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Sunday, October 23, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
I'm sitting here in this email shop and it is absolutely
blazing hot! Usually there are only a few people emailing on Mondays, but
today is a public holiday so the library is closed so I'm sure that's why there
are so many people here. With all the computers going and all the people,
this place very warm.
I will make an attempt to recount this last week and try to
share everything that I felt was important during the week. Let me just
say that this past week has been one of the hardest, but one of the best
weeks! Each week as leaders we get a commitment from the Assistants, at
the end of the week they follow up on the commitment that they left for us and
see how it went. This week’s commitment was to hit the standards of
excellence. The standards of excellence are simply goals that the mission
president feels we can achieve each week that are achievable, but that will
make us stretch. For example the standard for investigators attending
church each Sunday is two. That is probably a really poor
explanation of what they are, but hopefully you kind of get it. Anyway,
for some reason when they gave us the commitment I knew I really wanted to do
everything possible to achieve it. It had been a really long time since I
had hit the standards of excellence since we have been struggling to have people
to teach. This week we worked really hard and it was such a rewarding
week! I will focus on telling you about Sunday because it was
seriously the best day ever! We have been focusing on working with Daniel
and Alofa and Jay and Mary. You may be wondering what happened to Jay and
Mary and if we were still teaching them. Well for the past few weeks
Elder Saurey and I had a really hard time trying to work with Jay and
Mary. At first they were doing so good. They came to church two
Sundays in a row and then all of a sudden they stopped coming to church and
stopped progressing. Then Mary got a job which made things even
worse. She started working on Sundays and therefore couldn't come to
church. Well at the beginning of the week we set some pretty bold
expectations with Jay and Mary. It was amazing because I had been thinking
about why they weren't progressing and then it hit me, they had stopped reading
The Book of Mormon. When they were progressing heaps they were reading
The Book of Mormon heaps. The Book of Mormon is really the key to getting
investigators, your children, you, or a friend to progress in the gospel.
The more you read The Book of Mormon the more converted you will become.
So we decided to explain this to Jay and help him realize that the reason they
had stopped progressing was because they stopped reading The Book of
Mormon. We challenged them to read The Book of Mormon every day for this
week and then to see where they were at, at the end of the week. Well
guess what happened?! Miracles! This past week Jay and Mary have
really been able to get back on track. Unfortunately, Mary still had to
work on Sunday so she couldn't come to church, but this next week she
is asking her boss for Sundays off, and she is telling her that she is willing
to work all 6 other days if she can just have Sundays off. Guess who came
to church though?!!!! Jay and Mary's little sister Serina!! It was so
awesome that they came. What is even better is that Jay talked to Bishop
about wanting to get the Aaronic Priesthood. Bishop told him what he
needed to do and so Jay is really excited about preparing himself to baptize
Mary. He is going on Tuesday to apply for their marriage
certificate, and then we are going to work the whole wedding out! They
still need to quit smoking which is their major concern, but I know if they
take the step of faith to get married that the Lord will make sure they can
overcome the word of wisdom. So things are again rolling with Jay and
Mary so we are super happy. Well if that wasn't a good enough miracle let’s
go for round two. Alofa and Daniel! Alofa and Daniel are doing
amazing! We taught them several times this week and had some amazing lessons.
Daniel is still not committing to get baptized yet, but he is really coming
along. Daniel and Alofa have been reading The Book of Mormon
together! Daniel is so sweet. He
was chapter 17 and he started all the way over so he could read together with
Alofa. Daniel really loves The Book of Mormon and just like Jay and Mary
it is really helping him to progress. Well, they committed to coming to
church on Sunday and so we were super pumped. It came time for
church on Sunday and guess what?! It was 2:00 and
they weren't there. (By the way church starts at 2:00.) Elder
Taito and I were so sad! I couldn't believe that they didn't come.
