The week has been pretty good. I got a package from Grandma, Grandpa, and Toni, which was fun. Grandma must have the delayed spirit of prophecy or something. All last week I really wanted corn bread (I don't know why). Last P-day I put together two recipes, bought the stuff, and made corn bread from scratch. Then when I got the package on Saturday, one of the first things I pulled out was corn bread mix. I thought it was pretty funny.
Through our finding efforts this week, I think we have found 2 or 3 new potentials, which is pretty rough. We did find a new investigator, sort of. His name is G. He has met the missionaries before, and he has a lot of strange ideas. He always tries to tell us what we believe, but when you can actually get him to stop talking, which is hard, he actually listens pretty well. He has a lot of similar beliefs, but I think he is afraid or something.
The ward is continuing to get smaller and smaller. It really wasn't a ward to start with. Lots of people are moving to bigger, better wards, which just hurts this one. We found out this week that Brother Bush, our ward mission leader, and his wife are moving, which essentially cuts us down to one priesthood holder that helps us, so that is going to hurt us. All four of us missionaries are wondering how long it will be for one of the areas to close, or for the ward to be reabsorbed into another ward.
Last week, the four of us biked into Napier for P-day, so we could see the bay, print pictures, and play touch on the beach. On the way back, somehow we got lost, and ended up biking into the country. We took a really long roundabout route back to Taradale, and didn't get to our flat until 6. I'm not sure how long we were biking, but it was long enough to eat the entire dollar bag of candy I bought at the Warehouse before we left. Super disappointed because I wanted to eat it through the week.
Yesterday, Elder Olson and I tried to make Otai, a Tongan drink, in a blender at their flat between church meetings. It didn't work, but now we have a better idea of what we need to do.
I think that is pretty much it for this week. I was going to send pictures of the bay from last Monday, but I left the card reader in the flat, and Elder Olson didn't bring his, so I'll have to send them next week.
Letter to our ward-
Tena Koutou Founders Park Eighth Ward!
I am currently serving in Taradale, a small borough of Napier, located in Hawkes Bay on the North Island of New Zealand. I have been out now for just over a year, and this is my fourth area with my seventh companion. This is also the first time I have served on the North Island. It is also my first ward! Although numbers are few, the church is the same everywhere in the world. Something that I have found though is that the work progresses a lot better with lots of member involvement. As missionaries, we are called to help the members, rather than the members helping us. It can be really hard to do though when we only have a handful of active priesthood brethren. Usually it is the same brother that comes with us to every teaching appointment, every week. So in a nice big ward in Utah, no excuses! Even if you can only help for an hour once a month, I’m sure the Elders serving in the stake would love your support. Honestly, here in New Zealand, I love when the members of the ward or branch feed us, but it is so much better when they help us out with investigators, and they show that they really care about them. For every conversion, there is a spiritual side and a social side.
Anyways, I am doing good. Probably a highlight to share happened when I was leaving Greymouth, my last area. We had been teaching a young woman in her 20’s, and she was just sucking it all in. She loved everything we taught her. She went above and beyond and gave herself homework through the week to show us when we returned. But then she had to move, just a few weeks before the date we had set with her for baptism. It was sad, but we knew that where she was going, she would have a larger ward and stake, and probably more support. I got transferred just after that. The senior couple in Greymouth kept me informed, and they sent me pictures and the program to her baptism, which happened on the date we had set for her and they were able to travel and attend. Though I was not able to see her baptised, I was blessed enough to be able to participate in teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and see the “mighty change wrought in [her] heart.”
I know that I am here for a reason. It is my calling to find those who have been prepared, like this young woman, and teach them the truth. There are many here who dwindle in unbelief, because they don’t know where to find the truth. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in our day by a young man named Joseph Smith, because he wanted to know the truth. We know that he found it, and it is up to us, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to go out and share it with everyone.
Please keep the missionaries and those they teach in your karakias. Have faith that we can accomplish our task. But also act on your faith, and help the missionaries find, teach, and fellowship.
Kia Kaha Eight Ward.
Love,
Elder Paulson
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