Manurewa Week 22

Kia ora everyone!

I have had a pretty good week this week. Nothing spectacular happened but we were able to speak with a lot of people and possibly get a few new people to start teaching. I was able to go on an exchange with my zone leaders and I was able to learn a lot from them! I went with Elder Hart and he is dying on the mission pretty soon. He has a lot of mission experience and he works very hard. He has helped my outlook on the mission and in staying in areas for what seems like an eternity. He is a really good elder. Other than that, Elder Vanva and I have been working on finding new people to teach and bring into the gospel. It is a bit hard because our area is tiny and we have talked to so many different people but we continue on. We are starting to get a bit more referrals from the members so hopefully that will get us somewhere. 

Lately Brandon has been talking to me about a few concerns of his. I was able to share a few concerns of my own and it has been really good for the both of us. Unfortunately, the missionaries currently serving in Ngaruawahia don't go to see him very often and the members kind of stopped when it comes to missionary work so Brandon is a bit worried. His testimony is truly a powerful thing though because he is just worried that he isn't learning as much as he could about the gospel. As I tried to offer consolation of some kind and help where I could he also was trying to help me wit ha few concerns I had about life and post mission circumstances. He has quite a bit more experience in that category than me so I learned a lot from him and realized that I value his friendship very much. He still isn't married and it doesn't look like it will happen in the immediate future but I know its coming and that he will soon thereafter be baptized. 

Other than that, it has just been a standard week. I hope everyone has a blessed week! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 21

Kia ora everyone! 

This has been a pretty good week. We had zone conference and got some powerful messages from both President and Sister Cummings. I always learn a lot from their counsel and teachings. I was able to see Brandon again on the way back from Hamilton for zone conference and it was good to catch up with him. I also got to see Elder Borders again! That guy is honestly a really close friend of mine and I appreciate him a lot. He is now training! So I more or less have a mission grandson now. Technically he is my step-grandson but Elder Borders considers me his mission father. Either way, it was really good to catch up with him. Lately in New Zealand things have been a little chilly but it's been starting to warm up lately. I'm not looking forward to the heat because it's a humid heat which is pretty hard to avoid. It goes through your clothes and just ruins everything. In my last area, there were a few days where we had to go back to the flat to shower twice in one day! 

I do have a story to share this week, we had a younger gentleman show up in sacrament meeting yesterday. His name is Spencer. Elder Vanva and I had to give talks in Sacrament and I saw him wander in halfway through sacrament and sit in the back but I didn't think much of it. After sacrament had ended, some YSA approached us with him and introduced him to us as Spencer. He told us that he knew we were meant to teach people about our faith and said "Teach me." I was a bit shocked because I have never really experienced something like this. I asked him if he would accompany us to gospel doctrine and he said that he would actually be busy but he has a few minutes. In the back of my mind I got really excited because one of the things the MTC really drilled into our minds was to teach one of the full lessons in under 5 minutes. So I taught him lesson 1 in a few minutes and he then asked if he could come with us to class. After talking with him a bit more he said he just doesn't believe in a God or in religion but that lately he has been thinking a lot about religion and decided to try out a bunch of different churches and see which one catches his eye. After Sunday school he said that he was more or less testing our faith and it's beliefs and that it passed. He said he might come back next week to see again what it was like. This was all a powerful testimony to me of how Heavenly Father sends people to the missionaries. I know that Spencer felt the spirit at church and although he might not know it, the spirit was working with him to feel the truth of the many things being taught that day. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 20

Kia ora everyone! 

This week was quite uneventful. Elder Vanva and I just kept pushing on with our same old routine for Weymouth. Not a whole lot has changed. But we are hoping to get a few good things done this week. The ward council has asked us to visit quite a few less active families. They believe that the missionary work in the ward is a bit rough when it comes to investigators and so they'd like us to start focusing on the less active members in the ward. We have got a lot of contacting ahead of us this week and hopefully something good comes out of it! This last week we had our first District Council of the transfer and it was pretty interesting. We have two brand new missionaries being trained in the district and it was good to have them participate and get some fresh out of the MTC thinking. Our district is still very young in the mission, the oldest missionaries hit their year mark just this last Wednesday. I will hit my year mark in a month and a bit and its a little scary. Once I get to that point, I'll be able to say "I've been out a bit over a year." Rather than "a bit under a year" which is what the mission president asks us to say, especially when it comes to missionaries who have been out for a week or so. This week we were also able to have interviews with our mission president and I got a lot from his counsel. I have been able to learn a lot from him over the last couple years.

Well other than that, there isn't much to report on. I hope everyone's week is going well! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Pictures

Manurewa Week 19

Kia ora everyone!

I am staying in Weymouth for yet another transfer! This will be my 4th transfer here and most likely my last. I thought I was leaving last transfer but there must be something here that I have not learned or completed yet. Anyways.

