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!