"You know you're not in high finance"

wrote this email last week but I forgot to send it, sorry guys!!!!

Looked at my emails and it seems like everyone back home is ready for me to come home haha :) 

Last Monday after emails, we had a district P-day with the Opotiki and the Kawerau Elders at Ohopi beach. We started off playing some Rugby on the beach (turns out brand-new elders are pretty rubbish at touch) and after Elder Bwebwetaake and I scored a couple of uncontested tries, they were ready to give up and so we went on a hike. We ended up getting to a section where there were some maintenance going on the trail so we had to turn back.

The rest of the week was pretty mean as we were able to visit our sets and help encourage them. One of them keeps dodging us so we haven't been able to do a whole lot with her but the other is super excited which is really nice. Willie (the more excited investigator) is really cool, he works at Pak N' Save (which is like a worse version of Costco) as a night sweeper. Whenever we go over there, we have to be careful because he can push the conversation or lesson in a direction that isn't favorable. 

Now the last 2 days have just been weird as. The Opotiki Elders locked themselves out of their flat so we had to get the keys from the Zone Leaders and it turned out that none of the keys that they gave us worked. They ended up having to stay Saturday night with us in Whakatane and we took them to Church in Opotiki on Sunday morning. The sacrament meeting might have been the weirdest church meeting I have ever attended. During the speakers we had people talking to the speaker while he was talking and whenever someone would say something that they agreed with, they would say "Kia Ora" which is basically how they do it at the Marae (Maori meeting house).

Hopefully everyone back home is not dead because the only email I got today was from the Mission Cards haha all goods :)

Love you guys!!!

Elder Mitchell

Here in Whakatane!!!

This week's and last week's letter:

I moved this last Thursday to Whakatane (pronounced 'Fakatanee') which means literally " Act like a man" so I'm not sure if that is a sign haha. It is pretty beautiful but on my first night here I got sick so we haven't been able to do much work. We spent a lot of time cleaning the flat because the previous Elders didn't clean before they left, when I see them next I am going to give them a hiding. My companion is Elder Bwebwetaake from Kiribati  (pronounced "kiddybus") and he is pretty mean. He goes home before I do so I have been trying to not get too trunky but I think our Mission President wants me to be super trunky when I go home.

My nose has been running hard out since Thursday night so I need to try and get that all sussed but right now we are in this internet Cafe in town and it costs $6 to email for 1 hour so I am not going to write a whole lot so I will send more next week!

Love you guys!

Elder Mitchell

"Looks like you'll never be a concert flutist"

Short email this week...

I am just going to put in the highlights of the week because I don't have much time.

1. We had a non-member come to church yesterday and try to video tape the fast and testimony meeting for "personal reference". He has a Jehovah's witness background and we think he is going to go show it to them haha....

2. On Thursday during MCM our BML walked into the room late, and then rage-quit out of the room. It turned out that he was having family problems and just forgot to tell us that he was leaving.

3. Our flat is being sold so we had someone rock up at like 7 and just walk inside our house without knocking. Luckily I was not in the main room because I did not have pants on yet. The Lady thought she scheduled an appointment with us but she never did. 

4. Our New Mission President came in this week so we all got a call from our Old Mission President the night before he left. 

That's about all for this week but I love you all and hope to hear from you all soon! 

Elder Mitchell

Last weeks post: "But you'll probably have to keep your normal job"

Chur my cuzzies!!!

Pretty good week here in the NZHM. I probably won't write a whole lot because I am pretty knackered. We have been working really hard over the past couple of days to try and get the members excited about missionary work but other than that, not a whole lot has changed with our investigators since last week (or the last couple weeks for that matter). There are several challenges that plague this area, the first being that the large geographic boundaries make it very difficult to keep investigators progressing because we only see them once or (if we are lucky) twice a week. The other problem is the lack of commitment from the previous missionaries who would never try and teach investigators or less-actives but would just play games or watch TV with them which just ruins their expectations of missionary work. Even though these challenges exist, Elder Kailea and I try and work past them. 

