Monday, July 3, 2017

I'm really struggling with writing home this past few weeks so I apologize.  I wish I could just record myself and tell you all about the people we are teaching.  I think it would be much easier than having to type everything out.  We are teaching some really awesome people and it's really hard for me to tell you about them through email. Plus I have a terrible memory so I don't know which of our investigators I have talked about already.

Renu+Dilyog and their 4 year old daughter Ezra- Awesome as couple from India that we are teaching.  They had a big concern with The Book of Mormon at first, but now they are loving it.  Renu has come to church once, but she is waiting for Dilyog to get work off because she wants to come to church as a family.  They have grown up in the Salvation Army church.  We have taught them the first two lessons and read from The Book of Mormon with them.

John+Lina and their 4 year old daughter Melanie- You know all about them.  They are awesome as!  They have been in New Zealand for a little over a year and they speak a little bit of Spanish.  Lina is ready as for baptism, but John doesn't feel ready to make the commitment.  Lina is so awesome because she is keeping the word of wisdom and she isn't even a member yet!

Winiata- Young fella we just started teaching two weeks ago!  We set him for baptism August 7th and he is super awesome.  He is a Uni student studying law.  His grandma is a faithful member of the church and he has grown up with Christian beliefs.  We had an awesome as lesson with him this week where we talked to him about The Book of Mormon and we shared our favorite scriptures.  I shared Mosiah 2:41 and my companion shared Ether 12:27 he loved both of the scriptures!!!  He highlighted them both, and he had a great understanding of what they were saying.  He is keen as to read The Book of Mormon.  This was Saturday night and he said he was going to come to church, but then he didn't show up :( He is still really awesome though.

Charles- Charles is a member referral that we have set for baptism on the 22nd of July.  He is really hard to explain.  He is 50 years old, Maori, and has an 8 year old son named Noah.  He has gone to church the past two weeks, but not in our ward.  He has been going to the chapel next to the temple because he says he feels the spirit stronger there.  He also said he had a bad experience in the past in our ward so he doesn't really want to come.  We are trying to get him to come to our ward culture night that we are having this Friday.  Hopefully he comes and we can get him some fellowship! 

Joshua- Maori fella in his mid 20's. He has 3 kids and really wants to make changes in his life.  He is really receptive to the spirit and we have really awesome lessons with him!  He hasn't been able to get the courage to come to church though.  He keeps telling us that he is going to come, but then he doesn't show up.  He is super cool.

Temwane and Ritati and their two kids Rebekah and can't remember the little boys name, I'm really sad.  They are an awesome as family from Kiribati.  Temwane is a less active member and is a convert to the church.  She has a super strong testimony though.  Ritati wants to be baptized, but he is worried about leaving his church.  He is the oldest child and is afraid that his family will not accept him because of the change.   

Now for the miracle of the week!!!

Fayne- mid 20's from New Zealand.  He has no belief in God, but he has a sincere desire to know if God is there.  It was a really cool story with how we found him though.  So it was Sunday, and as you know it was fast Sunday this week.  Fast Sunday is the first Sunday of the month where we go without food and water for two meals, and we donate the money we would have spent on those two meals to those who are in need.  We also fast to ask for specific blessings that we might be in need of.  This Sunday we had a zone fast, that we would be able to accomplish our goal of having 9 baptism this transfer, or one per companionship.  Anyway, fast Sundays back home are a piece of cake.  I normally would just sleep through my fast.  We would get home from church and I would take a giant nap until it was time for dinner.  Well, on the mission you can't just go back to your flat and take a giant nap. Well....I'm sure you could, but what would be the point of being on a mission if you were just going to stay in your flat.  So fast Sundays are a little more tricky when you’re a missionary.  Especially for Elder Brunson who can still get grumpy occasionally when he is hungry and tired.  It was 4:00 and we had 30 more minutes before our dinner appointment.  We had just finished trying someone from the ward list that we had tried a thousand times and she finally happened to be home, but she was pulling out of her driveway.  She was really nice though, and said that we could come back.  So we still had 30 minutes and the natural man in me really wanted to get back in the car without knocking on any doors and just drive to the next house.  However, I felt like we should knock a few doors. There was nobody home at the first door we knocked, but the second door we knocked on was Fayne!  He was super nice and said that he has always wanted to join a church and find out if God is there, but he has never known where to go.  We had a great conversation with him and we invited him to church on Sunday. We also asked him when a good time to come back to follow up on the pamphlet we left with him would be.  He said "Well, if I'm actually going to be there on Sunday I'm going to need you to come back before then so I can have a little motivation."  It was so cool that he really wanted to be able to make it to church on Sunday.  We are excited to teach him and hopefully he makes it to church!  Well, I hope you all have an awesome week.  I love you all heaps.

Love,

Elder Brunson