November 3, 2013

So every Sunday night we have a movie night with one of our less-active families. One of the ladies is good friends with us, and she's awesome. Anyways, we ran out of things to show them, and so we went through the videos at the chapel - all VHS. We found one tape and took it over to this family's house. Since we have no VCR, we could not preview the video. It was a bunch of short videos, and one of them was a 30-minute long video about chastity. Seriously the most awkward thing to watch with this family - it was from the era of President Kimball and was the most blunt, straightforward thing ever. They haven't brought it up since, but for the past 2 weeks they've been "busy" on movie night. Awkward... haha!

We went up Karamea way this week with the elders. I'm not gonna lie, this week was quite hard for me. I wouldn't say discouraged is the right word, "worn out" perhaps. This transfer I have learned more about how to live the gospel than ever before in my life, I think. And God has allowed us to find SO many people to teach. Sounds like a successful time to me, but sometimes missionary work is just hard. Anyways, Before we left for Karamea, I turned to my companion and said, "We're going to see 15 miracles today." And I don't know about 15, but we saw heaps. We spent a lot of time trying to find certain people, driving in the middle of nowhere - and the Lord put people in our paths that needed to be there. We asked a lady if she knew where a man named Kelley lived, and then asked if we could come in and share a message with her. We taught her about Jesus Christ being the Good Shepherd, and about the Book of Mormon and it was amazing, we'll be back later this week.  We found another man who actually knows some of the members and taught him about how the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. Many, many miracles! Perhaps the way i'm describing it makes it sound not-awesome, but trust me, it was awesome and miraculous.

This less-active lady showed us a journal yesterday that she got when her granddaughter was born. she's filling it with stories and stuff and will give it to her on her 21st birthday. SO COOL!! 

Also, i cut my hair again. Here's me in front of an op-shop (like goodwill - they are all over the place here!) with my new 'do. Pretty soon all my hair will be gone if i keep this up!! 

i love you all, This gospel is the most precious thing I have and i love being able to share it with people. I know that living the gospel is the way to peace and joy now and in the eternities.

love,

Sister Rose

October 28, 2013

This week we were gearing up for our open house. We had two bouncy castles (one was an obstacle course), cotton candy, sausage sizzle, fresh baked cookies, a free clothes swap, kids games, and a family history workshop. We delivered invitations to literally every person in Westport and had a pretty good turnout. We had missionaries up from Greymouth and Hokitika, the other areas in our missionary district (have to make that distinction since we're not in a stake anymore haha). At the end of the totally awesome, fun-filled day the Branch President gathered all the missionaries together and told us we were about to find out who was the best missionary!! First, we raced our companions through the obstacle course bouncy castle. Somehow I won - SIster Woodbury did NOT take this competition lightly!! Then i versed Elder McKenna, who is serving in our branch as well. I really only won because Branch President was running beside me yelling my name, "GO SISTER ROSE!!!" So it eventually came down to me and one other missionary.. Elder Adams, serving in Hokitika in the Greymouth branch. Elder Adams is the same size as I am, if that helps you visualize this match. We tied to the first time, but in order to bring honor and glory and pride and luck and whatever else it is that you receive when you win an obstacle course race to the Westport branch, i declared a rematch. The second time, a bunch of kids ran after Elder Adams and pulled him down so she couldn't go any further. Third rematch - i lost! Noooo!! But it's okay I guess. Second place in a major sporting event, I'll accept that. 

As we were passing out flyers to the open day, we were about to cross a street. And then a TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR occurred. Seriously, I've never seen any rain like this before. It was literally raining sideways, and it was like needles were stabbing through my 2 layers of tights that i always wear because skirts are far too breezy and i get tired of always being cold. I didn't even know what to do, so i just stood there and laughed! Then my companion yelled, "Shelter!!!" We started looking around, and we saw that we were standing right outside one of our investigator's homes. We ran to the front gate - couldn't get it open (kind of like in the wizard of oz) and so we ran around the back against the needle-rain and went through the other door. The woman opened the door, looking quite surprised. We asked if we could come in, and she brought us a towel. We started talking, the rain kept pounding. The rain kept coming long enough for us to find out that her 16-year old daughter had moved out that day. We sat down with her, talked, and prayed together. The Lord truly MADE is go inside so we could comfort her in the time of uncertainty. Whoah, the Lord is all-powerful, that is for sure!
My companion and I discovered this lovely scripture - Abraham 2:16. "eternity was our covering and our ^brock and our salvation". Everyone write back to me and tell me what this means to you :)

Also, there are two German ladies that work at the library. Still debating whether to use the 2 words i know in german on them - some of the germans we meet think it's amusing, others think i'm an idiot. I happens haha :)

i love you all! The Church is true!! 

