Week 47

Kia Ora Whanau! 

What a long week, well last Monday we went out to Ngawi and saw the seals. We also walked up to a lighthouse and took heaps and heaps of photos. We did family home evening with a part member family and when it came time for us to share a dope message that we had prepared, the non member in the family ran away. Classic, it was still a good message though. 

On Tuesday we met  less active lady who told us the dopest story ever. When she was young, she basically ran away from her home so that she could serve her mission in Kiribati, and at the end of her 18 months, her mission president asked her to extend another 6 months so that she could open up the mission in her home country of Tuvalu. It was such an amazing story and she got a little emotional when sharing it and the spirit was in her home at that time it was so special for her to have the spirit be so strong as she reflected on her mission.

Wednesday we had exchanges and I stayed on Masterton with Sister Ball. If was kind of a crazy exchange because a bunch of appoi tents fell through, but a bunch of other events popped up last minute so it was really perfect and definitely orchestrated by Heavenly Father. We went with a member to go visit a lady she had met on accident one time while trying to go visit the lady with the cool mission story. Turns out, that just the day before we also accidentally knocked on this womans door. She invited us in and made us all Milo's and we got talking. She asked us what makes our church different, to which the member replied "we have very high standards." I was like what the heck! Of all the incredible things that separate us from other churches such as, eternal families, the restoration of Christs church through the prophet Joseph Smith, the priesthood and all the ways it blesses us, a modern day prophet, the Book of Mormon - another testament of Jesus Christ etc. you chose toytell her that we have high standards?! Lolol we ended up leaving her a plan of salvation pamphlet and our phone number, so hopefully she will read it and call us. 

On Saturday we organized a huge service with the ward to clean up the yard of someone we are teaching and so many people showed up and supported. It was so awesome to see all the support we had from them. We worked for 3.5 hours and got the bulk of the job done, all that's left is to make it pretty. Natasha was so touched that so many people would spend their Saturday serving her. She was sick so she also got a preisthood blessing which was great! She told us that she would totally be coming to church tomorrow. Nek minit, her son got sick so she didnt come, ugh.

Saturday night we went to get some pizza from a cool looking food truck and we met this man named Robert. He's from Vanuatu and had previously been taught by the missionaries. He talked to us for forever and tried to guess where we were all from. He said that he thought Sister Shin was from the Philippines, Sister Tapumanaia was from New Zealand, and then he couldn't place where I was from and so he randomly starts speaking to me in french. Now I dorm speak french, and I lowkey still don't know how I understood him, but the Lord blessed me with the gift of tongues and I spat out one phrase that apparently answered his question perfectly. He then guess that I was Canadian lol. Anyways, we talked to him for a long time and he then said we could come visit him and he said "you probably cant convert me, but you can try." We were like okay Robert, we know we cant convert you, but the spirit sure can. 

Church on Sunday was a mess. I don't know why, but everyone was just not having a good day. The sacrament got dropped, kids were screaming, phones were ringing and random things were being said from the pulpit. The cool thing is that amidst all the craziness, when we sang the intermediate hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour" the chapel was filled with the spirit. Everyone felt it and there wasn't a dry eye in the building. Hymns really are just sung prayers, and it was a powerful one. I know that amidst all of our craziness in our own lives, we can still feel the spirit and feel the calming comfort of our Heavenly Fathers love. 

Sunday night we drove to Wellington and slept over because on Monday the Wellingtin and Hutt Valley zone volunteered at the Te Reo Māori Language week parade. It was super cool because collectively we were able to give out 300 Te Reo Māori Book of Mormons! The service ended at about 2pm and so we spent the rest of the day contacting people in Tawa because Sister Shin was leaving the next day so it made no sense to go back to Masterton.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Sister Shin bore her final testimony for us before going to her assigned mission in Hawaii and it was so powerful. It was really special to have heard her first one, six weeks ago, and her "final one". She has grown so much in these last six weeks and her testimony has been strengthened a tremendous amount. It just goes to show that serving a mission is the biggest blessing g ever. We dropped her off at the airport and them rushed home. So that we could get home in time for curfew. I'm going to miss Sister Shin so much! She was such an incredible missionary.

My spiritual thought this week is about Charity, the pure love of Christ. The scriptures say that to have charity, you must pray and ask for it with all the entry of heart, and that is because it is such and incredible form of love, that no one could feel that for someone else on their own. I know this because every single person that I meet I feel this overwhelming amount of concern for their happiness and well being. I am filled with charity and it is not from me, it is from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am not capable of loving random people as much as I do on my own, it is only through the pure love of Christ that I am able to love them. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love each of you individually! The worth of your soul is great in their sight. 

Ofa Atu

Sister Olson