Ngaruawahia Week 24- April Fool's Day

Kia ora whanau!

This may be the last time from Ngaruawahia. How does everyone do with the pronunciation? What do people say when they say Ngaruawahia? Here my pronunciation is doing really well! Most of the time when I say where I am serving people look at me funny and ask me to say it again because I am the one pakeha fella who says it right. I was once asked to read a sentence in Maori and the guy who asked me to read it was shocked! It was hilarious! So thanks Dad for teaching me pronunciation as a child. It helped out here! I am thinking that I may end up in Temple View. That is just my guess. I could go just about anywhere though.. I will find out tomorrow! 

How is it being up there? That is something I am starting to miss. High elevation and pine forests. The beauty here is astounding but I do miss that little part of home. 

I haven't seen General Conference yet, we don't watch it live. We just broadcast it a week later so next Sunday/Saturday is when I will see it all. 

Sounds like the family is doing good. I looked at some of the statistics on lds.org this morning and I saw that there were 67,049 full-time missionaries serving and said wow. Das me. Hopefully I will get more pictures soon. Don't really have any new ones now. 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

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Then . . . Elder Green decided to throw me for a loop. I can usually catch him when he's at his computer and we can "email chat" which just means we send each other emails back and forth.

Elder Green:  Oh and umm... We kind of sent our car through a tree this week... The bill will be coming home. We are okay, airbags ejected and we are just a bit bruised. Probably wont be too expensive. Just frame damage.

Me:  Umm so we pay for that?

Elder Green: Yes, its my fault. Church insurance wont cover it... 

Elder Green: It was due to some stupidity and I guess could be considered disobedience so the mission won't pay for it. Its a 2015 Toyota Corolla.

Elder Green: The shop has it now, no price has been given to us yet.

Me: That looks more expensive than the rear end bumper damage that cost $1800..

Elder Green: The church will send a formal letter as soon as they get a quote from the shop and will probably have you add it to the missionary funds or put it under other or something.

Me: Sounds like we need a little more explanation. I’m glad you’re okay but not happy about stupidity and disobedience. What lessons have you learned? 

Elder Green: I have learned that it is April 2nd in New Zealand and you guys are one day behind us still. 

Elder Green: The dent is real and in our car but it happened ages ago and wasn't my fault at all. I wasn't even in the car. But yeah there was no wreck. Someone just pointed out to me that it was still April Fools in America so I thought I might see if I could get you guys. I apologize for any anger I may have stirred in the last half hour! 

Elder Green: Love you guys! ..

Me:  (#aprilfooled) Oh you got me good! You’re a punk!

Elder Green: Sorry mom! No there is no bill and what not but you have to admit that was pretty good.

Me: Yeah that was good. I was troubled that you seemed so nonchalant about it!  I can breathe a little easier knowing you’re not stupid or disobedient. Love you!

Ngaruawahia Week 23--My island roots

Kia ora everyone! 

This week has been quite the week! I was able to do a lot and make quite a bit of progress with Brandon's partner. She has invited us and the sister missionaries in the area to come back and talk to her! Not necessarily to start teaching discussions but the invitation to her home was made by her and not Brandon for the first time ever. With her and Brandon, we had a family home evening activity where we were able to go bowling and go to a confinement room. It was quite fun! The relationship we were able to build with them is something I look forward to fostering and growing t oa point where we can get them married and both into the waters of baptism. Along with the activity, we went to an all you can eat restaurant and I tapped into the islander in me and ate 4 and a half whole plates of food and 4 scoops of ice cream. I'm half convinced there was food piled up to the bottom of my throat and if I ate any more, it would just get stuck in my throat. But my oh my was it good food!

This week I was also able to go on an exchange wit hone of our zone leaders, Elder Allen. I learned a lot from him and it was fun! He was the last person in the mission that started his mission in Nga and still remembered a lot of the town! Other than that though, not much else has happened. I hope everyone else has had a wonderful week! Kia kaha!

