Monday, December 19, 2016

I'm officially an old man!!!!!!!  

I really can't believe I'm no longer a teenager.  The only problem is my mom still thinks my dad is a teenager so I most likely still fit under that category haha.  I haven't quite figured out the whole birthday thing.  Yesterday was my New Zealand B-Day and I had a great day!  There is no better day to have your birthday on your mission than Sunday.  I had a really good day at church besides the fact that our investigators didn't show up :( We were really hoping that our 18 year old investigator named Jayvish would come, but he didn't.  It was a really good sacrament meeting though, the youth did a Christmas program.  The youth sang in pairs, and there were some pretty brave youth.  Let’s just say I could have sang and felt more comfortable than some of the kids who sang.  So Papi, if you are still the bishop when I get home, you can sign me up to sing a solo in front of the ward haha.

I had a really cool experience Sunday morning before church started.  We went around to visit some families and invite them to church.  We were having absolutely no luck, which was pretty discouraging.  We got done knocking on another families’ door that wasn't home and we decided we should find our purpose for being in that area.  Well we knocked on another door and this really nice old guy answered the door.  He was very respectful but was not interested at all in our message.  We asked him if there was anyone else in the neighborhood who might be interested in our message.  He pointed to his neighbor’s house who he said just recently moved in.  He said her name was Honey and that he thought she was Maori.  We thanked the man and decided to go try the neighbor.  We knocked on the door and a young boy answered the door.  We got talking and guess where he was from??!!! Waitara!!!  Waitara was my last area for those of you who don't know.  We kept talking and I was trying to think of kids who were around the age of 14 from Waitara.  I asked him if he knew a young fella named Tungata.  He said he did.  Then he asked me if I knew Potaki, Napui, and Ponamu.  I got so happy, and I was like yes!!!!!!  He was like I’m cousins with them.  I then was like hold up, I remember teaching one of their cousins late one night on his front porch.  I was like what is your name?!  His name is Zantana and guess what?!!  I had taught him the restoration before!  We talked with him about Joseph Smith’s experience and invited him to church.  He didn't come the week we invited him in Waitara, but Tungata said he has gone with Napui since I left Waitara.  Anyway, it was really cool and we have a return appointment with him this week.

Sunday night I got to have my birthday dinner with the Leelo, Pilling and Maasi family.  The Pilling’s and Maasi's are Bishop Leelo's son in laws.  Brother Maasi was our ward mission leader :( We just found out that he is getting released next week.  They made me a brownie cake and I got to blow out some candles haha.  They made me feel special so it was a good day.  They are seriously the best family ever!!!  They make you feel like you are at home.  Brother Maasi is seriously the funniest man on the planet.  For dinner we had pumpkin soup, lamb, bread, and taro (my favorite).  The pumpkin soup was really nice!  Is that something we have back in the states?  The pumpkin here is way different than in the states though!  It is way nice!  I have eaten pumpkin heaps on my mission, but not too much in Manurewa.  It's mostly the Maori people that eat pumpkin.

This next week should be full on!  We have MLC on Tuesday, Interviews on Wednesday, Zone meeting on Thursday, and Christmas on Sunday.  I have no idea what we are going to do on Christmas.

I just want to close by bearing my testimony that I know that Jesus is the Christ.  He is the literal son of God and he was sent here to die for each of us and to be a light which we can follow.  If you ever feel you are lost follow Christ, he will lead you safely home!  I love you all and hope you have a Merry Christmas!!!!   

Love,

Elder Brunson