Monday, May 2, 2016

This whole week I have been anticipating the arrival of my mom in New Zealand.  I thought after not sending an email this last week that my mom would definitely turn up to my flat and give me a hiding haha.  However, to my surprise, she never showed up haha.  My parents had no problem turning up to my cousin’s mission flat so you never know what momma Brunson has up her sleeve.  I really do apologize though for not being able to give you an update on my last week.  I had actually typed up a really good letter and was a little flustered when it got deleted.  Hopefully my anger has been able to decrease instead of my throwing of golf clubs halfway down the fairway haha.  I would like to see if I have more patience in my golf game when I get home.

I will try and give you an update of the past two weeks, but I mostly have things to talk about from two weeks ago.  I have some bad news though and I have some good news.  The bad news first.  The pair of church shoes that I came out on my mission with have now moved on.  Now these church shoes were not just any church shoes.  I had these shoes for ages before I came out on my mission.  They have probably been the best pair of shoes I have owned.  I'm also really sad that I didn't get a picture with them before they left me.  You might be wondering where the shoes are now.  That is the good news!  My shoes have gone to a better place, and no they have not gone to heaven.  My shoes are now with a less active member Aaron Harrison-Love.  Aaron is 16 years old and is so awesome!  I thought that I would share a little bit about him because it has been so good for Elder Suriben and I to get to work with him.  So a couple transfers ago when I first came to Waitara, Elder Vaea and I would go and try to visit Aaron.  However, Aaron was not making the best choices and so he was dodging us.  We were trying our best to see him, but we could never catch up with him.  About two weeks ago we finally caught our break.  We went to go and visit one of our investigators Jesse Luke.  Jesse is 20 years old and we have been teaching him.  He isn't really progressing very well though.  When we turned up to see Jesse though, Aaron was there.  We got talking and ended up having a really good lesson with them.  We could tell Aaron really wanted to change and that he wasn't doing very good, but that he just didn't know how to change.  Since that visit we have been able to have regular visits with him and he has come to church the past two Sundays!  He has changed so much since the first time I meet him.  Before you could really tell that he was not doing the best things.  We could tell that he was really going through a hard time and didn't really have the spirit with him.  Now it is completely different!  We can just see that he is booming with the spirit.  I don't even know how to explain it, but we can just see it.  He is so happy and excited to learn more about the gospel, and he wants to prepare for a mission.  It has been such a great blessing to get to work with him and to see him change.  He is now reading The Book of Mormon, and gets so excited to learn more about it.  Back to the shoes haha.  Aaron really wanted to come to church, but he didn't have any dress shoes.  I told him that he could have my shoes, because I had another pair at the flat.  So Elder Suriben and I went back to our flat that night and polished up the shoes and gave them to him.  They actually looked pretty nice after we polished them.  One of the shoes is split in half though, but you can't tell unless you look at the bottom of the shoe.  He wears them to church on Sunday though, and I'm glad that they have gone to a better place haha.  I was really hoping to make it to my year mark with them though.  I knew that if I could make it to my year mark that my other shoes would be able to last me the rest of my mission.

The weather is getting much colder!  There isn’t snow on Mt Taranaki yet though, so that's good.  It won’t snow in Waitara, but it will get really cold!  At church this Sunday I was freezing cold!!!  It was miserable haha.  Everyone was making fun of me because I was rubbing my legs up and down haha.  I would think that my hairy legs would keep me warm, but apparently not haha.  It reminded me of my first Sunday of church out in the mission field back in Wairoa.  It was freezing cold outside and I was so excited to get into the chapel.  However, when I got into the chapel it was freezing cold!  I then realized how thankful I was for the heating of buildings back in the United States.  It's going to be another long winter haha.  Just kidding I will manage!  I love being a missionary though, I'm, still trying to work hard.  I know that families can be together forever through Heavenly Fathers plan!  I have the best family in the whole world!  I love you all heaps!

Love,

Elder Brunson 

(Hopefully this email actually sends haha)