I love Christmas time! Even though it really really doesn't feel like Christmas. Yesterday it was actually pretty rainy and got pretty chilly, so I pulled out my long sleeve sweaters and my boots and we had some milo and it definitely helped it feel more Christmas-y, but it's warm again today.
It's been kind of a crazy week with lots of ups and downs. Chrissie, our friend we met 2 weeks ago and is/was getting ready to be baptized on the 24th. Things were great, then she showed up to the chapel Friday night for her baptismal interview and things were not good. She had told her dad about tithing, and he was NOT happy with that. He's been very supportive of her and learning from us and going to this church, but he didn't want her to have to pay tithing b/c she can't afford it b/c he's already helping her financially as it is. So she wasn't planning on getting baptized the 24th, but she went ahead and had the interview w/ President Higgins, also to get some more advice and a priesthood blessing. We had a little chat with her more about the situation on Saturday, and we've both been trying really hard to cast out all doubt and have faith that this baptism will still go through. So we called her this morning to see how things were going with smoking and coffee and how the rest of her day was yesterday, and she said her dad is going to let her get baptized!! We were both freaking out and are just so excited!
We also have another girl getting baptized on Saturday. We started teaching her probably in September, but had to stop because her daughter in law, who she lives with, didn't want us around. Long story short, we were able to get a hold of her last week and she wants to get baptized on Saturday!
So there's this guy here, named Hiniwera Jones (I think that's how you spell his name). Anywho, he's a BIG deal. Some members told us that wealthy members in the states pay him $10,000 to fly to the states and teach them & whoever they invite for like 3 days. I think he does more, but I'm just not sure. So he had this fireside kind of deal (there's a special Maori name for it, but I can't remember it), and we had a couple of investigators show up and he talked about the design of the marae and how closely it relates to the gospel and it's just amazing! I love learning more about the maori culture!
I read Elder Hales's talk today about waiting upon the Lord. I realized that's something I've really learned to do as a missionary, b/c I can only go to my Heavenly Father or my companion to talk about things every day, and I've also come to learn how this really is the Lord's work and how much help I need from Him and I'm just thankful for how much I've been able to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father over the last couple months. I then looked up "Strengthen" in the topical guide and it led me to Mosiah 24, where Amulon is threatening to kill anyone he catches praying, and it talks about how they pour out their hearts to the Lord and how much they were blessed for being patient, faithful and for keeping the covenants they made and I know that the same goes for us! I know without a doubt that the Lord really does want us to be happy and He's always there to help strengthen us, but we have to rely on Him and wait for things to happen according to His will, as hard as it can be sometimes. I love the gospel, and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and am so thankful for Christmas and the time we have to remember why He came to the earth and the blessings we can receive as we all draw closer to Him. Hope you all have a good week getting ready for Christmas! Love yous!
Love,
Sister Mullen
PS I try to make my emails short, but it just never happens! Sorry bout it!
PPS I (nor Sister Perry) appreciates the comments we keep getting about us being from Utah. We went to a fireside in Whakatane, and there was a couple there, and both of them are actually from the states, and she talked to us afterwards about our musical number and she said "when I saw you guys up there, I figured you HAD to be from Utah? You two are from Utah, right?" Umm..no. And then driving to our Christmas Conference last week, we had an Elder in our car (from Utah) who we don't know super well, and he asked, "So where in Utah are you both from?" & then we found out that 4 of the 6 sisters at the VC right now are from Utah. We can be musically talented AND sister missionaries and not be from Utah. Thank you very much. & I'm just glad Sister Perry & I understand how each other feels, haha. (no offense to you Ariel!! Everyone just thinks all the members in the states come from Utah, haha)
Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
2 Weeks Til Christmas!
Kia Ora!
Not too bad of a week this week. No crazy stories though. Definitely the highlight of the week was our Christmas Fireside we had last night. I was so excited about how many people came and I hope everyone enjoyed it, I was playing the piano for all the songs except two, so I don't really know how it felt to be watching from the audience. It took quite a bit of preparation on both of our parts. Sister Perry was much more involved in the organization process than I was, but it took lots of piano practice on my part, but just like all my piano festivals growing up, crazy how much I can prepare for one thing and how quickly it's all over. I played this Christmas Medley in a book mom sent me, and the rest were mostly just hymns sang as the congregation, then played O, Holy Night, which Sister Perry sang and then had a couple other numbers from members from the Otumoetai Ward and Katikati Branch. In the middle of the firesides, I realized that I just don't feel Christmas-y, I'm in such warm clothes and it's just weird not seeing everyone bundled up. I'm kind of missing having a cold Christmas, but I know I'll get home and be missing the warm New Zealand Christmases.
Things are going great with our investigator, Chrissie, who we met last week and set to be baptized on the 24th. She's decreased her smoking and cups of coffee a lot, but still has a way to go, but she was saying how she's been feeling happier and better knowing that she has self control. We had our ward Christmas Party friday night that she came to. She got a ride because she doesn't have a car, but her ride was the MC. We left at 8:45 so we could be home by 9:00, but we found out the next day that it went til 10:30 and it started at 6:30! Ahhh, it was a variety show and they brought some performing groups from the community too, but apparently had a ton of performances by the members as well. I definitely would not have stayed til the end if I was a member in that ward. But thankfully Chrissie said she enjoyed herself.
So we had a lesson with this guy that we met on the street, Kendall, he's quite religious and goes to church, so he knows lots about the Bible, but was interested in getting a Book of Mormon. The first lesson he was quite open and willing to listen, and his kind of creepy flatmate was the not-humble one. But the second lesson (when we went over the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it), it completely switched. He kept asking if we understood the danger of the statement we were making that this is the same church the Jesus Christ set up, and kept trying to say we thought Joseph Smith was our Savior and was just getting worked up about things, but it was obvious that he was scared to read it. Scared to find out that he's wrong in his church right now or scared to reject something that's true. We'll see if he read at all or not this week!
One things I am slightly tired of is people, like our friend Kendall, to question what I'm preaching and to just look at things deeper, or telling me I need to be born again and accept Jesus Christ in my life. You would think I would have done that before I volunteered and paid to do this. Unfortunately I know it's going to be happening the rest of my mission. I attached a picture of us, after our fireside, out in front of our flat. This week, I've realized how many and how big the trees are in the homes that I can see from our flat. I love New Zealand!
Love you all! Hope things are going well!
Love,
Ally
Not too bad of a week this week. No crazy stories though. Definitely the highlight of the week was our Christmas Fireside we had last night. I was so excited about how many people came and I hope everyone enjoyed it, I was playing the piano for all the songs except two, so I don't really know how it felt to be watching from the audience. It took quite a bit of preparation on both of our parts. Sister Perry was much more involved in the organization process than I was, but it took lots of piano practice on my part, but just like all my piano festivals growing up, crazy how much I can prepare for one thing and how quickly it's all over. I played this Christmas Medley in a book mom sent me, and the rest were mostly just hymns sang as the congregation, then played O, Holy Night, which Sister Perry sang and then had a couple other numbers from members from the Otumoetai Ward and Katikati Branch. In the middle of the firesides, I realized that I just don't feel Christmas-y, I'm in such warm clothes and it's just weird not seeing everyone bundled up. I'm kind of missing having a cold Christmas, but I know I'll get home and be missing the warm New Zealand Christmases.
Things are going great with our investigator, Chrissie, who we met last week and set to be baptized on the 24th. She's decreased her smoking and cups of coffee a lot, but still has a way to go, but she was saying how she's been feeling happier and better knowing that she has self control. We had our ward Christmas Party friday night that she came to. She got a ride because she doesn't have a car, but her ride was the MC. We left at 8:45 so we could be home by 9:00, but we found out the next day that it went til 10:30 and it started at 6:30! Ahhh, it was a variety show and they brought some performing groups from the community too, but apparently had a ton of performances by the members as well. I definitely would not have stayed til the end if I was a member in that ward. But thankfully Chrissie said she enjoyed herself.
So we had a lesson with this guy that we met on the street, Kendall, he's quite religious and goes to church, so he knows lots about the Bible, but was interested in getting a Book of Mormon. The first lesson he was quite open and willing to listen, and his kind of creepy flatmate was the not-humble one. But the second lesson (when we went over the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it), it completely switched. He kept asking if we understood the danger of the statement we were making that this is the same church the Jesus Christ set up, and kept trying to say we thought Joseph Smith was our Savior and was just getting worked up about things, but it was obvious that he was scared to read it. Scared to find out that he's wrong in his church right now or scared to reject something that's true. We'll see if he read at all or not this week!
One things I am slightly tired of is people, like our friend Kendall, to question what I'm preaching and to just look at things deeper, or telling me I need to be born again and accept Jesus Christ in my life. You would think I would have done that before I volunteered and paid to do this. Unfortunately I know it's going to be happening the rest of my mission. I attached a picture of us, after our fireside, out in front of our flat. This week, I've realized how many and how big the trees are in the homes that I can see from our flat. I love New Zealand!
Love you all! Hope things are going well!
Love,
Ally
Monday, December 5, 2011
I wish I spoke Maori...
Kia Ora!
This week was SUCH a good week! Full of miracles and just so exciting! First off, one of the not-so-happy parts of this was the first counselor, Bro. Hona, in the Katikati branch died this week chasing one of his cows. He was probably in his 70s and just doing too strenuous of an activity for his age/health. So that's why my email is late today because we went to his funeral this morning. It was crazy to see their little chapel PACKED! So we also went to a service they had at the Marae last night and it was so cool to just see more of the maori culture. Once again, I went lame and white and uncultured! We went to Katikati for Sacrament Meeting and it was one of the most powerful Sacrament Meetings I've ever been too. They have some members with AMAZING testimonies in that branch. Especially the wife of the 1st counselor, Sis Hona. She just loves the gospel so much and loves missionary work and is just an amazing example of putting the Lord first. So the deal is that they keep the body at the marae for a couple of days before the funeral, and the family stays there the whole 2 days, which was Saturday and Sunday, but Sis Hona left to come to church, and when she bore her testimony, she said, "I'm probably breaking the marae protocol by being here at church (instead of being with her husband's body) but the Lord comes first and this is where I need to be to fulfill my responsibility." I have just come to love the Katikati branch so much and am so humbled to be working with all of those members!
We just had a really effective week and have had lots of appointments and have just been so busy the last couple of days and it has felt so good. So our awesome miracle of the week is on Thursday we were driving to an appt and we both were thinking how we just needed to get there, we saw a lady on the sidewalk, and Sister Perry almost kept on driving, but then last minute decided to pull over and I jumped out to talk to her, told her a little bit about prophets and she said she would like to learn more, so we set up an appt for Tuesday (as in tomorrow) because we were busy for the next several days, but then thankfully things changed and we were able to see her Friday. We ended up just going over church attendance because she said she's been thinking about going to church lately and wants to make new, good friends to help her out because she's been going through some hard times, so she came to church on Sunday and she LOVED it and just felt so comfortable in Relief Society with everyone else, and then we went over Sunday after church, taught her a little bit about the Atonement and Christ's baptism and why we are baptized and invited her to be baptized on Dec 24 and she said yes! It was just an amazing lesson and the Spirit was so strong! I already love this girl so much and just feel so ridiculously blessed to have met her and how she really has been prepared for to receive the gospel! I am just so excited to work with her and already feel so close to her. Oh, and when we walked up to her door for our lesson yesterday, her door was open and I could see her sitting on the chair from the door reading the Gospel Principles book. It doesn't get better than that!
We also met a guy, by pulling over on the side of the street, who was born in Dallas and has actually been to El Paso, who knew I'd meet someone in NZ who has been to EP.
I've been trying to recognize blessings and tender mercies we've been receiving throughout the day and it has been so fun! haha, like last Wednesday wasn't that great because we didn't have a ton of appointments, but it was a good day because we could look back and see how we were inspired to stop by and see certain people or just random things that worked out perfectly. I know that we all have more tender mercies every day than we realize and I know as we look for them, we'll begin to see how much Heavenly Father is involved in our lives and how much he really does care about us! Sunday during Sacrament Meeting, with Bro Hona's death, I was just overwhelmed with my love for the gospel. How wonderful it is at times like that to know that there is a much more wonderful life waiting for us after we die and to know that we have a Heavenly Father who knows each and everyone one of us by name. I love the gospel so much and am so thankful that the Lord saw me worth to represent the church and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all! Hope everyone's getting ready for Christmas! Dad told me when everyone eats their candy from their candy calendars, I'm amazed that Izzy and Zoie wait til night. I remember always taking my candy with me on my way to school.
Love,
SIster Mullen
PS we finally got some Christmas decorations up. Because decorations are so expensive (a strand of 50 lights is $8, and good tinsel is $8 too) we got 2 strands of lights, some super pathetic tinsel that was $2 and wrapping paper to put on the walls, haha, SOOOO ghetto, but we gotta take what we can get! And then one of our investigators bought us a tree with ornaments and it made a world of a difference. Christmas trees just bring so much happiness into the room!
