BE BOLD
The missionary for whom I submitted a visa application (my first) received his visa in two weeks!! That was pretty miraculous!! I am relieved!
This week was filled with learning opportunities, enlightenment, and recommittment. We had our first senior conference since we've been in New Zealand. It went so well! To begin the day, we had a nice breakfast provided by Sister Erekson---warm ham and cheese croissants, fresh fruit, and orange juice. We then gathered for a presentation by Elder and Sister Noel, whose release date is coming up in a month. They are serving in a coastal area named Gisborne. When they arrived there about a year ago, the stake president asked them to coordinate the addiction recovery program offered by the Church. They have seen amazing results among the people there. They taught us about the program and gave several examples of success they've seen and experienced. I truly believe in this program!! It has helped so many who are either suffering from addictions, including pornography, or codependence. There are wonderful resources to help family members who have a loved one who has an addiction(s). At lunch time, we enjoyed taco salad, provided by the other senior office couple. We then got to hear from Sister and President Erekson. They have been going out to appointments with some of our young missionaries. President Erekson led a discussion about how we can support our young missionaries. Some ideas that our senior missionaries shared were: exchange contact information with those we meet, Family History activities, open houses/tours of the meetinghouse, family history booklets, the self-reliance course, accompanying the younger missionaries on their visits, sharing ideas with the younger missionaries, giving them encouragement, always looking for opportunities to share gospel principles and testify. I was inspired by our conference. Even though we spend most of our time in the office, doing administrative work, I love it when we have opportunities to share our purpose for being here in New Zealand---and that purpose is to extend invitations to Come Unto Christ, repent, and accept the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Elder Folland and I traveled to a town called Rotorua to exchange a vehicle with the sister missionaries serving in the Fairy Springs area. (It sounds enchanting, doesn't it?) We also needed to bring an elder's passport so he could get the money sent to him through a moneygram. Afterwards, we took the elders to get some lunch. We got to now these two missionaries better. Elder Powell is from Wales and
Elder Dela Cruz is from the Phiippines. We asked Elder Powell about the Church in Wales. His friends who aren't members of the Church say that it is stupid for him to believe in God. Many of the people there no longer believe in God. Elder Powell said that he attended Church until he was eighteen, and then he stopped attending. He had started to hang out with a group of friends that did not have similar values. His Mom came to him and suggested he receive his patriarchal blessing (this is a blessing done by an ordained patriarch in the Church, with a special calling to give a blessing from our Heavenly Father to the individual. It is a sacred experience.) She felt this blessing would give him direction in his life. He decided to do this, and he said it was a turning point for him. From that point on, he felt that he had direction for his life, and he said that he really felt the Spirit of the Lord and the Lord's love strongly for the first time in his life. He decided to prepare to serve a mission and here he is in New Zealand. His missionary companion, Elder Dela Cruz, is from the Philippines. As part of the missionary companionship study time, there is time set aside for language study if one of the missionaries needs to learn another language. Elder Dela Cruz has been learning English. He is doing so well! We brought him his second book. His companion helps him and he learns English. He can receive a certification in English when he finishes the course. This will help him with educational and job opportunities when he returns to the Phiippines after his mission. So many blessings come from serving a mission.!
We took the opportunity to visit the Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Center yesterday. It was a wonderful experience! I have posted a few pictures to our blog.
Matthew Cowley was a missionary to New Zealand, a mission president in New Zealand, and an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is beloved by the people of New Zealand!! They named him Tumuaki Cowley. He came to New Zealand in 1914. He mastered the Maori language by studying the language eleven hours a day, reading The Book of Mormon in Maori, and fasting and praying.
He was blessed with the gift of tongues. He stayed in New Zealand for a total of five years, as he was asked to revise the Maori translation of The Book of Mormon, and to also translate The Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price into Maori. His Maori motto was "Kia Ngawari", which means humble and gentle.
Alma 7:23,24-----And now I would that ye should be humble and be submissive and gentle; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; easy to be entreated; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need both spiritual and temperal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity and then ye shall always abound in good works. I think I want to adopt this scripture and phrase for our mission motto!!! We borrowed a book from Rangi and Vic Parker who are church service missionaries at the museum. Rangi compiled and authored the book. She visited the USA twenty-nine times to compile this history of the Church in New Zealand after interviewing many former missionaries and families of former missionaries. As we started reading the book, we came across a photo of four missionaries dressed in the Mormon basketball uniforms. One of these missionaries happens to be the grandfather of our friend and counselor in our stake presidency, President Richard M. Chidester. We were excited about this! Also, Myra Salmon and Debbie Hammond were also mentioned in an experience that Sister Parker related in the book. These two ladies are also members of our stake and friends of ours! So fun!!
