Christmas is a Special Time

Kia Ora,

Wow, what a week! it's been a good one!

So we had Christmas mission conference down in Hamilton where we had it last year, but this year they had build onto the camp ground. There was actually shade to sit under and building to sit in. It was so nice and beautiful.

During the conference I learned so many things about scripture study and the importance of doing so. The more we appreciate and live the more God is willing to give us. He is amazing. It was so good to see and catch up with all my mission buddies, especially sister Prince and sister Samataua! man I love those two! I was so glad that we had a conference before I went home, I didn't know if I was going to see sister Samataua again... especially if I didn't see her before I came home. We were in like shock being around each other again, it was so fun! so many laughs. and it was awesome because during lunch we look over and see brother and sister Stanford walking on over!! they had come to the temple and  heart all the missionaries were at the camp and they came and saw us!! it as awesome! love them! What an awesome day!

Man we had a miracle this week, or rather a few miracles.

So John is set to be baptized on the 27 of December but he has been having some doubts . But at church yesterday he was able to get his questions answered and is feeling a lot better. That is so good. The baptism is still on! so that is good!

Another miracle. so our investigator dane has been taking the lessons for over a month now, nearly two and we haven't seen much progress. He invited us to go to some Christmas lights with him and his kids and mom and we agreed to go. that single event changed everything. He began to trust us and see that we truly cared about him, that's how we perceive it anyway. You know that we are not just there to share a message.. it was so cool! he came to church the very next day!!! first time!!! and he prayed for the first time in our lesson ! it was so cool! such a miracle! we are going to spend some of Christmas eve with him and his kids, playing soccer and other games! We are so excited for them!

So it's been a great week!

I love to see the miracles when we exercise our faith. some things that I have learnt lately is that we must show them that we love them if they don't feel it they won't care what we have to say. 

Hope you have a good week and a Merry Christmas! Talk to you soon!

Christmas is a special time, but we shouldn't wait until Christmas to remember the saviour in our lives. I want to share some words from a song with you. A sister missionary sang this at the conference and I loved it and asked for the song.

Do you have room?

" they journeyed far, a weary pair, they sought for shelter from the cold night air.

some place where she could lay her head, where she could give her babe a quiet bed.

was there no room? no corner there? in all the town  a spot someone could spare?

was there no soul come to their aid? a stable bare was where the family stayed.

Chorus:

do you have room for the saviour and do you seek him a new? have you a place for the one who lived and died for you? are you as humble as a shepherd boy, or as wise as men of old? would you have come that night? would you have sought the light? do you have room?

 

a star arose, a wondrous light, a sign from God this was the Holy night.

And yet so few would go to see the babe who came to rescue you and me.

This child divine is now a king, the gift of life to all the world he brings. And all mankind he saves from doom. but on that night for him there was no room.

 

Chorus:

do you have room for the saviour and do you seek him a new? have you a place for the one who lived and died for you? are you as humble as a shepherd boy, or as wise as men of old? would you have come that night? would you have sought the light? do you have room?

 

Isn't that a beautiful song? I love the meaning that it has behind it. do we have room for the Saviour in our lives. Do we truly understand what he means? or are we going to let him pass by as the innkeepers of old and say there is no room.

I encourage you to make room for the Saviour, no matter how busy your life may be. He has done everything for you and it would only do you good to make room for the saviour.

I love you

sister Bird

He is the Gift

Time is FLYING by!

Oh my goodness. 

We had an interesting week. It was pretty slow because my companion got sick so we stayed home for one day of the week.

I think my favourite part of the week was Sunday. This Sunday evening we had a special "come and see fireside". It is specially designed for investigators and less actives. It was so good!!! 

We were asked to sing at the fireside, so we sang "i feel my saviours love", i was so nervous i could feel my face going red but because we sang it brought one of our investigators there. So that was good. She is so cute, because she is so proud of us when we sing. It touches her and touches me that she cares so much. She's like a mum in that sense, supporting us and loving us and being proud of us for our achievements:) We've been trying to help her recognize and feel the spirit and she said when we sang she felt the love of what we were singing, i tried telling her that maybe it was the spirit. the talks later on in the meeting touched on answers to prayer and how we can receive the answers to our prayers when we act in faith not standing still. 

The speakers were Yuri, a man who just recently came back to church, and Tui Birch, a man who just got baptised. They are brother-in-laws. There story is a miracle story.  It's been beautiful to see their whole family come back to church and join the church after many years. 

The following speakers after the beautiful ward choir sang a wonderful rendition of "Joseph Smiths first prayer" was the mission presidents counsellor and his wife. President and Sister Higgins. They spoke so powerfully and beautifully on things that i needed to hear as well as my investigators. wow. As i said before it was mentioned how we can receive answers to our prayers. 1. Through dreams 2. Through the ones we love and trust 3. through prayer. that was his wife and then one of the things that stuck out to me that president higgins said was that our lives are kind of like a gps on a phone. If you are standing still it can't tell you how to get to your destination, it won't say go left, right, turn around etc but you must be moving in order for it to tell you where to go. This is related to faith, how can we receive answers to our prayers if we are being dormant and not moving. It was so good.

