July 21, 2013

Hello everybody!!

Well, this week was another great week :) We had exchanges, and our sister training leader and her companion came down from Christchurch. We used to split up for exchanges, but now the whole companionship comes here and we spend one day with each person in the companionship. It was so fun! I may or may not have had the flu, though.

Mahu had his baptismal interview this week. We were going over his program for the baptism and talking to him about how the confirmation will work on Sunday. He asked me to give a talk at his baptism.. i'm so honored! i just couldn't stop smiling, seriously. When he walked out of his interview he was just beaming. So exciting!! Just a few more sleeps to the baptism!!! 

My companion is flippin amazing. She is the MOST humble person on the planet. I know the Lord sent her to me so I could learn from her. Seriously. I hope you all get to meet her some day because she is seriously SO humble. Every spare second she has she's reading her scriptures or the ensign and she's just awesome. The Lord really knows us personally, and puts us with the people that we need to be with.

love you all! 

Sister Rose

July 14, 2013

Kyora! (Okay i actually don't know how to spell "hello" in Maori, but that's how you say it haha)

Well, this week has been.. another week :) Sunday was exciting because 1. the Bishop's wife found our phone for us (it may or may not have gotten dropped out of our car and sat in the road all night in the rain and sleet and we had a flippin panic attack for like 24 hours with it missing and the battery being dead) and 2. Michael passed the Sacrament for the first time (i wanted to put this in all caps to express my excitement, but i thought that would be kind of sacrilegious..) and it was absolutely amazing and i thought he was going to explode from how big his smile was and i will never forget it and the sun was 239842398 times brighter than normal to match the fantastic-ness and 3. One of our investigating families showed up to church (the family that speaks spanish) when we thought they were going to be out of town all weekend! 

Something I have been reminded of this week is that this is the Lord's work. The Lord is gentle yet firm in reminding me of this. Yes, this work requires 200% of our effort. But at the same time, it's not us that makes it happen, it's the Lord. We went to teach a woman named Dhorthy and she talked to us about how she knows the Book of Mormon is true, and how she believes Joseph Smith was a prophet. She was absolutely glowing when she told us this. She had to touch her heart as she spoke because there was no other way to express how she felt. As we sat there, i just marveled at how the Lord allows us to witness these changes. Perhaps if he wanted he could just drop Books of Mormon on everyone's porch with an instruction manual about how to receive revelation and how to get to the nearest church. Because it's the Holy Ghost that does the changing here. But instead he allows missionaries to be involved. What a blessing :) Does any of this even make any sense? I am kind of just rambling, trying to get out of my head what I've been thinking the past few days.

Oh a side note, the Lord is the perfect teacher. After a disastrous evening last night (we can only spend an hour in each person's home and oftentimes people are very unhappy with us when we have to leave if we are not tactful enough - hahha, me, tactful? i know, i find that funny too), the Bishop just happened to call us today and told us that we are "awesome" and he loves us and that we are "doing a great job." Wow, if that doesn't make you feel good as a missionary then you are crazy. It's wisdom in the Lord for letting us wriggle and squirm and repent and re-examine, and then give us a pat on the back afterwards. Thanks, Heavenly Father :)

love you all!!! Sorry for the rambling.

Sister Rose

July 7, 2013

Hello!

So here in New Zealand when you get in front of the congregation at church, you say "good morning" etc and the whole congregation replies with "good morning!" It's pretty neat :) Maybe i just never noticed that happen in the States...? Not sure.

So this week has been extremely exhausting. I am SO tired. It has been great, though!!! (Of course, we bike a lot. And we drive out to the far away places to see people because i love road trips. mmmm life is good.) We are seeing so much success; the woman who said when she reads the Book of Mormon she feels like she wants to repent of all her sins, the family that said God saved their marriage but they know they're still missing something, the man who said prayers is like a telephone call with God that he first started when he was 3 years old, the members who stopped by just to tell us that they invited one of our investigating families over for dinner/FHE (something that was 100% their idea) and they want us to join. 

Every Monday afternoon we go teach a woman. She is super spiritual and she readily receives revelation and can recognize the spirit. We have been teaching about the plan of salvation, and today we had a lesson with a member from the ward. We are so thankful that this woman could come to the lesson because our investigator was kind of hurt at the concept that she is not doing enough right now to live with her family for forever. Neither of us were sure what to say when she started crying out of sadness when we told her about the Celestial kingdom. But the member stepped in and told a powerful story about when her brother died and she had to gain a testimony of the Plan of Salvation for herself. I'm so thankful for that testimony. I'm thankful that the Lord will prompt us as to who is the correct person to invite to a lesson. Man, seriously. It was amazing.

On a sillier note, I see God's wisdom in sending me only Tongan companions; during a meal, Sister Niutupuivaha always asks who is feeding us for the next meal. Without fail. I could really care less, but that is not the case for her haha! She always makes sure we eat because it "gives us strength to  do the work" and it's super important in their culture haha! :D So happy to have her with me :) Mahu, the man I wrote about next week (who is getting baptized the 27th!!!!) heard our sad story this week: We drove out to Hinds to get fed and we were stoked and then the family didn't have time to feed us.. so we drove back home and bought a loaf of bread and ate that on the way to our next appointment. We taught Mahu that night and he asked what we had for tea and we were like, "uh.. bread.." and he was like "WHAT?! I'm taking yous out for dinner on Thursday!" and he did. And i had two large pieces of lamb and it was fantastic. We went out with the family that is fellowshipping him as well. Here's a picture of Mahu! He's 39, from the Cook Islands, and has a few kids about our age. 

 

Well, I had more time to write this week so I hope yous enjoy a little more detail haha :) I know the church is true. I know that God cares about us and the Holy Spirit only reveals the truth to us. I know that God has a plan for each of us. And i'm so blessed to have my companion, Sister Tongan Princess ;) haha! 

love yous!!!!

Sister Rose

June 30, 2013

Salutations!

Oh my goodness, Sister Niutupuivaha and i have seen HEAPS of miracles this week. Last Sunday we met a new investigator at church (probably the best place to meet someone for the first time, seriously). We set up a time to have a lesson with him, and it turns out when he was 19 he was looking for something more. He read the bible, attended study groups, went to churches, etc. But he knew there had to be something more. He was thirsty for the truth. Someone who was not a member of the church gave him a Book of Mormon/D&C/Pearl of Great Price. He was attending an institute-type class, and loved it, loved studying the Book of Mormon. The teacher asked him to teach a lesson on Lehi's vision of the tree of life. He accepted, but after reading had no idea what was going on. So, following Joseph Smith's example, he prayed. And knowledge basically poured into his mind. This man bore a powerful testimony to us - he has read the entire Book of Mormon and prayed, and he knows it is true. He knows Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. On our first lesson he asked when would be the soonest he could go to the temple, and showed us a pedigree chart he had prepared already; he wants to do baptisms for the dead for his family. Also, he has NEVER met with missionaries before. Everything he learned was from his own studies. When we taught him the restoration lesson later that week, he taught me things. Wow. I am humbled by this entire experience. The Lord prepares His children. He cares about every single one of us, he has a plan for each of us. We are so so SOOOO SOOOOOOOOO lucky to have the opportunity to teach this man and see him be baptized very soon. The Lord continues to astound me.

love you all!!!!

SIster Rose