Well we were saying the opening prayer and as the lady was saying the opening
prayer I was praying that Daniel and Alofa would come to church. When I
opened my eyes after the prayer was finished I looked over to Elder Taito and
immediately my eyes were on Daniel and Alofa. At first my brain didn't
realize that it was them. However, after my moment of shock I realized
that they were at church!!!! I was so happy! The spirit was so
strong! It was literally the best feeling ever. I can't think of
too many times where I was so happy. Guess what made it even
better?! They stayed for all three hours of church. The third hour
was the best though. During opening exercises of priesthood they had all
of the visitors introduce themselves. Well it came time for Daniels turn
and he stood up. Just a background on Daniel, he is pretty shy and really
doesn't like talking in front of new people. Daniel stood up and he
frantically looked around and looked to us with a panicked expression on his
face. We looked to Daniel and just told him to say his name. Well
Daniel eventually said his name and much more! Daniel explained that he
had been meeting with us for the past few weeks and that we had been sharing
messages with him to help him in his life. He told them that we had
invited him to read the Book of Mormon and that he had been reading it and it
was really helping him. He said that he knew he needed to just keep
reading the Book of Mormon because it would give him more understanding and
that it would help him keep coming to church. I can't remember everything he
said, but it was so sincere! He pretty much bore testimony of the Book of
Mormon and the church without even realizing it. It was definitely one of
the coolest experiences on my mission. Not because of what we had done,
because we hadn't done anything. But because the Lord, through The Book of
Mormon and His missionaries, can change the hearts of His children. It
truly is an amazing work that we each can be part of. Be a
missionary! No matter who you are or how capable you think you are, be a
missionary. I can promise that you will feel the most joy in sharing the
gospel. I love you all and thank you for your great examples.
Love,
Elder Brunson
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Monday, October 16, 2016
New Zealand is officially the most bipolar country in the
entire world. The weather this week has been 4 different seasons all in
one day, every day this week. There has not been one day this week when
the weather of the day stayed the same haha. There was never just a sunny
day, or just a rainy day, or just a windy day. It was a sunny day, windy
day, and rainy day all in one day haha. I would think people
would get a lot more sick than they do with all the changes in the weather, but
for the most part it seems just about the same as back home. I can't wait
for December to come because that is always the nicest month! I love the
summers in New Zealand! I love working in any weather, but I especially
love working when it is sunny outside! Everyone seems to be much more
receptive when it is a sunny day. Summer should be just around the corner
though. It’s crazy to think that the
month of October is already almost over. I don't know where all the time
goes haha.
This week was pretty stressful still trying to adjust to the
new responsibilities; however I think it went really well for the most
part. This week on Tuesday we had MLC in Hamilton so I drove up
with Elder Van Thiel. Elder Van Thiel is from South Africa and is a
really good missionary! Guess who his companion is?!!! My son!!!!!
Elder Barbosa!!!! I got to see Elder Barbosa a few times this week, It
was really good to be able to catch up with him. It's so funny to hear
him talk now because he still has a very heavy accent. I got so used to
it when I was with him that I didn't even notice haha. Now it is a lot
more obvious. It was awesome reminiscing on good ole Wairoa. We
talked about the people we used to visit and what has happened to the area
since we have left. It was really funny having two of my sons in the car
together at the same time. It's amazing how blessed I have been with my
companions. They are all very different, but I feel like I have gotten a
long with them all equally well. Anyway, Tuesday I drove up to
Hamilton with Elder Van Thiel. It was cool getting to talk with him about
missionary work, and to get some good insights from him since he is very
experienced and is going home in January with Elder Holmes, and Elder
Saurey. The meeting was really good and it was quite helpful for me
because part of the training was on handling stress. I learned some good
tips that I can definitely apply into my life haha. This week was pretty
stressful up until Thursday afternoon. The reason I was so
stressed was because I knew I would have to do zone meeting all by myself on
Thursday morning. I had pretty much just one hour during personal
study on Wednesday to plan the meeting, so I started stressing out
about it on Monday. However, I got everything all figured out and
was able to give the training on Thursday. I think it went alright,
but I was so relieved when it was over haha.
Elder Taito and I had a really good week though and had some
really awesome lessons. It was so sad though because we were really
hoping to have a lot of people at church on Sunday, but nobody really
turned up. The Lord did bless us with a tender mercy though and we had a
less active lady that we just met this week attend church. Her name is
Pepetua and she is Tongan. We found her this week when we were just
knocking on doors. She invited us in right away and she then told us she
was a member of the church. We had a really awesome lesson with her and
she said she really wanted to come to church. She is in her 20's and has
a little girl and has a partner who she lives with. Her partner is not a
member of the church and unfortunately he is not really interested in the
gospel. However, she turned up to church on Sunday all by herself
and it was really cool to see that she came. We had a really solid week
at randomly finding less active families. We also found an awesome
Fijian/Indian family who we are going to start working with. We were also
randomly knocking on doors and sister Chandar invited us in right away. I
was pumped again because I thought she was a nonmember haha. I always get
so excited when people invite us in on the first visit, but I'm always hoping
they are nonmembers haha. We are still happy to work with less active
members though. Well we reviewed the restoration with sister Chandar and
her son who is 13. We are excited though because sister Chandar said that
her older son who is 18 but was sleeping is not a member of the church.
