A hike we went on during pday.

The flood.

Monday, September 28, 2015

This week was soooooooo crazy!  There was a flood!  And I even left the mission!

Monday-  We had a flood!  It was almost like Noah and the ark all over again.  Elder Holmes and I thought about building a boat.  There has been so much rain lately that our river overflowed and flooded parts of the town.  All the houses were fine, but some streets got covered in water.  One of the roads that closed was the Gorge.  The Gorge is the road we usually take to get to Hamilton.  We had planned to leave at 2:00 and go through the Gorge to get to the temple.  Instead we left at 3:00 and had to take an alternate road that took us out of the mission so we could get to the temple.  But once we started on this new route a lake was starting to form on the road.  These guys in orange vests were standing in front of the water, so we were really sad because we didn’t think we would be able to get to the temple.  However, the Lord provided a way and I parted the Lake like Moses parted the Red Sea.  Not really but that would have been way cool haha.  Instead the guys told us that we could drive through it but we just needed to be very careful.  I took a video of it and it was the craziest thing ever haha.  We later found out that the road we drove through was closed 30 minutes after we had drove through.  It was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord!

Tuesday- Temple day!  I love the temple so much!  I could pretty much sum Tuesday up with that.  I always thought that Disneyland was the happiest place on earth but it turns out that it is the temple!  The temple is where families can be together forever.  It is where we get the opportunity to make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father that will bring us eternal happiness.  I wish our investigators could really understand that.  If they did, I know that they would do everything they could to be baptized and prepare to go to the temple.  The temple changes lives!  The temple food was mean as!  It was literally sooooo good!  I ate way too much but oh well!  Story of the mission is eating way too much haha.

Wednesday-  I went on a mean exchange with my grandfather (my trainer’s trainer).  I'm pretty sure that doesn’t happen very often.  He is way cool, and we have a ton in common.  We both play golf!  We talked a ton and he really helped me not feel so inadequate.  Sometimes I get down on myself because I feel like I don't have very much knowledge of the gospel, which is pretty true haha.  I’ve realized how little I know the Bible since being on a mission.  I have been reading the little picture book that summarizes the stories of the Bible, like the book from the 90's haha. Hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about!  Anyway, I’ve realized that the only thing I need to teach is a desire and my testimony.  I don't need to compare myself with others.  If I am giving all of my effort, the Lord is going to be pleased with me.  The Holy Ghost will testify through me if I am being sincere in what I say, no matter how eloquent I say the words.

Sunday- Sunday was so mean!  We had 5 investigators at church!  It was a miracle!  One of our newest investigators, Bon Paul came to church.  A little bit about Bon. We have only met him once but he was taught by previous elders and later dropped.  He has a problem keeping the word of wisdom but he committed Sunday to keep the Word of Wisdom. He seems super pumped about the gospel so that is way cool!  Another person who came was Charlie and his three boys, Mokau (10), Rungi (9), and Nana (5).  They are the coolest family ever, I love them so much.  They have been taught the lessons by previous missionaries as well, but I'm really hoping we can get them to progress.  I hope we can help them understand the happiness that will come into their life from becoming members of the church.  Not just happiness but a sense of direction and purpose!  The final investigator was Matiu.  He is the man and I love him and Geraldine so much.  They treat us as if we are their kids, they are the most amazing people.  I truly love the people of New Zealand and I love caring about people.  Back home I cared about people but not the way you care about people when you are a missionary.  I love serving the Lord and each week keeps getting better and better.  I probably forgot to say something because this week was so crazy!  The power went out in our flat today and won’t be on until 4:30 so we had to go to Nuhaka to email.  I love this gospel so much, and I really can’t put into words but I am truly happy.

Love, 

Elder Brunson  

Spider bites

Most spiders in New Zealand are harmless, but the katipo, redback and white-tailed spiders can be harmful and should be avoided.

• It’s rare for significant problems to result from a spider bite.
• Always try to capture the spider and take it with you when you seek medical help.

Katipo spiders

Female katipo spider, photo by Jess Costall / CC BY 2.0.

Bites

Because of the katipo’s increasing rarity and non-aggressive nature bites are rare.

Typical symptoms of katipo bites include pain at the bite site, which may spread to other areas, becoming more intense over the next few hours. People may also experience sweating, difficulty in breathing and abdominal cramps.

Redback spiders

Redback spider, photo byRepat / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Bites

Redbacks will only bite when disturbed or trapped in clothing, and bites are rare.

The bite feels like a sharp pain similar to a pinprick. The bite may lead to localised redness, pain and sweating. Occasionally the pain and sweating may spread and stomach pain may occur. Aches in muscles and joints, nausea and vomiting, and increased heart rate and blood pressure can result.

