Week 24

Kia Ora Whanau 

This week was a week of miracles! 

So this transfer the zone has been doing an initiative based on some training we received last transfer, and this week we all prayed in our companionships and asked Heavenly Father who we needed to teach how to liken (apply) the scriptures unto themselves. Sister Crichton and I did it and recieved some really great revelation.

Throw back to Tuesday, we went to teach Jenny. She hasn't really been progressing and so as we prayed, we both felt that helping her learn how to apply the scriptures to herself would help her. Sister Crichton and I both shared our favourite scriptures and discussed how they apply to us personally. I shared Words Of Mormon 1:7-8 :

"And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.

8 And my prayer to God is concerning my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God, yea, the redemption of Christ"

I talked about how this applies to me as a missionary because I don't know everything, but Heavenly Father does and I am here in New Zealand to be an instrument in His hands so that my brothers and sisters can come to know Christ. I then asked her how it applied to her life and she took off talking about what Heavenly Father is telling her to do in these verses and how she needs to pray more for the victims of Christchurch. The spirit was so strong and it was so cool because you could see it click for her why it's important to read the scriptures and how to study them. 

On Wednesday it rained a bunch but it was so nice to be out walking in it. We had a lesson with Daniel about temples and baptisms for the dead. He had been pretty concerned with that principle because he doesn't believe that we can force people into heaven. We assured him that we are not constraining people into heaven, it is simply a loving offering that we can accept or reject. We showed him the Rome Italy temple tour which really touched him. Now all we have to do is help him overcome him concern with the Sabbath day. (If anyone hasn't watched the temple tour, do it! It's the best)

On Thursday we taught a lesson in Chinese to a lady who speaks minimal English! Her name is Hong and she is so nice. We taught her the restoration and the entire time she kept saying "yup I believe it"! We also taught her how to pray and she said the most sincere pray to end our lesson.  The gift of tongues was real in that lesson but not in the way you'd expect. What we did to teach her is we had the English restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet and she had a Chinese one. We would point to a part of the pamphlet and then she would read it in Chinese. Then we would use the conversation feature on google translate to talk about what she just read. The conversation feature listens to what you say and then translates it to the other language and then speaks the translation for you. So because if the technology that we have been blessed with, we were able to teach Hong in her own language. We also relied heavily in the spirit to speak to her and the spirit was definitely there to help us and her. 

After our lesson with Hong, we went and did some service at the Wellington Jewish Community and Holocaust Center. They are currently in the process of making a memorial to all the children that died in the holocaust, by collecting, cleaning, and displaying 1.5 million buttons (one for every child who died). We've gone a few times before and this was the last time because we finally cleaned enough buttons. At the end of the service, some of the people at the center gave some searches and one lady gave the coolest speach. She told us that she was lost for words on how to express her gratitude and feelings, until she read some words of the prophets and apostles. She then went on to quote Elder Jeffery R. Holland and talked about the pioneers pulling hand carts across America. It was so cool because as she spoke the spirit filled the room and all I could think is that this is what missionary work is all about. 

On Friday we had a lesson with Sarah and we committed her to pray to know when she should be baptized. So stay tuned for next week when we find out what the answer is. We also had a special training with President Soloai Friday afternoon. It was really good. He went over what helped us get the most convert baptisms possible last year and asked us to start doing the same things again. It was really good because everything he talked about was simple and it was kind of like no duh, we should be doing this already. In the evening, we had our first lesson with Michael Wilson in like forever. He is still really keen though and so that's really good. Hopefully we can start meeting with him more regularly and help him begin to progress. 

Saturday we had another car wash, hair cutting service at the church. It was really awesome because this one lady showed up and we were able to give her a chapel tour and commit her to come to church. She seemed really motivated to come and it was so exciting (unfortunately she didn't come, but that's just part of missionary life). After the service, we went on exchanges. I went with Sister Tauru to her area. We had a lesson with Seiara and we went through the baptismal interview questions. Then she said "okay let's plan this thing!" So we planned her baptism. Then we asked to speak to her parents, and only her mom was avaliable so we had a long chat with her. At the end she said she is 100% supportive, and that she would talk to her dad about it. It was not what we were expecting but it was what needed to happen.

On Sunday, we finished the exchange and went back to our normal companions. Sister Crichton told me about what she did and she totally killed leading the exchange. I was so proud of her. Then Sunday night, right before we were about to go to bed, Seiara called us and told us that she talked to her dad and she didn't get the response she wanted, but he didn't say no, and the spirit testified to her that she needed to get baptized. So we will be meeting with her parents on Thursday to solidify her permission and then she will be getting baptized on April 13! Man talk about miracles. 

My spiritual thought this week comes from Mormon 9:15 which says "And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles." The Lord has not stopped to perform miracles in our life, both small ones and major ones. He is big on agency so he won't force a miracle upon us, but as we pray and ask for blessings, he will provide miracle upon miracle for us. The only thing we have to do is begin to recognize them. 

Ofa Atu 

Sister Olson

Koutou Katoa Ra

Sister Crichton loving life

The zone at a ministering night where only 3 members showed up. It made me grateful for the members in the ward I'm serving in, they always turn up

I finished my journal on sunday, I'm actually impressed with my self that I've kept at it