John Stewart, the man i talked about last week came to church and to the fireside. He is doing great and i really believe that he will be baptized. He is solid as and really soaking it all up, he wants to know everything.

Please pray for these people John Stewart, John slater, Maree, Daniel and Cindy, Dane, Molly, Tata.

I have been praying that i will have one more baptism before i go home and the Lord has blessed me with my desire. There is a little girl who just turned 9 that is a daughter of a recent convert of a year. Annaliese is her name and she wants to be baptized asap. So we have scheduled for the 20 of December. Please pray that it will all work out and be a good experience!

i Love you all and i am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity that i have had to serve a mission. I have learned so much but most importantly i have learned that my father in  heaven lives. He loves us, he knows us and i know it! I love him for what he has so graciously done by giving us his son Jesus Christ as our gift for Christmas.

We are doing something called the "He is the Gift" initiative. If you have not watched it yet please go tochristmas.mormon.org and discover the gift for yourself, embrace it and then share it. the world needs to know about the wonderful gift of our saviour Jesus Christ.

love you

sister Bird

Can You Believe It's December Already?

Kia Ora!

wow, can you believe that it is December already? wait .....for you its not!!!! hahaha until tomorrow!

Man this week has been great and full of miracles! I want to share one in particular...

On Saturday we were contacting some of our potential investigators and when we had finished we were getting ready to head to our appointment. Sister Finau said we should go through the park at the end of the road, which we had never been before. We didn't even know if it would be a shortcut but she was truly inspired...This is where we met John (smith) ha jokes. Stewart. John stewart. He is really searching. he had so many questions as we taught him about the restoration. He really seemed to understand. When we finished we invited him to church and he told us that it was no coincidence that he came to the park that day. He doesn't even live in our area and he wasn't even planning on coming to the park with his family and to top it off we never go that way. The Lord is aware of his children and if we are listening we can be there to help them. He came to church yesterday and he so enjoyed it. He loved the classes and that anyone can share rather just listen and accept what is being said. It was so cool to hear him say again that it was no coincidence that we met him. He is really searching. He said he'll see us there next week. So cool! Huge blessing!

Also Maree came to church. We are trying to work really hard with her to receive her answer about God existing, because she is not too sure if she will continue the lessons after I leave. I am pleased that she came to church though. She's coming along:) She is such a lovely lady and I know that we will stay in touch through out our lives. Please pray for her that she will be able to recognize her answer!

so Yesterday was a special sacrament meeting all focussed on the Saviour. My companion and I sung the prelude music. We were so nervous, but apparently it was the best we had ever sung it together. I feel it really brought the spirit. You could tell everyone was listening intently because even the children were quiet and taking a break on making themselves heard. haha

Lyrics to the song we sang

Jesus Climbed the hill to the garden still

his steps were heavy and slow.

Love and prayer took him there

to the place only he could go.

 {Gethsemane, Jesus loves me, so he went willingly

to Gethsemane}

He felt all that was sad, wicked or bad

all the pain we would ever know.

While his friends were asleep he fought to keep

his promise made long ago.

{Gethsemane, Jesus loves me, so he went willingly

to Gethsemane}

The hardest thing that ever was done

the greatest pain that ever was known

the biggest battle that ever was known

this was done by Jesus. the fight was won by Jesus

{Gethsemane, Jesus loves me, so he gave his gift to me in Gethsemane}

It was so beautiful! 

I love being a missionary. It has been the greatest thing that I could ever have done. I am not ready to come home but really I am! ha its confusing. I am really gonna miss teaching with power and authority, serving others always, teaching the gospel, riding bikes in a skirt, having an awesome companion, feeling the spirit so strong, studying for 2 hours a day! man the mission is the BEST! It certainly has given me the best foundation for the rest of my life!

love you

sister BIrd

I KNOW God Loves Me

 

Hello hello... kia ora!

I really got to get into the habit of saying kia ora... I still haven't and I want to bring it home.

So sister holmes is gone... :( its so sad! I really miss her and I can tell that sister Finau does too. But it was a good week. We were able to find 2 new investigators. Dane. and magnolia.

Dane is 30 years old and is a solo dad. It's really fun teaching him though because he enjoys learning and is open to the concept of God but he's never really known for himself. He has had many opportunities to explore it but we are lucky because now he's chosen to. Just by a single invitation to learn more. This week we taught him more about prayer and how to pray. Its something that is really foreign to him, but we also focussed on the desire he needs to have in order to receive an answer and get something out of meeting with us. So please pray for him this week that he will hold onto the desire that he does have and be able to receive and answer as his desire grows. he also needs help recognizing the answers that he receives. he is great!!

