February 3, 2014

Well allright, sorry for the last e-mail, it was short and not very much info was in it. But anyways, this past week has been very busy. Me and Elder De Kock have been doing our best with teaching lessons, and keeping Progressing investigators progressing! Mace, as I mentioned in the last e-mail has been a tough one. He has changed, however he is having a difficult time trying to leave behind his old ways completely. We have really encouraged him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon,so he can gain a testimony about it. Because I know that if he gets a testimony of the Book of Mormon, the rest will fall into place, he will then have that complete desire to really change for the better. So I guess if you guys could pray for Mace that would be wonderful! and also Rob. He is really good guy. His girl friend is a member, and he has started taking the lessons. He is progressing very well, and is excited to learn more. We are hoping that he gains a very strong testimony of the BoM for sure. We also met Dora a few weeks ago. Me and Elder De Kock actually had the wrong address, however she answered the door and we where persistent in being able to share a message with her later, she accepted. Pretty amazing miracle! Anyways, we where unable to contact her for about 2 weeks. When we finally were able to, we shared the message of the restoration and her face just lit up! She had known about the Mormon Church but never really knew what it was all about! So that was a good experience for me to see someone feel the spirit in the lesson. But we are still trying to set up another time to come by and share more!

Anyways, I have been doing good here in New Zealand. I have had some difficult people to talk to on the streets. It's tough having people bash against your church. I pray for my testimony to built up every day, because it can be discouraging. I am still putting my best effort into into the work though! Mom if you could send me those pics again I would grateful! They didn't come through quite right, and where degraded quality. Thanks for the package also! I look forwards to receiving it! I will try to send some stuff home also. They have some cool chocolate here! Love you all so much please pray for me and the investigators. I pray for you guys always as well! Take Care!

-Love Elder Ward!

Handwritten letter written December 29, 2013

Dear Family,

So I got a chance to write another letter and I figured that I better take the chance to despite not knowing when it will arrive.  I sent one before this so hopefully it has made it or will arrive soon.  I can't imagine where it is or where it has been.

This is the last letter that I am writing before I leave the MTC.  They give so little time to try and understand how this all works.  I think I got a pretty good idea of how to teach investigators.  It's pretty cool how they do it here.  The teachers are all returned missionaries.  What they have us do is pretend they are investigators,, and we have to plan according to their needs.  They have separate rooms where they do this, and even have cameras set up to record the teaching.  It's full on, you can't stop in the middle of the lesson and ask a question and then keep going.  If you do they will continue to play the role of the investigator and act puzzled.  So it's a great learning system.  We sometimes would look at the tapes to see what we can do better and what we did good.  It's kind of cool they got a whole network setup so they can watch the footage from the classroom (that's for the teachers) but also play back any of the lessons.

I hope that it has helped me enough to be a good companion for my first trainer companion.  I don't want to be quiet and not contribute to the lessons.  i will be all right.  I'll figure it out.  So far it's been a great testimony builder to be in the MTC.  A lot of which I have realized I have to rely on faith.  i remember the apostle Elder Bednar said in one of the devotionals that I watched, "Don't let what you don't know unravel what you do know."  Those words brought some comfort to me.  I'm still learning a lot about the scriptures and they go hand in hand, or the Book of Mormon, and Bile.  Stuart make sure that you understand how the Bible contains "truths" and the Book of Mormon contains the "fullness" of the gospel, and know the scriptures in preach My Gospel.  These scriptures explain a lot of specific principles and doctrines that are in the Church.  That's another thing, know what a "principle" is and a "doctrine".  These are just some small things that you can do to be better prepared for the mission.

I don't know where I will be assigned to work in this next week.  These letters may be repetitive, it is hard to keep track of what I have said already.  I should be e-mailing soon before I leave.  Can't wait to hear from you guys finally!

Lots of Love,
Elder Ward

PS The Tongans, and all the Pacific Islander people here are crazy cool!

Oh!  I got to go through the Hamilton Temple!  It is amazing and it was wonderful.  I would send a picture I bought there but it is to big to fit in the envelope.  I will send you guys a package soon when I get out in the field.

January 26, 2014

Well all right. We have been quite busy with this P-day so I don't have much time! So I will only be sending home this e-mail for today. But I have read all of your e-mails, so I will try to respond to kind of everything, next week I will do better!

Any ways, today has been a good week. As usual. There is a guy named Mace, and he is a fantastic guy. He has really taken all the lessons to heart, and has great faith in the church. He needs to pray about the Book of Mormon, and really gain a testimony that it is true. He doesn't always like to pray, but we know that he will be really committed, once he gains prays! He has a few issues with the word of wisdom, so we have been able to give him a blessing, and he feels wants to make changes, so I am sure that the Lord will bless him with strength. 

Oh dear I am sorry for the short e-mail, next week I will be able to give a much better report!

Things are good here though!

Love you all, 

Elder Ward

The Work Proceeds

Hello Mom!,

One of the many ways our Heavenly Father Blesses the lives of his children is through Families! I know that to be true! It is great to hear that you guys got my letters. I will look into sending a package back to you so that you guys can enjoy a bit of New Zealand. Hopefully it doesn't cost to much, but it should worth it no matter. The tandem Bicycle sounds like so much fun. It would be great to have one of those on a mission!! haha but ya you guys are not allowed to sell until I come back.

