Where do I start for the week? 16 February 2015

Ok, so I have no idea really to start for the week to be honest. I had some really great experiences that I simply won't be able to send back in this e-mail. I will do my best.

Well for this week we had something unfortunate happen. Toru didn't come to church. we went to go pick him up in the morning however though he was not home nor answering his phone! That was a bit of a disappointment, however we are going to try and contact him today. 

Oh! yes so to my surprise, I have stayed in the area and Elder Schetzel moved up to a Northern part of NZ. My new companion is Elder Hann is form Scotland! He is such a cool Elder. The sad thing is that he will be going home this transfer. So in missionary language I will be "killing him". He has had a bit of a tough mission. But he is experienced and has great wisdom indeed. We get along well and we can talk for ages about things.

Jodie and Brother Semati are doing well, it is so great to see them! The wedding is coming up soon and everyone is getting excited! They are coming to church, and progressing well. Hopefully the marriage papers come for brother Semati real soon. We are not to sure when though unfortunately. keep praying though!

Toru we had some great lessons this week with Elder Hann. just not to sure about what happened with church that is all. So we will be praying for toru for sure.

So p-day is on Tuesday this week because we had a wonderful training this week with a member of the Quorum of the 70. Elder Nielson! It was a wonderful training that gave me a lot of insight. These training's are pretty intense for sure. We start at 9am and they go till 4pm. We focused a lot on teaching people and how we can invite the spirit to be with us We have lunch at 12 and those are always fun especially when it comes to talking with old companions and seeing that Elders that are currently serving in your old areas, Like Onehunga. I have been trying to get in touch with Rob, a fella that Elder De Kock and I baptized at the beginning of my mission to see how he is doing. I haven't had any luck though unfortunately. I will keep trying for sure. 

Something I have learned is that we must "love ourselves" before we can "Love our neighbor" It is an interesting scripture when you look at it that way for sure.

Needless to say our mission is also being spoiled with a visit from President Bednar! So exciting, Elder Bednar is one of my favorite Apostles. What a treat within 2 weeks having 2 General Authorities come. We will be combining with the Hamilton mission as well for that visit. Anyways lots of things to look forwards to!



Love you all!

Love,
Elder Ward

Miracles Indeed 8 Feb 2015

Great things have been happening this week. 

Investigators wise we now have another set! I did not mention him to you guys last week. But this week we really started working with him and we he is doing awesome now! Toru is his name, he is 19 years old and is from the Cook Islands. (He speaks perfect English and they dress normal like us, many of the islands such as Tonga, Samoa, Cooks and so on are well developed and learn to speak English. Every so often we will bump into someone from the islands that can barely speak English) We met him when we where contacting a less active family to invite them to a ward activity. For Toru he had not been in NZ for even a day and we spoke with him and invited him to learn more about the church. It was a miracle. Later that week we met with Toru again and we had a RM (Tom) with us to be a fellowship for him. He made Toru feel very comfortable and and invited him to church. Boy was it great! I wasn't there at that time because we where on trade-offs and I was Elder Lene,(he is Samoan but he grew up in South Auckland). He was a bit sick at the time so we could really go out to find and teach people. Still though that Sunday our fellowship picked up Toru and took him to church. He was eating it up! He was asking us questions during sacrament meeting and we where explaining and answering the questions that he had for us. He stayed for the rest of the meeting as well and attended Sunday school. He loved Sunday school and according to Tom Lavalua (our fellowshipper who just so happened to be the teacher in the class) he would often share scriptures that he felt really applied to the lesson. He is very familiar with the Bible, and has many of the scriptures memorized. His grandmother had him memorize scriptures when he was young, and about the age of 13 he really began to gain a love for the word of God. After church the members where quite excited to see such a keen investigator church. We had a lesson with him at Tom's home after church that day and Elder Schetzel and I planned to set him for the 28th of Nov. Elder Schetzel extended the invitation after we taught the Restoration, and Toru gladly excepted and is so excited to be baptized! The spirit is working so strongly with Toru and we are very excited for him! Probably the most amazing finds on my mission!