We are loving the mission experience!! We love each of you!! We know that what we are doing is a small but vital part of helping gather the Children of Israel before the Savior's Second Coming. We invite all to "Come Unto Christ" and receive the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We bear witness of these truths. We know that through the ordinances in the temple, we can be with our families in a family unit eternally. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
This week was filled with learning opportunities, enlightenment, and recommittment. We had our first senior conference since we've been in New Zealand. It went so well! To begin the day, we had a nice breakfast provided by Sister Erekson---warm ham and cheese croissants, fresh fruit, and orange juice. We then gathered for a presentation by Elder and Sister Noel, whose release date is coming up in a month. They are serving in a coastal area named Gisborne. When they arrived there about a year ago, the stake president asked them to coordinate the addiction recovery program offered by the Church. They have seen amazing results among the people there. They taught us about the program and gave several examples of success they've seen and experienced. I truly believe in this program!! It has helped so many who are either suffering from addictions, including pornography, or codependence. There are wonderful resources to help family members who have a loved one who has an addiction(s). At lunch time, we enjoyed taco salad, provided by the other senior office couple. We then got to hear from Sister and President Erekson. They have been going out to appointments with some of our young missionaries. President Erekson led a discussion about how we can support our young missionaries. Some ideas that our senior missionaries shared were: exchange contact information with those we meet, Family History activities, open houses/tours of the meetinghouse, family history booklets, the self-reliance course, accompanying the younger missionaries on their visits, sharing ideas with the younger missionaries, giving them encouragement, always looking for opportunities to share gospel principles and testify. I was inspired by our conference. Even though we spend most of our time in the office, doing administrative work, I love it when we have opportunities to share our purpose for being here in New Zealand---and that purpose is to extend invitations to Come Unto Christ, repent, and accept the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Elder Folland and I traveled to a town called Rotorua to exchange a vehicle with the sister missionaries serving in the Fairy Springs area. (It sounds enchanting, doesn't it?) We also needed to bring an elder's passport so he could get the money sent to him through a moneygram. Afterwards, we took the elders to get some lunch. We got to now these two missionaries better. Elder Powell is from Wales and
Elder Dela Cruz is from the Phiippines. We asked Elder Powell about the Church in Wales. His friends who aren't members of the Church say that it is stupid for him to believe in God. Many of the people there no longer believe in God. Elder Powell said that he attended Church until he was eighteen, and then he stopped attending. He had started to hang out with a group of friends that did not have similar values. His Mom came to him and suggested he receive his patriarchal blessing (this is a blessing done by an ordained patriarch in the Church, with a special calling to give a blessing from our Heavenly Father to the individual. It is a sacred experience.) She felt this blessing would give him direction in his life. He decided to do this, and he said it was a turning point for him. From that point on, he felt that he had direction for his life, and he said that he really felt the Spirit of the Lord and the Lord's love strongly for the first time in his life. He decided to prepare to serve a mission and here he is in New Zealand. His missionary companion, Elder Dela Cruz, is from the Philippines. As part of the missionary companionship study time, there is time set aside for language study if one of the missionaries needs to learn another language. Elder Dela Cruz has been learning English. He is doing so well! We brought him his second book. His companion helps him and he learns English. He can receive a certification in English when he finishes the course. This will help him with educational and job opportunities when he returns to the Phiippines after his mission. So many blessings come from serving a mission.!
We took the opportunity to visit the Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Center yesterday. It was a wonderful experience! I have posted a few pictures to our blog.
Matthew Cowley was a missionary to New Zealand, a mission president in New Zealand, and an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is beloved by the people of New Zealand!! They named him Tumuaki Cowley. He came to New Zealand in 1914. He mastered the Maori language by studying the language eleven hours a day, reading The Book of Mormon in Maori, and fasting and praying.
He was blessed with the gift of tongues. He stayed in New Zealand for a total of five years, as he was asked to revise the Maori translation of The Book of Mormon, and to also translate The Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price into Maori. His Maori motto was "Kia Ngawari", which means humble and gentle.
Alma 7:23,24-----And now I would that ye should be humble and be submissive and gentle; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; easy to be entreated; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need both spiritual and temperal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity and then ye shall always abound in good works. I think I want to adopt this scripture and phrase for our mission motto!!! We borrowed a book from Rangi and Vic Parker who are church service missionaries at the museum. Rangi compiled and authored the book. She visited the USA twenty-nine times to compile this history of the Church in New Zealand after interviewing many former missionaries and families of former missionaries. As we started reading the book, we came across a photo of four missionaries dressed in the Mormon basketball uniforms. One of these missionaries happens to be the grandfather of our friend and counselor in our stake presidency, President Richard M. Chidester. We were excited about this! Also, Myra Salmon and Debbie Hammond were also mentioned in an experience that Sister Parker related in the book. These two ladies are also members of our stake and friends of ours! So fun!!
We are loving the mission experience!! We love each of you!! We know that what we are doing is a small but vital part of helping gather the Children of Israel before the Savior's Second Coming. We invite all to "Come Unto Christ" and receive the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We bear witness of these truths. We know that through the ordinances in the temple, we can be with our families in a family unit eternally. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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