June 23, 2013

Greetings!

Crazy, crazy! Said goodbye to the best trainer on the face of the flippin planet, which was very hard. We stopped by Bishop's house on the way to the airport to say goodbye and everyone was crying.. ah, it was a hard goodbye.

My new companion is awesome! She is from Tonga, and she has so much faith and is the most humble person ever. I am really grateful for personal revelation because I've never done any of this before. 

We had an ice storm this week, which was pretty crazy. Luckily it was on a day of weekly planning, so we were going to be inside anyways. It wasn't too bad. Lots of flooding about an hour north of us, but none here, thank goodness! 

The church is true, and all is well here. Love you all!

Sister Rose

Transfers 6-16-13

Good morning to one and all!

Today we got our transfer list! I will be training Sister Niutupuvaha and she arrives Wednesday morning!! It didn't seem real when i found out last Monday that'd i'd be training. When the Assistants to the President called to tell me, I was just in shock. I was really nervous, honestly. I called in on Friday to be part of a conference call with all of the other new trainers and felt so much better. There will be so much to do, but after that conference call with President Kezerian and the Assistants to the President, i felt a lot better. Now fast forward to today, when i finally found out her name. My guess is she's straight from Tonga! It all seems real now; she's a legitimate human being and it is my responsibility to set her mission off right. I also have to see Sister Paongo leave.. :( I love that sister. She's also training, and is moving up to wellington. Our current District Leader, Elder Lawson, will be her new Zone Leader! So she'll feel right at home up there. Anyways, there are so many changes. A little stressed? Yes. But this will give me a chance to rely on my Savior even more than before. I know I'll grow closer to Him as I do this. I am excited for this new chapter in the book entitled "Sister Rose's Awesome Mission."

Have i mentioned yet that we are teaching a family from Argentina? SO COOL! They are the Fissore family. I get to use my (quite rusty) spanish, which is so awesome. We gave them a chapel tour on Saturday to help them get to church this weekend. We called EVERYONE, trying to get a member there with us. Seriously, like everyone in our phone. And no one could come. So, we carried on and i was pretty bummed. But when we got to the chapel, Brother Tauakumi was there with his kids. Whaaaah? We asked him to stay and bear his testimony when they family got there. He agreed. And it turns out that the family that referred the Fissores to the missionaries was really tight with Brother Tauakumi and his wife who is Spanish (did NOT know that ahead of time). He was literally the perfect person to be there, and his son was the age of one of the Fissore boys. God will provide a way if we put in 110% and are diligent. I am SO thankful for that miracle, seriously. I know that God will consecrate our meager efforts, and will smooth everything over.

love you all!!

Sister Rose

June 9, 2013

Hello everyone!!

Best weekend, ever? I think YES! Jade got baptized on Saturday and it was absolutely AMAZING!! Couldn't hold the tears back :) It was really cool to get to be her escort up to the font and wrap her in a towel when she got out of the water. Our ward mission leader, Brother Leo, baptized her. They had to do it twice, to get the wording right :) Jade bore her testimony after the baptism and said she felt "peace and joy." Love that woman!! Also, my companion and Vinne and a woman named Langi were going to sing "I Will Lead You" at the baptism. Vinne, my companion and I have sung at least 5 times in public together (church, baptisms, church again.. etc), but i just didn't really want to do it this time. However, Langi at the last minute had to cancel and so I wound up singing with them. The three of us had run through the song together a grand total of like 3 times, yet everyone told us it sounded good. The spirit? I think YES. 

On Sunday Michael and Henry received the Aaronic priesthood!!! AAAHHH!! SO exciting!!! Jade was confirmed on Sunday which means.... she could come out and do missionary work with us! Nothing like baptism by fire (get the pun.. haha I'm so funny). She came to a lesson with us and did some street contacting straight after church. She is awesome!!

We also had Zone conference this last week. Our mission is making a push to be "full purpose missionaries" which means focusing on ordinances. Every person we come in contact with, we are to focus on which ordinance they need next - is it a priesthood blessing? Is it a temple sealing? Baptism? Sacrament meeting? We're excited to have this new focus that will help us bring EVERYONE unto Christ. President is definitely an inspired man :) 

The gospel is true. And application is sometimes the hardest part, but it makes our lives SO much better. I'm grateful for a companion that shows me how to live the gospel, teaches me and encourages me. Life is good because I know my God has a plan for all of His children. And I get to help them learn the tools to figure out what God's plan is for them :)

love you all!!!

Sister Rose

June 3, 2013

Hey yall!

Yesterday was a public holiday, so no library and no computers! We are emailing on Tuesday instead!

This week is Jade's Baptism!!!!!!!!!! (Lily will be getting baptized at a later date, but she's still excited for the day she gets to make that covenant with the Lord.) She tried on her jumpsuit this week, and she looks AWESOME in white! Her non-member dad is coming to the baptism, and has mentioned before he would be open to learning more. HOORAY! We are so excited for this weekend! 

Have i mentioned in my emails that the outlets are different here? And that my first day in NZ my hairdryer quickly turned into a flame-thrower? Yeah, pretty cool. I'm sure having a flame thrower that close to my face was breaking some rule in the white handbook.. woops. So I've been using my beautiful companion's hair dryer ever since I've been here. Just a fun fact about this lovely island :)

love you all!

Sister Rose