Manurewa Week 10

Kia ora everyone!

This week wasn't super eventful but a few things happened. My companion and I were able to set in stone all the minor details for a baptism we have this weekend! They are two young children we have been teaching for the last while. They are the daughter and son of a less active we have been working with. The baptism has been set a few times but it kept being pushed back. This time I think that it will go through! Both of the kids are very excited and looking forward to Saturday. Every time I go to teach them, it does make me a little bit sad however because the girl, who happens to be 9 years old the same as my sister, reminds me a lot of my sister. I try not to think about it too much but I am often reminded of home and I get a little down. But each time I get down, it pushes me to work harder and put other things in mind! 

We have also been teaching the kids of our recent convert Ngaire, who we baptized about a month ago. It has been real fun! Every time we go over, we try to come up with a new gospel related game. It gets challenging because we already used up all the games I have learned this far in the mission. My trainer taught me a lot of games and object lessons when I was with him, and they are quite useful! And you get a kick out of it each time you use the punch line to each of these lessons. But other than that, not much has happened so far in the mission field. The months are turning into weeks and the weeks into days. My mission is going way too fast. I worry more and more that I'll not get enough done in the short time I get to spend among the people of New Zealand helping and teaching them. I only hope to get as much done as I can. But I hope that everyone is doing well back home! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 9

Kia ora everyone! 

This week has been a good and productive week, we were able to get a lot done. Lately we have been putting a focus on people we don't know that we see in our area books. It is a good and effective way to find new people to work with because all of these people have worked with missionaries in the past. Elder Borders and I have decided that we could get more done this transfer than we did last transfer because now we both know the area pretty well. I do have to admit though, the rain has not been helping. We have a pretty small geographical area and therefore, a very limited amount of kilometers to use. We try to walk around as much as we can but it has been raining pretty hard the last few days. Not fun! But they say on the mission that the more raindrops you catch on your badge, the prettier your future wife is going to be. So I try to catch raindrops at the same time I try to dodge them. Doesn't work super well but I try. 

Lately my companion and I have been going to this cross-fit trainer guy who has a really nice and expensive gym he made his garage into. We go on p-days and far out! I just about die after every set. My companion loves working out and will not miss out above all else so I am get to go all the time! I can't complain though. It has been good for me. I just really hope that I get a companion as workout crazy as he is in my last 6 months. Time will tell though. 

There isn't much else to report other than I am still breathing and pressing forward in the Lord's work. Hope everyone is doing well back home! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 8

Kia ora everyone!

This week has been a pretty good week. My companion and I are trying to create a good plan for our area. We want to do our best for the area since we were blessed with another transfer of being companions. Our ward mission leader has proven to be a battering ram to the ward council about missionary work and we think that the work will progress hugely! I am learning so much about life and about myself on the mission and I hope to apply that knowledge more and more. My mission President is a huge help to me and I know that he only wants the best for all the missionaries under his stewardship. I was able to have interviews with him this week and I know for a fact that he is truly inspired. Every time I go in for an interview, he always mentions something that has been on my mind for the previous weeks. One time he even mentioned something I dreamed about! Word for word! The spirituality that is coming from my mission has made a huge impact on my life and I only hope to be able to continue that after my mission. 

Lately, we have been trying to work more with our less actives and do what we can for them. Most of them never progress and it's hard, but we pretty much sift through and drop a lot of them because they don't follow through with any of our commitments. Other than that the work is good and I love it! I hope everyone is doing well back home and that I am sharing enough information that everyone knows I am doing very well! 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 7

Kia ora everyone! 

This has been a good week! It was transfer week so things slowed down a little bit. I am still with my companion Elder Borders here in Weymouth for another transfer! We both were praying pretty hard that he would be able to stay! It was sad to say goodbye to a few other missionaries I have been serving around but I get to make relationships with new ones now. It's great to see other missionaries coming in after me and now being considered one of the old missionaries. A lot of the new ones think I have been out for a long time probably because of how I try to act like I'm an old missionary but really they all only are a few transfers younger than me! 

I was able to Skype my family last Monday and that was awesome! It was good to see all of them but not good to see my brothers have a chance of growing taller than me. Not cool genetics. Not cool. Tai already has a deep as voice and it scares me. That kid is just that, A KID! It was nice to be able to hear everything that's happening back home. It'll be good to see it all in person but that wont be for a while so I wont worry about it just yet. 

This week we were able to get some good things figured out with our ward mission leader. He even did a live video of us teaching the restoration on his Facebook which caught us very off guard but we gave it the best effort we could! We were also able to work closely with a YSA that is leaving on his mission next week! We hope to help him as much as we can as full time missionaries so that he understands better what he's going into. I have finished training Elder Borders, and hopefully he can do just as well as he did this last transfer or better! I am becoming better at missionary work and I am coming to love it more and more. This last transfer was by far the fastest I've had. And in my experience, every consecutive transfer is faster than the previous one. I'm worried I will blink and my mission will be over! Hopefully all is well back home, but that's me for the week. 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 6 - Mother's Day

No post this week as we had a fabulous Mother's Day call with Elder Green.  Happy to report that he is doing awesome.  He is happy and all is well.

Manurewa Week 5

Kia ora everyone!

This has been a really good week. We were able to get a lot done and work closely with a lot of our members and investigators! And I got my first baptism in the mission so far last Saturday. I am coming to love the area more and more as I spend more time here. South Auckland has it's pros and cons but I try to focus on all the pros. I don't have any pictures for this week because last p-day we got rained out of going to the beach we planned to visit. I am doing quite well out here and lately there has been high stress because we as missionaries had to set up the baptism and get everything sussed but it has passed and we are all the better for it. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I will talk to everyone next week. 

Arohanui,

Elder Green

Manurewa Week 4

Kia ora everyone!

This week has been good but not eventful. We've had just another standard mission week. My companion and I were able to work with a few people I haven't had the chance to meet just yet and they are all pretty awesome! I also had the opportunity to meet with Brandon this weekend. He came up to Manurewa and took my companion and I out to dinner at the New Zealand equivalent of Texas Roadhouse. Other than that nothing of special not e really happened. We did a lot of work with some of our members and have built strong relationships with some of the converts that were baptized before I got to the area. I hope everyone else is having a great week and a good day! Until next week.

Arohanui,

Elder Green