30 March 2014

Hello Lovelies.

This week has been wonderful but bumpy. 

Sister Moore is the designated driver, not sure if I mentioned that but I am and it's been a learning experience. That being said, I got a speeding ticket (of course. Don't worry Mum, New Zealand tickets don't count in America!), backed into a fence (even though I had my companion standing there guiding me out...she said she lost her words and forgot to say stop until after I hit it...gahh), and had a fleet of birds poop attacked our car. You know they say that when it rains, it pours. I was a bit flustered with all this car non-sense and we were on our way to go to Sis Hona (Relief Society President) and I was hoping she would just give me a cuddle (hug) and say everything was going to be okay... but that's not the way Maori women do things. She said, "Don't worry about it, move on." All I know is when an old person tells you to do something here, you do, and so that's exactly what I did.  I moved on.  If only all problems were that simple...

We put together a musical fireside (performance) in our brand new and tiny chapel. Johanna (our recent convert) is a lot like me and gets her words wrong and went around telling people about the musical wildfire this Sunday...lol.  The purpose was to help non-members and recent converts come together and hear testimonies through song and conversion stories by recent converts.  We actually had a lot of people turn up whom we had hoped would, and even some who we didn't expect to come at all but actually came!  We had so much help with the program and it was so exciting to see people step up and take part in this event. The missionaries all sang a song together (we had 5 companionships come down to help us). We were so bad they had us sing before the opening prayer, as to set us apart from the actual "program"... then me and my companion sang a song ("I Heard Him Come") with 3 other women.   We had been practicing all week and everyone was really nervous but it actually turned out way good.  I was so happy.  It hurts to be so happy. You know that scripture:  The windows of heaven will be poured out and there will not be room enough to receive it.... I felt like I was going to explode with joy.  I really couldn't smile any bigger and my nervous excited sweat glands were having a field day. I just love those moments when you just love people so much for no apparent reason. If only those moments were more frequent and longer lasting than just moments. Actually, they can be. We read of prophets praying for love for their people all the time. And the only way they are able to gain that love is when they "pray with all energy of heart". 

So, we met this pregnant Indian lady and her sweet family the other day and she was interested in coming to our English class.  Turns out she miscarried and lost her baby (stillborn).  We found out through some neighbors and we were able to go over and check in on her.  I guess I never really thought about how people handle things after a miscarriage (stillbirth) but of course she gave birth to the baby and wrapped it up in a sweet little blanket and then took pictures of it.  The hospital had made them a photo album and they wanted to show us the pictures. Dead things scare me and pictures of dead things scare me even more, but I looked. The baby was about 35 weeks along and had a large patch of red, undeveloped skin on his face. There were many, many pictures.  The more I looked and understood what I was looking at, the more uncomfortable and sad I became.  A little boy was showing me the pictures (about 5 yrs/o).  Our spirits must have been communicating because there was one point when I could not turn the pages any more and he looked at me as if to say "It's ok". I cried a little bit and then my nervous laughter came out, which is never good, especially in this kind of setting.  But we ended up having a good visit.  Even though they don't understand much English, this is one of those times that I am grateful to have dramatic facial expressions, in which I can communicate without words. And, luckily, love is a universal language that is felt rather than said. 

One of the biggest things I have learned, am learning and will continue to learn, is how important it is to do ALL things with Love.  Never pressure anyone to do something.  People want to do things out of love, not out of fear or obligation.  We want to help people learn and understand  who their Heavenly Father is so that they can know of His love for them and discover their love for Him in return. 

Hey, I'm awkward and I don't really care. Old people drive their lil' service mobility scooters around and you can run up and talk to them. They hardly ever stop. The other day this lady decided to do one of those stop go - stop go  movements. When she went, I ran, and when she stopped, I stopped. It's really funny because most of the time people will pretend that they can't see you by turning their head as they wheel past you. I swear, there are a lot of people who have child-like mentalities and tendencies just in adult bodies. This mean old man told us that he had met sister missionaries before and they were attractive, not like us. I thanked him just the same.  Some people can be so mean. He must be unhappy. 

Facts, facts, facts. I need someone to send me some interesting and random facts. I created a great conversation starter the other day.  The key is to start with something random and interesting and then sneakily relate it to the gospel.... watch this: "Hey did you know that a flamingo is actually white? They only turn pink when they eat shrimp (True fact!). Have you ever thought about how the foods you put inside you change you?" BOOM Word of wisdom introduction....

Sis. Hona told us that she loves the scriptures. They tell of romance, war, history, etc. and her FAVORITE story is the one about David and Bathsheba, "It's just so exciting!" ...exciting? romance? women. 

