Ngaruawahia Week 17 Pictures!!

Kia Ora everyone! 

This week was a real good week. We have stuck to the same things and have been making really good visits with Brandon and a few other investigators. This week for p-day I was able to go to the Coromandel Peninsula and got to Cathedral Cove where they filmed a movie or two. The beach was quite beautiful but it took an hour to hike all the way to it. You can't drive to it so we took the trail all the way there and man it was amazing! We weren't allowed to go swimming at all but we were allowed to walk on the beach and take pictures! This week hasn't actually been too eventful so I don't have any amazing stories to tell but life has been good in the mission field. My companion is gearing up to leave and it is quite sad for him to be leaving New Zealand. But he is still pushing forward and trying to do his best. I was able to run into some relatives of mine at a stake conference yesterday. It was pretty good! I was able to see them at the Temple lights and now at stake conference! Hopefully one of these days I will be able to run into some other family members and just have a little catch up. But anyway. Thats me for this week! Hopefully everyone has a wonderful week! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 16

*Mom's Note:
Braden only quickly emailed a little note last week saying he had a full day and wouldn't be able to email as normal.  Here is what he said.  I didn't post it last week for some reason.  This week he added to it so I'll post that.  Perhaps along with last week or maybe as a new post for this week.

This week we were able to do quite a bit with Brandon. His partner has finally shown a little bit of kindness too us! Not that she was mean but she kind of just avoided us until this week. She invited us over for dinner! And it was her idea! Not Brandon's! They both later on went bowling and had a big extended family dinner at an expensive buffet and payed for us. They are awesome and Brandon hates the idea that Elder Suriben will be leaving soon, he said that when he gets baptized, he's going to pay for Elder Suriben's flight to come here. Hopefully I will be in the Hamilton area when he is baptized or else I wont be able to go either. He said also that if I am out in Gisborne at the time, he might try to have his wedding and baptism in whatever area I am in. But who knows, time will tell. He is the man though and my companion and I are ever so grateful for the opportunity to meet and teach him. Nothing else really spectacular happened this week but hopefully I will be able to tell you how amazing this p-day was. I will also have a lot of pictures hopefully. Hope all is well.

Arohanui,

Elder Green

*Mom's Note:
This is the additional info he gave for last week, but he sent it this week.  If that makes any sense!

Yes, sorry. We had a lot planned for p-day and we gave very little time to emailing. I hope Maren gets better! Brandon's partner is Renae. I don't actually know the spelling but he usually refers to her as Nae. But yes we spend a fair bit of time with him and in members homes or on his front lawn. He actually took us out last week Saturday to go bowling with his entire family and then took us to Gengys. A Mongolian all you can eat. At Gangys you prepare a bowl full of meat, sides, seasonings, and oils and they cook it all right in front of you. It was awesome!

I can definitely feel all the prayers and blessings I am receiving out here. I feel like I am not even the same person anymore but not because I changed myself but as if some switches in my brain shut off and some others turned on the day I was set apart. But I love it out here so far and the fact that Elder Suriben leaves next week makes me sad because in just a few short years I will be in the same spot. It is starting to hit Elder Suriben as well. He tells me every once in a while that he gets sad because of how much he's gonna miss "days with the boys" or the people and personalities of New Zealand. I am but I'm not looking forward to the day I get my travel itinerary from the Mission office. But anyway. This week was pretty good. We were able to have a really good conversation with an investigator and his mom and auntie. Our investigator is on an ankle bracelet but he's super nice and he loves us coming over and teaching a verse or two from the BoM to him every visit.

If I were to describe my day to day, it would be hard because it's different every day. Wake up, shower and breakfast, study and then be out of the flat at 10:00. Everything between 10:00 and 9:00 is proselyting. We stop for lunch and dinner everyday but the time changes every day. Proselyting includes door knocking, teaching appointments, and contacting. Every week we have District meeting and every transfer we have Zone conference. P-day and Sunday are the only days that are different than the rest. But that's pretty much it. 

-Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 15

Kia ora everyone! 

This week was very good! We had interviews with President Cummings and then zone conference. It was pretty good! We weren't able to have a zone conference last transfer because our mission president cancelled it. 

This week has also been quite challenging. It has been really hot and it is just SO humid here. Everyone is telling us that this summer is a record high and quite ridiculous. We only have a limited amount of mileage and our district leader lost his car keys so we had to run errands for him for about a week. Because of that we went through all of our mileage and have been on bikes for the last week. The sweat has forced me to need to take two even three quick showers a day. But I can't complain, I do love the work. The work is very good. I get the opportunity to see and talk to new people everyday! Our investigator Brandon has been progressing and plans to take us out to a big buffet this week to meet his entire family. He is the man! My work days vary and for those curious as to what goes on in a missionary's day, consult the White Handbook. Our mission president's main focus for the mission is complete white handbook obedience. I will be able to give a better more personal explanation next week because my time is cut short today but I hope that everyone is doing well! 

Arohanui,

-Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 14

Kia ora! 

