Monday, March 27, 2017

I got transferred :( 

Guess where?!!

Welcome Bay haha.  So I didn't really get transferred I just got moved out of the Mount ward.  So we used to cover two wards: Welcome Bay, and the Mount ward, but now I just cover the Welcome Bay ward.  Yes, I also got a new companion!!!  His name is Elder Miller.  Elder Miller is from Idaho, but guess where he spent his freshman and sophomore years in school?!  Hanford haha!  So who knows, I may have ran into him before and didn't even know it.  He has been out for a little over a year and he just got called as a zone leader.  So technically I'm training him to be a zone leader, but that's really not a very big thing in our mission lol.  There is not much of a training that actually goes on though.  Being a zone leader is really not that much different than being a normal missionary.  Elder Timu, my previous companion is now covering the Mount ward with a new companion, Elder Navaro.  To be honest I was gutted to have to leave the Mount.  We have some really solid people in the Mount so I was sad to have to say goodbye to them.  The hardest was definitely Nikki and Kori!!  They are the best family ever!!!!  I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Nikki is going to get baptized!!!!  I know Kori will get baptized as well, but it might take a little more time.  He is still having a hard time leaving the church that he is at right now.  He met a lot of really good people at his church and they put a lot of time into helping him understand the teachings so he feels obligated to staying around and helping the church.  He realizes that his church is in an "apostate" state and he wants to help them as much as he can because of the time they put into him.  He absolutely loves what we have shared with him, and believes that it is true, but he just has some obstacles to overcome.  They made us a really nice feed this week because they knew that one of us would probably be leaving.  It was an awesome meal, and we taught them the second half of the plan of salvation afterward.  They loved the fact that everyone will get the opportunity to hear the gospel and that there are multiple kingdoms of glory, rather than their just being Heaven and Hell.  Kori especially loved this principle because he had always believed in that principle even though he had never been taught it.  He is a total believer of 2 Nephi 25:23 that we are saved by grace after all we can do (works).

I was also gutted to not be Elder Timu's companion anymore.  When we first became companions I was sure that we would be companions for two or three transfers, but it turns out the Lord had different plans in mind.  I am curious though to see how long I will be here in Tauranga.  I wouldn't mind staying here 5 transfers.  That is how long I stayed in Manurewa.  Our area is really struggling right now so we are working really hard to get our teaching pool back up to where it was.  I definitely feel that the Lord is going to bless us though because we were willing to give up all of our investigators to let the work move forward in the Mount.

I will tell a really funny story before I finish my email.  You would really have had to been there to truly understand this story, but I'm going to share it anyway haha.  So the scariest thing of my entire life happened this week!!! I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack.  One night this week Elder Miller and I were lying in our beds and having a good ole chat.  I was the one who was talking at the time and Elder Miller was responding to my comments.  Well, as we were talking I heard a really loud rustling noise coming from where we keep our rubbish.  We keep our rubbish in the laundry room where we always have the window open because we don't want that room to get all steamy when the dryer is going.  Well, my instant thought was that a cat most have climbed through the window and it was getting into the rubbish.  I was a little freaked out because I didn't want to get up and find something that wasn't a cat.  I looked over to Elder Miller’s bed and he had gone dead quiet.  I was a little afraid to look, but I turned around to see if I could see anything.  I turned around and what did I see?!!!!  A person standing in our kitchen!!!!  I freaked out and quickly put my head behind the wall.  My heart was pumping like crazy.  I looked again to Elder Miller’s bed and he was still dead quiet.  I slowly peaked my head to look into the kitchen again and the figure was still there except he was moving towards the front door.  I didn't know what to do, but I thought I would just yell "hey" really loud.  So I yelled "hey" and the next minute the figure is standing right next to mine and Elder Miller’s beds.  He spoke and I couldn't recognize the voice.  He said, "good try."  My adrenaline was literally pumping so hard!!!!  The figure kept talking though and I finally realized that it was Elder Miller hahaha.  As I had been talking, Elder Miller had gotten up and I thought he was still in his bed because I didn't hear him get up.  I have had a cold all week so my ears were kind of plugged haha.  Well Elder Miller got in his bed and I explained the whole story to him and he died laughing.  Man I was literally so jacked haha.  My adrenaline was going out the roof.  I thought I was going to have to fight for my life lol.  Moral of the story:  don't be a pansy and choose the right so bad guys don't break into your house and actually fight you haha.  I was so happy and relieved that it was just Elder Miller.  I saw it as a tender mercy lol.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Pansy...

I mean Elder Brunson haha