Things have been going great here. There is a guy named Mace, he is 19, and has a partner, who is pregnant with someone elses baby. Probably before they met of course. Anyways he is looking forwards to helping his partner raise the child, and actually wanted to have it baptized. Which is really touching, and shows you how sincere he is. but we had to kindly explain that babies are perfect when they are born and that we only baptize when they turn 8 years old. His partner is actually a less active member, and she is looking to get back into he church, and hopefully getting married in the temple. So It has been a wonderful experience showing with him the Book of Mormon, and then also talking about how he can still bless his baby after it is born with the Priesthood.  He is amazing, and his partner has all ready taught him so much about the church! Pray for him and that he may continue to have a burning desire to learn more of the church and its wonderful blessings!

Oh had we did have a baptism! A less active member brought her grandson the ward mission leader with the desire for him to be baptized. He is 11 and he had all ready had the lessons, to me and Elder De Kock went over the lessons and we where blessed to be able to witness and help with baptism on the 19th. I don't have pictures, but my companion does so I will have to get them from him.

I have sent some pics, One of me and my companion, after we had gotten our hair cut by a fellow named monga, hes going to be going on a mission soon!

And then there is one of a plate of food that was given to us by the members.

and of course I got to go through the NZ Temple!

Anyways so much to talk about so little time. 

Jan 13, 2014

Sounds like things are going ok for you guys. Well I would like to send pictures but there isn't an SD card slot on this computer so I cant transfer the photos. I will probably try to buy an adapter next P-day so I can send some home to you guys. To be honest I havn't taken to many because I have been so busy with the mission! There really isn't enough time to stop take the camera out of the bag and then take the picture and then keep on riding! Ah ok well I will try to take some when I can for sure! The area reminds me of Henderson NV, yes the houses are kind of similar, a bit run down maybe, but a whole lot greener!

Well me and Elder De Kock have lots of investigators. The trouble has been not being able to see them at their appointments! about 80% of the time they are not home. So we can end up spending a whole day just riding around just trying to catch people in their homes. But needless to say we do have a few progressing investigators. Ya its been good out here in the field. We haven't baptized anyone yet. We have met a lot of people on the streets, that say they wouldn't mind having us come by, but then the challenge is actually seeing them at their house. We have "set" a few younger boys for baptism. "Setting" is where you basically ask the investigator to be baptized at the first lesson... Ya it seems a bit much. But it is what the mission president wants us to do. But most importantly it gives something for the investigator to work for, if they are truly motivated. The problem with the 3 boys that we currently have set is.. That they are boys, so they are often busy, and they all ready have a catholic background, so they don't really feel the need to find a new religion,or  have religion in their life at all. Also ya, we are just really working on trying to meet up with them again, and get them truly excited about it. So thats a little taste of missionary work. Even though they are boys, we are still putting our best foot forwards because they are important to Heavenly Father to!

 I have improved alot with my teaching, and just being able to draw people to want to know more about the gospel. Thats something about missionary work, you cant just start reciting paragraphs form PMG. You teach to their spiritual needs, and make them want more. Then you can have the spirit their to help them to understand and know that it is true. So ya no baptisms yet, but it will happen! The people are very friendly here.  

Got to go take care, lots of love!

-Elder Ward

"Warm" Wishes

Yes I am out of the MTC. The MTC was great experience, and I learned a lot. One of the blesings that I have received is the ability to sit through Church, or any meeting with out a single thought of how long and boring it is. In the MTC we probably had about 9 hours of class time a day. They gave us Christmas day and Eve off so we did miss out on some good learning opportunities. I was the only American Elder in the MTC, there where 3 Sisters from America. other than that there where Tongans, Samoans, Tahitians, all a jolly bunch of saints. At times they where a bit rowdy, but that is part of their culture. They will eat food right off your plate if your not watching!

Anyways I am now in the field in an area called Onehunga. The church is strong here, and the non-members are kind torwards us. I am with Elder De Kock (Hes form South Africa, and is white). He has been out weeks, so he is still pretty darn fresh to. A complete training time is 12 weeks! so he kind of got the short end of the stick. He loves rudby so he is a pretty well built guy. I have been doing my best to help him out so I am not as much of a burden on him. We bike everywhere we go, and Elder De Kock is quite amazing with sharing the gospel with people. I have tried a few times, but it's a bit difficult, as expected, I often don't know what to say or know how to get them talking. Any ways it has only been 5 days, so I think that is expected. I have helped teach few lessons to investigators, however most of the time when we setup appointments, we knock on the door to find that no one is home. So its a lot of riding around, which I do enjoy. The sun is intense here, 

I am glad that you got to go back to the states and attend Grandmas funeral. It sounds like it was a good experience. Tell Grandpa I love him and that I wish I could spend more time with him playing checkers and learning from the best! It sounds like the kids had a good time building an igloo, except for maybe Eric.... He needs some better snow gear so he can be happy in the snow! But he will grow quick though. Oh there is so much to tell but so little time. I am just a "little" jealous about the fireworks.

That's to bad about your phone! hopefully it can be fixed and be as good as new! Surprisingly I haven't missed the phone to much, I have just been really focused on the mission and trying to do my best. Ok well I have to go, I look forwards to telling you more next week and hearing about what is going on! Hopefully I will have a few miracles to tell you guys about also.

Lots of Love,

Elder Ward

Headed into the Field

We got an e-mail from the mission president today letting us know that Elder Ward has been assigned to an area and has a companion:)