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 22

Sorry I never posted last week's letter.  Got busy then forgot . . . Nevertheless here it is!

Kia ora Everyone! 

This week was a good week. We had our Zone conference and then I was able to attend the temple. This may be the last time I go to the Hamilton Temple for a long time because in a few months, it will be closing for 3 years for pretty much a complete remodel. I was also able to go on an exchange with an Elder who just barely got to the mission field and that was pretty fun. As we finished up our exchange, we were able to go to a dairy farm to help a member milk all his cows. It was a pretty fun week.  This weekend just past we were able to go to the big marae in town to see a big celebration event. We were able to see a lot of cultural significance and it was really fun. Other than all that it was a pretty standard week. One of our investigators is going to medical detox and then starting rehab for his alcoholism and we hope to see a good improvement with that. Brandon and his partner are still in the same spot they are in and it has been hard to keep trying to progress them. This weekend we are going to go to have a large family activity with him and hopefully a few elders quorum members. We are going to try and use a few tactics to get Renae to want to get married sooner rather than later. Anyway, that's me for the week! Kia kaha! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 21

Kia ora everyone! 

Hope all is well at home! All is pretty good out here. My companion, Elder Olcott and I have been able to do a lot with our investigators. I have still been trying to get Brandon married and to the waters of baptism but it has definitely been a struggle. He really wants to get baptized but his partner is holding him back. We have been able to make more connections with the partner and been able to get closer to her. We are hoping that the Sister missionaries that serve with us will be able to get to her and talk to her. We have been able to work with a lot of our other investigators. I am going to be sad when I have to leave them all and move on to my next area. My mission president essentially told me and my companion that I am moving on and will no longer be in Ngaruawahia. Which is sad because I will miss all the people I have grown so close to over the last 5 months. But such is missionary life. Just yesterday we were able to go into Temple View and go to a fireside with Brandon to learn about the characters in the Book of Mormon. It was a very good fireside! Later this week after zone conference, our district plans on going and doing a session at the temple and I have been looking forward to that ever since I got the permission to do it! I am looking forward to this week and hope to bring some good pictures next week. Until then,

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 20- The Maori White Dude

Kia ora whanau! 

Yes quite a bit of people decided to put up pictures of me much to my dismay.. But yes. Stake conference, the baptism a couple days ago and our massive Samoan feast we always get on Fast Sundays. I do have some pictures for you guys this week. Elder Olcott is very different from Elder Suriben but Olcott is very very similar to Marcus. He reminds me a lot of Marcus and so naturally, we get along very well. We have already become like best friends and its been a week and a half. He was a rancher and adores hunting. He's from Venice, Utah. Close to Richfield. Which is a bit off the interstate to Provo.  The weather here is a bit warm but manageable. This week I went to Brandon's for a large family party and it went very well. We were able to impress a lot of non-members.  In fact, I was actually told on Saturday by his family (all maori) that I was the most Maori white dude they've ever met. I felt pretty proud that I tapped into the culture well enough to be noticeable.

That's me for the week. 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

This is their flat.  Very typical looking house in NZ.

Ngaruawahia Week 19- Hello Elder Olcott!

Elder Green and his new comp Elder Olcott with their investigator Brandon and Bro. Hester

This is the home we lived in when Tai was born and Braden was in the 1st grade.  He couldn't remember the address but remembered his school and the street so he and his companion found the school then walked along the street until he found it by memory.

Elder Green and Elder Suriben at the home of the Hesters, who take care of the Elders in their ward.  I love them!

Kia ora everyone! 