So hopefully we have a potential there. Sister Chandar said that they
would be at church on Sunday, but sadly they didn't turn up.
The other family we have really been working with a lot is
Daniel and Alofa. There was heaps of progress with them this week!
I don't know what I have said about Daniel and Alofa so I might say some things
that you have already heard. Daniel is a nonmember and his partner (not
wife) is Alofa. Alofa is a less active member who we met just shortly
after her mom passed away. She said that her mom always wanted her to be
at church and so she asked us to review the plan of salvation with her.
When we first met Daniel he seemed really nice, but he didn't seem too
interested in our message. However, he has really began to
progress. You may be wondering why? It's an easy answer because he
is reading The Book of Mormon!!! We gave him The Book of Mormon and
invited him to read it last week and he has read a lot! At the beginning of the
week, on Tuesday Daniel called and he was really upset. I was
in Hamilton though so I said we could come later. Daniel could hardly
speak on the phone and said that he just wanted to give up trying. Last
week Daniel and Alofa told us that they wanted to give up drinking and smoking
together. I was trying to get Daniel to open up, but he wouldn't let me
know what was going on. After a long silence he finally agreed that we could
come over later. However, on our way back from Hamilton Daniel sent a
text and said that he wasn't really in the mood to talk today. Well I got
back from Hamilton and talked about it with Elder Taito. We decided that
despite Daniels text we would go over and see how he was doing. It was a
scary decision to make, but we made it anyways. It turned out to be a
really good decision. We had an awesome lesson with Daniel! Daniel
was upset because Alofa had gone and bought cigarettes. Daniel felt like
she had let him down, and he just wanted to stop trying. He didn't smoke
any of them, but he was mad that she did. We had a really good lesson
though, and Daniel told us how much he had been reading. He had read up
to 1 Nephi 7 which doesn't seem like heaps probably, but for Daniel that was a
huge step. The more amazing part was that he understood and remembered
what he read. Daniel was really happy though that we came over. The
best part of the lesson was at the end though! We have been trying for the
past few visits to get Daniel to say the closing prayer, but we had no
luck. However, at the end of the lesson we finally got him to commit to
say the prayer. He gave the closing prayer, and it was so sincere!
After he closed the prayer we all sat in silence as tears streamed down Daniels
face. It was one of the coolest moments on my mission. Then on
Thursday we got a text from Daniel and he asked us if we could come over
and share another message. We were pumped and said of course! We
went and had another really good lesson and we followed up again on his Book Of
Mormon reading and he was up to chapter 16 of the Book Of Mormon, we talked
about 1 Nephi 8 with him and it was way good! We got a return appointment
for the next night. We asked brother and sister Saliva to come with us to
the lesson. Brother and Sister Saliva are a young Samoan couple and they
have a girl the same age as Daniel and Alofa. They are the perfect
fellowship for them! Well they came with us and the spirit was so strong in
the lesson. It was so awesome because Brother Saliva is a convert of a
couple of years and he was pretty much in the exact same situation as
Daniel. Sister Saliva was a less active member and brother Saliva was her
partner and wasn't a member of the church. It was so cool because Daniel
was able to relate with him and it really helped him. Daniel was even
able to come to sports night afterward and he stayed with brother Saliva and
played basketball. The saddest part was that they didn't show up to church on
Sunday :( We went over Sunday night though and talked with
Alofa and she explained why they didn't come. She promised us that they
would come next week. We are excited to keep working with them
though! Overall it was another awesome week in the beautiful country of
New Zealand. Adios Muchachos.
Love,
Elder Brunson
Elder Brunson
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
Surprise!!!
Transfers brought a surprise. I have a third son! My first son was
Elder Barbosa who was Brazilian, my second son Elder Suriben was Filipino, and
now my third son Elder Taito is Samoan. Elder Taito was born in
American Samoa, but he has spent his entire life growing up in the United
States. Both of his parents are full Samoan, but he never learned Samoan
growing up. He has been called to the Samoan program, but he is going to
be in the English program with me for at least the first two transfers.
Well I'm not even positive that we will stay together two transfers, but that
is my guess haha. So now I get the difficult task of balancing training
and being a solo zone leader. To be 100% honest, this week has been
really stressful. I still get really stressed about new things and this
week was definitely something that took me out of my comfort zone. I'm
sure you can just picture me freaking out mom haha. We got the call from
President Cummings on Tuesday that Elder Saurey would be leaving.