White-tailed spider

White-tailed spider, photo byPhil Bendle / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

The usual white-tailed spider bite can be painful but the initial burning feeling, swelling, redness and itchiness at the bite site usually goes and there are no long-lasting effects.

White-tailed spider bites are not considered poisonous to humans. A recent Australian study has shown no evidence linking necrotic ulcers (destroyed skin) to white-tailed spider bites.

This is my last district photo.
It will probably be my favorite district.

I had to say goodbye to Elder Rios.
I love him.

The new car

Monday, September 14, 2015

So I may have exaggerated a little bit that my companion almost died in my last letter.  He thought he almost died haha, but he is all good.  He did almost die this morning though, it was crazy!  We were just about to leave to go and email and all of a sudden he started freaking out!  He kept brushing his arm off!  I was like what is going on haha.  He was like, “there was a white tail spider on my arm!” (he was wearing a short sleeve shirt).  Sure enough I looked on the ground and there was this massive white tail spider.  White tail spiders are literally the only deadly spider in New Zealand.  Well really they are the only deadly thing in New Zealand.  Australia has lots of deadly animals and bugs but we don't have anything deadly here except this spider.  We ended up killing the spider but now we are super afraid that there are a bunch of them in our house.

Guess what, we got a brand new car!!!!!!!!!!!! We haven't named her yet so I will let you know her name in another letter. This week was also transfer week, my trainer and I are still together.  He is now the District Leader which is pretty mean.  Getting our new car was super crazy.  Tuesday we drove up to Gisborne, which is an hour away and swapped cars with the Zone Leaders.  The Zone Leaders took our super crappy car and drove it up to transfers (which is 5 hours away up in Hamilton).  Friday we had to drive back up to Gisborne with the Zone leader’s car and get our new car. So we spent 4 hours in the car this week just driving two and from Gisborne.  The good news was we got the new car, and I got to eat at Carls Junior so that was a plus!  I'm getting so fat haha.  All we eat is junk haha.  We get fed by members every Monday and Wednesday, but besides that we have been pretty much on our own. We also get fed by our bishop pretty much every time we go over there. He invited us over for dinner on Saturday and it was a crazy experience.  I literally have never eaten so much food in my life!  He just kept making me smash food haha. Guess what we had? Another Boil up! I love boil ups so much!  A boil up consists of Pork Bones, dough boys (dumplings), watercress, and potatoes.  It is exactly what it sounds like, you throw all of the ingredients in a giant pot and you boil it up.  My bishop just kept piling my plate up with food.  Finally he stopped, I thought I was going to explode!  Then Sister Edwards got up and started shuffling around in the kitchen.  I love dessert so much but I was praying that she wouldn't be getting dessert. I looked over at my companion and gave him the look of I think I'm going to explode.  Next thing I know Bishop Edwards says, “the Elders LOVEEE ice cream so give them heaps!” Then my companion knowing that I was extremely full says, "yeah elder Brunson LOOVEES ice cream!” I literally started laughing and I couldn't stop, luckily my bishop is 70 so he didn't really notice.  I couldn't believe that I was going to have to eat more!  Luckily I am writing you today so you all know I survived.  I still can’t believe how much I ate though.

Another crazy experience this week happened while we were at one of our less active member’s home.  Her name is Medi.  She is way cool!  She kind of reminds me of aunt Cindy haha.  So we were sitting in her house and talking with her, and all of a sudden she starts breast feeding her baby!  I was like WOAHH!!!!! Hold up!!! Hahah. I literally have never stared so deeply into someone’s eyes as that night.  It was one of the most awkward things ever haha. I was trying to figure out what to do and then I realized if I lay back on the couch just right and lifted up my leg I could block her chest with my leg hahaha. It was a pretty awkward but funny experience to say the least!  People in New Zealand just do things different than back in the States.  I love the people here though! They are so friendly and are really open with their thoughts, which sometimes isn't a good thing haha.

This week I had a huge aha moment!  I was studying from preach my gospel and I learned how important The Book of Mormon really is!  For example let’s say someone says why can't you guys drink coffee, I would love to join your church but I can’t give up my coffee.  The real question isn’t why can’t you drink coffee.  The real question is, was Joseph Smith a prophet who was receiving revelation from God?  The way to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God is to read and pray about The Book of Mormon.  It is so simple yet so amazing!  All of the questions anyone could ever have in life can be answered through The Book of Mormon.  I wish I would have seen the importance of the book earlier in my life. Since coming out on my mission I have realized how poorly I know The Book of Mormon.  I truly love reading from it every day and my testimony is growing so quickly. There is a great power that comes from reading the book and applying the principles taught. I love The Book of Mormon with all of my heart!  It is truly another testament of Jesus Christ and the only way to find out if the book is true or if Mormons are crazy is to read and pray about the book! It is the only way!  I know Christ’s church is restored to the earth today and I'm so thankful to be a member of his church.