The next one is magnolia. she is 15 and is a daughter of a recent convert of about a year. Magnolia is very humble and obedient. She has come to believe in God through coming to church. So this week we invited her to pray daily for herself so that she can come to know God for herself. she seems excited about it:) She also wants to be baptized... she decided her birthday the 23 January. I am kind of hoping that it will move up, I would love to be here for her baptism.:) She is lovely. Pray for her that she will remember to keep her commitments and recognize her answers please:)

Molly is doing alright. She is lovely. I just love molly. I wish I could be here for her baptism too but I think it might take longer.

I really am trying hard to give my last month and a half my best. its so incredibly hard to stay focusses but I am trying the best I can.

We had a really neat experience this week that confirmed to me the reality of God and his love for us. ok so you all know how hard I am on myself in trying to improve myself.. so sister holmes wanted a blessing and so we called the elders over. They gave her a blessing and they said exactly what she needed with answers to personal things that she had been worrying about. it was amazing. Then sister Finau decided to get one. The same thing happened for her but with different circumstances. I then decided that I would have a blessing although I felt fine at the time and didn't feel I needed one. I sat down and elder Gutke pronounced the most beautiful blessing of council that I have ever received. He had no idea what I was facing inside but at that moment I knew that God was hearing my prayers, I knew without a doubt that he was real. 

Wow, 3 different people with three completely different yet so personal blessings. Heavenly father told me through that blessing that he was proud of my progress but changing was going to take longer than what I had hoped. He told me not to worry about anything here or back home because he had prepared everything for me and it was ready for me. it was the coolest blessing. I am so thoroughly convinced even more of the power of God and his reality and love not only for me but for all of his children.

I know He lives. I KNOW he loves me! He really does hear me. I am so grateful that I have this knowledge and that I know my heavenly father personally and that he knows me and loves me even with my imperfections.

I am so filled with love and gratitude:)

have a GREAT week!

love you

sister Bird

p.s. 

oh ya and our car got hit this week. We were parked walking around and we come back and it had been hit in the back wheel. The other car was thrashed. They veered off the road when checking their phone. (don't text or call and drive).

so this is the elders that came to help

crazy day!

 

I Love Being a Missionary

Kia Ora!

Molly paki is doing great. She really enjoyed church this Sunday! and after our class she said that she felt hopeful about being able to quite smoking and get baptized! so that is great! she has her ups and down days as we all do!

This week we set expectations with a lot of people. Our investigators weren't progressing so we sat down with them and told them our purpose and if they want to continue learning then this is where we saw it going etc.

We did this with an investigator, we told him why we were there and if he wanted us to keep coming then this is what we needed him to do.  The spirit was really strong and it was great to feel him soften and accept it. such a neat experience.

I love being a missionary and working hard. It brings so much joy and satisfaction. Man what a great opportunity and blessing I've been given to participate in such work.

love you all!

Have a great week:)

love sister BIrd

Halloween in NZ

Kia Ora whanau! (Whanau is pronounced fonoe and means family in maori)

Well well well, What a week I have to tell you about. It really has been great!

first off I will tell you of the funny things that have happened. So sacrament meeting this week was crazy. Fast and testimony meeting. We had an area fast where everyone fasted for 3 purposes. 1. to increase our personal faith in Jesus Christ 2.  to be guided to identify a new opportunity to hasten the work. 3. for someone that we could invite to a special sacrament meeting at the end of the month. It really was a great spiritual experience to be united in fasting for a great cause. However, fast and testimony meeting was interesting. It started off with a man who always shares his testimony of fast Sunday. He is very bold, loud and passionate about the gospel and especially the importance of keeping the commandments. Then he was followed by an older lady who is roughly the same as him. However, she spouts off memorized scripture with it! then she is followed by a recent convert from last year. 

Molly is doing great, she really enjoyed church and is progressing well. I received a prompting from the spirit that if we involve her with members as much as we can and have them give her support that she will be baptized sooner. that was cool! so we are trying really hard. she has a smoking problem. please pray for her. She is wonderful!

Another fun experience that we had this week was on Halloween. NZ is just embracing Halloween, so they don't really celebrate it and most don't like it. But the ward had a trunk and treat activity. My companions and I wanted to go so we were trying to think of something that we could do all well. One of the members invited us over for a picnic lunch and she gave us a bunch of random stuff in which helped us out heaps. About and hour and a half before it started we ran to sister prestons to find an appropriate costume. We came out with cowboy hats! This sparked all the ideas. We ended up making signs that said " I mustache you a question" and "WANTED for your eternal salvation" and then we made mustaches and put them on what we had, paint brushes to hold in front of our mouths. Whenever people would come over they had to answer a question about the gospel in which if they didn't know the answer would have to find it in a pamphlet. We turned this into a fun finding activity. handing out pamphlets!! Hopefully the parents read it!! ha It was great! What a fun night!

also last Monday we hiked the Mount. Its like a 'mountain' about 15 minute drive from where we live. So beautiful!