Remember how a few weeks ago I said I was going to learn the language?! I GIVE UP!  I have been practicing my Tongan with my favorite Tongan family as well as a few Maori terms I've picked up. Apparently every word that came out of my mouth was wrong.  Even people's names that I've been saying for months..... The children make fun of me and mimic my pronunciation and sometimes ask their parents why I say things weird..."It's her English accent" they always say. On Sunday, I learned how to say cold in Tongan which I thought was "moamoka" (sp) so I told all the Tongans, "It's so moamoka today." The dad laughed and laughed "It's mokomoko", then he walked around telling everyone "Hello. Moamoka! Moamoka!"  Luckily, I'm use to being wrong and I thought it was all funny. But really I can't even pretend like I know what I'm talking about!  To learn more, or no?.... That is the question. 

Ryan---whats that candy you said Elana loves? Cridders something? I want to find them and eat them.

Mum- I tried the filled "kitkat-like" bars.... They're loaded lumps of joy filled surprises.  It's like a kitkat filled with cookie dough, crunch, and gooey chocolate. I felt my arteries clogging slowly as I ate it, but I still ate it all! :)

We are excited for women's conference this Saturday. Our Branch President said, "it will be the largest women's gathering on earth."  The rest of yous Americans got to see it a week early. Luckies!  No spoilers pleaz. 

Sis Moore 

23 March 2014

Hello,

SO this has been a very interesting week, to say the least. Overall, it has actually been pretty slow but it's not without its chunks of amusement.

We had interviews with President Rudd (mission president) on Tuesday. He scares me and I forget everything I know when I talk to him. But it went well. He's concerned that we don't have enough people to teach in the country because it's so small out here.

We like to garden. We like to garden, garden) Our 80 year old Relief Society President, Sister Hona, took us out to harvest Kumeras in her garden (Kumeras are like giant yams). That was really rough. Every time we stuck our pitch forks or shovels into the ground we seemed to slice it straight into a kumera.  We would be pulling out chunks of different Kumera up, some where broken into 3-4 pieces by the time it was completely above ground. I got so desperate to get a whole kumera up in one piece that I got down on my hands and knees and literally dug the earth up with my hands.... didn't accomplish much besides breaking a few nails....Sis Hona finally had enough and said "for our sakes" we could be finished.... Old people are so nice. What she really meant to say was "for her and her garden's sake" we were finished.

Our branch had a campout by the beach last weekend and we decided to make a quick appearance and say Hi to everyone. I'm too young to be so forgetful, or perhaps it's that I'm too young to be so wise, but we decided to be "fit" and ride our bikes there and to save on Ks (we only get so many kilometers per month and March is looonngg as). We "thought" we knew where we were going... but of course we had forgotten about all those hills and turns and sketchy motorways we had to ride on to get to the beach campground. Also, because we had never been there before we didn't realize it would take us so long to get there. 12Ks (not sure what that is in miles...7 miles?) later we finally show up at the beach. Pretty sure the whole branch thought we were pretty stupid. We thought we were pretty stupid. They had to give us a ride back since it was already getting late and we had to get back for a meeting. We had to drive out there the next day to pick up our bikes. So much for saving on ks... :/

So I have fleas. There, I've said it. (Fleas are EVERYWHERE!) Also, our apartment has cockroaches. I killed a liter of cockroach babies this morning... I had been throwing the dead cockroaches away.... Apparently, we need to be flushing them. Another lesson learned the hard way!

We were in the Pah the other day (Maori village) and I was trying to go offer some help to these people that were clearing some bush for a house they are building (saw a giant rat that I mistook for a cat). The Pah is full of dogs that charge at you and have a threatening bark. The trick is to not run and remain calm and they wont hurt you..... Only this time a dog bit my butt! Yeah, luckily it didn't hurt--he was just trying to play. But that was scary as!

Sister Holmes and I gave talks on chastity on Sunday. I've never done THAT before. So i got up there and was talking about Joseph of Egypt and Patopher's wife. What I MEANT to say was: "she bade him to lie with her." and what I ACTUALLY said was, "she bade him to lie with whore." Luckily the only person that caught it was my companion.

---Something great about NZ: no one judges you on appearance here.  I could shave off all my hair and have tiny as bangs and people wouldn't care.  We need this in America!

Teaching: We are looking for new people to teach. Right now we have this man, Christopher who loves to be "different" and think not only outside the box but also outside this universe. Set him for baptism 3 times on Saturday. Still not sure how he managed to be confused about the question that many times...

