May 25, 2014

Most of this week was spent at church (8 hours.. 3 wards.. whew!), doing weekly planning, driving people around for transfers, in zone conference, exchanging over. I'm surprised we got any lessons in this week.

We had transfers and i had to say goodbye to the one sister i flew over to NZ with.. so sad!! We were helping with driving the new missionary up to Masterton (along a very curvy road up some mountains, 1.5 hours away). She was brand new, just came from the Auckland MTC. After we dropped them off, we grabbed some KFC for lunch and headed back to Lower Hutt. My companion asked if I was okay, with my KFC chicken sitting in my lap. I said no, and pulled over. I burst into tears (like literally burst into tears). There are only 4 weeks left of me being a missionary... so many emotions, and it all just squeezes out of my eyes in the form of tears. Luckily my companion is very patient with me.

Fast forward 2 days later to zone conference - my last one. IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING ONE EVER!!! Seriously, most powerful zone conference of my entire mission. I was seriously just crying the whole time. (Who would have thought family history would make me all weepy? what the what?) One of the other sisters was crying too, i almost offered my hanky but saw that i had used it a few days ago on the infamous Masterton Breakdown and no one else should even look at the icky thing. Right after the opening prayer, President Kezerian asked me to join him up in the front of the room in from of 20 or so missionaries all sitting at tables. He put his arm around me and asked, "Sister Rose, what happens on June 18th?" I paused, and quietly answered, "I go home." He said, "Would you mind sharing your testimony?" I quietly replied, "Sure," and he asked, "Do you want a tissue?" I said, "Thank you, I'm going to need that." Someone I got through it without using the tissue (wooo!!), probably because my awesome companion was sitting there praying for me. Let me tell you: I love being a missionary. I thought coming here was a sacrifice, but I think God is sacrificing to let me be here. We never have to be scared to share His word because the Spirit of the Lord does all the work. The Lord has promised that He will be with us as we are about his business. I have literally felt that.

Well, i love you all. :) Life is good.

Sister Rose

May 18, 2014

So, this weekend was totally awesome. 3 Reasons why it was totally awesome:

1. I got to go on exchanges with Sister Saunders. She goes home in 2 days :) She is the sister i went on exchanges with the first time i was left in my first area. it was my second transfer, i was terrified. When she went to the bathroom during lunch, i knelt down in the living room and just prayed. I was so scared. I didn't know if i could lead the area, even if it was just for 1 day. When i opened my eyes, she was in the room, praying herself. She opened her eyes and asked me if I was okay. This moment has changed my whole mission, and the rest of my life, the way i will treat others, the way i deal with companions, the way i approach investigators, the way i will help my family. Sister Saunders changed my life just by showing enough love to pray for me when she could tell i was nervous. It was so great to be able to see her again, just before she goes home :) i love her, and i had this overwhelming feeling that she was a close friend before we came this earth.

2. One of our investigators had her baptismal interview!!  We went over the questions with her beforehand and wow... we taught her absolutely nothing. It was so obvious that the spirit taught her every single thing she learned. Because of her work schedule she could only meet with us once a week. Also, she is Chinese so there is a slight language barrier. Yet when we asked her about the law of chastity she said, "Oh i need to be loyal to my future spouse and keep myself pure." When we asked her about the word of wisdom she said, "i need to keep my body pure so i can receive revelation." what the what?! I'm pretty sure we never said ANY of that stuff. It was all the Holy Ghost, man.

3. We had stake conference. The Prophet of the Lord, Thomas S. Monson, an apostle (Elder Oaks) and 2 other general authorities spoke directly to New Zealand. Whaaahhhh??? I have NEVER heard of this happening before!! It was so cool!!! The prophet talked about how "love is the catalyst to change," and how we need to just focus on being obedient and loving others. Another huge theme was families and keeping them intact the way God designed them. SO COOL!!!!!

4. Okay, i know I said 3 but this weekend was just reeeeally awesome - Yesterday was Bulou's baptism!!!!!! :D She was also confirmed at the service. Wow, it was totally awesome!!! I can't really put into words what it was like. All the members came together to welcome here into the ward, it was amazing. I am so proud of her, and feel so lucky that I got to see her make this change. She got the gift of the holy ghost at the service because it was stake conference this weekend. In her blessing she was told she will soon be a full-time missionary, just like she wants. Wow. How amazing is that?!!! :D Can i express my pure joy? I don't think so. (Alma 26)

i love you all  :) thank you so much for all you do! the church is true!!