He told Elder Saurey that he would be getting released as a zone leader and
asked to open a new area and train. I was then expecting to hear who my
new companion would be. However, President Cummings took us all by
surprise and asked me to train and be a solo zone leader. I of course
said I would fulfill the assignment, but didn't really think about what that
would entail. However, after the call the more I thought about it the
more worried I became. I'm such a bad decision maker as everyone knows, and
I knew that I was going to be responsible for making all of the decisions on my
own. I have definitely learned to rely on the Lord this week. I'm
thankful that we never have to be alone in the work! The Lord will always
be there to comfort us and to help us get through each and every day.
Wednesday and Thursday were definitely the
most stressful days of the week. Wednesday night I had to
coordinate all of the transfer plans for the next day. I had to make sure
everyone knew when they were getting on the bus, I had to make sure everyone
would have companions when their companions got on buses, I had to schedule
rides for the sisters to be able to get to the bus stop. Let me tell you
a lot goes in to making sure everyone gets where they are supposed to be when
they are supposed to be there. Other than that, Wednesday was a
really good day! We mostly just said goodbye to people for Elder
Saurey. We had a massive feed at Alofa and Daniel’s house. I can't
remember if I have talked about Alofa and Daniel. I'm pretty sure I did
though. Alofa is a less active member and her partner Daniel is not a
member of the church. We had a mean feed with them and a good
lesson! We are really hoping to get Alofa back to church and Daniel baptized.
They have a lot of things to work on though, but they are definitely starting
to progress. Elder Taito and I went and taught them later on in the week
and had an awesome lesson. In the lesson, Alofa told us that her and
Daniel had been talking and that they want to give up smoking and
drinking. She also said that they want to meet with the bishop so they
can make the necessary steps to come back into the gospel. We are so
excited for them and their desire to progress. We have a Family Home
Evening planned with them tonight!
Thursday was absolutely crazy! However, with that
being said nobody missed their bus and everyone got to the areas where they are
supposed to be. The most stressful part of it all is that two new Tongan
Elders got double shifted into the zone and I have to figure out how to split
their area up with the other Tongan Elders, and make sure that they have some
people within their area to see. I do have a sad, crazy, funny story to
tell about transfers haha. So it was Thursday
morning at 9:00 and heaps of missionaries were waiting to get on the
bus from three different zones. Well it was a really hard day for me
because I didn't want to say goodbye to Elder Saurey. Elder Saurey and I
have really gotten along and I knew it was going to suck to say goodbye.
Well the bus rolled in and it was finally time to say goodbye. All the
other missionaries had gotten on the bus besides Elder Saurey. I really
didn't want him to leave, but I had to say goodbye. Before I knew it,
tears were coming down my face as I was saying my last goodbye to Elder
Saurey. It was super embarrassing because there were other missionaries
around. Well he got on the bus and I turned to all the other missionaries
with tears in my eyes and said, " I think someone misprinted my badge, it
should say sister Brunson." We all
had a good laugh as the bus started to pull away. Well as the bus started
pulling away a panicked zone leader, Elder Van Thiel, ran after the bus and
started banging on the side of it. However, the bus did not stop and
motored away. He gave up running after it and just stopped. I was
quickly trying to figure out why he was running after it. Then I turned
and saw Elder Fesolia. Elder Fesolia was from my zone and was supposed to
be on the bus!!! Next thing I knew, I was sucking in my tears and
sprinting after the bus that by now was way ahead of me. I kept sprinting
after the bus anyway, but was quickly losing hope. My only chance was if
the light ahead of the bus stayed red. I could feel the burn in my legs
and knew I didn't have much time to catch it. Luckily, the Lord was on my
side and I was able to finally catch the bus. I banged on the driver’s
window and saw Elder Saurey standing up in the bus. Elder Fesolia ran to
the bus and hopped on. Well I waved goodbye and jogged on back to the bus
stop. All the missionaries were super pumped that I was able to catch the
bus haha. They were asking me if I ran track. I told them I didn't even think I was running
that fast, since I had lost hope that I could even catch it. But it all worked out.
Thursday at 11:00 Elder Taito arrived.
