Beautiful New Zealand has not been too kind to me this last week. I got quite busy with exchanges and with heaps of service opportunities so it was a good week work wise but the weather was not so kind. It was clear skies most of the days but then it turned on us about halfway through the day sometimes and went super rainy. It is pretty warm and humid here so I try to avoid my rain coat as much as I can. Which means I get wet head to toe when rain comes out of nowhere. I guess that's the cost of living in such a green and beautiful place. The other day we had an appointment with Brother McQueen who is a less active member that lives way up the road leading out to the outskirts of town. It takes about 25 minutes by bike to get to his driveway and then another 5 to get up the driveway to his house. It rained the whole way there. We had a mean discussion with him so it was all worth it. (**Note: Jason says I have to tell you non-NZers that 'mean' is actually a good term here. Meaning they had a great discussion!)
We also had the opportunity to talk to an investigator who has turned down the missionaries here for months. He finally accepted the Book of Mormon about a month ago and has absolutely loved it. We have had long discussions about the book itself and it has made me truly grateful for seminary. Most of the questions that Brandon asked were about the story and then I remembered certain principles I learned in seminary sophomore year. The spirit was so strong during that discussion and I asked him to be baptized but he gave a couple concerns. My companion and I hope to resolve those concerns and set him for baptism this coming week. I will let you know how that all works out.
I am learning heaps and I could not have asked for a better place to be serving. The amount of trials and blessings that I have received, even only being out for just over a month, are just absolutely amazing. I hope that as I progress, I will be able to learn and grow more and more. I wish you all the best!
Elder Green
This is also a little info he sent to us in a separate email. I'll include it here for you all to read...
New Zealand is quite amazing so far. I am truly loving all the different cultural things I get to see here and there. The Maori language is rarely spoken but I can see words everywhere. I even plan to have a member help me to translate my testimony to Maori before I leave the area. I might even have someone else help me to translate it to Samoan as well! We will see. I am getting along exceedingly well with my companion and my district. The other two elders in my district are awesome and I love working with them. We did some exchanges last week so I was able to spend time with them both. Elder Tune is our district leader and he's really funny. He is from Kiribati. Elder Taito is Samoan but he was raised in Oklahoma. He considers himself American. My companion is awesome and according to mission lingo, I'm going to "kill" him. That just means he's is going to "die" (go home) while he is with me making me his final companion. We can't do anything but bike and walk here since we don't have a car yet. The other day we biked in the pouring rain for thirty minutes to get to someone's house. That was quite a bummer but we dried up by the end of the day so its alright.
We eat at member's houses about 3 out of 7 days a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. When we cook, we either just make chicken and rice or we make noodles or someone brings us food. But its alright, we both love chicken and rice so we eat it a lot.
You have to send all mail and packages to the mission office and then sometimes the zone leaders can bring it to me or I just have to wait until the next person comes from the mission office to drop stuff off.
I'm one of the only ones because everyone else doesn't have a full license. Only the American and European elders and sisters have a full license that they can operate on. The rest are just "island licenses" or learners.