So this morning I studied about the millennium. Man I am so glad that I did because now I  understand it so much better. It is definitely a time to look forward too. Satan wont be on the earth and we will still have an opportunity to have children. It will be way easier to raise them in righteousness. what a beautiful experience that would be.

heavenly father certainly loves his children. I am so grateful to be apart of His gospel and to know him. He is amazing! I am so grateful that I have this short time to be a missionary, I have never done anything so amazing and rewarding in my life.

I love you all!

love sister BIrd

What a great week I had!

hello:)

Well what a great week I had.

Some good things happened this week and some interesting things. My companion and I got a call on Wednesday to leave what we were doing and drive immediately to Whakatane and pick up the sisters over there. They were getting ET (emergency transferred), so we had to drive and hour to get them, wait an hour or so for them to finish packing and then drive them back to Tauranga. It was a long day of travel and we were exhausted.

Tata is doing great. He came to church on Sunday all dressed in a suit. It's so nice to see him dressed up . We visited him last night after church and he seemed fine but then he opened up to us and he told us how he is struggling.  Honestly I think the only thing that is getting him through and keeping him strong is that he reads the book of Mormon for 30 minutes everyday and prays  hard out. He feels better when he does that but he is still struggling. He asks the question "why me" why am I different than my other family members who are good people and who finished their schooling. He just feels lost and I think satan is working hard on him. He is so cool, you all would love him. We really enjoy our time with him, he is hilarious and has become one of our best friends.

 Please pray for him.

So good news is that our investigator Maree came to church this sunday. She is great. She really just came to support us because we might be leaving soon. ( tranfers are next week) But it was great that she came. she is a spiritual lady and believes in angels and stuff. But since we have been meeting with her and being her friend and teaching her she has really grown. She is starting to believe. We taught her the restoration this week and she said that she would like to know if that is true. So that is cool. Now we just got to help her recognize her answer. Please pray for her!

So yesterday we went finding on the beach for a bit. It was actually really fun and seemed pretty natural to talk to people at the beach:) plus we never get to go to the beach because we are busy with missionary work. but this is a good way to see it and do the work:)

last night we straightened my companions hair and I wore it. look how good it looks on me:) ha so funny, I look so young!

We also had dinner at the prestons:) I love being there. they are so great! I am really gonna miss them.

Last night I was pondering about tata and all of these people that I have grown to love. I thought about how I will be home in 3 months and how I won't be able to stop in whenever I want. In fact I won't be able to at all. this made me really sad.... I love it here. I love these people, I love doing what I do. Being on the Lords errand is the best thing ever. It brings so much joy. I am certainly going to miss it.

love you all:)

sister Bird

What lesson did you learn this week?

Hello Family!

So tata is still pretty excited for him baptism. He did not come to church yesterday but he did come to the fireside that we  had later on that evening where we learned all about the ancestry of the Moari people from the book of Mormon and where they landed in america and etc. it was really cool. something that brother Jones said that really stuck out to me was " silence is a sin, will we not raise a warning voice to God's children?" It's so true, we have great knowledge, and we know the plan and the consequences, will we not raise a warning voice. i loved it! 

So my challenge to you this week is to not be silent. We are surrounded by people everyday that we can share the gospel with. Something i've learned from the prestons is that you can share the gospel anywhere and anytime. They give out book of mormon's at work. They even had an expo yesterday to find new patients and ended up not getting any but sharing the gospel and giving away 2 copies of the book of mormon. They are truly amazing. The lord needs all of us to be like that. I know its scary, because i still get scared but he will help us know what to say and we will feel the spirit more abundantly in our lives if we share the gospel.

So i've learned my lesson this week. What lesson did you learn?

I love you all!

love sister Bird

1. me and sienna

2. natasha's kids

3. serenity and her sister

4. tata

Papamoa is so great!