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:  So we use this piece of string to help people learn about prayer. The purpose is to have them try to tie a knot with the string without taking their hands off of it. After they struggle for a bit we show them how to do it: You fold your arms first and then grab the string. While holding an end in each hand, unfold your arms and there appears a knot. After, you ask them, "how much easier was it for you to tie a knot once you folded your arms?" they are SUPPOSE to say "so much easier!" but this man, Phylip, who we showed this to on Sunday, had the string tangled all about his arms and was struggling to understand... "sooo hard. it's sooo hard." i hope that makes sense, but I'm sure it's way funnier to actually see it.

Our purpose as missionaries is to cleanse people of hate (sin)... we invite people to fill their lives with more love as they follow God and put away their hate and walk in faith. :)

God has given us agency. He respects our choices whether right or wrong because either way he is giving us an opportunity to learn. God is love and any feeling that is not love is not of God. Contention and offense are not good enough reasons to be angry and to not love one another. We cannot change others, nor should we try. Those that love are loved and shall be rewarded with blessings here and in heaven.

Our purpose on earth is to gain wisdom and knowledge. There is a reason why God gave us agency and did not want us to follow Satan's plan. Being told how to do everything will never benefit us. Being able to chose and then learn is God's intention. Our Father in Heaven respects our agency and while it is hard, we must respect each other's agency as well (no matter how we feel about it). We want people to be happy so we can invite them to do certain things. We can be sad when they don't but we must respect that they are still learning a lesson God has intended for them.

Families are hard but a gift. i see that here all the time. The Maori's have taught me that no matter what kind of craziness their family pulls, their love they have for each other is stronger. Joseph Smith taught us that "we must love with a love that is stronger than death."

Never let Satan win. He tries to put thoughts and negative thinking into our minds every second of every day. Recognize it.

I love you all and I hope that our family can develop a love that is stronger than death, offense, and contention. The only way to do that is to start by example. We can't tell people to love each other, we can just love them and they will (hopefully) love in return.

-Agency (power to chose) and Meekness (ability to learn & change) are our greatest blessings!

Kia Kaha (Be Strong) and carry on!

Aroha (Maori word for "love") 

<3 -Sis Moore

16 March 2014

Update: So my trainer got sent home on Tuesday and I spent a few days in the big city of Hamilton, on a bike with Sister Rogers (whose companion also got sent home)! It really made me miss my Katikati country even in just 2 days. You would think that people in the country would be a bit odd or different... which they are in some regards, but the people in the city seemed just a bit far gone. Gangs, drinking, and litter everywhere!  :( At one point we were talking to this man and this little girl in the background was cleaning a dog in the most peculiar places with just her hands, after 5 minutes she moved to the next dog. -----I have never been so distracted in all my life!!! just trying to carry on a conversation with the man in front of me was near impossible!----- Before we left we had a chance to ask the little girl what she was doing... and of course she said, "Catching flees!" EEeeeeeek! In every way EEeeek! 

Sister Holmes is my new companion and SHE IS THE BEST. She has come back to Katikati with me and we are doing great. I feel like I've taken off a heavy backpack after a long hike and I'm enjoying the lightness of it all. She's from Henderson, Nevada and has been out for about 10 months. I gotta admit, it is so much easier working with the Americans. Only because of the cultural similarities. It was hard before trying to fit in with the culture of NZ while also trying to fit in with the culture of my companion....speaking of which, some people are quite prejudiced against white people here. I've never felt bad or different about my ethnicity before, but this has been a good learning experience I've decided. 

We've been able to try some new foods lately and I have come to the conclusion that Fijian fish is not the most pleasant fish. But I have almost perfected the art of force feeding myself at member's homes. Fish, fish, fish... the people love fish!  The key is to drink water with every bite so that it goes down easier....which coincidentally also makes you full faster which then makes it harder to eat the rest of your food. I am thankful to have food. 

Sister Holmes has been teaching me some great lessons through her example. I'm learning how important it is to really listen to the people and love them and we love them by learning more about their culture. I think we want to pull a Matthew Cowley soon and totally immerse ourselves in the Maori language. That will mean in our spare time (aka meal time) we want to start learning more so that eventually we can bear our testimonies in Maori!

Everyone already loves Sister Holmes and so I feel like the work is going to start progressing here soon. Our set for baptism has stopped progressing so hopefully we can get him up and going again here really soon. 

