Sunday, August 9, 2015

It has been a great week!                                                           Monday, August 10, 2015

So mamma and papa Brunson are really worrying about this ankle of mine, so I better start with that.  I still have a little bruising on my ankle, but the swelling is all gone, I think haha. I haven't really looked at it lately.  I can walk perfectly fine on it, but I can’t run yet!  It still gets pretty sore, especially during the morning, but I will be fine!  It is almost healed up I think.  So don't worry!  The Lord will provide haha.

OH THE WEATHER OUTSIDE is FRIGHTFUL!!!! It’s winter all right haha. Yesterday it wasn't raining cats and dogs, it was raining hippos and elephants!  It was pretty insane.  We went out tracting in it haha.  It was crazy!  We had set a goal to talk with 100 people this past week and we needed 26 more people.  So we went out and knocked on about 60 doors in the pouring rain.  It was awesome!  And out of all the doors we knocked on, only one person let us in and he was an atheist.  He just wanted to talk though.  I think some people want to talk to us just because we are American.  Alright, so you kind of get the picture for how the weather was yesterday.  Well last night was even more insane! I thought the roof of our house was going to collapse down on top of us.  I kept waking up all night long because the rain was so loud!  Well I thought I had seen and heard everything until I woke up this morning.  No joke, there was snow!!!!!  Not very much but it was crazy haha. I am pretty sure it doesn't usually snow here! I took a picture from inside the flat but it wasn't very good.  It wasn't like the snow we have at home.  It was more icy.  It is still pouring today so it should be a fun preparation day.  Last preparation day we drove up to Gisborne and had Papa Johns and went shopping, it was pretty fun!

Mom, to answer your next concern, I am now getting fed so you don't have to worry.  We went shopping last pday and got cereal and milk, so I have had breakfast every day this week.  Also a lady paid for our groceries so that was pretty cool!  We think she is a member up in the Nuhaka ward.  That is about 20 minutes from here and that is where the only other Elders in our district are.  We also got fed dinner by a member every day last week except Sunday!  One night a family took us to this place called Fish and Feathers after their daughter’s baptism.  I had the best burger I have ever had in my life!  It had egg, patty, ham, cheese, and tomato sauce.  I literally died and went to heaven!  Tomato sauce here is our ketchup but 10 times better!  It reminds me of a mix of ketchup and Arby’s sauce, which I love!  I could literally eat tomato sauce with everything.  Another member, Brother McRoberts, who is the second counselor in the Bishopric, bought us Curry King.  Curry King is so good!  They have buttered chicken and it is so good!  Everyone says Curry King has the best Indian food in New Zealand.

Yes mom, I do have the money on my Schwab card and I'm not going to lose it!  I'm not sure when I will pay for the bike but probably soon!  Lots of Elders have had their bikes get stolen so I am going to try and be really careful with it when I use it!  They make you buy a brand new one again!  So lots of missionaries have spent over $1,200 just on their bikes that they rarely use!

I am getting to know lots of people in the ward.  They are all really nice, and they love the missionaries!  It is so crazy though, everyone here is divorced or not married.  It is so sad!  So we rarely go into member’s homes to eat because they are single ladies so we can’t go in.  We just pick up the food and take it home to eat.  The ward does have a primary, one young woman, and no young men.  Everyone in Wairoa is a member.  Almost everyone has met the missionaries and most people don’t want to meet them again haha.  So we have a bazillion less active people that we can go and see.  It is really hard to find new investigators though.  We did have two investigators at church this week.  One of them is Pauly.  He is 17 but looks like he is in his 20's.  Everyone here looks way older than they really are.  He is super cool though!  I hope he keeps meeting with us. We just met him though so we will see.  GREAT NEWS…one of our investigators named Matiu is set for baptism on the 22nd.  The day I met Matiu, Elder Holmes asked if he would be baptized.  Elder Holmes has been here for six weeks so he knows everyone and has been meeting with Matiu.  Matiu took all the lessons with the Sister missionaries up in Hastings.  He is 36 and is one of the nicest guys I have met.  His wife's name is Geraldine and she is a member.  They feel like family to me and I have only been in their house a couple times.  Geraldine has three sons from a previous marriage who are serving missions.  She is a school teacher and her husband doesn't work and she has to pay for 3 missionaries, I'm not sure how she does it.  I can’t wait for Matiu to be baptized!  I literally played no role in his conversion, but regardless, it makes me so happy to see someone come to know the truthfulness of the gospel, it is really amazing!

This week I had two items that reminded me of the states. Cream soda and sour patch kids!!  It was the best hahaha. I love cream soda!  Everything here is so expensive, it is crazy!  The food costs so much money!  A can, one can, a single can, uno can, costs $1.  It is ridiculous!  I miss Circle K so much!

Here is some really exciting news.  I made an awesome purchase this week.  I bought a 1 dollar golf club!!!  It is so rusty haha! The Nuhaka Elders have golf balls so last pday I hit a ball for the first time in 3 weeks with my new club.  I was aiming in between two houses into a field.  The houses were super close together so I was really worried haha. Plus I had the funkiest golf club I have ever seen in my hand.  I will send a picture next week because I forgot to take a picture of it.  It is kind of like a hybrid though.  Anyway, back to hitting the ball…I straight crushed it!  It felt so good haha! I hadn't hit in so long and I only had one chance and I made it worth it.  The other Elders were really impressed haha. 

I know I haven’t answered all of your questions mom but I'm running out of time.  I did have a great experience this week that strengthened my testimony on the power of prayer, and the fact that Heavenly Father knows our needs. Getting to read from The Book of Mormon AND the Bible have really helped to strengthen my testimony.  The Book of Mormon truly is another testament of Jesus Christ, and I haven't truly been able to understand that until I started reading from the Bible.  When you read scriptures from the Bible and The Book of Mormon, you can clearly see the relationship of the two books!  If you are a member or a nonmember and you are reading this letter I would encourage you to read The Book of Mormon because it is the best book on the face of this earth!

I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Brunson

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