This week has been relatively eventful I guess. After one of our zone leaders left to go home on Tuesday morning, Elder Vanva and I got to spend the next few days with our other zone leader, Elder Hart, while we waited for transfer day and for him to get his new companion. It was good working with him in both ours and his areas. He has been out on the mission for quite a while so he was able to share a lot with Elder Vanva and I who haven't been out very long. Being with Elder Hart during transfers made me realize how stressful it must be for mission leadership when it comes to transfers. We had to spend a whole 2 hours planning out who would go where and what cars would go where and making sure the timing worked out so everyone had a companion and that the greenies were picked up from the bus stop on time. It was quite stressful. But after transfers everything went back to normal and Elder Vanva and I were left to our area. Lately we have been still trying to find more investigators to hear our message and progress because most all of our current investigators aren't progressing. We are working on getting more set appointments rather than random pop ins or visits. 

Something quite significant happened earlier today. Elder Vanva had to go in to the hospital for surgery. It's been in the plans for a while but today was the day. It was the first time he had ever really done anything like this so he was super nervous leading up to it. Me and a few other elders in the district gave him a blessing of comfort last night in preparation for this morning and it seemed to work. He went in calmly and when he finally came out, all was well. He is super drowsy and he says he feels really funny because he has never been put under before. I, being his companion, had to wait in the waiting room the whole time and study. Most all of the nurses kept coming over to me and asking me if I wanted to go and they would just call me when Elder Vanva was ready to go but I kept telling them I was patient. But all in all, Elder Vanva is doing well and we will be taking it pretty easy over the next few days. But thats me for the week! Hope everyone had a great week!

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 18

Kia ora everyone! 

It has been a great week this week! I was able to go on quite a few exchanges! Almost everyday! I went on two exchanges with Elders in the district and then two exchanges with one of my zone leaders, Elder Sua. He is going home tomorrow and his companion was pretty sick so he wanted to go out and get as much work done as possible before he goes and not stay in the flat with his really sick companion. I honestly learned so much from that guy! The other Elders have taught me quite a bit too. Most of them are older than me in the mission and one of them I actually came out with in September. I also got to go on an MTC exchange again this week! I enjoy being with the greenies who have heaps of fire to teach and its a bit funny watching their first time knocking on a door. During those exchanges we are encouraged to just do as much door knocking as we can and get them to dip their toe in the water of what missionary work is. Its also really good to see how they light up at the scene of their first success. We got to find a new investigator while I was with Elder Dickie and he was quite fond of the success. There were a few doors however that he hardly said anything and it was a bit of an awkward moment but we were able to have a good laugh about it after and learn from it. 

So my mini story of this week is from Friday. We were having a late lunch and I decided to make some mac and cheese. I altered the portions of ingredients a little because the last time I made it, it wasn't very cheesy and was kind of yuck. Now when I made it this time, it was very very cheesy. I way over compensated and it felt like I was just drinking cheese juice with chunks in it. I mean it was good but at the same time a little gross. But now I got to learn a little about cooking. Don't over compensate. 

Anyway that's me for the week. This upcoming week is transfer week and I will find out what happens tomorrow. Whether I stay or go is a mystery but it could go either way.  I think I will most likely be leaving. The mission is in desperate need of leadership this upcoming transfer so I might be called as a zone leader only because half of the mission's zone leaders are going home tomorrow and half of the current district leaders as well. President said that the current district leaders will need to step up. So be prepared for a bit of a stressed Elder Green. I think it is possible however that I stay and be a district leader for one more transfer because either way, they make it sound like my next area I will need to be a zone leader. I am trying not to let it get to my head though. I only hope to love whatever transfer news brings and to fulfill my callings as best I can. My year mark will be at the very beginning of the transfer after next. so about 7-8 weeks. I quite honestly and hopeful that I leave but I will be happy with whatever the Lord assigns me with. Even if it means 6 months in my first couple areas. 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 17

Kia ora everyone! 

I have had a pretty good week. Elder Vanva and I had our hands full and we got some good things done. Nothing really eventful happened but it was still a good week. Some other missionaries in the district got a couple baptisms in the Samoan ward that they cover so I had to go as the district leader. It was a really cool experience. Everyone there was capable of speaking English, but the entire program was in Samoan. I didn't understand hardly anything that was said but the Spirit was just as strong there as it would've been if I understood. Afterward they had a massive feed and we, as missionaries, were regarded as royalty. I honestly felt a little bad being asked to eat before all the women and children in the room. But one thing I have learned about island culture is that they have a lot of respect for the missionaries and strive to go the extra mile for us because they know we are doing the Lord's work. They know they will be blessed for their sacrifice and I am forever grateful to them and all they have done for me. I have learned a lot from island culture that I plan to establish in my own life. 

My story for today will be a quick one. We were contacting a referral named Jason that we got from the mission office. We went to the address it gave us, 85A and knocked on the door looking for a Jason. The fulla that opened the door said that Jason lived in the next house over, 85B. So we said sorry and tried talking to him but he wasn't interested then went to the other house. When we asked for Jason, the lady that opened the door said he lived in the house up the road a little, 85A. So obviously someone was trying to avoid us and we weren't too sure how to take the situation. We think that the first guy was really Jason and was just trying to dodge us, but we can't know for sure because as missionaries, it's a bit discouraged to call people out as liars. So for now we will leave it and try again later. But it was a pretty crack up story! 

Anyway, I am doing really well. I am almost out of American peanut butter my mom sent me but other than that, things are good! I hope everyone is having a good week!

Arohanui,

Elder Green