Elder Dance, New Zealand Hamilton Mission

 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

Kia Ora! This past week has been so awesome. I have had many learning experiences as well as wild experiences. From getting chased by an army of dogs 🐕 to blessing the home of somoene who was sent to an insane asylum 😬.  On Tuesday, we were able to go down to Hamilton to see sister Runia from the young women general presidency and she gave a great talk. On thursday, I had my first exchange ever and it was with the my zone leaders Elder Fadden and Elder Jensen.  I learned a lot about how to be a successful missionary and found almost half a dozen investigators this week! We met with an individual who had moved from India and was super interested in the church and did not have any friends. So it was super cool the impact of our fellowship as well as his growth in learning about the Gospel.  After all the people I have met and ralked witg it has been cool to see the growth and diligence they have had to learn and accept the Gospel!  I hope you all have a wonderful wee...

  It has been such a great week! Started off the week pretty easy with zone conference. Got to see the guys that I went to the mtc with which was pretty great. I thought it was going to be an easy week, but oh was I wrong 😅.  After zone conference me and my companion made a big goal to visit all the Grey dots (people who have not been taught in a while) in 2 weeks. So going into the week it was very busy. One day this week my companion got food poisoning from a meal we had at a members house the previous night 🤢 so we had to stay home for a day. On top of that it was pouring rain all day almost every day which made things that much more difficult🌧. On Friday when most of our visits were unsuccessful me and my companion had a prompting to go do door knocking at the opposite side of the area. About 2 houses in me and my companion knocked on a door and shared a message with someone who was very Christian and had never heard of the church.  At first she asked about the Boo...

  Highlights this week: 1. Finding people while door knocking  2. Giving out his first Book of Mormon to a woman named Manisha 3. Zone conference  4. Getting to know the ward 5. Getting 3 referrals Challenges: 1. His companion, Elder Smith, getting food poisoning  2. Constant rain and being wet and cold all day 3. Trying to do member visits but no one being home

Elder Dance loves his new companion, Elder Smith, from Austin, Texas. Elder Smith is a district leader and an awesome example and trainer for Evan.  Elder Smith also makes sure they get in a hard workout every morning. Elder Dance claims this is the best ice cream he has ever eaten. Even better than the iced ice cream we ate at Gracie’s Apizza in Portland in July. Elder Smith, Elder Tuaga, and Elder Dance Kia Ora!! This past week has been awesome! First transfer into the Alfirston district in the Manurewa zone in South Auckland!  I love my trainer and his name is Elder Smith! In New Zealand they call apartments "flats" so me and my companion share a flat with another companionship which has been a ton of fun.   My favorite thing about my area so far is the members of our ward.  They are all so kind and it is a privilege to visit and serve them. It has been so humbling to see how strong these members are in the church despite the trials they go through.  I have t...

  Highlights this week: 1. Meeting his new companion, Elder Smith 2.  Meeting the members 3. Nerf wars in his flat with his companions 4. Bearing his testimony in church 5. Fun cultural ward party on Friday—so much food, super loud music, cultural dance show  6. Leaving the MTC “prison” 7. Finally eating good Samoan, Polynesian food 8. Moving into a super nice “flat” Challenges this week: 1. Losing a person they were teaching from a hard experience  2. Getting the door slammed in their face 3. Door knocking rejection

The fact that it has been almost three weeks since I left home for New Zealand is crazy to think about! The amount of memories and friends I have made here is incredible.  Aside from all of the fun that I have had in the past few weeks and all the rugby I have played, I have learned so many lessons that have changed my life and grown my testimony which I can use to help change other's lifes and bring them unto christ.  As I leave this training experience behind, and move to the field, I am so excited to share all my adventures and experiences I will  have over my mission with all of you!   I just want all of you to know that your Savior loves you so much and is always there for you! He is there for you in your trials, when you feel alone, and he suffered spiritual and physical death as an act of love and compassion towards all of us so that we can be saved and redeemed  through him.  I know that if we have faith and turn to christ in our lowest of lows...

Evan got special permission to call and chat with Mom for her bday yesterday.  Best birthday gift ever! Then Evan called again tonight for his weekly p-day call.  We got to chat with him from our date at the fair.  He was pretty jealous of our good food.  He is sad to say goodbye to his MTC buddies this week, but he will not miss the food, haha.  Highlights this week: 1. Learning to play rugby 2. Getting better at teaching  3. Having fun at night—messing with the Tongan kids in the halls 4. Having fun in class 5. Getting a haircut 6.  Favorite thing to teach: repentance and faith 7. He has all the principles and lessons memorized  Challenges this week: 1. Final assessment for teaching 2. Being sick with a cold 3. Trying to eat the bad food 4. Learning to teach about the pre-mortal life 5. Someone stealing his markers

Dear friends and family, It has only been two weeks and my life has literally flipped 🙃!  Throughout this experience almost every aspect of my life has changed. From little things like sleep schedule to what I wear. Other than the little things my life that has changed my life has changed in big ways too! like having little time to myself, and how busy my day is.  However, the biggest aspect that has changed in my life is my testimony of this restored gospel and the book of Mormon.   I have found that reading the book of Mormon whenever I have a little bit of time to myself during the morning or at night I not only learn more and more about it but I learn just how truly amazing this book is. This week my mtc district has started doing practice for teaching with variety of scenarios . One of these scenarios we have been practicing is when someone asks a question like, "what is that book?" Or "what is special about it".  From this, we answer by talking about the ...

Evan said he’s getting really good at volleyball.  The food is not great, and he misses mom’s cooking—“The beans are flavorless.”  He’s super upbeat and positive and loving his MTC experience!  He says he’s hardly been homesick this week.  He’s had a really productive week.  He says the Auckland Temple is the prettiest he’s been in.   Highlights this week: 1. Going to the temple  2.  His testimony of the Book of Mormon growing 3. Teaching lessons, giving a talk on the Restoration Challenges this week: 1. Teaching a lesson for the first time “Things have been so good and the spirit is so strong, I can’t think of any other challenges.  Preaching the gospel, you forget all the bad moments.”