Hello Familia,
 sister Vea is really teaching me a lot about smiling more and not being so serious. i take missionary work very seriously but maybe i could smile more. So i strived to do so this week! i made it a few days of smiling a lot and it was so natural and i felt SO happy! i couldn't believe it. i was happy before but when i smiled all day i felt so happy all the time! It was so cool! Sister Vea is always smiling and her laugh is SO loud and so high pitched, i'll have to send you a video of it. It's crack up:) The best part of being happier and smiling more is that our investigators even noticed and said something about it.
> I sure love my new area. Papamoa is so great! it took me a while to love it but i definitely love it now!
> Tata (tat) is doing so well and progressing so well. He's come to church two weeks in a row and he even fasted this sunday. He's really struggling with his family that are currently in fiji. They are not pleased with the way that he is living his life and d even that he is learning from missionaries. He wants to make them proud. However, he told them that he would do what he feels is right. He is really liking this path and is really good at recognizing the spirit and loves the feeling. He is amazing and i smile so much when i hear that he is progressing so well. Please pray for him, his family issues and that the members his age will feel inclined to fellowship him more! That is so needed, we want him to feel like he fits in.
> Hayley:) she is so cool! last night i gave her my ear warmer head band! she kept complimenting it every time we came over so i thought she would just like it if i gave it to her. she couldn't stop smiling:) she was so happy. We haven't met her partner yet... he's being an egg. He's not being very nice to her and she said it's a healthy relationship.. competitive. little does she know what is out there and God's plan. i just want her to be so happy and we have the antidote.  We asked her last night if she feels that she is on the right path and she said yes:) she doesn't feel that anything is wrong. so that is so good! yay!!!
> sister Vea and i sing together! it's the best thing ever! it's been a dream of mine to have a companion who could sing and sing well enough that we could sing together and harmonize and perform for people. And this transfer is the only one that i've been able to do that. We walk all over our huge area singing songs and we got one down so good! maybe the prestons will send you the clip when we performed it for them. its starting to sound good after so much practice. Singing has really strengthened our relationship. The best part is that she never really sang before because so much the other missionaries and her family would tell her that she was awful but she's really doing great. She says that me wanting her to sing with me and encouraging has really boosted her confidence and i can see how happy it makes her. It's so amazing:) i am so proud of her!
> Sister Preston is amazing. For my birthday i didn't want to tell anyone that it was my birthday becausei wanted it to be a good day not a day all about me. However, sister Vea texted and reminded everyone so that they didn't forget and it ended up being a really great day and a special one. Sister Preston had us over for lunch and she bought all this nice food and it was soo good. she bought sushi and cresants and a cupcake for me! I love her. She really made that day so special. There were so many people that wished me a happy birthday. I am very grateful. i really feel like they are my family away from home. i love them as you can see they are great! She is like my mom away from home. She really misses utah and her family there but they moved there to do the Lord's work. She comes to lessons with us all the time and we appreaciate it so much . our investigators always start to progress when members come and teach with us and share personal experiences etc. It's amazing and she is so good at it. She understand the world because she has been through more than we 20 year olds have. I encourage you to make time for going with them .serve our brothers and sisters:)
> i love you all! thanks for everything. i got your card on my birthday and it was so special thanks! i miss you and love you.
> time is short and i will be home but dont think about it ok:) ha
> love sister BIrd

After 6 months in the lovely land of Tuakau i've now been transferred

Hello Family,

I have so much to tell you~! After 6 months in the lovely land of Tuakau i've now been transferred to the lovely land of Papamoa, in tauranga. It is totally opposite of what i have just experienced in tuakau. First off it's HUGE, it's very rich, and the people are hard! ha It's so a big difference and definitely something to get used to. However, i LOVE it here! It is so beautiful. The first day i got here we went running on the beach! so cool! however, it's SO cold! 

Let me tell you a little bit about my companion. Sister Vea, is her name and she is from tonga. Sister Vea and i were in the same intake, which means that we came out at the same time, except i didn't know her too well because she was at the NZ MTC. Also, in my last area i served over her as a STL, so i've known her.  sister Vea is the best! she is so cute, and she is a hard working missionary. We get a long just great! 

So something really cool, when i was at the VC there was a family i told you about that would come in every thursday and go to the temple. Well now i am in their ward!!! they are called the prestons. They are so excited for me to be in their ward and i am so excited to be with them. MOm, you gotta skype her too!!!:)

I want to share something with you that i've been experiencing over the past few weeks. I went through a period of time where i started to doubt. things that the people would say when we were on the streets started to make me doubt the things i've always believed and held dear. When i bore my testimony i couldn't say that i knew that Joseph Smith really saw God, i couldn't saw that he was a true prophet, i loved the book of mormon but i didn't know if it was true. This went on for a while, however i didn't give up and abandon right away, i searched for ways to build it back up again. The day before i came to tauranga, we had some mean as lessons and in each of them we showed the restoration video. Both times i watched it i felt the spirit so strong, it was unexplainable and i knew that it was true! i knew that joseph smith is a prophet of God, i know that he is a true prophet and that the book of mormon is true and i can't deny the way that i felt that day. If you are going through something similar to my experience, i bid you to do all you can to build your testimony. never give up! Heavenly Father loves you and so do i! 

have a great day and remember the church is true!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Aunt becky shared a really cool experience with me, we should try it!

'We had a cool experience in our ward this last month.  We have not had a convert baptism for a long time in our ward, so the ward mission leader told us about  a 40 day fast program they did on his mission.  Our ward mission leader sent around a calendar for 40 days and had a family in the ward sign up on each day.  Each family was to fast for 24 hours until the next family or person started their fast and this went on for 40 days.  The fast was supposed to be dedicated to missionary experiences.  Our family picked a day, and even Bailey fasted for 20 of the 24 hours.  The miracle was that just one month later the missionaries were given a referral in our ward for a lady and her two kids, and she was just baptized.  At her baptism, our ward broke the record for attendees at the baptisms in Pocatello. There was literally no place left to sit when it started.  So many ward members had been involved in the fasting process, we all wanted to come and show her our support.  It was such a special experience.'