 

_Kia Kaha and carry on!_

Sis. Moore

9 March 2014

This week we've seen some miracles. They are so small but so grand and if you aren't paying attention you might miss it. We decided to text a scripture to one of our investigators to read and she later told us that after reading that very scripture she now believes fully that the church is true!  It was a hard thing to hold back from saying, "I chose that scripture! I chose it. dang I'm good." But instead to step back and say, "Thank you." So what did i learn this week? We are all His tools. When we give our will to Heavenly Father He allows good things to happen through us for others. We need to learn to not get in the way of that. If we learn to be a little bit more selfless and helpful, Heavenly Father will allow us to watch miracles happen.:)

I'm still learning to become a better hugger.... So, you know how people greet each other differently all around the world? Some with a hug, a kiss, a handshake.  hehehe. I think I made up my own greeting by accident.  What you are really supposed to do "as seen through observation" is: Grab their shoulders, pull them in, kiss their cheek, and then hug... What I do: Hug. Press cheek to cheek. Push away.... I should ask someone if I hug wrong but I don't want to hear their answer. 

Companionship: Up, down, all turned around. But things are good! My companion is actually a very talented singer and I told her that she should sing a song about every thing she's been going through... She actually wrote a very powerful song based on a scripture that she sings to everyone. It's really good.... Talking about repentance and allowing Jesus Christ to come into your life to free you from despair. 

Thank you for the letters I got this week!  They were all so great :)  It's wonderful to hear from those of you who write. There are some Elders that get sad when I get letters and they don't so they have asked me to ask all of you if one of you might write them at least once.

·  Elder Anderson (from Utah....he is like a dog inside a man's body...funniest kid you will ever meet, but doesn't know it.)

·  Elder Oler (from Canada....uh he's tall and Canadian.  Zone Leader)

·  Elder Tekurio (from French Polynesia....Musically gifted, overly excited. Zone Leader)

So the Branch President here in Katikati is an ex-Catholic and apparently a surprisingly well-known author? He has a health book out, as well as a few other titles. One lady in the branch told us that if we read his article about women (somewhere free on the internet) we will be able to get any man we want.... Well I can't wait to read that, in a year! lol  His name is David Coory and his health book is actually very highly recommended. He taught us about an awesome drink: molasses in milk. It's amazing.  Apparently it's a detox & iron booster. I like to put a hint of almond extract in it, too. People also eat a lot of silver beet here (might have a different name in the states? They call cantaloupe rock melon here).  If you boil silver beet in water and drink the juice it's suppose to be the best detox ever....and it is.  I drank it and broke out big time afterwards because it was dejunkin' my sugary system. yayyy.  [note: silver beet is actually swiss chard!]

Eating with Tongans... Not an easy task. I love the Lutui family but they like to trick me.  One of their sons told me that during a meal if you are finished with your drink you have to flip it upside down or else someone will just fill it up for you. Not knowing any better, I do it, but every time I do everyone just laughs and laughs at me.  They have this drink that is watermelon chucks, pineapple, and milk and its a big chunky sugary mess.  It's good but a little goes a long way. I have found that Tongans do not believe in a glass half full.... ever.  It must be full or it must be empty.  And if it's empty it will soon be full.  Even though they were joking about the upside down cup I do it anyways because it works.

The Samoans tell us that "The more you eat, the more people will love you."  I hope that's not true because that would be a pretty short and bloated life.  At least with the Tongan family in our Branch I try to distract them from my not eating by learning their language. One of the young women whispered in my ear how to say "Thank you for the meal. It's good." in Tongan. ...When I said it to the mother she had the most disgusted and confused look on her face.... Terrified that I was lead astray decided to give my best Nacho Libre smile and look at the children who were encouraging me with confused eyes....... Her face eventually softened and she said, "You're welcome Sister Moore."....I think she was so taken back by my good accent that she was wondering if i secretly knew Tongan (hehe).... But really I wish I could read their exaggerated facials more clearly because more than half the time I have no idea what anyone is REALLY saying!!!

More Food Talk:

OK I can't believe I haven't told you this but the best chocolate you will ever, ever eat is called Black Forest. It's our number one go to hangry chocolate fix.  ….So we finally bought the "good" butter: Tell me, tell me, HOW ON EARTH do people get past that raw, non-pasteurized taste?...Also how weird is it that people eat BEETS with everything.  Beets on burgers, beet salad, beet drink, beets, beets, beets! Everything beets beets!  ...The cream is really good though. I like it because it masks the taste of the fish when we eat it.  ...They eat cakes with cream all the time.... not sure they put sugar in their whipped cream though :/ …The pies are really good too. They have nailed the pastry here, but the filling isn't the best... We like the $2 cheap pies over the bakery pies.    

