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.