Monday, January 9, 2017

Tauranga is a mean place!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man it is so beautiful here in Tauranga.  It will definitely be a really cool place to come back and visit.  The people here are super nice as well.  I have been invited into more homes in one week than I was the entire time that I served in Manurewa.  Elder Fellinham and I are having heaps of fun together!  It has been really nice not having to adjust to someone new.  We spent all of our pdays in Taranaki with Elder Fellingham and Lingwall, so I already know Elder Fellingham really well.  Also, he was my zone leader in Gisborne when I started my mission and I went on heaps of exchanges with him because I could drive and he couldn't.  Elder Fellingham is dying this transfer so that will be interesting.  I have never had to kill a missionary.

We saw some really awesome miracles this week.  One day Elder Fellingham and I were knocking on doors.  We both enjoy knocking on doors so we knock quite a few doors every day.  Well we knocked on this door and a Filipina lady came out and started talking to us.  She said that she was having a really hard day because her 15 year old son had passed away this past year.  At first Elder Fellingham and I thought that she was referring to about 1 year ago that her son had passed away.  Well as we got talking to her she told us that he had just passed away 6 days ago.  Elder Fellingham and I were shocked!  We kept talking to her and then her husband showed up and invited us into their home.  We shared the plan of salvation with them and bore testimony to them that they would see their son again.  It is so amazing to see the faith they have while going through this really hard challenge!  They are a Christian family and they have put their trust in our Savior Jesus Christ.  It was very emotional for them, but they really appreciated our message.  What was so amazing to me was that Heavenly Father sent us to their family at the right time.  He was aware of their circumstances and he knew what would help comfort them.  I know it was beyond our own power that we were sent to their family.  Their son was only 15 years old and they think that he committed suicide.  Elder Fellingham and I felt a tremendous love for this family and it was such a great experience to be an instrument in God’s hand to help this family.  One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is found in John 16:33.  It talks about being of good cheer because Christ has overcome the world.  Sometimes it can be really hard to have this outlook in life.  However, I know that if we try and understand God’s will in our life our trials and our burdens can be made light.  He has a divine purpose in all things.  Everything we experience in this life is for our benefit.  We found another great family this week as well.  They are from Fiji and are super solid.  We also felt like we should knock on their door.  They invited us in on the first visit and we had a super good lesson with them.  They used to live in Fiji across from the temple!  They love the temple so much!  They think it is really special because it is like no other building in Fiji.  We talked to them about temples, and then taught them part of the restoration.  Jay is Hindu, but is open to learning about Christianity.  His partner Jocelyn is Christian and grew up going to a Catholic church.  They have had a lot of contact with the church and even went through the Fiji temple during its open house.  We are really excited to teach them, and we are hoping that we can help them progress towards baptism.

Congratulations Katie and Tanner!  I can't believe that my sister is no longer a Brunson.  It didn't hit me that she is actually married until I got all of the pictures this week!  Craziness!!!!  Thanks for all those who supported them and our family!  Especially Uncle Scott who broke his arm for the whole thing!  I think you owe him half of your wedding gifts haha.  Love you all heaps!

Love,

Elder Brunson