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