Week 13

Kia Ora Whanau!

This week flew by. I literally blinked and it was over. So much stuff happened this week it does not feel like it's only been seven days since my last email. 

Last week Monday we had a lesson with Seiara and we were planning to go over some basic commandments like keep the sabbath day holy, but when we got there she had heaps of questions about tithing, the law of chastity, and the word of wisdom. So instead of teaching easy commandments, we jumped right into the big 3. The lesson went really well. She didnt get caught up in the do's and don'ts, but instead she really focused on understanding the whys of the commandments. She really wanted to understand the doctrine, which was so great because it's the understanding of doctrine that motivates people to keep the commandments. 

On Tuesday we did a ton of walking. I think in total we ended up walking about 11km. We met this one lady who is inactive and she told us she stopped coming to church because 54 years ago two members felt like they had the right to ask her why she and her husband hadn't had any children yet. She was very offended and stopped coming to church. From our little visit with her I learned two lessons. The first is to mind your own business. Unless the actions of someone else directly affect you then it's not your business. The second is to not let the actions of others be the reason you make big decisions like leaving the church. Your testimony should be based on the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, not on the people in the church or the institution of the church. It should be very personal and based upon the teachings of Christ, which are most clearly outlined in the Book of Mormon. 

On Wednesday we went into Wellington again (ugh) to pick up another Sister Tu'i'onetoa from the airport who had also been reassigned from Tonga to here. We got to have dinner at the mission home and we got to sit in on her orientation from President Soloai. It was really powerful getting to hear from President. After orientation, Sister Soloai had made us dessert of which she said "you're not suppose to eat icecream, but because it's Sister Tu'i'onetoa's first day we will make an exception. Plus the trifle is only sponge cake, custard, and fruit salad." Sister Jones and I just rolled our eyes lol.

Thursday was an interesting day. So remember last week how we set a baptisimal date with Martin? Ya, well that's not happening anymore. We had an appointment with him and when we got to his house he was acting all cool and ready for another lesson. We started the lesson asking how his Book of Mormon reading was going, and he said he had done about an hour of reading the day before and made some notes. He then started to list off some things he had found on the internet about Joseph Smith. At first I was thinking "oh this is no problem, we can clear up these misconceptions easy" but as he kept going (about 20 minutes in total) I realized he isn't interested in learning the truth, just yelling at us. I was honestly hurt and mad. Like the stuff he was saying was so rude. He swore at us and called us lunatics and a number of other rude things. After he finally finished Sister Jones and I just bore our testimonies that we know the Book of Mormon and restored gospel is true and then we got up and left. As we left Sister Ah wong, the member we brought with us, said to him "I've been a member for over 50 years and if that makes me a lunatic then I'm proud to be one because I have a firm conviction". Man it was so funny. One good thing that came out of it is after the lesson, Sister Ah Wong told us how impressed she was with how we handled it and she feels like she can trust us with refferals now. It was so awesome because we have been working to gain her trust. 

Friday night to Saturday night we had our last exchange of the transfer. I was with Sister Mamea and we had so much fun! We walked a ton but we made up some fresh beats while we walked. We got to go to about 30 minutes of Seiara's softball game and talk some more with her parents. We have been encouraged to find normal and natural ways to share the gospel, which honestly is a struggle, so this was a great way to follow that counsel. We also got to go over the Come Follow Me material for Sunday with her. I love the come follow me program. It is so powerful and is giving us such a  great opportunity to develop good study habits and more importantly grow our testimonies of Jesus Christ. 

Sunday was dope. We had some super powerful moments. So after church we had a lesson with Seiara and we taught her those basic commandments we were planning to on Monday. Sister Roil, the young women's president, came to the lesson which was so great because she was able to real with her and say things that us as missionaries couldn't. 

So one of the powerful moments happened after our lesson with Seiara. So about 6 weeks ago I received some weird and very specific revelation that we needed to get a refferal fron Sister Palu. It was such a weird promoting because I would have never thought of her myself. We have been trying to catch her at home all transfer with jo success. But yesterday we finally caught her at home. We shared a scripture about missionary work with her and told her about the prompting we received. We asked her if she had someone we could go visit and start teaching. Her response was perfect. She said "I do actually." I dont know why, but I was lowkey shocked that she had a refferal for us. Like obviously she did, why else would Heavenly Father have given me that piece of personal revelation, but I was still in a little bit of disbelief. It was super cool to see though how Heavenely Father really does direct this work, we just have to act on the direction He gives us. 

After that experience, we went and contacted a former and shared the Book of Mormon with him. It was a really great lesson and we now have a new person to teach! Woot woot. He is so prepared and he already has some strong fellowship in the ward so I'm pumped for him. He is golden. This is really the Lord's work and He directs every little detail of it. 

Sorry this was such a long email, but so much stuff happened this week I had a ton to write about. My spiritual thought this week comes from 1 John 4:9 which says "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." When I read this the word 'through' really stood out to me. In the dictionary, 'through' has multiple definitions depending on what context it is used in. These definitions included "from end to end" and "because of". I loved this because they both apply to the atonement. Christs atonement is infinite and covers us "from end to end." It is "because of" His atonement that we are able to return to our Heavenly Father. I know as we rely on Christ, we will be able to make it through anything and return to Heavenly Father to live with our families forever. 

Ofa Atu

Sister Olson

Sister Jones, Sierra, and Me

The softball game we went to to support the people we are teaching