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