Jodie is doing well, Elder Schetzel and our District leader Elder Brown visited her this week and taught about prophets and shared with her about President Thomas S. Monson. Giving her a better understanding of our living day prophet great, and certainly built her faith in progressing towards baptism. We have a good fellowship organised with Jodie and the relief society President. We are excited for when she is able to get married and baptized.

Brother Semati is doing well we had a lesson with him this week on the Atonement. He didn't make it to church though, they had a few sick children unfortunately. Still waiting on the papers though. Just going to keep them strong until the day finally comes! 

Abraham we haven't made any progress with because we have simply have had a lack of contact with him. This week we are really going to try and help him progress.

Michael and Kristen we haven't seen this week either. It is kin of up to them now. We have shared the message with them so now they need to put the effort into seeking to see if it is true. We will be seeing them this week however though.

Zane is doing well also. We shared with him the message of the Restoration, and he has been building within himself a desire to come back to church. We love visiting with him and reading the BoM with him. We taught him about the Restoration this week to really give him the big "WHY?" behind the Book of Mormon, and why it is important to have a testimony of it.

Some sad news though... I don't know if I will be around to see them get baptized. Transfers is this week. There is a good chance that I may be transferred this week because I have been here for a total of 3 all ready. We will see. It will be tough to leave Elder Schetzel and such a wonderful area.

I am excited about today though because today the zone has received permission to go watch a movie! haha not just any movie, it is Meet the Mormons. We are to have an investigator come along with us and we currently have Toru coming with us so it should be great to have him see that film. It should be great and I look forwards to seeing it as well!

Elder Schetzel and I where able to get the Root Beer form the international section of a super market store called "Count Down" Kinda like a food 4 less maybe. It was a bit expensive, like $3 but totally worth it!

Elder Schetzel and I played a bit of pole tennis in our backyard today. Took some photos of the action!

Love,
Elder Ward

All goodtime for a great e-mail!!

So sorry about the past few weeks I think. The e-mails haven't been to great to be honest.

Last week I mentioned that we where working with a boy named Liam. He has been speaking with missionaries for quite a while. Elder Schetzel and started talking with him because he was coming to church with his older cousin every so often. He is a really nice boy and he has had a really tough life growing ufp. he has been surrounded by drugs and violence. We shared with Liam the story of Alma the younger, a really powerful story about repentance and changing. He really liked it and we where happy to teach him and help him out. We set him with a Baptismal date to work towards as he did mention that he has a WoW problem that he is trying to work out. However I was a bit nervous because I have known about Liam since I have come into the area, and according to his cousin he has some big wow issues. Unfortunately since then we haven't been able to see him and really try to help help him out. Next time we see him though, we want to go play Frisbee with him so we can get a bit closer with him. Yes I have bought a Frisbee out here:D

Jodie, is doing great! She is set to baptized on the 14th of March. Her wedding being on the 7th. I don't know if I will be in the area then, we have transfers coming up and it is up in the air at the moment. Still though all I desire is that she does get baptized on that day. :) We had a member with us during our last lesson. Well the RS president and we had a wonderful lesson with her on fasting and how important it is. Sister Langi was a convert to the church. Bringing members who are converts to the church to lessons is always the best because they bear with them really powerful testimonies! Jodie is doing great she is coming to church and doing well. 

Brother Semati and his family is doing well also. Still coming to church. Just waiting on the marriage papers. Not to sure if I will be around to see him get baptized but that's ok! We are doing our best to keep him strong until then. Jared and the little girl that Elder Fougerous and I baptized are still doing well, and it is great to see them whenever we go by!

Michael and Kristen I think that I have mentioned them in previous e-mails, are doing all right. Our last lesson was interesting. Kristen is very smart (They are white, we usually teach Islander people), and all ready being a Christian family, they posed some interesting questions to us about the Godhead and also some things concerning the Plan of Salvation. We are doing our best but ultimately what they have to do is find out for themselves if the BoM is true. We should be seeing them tonight. Elder Schetzel and I have planned to talk a bit about the great apostasy tonight to give them a better understanding of the purpose of the BOM. So that is their main concern the BoM.

