Week 39

Kia Ora Whanau! 

Transfers were this week and so on Tuesday I flew from Dunedin to Wellington and then drove to Masterton with my new companion Sistrr Bailey. Shes from Melbourne Australia and is in my intake so we've been out the same amount of time. Flying into Wellington and then driving through the Lower Hutt area to get to Masterton made me feel like I had come home haha. 

There has been a funeral on Tuesday so when we got into Masterson we went to the chapel to help clean up. We got Hangi to take home and a little bit of Maori bread which was soooooo yum! This area is predominantly Maori which I'm excited for because all of my other areas have been predominantly pacific islander. 

Wednesday was Chloe's 18th birthday so Happy Birthday Chloe! To celebrate we visited a bunch of members so that I could get to know the ward better. We also had a baptisimal interview for two people that we are teaching. They are 9 and 10 and getting baptized next week. We also went and met with a lady that loves missionaries but has a rule that we're not allowed to preach lol she's an interesting woman. 

On Thursday Sister Bailey and I hit 9 months in the mission field! It has been the fastest and most rewarding 9 months of my life. We biked all day long which was awesome. My bike is too small for me so my legs have to work a little bit harder, but it's all good because my quads are now just going to be super strong. Where there is great affliction, comes great strength. 

Friday was zone conference and ot was probably my favourite one so far. We did a bunch of role plays which was awesome because we got to see how other rmissionaires teach and then learn from them. After zone conference we did weekly planning which took so long and we didnt even finish! It was really good though. We were planning for how we can help a less active family this week and everything we were thinking of doing just didnt feel right. Then we jokingly said to each other something Sister Soloai said during zone conference that "we need to go back another way". Then it hit us, we needed to teach them the lesson that we had role played during zone conference. It was so clear and obvious and simple. It was a cool moment. 

Friday night we had dinner at a members house and I said  the prayer before we left and the words that came out of my mouth were not my words. It was such a different prayer than I normally say when leaving a members home, but the words kept flowing. When the prayer was over, a non member friend that was there, put her hand over her heart and said "wow I really felt that." So that was really cool, being an instrument in the Lords hand to help someone feel the spirit.

On Saturday as we were biking around my back tire popped and we were super far from home so I had to ride home with a flat tire which was a workout and a half. 

So the ward pianist recently passed away and the second councilor in the bishopric asked if I could play. I told him not really and he said not really is better than no. He gave me the hymns to practice so all week I practiced the piano getting ready to play on Sunday. When we got to church I was all ready and psyched up to play in church. When we walked into the chapel, the listed hymns were totally different from the ones I was told earlier in the week so I didn't play, which was a little bit of a relief and a little bit of a bummer. 

The rest of Sunday was really good. We visited a member just to offer our support to her and her family after their family member passed and she gave us a refferal and said she will organize a time in the next few weeks to introduce us. That was so sweet of her. We also visited some other members and potentials and met 3 new people who are curious about the church but afraid to ask  questions so hopefully we will be able to build our relationships with them and help them learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

My spiritual thought this week is from Isaiah 55:8-9 which says "8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." 

I love these verse because it reminds me that God knows better than I do and so if I turn to him in every thought and I act upon all the promptings he gives me, then I will have no reason to fear or doubt. Looking back on my life I can think of many times where the Lord has promoted me to do something that absolutely terrified me but as I acted in faith, recognizing that the Lord knows best, I have come through those experiences in such a better place. So please do not think that you know better than our Heavenly Father, just trust in him and his plan for you and I promise that everything will turn out so much better than you could ever hope for. 

Ofa Atu

Sister Olson 

I saw my old companions who were going home so that was fun 

I dont have any normal pictures of me and sister Bailey so this is all you get