Sister Rose

May 11, 2014

Okay, so this week was crazy. First, i must start off with a funny story. So on Saturday, we were meant to have a baptism but the mother was in the hospital all week so it is postponed for next weekend. We were obviously not too happy on Saturday, but the Lord blessed us SOOO much!!  It was an awesome day. One such awesome thing that happened was that we had to go to the bathroom really bad. We didn't know anyone in the area, it was late at night (it's dark at 6pm now, so it feels late at night..) so we weren't about to knock on a strangers door (don't laugh, we got an investigator doing that one time). So we went to all the little shops and asked for a bathroom. We get to a chinese clothing store, and he says he doesn't have a toilet, it's around the back. Okay, next! We keep asking and found anoooother chinese clothing shop, and this greek man that worked there lead us to the back of the shop, through a disorganized shop with clothes everywhere. Little did we know that his toilet was also "around the back." He leads us through this metal bar door and is like, "Here you go," and points it out to us. As he's walking away, my companion tries to find a light - there is none. He mentions as i leave, "Don't close the door or she won't be able to open it from the inside." I look at Sister Patterson and her face looks like "what  the heck are we doing??" I stepped around the corner to give her some privacy. This "bathroom" was at the back of the shops, facing a gravel parking lot in the dark. Oh my gosh, probably the most hilarious thing ever.

Also, we went to go see Viviana saturday night. She has been out of town for 3 weeks. When my companion suggested it, i was not excited. We had tried everything with her it felt like, we just couldn't get her to church, couldn't get her to commit to a baptism date, couldn't get her to do it! So her being out of town as well was not very promising. But we went around and she had a a bunch of friends over... double un-excited. -.- She opened the door and we stood at the bottom of the steps of her flat, and she crouched down, with this loving look on her face, and asked what we've been doing, how we were. We asked us to come in, offered us delicious colombian soup, and laughed with us. Guess what?! SHE WENT TO CHURCH WHILE SHE WAS IN AUCKLAND!!! Whaaaaaatt???? I almost cried. Also, she read the Book of Mormon while she was out of town!! Whaaaat???!! When we invited her to church on Mother's Day she declined at first, then i just told her to come, a bit more boldly, in Spansih and she agreed. We came Sunday morning and she wasn't ready yet, but we got her to come to the other ward on the other side of town at 1pm. She brought all 3 kids and came to church!!!!!!! I translated for her into spanish, which was hilariously awful. Man, best mothers day ever :) We found someone to give her a ride home, and as they drove away we stood in the parking lot and high-fived, and some random member in the car laughed at us. Great day :)

Happy Mother's day!!!!!! I love you all!!! The church is true! Your family CAN be eternal!!!

Love,
Sister Rose

May 4, 2014

Well, this week we were teaching Bulou. I can't express how much i love her. She's 22, Fijian and the funniest person alive. And she actually tells us what she's thinking (wait, what?? does that really happen??). 

Anyways, this week we taught her a bunch of commandments, one of which was the law of chastity. Sister Patterson and I were talking about ways we could really help her see the blessings of living the commandment - and then i got a letter in the mail from my mom. Enclosed was a letter from my Grandma describing all the things she loved about being married to my Grandpa. I almost cried it was so adorable. Then it clicked - we were meant to use that in the lesson. Then a dvd my sister sent popped into my head - her sunday school class made "I'm a Mormon" videos, and the one my sister made applies to this commandment as well. YAAAYYY!!

So in the lesson, we used the video and the letter. This was the coolest thing in the world. It really helped Bulou see, with concrete, real people examples, how the law of chastity is a blessing. It was so cool!! As i read the letter in the lesson, you could feel my grandparents' love for one another there in the room. It was indescribable. When i finished the letter, i waved it in the air and said, "Now THAT is a marriage that is going to last for eternity." Afterwards one of the members present for the lesson asked, "Hey, can i have a copy of that letter?" Their marriage, their love, are the blessings that come from living the commandments God has given us. (Check out https://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#enduring-love for something along the same lines)

So thank you everyone for sharing your stories and for loving the Lord and for just being you. Family history is about the people that are alive, too - and I'm grateful for the people in my family, both those that have passed on and those that are still alive.

i love you all!! The gospel is true. Our families can be forever if we live the way Christ has asked us to :) And funny - that's how we can have peace and joy, too.

Sister Rose