Abraham is a 1 year old young man that we have been working with for a while. Here in the Waipuna ward they have a sports night every Tuesday. We invited Abraham  to come along and he really enjoyed it! He told us the people there have a real good vibe about them and he wanted to come to church. Yesterday we arranged a ride for him and he was able to make it! He said that we could set up an appointment later in the week to meet with him. We are excited to see the progress in Abraham and we are hoping for a great lesson this week! We also invited a less active young man named Eric to come along to the sports night. He really enjoyed that and has opened up to coming to church as well. Unfortunately his mum is a bit against him(she is LA going through a hard time) for some reason. But still we now have him on a challenge to read the BoM in 90 days! We are grateful for the progress that we have made with those 2 young men.

Zane is LA, and we have been working with him for a while. I have known him since I have come into the area. Elder Schetzel and I simply sat down with him and started reading the BoM with him. Boy was it great! We explain things as we read with him to help him understand and make it a bit more digestible. He has had a few friends with him that read along with us to that are not members, and they seem to really enjoy! One friend in particular really is liking the the BoM so now we are trying to teach him as well. It has been pretty cool being able to do that with the m. It is a bit of a scripture study class.

There is a lot more that I could talk about however those are the main people that we have been working with lately Elder Schetzel and I have been busy for sure lately!

Overall in the ward great things have been happening the area! Our ward is so strong in hastening the work of Salvation, and I am grateful to be helping the members of the ward with there missionary efforts. We had Stake conference recently and it was all about moving the work forwards! Every Thursday night the ward, well of the Pacific Island area have rescue nights where members of the ward come together and visit people who have not been to church in a while. This past week we had a great turn out and the Ward members where excited to be there!

Jelly is a crack up I look forwards to meeting him for sure! Love how he messes with the clock!

Sounds like thinks are going good at home!

Love,

Elder Ward

 And Madelyn I like the stickers you sent. Like the stickman I can't have them hanging on my badge but, I stuck him on the back. Missionaries do that a lot around here, putting stickers on the backs of their badges.

 We played Monopoly for P-day. Takes a long time but it is great fun with the District for sure. We had a good time. We had to play the fast version to even get close to done. I went to jail the first 3 times in a row so I ended up going out and watched for the rest of the time which was fine with me.

You have a picture taken of a intersection we stopped at. We where driving home from a meeting at the chapel. Thought I would take a picture how everything is set up being on the left side.

 I loved the little pipe cleaner me! Thanks for sending him. unfortunately I can't walk around with him in my pocket all day, however certainly have him on my desk!

 We had root beer floats. boy where those good! It has been over a year. Our flat was a bit messy, so I debated sending this. But it is clean now though! It was very nice though I would have to say. You have to buy the rootbeer form a foreign food section in the store. a bit expensive but worth it. 

 That is Octopus! yes I ate it and it was pretty good. I would have to say that it was a bit salty though. Pretty chewy, surprisingly it doesn't have a ea food taste really. Still had the little suckers on it, but I popped it in the hath and it was all good. :D

Made a beast of a sandwhich. Had avocado on hand and all the fixins. boy was it good! Subway skills are still in use!

January 26, 2015

So sorry for not sending home a big e-mail this week. :/ It is crazy what is happening back at home! Elder Schetzel and I have been preparing a young man named Liam for baptism . I am excited for him and have a lot of faith that he can do it! 

Hot as here!!! 18 Jan 2015

Well this week was tough but it was rewarding I would have to say. The summer heat has really been beating down on us and my goodness it is hot! The humidity is not to fun either. The Sun is very intense here and will burn you to a crisp if you don't put on sunscreen. I have been pretty diligent lately. I will take 5 min before we head out for the day and grease up pretty thoroughly. It has certainly paid off, especially as I reapply it throughout the day. I will come into the flat and and not be burnt. My companion, well he doesn't really put it on so I get to see what I would look like if I where not to put it on. It works:D I have a testimony of it :D

Any ways we had 4 investigators come to church this week! I think that is the most I have had come to church on my mission! We had Jodie, Semati, Michael, and Kristen come to church. Jodie and Semati are pretty steady, they are just waiting for marriages to be worked out and then they can be baptized as soon as possible! Jodie's wedding is in Early March so I don't know if I will be able to see her get married and baptized. :( depends on if the Lord decides that I should stay in the Area for 6 months. Elder Schetzel and I are together for another transfer! So I will get to finish training him! I am certainly grateful for that.

