Well this week was a bit slow, however there are a lot of other things that are happening in our area that I don't think that I have mentioned to you guys.
Elder Mahreza is form Jacarta, Indonesia. He currently lives in Babasi. I don't think that those are spelled right but I think that you should be able to find them on a map. What a great experince it is to serve with him. He is really humble and he does speak English well. He has been out for 5 months, and he had to learn English in the MTC. He is pretty much fluent and can have a well involved conversation with someone on the street. It is amazing to think that he has learned so quickly. His native tongue is Indonesian. They do have many dialects in Indonesia, however they do have a national Indonesian Launguage. His Grandparents where converts to the church. He has been born into it, as well as both of his parents. HIs Sister is currently serving in Indonesia itself. To attend the temple they have to go to the Hong Kong temple, however he took out his endowment when he came to NZ. They always make a trip from the MTC to the temple so those missionaries that don't have their endowment can get it. They did not even have it in his launguage. Something I can't fathom is how difficult it must have been in the MTC for him. There was no one that could speak his laungauge, no translators no nothing. He could not speak any English whatsoever. They were taught it in school, but, they never really learned, similar to highschool launguage classes. (haha) I thought that the MTC experice was hard, but my goodness for Elder Mahreza it must have been a highly challenging experience. He is a humble missionary, he certainly is going to go on and serve a great mission. He works so hard and is so diligent in his language studies.
We are planning a showing of Meet the Mormons in one of the nearby villages called Waipu. We are going to be renting out the town hall and getting flyers organised and invite like mad to the event. It should be awesome! We are hoping that it will help generate more curiousity and openess when we speak with people. a problem with small villages is that everyone tends to knwo each other and also attend the same church or have the same ideas. We have shared it with a few people and they have shown some great intrest in it.
Yesterday we had a Zone conference. Which is the reason why we did not e-mail on monday. Hope that you wheren't to concerened about it. Forgot to mention it last e-mail. It was a great Zone training though. Presdient Balli is such an inspired man. He taught us how we could use the Book of Mormon more effectivly when we teach. Elder cook also mentioned a few things at the mission conference that really apply to missionary work. Everything from understanding that we are builders of God's kingdom and not ust sales men was one of the messages that was expanded, and also that we ourselves are the message to the people that we meet and see. We are the ones sharing our testimony everywhere we go, we are the ones that dress nicely and are groomed well to show the importence of our message. It was just great. Thats something that I have always loved about the mission is the trainings. They are always so clear, and crisp in helping us become better missionaries. I will miss that after my mission for sure.
I do have some mean pictures but I think I might need to send them next week
Thanks for the e-mails sorry I could not get back to each one.
Love,
Elder Ward
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