Monday, March 25, 2013
Life as a missionary is still hard, but I'm getting better at it. We went on trade off with the zone leader's the other day for a few hours and I was with Elder Read from Tasmania (Australia). He helped me so much. He talked with me, taught me, encouraged me, and answered questions in a way that helped me understand them better. He was also an amazing teacher with investigators, I hope I can be as good of a missionary as he is one day. He helped me understand that it is important to be obedient with exactness and sometimes you have to make decisions to not do some things so that you can be exactly obedient.
My companion still doesn't talk much in the flat, but I've grown to enjoy studying and reading the Ensign during lunch and dinner instead. That story you read in the Ensign by the lady here in New Zealand was actually in my companion's last area and he knows her. Apparently that is her second story to make it into the Ensign now.
Some funny things about life here in NZ is that nobody says "a lot" they say "heaps." So if I ate a lot of food, I'd say, "I hate heaps." So, just to let you know there are heaps of Polynesians here. There are hardly any white people at all actually in our area. It was funny in the car with the zone leaders the other day because we were looking and only saw 2 or 3 white people the whole time. There is one other white man in our ward though, his name is Bro. Christy and he teaches seminary. I LOVE the Polynesians so it's really great! We also don't have meals at member's homes, we have "feeds," so I'd say, "We're having a feed at the Tepa's tonight" or "we're going to a feed" or maybe "we had a massive feed last week." Some of the slang here is so funny. By the way, the water is all safe here. No need for shower sandals and you can drink from the tap. The hot water from the tap is also boiling lava hot. I don't think even dad would wash his hands in our hot water. As for bike riding safely, I haven't even put on my lights because I haven't felt the need to, or had the time. There are sidewalks everywhere here and for the most part we just ride on them, and it's only dark for the last hour before in for the night and there are plenty of street lamps so I haven't bothered mounting my lights yet. I have the lights that came on my bike and for right now they are plenty for this area.
Yesterday, I got to go with one of the zone leaders to do a brief trade off in Papakura and I enjoyed that. While Elder Galt (ZL) went with a missionary to a lesson, I went with Elder Peterson (from the Marshall Islands) to visit some people. Papakura was pretty and Elder Peterson is really fun so I had a good time. I also forgot to tell you that they found my scriptures! As soon as we arrived at the mission office from the MTC the MTC called saying they found my scriptures. I guess somebody had left them in their room and they found them as the rooms were being cleaned. I don't know when I'll get them back but at least I know they have been found and will be returned to me eventually.
I didn't bring bedding and I wasn't given and opportunity to buy it on arrival, and when we went to buy groceries our first day here I forgot my wallet. So, I slept with a sheet and a towel as a pillow the first few days, but last Pday I was able to get a real pillow and blanket. One of the older missionaries here helped me get the right kind of blanket for in this mission. We went to one of the many "Chinese shops" in the area that have cheap things and I got a massive as blanket for 35$ NZ dollars. The idea is you get a king size blanket for cheap and then in the winter you can wrap up in it multiple times to stay warm. I love my massive as blanket, it has a picture of tigers on it. Also there are heaps of cats here in NZ. Every where I go, even in our small backyard, there are cats. Plenty of people still have dogs as pets but I still see way more cats. I don't think I have even seen a stray dog here, but I have seen plenty of stray cats. Oh, and i wanted to tell you about the crazy gas prices here. Next time you go to fill up the car with gas you can at least be grateful that it doesn't cost $8 a gallon. They sell in liters here, but it adds up to a little over $8 per gallon.
They also have fish and chips ships here like in England and meat pies! Pies are so good. You can buy them at the bakery and you can even buy them at the store to microwave and eat later. Of course the bakery ones are the best but the refrigerator ones are still good too. And last week we got to go to the temple! I think I forgot to mention that good news last week. I made it into the mission just in time to go on the mission temple trip that happens every six months. And of course we got to go to that ice cream shop on the way back. It's called Poken's and it's just like a little street side shop. We didn't have much time to stop there so nobody got the incredibly massive cones, but they had pictures displayed of the big ones. I think the biggest someone has gotten was 26 scoops? I know, crazy. I only got three scoops so it wouldn't melt all over me, and it was very good.
We were also told tat in just a few weeks Elder Oaks and Elder Rasband and Bishop "something" are coming to our mission! I'm really excited to hear them come speak to us. I know these emails don't have much sensible structure to them, but I just try to be able to fit as much in as possible. I type whatever I want to say whenever I think of it, i hope you can still make sense of it all.
In his talk yesterday, Brother Tukaki (pronounced too cocky, and one of the members of the bishopric) talk about how to do hard things. He said the way to do things that seem too hard to do is to find a reason to do them. We must have a reason to accomplish hard tasks. And the reason must be better and greater than the hard task at hand. I really liked that and thought you would too. So find a reason, and then do hard things. I put one of mom's wonderful little notes in the back of my White Handbook that says, "It's the hard that makes it great!" I keep it there in mu pocket so I can look at it frequently throughout the day. I still miss stories and jokes and always having best friends around, but I'm getting used to things now and studying more to become a better missionary. I think part of the idea behind not talking about things from back home is because some missionaries think it is distracting or sounds "trunky"? (as in wanting to pack your trunk and go home) I don't think it is a big deal, but hopefully someday I'll have a companion like the ones in Vidor that can talk about everything. It's not like my companion is a quiet guy, he talks plenty with the members and investigators (they all actually think I'm the quiet one because I let him talk). He just says that in the flat he is so tired from talking to everyone that he doesn't want to talk any more. I'll work hard and become the best missionary I can be, then maybe once I've been out for a while and am a good missionary I'll be able to talk more. Unfortunately right now we don't have any really promising investigators, but I think we will soon. Yesterday, we fasted for help so I'm sure things will pick up soon. I love you and hope you have a great week! :)
Love,
Elder Moore (the Moore-Man ;) )
I have one more cool story actually. All we have in our flat for a mirror is a small square one on the outside of the bathroom door, but I found a car visor, you know for blocking sun for the driver, and it has one of those tiny mirrors on it and I set it up in our bathroom. So, we now have a car visor in our bathroom as a mirror, and that is how I fix my hair in the mornings. And the other day as we were riding our bikes we saw a small bowl outside someone's fence with a sign that said, "FREE" over it. We happened to need another bowl, so we took it. And those are the stories of how the Lord provides for the missionaries :)
Loving the upgraded accomodations! haha
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