Here
we are, in Westport!! :D There are about 3,000 people that live in this town,
and we have a set of elders as well as us here. There is a "traveling"
senior couple that goes around the Nelson district called the Turners and they
will see us every two weeks when they are in town. There are about 10 active
adults in our branch. :)
This zone is
the most beautiful part of the mission. And that's what President told us, so i
believe him although this is only my second area. Elder Vimahi and I bussed
from Christchurch to Greymouth last week, which was a phenomenal
experience. It was rainy, but beautiful nonetheless. My camera died, though, so
didn't get to take many photos honestly. (And i lost the chord to charge it -
we're in big trouble.) Here's a photo - there are HUGE mountains in the back
hidden by the clouds. We drove through Arthur's pass. We would have taken the
train but there was a storm the night before we left and trees were all over
the railway.
I met my
companion, Sister Woodbury, who is from Kaysville, Utah! She i a vegetarian,
and tall and blonde and super awesome :) She's 19 and it's so great to
see her faith and desire to serve!
The drive from
Greymouth to Westport was the most beautiful thing in the whole world. WOW!!!
(camera was dead..) We were driving on a cliff along the ocean. Wow. It was
amazing. As we drove to our area, the elders told us that door knocking does
not work in our area. This was confirmed by our branch president, who served
his mission in Australia and baptized one of the elders that was serving here
last transfer (watch for this story in the ensign - they submitted it and it
should be out soon!). One of the first things our branch president said was,
"Do not to normal missionary work in Westport. You could door knock that
place in 2 weeks. Do community service," he said, and then handed us a
list, " and find all these lost people." We took the list from him
and he said, "And don't get bored." It's great that the is a return
missionary and gave us this advice! We could have messed up big time,
otherwise.
SOOOOO this
is going to be completely and totally and utterly different than
Ashburton. For example, street contacting is more "having a 5
minute conversation on the street" instead of anything else. The
people here like to talk, and they don't hand out trust like cookies either. So
today we were walking to the nursery to buy plants to create a garden at
our flat, and we met this woman. She we started talking to her, and she invited
us in. She told us that people on the west coast want to talk and get to know
you - they will respect you if you make time to talk to them. My ability to
have small talk was at a 3% when i came out, and now it's probably at a 59%,
but soon it will be at 100%! yaaaaayy!!
This weekend
we had district conference up in nelson. Another BEAUTIFUL drive!! Elder Hamula
from the quorum of the seventy was there. He is doing a mission tour and we
also had zone conference. It was awesome. We feel so motivated, and we are
really going to try to use more of our talents that we already have to help the
work move forward. And focusing on service was just reinforced as well. Wow, it
was absolutely amazing!!! :D
SO, life is
good, we're just trying to figure out everything. Love you all!! The church is
true!!
Sister Rose
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