November 17th, 2013

Hi family,

How is everyone doing? I am doing well over here in Hawke's Bay. This week was a lot of service, again. Pretty much all day saturday was weeding and mowing lawns, but it is fun and we have a new family to visit and teach that came through our service. I am excited for Christmas because it will be perfect for introducing the gospel and why we celebrate it. We were all happy to hear about the missionaries in the Phillipines being safe because their are parents of those missionaries here as well as over there. Well, I will try and send a couple pictures, Love and Miss you all! One picture is a sunset when we were filling up the car one evening, the clouds seem so close to you over here in New Zealand. The other pictue is our Flaxmere distict, it has changed since this photo was taken a couple weeks ago, but anyway there are some Utahs, a couple Tongans, a Samoan, a Hawaiian, a Tahitian, and one New Mexican!

November 10th, 2013

Hello everybody, 

It is finally feeling like Summer around here, it will be different to have a Summer Christmas, but I'm still excited for it. We have had a great last week, found a couple new  people and did more service mowing a couple lawns. We also had a couple really good firesides this past weekend. One was for a maori man named Tommy Taurima, who was receiving a "Living Treasure" award. He is a member who has shared the gospel through producing island dances and helped out the PCC in Hawaii a lot. The other fireside was about Byu hawaii and also The PCC. The CEO of the Polynesian Culture Center came as well. He is also a Stake President over in Hawaii and he shared some great stories from his mission and work they do there at the culture center. It is funny because he shared his conversion story, and it actually started out with him playing Basketball with a bunch of members and he just thought we were a flash church with good organization. He shared of how he took Moroni's challenge (Moroni 10:3-5) and his feelings toward the church changed and he felt that it was a good thing. It reminded me of dad's conversion story how he used to play Basketball late night at the chapel before he was a member. Well, Love you all and miss you all, Have a nice week

November 4th, 2013

Hello Family,

November got here really quick and it's finally starting to look like Spring here! The members in this area feed us a lot. I think they are trying to turn me into a Samoan. We have been doing a lot of service, mowing lawns and weeding. We got a couple new investigators that we are excited about. They are Samoans that live in the next town over from us in Flaxmere, but we get to teach all the Samoans in the zone! They have had a few missionaries in the past, but for some reason never received a Book of Mormon or had their questions answered about where it comes from. We were able to have fun talking with them and introducing how we got the Book of Mormon, why God gave it to us specifically for these last days, and how it can help us in this life. So, this area is going good and I am already starting to love the islanders, particularly Samoans, more so I can serve them better. Well, I love you all and will send pictures in the next because I forgot to put them on my usb this time. Have a great week

October 27th, 2013

Hello Family, It has been a week of excitement here in a new area. It was a little sad to Leave Wanganui, but I'm happy to be here in Flaxmere. I'm in the Samoan ward here and the members are awesome. They feed us heaps, I'm going to learn how to eat like a Samoan. We have done a lot of service since I have been here, helped build a little fence and cleaned a couple yards. My new companion, Elder Vagaia, is from American Saomoa and is a lot of fun and hopefully I can pick up on some Samoan. I love my new district and area. Well, Love you all and have a great week!

October 20th, 2013

Hello family,

It has been a great week. It was Stake Conference this past weekend and it was great. Elder Coward from the seventy and Elder Hallock from the pacific area presidency came and spoke, it was all about members and missionaries being united and it was awesome. We also did service for a couple members and helped with a big move, it was actually fun and feels good to help out. I went on an exchange and worked with Elder Keller from Arizona and that was sweet. We talked to a lt of new people and we got a couple new investigators while working in his area. Our investigator, Jacob, went to the sunday session of Stake Conference and were excited because he went to general conference as well and is getting ready to be baptized in a couple weeks. We also went around and I started to say goodbye to some of the members and investigators here because I'm getting transferred this week. Im going to a Samoan speaking ward in Hawkes bay to a place called Flaxmere. I am super excited to go because I know a couple of the elders and at the same time it's a little sad to leave all these people I have grown to Love here in Wanganui. Well Love you all and miss you all, Have a good week! It flooded here in Wanganui a little, so I will attatch one picture of that and a picture of the goofy elder I went on exchange with holding a Rugby ball, haha.   

October 13th, 2013

Hello family!

Good to hear from you all, The showleys inviting people to hear the gospel and have a meal in their home, Thomas getting big, Mom Nae and Kelli having a great experience with prayer, and Dad sharing with everybody at the football game that I'm on a mission. Sounds like everybody is doing good! Well, this last week was awesome. We have two investigators and a few Less active come to watch general conference! So it was shown saturday and yesterday throughout New Zealand. We are one week behind you guys, haha. Working with another Elder from my intake was awesome! I went on an exhange with him in Palmerston North and we had fun and had some good visits to a couple less active families and investigators. They have a little basketball hoop in their flat so we had a couple intense games after we did our planning at night haha. They stay in a garage that was turned into a house, but is still a garage so it was cold lol. We also had our second game night here in Wanganui which went very well. We had more nonmembers there than members! We have interviews with President this week and next week is transfers! So exciting things coming up, we are trying to guess who is going to replace Elder Mau to work with us here in Wanganui. I dont think me or Elder Farnsworth will move, but there is a chance. I dont mind either way. We are working great together and even though the work is very slow here in Wanganui, I love it. Well I love you all and miss you all! Have a great week! Also, Thanks for the candy and postcard from dad this last week!!!!

October 6th, 2013

Hello family,

How are you all doing. This last week was awesome. We found a few new investigators that we are extremely happy with and one committed to baptism next month, so we are doing well. The work is moving forward slowly. I went on an exchange with my District leader, Elder Aparicio, who was the first missionary from Spain here in New Zealand. He is very funny and a good missionary, I practiced the little bit of Spanish I know on him. We played tennis with a part member family in Feiding ( his area, also that is how it is spelled with the 'e' first) That was so sweet to play tennis with those guys because they are actually really good at tennis. I came out undeafeated somehow because i fought off match points against Elder Aparicio and Raukawa (who is a LA, but awesome maori guy and he is getting active again and marrying his girlfriend in a couple weeks so that she can be baptized and they can start working towards the temple) We also had two big services this week, helped with a Luao, and played Touch rugby with some nonmembers and less actives. Awesome week, but a lot of sports and service, so Im beat, but were playing touch again today and also having a bbq with bishop and some other people for FHE!! This week im going ton an exchange to Palmerston North to with with my zone leader, Elder Cuthbertson. he is from Arizona and came out with me! he is an awesome missionary and only been out 7 months like me and he's already a zone leader! So im excited to work with him. Well, Love you all and ill see if I can send a couple pictures.

 

 

from the luao, an awesome Tongan missionary who finishes in two weeks!