This week was SUCH a good week! Full of miracles and just so exciting! First off, one of the not-so-happy parts of this was the first counselor, Bro. Hona, in the Katikati branch died this week chasing one of his cows. He was probably in his 70s and just doing too strenuous of an activity for his age/health. So that's why my email is late today because we went to his funeral this morning. It was crazy to see their little chapel PACKED! So we also went to a service they had at the Marae last night and it was so cool to just see more of the maori culture. Once again, I went lame and white and uncultured! We went to Katikati for Sacrament Meeting and it was one of the most powerful Sacrament Meetings I've ever been too. They have some members with AMAZING testimonies in that branch. Especially the wife of the 1st counselor, Sis Hona. She just loves the gospel so much and loves missionary work and is just an amazing example of putting the Lord first. So the deal is that they keep the body at the marae for a couple of days before the funeral, and the family stays there the whole 2 days, which was Saturday and Sunday, but Sis Hona left to come to church, and when she bore her testimony, she said, "I'm probably breaking the marae protocol by being here at church (instead of being with her husband's body) but the Lord comes first and this is where I need to be to fulfill my responsibility." I have just come to love the Katikati branch so much and am so humbled to be working with all of those members!
We just had a really effective week and have had lots of appointments and have just been so busy the last couple of days and it has felt so good. So our awesome miracle of the week is on Thursday we were driving to an appt and we both were thinking how we just needed to get there, we saw a lady on the sidewalk, and Sister Perry almost kept on driving, but then last minute decided to pull over and I jumped out to talk to her, told her a little bit about prophets and she said she would like to learn more, so we set up an appt for Tuesday (as in tomorrow) because we were busy for the next several days, but then thankfully things changed and we were able to see her Friday. We ended up just going over church attendance because she said she's been thinking about going to church lately and wants to make new, good friends to help her out because she's been going through some hard times, so she came to church on Sunday and she LOVED it and just felt so comfortable in Relief Society with everyone else, and then we went over Sunday after church, taught her a little bit about the Atonement and Christ's baptism and why we are baptized and invited her to be baptized on Dec 24 and she said yes! It was just an amazing lesson and the Spirit was so strong! I already love this girl so much and just feel so ridiculously blessed to have met her and how she really has been prepared for to receive the gospel! I am just so excited to work with her and already feel so close to her. Oh, and when we walked up to her door for our lesson yesterday, her door was open and I could see her sitting on the chair from the door reading the Gospel Principles book. It doesn't get better than that!
We also met a guy, by pulling over on the side of the street, who was born in Dallas and has actually been to El Paso, who knew I'd meet someone in NZ who has been to EP.
I've been trying to recognize blessings and tender mercies we've been receiving throughout the day and it has been so fun! haha, like last Wednesday wasn't that great because we didn't have a ton of appointments, but it was a good day because we could look back and see how we were inspired to stop by and see certain people or just random things that worked out perfectly. I know that we all have more tender mercies every day than we realize and I know as we look for them, we'll begin to see how much Heavenly Father is involved in our lives and how much he really does care about us! Sunday during Sacrament Meeting, with Bro Hona's death, I was just overwhelmed with my love for the gospel. How wonderful it is at times like that to know that there is a much more wonderful life waiting for us after we die and to know that we have a Heavenly Father who knows each and everyone one of us by name. I love the gospel so much and am so thankful that the Lord saw me worth to represent the church and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all! Hope everyone's getting ready for Christmas! Dad told me when everyone eats their candy from their candy calendars, I'm amazed that Izzy and Zoie wait til night. I remember always taking my candy with me on my way to school.
Love,
SIster Mullen
PS we finally got some Christmas decorations up. Because decorations are so expensive (a strand of 50 lights is $8, and good tinsel is $8 too) we got 2 strands of lights, some super pathetic tinsel that was $2 and wrapping paper to put on the walls, haha, SOOOO ghetto, but we gotta take what we can get! And then one of our investigators bought us a tree with ornaments and it made a world of a difference. Christmas trees just bring so much happiness into the room!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Disclaimer
I just recently posted 4 letters from Ally. So if you want to get caught up you have 4 lovely letters plus whatever she writes tonight.
Love,
Megan
Love,
Megan
Less than a month til Christmas!!
Hola! Christmas is in less than a month, woot woot! & the weather is beautiful and perfect today (we did a little spring cleaning...kinda weird right before Christmas) and the only reason I can really understand Christmas is almost here is because they have Christmas candy out in the stores, other than that, I probably wouldn't believe it.
It was a good week...we had Zone Conference on Thursday (that was my Thanksgiving) and we went over our purpose as missionaries and it was a good reminder and motivator to work as hard as you can...because that's why we're all here!
So last week when we went to Katikati, in an effort to save km's since we were planning on driving to Hamilton for Zone Conference, we decided to bike to our dinner appt that night. It was a rough ride, about 10 k's, about 35 min, up and down some hills and I was extremely tired in the middle of this long stretch up hill and thought we were never going to make it, but it was kind of fun at the same time. Even though girls in skirts on bikes is probably one of the most messed up ideas ever. Seriously. It's awful riding a bike in a skirt. Anywho, it'll be interesting being in a biking area. & I was shocked that my legs weren't sore the next day. I haven't ridden a bike in months! That's my picture this week...us and our lovely bikes. I'm working figuring out a name
The most exciting thing this week was when one of our investigators who we've been teaching for probably 6 weeks FINALLY came to church. She's been saying she wants to, but I think the biggest thing is that she's pretty shy, but we've been taking fellowship to meet her, so she felt comfortable knowing people a head of time and then we took her on a tour of the chapel last week (she's out in Katikati). The biggest problem with her is that she won't give us her phone number for some reason, she said she just doesn't like giving her number out, so we can only talk to her when we're out in Katikati and couldn't call her Sunday morning. So we got to Katikati and were so excited when we saw her car in the car park and she had a really good experience. Yay! And all the members were being so helpful with her and her baby, I loved it. She's definitely planning on coming again. She's so good and believes what we've taught her, but it's been hard, obviously, getting her to church and working on getting her to read more from the Book of Mormon.
We had a pretty intense encounter with a dog this week while tracting. So apparently it's a law that you have to have a sign on your gate if you have a dog. We were walking up to one house that had a tall, wooden gate and I was thinking, "Big gate...they probably have a big dog." But I didn't see a sign, so I went in. Then it was a pretty long walk up to the door, in between cars, up the stairs, and then around the corner was the door. The door was open, and as I was knocking, I saw this huge dog sitting on the other side of the couch RIGHT by the door and turned to Sister Perry and said, "Big Dog!" and she BOLTED out of there, and so that scared me more, and then I hear the dog barking, so I'm running as fast as I can trying to keep up with Sister Perry, end up losing a shoe and sock, but I could hear the dog right behind me and didn't think it was worth it to stop, so I just ran out the gate. Sis Perry was dying laughing when she saw me with only one shoe on. I was hoping that he wasn't going to eat my shoe, then about a minute later, the owner came out, we gave him our missionary shpeel, he wasn't interested, and started walking in, and then I asked for my shoe. My goodness, I can feel the adrenaline rush thinking about that. I was shaking so bad afterwards I was so scared, haha. Not cool having to run in flats!!
One more: my Zone Leader, who rode in our car to Zone Conference, asked if I could express myself via hands or facial expressions and not so much with my voice, haha, some things never change.
One of my favortie General Conference talks was Elder Scott's talk about the power of scriptures and it just really hit me how important and beneficial it is to memorize scriptures. I decided to start working on that more, it's just hard because I want to use my personal study to study more, but I've decided I just need to take the time to memorize scriptures! I'm also surprised how well I remember the scriptures from seminary and just realized thankful I am that Sis Johns really helped us to memorize all those in seminary because they're just good to have! Like Elder Scott said, they're friends that you can call on at anytime that won't change over time! So I guess I'm encouraging everyone to memorize a scripture this week! The two I memorized this morning were Moroni 7;16-17 about the Spirit of Christ (I guess that was re-memorizing since it's a master scripture) and also Alma 7:23-24, just values we need to have in this life in order to be blessed! I love the scriptures and it really is a wonderful blessing to have them and be able to study them everyday!
That was kind of a long email, sorry! Hope everyone is whipping out the Christmas decorations! I don't know when we're getting a tree...but I want it NOW! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Mullen
It was a good week...we had Zone Conference on Thursday (that was my Thanksgiving) and we went over our purpose as missionaries and it was a good reminder and motivator to work as hard as you can...because that's why we're all here!
So last week when we went to Katikati, in an effort to save km's since we were planning on driving to Hamilton for Zone Conference, we decided to bike to our dinner appt that night. It was a rough ride, about 10 k's, about 35 min, up and down some hills and I was extremely tired in the middle of this long stretch up hill and thought we were never going to make it, but it was kind of fun at the same time. Even though girls in skirts on bikes is probably one of the most messed up ideas ever. Seriously. It's awful riding a bike in a skirt. Anywho, it'll be interesting being in a biking area. & I was shocked that my legs weren't sore the next day. I haven't ridden a bike in months! That's my picture this week...us and our lovely bikes. I'm working figuring out a name
The most exciting thing this week was when one of our investigators who we've been teaching for probably 6 weeks FINALLY came to church. She's been saying she wants to, but I think the biggest thing is that she's pretty shy, but we've been taking fellowship to meet her, so she felt comfortable knowing people a head of time and then we took her on a tour of the chapel last week (she's out in Katikati). The biggest problem with her is that she won't give us her phone number for some reason, she said she just doesn't like giving her number out, so we can only talk to her when we're out in Katikati and couldn't call her Sunday morning. So we got to Katikati and were so excited when we saw her car in the car park and she had a really good experience. Yay! And all the members were being so helpful with her and her baby, I loved it. She's definitely planning on coming again. She's so good and believes what we've taught her, but it's been hard, obviously, getting her to church and working on getting her to read more from the Book of Mormon.
We had a pretty intense encounter with a dog this week while tracting. So apparently it's a law that you have to have a sign on your gate if you have a dog. We were walking up to one house that had a tall, wooden gate and I was thinking, "Big gate...they probably have a big dog." But I didn't see a sign, so I went in. Then it was a pretty long walk up to the door, in between cars, up the stairs, and then around the corner was the door. The door was open, and as I was knocking, I saw this huge dog sitting on the other side of the couch RIGHT by the door and turned to Sister Perry and said, "Big Dog!" and she BOLTED out of there, and so that scared me more, and then I hear the dog barking, so I'm running as fast as I can trying to keep up with Sister Perry, end up losing a shoe and sock, but I could hear the dog right behind me and didn't think it was worth it to stop, so I just ran out the gate. Sis Perry was dying laughing when she saw me with only one shoe on. I was hoping that he wasn't going to eat my shoe, then about a minute later, the owner came out, we gave him our missionary shpeel, he wasn't interested, and started walking in, and then I asked for my shoe. My goodness, I can feel the adrenaline rush thinking about that. I was shaking so bad afterwards I was so scared, haha. Not cool having to run in flats!!
One more: my Zone Leader, who rode in our car to Zone Conference, asked if I could express myself via hands or facial expressions and not so much with my voice, haha, some things never change.
One of my favortie General Conference talks was Elder Scott's talk about the power of scriptures and it just really hit me how important and beneficial it is to memorize scriptures. I decided to start working on that more, it's just hard because I want to use my personal study to study more, but I've decided I just need to take the time to memorize scriptures! I'm also surprised how well I remember the scriptures from seminary and just realized thankful I am that Sis Johns really helped us to memorize all those in seminary because they're just good to have! Like Elder Scott said, they're friends that you can call on at anytime that won't change over time! So I guess I'm encouraging everyone to memorize a scripture this week! The two I memorized this morning were Moroni 7;16-17 about the Spirit of Christ (I guess that was re-memorizing since it's a master scripture) and also Alma 7:23-24, just values we need to have in this life in order to be blessed! I love the scriptures and it really is a wonderful blessing to have them and be able to study them everyday!
That was kind of a long email, sorry! Hope everyone is whipping out the Christmas decorations! I don't know when we're getting a tree...but I want it NOW! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Mullen
Happy Thanksgiving over there
Well, we had our 2nd transfer last week and as much as Sister Perry and I wanted to stay together for Christmas (b/c we both love it so much) we were quite certain that one of us would be transferred because she's my trainer, and we were both thinking I was going to be the one staying. We were in the car with the Elders giving them a ride when they got the call about transfers, and we both ended up staying her in Tauranga! We were shocked. We said we probably wouldn't have believed the elders when they called us if we weren't in the car for the call, haha. I was telling Sister Perry how I was bracing myself for the worst, but I've been so blessed with my comp in the MTC and especially Sister Perry. She has helped me so much and we're just such good friends now! I really do feel like a married couple sometimes, haha. So we clearly need to be in this area for a reason, and things have been slow lately, so we're trying to think of how to do things differently, and I was getting pretty stressed last week with everything that's going on and trying to get less actives back to church. It's just a lot of work in this ward...so bring it! & I'll try not to stress out too much, haha. We're also planning a Christmas musical fireside for our ward, so that was adding to the stress as well. Saturday we were going to visit a lot of former investigators because we figured it's easier to say no over the phone instead of in person, but unfortunately a lot had moved, or still weren't interested. But one house, the formers had moved, and so we asked the lady living there now if she was interested and she said , "I think you're all crazy!" and walked off laughing and waving her arms and said, "I don't believe in visible people in the sky!" Not sure if that was about the first vision or what, but it was just really funny. I know lots of people think I'm crazy, but they don't always tell me. Oh the people you get to meet as a missionary!
