Got a new companion and a new area

Kia Ora! 

This week has been pretty good but not very productive for missionary work although I think I have come down with a small flu. We have done heaps of service for some of the elderly people like mowing lawns and one of our members Raymond Gallagher who is just returning we helped him put a weather station thingy on his roof and then we had a pretty good lesson with him and his wife who is not a member. Raymond has been to a lot of different churches throughout his life such as Scientology, Catholic, Baptist, Seventh-Day Adventist, and several other different churches but after figuring out that they were all wrong, decided to return to our church. We had a pretty good discussion about some of the other churches and found out some interesting things about them.

On Saturday it rained all day and I'm not even exaggerating, it didn't stop for even 5 minutes the entire day but we didn't end up leaving the flat because I came down with the flu ( I think) which is still bugging me a bit but I think I'll be fine, the members have been taking pretty good care of me.

I forgot to say something about this when we saw it but while we were headed to our bishops house we were hearing a loud speaker saying something that we determined was not English so we followed the sound till we got to this field and found one of the weirdest sports I have ever seen played exclusively by Muslims. Its called Kabaddi. I was going to try and explain the rules but I think it would be better if you guys went to Youtube and tried to figure it out on your own. 

I am going to go play some rugby with our Zone Leaders so that will have to be all for the week!

Love you guys!!!

Elder Mitchell

 

 

This is my companion Elder Maurice Otto from Vanuatu.

 

PS.  My companion is Elder Maurice Otto. He is from Vanuatu and he is so funny. He speaks English pretty well but it is his 5th Language (Bislamic, Ngunesse, Tannesse, French and English) so that's pretty cool. Cyclone Pam just recently hit his hometown but he has gotten in contact with his family and they are alright although one of their houses got destroyed. It is very cold here for him because it doesn't get anywhere near this temperature back home so he sleeps with heaps of blankets and jackets on each night and it has only gotten to 11 C which is only about 51 F. 

Rototuna is a well-to-do suburb of Hamilton that reminds me a lot of Farmington. There is quite a bit of money here and we get fed quite a bit by the members. We are double covering the area with a set of Sisters, Sister Taufa and Sister Kinikini they are both from Tonga. The ward does have a Facebook page but I don't know who runs it. We don't have a car so we have to bike or walk everywhere but whenever it is raining the members come and pick us up for church and other meetings. It rains quite a bit here in Hamilton and for instance on Saturday, it rained all day non-stop which flooded the shortcut we usually take to get to other parts of our area. Not much is happening in our area lately which is different from Tokoroa because we were always getting new people to teach and getting heaps of lessons each day but here we spend most of our time biking from house-to-house to see new people or less-active members.

 

 

"Some people say we are not rappers..."

April 13, 2015

Hey everyone!

 

Was a pretty slow week for us here in Rototuna because of the school holiday but we did have our temple trip and got to see our Prophets and Apostles at General Conference! Since we have the rare opportunity to have a temple in our mission we get to go quite often and the session was very uplifting and we got a feed at the end of it. I really enjoyed the talks given at General Conference and definitely look forward to getting the Ensign next month so I can read them again!

 

We have been pushing really hard to get new people to teach and finding people but it seems like a lot of people just don't want to listen to us here. They are too focused on their money rather then religion.

 

We recently caught 2 praying mantis to put into our flat to catch all the flies but we didn't realize that one of them was a boy and the other a girl so we now have 1 nourished female mantis and 1 egg sack. We had no idea we were starting a mantis "dating service".

 

I need to find my cord for my camera so I can send pictures because I got a few cool ones this week.

 

Elder Mitchell

 

"Stay Cool Bret"

Pretty good week here in Rototuna and I have been getting pretty good biking workouts as we regularly bike 20k a day so I have been staying in shape. The area is pretty rich so we get fed very often which is good but I might gain weight if I am not careful. We haven't gotten General Conference yet here but I am definitely looking forward to it this week.

Easter has just passed here in NZ and I am so thankful for the sacrifice by our Lord and Savior and that through him we may all have eternal life. As a missionary I get to bless the lives of others by bringing the gospel to them but it is only through Christ that the blessings come.

I don't really have much to say but that'll have to do until next week.

Elder Mitchell

This is his response to my letter to him.  I thought I would share it as well:

We still haven't gotten to see conference yet and I am looking forward to it but we get it a week after you guys. During this last week I studied the gospels with an emphasis on the atonement and found some very interesting stuff such as why he was able to atone for our sins. I often remember the 3 little aliens from Toy Story when they say " You saved our lives, We are eternally grateful" and how we can never pay back the debt that he paid for us but by giving our lives to him and devoting our hearts, might, mind, and strength to him we can show him our gratitude for that great and last sacrifice.

I love you guys and I hope that you know that and I think of you everyday but I know that this is where I am supposed to be. 

Elder Mitchell