"That's why they're called business socks"

Kia Ora Everyone!!!

We had a pretty busy week and on Thursday I got to go the Temple for my birthday! I asked President Rudd if we could do our Zones Temple Trip on the 24th because the rest of the mission was doing theirs this week and he said it was all good! We had to wake up at like 5 in the morning to drive from Te Aroha to Temple View (suburb in Hamilton) which was only like an hour drive but we had to fight traffic the whole way so it was like 2 hours (Stink way to start off my birthday) but the Temple was totally worth it! I got to do a session of Endowments and Baptisms which was pretty cool! I got the chance to receive some of the answers which I have been seeking and received some that I didn't even expect!

We had Milking on Wednesday and Saturday which was pretty good, I have gotten to the point that I don't even look anymore, I can just feel where the teets are and then I put the cups on them haha:). We had a really good lesson with Paul and Maria afterwards and we committed them to pray every morning and night as a couple and individually to get the answers that they need to progress in the Gospel. They have been attending church regularly for the past couple of months but Paul still struggles with the Word of Wisdom and has been hiding some of his addictions over the past couple of weeks.

I hit my 10 month mark last week and I realized that if I was sister missionary, I would be more then half way done with my mission haha! Time just flies by when you are having fun eh???

Elder Mitchell

No Pictures this week.... Nothing was really interesting but I did catch some cow poop on Saturday because my companion bet me $10 I wouldn't do it. After all it is just digested grass!!!!!

MILKED COWZZ!!!!

Man since I have been on my mission I have gotten to do all kinds of things and this week I......

MILKED COWZZZ!!!!

Since we are serving it Te Aroha, we don't get to do a whole lot of teaching and preaching but we do get to do a lot of service around the town and on peoples farms. Every week on Wednesday we go over to one of our investigators (Paul Mcvicar) homes and help them milk cows and then afterward they feed us dinner! It was the first time I have ever done it so I was really nervous because the cows were pooping all over the place and I was scared that I might get kicked when I put the cups on their teets. It went pretty well and I only got a little poop on me and I didn't even get kicked!

After the milking we had a really good lesson about the Word of Wisdom with Paul and his wife and we committed him to pray about the WoW and how it can help him the health problems that he is facing. We were about to leave and I realized that we didn't have our keys, and we couldn't get very far without them. After searching for a good hour with no success we eventually called the Zone Leaders to see what we should do because we are the furthest area from the rest of our zone and it was getting pretty late. They told us to pray and have faith that we would find the keys and be able to return home. We knelt down and had a prayer with the family and asked him to help us find them and when we got up I had the impression to go to the ATV that we were driving around the farm on I took it to mean that we needed to go check the farm again (it was a fairly big farm).

We eventually gave up on trying to find our keys in the night time and decided to go back to the house and see if we could find it there. Paul thought it would be a good idea to check the under the seat of the ATV and guess what! It was there, His wife busted into tears and we all knelt down and thanked God for helping us and for showing us that he does answer prayers. We came back on Saturday to help milk cows again and we decided it would be best to leave our keys inside the house while we were out on the farm haha :)

A few small things happened this week but overall it was a fairly good week here in Te Aroha. We are going to the temple this week on my birthday (the 24th) so that is pretty exciting! 

Elder Mitchell

Attached are some pictures of our zone and one of me and some cows

Our Zone.

Me and some cowz.

Parlez-vous le fracais?" "Uh...non"

This week we had transfers and....... I'm not in Raglan anymore :(

I got a call on Tuesday to tell Elder To'angutu and I that we were both leaving which is exactly the opposite of what President Rudd told our Branch President earlier that week. We had 1 day to get all of our stuff packed and say our goodbyes which was really hard because we had gotten pretty close to some of the people there. I was really mad about the transfer until I realized that maybe its not about what we want it is what the Lord wants.

Anyway, my new companion is Elder Temenaha from Tahiti and guess who trained him??? Elder Lukens (My trainer)!!!! I am not serving in the Morrinsville Branch but we are actually living in Te Aroha which is like 25 minutes north of Morrinsville. This is a pretty big area with not a lot of people considering that the people who are in our branch mostly live in Morrinsville so we have to drive like 20-30 minutes to visit members who live out on dairy farms because the Sisters cover the main city. It is a small town and everyone seems to know each other which is good for missionary work because once you know someone, you can know everyone!!!!! 

Other than that we got to see a few people this week in Morrinsville and one of the recent converts here has a really cool story, he used to be a part of the Black Power but after speaking with some missionaries he decided to change his life for the better and has gotten out of the gang with his life (they usually will kill you if you try and leave). He is preparing to go to the temple and his son is preparing to go on a mission in a couple years.

Hope all is well back at home and look forward to seeing what this next transfer brings!!!

Elder Mitchell

Attached are a picture of Me, Elder Lukens and Temenaha and one of us with Barney (one of our recent converts) on our last night in town.

This is with Barney

Me, Elder Lukens and ElderTemenaha

"No one even mentioned my casserole!"

The week before transfers is always crazy here in Raglan!

One of our members brothers died on Saturday so we have been helping out with that for the past couple of days. We went over and mowed his lawn and trimmed his hedges just so that he will be able to do the proper preparations for his funeral. We went over to the Marae yesterday and paid our respects and it seems at every funeral I get invited to I get called on to speak regardless of how well I know the person. When I got up to speak yesterday my mind went blank and after having a short prayer in my head I began to bear testimony about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel and how the final step in the gospel is to endure to the end and how Bro. Eketone has done just that. 

I remembered a scripture in the New Testament that I had read earlier that week in my personal study and it says "And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say." (Luke 12:11-12) and how literally it was and has been fulfilled but only if I am open to inspiration and worthy to receive it. 

We spent the rest of the week contacting less-actives from our ward list and former investigators from our area book and we have a few set appointments for this next week but the majority of them said that they "weren't really interested in the whole Mormon thing anymore". I love the people here in Raglan but sometimes they just need a slap (haha not really...)

Hope all goes well this week with transfers and everything but I am probably going to stay here in Raglan. 

Love you guys!

Elder Mitchell

Attached are a picture of one of our recent converts at the space center

and my companion playing around with a 'sheep stick'.