I almost forgot that Thanksgiving was this week, clearly that doesn't exist here, so we won't be doing anything special. We're eating with some members in our ward on Thursday who told us that they found a place that sells New York sized pizzas (as in American sized pizzas. Here, a large is probably a medium in the states), they were pretty excited telling us about the pizzas, so it looks like we'll be having pizza for Thanksgiving. Oh, and Zone Conference that day, too.
I attached a picture of our district. This was after district meeting last week and we were pretty sure there were going to be some big changes, but it turns out only one elder got transferred from our district, so we're still all together. I'm excited because we're all pretty good friends. In the picture, (L to R): Elder Naicker, me, Elder Martin (who got transferred to Niue, check it out on a map. They stay there for 6 months because it's another country so they have to get another visa, and they just do service the whole time since all 2000 ppl there have heard about the gospel, kind of awesome) Elder Fuataga in front (don't tell him I said so, but obviously he loves the camera), Elder Thomas is behind him, and Sister Perry!
Funny story: The Zone Leaders asked me if my first name was Algah because they saw the card I got from Izzy, but the weird thing is when they asked me that, they also gave me a letter (from Chelsey :) ) that obviously had Allyson on it and they've given me mail in the past, but apparently only looked at that one card. Not the brightest bunch sometimes, haha
I also attached a picture of one of the many gorgeous sunsets we have! The weather has been beautiful here this past week! Like I've said a million times before, it's going to be weird having a warm Christmas, but I'm excited!
Love and miss you all! Have a good thanksgiving!
Love,
Sister Mullen
I almost forgot that Thanksgiving was this week, clearly that doesn't exist here, so we won't be doing anything special. We're eating with some members in our ward on Thursday who told us that they found a place that sells New York sized pizzas (as in American sized pizzas. Here, a large is probably a medium in the states), they were pretty excited telling us about the pizzas, so it looks like we'll be having pizza for Thanksgiving. Oh, and Zone Conference that day, too.
I attached a picture of our district. This was after district meeting last week and we were pretty sure there were going to be some big changes, but it turns out only one elder got transferred from our district, so we're still all together. I'm excited because we're all pretty good friends. In the picture, (L to R): Elder Naicker, me, Elder Martin (who got transferred to Niue, check it out on a map. They stay there for 6 months because it's another country so they have to get another visa, and they just do service the whole time since all 2000 ppl there have heard about the gospel, kind of awesome) Elder Fuataga in front (don't tell him I said so, but obviously he loves the camera), Elder Thomas is behind him, and Sister Perry!
Funny story: The Zone Leaders asked me if my first name was Algah because they saw the card I got from Izzy, but the weird thing is when they asked me that, they also gave me a letter (from Chelsey :) ) that obviously had Allyson on it and they've given me mail in the past, but apparently only looked at that one card. Not the brightest bunch sometimes, haha
I also attached a picture of one of the many gorgeous sunsets we have! The weather has been beautiful here this past week! Like I've said a million times before, it's going to be weird having a warm Christmas, but I'm excited!
Love and miss you all! Have a good thanksgiving!
Love,
Sister Mullen
COUNT CHOCULA!!!!
So basically Mom is the best. I can't believe I completely forgot about Count Chocula til I went digging through my much anticipated package and found a box of Count Chocula. Even my companion was a witness of how excited I was.
First off, let's back track to the week before last. I can't believe I forgot to write about the Relief Society Christmas party we had in the Katikati Branch! Dinner was delicious, but we had a little variety show aftewards, Sister Perry & I did some songs (they love us two, I play, she sings, and everyone is in love with her voice). And then some of the sisters got up and did some Maori dances with a song and it was so fun! Sister Perry & I both agreed that it's pretty lame being white because we have no culture. We were trying to think of something American to do, uhh...Yankee Doodle Went to Town? It was just fun to see everyone loosen up outside of church and I fell more in love with that Branch!
Saturday we took two investigators to the Visitor's Centre again, and because the ward says there's no money for anything missionary related, they just put us on the bus that the Stake takes once a month on Stake temple day. So the bus left at 7, we got there around 8:45, but the VC didn't open til 10, and then were there til 3 because they were doing two sessions. It was a LONG day. So to change up the picture of my comp & I in front of the temple, guess what I did to change things up? Jumping picture! & this one is pretty funny. My hair just cracks me up!
So yesterday, we were tracting around the neighborhood of our dinner appt, which is also the street of one of our former investigators. So our dinner appt fell through, so we went back to the street we were tracting on before. As we were parking the car, we saw our former investigator, Redem, walking down the street. Long story short, she's living with her daughter in law, we were teaching them both, but the daughter in law ended up not wanting us to come to her house anymore, so Redem broke up with us. So we didn't know how Redem was going to treat us as she walked by (So Redem is this 60+ yr old lady from the Philippines), and she hung up her phone and came over to the car to tell us her son in Australia just got baptized, told us to text her so we could meet with her this week and asked if it's okay if she asks all her family in the Philippines to join the church. Kind of a miracle! Hopefully SHE wants to get baptized. She just needs to come to church one more time. It was just such a blessing that we happened to be in the right place at the right time. I don't really care that after tracting for 2 hrs, we didn't have any follow up appts, I'm just glad that we were able to talk to Redem! Hopefully things go will with her!
I have 25 more pages to go in the Book of Mormon. I have LOVED reading it so fast. I feel like I understand the stories so much better of how everything relates. & basically the biggest theme of the Book of Mormon is that life can be GREAT when you're trusting in the Lord and striving to be obedient, and it's amazing how quickly everything can go bad when you get prideful and forget the Lord and no longer make him a priority in your life. I also liked how it said that the Nephites brought these wars upon themselves because they were being wicked and naughty and they could have avoided them if they had just been obedient and remembered the commandments God gave them. Clearly that is something that relates to us today, life really is so much better when we trust the Lord and exercise faith and be obedient. Blessings are predicated on obedience to specific commandments! I love the Book of Mormon and I know without a doubt that it was written for us today!!
Another picture is of us and Sister Moka. She has every missionary who serves in this ward go to her house to make a rock with their name, home town and today's date. She paints the rocks black, we write on em with gel pens and glitter glue, and she paints them with a clear coat. & then she gave us each a rock that she did herself. We got the same design, it's a picture of Tauranga harbor with Mount Maunganui and Matakana Island.
That's it for now. Kind of a long letter. But I have plenty of time to write since I don't have to take much time reading emails :) Love you! Talk to you next week!
Love, Sister Mullen
PS Before I forget, I don't know if Lauren is reading these, but I tried L&P ages ago. It's alright. It takes like lemon flavored, carbonated water. I feel like it could grow on me, but since I hardly ever drink sodas anymore, it just burns my mouth and I think it's something I'll pass on, haha, but I tried it just for you! Also tried toffee pops, so good. But not sure why they're called toffee pops...As far as I know, there isn't any toffee in there.
First off, let's back track to the week before last. I can't believe I forgot to write about the Relief Society Christmas party we had in the Katikati Branch! Dinner was delicious, but we had a little variety show aftewards, Sister Perry & I did some songs (they love us two, I play, she sings, and everyone is in love with her voice). And then some of the sisters got up and did some Maori dances with a song and it was so fun! Sister Perry & I both agreed that it's pretty lame being white because we have no culture. We were trying to think of something American to do, uhh...Yankee Doodle Went to Town? It was just fun to see everyone loosen up outside of church and I fell more in love with that Branch!
Saturday we took two investigators to the Visitor's Centre again, and because the ward says there's no money for anything missionary related, they just put us on the bus that the Stake takes once a month on Stake temple day. So the bus left at 7, we got there around 8:45, but the VC didn't open til 10, and then were there til 3 because they were doing two sessions. It was a LONG day. So to change up the picture of my comp & I in front of the temple, guess what I did to change things up? Jumping picture! & this one is pretty funny. My hair just cracks me up!
So yesterday, we were tracting around the neighborhood of our dinner appt, which is also the street of one of our former investigators. So our dinner appt fell through, so we went back to the street we were tracting on before. As we were parking the car, we saw our former investigator, Redem, walking down the street. Long story short, she's living with her daughter in law, we were teaching them both, but the daughter in law ended up not wanting us to come to her house anymore, so Redem broke up with us. So we didn't know how Redem was going to treat us as she walked by (So Redem is this 60+ yr old lady from the Philippines), and she hung up her phone and came over to the car to tell us her son in Australia just got baptized, told us to text her so we could meet with her this week and asked if it's okay if she asks all her family in the Philippines to join the church. Kind of a miracle! Hopefully SHE wants to get baptized. She just needs to come to church one more time. It was just such a blessing that we happened to be in the right place at the right time. I don't really care that after tracting for 2 hrs, we didn't have any follow up appts, I'm just glad that we were able to talk to Redem! Hopefully things go will with her!
I have 25 more pages to go in the Book of Mormon. I have LOVED reading it so fast. I feel like I understand the stories so much better of how everything relates. & basically the biggest theme of the Book of Mormon is that life can be GREAT when you're trusting in the Lord and striving to be obedient, and it's amazing how quickly everything can go bad when you get prideful and forget the Lord and no longer make him a priority in your life. I also liked how it said that the Nephites brought these wars upon themselves because they were being wicked and naughty and they could have avoided them if they had just been obedient and remembered the commandments God gave them. Clearly that is something that relates to us today, life really is so much better when we trust the Lord and exercise faith and be obedient. Blessings are predicated on obedience to specific commandments! I love the Book of Mormon and I know without a doubt that it was written for us today!!
Another picture is of us and Sister Moka. She has every missionary who serves in this ward go to her house to make a rock with their name, home town and today's date. She paints the rocks black, we write on em with gel pens and glitter glue, and she paints them with a clear coat. & then she gave us each a rock that she did herself. We got the same design, it's a picture of Tauranga harbor with Mount Maunganui and Matakana Island.
That's it for now. Kind of a long letter. But I have plenty of time to write since I don't have to take much time reading emails :) Love you! Talk to you next week!
Love, Sister Mullen
PS Before I forget, I don't know if Lauren is reading these, but I tried L&P ages ago. It's alright. It takes like lemon flavored, carbonated water. I feel like it could grow on me, but since I hardly ever drink sodas anymore, it just burns my mouth and I think it's something I'll pass on, haha, but I tried it just for you! Also tried toffee pops, so good. But not sure why they're called toffee pops...As far as I know, there isn't any toffee in there.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...oh wait
Hola!
Well, things are starting to warm up here and I love it! This transfer feels like it's been pretty slow, but it's crazy thinking we only have a week and a half more, and even crazier that we only have one week left of my training. Ahh, it's going to be weird only having comp study for an hour a day instead of two hours, an hour seems like hardly enough time! & who wants to talk to you at 10 am?
So this week, we met up with this guy that we taught one lesson to a couple weeks ago, and it turns out that the day after our lesson he got an email about the Mormon beliefs, and of course it was wrong and written by a non-member. He gave it to us and we just glanced over it, it had a lot of true stuff, but plenty of false stuff. Especially the last sentence that says that Mormons are led by a distorted view of God's nature and whatever else. Anywho, the lesson we taught him was about the Restoration and about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon to receive an answer, but he took this email that he randomly got the next day as his answer, so we talked about how the only way he can really find out if the Book of Mormon is true and if this is the true church of Jesus Christ, then he needs to sincerely read, ponder, and pray to receive an answer. We asked him if he had, and obviously he hadn't. Hopefully we'll be able to go see him tomorrow and we'll see how he's been going. It's been so hard to get our investigators to read the Book of Mormon lately. Like this one man we are teaching, he's married to a member and has been to church several times. Last week, as in October 30, we went over the Book of Mormon intro with him about reading, pondering, and praying, and then yesterday we had another lesson with him (he lives in Katikati, so we only get to seem them once, maybe twice a week) and he hasn't read at all, and we asked him if we had gone over the intro with him, and he said no, so we went over it again, and then afterwards I realized we had gone over it with him. Ugh. So we also talked about how as you pray and come to know the Book of Mormon is true, you can also come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, and that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, and he said he really wants to know if this is the true church, so I hope he really does read this week! Things have been a little slow this week, we're trying so hard to know what to do to get things moving.
Oh! So last week I had been talking about how I just want to read the Book of Mormon super fast for once, so on Wednesday we decided to start reading and finish it by transfers on the 17th and it's been so fun! Every meal we eat at home, we eat super fast and read the rest of the hour and come home and read at night, I said it's like reading Harry Potter, haha, you just get sucked in. And it's cool because it just gives me a different perspective of the Book of Mormon and is helping me see how all the people and all the experiences relate to each other better, even though we were talking about how we want a family tree of the people of the Book of Mormon so we can know how everyone is related.
Well, I think that's about it for this week. Hope everything is going well with everyone. Sounds like Dad had fun in California last week. I still can't get over how big the primary is in your ward, Kurt and Jenn. And feel free to send me Halloween pictures anyone!
One more thing, so Saturday was Guy Fawkes' day here, and Guy Fawkes' apparently tried to blow up some government/parliament building (I'm not really sure) in England...so now people in New Zealand have bon fires and set off fireworks. Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, but that's what they do! It's been fun to see fireworks all weekend.
Love you all!
-Sister Mullen
Well, things are starting to warm up here and I love it! This transfer feels like it's been pretty slow, but it's crazy thinking we only have a week and a half more, and even crazier that we only have one week left of my training. Ahh, it's going to be weird only having comp study for an hour a day instead of two hours, an hour seems like hardly enough time! & who wants to talk to you at 10 am?
So this week, we met up with this guy that we taught one lesson to a couple weeks ago, and it turns out that the day after our lesson he got an email about the Mormon beliefs, and of course it was wrong and written by a non-member. He gave it to us and we just glanced over it, it had a lot of true stuff, but plenty of false stuff. Especially the last sentence that says that Mormons are led by a distorted view of God's nature and whatever else. Anywho, the lesson we taught him was about the Restoration and about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon to receive an answer, but he took this email that he randomly got the next day as his answer, so we talked about how the only way he can really find out if the Book of Mormon is true and if this is the true church of Jesus Christ, then he needs to sincerely read, ponder, and pray to receive an answer. We asked him if he had, and obviously he hadn't. Hopefully we'll be able to go see him tomorrow and we'll see how he's been going. It's been so hard to get our investigators to read the Book of Mormon lately. Like this one man we are teaching, he's married to a member and has been to church several times. Last week, as in October 30, we went over the Book of Mormon intro with him about reading, pondering, and praying, and then yesterday we had another lesson with him (he lives in Katikati, so we only get to seem them once, maybe twice a week) and he hasn't read at all, and we asked him if we had gone over the intro with him, and he said no, so we went over it again, and then afterwards I realized we had gone over it with him. Ugh. So we also talked about how as you pray and come to know the Book of Mormon is true, you can also come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, and that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, and he said he really wants to know if this is the true church, so I hope he really does read this week! Things have been a little slow this week, we're trying so hard to know what to do to get things moving.
Oh! So last week I had been talking about how I just want to read the Book of Mormon super fast for once, so on Wednesday we decided to start reading and finish it by transfers on the 17th and it's been so fun! Every meal we eat at home, we eat super fast and read the rest of the hour and come home and read at night, I said it's like reading Harry Potter, haha, you just get sucked in. And it's cool because it just gives me a different perspective of the Book of Mormon and is helping me see how all the people and all the experiences relate to each other better, even though we were talking about how we want a family tree of the people of the Book of Mormon so we can know how everyone is related.
Well, I think that's about it for this week. Hope everything is going well with everyone. Sounds like Dad had fun in California last week. I still can't get over how big the primary is in your ward, Kurt and Jenn. And feel free to send me Halloween pictures anyone!
One more thing, so Saturday was Guy Fawkes' day here, and Guy Fawkes' apparently tried to blow up some government/parliament building (I'm not really sure) in England...so now people in New Zealand have bon fires and set off fireworks. Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, but that's what they do! It's been fun to see fireworks all weekend.
Love you all!
-Sister Mullen
Apology
I apologize for the lack of posting Ally's letters. I didn't realize how backed up I was. I will get on that ASAP.
Much Love,
Megan
Much Love,
Megan
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Cooked Avocados
Kia Ora!
So a couple weeks ago we got heaps of avocados from one of our recent converts. She just moved into a new house and lives pretty much right on an avocado orchard, so she gave us bags of avocados. And in the past, we would put our green avocados on the windowsill and they would ripen up and would be perfect, but now that it's getting warmer and the sun is becoming more deathly, it ended up cooking all, prbly 20 of our avocados. I wanted to cry and was depressed all week. We opened a couple and they just smelled awful. Thankfully we got some more this week, so it's all good. Just remember, don't put your avocados on the windowsill. I heard that putting them by apples actually help them ripen up.
Last week had a rough beginning, but it ended up flying by. First off, the most memorable experience I've had with a dog. So we were going to see these boys we haven't talked to in weeks (they're ready to get baptized, but their dad,who is hardly in the picture, isn't okay with it, so we were giving them time to breathe from us) anywho, so here, there is almost always a house behind every house you see on the road. So they live in the house in the back and you have to go down a little hill, we've been there several times, but this time, the front house had this beast of a dog. I started walking back there, but then the dog came running after us, so we ran back out to the street. We tried one more time, failed, the dog came running out again. So we decided to try to go around the other side. Worst idea ever, there's a wall on the side we first tried, but this other side, there isn't a wall around the back porch, so it was like running into the dog and he came BOLTING after us, I was so scared! & it's not easy running in flats. Then their neighbor heard us kind of screaming and running and said over the fence, "yous okay?" & I just lost it and busted up laughing at how ridiculous the situation was. We tried one more time, on the other side, but the dog still wanted to eat our faces, so we finally knocked on their door (their grandma is a less active who we've met before, who lives in the front house) and the grandma started laughing when we told her we had been running from the dog & she said she would hold the dog. & then we FINALLY made it back to the house, but they weren't home. But Heavenly Father knows we were trying! (PS like the first week we got here, I had a spider in my room and was FREAKING out and made Sister Perry kill it for me, now, I kill spiders all the time. They have a serious problem with spiders, especially daddy long legs here. But I was thinking how it's funny that I could hardly kill a spider that is a million times smaller than me, but I was so much more willing to try to face the dog that could bite my face than Sister Perry was. I'm so weird)
So this week I feel like we've had a huge emphasis on the Book of Mormon, maybe because Sister Perry & I both read the Ensign all about the Book of Mormon (PS if you haven't read it, you should, it's awesome. PPS At the end, they have pictures of like YSAs for this question part about the Book of Mormon, and of course the red head is the not-as-cute one, she has glasses, hardly no make up and her hair isn't that cute and she has a dorky face...Sister Perry was NOT happy that they were contributing to the bad reputation red heads have, while on the other had I was dying laughing about it). We also had a fireside last night with some musical numbers by the missionaries, some testimonies from recent converts (the two recent converts ended up taking up 30 minutes, where I'm sure the plan was 5 min at the max each), our mission president spoke and so did our stake president and they spoke about the Book of Mormon. & I've just really had it emphasized to me this week the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it really is the foundation to our whole church. If the Book of Mormon isn't true, then Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet, this isn't the true church, we don't have the real priesthood authority from God and everything else is a joke. & I know without a doubt that if anyone reads the Book of Mormon and prays with a sincere desire to receive an answer, they WILL receive it! & I know that when anyone receives that answer, it is just natural to have that desire to be baptized! So that's really what we've been working on this week. We had a lesson with this lady in Katikati who we met like over a month ago, but have had a hard time setting up a time to see her, and we taught the Restoration and gave her the Book of Mormon and I'm SO excited because I really think she is going to start reading it. I'm so excited to work with her! She seems so ready! A nice breath of fresh air because things have been rough lately. We had this guy getting ready to be baptized this weekend (he lives with a couple where the wife is a member, but the husband isn't) but found out that the husband is a horrible influence for him. The husband was coming to church at one point, but now he is quite against the church and has pulled Tao away from the church as well when we was doing so good before and reading the Book of Mormon all the time. But we're still holding on to him! We're trying so hard and hoping that we'll see some miracles soon! That's it for now, love you all! Enjoy your Halloween enough for me too! Halloween is not a big deal at all here, and hardly exists. I'm so sad.
Love, Sister Mullen
PS I'm in New Zealand. I'm a legit missionary. Both of those facts still blow my mind.
PPS the pictures attached are from our hike up Mount Maunganui again last week. & some sheep we saw walking down the mount. I actually feel like we see cows way more than sheep, but it's still more sheep than I've seen anywhere in the states.
So a couple weeks ago we got heaps of avocados from one of our recent converts. She just moved into a new house and lives pretty much right on an avocado orchard, so she gave us bags of avocados. And in the past, we would put our green avocados on the windowsill and they would ripen up and would be perfect, but now that it's getting warmer and the sun is becoming more deathly, it ended up cooking all, prbly 20 of our avocados. I wanted to cry and was depressed all week. We opened a couple and they just smelled awful. Thankfully we got some more this week, so it's all good. Just remember, don't put your avocados on the windowsill. I heard that putting them by apples actually help them ripen up.
Last week had a rough beginning, but it ended up flying by. First off, the most memorable experience I've had with a dog. So we were going to see these boys we haven't talked to in weeks (they're ready to get baptized, but their dad,who is hardly in the picture, isn't okay with it, so we were giving them time to breathe from us) anywho, so here, there is almost always a house behind every house you see on the road. So they live in the house in the back and you have to go down a little hill, we've been there several times, but this time, the front house had this beast of a dog. I started walking back there, but then the dog came running after us, so we ran back out to the street. We tried one more time, failed, the dog came running out again. So we decided to try to go around the other side. Worst idea ever, there's a wall on the side we first tried, but this other side, there isn't a wall around the back porch, so it was like running into the dog and he came BOLTING after us, I was so scared! & it's not easy running in flats. Then their neighbor heard us kind of screaming and running and said over the fence, "yous okay?" & I just lost it and busted up laughing at how ridiculous the situation was. We tried one more time, on the other side, but the dog still wanted to eat our faces, so we finally knocked on their door (their grandma is a less active who we've met before, who lives in the front house) and the grandma started laughing when we told her we had been running from the dog & she said she would hold the dog. & then we FINALLY made it back to the house, but they weren't home. But Heavenly Father knows we were trying! (PS like the first week we got here, I had a spider in my room and was FREAKING out and made Sister Perry kill it for me, now, I kill spiders all the time. They have a serious problem with spiders, especially daddy long legs here. But I was thinking how it's funny that I could hardly kill a spider that is a million times smaller than me, but I was so much more willing to try to face the dog that could bite my face than Sister Perry was. I'm so weird)
So this week I feel like we've had a huge emphasis on the Book of Mormon, maybe because Sister Perry & I both read the Ensign all about the Book of Mormon (PS if you haven't read it, you should, it's awesome. PPS At the end, they have pictures of like YSAs for this question part about the Book of Mormon, and of course the red head is the not-as-cute one, she has glasses, hardly no make up and her hair isn't that cute and she has a dorky face...Sister Perry was NOT happy that they were contributing to the bad reputation red heads have, while on the other had I was dying laughing about it). We also had a fireside last night with some musical numbers by the missionaries, some testimonies from recent converts (the two recent converts ended up taking up 30 minutes, where I'm sure the plan was 5 min at the max each), our mission president spoke and so did our stake president and they spoke about the Book of Mormon. & I've just really had it emphasized to me this week the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it really is the foundation to our whole church. If the Book of Mormon isn't true, then Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet, this isn't the true church, we don't have the real priesthood authority from God and everything else is a joke. & I know without a doubt that if anyone reads the Book of Mormon and prays with a sincere desire to receive an answer, they WILL receive it! & I know that when anyone receives that answer, it is just natural to have that desire to be baptized! So that's really what we've been working on this week. We had a lesson with this lady in Katikati who we met like over a month ago, but have had a hard time setting up a time to see her, and we taught the Restoration and gave her the Book of Mormon and I'm SO excited because I really think she is going to start reading it. I'm so excited to work with her! She seems so ready! A nice breath of fresh air because things have been rough lately. We had this guy getting ready to be baptized this weekend (he lives with a couple where the wife is a member, but the husband isn't) but found out that the husband is a horrible influence for him. The husband was coming to church at one point, but now he is quite against the church and has pulled Tao away from the church as well when we was doing so good before and reading the Book of Mormon all the time. But we're still holding on to him! We're trying so hard and hoping that we'll see some miracles soon! That's it for now, love you all! Enjoy your Halloween enough for me too! Halloween is not a big deal at all here, and hardly exists. I'm so sad.
Love, Sister Mullen
PS I'm in New Zealand. I'm a legit missionary. Both of those facts still blow my mind.
PPS the pictures attached are from our hike up Mount Maunganui again last week. & some sheep we saw walking down the mount. I actually feel like we see cows way more than sheep, but it's still more sheep than I've seen anywhere in the states.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Go All Blacks!
Oh heyyy!
I'm sure you've all been wrapped up in the Rugby World Cup, oh wait, I didn't even know that happened til I got here. & I also didn't know the US even sent a team to the Rugby World Cup. And so I'm sure you all know the All Blacks won! Woot woot! The game didn't start til 9, so it finished after we went to bed, and like 10 min after we were in bed, we heard 3 gun shots, and we figured the All Blacks won. And they did. 8-7 against France. Dad informs me about what's going in the states, so I'll inform you all about what's going on in NZ. We called some members this morning and they were all singing in the back around and cheering because the All Blacks won. Also, almost everyone here has All Blacks flags are their car too. Kinda fun how excited everyone is/was!
So this week has been good, the weather is warming up and feeling really nice & I love it! It's been hard finding people to teach and being able to set up a second appointment with some of our investigators, but we're trying! That's in Tauranga, but things are going great in Katikati. I wish we could stay out there for like a week. The memebers are awesome as well! There's this TOngan family out there who I just absolutely love! & their mum served a mission as well, so we loves us too and is so willing to help us out! Friday we had a bunch of appointments set up and it just feels so good when we have a productive day. We have this one investigator that we met knocking doors and she is so ready. After teaching her about the Restoration, she said it all makes sense. She was also so excited to get her own copy of The Book of Mormon and said how she had been wanting to read it. The struggle is getting her to church, and also how she doesn't like to give her cell phone number out. So we can't call her, and we only go out to Katikati twice a week, so things are moving along very slowly with her. We also had 2 appts with some Indian ladies, & I don't know why, but those appts made me really nervous. I think because I dont' know what to expect, and it's hard teaching people who arent' Christian, but all Indians are so willing to have anyone come in and talk religion with them and will agree with anything you throw at them. We taught a mum and an 8 year old daughter. & they're actually going/learning from Jehovah's Witnesses at the same time too, haha, but they're not practicing it hard out I don't think. We showed up Sunday morning to see if they were coming to church, the mum wasn't coming, so she just sent her 8 year old daughter with us. (Who does that??) Thankfully they're just down the street from the chapel so we could walk there since we can't give her a ride. We had a lesson later that afternoon with the mum and clarified a bunch of things. I don't know much about JW's, but I know they're not Christian, but they make it sound like the understand more about Christ and the Atonement than they really do. And saying that Christ is the son of God, but obviously they call God Jehovah, and it came out that the mum really just believes that Christ was a good person who taught good things. Anywho, it's hard unteaching what they believe so we can teach them the truth. But they're both so sweet, and I think there is lots of potential with them!
So I read Alma 26 this week and just absolutely loved every single verse. It's where Ammon is going off about how much success they've had, but Aaron calls him about for boasting of himself, but then Ammon goes off about how he's only boasting about his God who has given them so much success and I just love how he truly recognizes how everything good that has happened to them has come from the Lord and he is so ridiculously happy that he can't stop talking about how amazing God is and has been to them. I know I can definitely work more on recognizing the Lord's hand in my life every day.
Hope things are going well in "the states." I love you all!
Love,
Sister Mullen
Oil Spills=Not Cool
** This was her letter from last week. I was just a slacker and never posted it.
Oh heyy!
This week was a LONG week. So since the goal of the new training program is to have the new missionaries were ready to train by the end of the 12 weeks, so Sis. Perry has been putting me in charge of more things so that if, and probably when, our mission president asks me if I feel like I'm ready to train, I can say yes. Sometimes I really don't like it when we sit down in a lesson and she whispers "you're in charge" and I start freaking out about what to do, but practice really is the best way to learn how to do everything. I'm quite content to not be the one in charge, Sis Perry is doing a great job, but I'm not always going to be the new missionary, so I really am thankful for this training program and the opportunity we've had to study for 2 hours everyday for comp study and will be sad when it's over! So speaking of throwing me in the deep end a little bit, haha, we were having a lesson with this less active family yesterday in the Katikati branch, and after having an opening prayer and talking a little bit, Sis Perry told me to go for it, ahhhh! I was freaking out! (Sis Perry asked me today if I was mad at her for throwing me in the deep end since we hadn't figured out what to teach them before hand because they have such young children, I wasn't mad exactly, mostly just freaking out about not knowing what to talk about). But we had talked to the 8 year old about how she had learned about prayer in primary, so I went off on that and we ended up talking about family prayer and how they've been trying to have it morning and night recently and came up with a plan to help them remember better and to also work on reading the scriptures as a family together and it ended up being perfect. I didn't realize til after personal study was over, but that experience related perfectly to my personal study about how we're not supposed to be led by the Spirit in every single decision we make. Heavenly Father gave us agency because that's part of the growing process, and I didn't have this huge revelation to know what to talk about with the Tupou family, but as I just started talking, it ended up being the perfect topic. Thankfully it didn't end up a disaster! haha
So I don't know if you've heard much about this in the states, but there was a ship not too far from the harbour here in Tauranga that had crates (or whatever they're called) of oil on the boat and the captain was trying to turn around or something and waves ended up pulling the ship over, so there's been a big oil spill and the beaches are all nasty and the parks are slowly closing as they're getting contaminated by the oil since all the parks are right on the beach and it's so sad how much it's affecting the Bay of Plenty. We were planning on having ward summer kick off bbq thing in a couple weeks at one of the parks, but now we're going to have to have it at the chapel, and now all the fish is contaminated and the saddest thing is that the beaches are all not going to be accessible for the summer. Not cool, even though I can't go to the beach. Hopefully we're going sometime this week to help clean up the beaches.
So I'm pretty sure I talked about our Samoan investigator, Tao, last week. We took one of the Elders here in Tauranga with us to Katikati to have a lesson with him since he speaks Samoan as well and even though I had no clue what was going on most of the lesson and the Elder didn't do the best job of filling us in on what was said, I could definitely feel the Spirit there and came out loving Tao so much more. He is such a good guy and really does want to change his life around (we found out he quit smoking and drinking the day he met us even though we still haven't mentioned the word of wisdom to him, umm, awesome!!) and wants the best for his family (living in Aus, but hasn't seen them in 4 years. They'll be here in Dec). He called us and left a message yesterday before we got home saying how much he loved the lesson today and how he was just lying on his bed feeling so good about everything we talked about. We've just got to help him recognize those answers he's receiving to his prayers and the feelings he's getting from the Holy Ghost.
One more thing, Glenn, who got baptized 2 weeks ago. The one who would show zero emotion & whenever we asked how he was doing, "yeah, I'm alright." or whenver we'd try to get him to committ to anything he'd say, "yeah, I suppose." My goodness, he is a completely different person now! Even on the phone he sounds SO much happier. & he came up to Sis Perry and I individually at church yesterday instead of trying to sneak out without saying anything to us and was just so happy! & before, he would NEVER have approached someone at church. Ahh, it's so exciting to see how much his life has changed since he's gotten baptized!
So the picture attached is of me getting some ice cream after we had a lesson with one of our investigators by an ice cream shop. Like I said, NZ is very proud of their ice cream and they had signs all over about being the best, freshest New Zealand ice cream. & they even put a little NZ flag in it, and I loved it, haha. Not a very exciting picture for this week, but that's what you're getting. I should have better pictures next week because we're driving to Whakatane tomorrow for district meeting and heard that there are some really pretty beaches along the way. (PS, here, I'm assuming it's in the maori language, "wh" makes an f sound, so Whakatane=Fakatanie). Love you all! I heard Kurt 2 lost a tooth, feel free to send me a picture.
Love,
Sis Mullen
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Bring on The Mission Tan
Kia Ora!
So it's definitely starting to warm up here, and I love it! I love those days when the weather is PERFECT. I wish the weather would be perfect for like a month, but unfortunately those days are pretty rare. I'm starting to get a lovely watch tan, and last week we had a lesson with a recent convert outside and I think I got a little pink on my neck. Bring on the farmers tan, haha
So we started teaching this Samoan man. We met him when we went over to a part member home, the wife is a member and we have been trying to get a hold of her non member husband who comes to church quite often, and his friend, Tao, was over watching rugby, so we started talking to him and had a lesson with him this week and things are going good. He's been to church one and came to conference this weekend and yeah, things are good. During our lesson though, we asked him to say the closing prayer and he wanted to hold our hands, you can imagine how much I loved that. & he was also using his Samoan bible and so when we would look up scriptures in ours, he would tell us to read out loud and he would jsut read his, but he was having a hard time finding James. He said it was Jacob, and we read James 1:5-6 probably 5 times, he kept reading his verses and saying "read the first one again...read the second one again..." trying to figure out if he had the right verses, it was pretty crazy, so we gave him a Book of Mormon in Samoan and English, we'll see how future lessons go.
So last night we had some awesome experiences tracting. We were on our way home and our mission president wants us to speak to a minimum of 150 people per week, and our goal was 170 and we haven't been reaching our goal the last couple of weeks, but we were determined to reach it this week. Long story short: we're supposed to be home at 7:30 on Sundays, but because of the training program, we have to have 2 hrs of comp study every day, so we do it in the evening on Sundays, and we usually go home at 5:30 to get that done, but we were determined to get our goal! So we were going to tract on Princess street, but as we were driving down Margaret to get to Princess street, we decided to just stop on Margaret and the first door we knocked on, we got a follow up appointment with the guy and I feel good about him, I think there's definitely potential. And then further down the road, a lady opened the door and said, "Hello sisters" turns out she's inactive and has been for several years, but lately has really been thinking about coming back to church, and I know that Heavenly Father knew that she needed us to see her. She said that her word of wisdom issues are what have been keeping her from church, but she's quit smoking for a couple of years now and is working on some other habits. And she has a 19 yr old daughter who was baptized when she was 9, and her son is 8 and she was thinking how she wants her son to be baptized while he's still 8, so we're going to start teaching her and her son the lessons as a refresher for her and to teacher her son about the church and yeah, it was just an awesome experience. I walked out of her house loving her even though I had known her for like 20 minutes and I'm so excited to work with her more! Then we knocked on the door of this lady I talked to on the street the other day. So we were driving down this pretty big street, Sis Perry pulled over and I ran across the street and was basically running after this lady who was running after her kids, all I said that we were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and when she said she had to catch her kids, I asked if we could come by her house later and she gave me her name and address. Well we obviously hadn't been by her house yet and forgot she lived on Margaret, but we knocked on her door and she said, "oh yeah, I talked to you the other day" Thankfully I remembered her name, and it turns out her mum was baptized when she was younger and when to Church College, but left the church when she got married, but yeah, we have an appointment her this week too. And then we got home, and this less active girl called us. We met her ex-husband, Anwar (they split up about 2 months ago), & I don't remember giving Anwar our number, but he obviously told Geraldine we came by looking for them both, and Geraldine called us and said her and her friend want us to come teach them. YES! Ahhh, it was so exciting because we've had such a hard time finding people and it was amazing to see the blessings as we really pushed to reach our goal!
We watched Conference this weekend and I felt so left out since we were watching it so late, haha, and it was also weird not being there. The Conference Center has never been further from me and I feel so blessed to have been able to go to conference so much! Love you all! Hope you enjoyed conference a week ago!
Arohanui (I think that's the word, haha, I'm slowly picking up more maori),
Sis. Mullen
So it's definitely starting to warm up here, and I love it! I love those days when the weather is PERFECT. I wish the weather would be perfect for like a month, but unfortunately those days are pretty rare. I'm starting to get a lovely watch tan, and last week we had a lesson with a recent convert outside and I think I got a little pink on my neck. Bring on the farmers tan, haha
So we started teaching this Samoan man. We met him when we went over to a part member home, the wife is a member and we have been trying to get a hold of her non member husband who comes to church quite often, and his friend, Tao, was over watching rugby, so we started talking to him and had a lesson with him this week and things are going good. He's been to church one and came to conference this weekend and yeah, things are good. During our lesson though, we asked him to say the closing prayer and he wanted to hold our hands, you can imagine how much I loved that. & he was also using his Samoan bible and so when we would look up scriptures in ours, he would tell us to read out loud and he would jsut read his, but he was having a hard time finding James. He said it was Jacob, and we read James 1:5-6 probably 5 times, he kept reading his verses and saying "read the first one again...read the second one again..." trying to figure out if he had the right verses, it was pretty crazy, so we gave him a Book of Mormon in Samoan and English, we'll see how future lessons go.
So last night we had some awesome experiences tracting. We were on our way home and our mission president wants us to speak to a minimum of 150 people per week, and our goal was 170 and we haven't been reaching our goal the last couple of weeks, but we were determined to reach it this week. Long story short: we're supposed to be home at 7:30 on Sundays, but because of the training program, we have to have 2 hrs of comp study every day, so we do it in the evening on Sundays, and we usually go home at 5:30 to get that done, but we were determined to get our goal! So we were going to tract on Princess street, but as we were driving down Margaret to get to Princess street, we decided to just stop on Margaret and the first door we knocked on, we got a follow up appointment with the guy and I feel good about him, I think there's definitely potential. And then further down the road, a lady opened the door and said, "Hello sisters" turns out she's inactive and has been for several years, but lately has really been thinking about coming back to church, and I know that Heavenly Father knew that she needed us to see her. She said that her word of wisdom issues are what have been keeping her from church, but she's quit smoking for a couple of years now and is working on some other habits. And she has a 19 yr old daughter who was baptized when she was 9, and her son is 8 and she was thinking how she wants her son to be baptized while he's still 8, so we're going to start teaching her and her son the lessons as a refresher for her and to teacher her son about the church and yeah, it was just an awesome experience. I walked out of her house loving her even though I had known her for like 20 minutes and I'm so excited to work with her more! Then we knocked on the door of this lady I talked to on the street the other day. So we were driving down this pretty big street, Sis Perry pulled over and I ran across the street and was basically running after this lady who was running after her kids, all I said that we were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and when she said she had to catch her kids, I asked if we could come by her house later and she gave me her name and address. Well we obviously hadn't been by her house yet and forgot she lived on Margaret, but we knocked on her door and she said, "oh yeah, I talked to you the other day" Thankfully I remembered her name, and it turns out her mum was baptized when she was younger and when to Church College, but left the church when she got married, but yeah, we have an appointment her this week too. And then we got home, and this less active girl called us. We met her ex-husband, Anwar (they split up about 2 months ago), & I don't remember giving Anwar our number, but he obviously told Geraldine we came by looking for them both, and Geraldine called us and said her and her friend want us to come teach them. YES! Ahhh, it was so exciting because we've had such a hard time finding people and it was amazing to see the blessings as we really pushed to reach our goal!
We watched Conference this weekend and I felt so left out since we were watching it so late, haha, and it was also weird not being there. The Conference Center has never been further from me and I feel so blessed to have been able to go to conference so much! Love you all! Hope you enjoyed conference a week ago!
Arohanui (I think that's the word, haha, I'm slowly picking up more maori),
Sis. Mullen
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Pictures
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| Sis Mullen, Sis Perry, Ash, Adrian |
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| Sis Mullen, Sis Perry, Natasha, Redem and kids |
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| View From Temple Doors |
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| Glenn's Baptism |
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| Sis Mullen, Sis Perry, NZ Temple |
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| View From Member's House |
I'm Running Out of Titles
Kia Ora!
So this week was a tad crazy. We did go to the VC Saturday though and it was so fun and exciting! We've been planning this for over two weeks, but found out Thursday that our ward mission leader wasn't going to be here this weekend, so he was no help. & apparently there is no money in the ward budget for missionary work, so they weren't going to help pay for petrol. So we found one family who was going to let us borrow their van, but they're family was coming in town, so we found someone else to drive it, and then we called everyone in the ward for another car, but of course it was too late of notice, so one of our investigators ended up driving. But then it was drama about who was paying for petrol for the van since the ward wasn't too willing to help, anyway, it was madness, but it all worked out. Maybe not everyone was happy, but we got our investigators there and it was an awesome experience! It was also a very interesting drive up there. Remember the lady from last week who helped me teach gospel principles? Well she was our driver. And always has something to say about everything. & then she told us to start singing hymns. So for about 20 min, Sis Perry and I were singing hymns since we were in a van full of investigators who clearly don't know the hymns, and Sis Tarawa would chime in on the ones she knew. And she told Sis Perry one time that she started in a half key...who can hear a half key unless you have perfect pitch? & as we were singing, we found out she doesn't have perfect pitch. Like I said: something to say about EVERYthing! So we walked around the VC a little bit with one of the Sisters there kind of guiding a tour that wasn't really much of a tour, and we watched the new Joseph Smith movie and it was awesome. It actually made me a little homesick for the States and made me realize how much I really do love America, but I am still loving NZ! So we took 5 investigators (an older lady, her daughter in law & her 2 kids), another guy we're teaching, Ash, and a guy that got baptized the first week we were here, Adrian, and it was just great to teach them more about the temple. And it was just cool how Ash and Adrian were DYING to go into the temple and they both can't wait to go in! Ash, who isn't even baptized yet, is so determined to have a temple marriage. He is truly converted to the gospel and I LOVE it. He also shared his testimony yesterday in Sac Mtg and it was choice! Ahh, so good. Even all the member loved it. We had an all around amazing testimony meeting and really opened my eyes of the strength of the testimony of the members in the ward and the potential of how much good they can go, we've just got to figure out how to get them to help us! So the first 2 pics are from the VC. One is of Sis Perry and I and Natasha (the daughter in laugh) and Redem (short for Redemption) and her 2 kids. The other is of Ash, our investigator, and Adrian, the most recent baptism. I think the 3rd picture is of the view when you walk out the temple. It's on this tall hill and out in the country and it's just gorgeous! I love NZ!!
& then Saturday evening we had a baptism and it was tso exciting! Glenn has been set for baptism before and has been learning from the missionaries for a while and it was truly a miracle that he got baptized! He was set for the week before, but he didn't quit smoking. & then we didn't talk to him for 48 hrs before his baptism. He went to an island for a land meeting on Saturday and was gone all day friday at work, we were freaking out! But we showed up at his house 2 hrs before and he seemed slightly excited! Let me tell you about Glen. He is SUPER quiet and is so hard to get info out of him or to see ANY emotion on his face, & he didn't seem too excited about baptism, but he knows everything, but then it finally came out that he is taking prescription drugs and he thought the church wasn't okay with that, and after that, I felt like he was much happier about everything. & then he showed up to church in a white shirt on Sunday (he usually wears a dark shirt) and he was chewing gum (our alternative for smoking) and it was so exciting! He was even at church 30 min early! Ahh, it was so good!
So it's pretty funny the reactions I get when I tell people I'm from Texas, and I was talking to one of the counselors in the bishopric at our baptism last Saturday and he was blown away that I was REALLY from Texas. Of course everyone asks me if there are a lot of cowboys and horses. But he was saying how Texans just have a different way of thinking and seeing the big picture, haha, that was kind of a surprise. & Of course they ask me if I knew the old mission presidnet who was from Texas. Umm, nope, Texas is kind of big. Try multiplying NZ times like 10, haha.
New Zealanders are quite proud of their ice cream and I feel like I"ve heard a lot about it this week & everyone asks me, "Have you had NZ ice cream? it's the best!" & It really is good, it's just funny how proud they are of it.
Well, that's it for this week. I wish I could tell you all the stories of the crazy people we meet on the street sometimes. Oh, & some of the members, especially the polys see it as such a blessing to feed the memebers and one lady this week just kept going on about how special the missionaries are and how much we need to feed them. Ohh, you are too kind! haha
Love you all!
-Sis Mullen
So this week was a tad crazy. We did go to the VC Saturday though and it was so fun and exciting! We've been planning this for over two weeks, but found out Thursday that our ward mission leader wasn't going to be here this weekend, so he was no help. & apparently there is no money in the ward budget for missionary work, so they weren't going to help pay for petrol. So we found one family who was going to let us borrow their van, but they're family was coming in town, so we found someone else to drive it, and then we called everyone in the ward for another car, but of course it was too late of notice, so one of our investigators ended up driving. But then it was drama about who was paying for petrol for the van since the ward wasn't too willing to help, anyway, it was madness, but it all worked out. Maybe not everyone was happy, but we got our investigators there and it was an awesome experience! It was also a very interesting drive up there. Remember the lady from last week who helped me teach gospel principles? Well she was our driver. And always has something to say about everything. & then she told us to start singing hymns. So for about 20 min, Sis Perry and I were singing hymns since we were in a van full of investigators who clearly don't know the hymns, and Sis Tarawa would chime in on the ones she knew. And she told Sis Perry one time that she started in a half key...who can hear a half key unless you have perfect pitch? & as we were singing, we found out she doesn't have perfect pitch. Like I said: something to say about EVERYthing! So we walked around the VC a little bit with one of the Sisters there kind of guiding a tour that wasn't really much of a tour, and we watched the new Joseph Smith movie and it was awesome. It actually made me a little homesick for the States and made me realize how much I really do love America, but I am still loving NZ! So we took 5 investigators (an older lady, her daughter in law & her 2 kids), another guy we're teaching, Ash, and a guy that got baptized the first week we were here, Adrian, and it was just great to teach them more about the temple. And it was just cool how Ash and Adrian were DYING to go into the temple and they both can't wait to go in! Ash, who isn't even baptized yet, is so determined to have a temple marriage. He is truly converted to the gospel and I LOVE it. He also shared his testimony yesterday in Sac Mtg and it was choice! Ahh, so good. Even all the member loved it. We had an all around amazing testimony meeting and really opened my eyes of the strength of the testimony of the members in the ward and the potential of how much good they can go, we've just got to figure out how to get them to help us! So the first 2 pics are from the VC. One is of Sis Perry and I and Natasha (the daughter in laugh) and Redem (short for Redemption) and her 2 kids. The other is of Ash, our investigator, and Adrian, the most recent baptism. I think the 3rd picture is of the view when you walk out the temple. It's on this tall hill and out in the country and it's just gorgeous! I love NZ!!
& then Saturday evening we had a baptism and it was tso exciting! Glenn has been set for baptism before and has been learning from the missionaries for a while and it was truly a miracle that he got baptized! He was set for the week before, but he didn't quit smoking. & then we didn't talk to him for 48 hrs before his baptism. He went to an island for a land meeting on Saturday and was gone all day friday at work, we were freaking out! But we showed up at his house 2 hrs before and he seemed slightly excited! Let me tell you about Glen. He is SUPER quiet and is so hard to get info out of him or to see ANY emotion on his face, & he didn't seem too excited about baptism, but he knows everything, but then it finally came out that he is taking prescription drugs and he thought the church wasn't okay with that, and after that, I felt like he was much happier about everything. & then he showed up to church in a white shirt on Sunday (he usually wears a dark shirt) and he was chewing gum (our alternative for smoking) and it was so exciting! He was even at church 30 min early! Ahh, it was so good!
So it's pretty funny the reactions I get when I tell people I'm from Texas, and I was talking to one of the counselors in the bishopric at our baptism last Saturday and he was blown away that I was REALLY from Texas. Of course everyone asks me if there are a lot of cowboys and horses. But he was saying how Texans just have a different way of thinking and seeing the big picture, haha, that was kind of a surprise. & Of course they ask me if I knew the old mission presidnet who was from Texas. Umm, nope, Texas is kind of big. Try multiplying NZ times like 10, haha.
New Zealanders are quite proud of their ice cream and I feel like I"ve heard a lot about it this week & everyone asks me, "Have you had NZ ice cream? it's the best!" & It really is good, it's just funny how proud they are of it.
Well, that's it for this week. I wish I could tell you all the stories of the crazy people we meet on the street sometimes. Oh, & some of the members, especially the polys see it as such a blessing to feed the memebers and one lady this week just kept going on about how special the missionaries are and how much we need to feed them. Ohh, you are too kind! haha
Love you all!
-Sis Mullen
Monday, September 26, 2011
3 Months Til Christmas
Oh heyyy!!
So tomorrow marks 2 months since I went into the MTC. CRAZY!! I felt like I was hardly in the MTC, but at the same time, it felt like it was 2 months. & now I've been in NZ longer than I Was in the MTC. So weird. The mission does crizazy thing to time.
So this past week was a good week. We went to the temple on THursday and it was awesome! Ahhh! I love it! It was awesome to see it as we were driving up because it's on a hill and out in the country and there's just this huge white building that pops into view. 3 of the 4 sisters at the VC right now came from Tauranga, so I hope that the tradition continues and I get to make my way over to Hamilton after I'm done here in Tauranga. I've already gotten the confirmation that I'm supposed to be here on a mission, but being at the temple just reaffirmed that. I feel so incredibly thankful to be able to serve the Lord at this time and to be a part of his work. & most importantly that He saw me worthy to represent the church and my Savior Jesus Christ. It truly is an honor each and everyday! & I was thinking how I really can't see myself doing anything else at this time. Even if I were at BYU, I don't know what I would be doing. & that definitely confirmed to me that this is where I am supposed to be. & I love it! & I am so incredibly thankful to have Sis Perry as my trainer. She has helped me out so much and is just the best. I think Heavenly Father knew I needed her specifically to help me get started on the right foot and that I probably wouldn't have lasted if I had a crazy trainer. & I am so thankful for the new training program. We get to study 2 hrs every day as a companionship and get to watch lots of PMG videos to show us examples and it gives the new missionary specific goals for each week and it's amazing how everything we've been studying has applied to what we were doing that week! The training program truly is inspired! And so is PMG. I know that the lessons are in a certain order and within each lesson follow a certain order because that's how it makes most sense to the investigators and it also follows the questions that people naturally have as they learn more about the gospel. It's great. Also since we were at the temple, we had a little temple conference with our zone and heard from Pres & Sis Lekias and it was so good! I love them both so much and am so thankful to be working with them. They also came to our district meeting friday since they were down in our area and so we got them 2 days in a row and I loved it. I know that Pres Lekias is inspired and receives direction specifically for our mission and I am so thankful for what he's doing with our mission and to have him here! I wish I could see them more often then maybe once a month.