I love you all and have a good week
Love
Sister Bird

 

I've learned a lot of things.

Hello Whanau (family in  maori)!!!

it's been a great week and I've learned a lot of things...

lets see, I want to share with  you some of the fun things that I remembered happened this week...

We had ward conference and for ward conference here they always have a ward activity the night before. It was a blast and us as missionaries played a part in it. We met up at Tuakau college(highschool) and we all played sports for a good while and then we started dinner and then had a variety show(talent show). they asked the missionaries to do a part in it and so we tried brain storming for like two weeks and last Monday we came up with an idea, however, we put it together right before the performance. We did the skit where you look like a little person. We did the life preparing for a mission, the elders putting on a tie, sisters combing our hair and brushing teeth, and then we sang "I hope they call me on a mission". then we "grew up" and sang "Nephi's courage" and did some service and were missionaries! It was so much fun! what a fun night it was. We had all sorts of cultural dances, guitar, funny skits' etc. I am so grateful that I was still in this area to experience it with them:)

Monday night we had dinner at the kiribus house, the bereti family, and then FHE. Eating with them was so cool because they eat in a cultural way. We all sat on the floor and then they passed the plates around in a circle until everyone had one. the dad then made us to silly things like, plug our nose, open our eye with our fingers, touch our ears! ha then we ate. It was a fun experience.

There is an old lady that we teach, who has unfortunately told us that she wants to stick with her own relgion.. her name is Helen. But anyway, she is teaching us how to crochet! it's so cool. we were making those slipper socks and if I get transferred she's going to finish them and send them to me. She is the cutest sweetest lady:) I love learning new talents and abilities.

We rode our bikes a lot this week and boy did I love it. Usually we just take the car, but I was sick of that and wanted to get out and experience "real missionary life". ha the bike made me smile so much:D  We had some beautiful days and some not so beautiful days. You gotta imagine, the wind blowing your skirt up with trying to ride in the rain. It's a fun experience. I prefer wearing long skirts on the bike so that I don't get frustrated trying to keep it down! ha

WE had an ant outbreak in our apartment, so some members gave us this ant killer. It is this honey looking stuff and you put it in a 'cage' thing. It was COVERED with ants. gross... fun experience though! ha

I've been saying good-bye to a lot of people because i'm assuming my time is up here. I really have loved it here, and the good thing is that we've been able to get into some homes that have been turning us away, such as john and kiha. I am so glad that they still love me! ha I was able to get a picture with them and she asked for a prayer before we left:) she told me that I've changed their life so much.. if they only knew how much better it could be.. ha

Jordon is doing so much better lately. As part of the ward conference we had a rescue night and a lot of the ward went out and did visits with many of the less actives and investigators. some of the males visited Jordon and it helped him so much. He lost the spark for a while but when they read to him Moroni 10:32 he said that it hit him. It reads " come unto Christ and be perfected in him... and in nowise deny the power of God". he said that he felt he had been denying God all this time... and now he doesn't want to do it to him anymore. It was neat to see him excited to come to church. When we went over and he told us this I almost cried that he was coming back and strong:) he even fed us and was please that he could  say "he fed the missionaries" ha . Noodles... gotta love it! I am grateful for anything.

this morning before emails we went on a hike as a district and it was so fun. it really wasn't a hike or at least it didn't feel like it, we were strolling through steep hills that looked like paddocks (fields) with sheep in them. not really a trail, which made it feel like it wasn't a hike, but the climb was. so much fun. It was so foggy that we couldn't see anything, however, I prayed that Heavenly Father would lift the fog. As we kept going and even got to the top the fog still wasn't lifted. I said " I guess I lack faith". we then turned and saw for like 1 minute that the fog had been a bit cleared and we could see a little bit of the distance. We then started to head back and slowly the fog lifted. We were able to see so much that we couldn't see  before. The Lord truly had answered my prayer, I just needed to be patient and trust him. I suppose we could relate this to all of our lives. We all go through trial and hardship. Maybe it's with testimony, maybe family etc (the fog) we pray for it to be lifted and we feel that when we get to the top or handled all we can handle that the Lord still hasn't answered our prayers. some of us may give up at this point, some may have already given up. But if we hold on a little longer I can promise that the fog will lift and you will see the blessings in front of you. John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you"

Our investigator Cheryl is doing well. She has a few hold backs with feeling loyalty to family but she does know that it's all true. I have really come to love her. finding Cheryl was really a blessing. She always says that everything happens for a reason, that she feels she's known us or met us before. she is so prepared and I know that her family on the other side that she feels loyalty toward is also ready to receive their ordinances.