Transfers are this week.... we shall see if this Katikati sister is going to the cityyy..... it's kiwi season starting which means lots and lots of free kiwis here soon! country 1pt. 

Until next week, 

Sis Moore

2 March 2014

Letters from a Pakia (White, non-Maori) Sister

Kia Kaha!

Dear friends & Family of mine, 

    Sometimes we go through life discovering we are on a mission we never knew we were on. But other times we choose that mission. This week I have learned oh so many things about the types of mission we are all on. My mission in life at this time is to help the people in New Zealand find happiness, true happiness which has been designed and orchestrated by God to come when we follow the steps that lead to happiness. What can be better than to find happiness through reading the scriptures and living the gospel every day and then sharing that joy and happiness with the rest of the world?? well here's the thing- nothing is ever easy and everything comes without a price. 
    We all have weaknesses. Our purpose on this earth is to learn how to turn those weakness into strengths. So when we have trials and tragedies Heavenly Father is giving us an opportunity to gain wisdom and knowledge which will strengthen our weaknesses. This being said, I have A LOT of weaknesses and sometimes I hate asking Heavenly Father to help me to have something because i always know that what follows is a situation that will require the use and uncomfortable development of that attribute. like when I pray for patience.... God allows me to have plenty of experience that allow me to practice my ability to have patience. well here's the thing... I've been praying for charity, patience, and discernment recently and all at the same time, so this week was pretty much AWFULLY ENLIGHTENING aka a "painfully beautiful experience" (hard but necessary).
    For some time now I have not been able to get along with my companion. This struggle shocked me because I decided before I ever came out that I would get along with everyone. So why couldn't I get along with her? I always felt like she was angry and things got to the point where she refused to talk in lessons and then to the point where we had to cancel our appointments and talk for 3 hours.... 2 of which were spent in silence as she was trying to find the words to say..... then things escalated to the point where we couldn't leave our apartment for 2 days and i was calling our sister training leader in uncontrollable tears (brief version of what happened). Wow, right?! Why couldn't we get along? why weren't we having fun? why was I not happy? Even though i was painfully unhappy i had this voice in the back of my head that never leaves (moms voice) telling me that the reason why i was so unhappy was because i was so focused on my own happiness. lets make this long story a short one now eh? No matter how hard I thought i was trying to get along I decided to try harder. I didn't realize but my mission at this time was to help my companion. I had been telling myself that i didn't sign up to help this girl- she has too many issues to be here. But as I continued to love her no matter what crazy crap she did (charity) she finally finally opened up. turns out she had been struggling with an internal battle for some time and she expressed it by punishing me in a desperate cry for help...but now we are all goods :) it took a long time, a lot of patience, a barrel and a pinch of charity and lots of talking and listening. and maybe we will continue to still have issues, but now i know the benefit of taking the concerns of myself out. I have realized though that even though we are looking outwardly for "the one" we wish to help or "save" sometimes the person needing the most help is the person right next to you, the least and most obvious, who may even seem the least deserving.

i have seen grown men cry, i've looked into the eyes of a stranger and saw them for good or bad and what i have come to find is that eyes never lie.  We can discern the heart of a man through his eyes. Maybe that’s wrong but it sounds good for now.

So funny story: we had the open house for our chapel last saturday and i was ushering people into the chapel so we could get the next tour started and in an exaggerated attempt to motion them into the chapel i swung up and hit a ladies' butt. All the elders saw but surprisingly she wasn't even phased.... guess that’s just how we roll in katikati. 

Sad realization: Apparently when I'm stressed out i eat and cut my bangs... so as my face is getting wider, my hair is getting shorter. (Sometimes we are stretched in ways that don't flatter us ;) ). 

SO I realize that I don't say much about what KatiKati is like or the people really.... They really are quite a hoot, all of em. i'll try to tell more stories of the people in the future, i've just been really focused on well, dang, me. and when i read over my last emails they all sound annoying so i'll also try to get some more entertaining stuff :)

Tid bits:

-Never thank an australian for doing the dishes.... maybe its just my companion but apparently its like thanking them for washing their hands and thats just weird for them... 

-Our relief society president is THE FUNNIEST/ most interesting person ever.... she is 80 years old and decided to get a hair cut and a quick hair dye before the open house tours.... she showed up with PURPLE hair.... it was suppose to be black but something went wrong apparently. 

-Every Elder i have ever met is like a lost puppy dog, they're so precious, scared and lost looking... especially around the sisters. But i love the elders in our district so much. Every time we have to do a training I make up acronyms for them and they eat it up like a duck sees bread in water.

Much Love!
-
Sis Moore