For me, nothing much has happened this week. We are still working with Brandon and he has pretty much become a member of the church anyway. He offered to do a really big job for someone else in the ward because he lost his money to sickness treatments. The man was going to pour a large concrete pad and now he cant because he doesn't have money but Brandon spoke up in Elder's Quorum and said he knew a few people and could cash in a few favors to get it done for free. He also brought his sister and her family to church and convinced them to stay for all 3 hours. It was pretty awesome! He is the man. He just isn't baptized yet. 

Other than that, we haven't been able to progress very many people. We have tracted out an area that's on the edge of our area this week and we only have a few potentials from that but most people don't seem that keen. Hopefully we get something from that. But anyway, that's me for now! Not much to report. 

Arohanui, 

Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 13

Kia ora everyone!

This week was pretty good. I learned that I would be with my trainer ANOTHER transfer which is good because he is the man! He is "dying" in the mission this transfer and so President allowed him to stay an extra transfer because he wouldn't be very effective if he was sent to another area for just one transfer. But technically as of today, I'm no longer a greenie. I have graduated from my first 12 weeks. 

This week has been a little slow with the work just because it's transfer week and we had a lot of other things keeping us pretty busy but we were able to do some good. We went to a remote area to do some door knocking and we actually did pretty well. We ran out of pamphlets and Book of Mormons to give away in less than an hour. It was pretty awesome and I am slowly coming to enjoy door knocking more. Slowly. Very slowly. But the work is still good on all fronts. Our investigator, Brandon, knows that Elder Suriben is going home in 6 weeks and told us that he wants me and Elder Suriben to be there for his baptism. Meaning he will try his best to get married in the next 6 weeks. And if not, he will personally book his ticket back to New Zealand from the Philippines. He is awesome. 

That's me for the week. Hope everyone has had a good start to the New Year!

-Elder Green 

Ngaruawahia Week 12

Kia Ora everyone! 

This week really didn't have anything too eventful. We have made some good progress with some of our investigators and we were able to see a lot of less active members make it to church yesterday. Elder Suriben and I suspect it has something to do with New Years Resolutions but we hope that they stick to it! I have seen some great progress in my own teaching and being a good missionary. I am not near as good a teacher as some other older missionaries but there is definitely progress from 3 months ago when I was fresh in the field. 

Our investigator Brandon has a strong love for the Book of Mormon and it's teachings and has expressed a sincere desire to be baptised and progress on to his eternal salvation, but he wants to take time and figure a few things out before he does. We have taught him most all of the discussions we have and even taught him extra spare doctrine that investigators don't usually learn about until after they are baptized. He downloaded Gospel Library on his phone and spends about 2 hours a day just looking through it and learning what he can. He literally is one of the golden investigators with only one major problem. The law of chastity. He talked to his partner about marriage and they decided maybe they would get married in November! That's ages away! We've got a few different tactics to help him move along faster but in the end it is up to him and his partner. We don't want to be too bold and destroy the friendship we have but we do want to be bold enough to get the importance of our message across. 

Anyway, that's me for now. Have a wonderful week! 

-Elder Green

Ngaruawahia Week 11

Kia ora everyone! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I had a pretty good one out here in Ngaruawahia! We were fed quite a bit of food and it really took it's toll on me in the next days. But I loved all the food I was fed and the members were very kind to us. I have definitely enjoyed the season and enjoyed helping others remember the reason for the season. We were able to get back into work this week and we have had a very good week. I have quite a story to tell about our teaching this week too. 

So with our investigator Brandon, we decided it was time to teach the Law of Chastity. Now a little background. Here in NZ, marriages aren't as big or as recognized as they are in the states. Most people just have "partners" who are pretty much husbands or wives but there's no legal binding or anything. So essentially it's just a man and a woman living together sometimes with children. Brandon has been with his partner since high school and is now going on 11 years. Elder Suriben have taught him about the Family Proclamation and about adultery so he has had a prelude and kind of knew it was coming. We decided to have the lesson in the home of our ward mission leader and that was one of the best decisions we have made. All of the questions and concerns that Brandon had needed to be answered by a man who knew about marriage and dating for long periods of time. Us Elders are only 19/20 year olds teaching a commandment from God himself. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson and after Elder Suriben and I started the lesson, Brother Hester took the reigns. It was a good lesson and we hope that Brandon gets married soon so he can be baptized! 

Anyway. That's me for the moment. Happy New Year to all! 

-Elder Green

Mom's Note: I subscribe to a Facebook page called New Zealand Hamilton Mission Friends and Family and often look for photos of Elder Green on there.  A few days ago there were several pics of Elder Green and Elder Suriben doing some yard work so I mentioned it.  Here's what Elder Green had to say about it:

I enjoyed that call a lot too! It was a nice little peace in the storm! Not that the mission is a storm right now but the that the idea applies to the situation. I can see the blessings a well. It's amazing to be able to actively see the blessings and protection of Heavenly Father be poured out on me and you guys! I pray those blessings continue to come. I will try to send some pictures this week but the computer might have problems again. We will see. It's nice to here about all the progress back home. Hopefully there is more to come. And his name is Tony Mabey-Bulley. We call him Uncle Bulley. He is a (was a) less-active member of the church but he has been coming back for the last 5 weeks straight! He is quite the interesting fellow. He is very VERY cheeky. But we do some work for him every week and usually show a little cheek back to him to get him to come to church and he does!

Here's one of the pics: