I can't believe y'all got a boat without me!!! Haha That's so awesome and I loved hearing about all the adventures going on back home! I miss all of those crazy projects and adventures. I miss working like that! A member here was redoing his kitchen and was laying tile and I wanted to go help so bad, but my companion didn't really want to. I think you might like to hear our mission vision here in the NZAM. "In the NZAM we talk with everyone! Strive to become Preach My Gospel missionaries! And seek to be obedient with exactness! Why? To save souls weekly!" Saving souls weekly means having four baptisms a month (four weeks in a month). There doesn't have to be one baptism each week, just four within the month for our goal. Our goal since I've gotten here is just to save souls weekly and we have fasted and prayed very much for it, I really want to save souls weekly in my first transfer, that'd be crazy! This would be my companion's first time to save souls weekly as well. And guess what! It's happening! Remember that family I mentioned before? At least I think I mentioned them. Either way, the dad has really been the only thing holding the kids back and we haven't been able to set any of them ourselves up to this point. {set - refers to scheduling baptism dates} BUT we brought our AMAZING ward mission leader with us on Saturday and he set Manu! (the dad) He basically told him, "you're getting baptized on the 20th" and he said, "Okay." It wasn't that bold but it wasn't a soft invitation either. So after Bro. Soo Choon set him, we issued the invitation again to make it was solid and he said yes. He isn't married unfortunately, but Bro. Soo Choon talked to Manu yesterday and we are now planning to have a wedding and baptism on the 20th! {He was living with his girlfriend and needed to marry her. A person doesn't have to be married to get baptized! Just FYI Haha} If everything goes the way we hope then we'll be baptizing Manu and 5 kids on April 20th, it's so exciting! Only one of the kids is officially set because he doesn't actually encourage his kids to get baptized, he lets them choose for themselves, but he almost discourages them from doing it. But, we're sending the big guns (Bro. Soo Choon) to go talk to Manu sometime during the day today and get all of the kids set as well. It's going to be a white April!
We really want this baptism to happen on the 20th because transfers are on the 24th and we really want both of us to be here for this baptism. Transfers are normally on Thursday here but this time they will be on Wednesday. You're probably thinking, "Hmmm, why are they on Wednesday, Elder Moore?" Well, I'll tell you . . . because that's the day Elder Oaks is coming! {Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles} The entire mission will be there for transfers this time, it's going to be crazy. And, it's really going to be rough for all of the missionaries down in Gisborne since that's an 8 hour drive one way for them.
As for General Conference, that's a good question. That's awesome that y'all already got to watch it. Here, we wait until the following weekend and then everyone goes to the chapel to watch a recorded broadcast. And, we only get a one hour break between sessions. And, it's going to be rough on Sunday because the priesthood session is at 7 in the morning, then the first session is at 10 and the last one at 1, but it's going to be awesome! Especially since you said there were a lot of talks about missionary work.
The good thing about serving in this mission and talking with everyone is that if you actually do it like you are supposed to then for the rest of your life you will never be afraid to approach and talk to anyone ever again. The bad thing is that it is hard. I'm definitely not a good missionary yet, but I'm trying. Something that makes things difficult is that I never was good at talking about issues and things that frustrated me when they arose, and even when it did come time to talk about them I just put up a wall instead of communicate everything and try to resolve it. This makes it difficult sometimes for my companion and I to be unified and would be a good skill for Landon to learn. I don't feel like I do anything very good because nobody ever tells me what I do good. Even after a lesson where I felt like I did really good my companion tells me what I should have done and how we weren't unified because of me, etc. This can be discouraging. That's how some missionaries, like my companion, think it has to be. They think criticizing is necessary. But the most amazing missionaries like Sadlier and Hoffman didn't do it that way and they were so much more successful. Sometimes it just gets so frustrating. Being humble can be so hard, so that's a good thing to learn now. The other day I even found myself looking at a picture of Elder Sadlier and saying in frustration, "Why can't I be like you!?" It's frustrating when you know what you want to do and be like but you still can't do it. Really though, what it comes down to is being humble, positive, and willing to compliment and praise others. So that's what I've been working on. After a lesson, I try to tell Elder D. how well he did. I'm tired of being the "greeny" but I also don't want to be the leader. Last week we went on two 24-hour trade off's {change companions for 24 hours} and for the first one I was left to lead our area with a missionary who isn't always exactly obedient. It was exhausting to be the senior companion, but it was also a good learning experience.
Maybe I'll get to train Aunt Jill's friend though {my sister has a friend who was recently called to the same mission} and I'll turn him into a superstar missionary! I'm so excited for him to get to come here to the land of the long white cloud. However, I might not even be in this mission by then. Give him my email address and tell him he can email and ask me questions about NZ or being a missionary here and I'd be happy to answer them.
I'm not really sure what I need right now. I have been eating heaps ever since I got to NZ. In the MTC I always ate all of my food, which was quite a bit, and here in the field I eat heaps every chance I get. My companion thinks I'm crazy because I'm always hungry (he's practically never hungry unless we fast) but I just get hungry so I always go hard when it comes time to eat. And, I haven't gained any weight yet that I can notice. Maybe I'll just grow a couple of inches in height instead. :)
It's gotten cold here too. In our flat all morning it's about 60 degrees or below according to my clock, but outside in the sun it gets warmer than that. Yesterday it was cold though and I got to bust out a big coat for about an hour. You can tell Landon that I have also gotten quite strong. When I was on trade off with Elder Brown the Samoan last week I beat him in a push up contest and I feel like I can do more now than I did last week. I'm pretty much the hulk now I guess.
Oh, last week after emailing we went to Subway for lunch! Can you guess what I had? That's right, a Moroccan Lamb footlong! Only in New Zealand! {In the past he ordered the meatball sub!}
{Responding to my questions:} Letters are always fun to get, but I don't know that I need anything at the moment. I have debated for a while whether or not to try sending my carry on suitcase home or getting rid of it somehow. I really hated having it in the beginning because nobody else brought as much stuff as me, everyone else only had two bags, both smaller than mine, and it was embarrassing. But nobody else brought everything they needed either. It seems that everyone else in the mission just plans on buying what they need here, whereas I shouldn't need to buy any shirts, pants, or suits for two years. Everyone also thinks it is so funny that I brought a skillet, but it's pretty sweet to have it whenever the one in your flat sticks so bad that you wonder if someone didn't coat it in fly paper. I've made some pretty mean eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches in my skillet from Sis. Pittman. Another bit of good news is that last week they changed the weird suit coat policy. Now, we only have to wear our suit coats after 5 p.m. during the four winter months of May-August, and other than that we only have to wear them to meetings. So we pretty much never have to wear our suit jackets now which is awesome. And want to know what's also crazy? Up until less than a year ago missionaries here could go to the beach! They couldn't swim but they could still go on the beach, but unfortunately that rule has been changed. I'm going to go get my first haircut since the MTC right after this, exciting right? And we're going to go to McDonalds for the first time so I can have a burger and chips! It's pretty exciting. I love you guys so much and am grateful for your examples. I always remember it's the hard that makes it great, and we do hard. Remember, have fun and be happy! Heavenly Father didn't mean for life to always be hard, he wants us to have joy along the journey as well.
P.S. I heard a good joke for Nolan. I've been trying to tell my companion jokes but he has a weird sense of humor and seems to only laugh for investigators. But, I laugh at my own jokes instead and he thinks that's funny. :) This is a joke I heard from an investigator. (you also need to know that they call apartments flats here)
"Why did the armadillo cross the road? To go see his Flat-Mate!" Haha I thought that one was pretty funny. I love you guys! Bybsactw and go hard when you do hard!
Love,
Elder Moore
Bybsactw - "Be your best self and change the world" I tell my children this everyday and every time they walk out the door. I also constantly remind them and myself, "It's the hard that makes it great! And we do hard."
One of many flat tires . . .
I love the entire hamburger picture series! I raised him right - he knows to take tons of pictures.
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