Week 28

Kia Ora Whanau

So this week started off in Dunedin for zone conference. It was a really good zone conference, fun but spiritual and uplifting. The missionaries in out zone are all really solid and experienced which is nice.

After getting home from zone conference we went to visit Donald and Theresa and had a really good lesson with them about prayer. Sister Tapumanaia and I were just bouncing off each other so nicely and the spirit was really there. Donald definitely felt it and got really excited about it and jumped into the conversation. When teaching, the goal is to make it a dialog and not a monologue which is honestly really hard to do, so it was really great to have him so engaged. Theresa was not as into the lesson which is a bummer. At the end of the lesson, Donald said to us, "Do you want to know something shocking? We're coming to church on Sunday." Both me and Sister Tapumanaia thought he was going to announce that Theresa was pregnant lol. But we were pumped that they had the desire on their own to come to church! Did they come? No they didn't which we were really sad about. 

Wednesday was Sister Tapumanaia's birthday! We spent it going out with a senior lady in the ward to go and meet all of her senior friends. It was really great to have this member be so into missionary work and so willing to introduce us to her friends, but everyone she introduced us to were old catholic people who said that we were welcome to come by and visit but they weren't interested. It still made me happy that this member was working with us. Wednesday night we had a little party for Sister Tapumanaia which was fun. It's hard to make birthdays on the mission special but we did our best.

We got a call from the APs on Wednesday informing us that in 2 weeks we will be getting another companion! Sister Tanuvasa is getting transfered from Christchurch to us so we will be in a trio! I've never served around Sister Tanuvasa but I've heard a lot of good things about her so I'm excited!

We got a new person to teach on Thursday! Her name is  Mata and she lives with her cousins who are members. We talked about the Book of Mormon with her and shared her experience with her family being members and she started to cry. She was shocked that she was getting so emotional so we pointed out that it could be the spirit testifying to her that this us true. She is honestly so golden, I'm so excited to get to work with her.

Thursday night we went to a less active, part member family's home for dinner and we taught Kiona (the daughter) how to make panikeke. After dinner, the parents cornered Kiona and us and got us to tell Kiona why boys are trouble and why she shouldn't date. It was honestly so unexpected. We did our best to answer her parents questions without making Kiona feel uncomfortable. Her parents made it really intense though. I felt so bad for her because it was just a lot lol. When we left, Sister Tapumanaia and I looked at each other and were like what the heck just happened. 

On Saturday, we did a big service with the elders for a less active lady. We cleaned up her yard which was honestly just a mess. She lives just in front of some other less active members and when they saw us, they came over and joined in and called other less active members to come help. It was so cool because we were all able to strengthen each other and build relationships as we served together. I was so impressed by the everyone's willingness to come and help and serve so selflessly. 

Saturday night we went and delivered cookies to investigators and less active members and invited them to come to church. Everyone that we invited said they would for sure be there which we were pumped about but then only one family showed up. We were glad that at least one came but still disappointed that others didn't. But we try to celebrate the ones who came.

Sunday after church we drove to Oamaru to help out with a missionary ward activity which as really great, and then we stayed the night because we have combined district council in Dunedin on Tuesday so we have to drive there today and we didnt want to go home for the night just to turn around and come back.

My spiritual thought this week comes from Jacob 5:71: "And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might WITH ME  ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come" 

We need to remember that as we do missionary work we are laboring with the Lord. It is His work so we must rely on Him through everything. As we seek revelation and rely on Him, he will direct you and you will be able to accomplish everything He has in store for you.

Ofa Atu

Sister Olson

Koutou Katoa Ra







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 51

Image
Kia Ora Whanau!  Okay this week was a roller coaster but it was good and we saw the hand of the Lord.  So on Monday, we had to wake up really early in the morning and drive 1.75 hours to Tawa, where Sister Tapumanaia had her self reliance course before she went home. So I spent the day with Sister Bailey, being her companion. It was super fun, but I'll be honest I just had so much stress over the fact that Sister Tapumanaia was going home. It just made me so sad. I hate changes and I hate saying goodbye to people I love.  Anyways, on Tuesday was intake day, so all the new missionaries came to the mission office for orientation  and met their trainers! My trainee is Sister Siale and she is from Tonga. She is so incredible and onto it, I am so blessed to be her companion! I love training, the new missionaries are always so special and throughout the week I have been able to tell that she is exactly the companion that I need at this point on my mission...
Read more

Advice from the night you were set apart

Mom: My advice to you was to be humble. The church website about humility says this: To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous. My thought was to advise you to remember that you have something to learn from everyone you meet. Dad: Dad said to remember the big picture of why you are serving a mission. Programs and key indicators are not the mission. Of course we need organization and we need to keep rules, but the real purpose of serving a mission is to share the gospel. When times are tough, remind yourself of your purpose. Grandma: Grandma said that she is so proud of you. She said you are such an effervescent p...
Read more

Week 30

Image
Kia Ora Whanau  Its officially been a week since I've moved to Oamaru and it's been interesting. Both wards that we cover are basically made up of one giant family so I already know everyone's name (brother and sister Kaufana) lol.  There were ups and downs. Most of the people that we are working with and Tongan and so for alot of the week I had no clue what was going on because I don't speak Tongan but my companions do.  On Tuesday we had a little miracle occur. We were meeting with a part member family and at the end we asked if we could say a prayer. The father, who is normally against the missionaries, went outside and called all the kids in for the prayer. His attitude did a 180 and he was so supportive of everything. It was so cool.  Tuesday evening, we had a failotu (prayer service) for a recent convert who just passed away. We sang hymns and messages were shared. It was really spiritual and a great missionary opportunity because his non m...
Read more