May 18, 2014

Well this is the First week I have been in Mt. Albert, and so far I
guess you could say it is going all right. It hasn't been easy. There
are some people that are interested in learning more about gospel , I
guess however you could ask as to whether or not they are going to be
willing to take any action. Elder Rogers is awesome, he has been in
the area for just one transfer and has shown me around a bit. I think
that I got the area down pat now. So as for investigators we don't
have to many who are super keen and ready to be baptized. Our main
investigators are Samantha, Brother Matthew, Grey Shepard, and
Benhilda.

Samantha is a Maori lady who had a rough childhood. She actually was
adopted into an LDS family and lived with them for a while, apparently
things didn't go to well while living with them and eventually the
police got involved. Ever since because of the experience she has been
very cautious of males and a bit antsy about them. I don't blame her.
But we have had a lesson with her. We actually brought one of the
Ward Missionaries with us to help out, and so we could enter into her
home as their where no males present in the home. She did not let us
come in because she didn't feel to comfortable with having 3 people of
one faith teaching her and it just being her in the house. So the next
day we came back and it was Elder Rogers and I, students where home at
the time that live in the same house, as well as her daughter. She let
us in and we where able to begin answering some of the questions that
she had for us. We ultimately invited her to read the Book of Mormon
and taught as much as we could about it. We are planning to visit her
this week again and to teach her more about it. Something that she
actually has issues with is there being a Heavenly Father, from what I
can understand, because she never had loving Father figure in her life
growing up, she doesn't seem to think of God as a Loving Father in
Heaven. That will be an interesting concern to resolve for sure. only
through prayer can she know his love for him, and only through
understanding his plan will she really know how much he cares and why
he is there.

Brother Matthew is a partner to Sister Tritz. They have 4 children
(don't know if they are from different partners) who seem to be well
behaved. Sister Tritz is a member kind of a less active, and Brother
Matthew has built his relationship with God through the Bible while in
prison. He is a down right nice guy, but he seems to have a bit of a
temper based on what he has told us. Due to a recent incident where he
hurt a man, he is confined to his home for 10 months ( he has an ankle
tracker even) Anyways you could say that it is a good thing because we
can teach him all we want >:D, haha no but it does in a sense.
Anyways, we have been over to meet the family and teach a bit. Sister
Tritz is really reading the Book of Mormon "hard out" (as they say
here in New Zealand), and is always sharing it with Brother Matthew.
From what we can tell Brother Matthew doesn't seem to keen on the Book
of Mormon, likely because he only believes in Bible as the word of
God. We have invited him to read and he hasn't done so yet. But Sister
Tritz seems to be on the ball with sharing what she is learning from
it so that is awesome! We will be meeting with them later today to for
an awesome lesson!

Grey is a really neat guy. He has designed a really cool engine, that
as far as I can tell seems pretty legit. He has a website called
greysheppard.com, so maybe you guys could take a look and it might
give you an idea of what he is up to. Anyways he knows his Book of
revelations well. He explained all he new about it to me and really
got into the nitty gritty (nacho haha), a haven't really studied it
out myself to much, but I smiled and listened carefully. After he was
done with there wasn't much time left, so I gave quick introduction to
the Book of Mormon of course, and the reason I say I is because Elder
Rogers was in a separate conversation with his son Chris who seems to
have recently found God, and really seems keen to learn about the Book
of Mormon. But ya we will be saying hello to them later on this week
to see how things are going for them and really find out if they are
"keen"(as they say here in New Zealand) to learn more.

Benhilda is a strange name. I have written it how I would pronounce it
so have fun! Anyways she is a mother of 2, and is from Ethiopia! It's
pretty cool. She has a Christian background, and has explained to us
that she believes in anything that pertains to Jesus Christ, so we of
course have shared with her the Book of Mormon, she has a read a bit,
but she has a hard time understanding because it is a bit different
from the Bible also considering English not being her first language.
We have big hopes for her and we are looking forwards to meeting with
her later this week.

So thats it about for investigators, we have a few other people who we
try and teach but aren't going anywhere to fast. I wish that I could
have you guys right beside me so you see what it is really like here.
It is virtually impossible for me to really tell you guys all that is
going on.I will continue to do my best in describing all my mission
experiences. I wish I could take pictures of my investigators,
especially before I leave a area. l think it would be a lot more
meaningful when you sget see those that are being taught. There just
isn't enough time to go around and say good bye, cause we work up till
the end of the day before we leave!

This week we had zone conference. Elder Pearson of the 70 came and
gave us about a 4 hour long talk, although it wasn't really a talk it
was more of lecture I guess you could say. ( I think I will be able to
handle any long meeting from now on with ease, including college) He
was awesome needless to say, it was long but I was locked on him as
hard as I could. He talked a lot about becoming the missionaries that
we can become, and having faith in ourselves to do the work, and
giving all we have to work. Obedience was stressed quite hard also. I
took about 3 pages worth of notes! I think I walked out of the Zone
Conference with a stronger desire to put more effort into becoming
the missionary that I can and should be. and also utilizing the time
that we have been given to study to it's fullestahhhh I agonize at not
being able to share with you guys what I learned! Well all I can
really say was that it was a real treat to be taught by a 70, so glad
I have notes to look back on to remind myself of the things that I
should be doing as a missionary.

It has been great to be able to work with Elder Rogers, we have both
made it a goal to really improve our teaching, and as Elder Pearson
said become the missionaries that we can become. We have been doing
better with our planning, and we are making our studies as effective
as possible. I think we be able to really grow a lot this transfer.
Lot's to look forwards to.

Looks like you guys had an awesome time in London, I loved the
pictures that you sent me. I think I would have liked going to
Aeronautics museum, haha, and some really neat architecture. I feel
bad for Mom. it must be real tuff trying to drive on the other side of
the road, especially when you haven't even had a chance to get use to
it! And Glad to hear that Eric's Pinewood Derby did well, I hope that
I can help him make one when he is a Webolo! The I love the Book of
Mormon advertisement I have heard is actually a not so good spoof of
it, but none the less just as in Josephs day, anti-mormon stuff often
brought more people to curiosity than anything. The New Zealand House,
I have no idea but still cool to see! Glad that you had a good time
on that organ. I don't think that it gets much more legit than that
right there!

Well I am personally doing fine. It was great to hear form you an Dad,
so glad that things are going well at home. I hope that you guys do
well this week. I enjoy all of your e-mails and pictures. I will send
lots next week. Tell Sister Clark thanks! I do appreciate her
encouragement very much and I hope she does well in Italy. Tell Grand
Pa that I love him also.

Love You all so much,

Love,
Elder Ward