Monday, June 13, 2016

I hope you have not been stressing over my safety mom haha.  I just want to let everyone know that I'm perfectly safe and you don't have to worry about anything.  The police have found absolutely none of our belongings so that's a bummer, but all good haha.  The police in New Zealand are a little slow haha.  I highly doubt that they will find any of our missing items.  I want you to know that our neighborhood is safe, and there is nothing to worry about.  We just had some bad luck with some robbers.  Next time someone tries to rob us, I will be ready though haha.

This week has been another solid week in the life of Elder Brunson.  I love my companion Elder Saurey, he is the man.  We already get along really well, and I'm sure it's going to be an awesome transfer.  Elder Saurey is from Idaho and is almost 20 years old.  He likes sports and is a really good missionary.  I have really been blessed with great companions so far on my mission.  I can't imagine what it would be like to not get along with my companion.  I love the ward so much here as well.  Our bishop’s name is Bishop Leelo and he is the man!  Bishop Leelo is Samoan and is really funny!  His family is the best!  Believe it or not, he has 8 daughters and no sons haha.  I don't know how that is physically possible, but apparently it is.  He has two son in laws that live with him that are way awesome.  Their names are brother Pilling, and brother Maasi.  Brother Pilling is from New Zealand and brother Maasi is Tongan.  Both of them have returned from their missions within the last 5 years.  They are literally the funniest people I have ever met though.  I wish I could explain how cool they are, but I can't.  They are really good at giving advice to Elder Saurey and I, and they do a great job helping us out.  Man this ward feeds us way too much!  Everywhere we go we get fed haha.   I feel like I never stop eating all day, it’s crazy!  I'm definitely going to gain some weight haha.  Tuesday we went up to my first MLC (Missionary Leadership Council).  MLC is a meeting at the beginning of each transfer for Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders at President Rudd's home.  Man it was such an amazing meeting!  I realize that it’s really hard to get to know President and Sister Rudd unless you’re in leadership or you’re disobedient.  Well before this transfer I was neither of those so I really didn't get to know President and Sister Rudd very well.  I felt like in just one MLC meeting though, I know them better than my entire mission put together.  I could feel how much they love each of us as missionaries and how much they want our success.  It was also amazing to see how much they love the gospel.  Their testimonies are so strong and it is so great to get to be around them.  It's going to be really sad to see them go.  After the training we had a huge feed.  It was so good!  It was awesome to get to catch up with all of the missionaries too.  There are definitely some props to being a zone leader, but I'm really going to miss being able to train.  I loved training new missionaries and being put with Elders that had heaps of energy to go out and do the work!  There is always a special energy in new missionaries, a type of energy that I want to be able to sustain throughout my entire mission.  Time sure is flying by fast though; I think someone needs to slow down the clocks.  Thursday was my first Zone meeting being a zone leader.  It was pretty crazy, but I think trying to fulfill my calling as a district leader really helped prepare me to be a zone leader.  There really is not much of a difference between the two haha. 

We had something funny happen on Sunday.  So Elder Saurey and I were at our flat eating lunch Sunday afternoon.    It was time to go so we cleaned up lunch and went to get into the car.  When we got out to the car Elder Saurey realized he didn't have the keys.  When we went back to get the keys from the flat, we realized that we had locked the keys inside of the flat.  We called the land lord who is the only person who had a spare key because our door had to get replaced when the robbers kicked the door down.  Anyway, we called the Land Lord and she didn't answer.  The other funny part of the story was that our suit coats and bags were in the car.  We ended up walking over to bishop’s house and got a ride with brother Maasi.  It was really funny though because we showed up to church without suits on and we didn't even have our scriptures.  Sunday night Elder Saurey and I were spoiled by an awesome family in our ward, the Kalonhi family.  The Kalonhi family has a daughter serving in our mission.  I have met their daughter once at the visitor center across from the temple.  Anyway, the Kalonhi family had us over for dinner Sunday night.  We had a really good feed.  After dinner we shared a message with them about prophets, and it was a really good lesson.  After our lesson sister Kalonhi asked us what size shoe we wear.  I told her that I wore a 10.5 or 11.  Well she went into another room and came back with two new pair of Adidas shoes.  She said that they were too small to fit her son and that we could have them if they fit.  I tried telling them over and over again that I couldn't take the shoes without paying for them.  However, nothing I said was going to work.  So I ended up with a brand new pair of shoes.  It is really amazing to see how much love the islanders have for the missionaries, they do so much for us and they are so faithful to their covenants as well.  I think we all need a little more islander in us.  I'm really thankful for the shoes, because I keep breaking my ankles in the shoes I have, but these are high tops so I will have more ankle support.  We may have been robbed, but we are definitely being blessed more than we need by the ward, so you don't have to worry!  I'm really excited for this next week, because Tuesday we will have a Zone conference to say goodbye to President and Sister Rudd.  It should be really awesome!  I still love being a missionary, and the church is still true!  I love you all! Stay safe and remember that Heavenly Father loves us and knows each of us individually.  

Love,
Elder Brunson