This week was eventful! It started off by saying goodbye to my trainer, who I was lucky enough to spend 3 transfers with rather than just 2. It was sad going around with him and saying goodbye to all the people we've been with and seeing him have to say goodbye to New Zealand for good. But after he left I spent a lot of time with an Elder Ellsworth and Elder GeLinas. The three of us had our companions "die" so we were together covering all of our areas. But that ended pretty soon because Elder Ellsworth became an AP and was called to leave us and go to the office almost immediately. So then I was with Elder GeLinas until transfers were completed. Our new companions were to arrive on Thursday and when Thursday came around, I got to the bus stop early in the morning only to find out that my companion was actually going to drive himself up later in the afternoon. I spent about 7 hours at the bus stop and then finally I met Elder Olcott. He is a great guy and comes from a tiny farming town in Southern Utah. He is the new district leader and I hope to be able to learn a lot from him this next transfer. We weren't able to do much work in Nga this week but I still had a good and eventful week. Hope everyone is well! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

P.S. This is a part of an email Braden sent to his friend Anna.  She graciously shared it with me.  It's spectacular . . .

"Supposedly I'm just a really good leader and my level of confidence and capabilities are much better than a standard greenie. I hope these things are true and that I can live up to people's expectations. In saying goodbyes to everyone with Elder Suriben, people asked well how long have you been out Elder Green and I ended up being honest and saying I had started my mission in Nga and that I was fresh the day they met me. Everyone I told that too assumed I had at least been out for a year and was shocked. Knowing that, I know that I have been truly blessed out here and that I am here for a reason. I am not quite too sure what that reason is just yet but I hope to do as best I can for the people and the missionaries out here. Anna I just cannot believe how much of a blessing this mission is to me and how much more of a mission I have left to learn and grow. I am already a different person and hopefully the day I get back, I can apply all the amazing lessons I have learned and be a superstar to those around me. Not that I want praise and fame or anything of the sort but that I am able to help others and take on the role of what a superstar would do for others. I am slowly realizing how much I am part of a bigger plan I am a part of and how much I was prepared before my mission to serve this mission. I was even asked after I gave a talk at a baptism if I had a degree because of how educated I seemed. But I am nowhere near educated enough to seem like I have a degree! Somehow I have been blessed in my words and abilities, and far out! I can't even convey what my feelings are like over an email. I am just really happy I came. Really happy. 

-Elder Green

*The two pics with Bro. Hester in them were sent by Bro. Hester. He's the ward mission leader there and says he has Elder Green in his home often and will do better to send pics of him.  He's the best! Braden did manage to send the pic of our house in Hamilton so yay for that!

Ngaruawahia Week 18- Goodbye to Elder Suriben

Kia ora everyone! 

This week was a bit of a sad week. Elder Suriben had to say his goodbyes to all the members and investigators. We were able to see quite a bit of families and they were all very sad to see him go. He and I have been in the area for about 4.5 months together and it feels sad to see the preview of what I'll be doing in about 6 weeks. We did make some good progress with Brandon and his family. We were invited to attend a hangi with him and his entire family along with his partner's family. We were able to build connections with a lot of them and possibly even get to teaching a few more of them. It was also great to see that those of his family that we are currently teaching avoided the alcohol and cigarettes that were present.

In the coming weeks I will be given the opportunity to lead the area with my new companion. We don't do senior and junior companions in this mission but we have a missionary who leads the area (whoever has been there the longest) and the follower more or less. I have been the "follower" for the last 3 transfers which has been really good. Most other missionaries said I was really lucky to get to be with my trainer for more than just 2 transfers. I also feel quite lucky to be in Ngaruawahia for 6 whole months because I absolutely love it here! The people are kind and the Maori culture here is stronger than a lot of places throughout New Zealand so I have been able to learn a lot. I feel truly blessed being here and I hope to make the best out of being here. 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

**This is from a personal email to me. Just a different way of putting it.

This week is transfer week so I will find out who he is on Tuesday and then meet him on Thursday. 99.9% sure I will stay in Ngaruawahia and probably only for another 6 weeks. I will have done a quarter of my mission in my starting area and spent 3 whole transfers with my trainer. Everyone I've spoken to has told me that I should feel especially blessed for that. The only bummer is that my first and only companion is now leaving the mission completely and not just the area. So I won't see him for years if ever again. It is a bit rough but I guess I got used to it with the moving around a lot so I feel alright. Hopefully my next companion and I are able to get quite close as well.