I love you all! Please pray for Cheryl, the stenklev-gussey family, semau family, and our ward.

love you

sister Bird

 

1. We made it to the top! can you see the fog!

 

 

 

I had a good week this week

I had a good week this week. I went on exchanges twice, which was great fun and overwhelming to do two in a week. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a Sister Training Leader and get to work with the sisters closely. I've really grown to love them:)
Eriks family has gone down a bit. We haven't been able to catch up with them at all since we asked them to talk as a family about baptism, but brother stanford has been over a few times and has formed a good friendship with Neils so that's good. We found through him that Neils doesn't believe that Joseph Smith had the experience that he did. It's quite sad really. I just want to get over there and help them... :(

Even though he has said that, i want to bear my testimony that i know that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. I can't deny the way i feel each time i hear that story,i feel ecstatic. An electric pulse running through my body, a peace, a comfort. something that i can't really describe. None of those descriptions truly match how i feel. but i know it's true. And because i know it, i have so much more. the way that i truly came to know it though is through the Book of Mormon. wow, what a book. That book truly can and will change lives. it does change lives. It has changed mine. I never knew how blessed i was to have such a book. A book that contains God's plan of salvation, and the fulness of the gospel if Jesus Christ. And i know, as Joseph Smith said, that a man would getting nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book. i truly believe that with all my heart. You can't just read it, you must live it and that is what brings true happiness and is what forms that closeness with God. I love my Heavenly Father and i know he lives. I have loved every minute of my mission. Recently i've learned why people say that missions are challenging. Not sure why it took me so long but i have learned to rely on Christ to get through and he really does strengthen and deliver us.

Well transfers are coming up in a week and i half.. wow. i can't believe it. I have loved Tuakau but i think today i've decided that i will be happy if i stay or go. However, i do want to say that it's become my home. i love the people, the ward members, our investigators. There is so much potential and i can't wait for it to continue to flourish.  We had interviews with president the other week and i told him to let me stay another transfer and he said " i can't keep you there forever." He also told me that he'll be putting me back in the VC unless i really don't want to. Not really sure about that one yet, i have mixed feelings about going back in. I love full time proselyting.
Something that i've learned in the scriptures recently and from modern day apostles is the firm testimony that they have in Christ and in the gospel. Wow! Like Elder Holland said in the last general conference that he knew of a surety, more sure than he knew the people were before him that the priesthood and saving orindances are found in this church. so powerful. Elder Packer said that, from the prophet Joseph Smith "his words are my words", for we saw him. Their testimonies and faith in Christ are unshakable. It's truly amazing and i hope to get to that point. But one thing  i know for sure is that Jesus is the Christ. The only begotten of the father. The son of God. our savior and redeemer. i have felt his redeeming love, i have felt forgiveness and repentance through him. That is how i know. Also the Book of Mormon has solidified my testimony in him. I love him, even though i can't see him, but i feel him.

I have really grown to love the Stanford family. i will miss them dearly, but one thing i know for sure is that they are who i will be visiting for sure when i come back. I will also stay with them!!! ha They are role models, i hope to be member missionaries like them when i go back home.

Well, i wish i could think of more to say. I woke up happy today, just dancing on my way out of bed! my companion laughed at me!

Well have a great week, can't wait to hear from you!
sister Bird

"let the future be as bright as your faith"

Hello Family,

I've had a hard week. It's been a hard week for many reasons but what it all came down to was that i was thinking more about myself than others. I was being selfish and not charitable.

We had a lot of good things happen and i want to focus on that rather than on the bad... ha ha

I will share with you what has made me sad recently. There came a time when i felt that i was on top of the world. Things were going great in our area, we were teaching heaps of families who were all progressing nicely, coming to church, working together. But then satan came into the picture, some started to doubt, some weren't sure in the first place, some gave up because its too hard. I was getting depressed and sad about all the bad things happening that i had a hard time wanting to do the work. This is because i lost my focus as a servant of the Lord. I thought about myself, i wanted people to pitty me and encourage me to keep going, but they did not. I decided i better try and fix it on my own, get out of the hole i felt i was in. So yesterday i was reading about charity. 1 corinthians 13:1-8 focus on vs 5.. this scripture was like a spiritual slap to the face. I was not possessed of charity at all. I was being opposite of all of what vs 5 said.. " [charity]...doth not behave itself unseemingly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.." i thought to myself, wow what a selfish girl i am. ha But i am so glad that i read it because it has straightened me right out! ha i am feeling so much happier and am able to face our challenges with a more positive attitude and a brighter hope. "let the future be as bright as your faith" really is a true statement. If we are not bright or our faith is dimm, then neither is our future.

The good things that happened is that i was able to help Jordon with what i studied. He's been struggling lately as well and really has been just putting along and going through the motions. But i am so grateful that i went through something similar so that i could help him get out of his hole too. It'll be a work in progress but i do believe that we go through some experiences to help others get through theirs as well.