Other than that we had a trip to Hamilton this week for President Rudd's Farewell which was awesome. Also I got bit by a dog but I was pretty lucky because the dog was really quite small.

Haere ra!

Elder Mitchell

Attached are pictures with President and Sister Rudd and the Dog bite mark

"You just stay home and play synthesizers"

Its a winter wonderland here in New Zealand.

My companion got sick on Tuesday so we spent most of the week home because he was coughing up a lung most of the day. We managed to get out for a few minutes throughout the week but he spent most of the week in bed. The weather here has gone bad over the past couple of weeks, we planned on going hiking with some the YSA and the Coromandel Sisters but because it has been raining all day we doubt that would be a good idea. There is not much to do here on P-day as a missionary which kinda sucks, but the rest of the week is usually pretty mean. 

We finally got to do some work yesterday after church and while we were out working we met this guy named Shane. He lives in a boat on the Thames Harbour and after our BML invited him back to his place to have a chat, we found out that he is basically homeless (but not boatless) and that he basically begs for a living. Missionaries have been visiting with him for a while all around the country, but he doesn't want to join the church because he doesn't want to pay tithing because of his low income. Its kind of a sad story as He is only a year older then I am.

Didn't get to take any pictures this week, sorry everyone!

Elder Mitchell

"For your information, there's an inflammation in my tear gland"

Been an interesting week here in the Paeroa Branch.

We recently started creating a new Branch Mission Plan and since our BML and our Branch Missionaries do not know how to use Microsoft Word I was given the 'privilege' of typing it up. It has been really good to be able to work with our Branch like how we have been for the past couple of weeks and this plan will help us and future missionaries stay focused on the goals of this area. We set as a goal to become a Ward by December 2017. The Paeroa Branch is quite big so I think that we can achieve it but it will take the support of the members.

We had Zone Meeting this week and since President Rudd is going home at the end of the month we had a few really cool announcements. First we have an additional set of rules (The Protocols) for our mission and recently Pres. Rudd got rid of them which means that I can wear shorts and flip-flops again but I don't want to because it is too cold here now. We also received additional instruction regarding the new mission president which was interesting.

Also my scheduled release date is November 1st so that means 141 days from today I will be home so make sure to plan any parties accordingly eh?

Elder Mitchell

#PaeroaWARD2017

1st- There is a hill in our area that overlooks 3 cities. They are Pauanui, Tairua, and Paku (where the hill is located)

2nd- Zone Photo #GoingHAMZone

3rd- Beach art with my companion and I

Plot Twist

Scene: Tuesday Morning in Waihi (2 days till transfers)

Telephone rings...

Elder Van Thiel (VTB):"I have transfer news for you guys!"

Elder Finau and I(Us):"Awesome! Lets here it!"

VTB:" Elder Mitchell you will be staying in Paeroa!"

Us: "So Elder Finau and I will be together another transfer???"

VTB: "No Elder Finau will be leaving to the Tongan Program in Papakura"

Us: "Nah, but for real though he is staying here right?"

VTB: " Yeah, nah Elder Finau will be leaving, Elder Mitchell's new companion will be Elder Kailea"

Us: ~silence~

So I will be staying another transfer here in Paeroa but Elder Finau is moving on to another area. I wanted to stay here in Paeroa but I wanted to kill Elder Finau off (he finishes this transfer). I guess the Lord had other plans for us! Elder Finau was pretty mad because he was only here one transfer and didn't get to say goodbye to hardly anyone before we had to take off on Thursday morning. 

Elder Kailea is from Tonga and has been out on his mission for 22 months so he will finish here in Paeroa. He is my 3rd Tongan companion in a row in this area which is alright cuz I am already used to the FOB (fresh off the boat) things that they tend to do.

We have been killing it here for the past couple of days as we have just finished updating our ward list (a project that I started when I first got into the area) and we have begun a draft for a new Branch Mission Plan. There are a lot of good things happening in our area and I am so excited to see what this next transfer has to bring!

Elder Mitchell

flip.... I forgot to bring my cord for my camera again sorry everyone!!!