So I decided after being on a mission, I have no reason to ever feel awkward because I do lots of awkward things right now. Like pulling over and getting out of the car to approach people. Or the other day, we were on our way to a lesson, but were coming up to a couple walking down the street. So Sis. Perry pulled over and I got out, but they were pretty far ahead, so I was on the verge of running after this couple to talk to them. Sadly they didn't want to hear anymore, but then as we were walking back to the car, this guy that was walking down the street started crossing the street, so we crossed it too, and started walking the direction he just came from (clearly he didn't want to talk to us) but kept walking with him and talked to him for a bit anyway. We also pulled over and I went to talk to a guy working in his front yard, and when I told him I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and talked about how we can live with our families for ever, he told me, "Just Get Lost", haha, I thought that was pretty funny, & then he mumbled something & I think it had to do with doing something productive with my time. Little does he know.
Speaking of church yesterday, I had about 2 minutes notice that I was teaching gospel principles. My comp went to primary b/c we had lots of investigators with kids at church yesterday, and this lady in the ward is quite bold and has no fear heard Sis Perry telling me that as she was walking by and she grabbed the GP book out of my hand & said, "Come on Sister Mullen, I'll teach it with you." Thank goodness for her! It would have been a LONG lesson if she didn't come help me. She can be kind of intimidating, but I love her so much! Haha.
Oh, so we had Daylight Savings this weekend, so now I think I'm 19 hrs ahead of MST. And speaking of being ahead of y'all, we don't get the Relief Society Broadcast til next week, which also means we don't get General Conference til the next week. & I can't wait for it! But some verses I came across this week that I especially loved were Alma 7:22-24. And it talks about our duty to God & the things we need to do here on earth like be humble, submissive, full of patience, long suffering, being dilligent in keeping the commandments. And I love love love v. 24 where it says "And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always about in good works." After reading the talk on hope from the priesthood session in April, I've being to see how closely related faith, hope and charity are, and if we have all of those in our lives, that we will be happy and have that desire to keep the commandments and endure to the end! I love it! I love the scriptures! I love reading Conference talks! This weekend, I've really begun to see the blessings that come to us as we are obedient and active in the gospel. The scriptures are full of things that will bring us true happiness here on earth and happiness we can't even comprehend in the next life! I love the gospel and am so thankful to be sharing it with so many people right now! Love you all, hope all my brothers are still alive. I know Mike is, I hear about him in Mom & Dad's letters. Love you!
Love, Ally
...yeah, that's still my name. Even though it's starting to sound weird now.
PS the first picture is of a view by one of our member's houses. Gorgeous. The other two are obviously at the temple.
PPS We're taking our investigators to the VC this Saturday and I can't wait!!
So tomorrow marks 2 months since I went into the MTC. CRAZY!! I felt like I was hardly in the MTC, but at the same time, it felt like it was 2 months. & now I've been in NZ longer than I Was in the MTC. So weird. The mission does crizazy thing to time.
So this past week was a good week. We went to the temple on THursday and it was awesome! Ahhh! I love it! It was awesome to see it as we were driving up because it's on a hill and out in the country and there's just this huge white building that pops into view. 3 of the 4 sisters at the VC right now came from Tauranga, so I hope that the tradition continues and I get to make my way over to Hamilton after I'm done here in Tauranga. I've already gotten the confirmation that I'm supposed to be here on a mission, but being at the temple just reaffirmed that. I feel so incredibly thankful to be able to serve the Lord at this time and to be a part of his work. & most importantly that He saw me worthy to represent the church and my Savior Jesus Christ. It truly is an honor each and everyday! & I was thinking how I really can't see myself doing anything else at this time. Even if I were at BYU, I don't know what I would be doing. & that definitely confirmed to me that this is where I am supposed to be. & I love it! & I am so incredibly thankful to have Sis Perry as my trainer. She has helped me out so much and is just the best. I think Heavenly Father knew I needed her specifically to help me get started on the right foot and that I probably wouldn't have lasted if I had a crazy trainer. & I am so thankful for the new training program. We get to study 2 hrs every day as a companionship and get to watch lots of PMG videos to show us examples and it gives the new missionary specific goals for each week and it's amazing how everything we've been studying has applied to what we were doing that week! The training program truly is inspired! And so is PMG. I know that the lessons are in a certain order and within each lesson follow a certain order because that's how it makes most sense to the investigators and it also follows the questions that people naturally have as they learn more about the gospel. It's great. Also since we were at the temple, we had a little temple conference with our zone and heard from Pres & Sis Lekias and it was so good! I love them both so much and am so thankful to be working with them. They also came to our district meeting friday since they were down in our area and so we got them 2 days in a row and I loved it. I know that Pres Lekias is inspired and receives direction specifically for our mission and I am so thankful for what he's doing with our mission and to have him here! I wish I could see them more often then maybe once a month.
So I decided after being on a mission, I have no reason to ever feel awkward because I do lots of awkward things right now. Like pulling over and getting out of the car to approach people. Or the other day, we were on our way to a lesson, but were coming up to a couple walking down the street. So Sis. Perry pulled over and I got out, but they were pretty far ahead, so I was on the verge of running after this couple to talk to them. Sadly they didn't want to hear anymore, but then as we were walking back to the car, this guy that was walking down the street started crossing the street, so we crossed it too, and started walking the direction he just came from (clearly he didn't want to talk to us) but kept walking with him and talked to him for a bit anyway. We also pulled over and I went to talk to a guy working in his front yard, and when I told him I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and talked about how we can live with our families for ever, he told me, "Just Get Lost", haha, I thought that was pretty funny, & then he mumbled something & I think it had to do with doing something productive with my time. Little does he know.
Speaking of church yesterday, I had about 2 minutes notice that I was teaching gospel principles. My comp went to primary b/c we had lots of investigators with kids at church yesterday, and this lady in the ward is quite bold and has no fear heard Sis Perry telling me that as she was walking by and she grabbed the GP book out of my hand & said, "Come on Sister Mullen, I'll teach it with you." Thank goodness for her! It would have been a LONG lesson if she didn't come help me. She can be kind of intimidating, but I love her so much! Haha.
Oh, so we had Daylight Savings this weekend, so now I think I'm 19 hrs ahead of MST. And speaking of being ahead of y'all, we don't get the Relief Society Broadcast til next week, which also means we don't get General Conference til the next week. & I can't wait for it! But some verses I came across this week that I especially loved were Alma 7:22-24. And it talks about our duty to God & the things we need to do here on earth like be humble, submissive, full of patience, long suffering, being dilligent in keeping the commandments. And I love love love v. 24 where it says "And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always about in good works." After reading the talk on hope from the priesthood session in April, I've being to see how closely related faith, hope and charity are, and if we have all of those in our lives, that we will be happy and have that desire to keep the commandments and endure to the end! I love it! I love the scriptures! I love reading Conference talks! This weekend, I've really begun to see the blessings that come to us as we are obedient and active in the gospel. The scriptures are full of things that will bring us true happiness here on earth and happiness we can't even comprehend in the next life! I love the gospel and am so thankful to be sharing it with so many people right now! Love you all, hope all my brothers are still alive. I know Mike is, I hear about him in Mom & Dad's letters. Love you!
Love, Ally
...yeah, that's still my name. Even though it's starting to sound weird now.
PS the first picture is of a view by one of our member's houses. Gorgeous. The other two are obviously at the temple.
PPS We're taking our investigators to the VC this Saturday and I can't wait!!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
It's Never Too Early For Christmas Music
Kia Ora! ...I actually hardly hear anyone say that, probably because there are so many white people where we are right now.
Let's see, what happened this week? Oh, so we had a very interesting feed last week with a sister in our ward. She lives out in the boonies and has all sorts of chickens, sheep and cows. We think we might have had lamb b/c it definitely wasn't chicken or beef, I thought it was pork, but then after we got home Sis Perry asked me if I knew what it was, and she thought it was lamb b/c she started telling us about the lamb she had a while ago. If it was...it didn't taste any different. She was telling us when we bring our families back to NZ to show off where we served, to bring them to stay at Auntie Dulcie's! haha, I don't think that will be happening...unless anyone is dying to have the experience to sleep on the same mattress where her hens lay their eggs.
We might have started listening to Christmas music already...it's just so good! Why not listen to it for 6 months of the year? Why didn't I think of this before I came on a mission? Thankfully Sis Perry and I have the same feelings about Christmas music. Sis Perry also told me how she feels like she has to translate for me a lot...which is so true. Kinda funny how there is still a pretty serious language barrier even though they're speaking English. We had an appt with one guy, but we couldn't find a female member to come with us, so we rescheduled, but we were walking away and I said, "So what's going on with him...I'm so confused!" & we met with this recent convert who hasn't been to church in a while, turns out she just always needs a ride, and she's quite the talker, and I was SOOOO confused almost the whole conversation b/c she wasn't using all sorts of words I didn't know what they meant and I just couldn't understand her sometimes. She's Maori, but still from New Zealand and English was her first language, haha. It's also funny teaching people here or even the missionaries who are from NZ or Australia don't know where certain states are that are big in church history like Ohio or Missouri. Or one of our investigators was saying he thinks he's heard of the Mississippi River, & I was thinking, "uhh...who hasn't?" I also asked him how tall he was and he told me 180 cm...it never occurred to me that they don't measure height in feet. The only reference I have to how tall 180 cm might be is that my snowboard is 154 cm...I think. I also never thought that they wouldn't measure in calories here, it's kilo-Joules. So who knows how bad all these chocolate bars are for me, haha.
I forgot to mention that the Rugby world cup started last week and it is a BIG deal here. We were in Katikati the night of the opening ceremony, and there were lines of cars driving down the street and people walking too carrying Tongan flags and flags all over the cars blasting music. Like probably well over 50 people involved this little parade, it was awesome. I wish I could watch part of the games. We keep getting the updates from everyone.
We did have one cool story this week: we had 2 appts right after church in Katikati, but they fell through, so we went to go visit a part member family, the husband is the non member. And we got there right after he left for work, and the wife was on the phone, so we started talking to this guy on the couch and he's a friend of the member & was over to watch Samoa play in the rugby world cup, and he is so ready for the gospel! It was neat to see his heart soften as we kept talking to him. He asked if he had a book and our contact info incase his friends were interested b/c he's heard this before, but by the end of the conversation, it was all definitely for him. He was saying how he's confused because there are so many churches and just doesn't know what to believe and is ready to make some changes b/c he was in prison a while back. He's so ready, so hopefully he'll let us come visit him more.
So I was studying about the Atonement this week and I just wish I knew so much more! I love Alma 7:11-12 because it talks about how Christ suffered so that He would know how to succor His people and that thought gives me so much comfort. I know that Christ choose to suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane so that he would know how we all felt when we're having a hard time. He could have found it out by revelation, but he chose to find out through experience and that is probably one of my favorite parts of the Atonement. It gives me so much comfort to know that Christ knows exactly what I"m going through and what I need the most when I just have no drive to carry on. I am so incredibly thankful for my Savior and all the wonderful blessings we receive from the Atonement and all that He suffered for each and everyone of us! Love you all and hope things are going well!
Love, Sis Mullen
PS No cool pics from this week, we are severely limited on p-day activities since we are so limited on our km per month, so here are some more pics from Mt. Maunganui.
Let's see, what happened this week? Oh, so we had a very interesting feed last week with a sister in our ward. She lives out in the boonies and has all sorts of chickens, sheep and cows. We think we might have had lamb b/c it definitely wasn't chicken or beef, I thought it was pork, but then after we got home Sis Perry asked me if I knew what it was, and she thought it was lamb b/c she started telling us about the lamb she had a while ago. If it was...it didn't taste any different. She was telling us when we bring our families back to NZ to show off where we served, to bring them to stay at Auntie Dulcie's! haha, I don't think that will be happening...unless anyone is dying to have the experience to sleep on the same mattress where her hens lay their eggs.
We might have started listening to Christmas music already...it's just so good! Why not listen to it for 6 months of the year? Why didn't I think of this before I came on a mission? Thankfully Sis Perry and I have the same feelings about Christmas music. Sis Perry also told me how she feels like she has to translate for me a lot...which is so true. Kinda funny how there is still a pretty serious language barrier even though they're speaking English. We had an appt with one guy, but we couldn't find a female member to come with us, so we rescheduled, but we were walking away and I said, "So what's going on with him...I'm so confused!" & we met with this recent convert who hasn't been to church in a while, turns out she just always needs a ride, and she's quite the talker, and I was SOOOO confused almost the whole conversation b/c she wasn't using all sorts of words I didn't know what they meant and I just couldn't understand her sometimes. She's Maori, but still from New Zealand and English was her first language, haha. It's also funny teaching people here or even the missionaries who are from NZ or Australia don't know where certain states are that are big in church history like Ohio or Missouri. Or one of our investigators was saying he thinks he's heard of the Mississippi River, & I was thinking, "uhh...who hasn't?" I also asked him how tall he was and he told me 180 cm...it never occurred to me that they don't measure height in feet. The only reference I have to how tall 180 cm might be is that my snowboard is 154 cm...I think. I also never thought that they wouldn't measure in calories here, it's kilo-Joules. So who knows how bad all these chocolate bars are for me, haha.
