Elder Dance, New Zealand Hamilton Mission

This past week has been busy to say the least! We were able to visit most of the ward and a lot of our friends (what we call our investigators). On top of this we also had Zone conference, a mission tour, a new missionary meeting, and some mores meetings 🫠.  Even though it was very busy, it was enjoyable. The mission tour is when a general authority comes and visits each zone in the mission. Elder Jaggy of the seventy (who spoke this past conference) was here.  I feel kind of bad because he spoke for almost all of all the meetings including zone conference, which was about 8 or 9 hours of talking.  Everything he taught was awesome and I learned a ton. The biggest thing I learned though was that "rejection is just redirection" and that even when it gets really hard the lord is proud of us for not giving up.  Even if you are door knocking for hours and find nobody.  This truth as helped me realize that when we continue to press forward, even when it feels like we...

  Highlights this week: 1. Zone Conference—Meeting Elder Jaggy 2. He gets to bless another house this week—very confident about this investigator 3. Meeting with investigator friends 4. Getting in the groove of missionary life 5. He feels like every week is great 6. Getting a package from home Challenges: 1. Having some lessons fall through 2. Having a slower week 3.  The weather—it’s always pouring rain loop

This past week has been both busy and exciting. Going into the week it was a pretty normal week, but when we got transfer news Thursday morning I found out I would be getting a new trainer named Elder Jeffree from Sydney Australia. Sometimes, (but very rarely) missionaries in training will recieve follow up trainers because their trainer has been in the area for a while. This means that I have had to lead the area which has been a bit stressful but I have gotten used to it. Going into this next transfer I am very excited because I have a very chill companion and we are planning on getting some investigators on date in the coming weeks.  It has been an awesome 9 weeks and I am so excited for next week! Until then, I hope you all have a great week! 

This week’s Highlights: 1. Getting an inactive family to come back to church 2. Getting a new companion, Elder Jefferee, from Sydney, and Elder Tuimaseve as a new roommate 3. Getting a new flat with a dryer Challenges: 1. Almost getting jumped 2. Biking in their suits all day and getting super hot and sweaty

This past week has been both busy and wild.  Going into the week we were pretty busy. Stacked appointments, a lot of member visits and we even found 2 new investigators. Since New Zealand is 17 hours ahead of the US we couldn't watch conference live so we had to watched it this past Saturday and Sunday. The talks were awesome, oʻjoojojooojoojooʻoʻj0and I loved the focus on the family proclamation to the world.  I also am getting a new trainer next transfer not only do I have to lead the area but we are at a different flat for this upcoming week.  The flat we are staying at is known for being the WORST flat in the mission. It is so bad that half of the house is lowered than the other have because it has sank into the ground. Over the past two weeks bedbugs have been moving around the zone and the elders that we are sharing a flat with just had bedbugs.  So we flea bombed our bedroom and basically the entire house because of how bad it was. Despite the flat, and findin...

 

And just like that another busy week here in south Auckland 🔥🔥 This week I had exchanges with one of the Samoen Elders that lives in our Flat. It was really cool to visit his ward and meet some of the members.  One of the members even said if I came back before I left the area he would give me one of his Samoen battle swords 🗡🇼🇸 which was really cool.  The Samoen elders that me and my companion share a flat with have been needing the car a lot this week that meant that me and my companion biked a ton.  Because we had a lot of appointments that were all around the area we biked so much everyday. On top of that it was pouring rain almost all day everyday 🌧. On Sunday me and my companion were crossing a marsh to get to another neighborhood to go visit some members and as we were crossing this marsh my companion's bike started sinking to the point were it was fully under the water. Because it was at least a mile to get around the river I had to cross the river too....

Happy birthday to Dad today! Highlights: 1. Meeting with the members 2. Getting a new Māori investigator friend, Ken, through a part-member family 3. Cutting a member’s 3-ft long braided beard 4. Teaching the ward members in the “mini mission” activity Challenges: 1. Having some slow days 2. The rain 3. Appts falling through  4. Crashing his bike in the rain

  Highlights: 1. The miracle that happened with the man losing his 4-wheeler off of his trailer next to them and him wanting to talk with the missionaries 2. Getting their friend Wayne to church and fixing his flat tire 3. Playing pickleball in their flat 4. Meeting with lots of members 5. Dinner with the stake presidency 6. Going to the temple Challenges this week: 1. Inconsistency with investigator friends cancelling appts 2. Wet, cold weather some days 3. Super long bike rides 

  From an army of dogs ruling the streets 👑🐕, cars and bikes covered in speakers 🔊 and hearing about the sad news about our Prophet's passing. This week has been wild to say the least. Throughout the week the work has been moving forward pretty well, other than at night... Our area is in a pretty rough part of Auckland and is somehow apart of our mission and not the Auckland mission. But when I say it is rough part of town, it's like the Compton of new Zealand basically.  If it's not the police helicopters that wake me up, it's either the dogs or the speakers. A couple nights ago at about 1am I wake up to what sounds like and army of dogs outside my window. Unsurprisingly I look out the window and there is about half a dozen stray dogs 🐕 roaming around our driveway and the road. On Wednesday night at about the same time I heard super loud music 🔊. I once again looked out the window and to no surprise saw that there were some guys with bikes that had car batteries s...

 Highlights this week: 1.  His first exchange with the zone leaders 2. Meeting with some 3 new “friends” aka investigators and 4-5 referrals  3. Blessing a “haunted house”—the members said it had a bad vibe.  The house was really creepy, but he felt the spirit again in the house after the blessing.  A woman who is not a member there got emotional and said she could feel the spirit after the blessing and they also gave her a priesthood blessing. 4. Playing rugby 5. Handing out a few Book of Mormon books 6. Playing cards with the Samoan elders Challenges this week: 1. Massive meals—the locals call meals “feeds.”  They give SO much food and expect you to eat all of it.   2. Getting cussed out during door knocking 3. Dogs chasing him