Anyways let me tell you guys about Michael and Kristen. The sisters that worked in the area before it was turned over to Elder Schetzel and I where teaching them before they had to leave. They are a married couple who both have faith in Christ. They have 2 children and they are palangi as well (white in the islander languages). I include that detail because not very many white people that we come across are humble enough to except us as missionaries. Most of the time here in New Zealand we teach Islander people. It's a bit different I would have to say for various reasons. It was not until after the Holidays that we where able to set an appointment with them. Michael is a very humble man who really wants to know if the BoM is true. We had a wonderful lesson with them this past week. We had a member family (one of the only white families in the ward) come along and join us for the lesson as a fellowship and it truly went wonderful! We answered a few questions, they had, and we taught a bit about the Restoration. We also invited them to be baptized and Michael was happy to except but first he really needs to know if the BoM is true. Most importantly we got get to know them a little bit. We invited them to come to church as well during that lesson. It was great to see them come along to church, they stayed for the second hour as well for our Gospel Principles class we had on service. This week we are going to try and set a date with them to be baptized, but first we will teach them about the plan of Salvation. Looking forwards to it a lot!\

During the week my bicycle had a complete melt down. the rear gear shifting system broke and got all caught up in it's self. It was pretty bad. Because of it Elder Schetzel and I where hoofing it all week on foot. We still had a very effective week though as we just focused on the most important goals that we wanted to accomplish. I was happy that we where able to meet our goals for the week even though we where stuck on foot.

Anyways thank you guys for the e-mails, sounds like things are working out well for you guys. Sorry no pictures this week, didn't really take any.

Love,
Elder Ward

Time Flies 11 Jan 2015

For this week a lot happened. 

So for this week Elder Schetzel and I worked pretty hard. WE visited a lot of LA Members, investigator wise we are falling short a bit unfortunately. There is some good news though. Jodie will be planning to have her wedding on March 7th. Unfortunately though, I will likely be gone before then and have moved on to a different area, unless the Lord sees fit to have me stay in this area for 6 months like Mt. Albert. All that matters is that she has a date and one day she will be baptized!

This week we had to stay in the flat for one day because a coconut totally wrecked Elder Schetzel and made him pretty sick. I spent the day updating records, and gathering names out of the area book to go visit in the near future. I also gave my bike a pretty thorough cleaning as well. Over a year of wear and tear and it is still holding up strong!

This week I also got to go to the mission home! It has been over a year, and they have since refurbished it actually. I went for a training that I was suppose to receive before training Elder Schetzel. A bit late, but I was grateful to be able to go and spend some time with the mission President in his home with a few other Elders and Sisters that where training in the mission as well. We had a great breakfast there. They had prepared Eggs and Waffles!!!! I haven't had waffles in over a year! I was pretty happy about that. But the training was enlightening and I was greatful for it. There are some things that could work on as a trainer. I don't think to many Elder's and Sisters get a chance to go to the mission home so it was a real treat! 

Well something that I have been doing in my personal studies is writing talks! They are great practice. They help you prepare to teach people and of course for future speaking opportunities as well. It's been pretty great. Just felt like mentioning that. reading the scriptures every day has been pretty awesome and I am learning lots every day!

For the pictures you have one of s going over the Harbor bridge to get to Presidents house, oh well we where actually driving back at this point. Took a picture, pretty cool!

and then me smiling with my clean bike gears and chain! 


Love you all and thanks for the e-mails!


Love,
Elder Ward

The weekly e-mail home! 4 Jan 2015

Once again it comes time to sit at the computer and send and e-mail home. This week for Elder Schetzel and I we have been busy. It has been a bit tough with some of the investigators that we have been working with, but yet we are still having good things happen. The holidays here in NZ can really make the work tough because everyone is going to the beach and busy with family and traveling. 