I will end my letter by giving a shout out to Austin Brown for making the WSU golf team! You are the man! 

Love, 

Elder Brunson

PS. This is going to be the longest p.s ever! And I'm not even sure what p.s even stands for haha.  Anyway I had a good experience this week. I saw a guy hitting golf balls in this open field and I told my companion to drive over to him. We got out and started talking with him.  I told him that I loved golf.  We got talking and he asked me if I wanted to hit one.  Guess what club he handed me?!  A 60 degree wedge, I almost died!  I was so nervous to hit it!  My companion had been talking me up and telling the guy how good I was (even though I'm not good).  For those of you who don't know I got the shanks my junior year and that is essentially why I didn't golf that year. The club I started the shanks with was my 60 degree. So all I could think of was shanking this ball and embarrassing myself.  However, I grabbed the club and said sure why not.  I took a couple practice swings and then set up to the ball.  I was so nervous, all I could think of was please Heavenly Father help me not shank this.  I received a tender mercy from the Lord.  I probably hit the best 60 degree wedge I have ever hit in my life!  I don't know what it is about New Zealand but I think I'm getting better at golf!  We ended up getting the guys address and we will probably try and visit with him this week! He told us that his church on Sundays is golf though haha.

Tyler is on track to the Mangaone Caves

Tyler and his companion with the District Leaders

Monday, September 6, 2015

Something about being a missionary makes you do some weird things!

One of the crazy experiences I had this week was on preparation day!  We always meet up with the Elders from Nuhaka (which is about 20 minutes away) for preparation day.  We decided that we were going to go up to these caves.  On are way there I asked if anyone had brought a torch (flashlight).   I was surprised nobody had brought a torch.  So pretty much we had decided to go hike in these caves and we didn't have any light.  We arrived and it was about a half a mile hike to get to the caves.  Once we got to the caves we were trying to figure out how we were going to get through them without any light.  We decide that we would use the light on our cameras to try and get through them. Not only did we have limited light but the caves had massive puddles of water because of heavy rain.  It was quite an adventure, we almost got my companion killed, but other than that it was pretty safe haha. I guess safe as dark caves with practically no light can get.  We came out soaking wet and muddy, but hey we were alive!  On the way back down this mountain I was having a real hard time hiking down because of my ankle!  We came to this spot that was really down-hill and I pretty much had to keep moving because I had so much momentum.  I thought for sure that I was going to fall.  Well to make sure my prediction came true, Elder Rios came flying down the mountain yelling, "I can’t stop! I can’t stop!"  He then grabbed onto me and we both started running!  I thought it would be smart to grab his jacket to try and slow him down.  That didn't quite work... instead his feet came out from under him and we both came smashing into the ground. We were both soaked head to toe from the pouring rain from falling.  It was a pretty crazy day!  My nice black coat got all muddy so I'm sure you can imagine me upset about that haha.  Luckily I got back to the flat that night and the mud came out in the wash!  I even followed the washing instructions on the tag inside the coat, my mom should be proud.

Another funny thing that happened was when I was about to eat breakfast.  I poured my cereal and then realized we were out of milk.  I decided, being the smart missionary that I am, to just mix Milo (hot chocolate) with cold water and pour that over my cereal.  It was probably the unhealthiest breakfast I have eaten, the funny thing was it didn't taste too bad!

This week absolutely flew by!  Saturday we drove up to Gisborne for Stake conference.  We stayed with the Zone leaders and it was way mean!  It was nice to get to relax and just listen to the speakers.  My favorite talk was by this recently returned sister missionary.  She told a story about how one day she put on her name tag and looked in the mirror and just started crying.  She said she missed her mission so much!  But she realized that the name tag doesn't decide whether or not she is a missionary.  She said our name tags should be engraved on our hearts.  I realized that I want the people of New Zealand not to recognize me as being a missionary because of my name tag but because of who I am.

To end this great week guess what I learned?!!!!!!!!!!!! The Haka!!!!! Kamate!!!!!!!!!!! It was so mean!  Matiu (one of our investigators) is our fearless teacher!  We actually haven't learned it all yet. We have the motions down but we still need to learn all of the words. I will try and send a video of it mamma!  It was way mean though!  Afterwards we had another boil up and it was soooooooooo goooood!

My missionary advice for this week is to help out the missionaries!  The best way for missionary work to get done is through members!  Don't be afraid to share the gospel!  The Church is true!  So share it with others!

Love,

Elder Brunson

PS.  I drove for the first time!  It was pretty crazy!  Left side of the road is weird!