I forgot to mention that the Rugby world cup started last week and it is a BIG deal here. We were in Katikati the night of the opening ceremony, and there were lines of cars driving down the street and people walking too carrying Tongan flags and flags all over the cars blasting music. Like probably well over 50 people involved this little parade, it was awesome. I wish I could watch part of the games. We keep getting the updates from everyone.
We did have one cool story this week: we had 2 appts right after church in Katikati, but they fell through, so we went to go visit a part member family, the husband is the non member. And we got there right after he left for work, and the wife was on the phone, so we started talking to this guy on the couch and he's a friend of the member & was over to watch Samoa play in the rugby world cup, and he is so ready for the gospel! It was neat to see his heart soften as we kept talking to him. He asked if he had a book and our contact info incase his friends were interested b/c he's heard this before, but by the end of the conversation, it was all definitely for him. He was saying how he's confused because there are so many churches and just doesn't know what to believe and is ready to make some changes b/c he was in prison a while back. He's so ready, so hopefully he'll let us come visit him more.
So I was studying about the Atonement this week and I just wish I knew so much more! I love Alma 7:11-12 because it talks about how Christ suffered so that He would know how to succor His people and that thought gives me so much comfort. I know that Christ choose to suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane so that he would know how we all felt when we're having a hard time. He could have found it out by revelation, but he chose to find out through experience and that is probably one of my favorite parts of the Atonement. It gives me so much comfort to know that Christ knows exactly what I"m going through and what I need the most when I just have no drive to carry on. I am so incredibly thankful for my Savior and all the wonderful blessings we receive from the Atonement and all that He suffered for each and everyone of us! Love you all and hope things are going well!
Love, Sis Mullen
PS No cool pics from this week, we are severely limited on p-day activities since we are so limited on our km per month, so here are some more pics from Mt. Maunganui.
Monday, September 12, 2011
I Don't Like Being Cold
Hello, hello! Well, no exciting food stories to tell about this week. But we did pass out a meal roster, so we're going to be fed more, and I'm sure I'll have stories next week. I'm so scared! haha, This lady in our ward who is feeding us Tuesday called to see what we do and don't like, and when she asked about fish, I told her I had never had fish before, thank goodness, b/c she said she had a ton of oysters and was going to see if we wanted them...I am so incredibly thankful she called us! I have been so incredibly blessed with our feeding situation here.
So our most exciting news this week was that we had our first baptism! Her name is Carrie and we met her our first sunday here and she had already been to church 3 times, so it just a matter of teaching her everything before she could get baptized. She's in the Katikati Branch, so we had to drive out there friday w/ the elders for her baptismal interview and she was SO excited afterwards and it made me so ridiculously excited! She really is amazing. She's 27 and has been smoking since she was 8 years old and quit within a week! The sunday before her baptism, that was her big concern that she woulnd't be able to stop smoking by her baptism, but she was done on Wednesday! It's amazing what is possible with the Lord's help. And the other super awesome thing about her baptism was that it happened in a river! Boo yay! (that's the last pic I attached). Not cool that it was the first day since I've been here that it rained and it POURED. It was SO cold & windy, but a day she'll never forget! haha, it was so exciting to have baptism in a river! They are using an old Catholic church for their church building, so they don't have a baptismal font. The Branch Pres said next time we'll just do it in the ocean b/c the river was pretty low. But yeah, it was so exciting!
So yesterday in Sac Mtg in the Otumoetai ward, every 2nd Sunday is missionary Sunday (it's a pretty small ward...because about 2/3 are less active. No bueno) So we got 2 recent converts to speak and went Saturday to help them figure out waht to say, the wife was pretty nervous, the husband seemed nervous at first, but then it came out that he LOVES To talk (which he does) so I was planning on giving like a 2 min talk b/c I figured he would take up a ton of time, but they didn't show up til right after the Sacrament, so I guess Bishop decided to not have them talk at all, so I had about 10 min to prepare a 10 min talk...and it was pretty bad, haha. I decided to just tell the story of Ammon and King Lamoni, but I got the details of King Lamoni mixed up with Lamoni's father. Uh, yeah, embarassing! bahaha, hopefully no one really noticed, and if they did, I'm sure they were just thinking, "Oh, this poor greenie." Let's just say I have TONS of room to improve on my improv talks, haha. & the funny thing is, I was looking for the scritpures of how King Lamoni said that he asked what he needed to do so that he could know God better and I couldn't find it in that chapter! Uhh, I should have realized then that that's because he didn't say that! Whoops. No worries, I'm pretty sure it won't be long before I have the chance to get up and make a fool of myself again, haha. Oh, like next week when we both have to give 20 min talk on the Law of Chastity. Thanks for your help...oh wait. My goodness, I have no idea how this is going to go down. I hate having our resources so limited as missionaries.
So last week we hiked Mount Manganui and it was AMAZING! I couldn't get over how pretty it was. You've got the city right there, this mountain COVERED in trees, the ocean going forever in the other direction, miles and miles and miles of coast. It was so pretty. I attached some pictures, but I know they still won't do it justice. And the weather was so nice too. Good thing we did it last week b/c it's quite cold today. I hate the cold. I was telling Sis. Perry how I can't wait for summer and she said, "You just came from summer." Yeah...I know...I love summer. I'm pretty scared for winters here. Sounds like it rains a ton...and I can't wait to ride my bike in the rain. My goodness, I will be dead when I have to start riding a bike!
Funny note, people here seem to have SUCH a hard time saying Mullen. Everyone always has to see my nametag after I say my name. Sister Perry said it's because they don't really use L's in Tongan and Samoan, so it's just a weird sound. I never thought my name was that hard to say, haha.
So now we're just working on finding new investigators, and it's hard. Members aren't too much help and we have a TON of less actives. Prbly over 2/3. So we've got a lot of work to do there. And tracting is no fun. Occasionally ppl want to have a chat with us, but it usually doesn't lead to us having a lesson. One lady was telling us how we just need to stuudy the Bible and apply it to our lives, but thought we were CRAZY for saying that there would be ONE man on earth to direct Christ's church. And when we told her how an apostasy was mentioned in the Bible, she asked where. Clearly she hasn't done much studying of the Bible if she doesn't even believe in prophets. "How would they have that authority if Christ didn't come back to the earth?" uhh...How did Moses and Noah have that authority before Christ came to the earth. Anywho, We've got lots of work cut out for us...and let's be honest, I'm not a big fan of tracting and putting on my smiling face when people are just rude most of the time, but who is?
I love you all! Here mom told me that she was awful about writing and she's probably in 2nd place after dad, haha. Hope everything is going well!
Love, Sis Mullen
PS I am in such a Christmas mood and DYING to listen to Christmas music...and I think it has to do with the fact that it's so cold here. It's going to be weird having a warm Christmas.
PPS Chelsey, I got your letter. You're the best, & I'll write you back hopefully today. So expect a letter in 2 weeks.
Monday, September 5, 2011
I Have Lost All Respect For Hershey's
So, good or bad, I have discovered how amazing cadbury really is. The eggs just don't do the name justice! Sister Perry introduced me to morro bars (no idea how to spell that) but there's this fudge stuff instead w/ "biscuit" bits and caramel outside the the fudge and then covered in chocolate. So like a twix, but a million times better. Sister Perry said she wished she could have recorded me taking my first bite and that it should have been a commercial. It was amazing!! So I finally had tim tam slams and my life will never be the same again. I was quite hesitant to get the white chocolate ones b/c chocolate was not meant to be white, but S. Perry said they were delish, so we did, and they are reall ygood by themselves, but even better with hot chocolate on the inside melting everything and then you put the cookie in your mouth and it's just a mouthful of rich, chocolately goodness!! We also got a Memphis ice cream bar from one of the members..amazing! It had toffee bits in the ice cream and the ice cream was amazing, my goodness, they sure do have aamzing desserts here! Speaking of food, We had another meal at a member's house this week (Sis Rudo makes us soup and what not and brings it over to us, but this was the 2nd time we ate at a member's) and we were eating at 4, so the rest of her fam wasn't eating and there was probably enough food on the table for 10 ppl. Fried chicken, this crab salad thing (which I actually ate and actually kinda liked), pizza, bread (Bread and butter is served at every meal here), tarrow (prettly bland potato like things w/ coconut cream on top) and two other plates I can't really describe and a huge bowl of cake, fruit (they love their canned fruit on desserts) w/ this strawberry cheescake ice cream and I felt like I was going to explode afterwards! PS the ice cream here is really good too. I'm pretty sure Kurt would like it a lot more than Blue Bell, haha, the flavors are pretty rich. Oh, and they also have all sorts of sweet potatoes here, but they call it kumara and I had one and it was so good. We bought a different kind and I'm excited to try it out. So some random thigns about NZ: they have switches for all the plugs. THe only appliance you leave plugged in all the time is the fridge. And there aren't many plugs in our flat. No plugs in the bathroom, and I have one in my room. Yeah, so I'll have to invest in a battery alarm clock after I'm not w/ Sis Perry.Oh, and everyone parks half on the curb b/c there is hardly any room on the street. Not a bad idea! haha, and b/c it's NZ, the grass is still super green even though everyone drives all over it. So the pictures I attached are, let me remember, haha, umm...I think one is of Sister Perry and I. We had lunch by, I don't even know what to call it, the ocean? one day, the sun is right behind us, and we jsut had to put the camera on the car, another is of York Park down the street from us. Kind of beautiful. We walked there one morning, and then I think the other is just anothe picture of the area where we ate lunch. It's in Katikati and has a cute little bench right there and trees all over the place! Oh wait, I didn't attach that picture. I think the other one is just of huge trees next to the road b/c there are trees everywhere!
Funny story: So Sis. Perry played the piano, and she thinks that everyone who plays the piano has an ear and can sing, uh ,not in my case. So sometimes she sings the alto part and I have a hard time keeping the soprano part in the same key when I don't have any music, so we were singing Hope of Israel w/ one of our investigators, and S. Perry told me to hold the soprano part, and she started singing alto and I lost it and couldn't find the notes, so we were trying to control our laughter during our opening hymn. No bueno! I can sing fine if a piano is playing, but not so much a capella! haha
Oh, and can someone email me a picture of our kitchen if you have one of anyone in there? I was describing it to S. Perry and she said, "When I hear rainbow colors, I think hippie." So I was doing my best to explain we're not hippies, haha, but she's still curious. And no one told me where Grandpa lived in Holland? Dad? I'm sure you can tell me. Oh, and in 2 weeks we get to speak in the Katikati branch about the Law of Chastity. We met one of the counselors, and he told us 20 min each on Chastity, but then made it sound like he was joking, but then we saw him after church and it really is just us 2 speaking on the Law of Chastity ( I had the pleasure of teaching it to one of our investigators this week, thankfully he's all for it and it wasn't too awkward on my part, haha) so if anyone could copy and paste some talks for me in an email that would be fab, or if you have any insight, it would be greatly appreciated. I gots Preach My Gospel and the scritpures right now. And I can't get on anyother websites or use any other books besides the mission library (so I'll have to wait to read A Marvelous Work and A wonder after I get back). Speaking of, we went to talk to this old man who's been talking to missionaries for 50 years and pulled that book out and also told us about silver plates, which we were kind of confused, but I feel like I hears something about that in Seminary w/ Sis. Johns. So does anyone know if Lehi wrote on silver plates at all?
So onto the good stuff, we found records of this 23 yr old guy, Ash, that the sister had taught once before, and we met up with him and he is amazing. He seriously is the model of the choicest investigator. The sisters hadn't committed him to read the Book of Mormon, but he was alreadly in Jacob and clearly understanding it and loving it all. And he hasn't read the bible, which blew my mind that he's read the BofM so much. And he read the pamphlet they left him on the REstoration, so he already knew about the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood. And he came to church yesterday w/ his precious 2 yr old son and loved it all! We dropped by randomly Sunday night, and he the Gospel Principles book in his hand. & he drank alcohol and tea, not THAT much, but the second we told him about the WofW, he hasn't drank anything since. And he even fasted yesterday, and wants to make it a goal to bear his testimony in Sacrament Meeting. Seriously. Golden! And I feel so blessed to be working with him! He has so much faith and everything makes so much sense to him! We're actually going to hike Mt. Maunganui w/ him and the elders in our area today and I'm so excited! The weather is PERFECT today. He's getting ready to be baptized on the 24th and is just so excited about it all. So we committed him to baptism the first time we met him, and I've heard of that happening, but just didn't know how it was possible, but he was so ready the first time we met him! We're always on a high after we talk to him b/c he is just so good and so ready to be baptized!
Well I think this has been long enough, I love the gospel, I love being a missionary, I love working with Sis Perry. I'm slowly getting more comfortable in lessons and talking more and bringin out my personality. Love yous! (Yes, they say "yous here) Talk to y'all next week!
Love, Sister Mullen
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