Needless to say we had a pretty great miracle. Elder Schetzel and I where biking back from one half of our area. Our ward use to be doubled covered but (I can't remember if I mentioned this our not but our ward use to be doubled covered and we covered the South part called Panama, but the Sisters who covered the North part called Mt.Wellington and where pulled out because one got sick and the other was need else where. Also the mission is beginning to shrink a bit because there aren't as many missionaries coming out now due to that big "18" surge.) now we are covering both which is a pretty big job. :D But I like more leg room for sure. Anyways, we had 5 min before 9pm and I was leading us back to the flat and we where almost home. If we have 5 min left in our day we use it, we go find someone to talk to. As I was riding I had the thought come to my head to go see Jodie, she has been very busy however she has been coming to church when she can. I didn't tell Elder Schetzel, I was just going to turn and go down her driveway because she was near by, but surprisingly Elder Schetzel called out, "Hey lets go see Jodie!" I replied , "That's what was on my mind as well" Clearly the spirit working with both of us. We knocked, and she opened the door and said "I was hoping you Elders would come by today I was thinking about you guys!" That even further confirmed that it was the spirit. We had a wonderful catch up chat. She told us that she and Lorenzon her Partner talked with Bishop and are making arrangements for the marriage very soon! She didn't tell us when but soon for sure! She explained to us that they where thinking of waiting for the baptism and marraige and putting it off a bit at first, but they both felt a change of heart and decided to get it done! It was great! I was stunned when she said that. To many surprises, it is truly amazing to see evidence of the spirit working in peoples' lives. He is pouring out his spirit upon the people and preparing them for us, as the scriptures say(Alma 16:16)! So I am excited, and I hope and pray things continue to go well. New Zealand is a small world, I have met several families and people that know other people in my past areas, and it is always fun to make those connections. However it is even that way with Australia. One Sister missionary named Sister Molli from Australia was in my District when I first came to the mission. She has since gone home now, and it turns out that she was cousins with Jodie to, so I was a bit shocked when we made that connection. They will be coming out for the wedding and Baptism as well. It truly is a miracle that Jodie is moving forwards so strong!

That's the big one for the week. Other than that Elder Shetzel and I have been teaching recent converts the lessons, as well as visiting members and working with who ever is not busy. One fella in particular is named Tio, missionaries have known about them for years, and they have never gotten anywhere because he hasn't been to interested. Because he has been off work though we have been able to sit down with him and just read the Book of Mormon, because it seemed to be the only way to get him moving in any direction at all. He has been enjoying it, as well as learning a lot. We are hoping that this will build up into a desire to take the lessons, which is what we usually start out with, but simply reading with him and explaining the scriptures to him has been a great experience. We are hoping to keep him moving!

Elder Schetzel and I had horse again this week! It was so good. We had it at Bishops house and he cooked it a different way which I liked much more rather than the curry. They cooked it in Coconut cream and with a bit of onion. It's a tough meat but they pull it to make it easier to eat. It was Elder Schetzel's first time, and he really liked it!

I am glad you guys are okay. When I read Mothers e-mail I could almost imagine what it was like. She good at narrating dramatic events. Thanks goodness you guys are ok. Our Father in Heaven does look out for us indeed! Answered prayers... Hopefully the BMW can be fixed up, it's probably my favorite car ever, competing strongly with the Merecedes >:D

Elder Schetzel and I eat like Kings! We cooked chicken Tacos, yes it is possible to cook them in less than 30min. It takes some good planning when it comes to grocery shopping.

I found this guy early in the morning of when I was grabbing clothes from my laundry. I saw a dark shady figure lurking the across laundry with various legs. I immediately went for the little mustard jar that I got form my last hickory farms and caught him. Boy was he a big guy! I let him go after we showed some other Elders During P-Day. Not to sure what kind or anything like that, but he was big!


Love you all and thanks for your e-mails,

Love,
Elder Ward