even better one!!

 

This week coming up we have a trade off with the Assistants!!! Ah!! Scary haha No they're awesome I'm really looking forward to it!! They're coming up tonight and will be here through District Meeting and also all of Tuesday!! So that should be exciting!! We're expecting heaps of miracles!! Can't wait!! :) Besides that I've been really enjoying being with Elder Tucker and staying here in Whangaz I love it here!!!

 

A couple of tender mercies that came this week that just really made it all worth it... One we randomly got a text from an unknown number and it was from Junior and Allison my recent converts in Papatoetoe right before i left.  They came up here for a bit of the holiday and they sent a text that said "Happy New Year Peter Parker Devey! We just passing thru Whangaz:) c u in october at the temple.. Jr ali and vincent!"  Getting that just made my day... Sounds dumb but I started crying a bit!! haha just felt the spirit okay don't judge me!! We worked very hard on them and miracles happened with them and last time I saw them we talked all about the temple and we committed them to set it in their sights and as a goal.. So that did my heart well to get that text!!! Except they need to go just a little earlier!! haha or I'll miss it!! (unless I come back:)) But as long as they get there that's all that matters to me!! And than another one at church in the wap waps in Whangaruru.  Some members from Tauranga, my second area, over a year ago now were there!! They were the fellowship and support for one of our converts, Clayton there.  And Cami let me know that he's doing awesome!! He's talking all about a mission and that's his goal... I was ecstatic!!! Oh the blessings of serving.  I'm so blessed to be serving in this beautiful part of the Lord's vineyard where we can see the fruits even before we leave.. I love New Zealand and the people here.. And I got HEAPS of time left so I'm pumped about that!!! The harvest is still going!!! :) So this week we were blessed greatly... I love my Savior and I know that he lives.. May we come unto him and show our love for him and our Heavenly Father by how we live... He loves you!!! I love you!!!!!! Have a wonderful week!!!!! :):):)

 

Love Elder Devey

Brownie's Baptism and District

January 1, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New year everybody!!!!! :) 2012!!! I can't believe!! My "full year" on the mission just flew by oh my goodness!!!! Oh what a wonderful year this one is going to be!!! I can't wait!!! So much in store for the Lord's great and glorious work!!!! Hope you all had a wonderful new year and that many many blessings are bestowed upon you all this year!!!! :) We started off great! Brownie was baptized!!!! :):):) After a very LONG time of investigating the church he was finally able to make that beautiful step in his life... I'm so proud of him and was so grateful to be a part of that experience.. Nothing like a baptism!!!! 

 

So we'll start from the beginning of the week.  Well pday was the day, after Christmas, that we sent faithful Elder Spence home.  It was hard to see him off.  We had to drive him all the way down to Auckland and than drive back lol.  That was the first time I've seen that guy tear up, except I think once before.  When we said goodbye!! It was pretty hard!! It was like saying goodbye to a brother!! I loved Elder Spence.  But great thing he just lives there in Utah in Oak City!! So visit him I must!! So that was hard seeing him go! And than I was with Elder Singh for the next couple of days until transfers.  So a bit stressful having to do all the Zone Leader business on my own and also our area AND transfers which is always hectic!!! So a fun few days!!

 

Than we got the exciting transfer calls!! And it turns out our District Leader here In Whangarei is now my companion!! Elder Tucker!! :) So easy to move him on over!! haha fun to be with someone you already know and can joke around with!! So we're excited for that! But now it means i've got to step up my game.  Now I'm the Senior Zone Leader and training Elder Tucker.  It's pretty funny how they do this whole senior junior business in Zone Leader callings because it doesn't change anything!! So transfers was pretty crazy and of course it poured with rain as it always does on transfers!!! :( So that made it difficult!! haha But once we got back off to work we went!! There was quite a lot of changes in the zone.  And it's weird because now me and Elder Beckstead my MTC comp and E. Sorenson.  Two that were in my MTC intake, we're now the oldest elders in the zone!! I feel old!! Never before have I seen such things!! And I've now been here in the zone the longest going on my 6 month area.  So pretty fun stuff!! Big changes!! But this is when we grow so I'm liking it!!!

 

Of course right away though it feels like heaps of things just start piling on us!!! All of the suddent bamb heaps of things to do!! We did a zone conference call.  Got interviews tommorrow where we have to do hour and a half trainings.  ZL council after that and there's so many things we're supposed to do for that!! Than a trade off with the Assistants very soon!!!  And than later this month a missionwide conference with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve and also Elder Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy are going to address the mission!!!!! :) AHHHH!!!!!! Absolutely pumped about that!!!!! So busy times right now!!! Busy busy busy!!! But very exciting and we're loving it!!!!! :)

 

And so ya Brownie was baptized this weekend:) Which seems all wonderful... But.. He wasn't confirmed on Sunday!!!!! :( Can you believe it!!!!??? We talked all about the confirmation at his baptism.  He picked me to do it, told him how he would HAVE to be there.  He was excited all seemed good.  But after the baptism I swear he was kidnapped!!! He just dissappeared!!!! Called him heaps, stopped by heaps, nothing!!! The stuff we left on his porch was still there Sunday morning nothing changed!! He just vanished!!! Still haven't been able to get a hold of him!!  But besides that lack of finishing the ordinance... His baptism was awesome!!!! He wanted just a handful of people there because he felt it was personal.. Right before the baptism he played a rendition of the Lord's prayer within the scriptures in Maori on the guitar and sang.. It was beautiful!!!! He was quite emotional as he did so.. I was blessed to have done the ordinance after that.  And than he bore his testimony after that and it was wonderful!!! He's the man!!! We're just freaking out about him not being confirmed!!! :(

 

Hardly anyone was at church because of New Years but it was still good!!! Had dinner with Bishop as we do a lot!! He's the man!!! Besides that all is well down here in Aotearoa!!! :) I miss and love you all very very much.... Wish you all the best!!!!!! I love you!!!!!! :)