We pretty much spent the rest of the day picking up and dropping off
missionaries. There is so much that I would love to write about, but I
don't have very much time. In summary, Elder Taito is a really awesome
Elder. I can already tell that he wants to work hard, and use every
minute to share the gospel. He seems really shy, but he is definitely
starting to open up. He is a really humble person and I'm sure we are
going to get along great. I was reading Elder Cannon’s email home and I
can add my testimony to his that the Lord has truly blessed me with amazing
companions. I have been able to get along great with all of my
companions! I'm so thankful that I have been able to have companions that
want to work hard.
We had a really awesome lesson this week with a 17 year old
named Diamond. Diamond is a Samoan boy whose mom joined the church when
she was 8 when she was living in Samoa with her Auntie. Diamond is a
really cool kid and he let us teach him the restoration. Elder Taito
invited him to be baptized and he said he would!!! We were pumped!
The new missionaries are always given the goal to invite someone to be baptized
their first week! Elder Taito even invited Daniel to be baptized as well
so he is smashing it! We went and followed up on Sunday with
Diamond to see if he had the chance to pray about our message. He was so
happy and said that he has been praying a lot! He says that he just feels
so good when he prays! He said he didn't know if his prayer has been
answered, but he assured us that he would keep praying! He was so happy
though to talk to us and we invited him to a family home evening at the
Pritchard’s house tonight! We are really hoping that he comes!
Conference was so good!!!!! I wish I had time to talk
about it in depth. I loved so many talks, but my favorite session had to
be the priesthood session! It was so good! I wish I could have gone
with RT and Big Rog. They came one year and I'm sure they would have
enjoyed the talks. I always miss going to priesthood session with the
guys, and then going out to dinner afterwards! Sunday afternoon
session was really good as well because our investigators Zavier and Amy showed
up!! They came with their two boys Tyson and Genesis! They said
they really enjoyed it! My favorite talk from that session was K Brett
Nattrass when he told the story about his mom reading The Book of Mormon to
him. It made me think of my faithful mom who would continue to show faith
and read the scriptures to her son Brett (Elder Brunson) even though he would
always complain about scripture study! I want everyone to know that I
have the best mom in the whole world! I love you mom! It was such
an amazing weekend. I can't remember who was saying this, I think it
might have been Grandpa Ottley. Anyway, someone was saying that they
loved conference because they get to hear from the Apostles who are like really
good friends that you haven't heard from in a long time. I definitely
felt that spirit as I watched General Conference. I love the Prophet and
the Apostles so much! They really have become my close friends!
Their voices soothe my heart and their messages help me receive revelation for
my life. I can't wait to go back and study their talks! They are
amazing men who are truly called of God. I know that they represent our
savior Jesus Christ. I have a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s church here upon the earth. It is the
only organization you will find that is identical to the church Christ
established when he came to the earth. I love the gospel so much.
I'm so thankful for living prophets and Apostles.
Love,
Elder Brunson
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Monday October 3, 2016
Transfers....noooo!! Well, two transfers ago we
thought Elder Saurey may or may not leave. One transfer ago we thought Elder
Saurey would definitely leave. So we have sadly decided that there is no
way that Elder Saurey will stay another transfer. Who knows though, maybe
the Lord has other plans in mind haha. However, we are pretty positive he
will be gone, especially when your papi is the assistant and he drops hints
about everything haha. We are really sad because the work has really
started picking up in our area. It seems like things are finally coming
together and that we are going to have some good success. This week was a
pretty crazy weak! I think I say that every single week though
haha. No two weeks on the mission are the same though. Something
weird or different always happens to throw the schedule off. This week
Elder Saurey got sick so that made for a really interesting week. I
honestly can't remember what happened this week right now, but I will try and
see what I can remember.
Tuesday- Every Tuesday we have district meeting
from 10:30-12:00. There are two districts in our zone so Elder
Saurey and I switch off with which district meeting we go to. This week
we were on schedule to go to Elder Mathews district meeting since we went to
Elder Osborn’s the week before. Guess who also turned up to Elder Mathews
district meeting haha? President Cummings!!! Man I would have been
so nervous if President Rudd randomly turned up to one of my training's when I
was a district leader. Elder Mathews had actually assigned sister
Hazelette to give the training though so he lucked out. She did a really
good job with the training and we all played jeopardy. It went really
well and President Cummings had lots of good insights. I thought it was
really cool that he came to the district meeting. I can tell that
President Cummings really wants to get to know each missionary, and wants to
make sure we know who he is. He is already doing a great job being our
mission president.
Wednesday- Wednesday we went on exchanges with
the missionaries in the MTC. We go on exchanges with them once a
transfer, and it is always really fun to be with the new missionaries.