Sister Rose

October 20, 2013

Greetings, one and all :)

Well, this week was all over the place. Some days we were running around trying to make it to every appointment on time (i feel like i'm late all the time now, this is new for me), other days we felt like we got nothing done until we came home that night and tallied up our numbers only to see that we actually did.

We have been volunteering with the Department of Conservation here in Westport - planting trees, etc. We met a group of volunteers through this service and they invited us to come help them maintain a tramping track (hiking trail) in Charleston, about 30 minutes south of Westport. It's called the "Bromula Track" and we have heard a lot about it, but didn't have a reason to go see it UNTIL NOW!! It was seriously the most fantastic, exquisite, amazing outdoor experience of my life. One minute we were in a rain forest, the next in a field, the next on the cliff over the ocean, the next in a massive flax forest type thing. The man heading the trip gave my companion and i knives to cut flax (kind of like a grass, but really tough - they weave it into baskets, etc) away from the track so it's easier to walk through. The other volunteers had machetes and whacked at different parts of the trail, removing invasive plants and other plants that were in the way. THIS is what i imagined my mission to be like haha! It was seriously the most amazing outdoor thing I've ever done, I think. (The first photo is me standing next to some flax. And don't worry, we didn't have to swim to that rock in the last photo haha) 

I know that the message of the Restoration is something that every single person needs. And that the truths that we have because of this glorious event are something that every single person needs and, on some level, wants. We had our first lesson with a family this week, and the mother was brave enough to say the closing prayer. The room was so noisy and loud, and her daughter got up do something straight after. However, the mom sat there at the table with us and started getting choked up. In the midst of the loud, distracting noise, she felt God tell her that He loves her. She told us she was angry at him for a long time, but it was time to finally let go of all those things. I know that Gods WILL reach out to us if we let him. All we need is a willing heart, a humble attitude, and a desire to grow closer to him. 

Having the Spirit constantly work through you is the coolest thing ever. We were on the street yesterday and saw a man. We said, "Hello!" and he said, "Hello!" From that one word, the Spirit prompted me to ask, "Do you know Peter?" He said, "Yes, i live with Peter!" Peter is a man that came to church 2 weeks ago that we met on the street. We said, "Peter came to our church a few weeks ago, and said he was going to come again. Will you come to church with him?" He said yes, and ran off. Um how cool is that? Really cool!

love you all! May the Lord be with yous!

Sister Rose 

October 13, 2013

Well, this week was my birthday. My present to myself was going to not tell anybody that it was my birthday, and be the ONLY PERSON in the ENTIRE COUNTRY that knew it was my birthday. However, on Tuesday, we actually had the car (we just walk, Westport is quite small) and it was literally pouring down rain (nothing new - and you don't know rain until you see Westport rain, seriously). We had a prompting to go see a referral that we hadn't really got a chance to sit down and talk with yet, only met briefly, and so we went to go see her. Lots of people park on the grass next to road here, and we don't drive in westport very often remember, so i followed suit. Then i felt like we should not be there, so we drove back onto the road. And what did we do? we completely  DEMOLISHED their lawn with the tires of the car. I felt so horrible, as i was the one driving (PS i think i'm more privileged as a missionary than i was at home - haven't had a car to drive in forever). We hoped she was home, because it would have been 1000 times worse coming back the next day after she'd seen it. Anyways, we knock on the door, and she opens it and is hardout sobbing. She invites us in immediately and we just give her this massive hug. Turns out she had just had a family emergency and was a total wreck. We finished her cooking for her, sat her down in front of the heat pump (it is cold here, fyi) and began talking with her. He son promptly pulled out a game to play and we all took part in frivolity :) SHe then asked us how old we were and when our birthdays were... NOOOO i didn't wan't anyone to know!!! But I couldn't lie.. So i told her my birthday was in 2 days. She then promptly told us she was going to throw a fondue party and invite all her friends. what?! yes!! (also, she wasn't mad about the grass, thank goodness)