They are always really scared, but they are so excited to get out and
work. I went out with an Elder Hart who is coming to our mission.
Elder Hart was from Australia and grew up in the church. He had a really
good understanding of the gospel and I'm sure he will be a great
missionary. After the exchanges with the MTC we started an exchange with
Elder Mathews and Elder Fesolia. I went with Elder Mathews in his area
and Elder Fesolia went with Elder Saurey to our area. I was super pumped
to be with Elder Mathews. Elder Mathews is from the South Island of New
Zealand, he is 25 years old, and he is a convert to the church. Elder
Mathews is one of my favorite Elders that I have served around. He
doesn't have heaps of gospel knowledge because he is a convert, but he has so
much enthusiasm for missionary work. He is always so happy and loves
going out and working hard. It was the first time that I have been able
to go on an exchange with him. We talked with heaps of people and saw many
miracles! We met heaps of potential people that they could start
teaching. It was probably the best exchange I have been on! It made
me feel really good because Elder Mathews said that I really helped him to feel
confident to talk to people, and he really wants to go out and talk to everyone
now. The funny thing was Elder Mathews just kept telling me how much I
was helping him, when it really was the opposite. I think we all need a
little more Elder Mathews in our life, and need to be more enthusiastic about
doing the Lord’s work. He really helped me stay motivated all day and
helped me to be happy. I'm not saying I'm grumpy on the other days haha,
but sometimes I could definitely use a little more energy. Unfortunately,
Elder Saurey and Elder Fesolia didn't have as much luck on their exchange
because Elder Saurey got sick. We thought about ending the exchange, but
we decided to keep it going! I'm really glad we did because I hate
sitting in the flat, and Elder Mathews and I had an awesome exchange.
Thursday- Thursday morning Elder Mathews and I got
to go and do service at the marae! The marae’s in South Auckland are
trying these programs where they are housing homeless people. They allow
the people to sleep in the marae's and feed them all 3 meals every day.
Elder Mathews and I and the Finlayson sisters, sister Kearon and Urgel helped
out in the kitchen. We prepared the meanest lunch! I cut up my
first pineapple and made heaps of egg salad sandwiches. We had heaps of
jobs and it was really fun to get to do some service for the community.
For the main dish they made a lasagna type dish which was really good.
After we prepared and served everyone we got to eat lunch with the homeless
people. It was really awesome and I even got to teach a guy a little bit
about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Thursday afternoon at 2:00 we
ended our exchange and I went back with Elder Saurey to the flat because he
still was feeling sick. So I spent the rest of the day Thursday studying
and taking care of Elder Saurey. The only reason I like my comps getting
sick is so that I have extra time to read The Book of Mormon. I love
being able to read The Book of Mormon. It
is seriously the best book ever!
Friday- Although Friday is closer than any of the
days I have talked about I don't remember what happened on Friday.
Elder Saurey was feeling better and we worked haha. I must have short
term memory loss.
Saturday- Saturday was Harmony's
Baptism!!!!!!!! Harmony got baptized with her cousin who just turned 8 as
well. It was really awesome because both of Harmony's parents were there
and there was such a sweet spirit at the baptism. For the opening song we
sang families can be together forever. Elder Saurey and I were sitting
next to Harmony's mom and we could tell that she felt the spirit. At the
baptism Elder Saurey and I gave the missionary presentation. For our
presentation we played a Mormon message and related it with the
restoration. It was such a great baptism! After the baptism there
was a massive feed! There was heaps of my favorite island food so I was
in Heaven. I even skipped lunch so I would have extra room haha. We
ate really yummy island food and talked with Harmony's parents. We
invited them to attend Harmony's confirmation and they agreed to come! It
was their first time ever coming to church!
Sunday- Had an awesome day at church! Angelina came
with her 3 kids Lushen, Nevaeh, and Aniale. Angelina is working towards
the 15 of this month for baptism! She still needs to get married and stop
smoking though! So we are really working hard to get those things
done. Hopefully she can get the marriage certificate this week and get
married next week! Hopefully we can get everything figured out so she can
get baptized! She is doing awesome though and no matter what I'm sure she
will get baptized.
Today should be an exciting day. It's probably Elder
Saurey and I last p-day so we are going to try and have some fun! The
weather is finally starting to warm up here, but it has been raining
heaps! I'm really excited for summer! General Conference is this
weekend and I'm pumped! I love General Conference so much! I love
you all so much as well! Hope you have a tremendous week!
Love,
Elder Brunson
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