We showed up at her house the night of my birthday and she had balloons and a cake and candles and a happy birthday sign. Remember how we had really only met her once? This woman was made for relief society, seriously. My secret wish on my birthday was to speak spanish with someone. I didn't tell anyone about this, didn't even pray about it. the first guest i met there - from Chile! Wow, tender mercy!! Every person at the party that we met, we got a return appointment with. Can't wait to go see them all this week and get them on the track to eternal life. Who would have thought a birthday party could be a finding opportunity? Not me! 

Well, this week we have seen a bazillion miracles. I love the Lord, and he is aware of us. Life is good, and this is His work. 

love,

Sister Rose

October 9th, 2013

Kia ora! 

I hope all is well for all of you :) For those of you who have been keeping track of our adventures here in Middle Earth, I thought i'd update you. This woman from South India that I wrote about last week - who we met at the rest home - allowed us to come back last week. We sat down with her and started talking. As she began to tell her story, she told us about how she was raised Christian, and her mother was Christian and her father was Hindu (so my comments last week were not 100% accurate, my apologies). The thing that has really bothered her throughout her life was that there are so many denominations. This seriously troubled her and she has been praying to know "the truth" for years. We shared a message about the Restoration with her and left a DVD with her as well. We will visit her this week to follow up and share a more detailed message with her. Can't wait to see where this woman's faith can take her :) 

The family history center here in Westport is alive and booming! We went in this week to get a better idea of how to do family history. Many, many people we talk to have an interest in this, and it's such a blessing that the family history center is at the chapel. 2 weeks ago a woman who we hoped to start teaching soon said she would come to the family history center. For a number of reasons she didn't wind up doing family history, but saw the free display table, and took one of everything - a Book of Mormon, pamphlets, pass-along cards, everything. When we went to go visit her, she said, "Okay, teach me about all of this stuff." WOW! How amazing!!! Anyways, my companion realized we needed to be able to tell people more about family history in order to help people get into the chapel. We went to the family history class and did some research. Sister Woodbury is related to a man in the Doctrine and Covenants named Amasa Lymon (spelling?). We found a rather intimidating photograph of him and promptly printed off two of them. One is on the wall in our flat, and the other is in the refrigerator. When we get home at night, he is greeted with a "hey Amasa!" or "hey, are you getting cold in there?" It's the little things that make life good. I read some about Stillman Pond, a distant relative of mine. He married his third wife after being widowed twice crossing the plains. This woman was the quintessential pioneer woman, giving birth to her first baby in the back of a wagon or something like that. Anyways, her first husband asked her if she wanted to go to California and search for gold instead of build zion in the valley. She replied, "I came here for the sake of the gospel, not for gold." What an inspiration! Her first husband left and she then married Stillman Pond. She's the line I come from; it's an honor to be related to her. 

We are teaching a family from Zambia, and the wife cooked us an African meal yesterday. It was like scrambled eggs with veggies and onion, and then a cereal -type thing that was a lot like solid grits. You take a chunk roll it into a ball in your hand an then grab some eggs too and eat it all up. YUMMMM!! SO good :) It's called sheema or something like that. So good!! She thought it was hysterical seeing me try to stir the pot. (and eat it properly...) She's probably 6'5" and very strong - she even took pictures she thought is was so funny. Hey, it was WAY harder than it looked!  

I could keep going about all the stories, but this is the best time of my life. I know that Gods loves us. I know that he hears our prayers and wants us to feel his love. He sees all of our flaws and loves us anyways. Not only does he loves us, he wants to help us overcome our flaws and become the heir that he knows we are. I love the Lord, I love the gospel, I love Westport, and I want everyone to take a taste of this because it's the sweetest thing I've ever known.

Love you all!

Sister Rose