Some of the good things that happened this week is that our Investigator richard has experienced a true change of heart. He wants this change in his life, he's ready to stop being naughty and to stop all sorts of drugs etc. It was truly amazing. I am so grateful for people like him who decide to change because they realize that they aren't happy and they know that there has got to be something better out there... and there is. The gospel!

Another great thing that happened this week is that we were finally able to do tradeoffs with the ward. What this is, is that my companion and i split up and go with a women from our ward to visit our investigators and less actives. This is such a great tool, i greatly encourage you to make the time to do it. The lord will bless you. This provides a great opportunity for the ward member to fellowship the LA and investigator and increases the chance of them coming to church. It's awesome. :)

We are working with the great kiribus family. They are members of the church but have gone less active, they recently converted a few years ago. But i have grown to love them so much over these past (almost) 6 months. wow, they are such a great family. There little is the one who was baptized a few weeks ago. But the mom is coming back strong and being a great example for her family. Last night when we went over, we had them start to teach us kiribus and we learned a song in kiribus. I"ll send you the video of them singing it a few weeks ago. But it was cool to see how much more they opened up to us when we took the time to get to know them and understand their culture a bit more. :) We played this funny game where you stand in a circle and sing and clap your hand(and they sing something in kribus) and then you stop and say "what is your name" and point at one. Then that person has to go in the middle and say "my name is... chicken (or some animal) and then act it out all funny and make the noise of that animal. It is so funny!:) i was a snake! the dad does the best monkey! you have got to see it. i'll try to send the one that they did without us because unfortunately we didn't record the one we did last night. You would love their family. I was actually thinking last night what it would be for my family to be here with this family. ha
The mission really is great! I love my companion, she is so funny! ha

I can't believe my birthday is coming up and i'll be 21!! what? the age 21 here is a big deal... they celebrate it huge. It's the key to your life and they give you a key. some of them are quite cool. I would be so honored to receive on here. If i get transferred i decided i probably won't tell anyone that it's my birthday but if i stay i presume i'll have a little party! who know's.... it'll probably be the other way around!

well i love you all. a year sure has gone by fast,.

love sister BIrd

p.s. we went golfing last monday with the Daji's. They are members of our ward. It was quite cool. ha i didn't do so bad. i was so close to getting a par.. but then it turned into 5 more putts... ha 

Happy Fathers Day!

First and foremost i want to say Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful and my amazing grandpa's. Thank you so much for being the wonderful support and influence you've always been in my life. I am so blessed and grateful to have you apart of my life. Thank you for all that you've done.

Next, i want to say that the words in this email cannot even describe or explain properly the amazing miracles and experiences that we've encountered this

week. Our Heavenly Father has blessed us to much to be able to teach the people that we are teaching but also that he has blessed us to be able to find them, those that are prepared to hear and accept the gospel.

We have met so many wonderful people these past few weeks and now they are progressing in the gospel and it's beautiful. One of whom i want to speak is a girl named Hoki Becker who lives in Mere Mere. Mere Mere is a small town about 15 minutes out of Tuakau and honestly i hate it out there. Everyone is on drugs, it's a small town where no one anything to do, especially the kids, and so they just are mischief and get up to no good. It's a dirty town or village you would call it, it only has maybe 7 small streets. Anyway, it was sister Samataua and i that started working out there and it's taken a while for it to start picking up, especially since we only go out once a week. Well last week sister Ahokava and i followed up with some of those people and actually fully shared with them what we do and asked if we could come teach them about why there are so many churches. They agreed and we set an appointment for saturday, a week from then. When Saturday came i wondered on how serious they were and if they would stick to their appointment. We went over and they were home. He,Rob,  invited us in but invited himself out of the lesson, and Hoki was in the living room. Hoki has never been to church before in her life but believes in God because of the experiences of others. As we taught her, specifically about prophets, she was on the edge of her chair. She found every word we said so amazing and interesting. She wanted to know more. The spirit filled the room, one because she was so involved and two because we were listening to the spirit in what to say to her. We invited her to be baptized and she agreed and asked us what were some of the things she needed to do to be baptized... "come to church?" she said. She's onto it. It was such a neat experience. she didn't end up making it to church this Sunday because she didn't finish with something that she had on in time but we'll get her there next week. Mere Mere if finally picking up and it's so exciting. We also found a LA 19 year old out there, who has a perfect understanding of the gospel and why it's important and he feels inclined to come back. I love how the Lord places people in our pathway so that we can help them. It was a miracle that day.

The next person i want to talk about it a man named Shannon King. We met Shannon last Saturday as well before we headed off to Mere Mere. He seemed interested in what we had to say but wasn't to keen on giving us his address. So we got his number and scheduled and appointment. We called him saturday to confirm and he seemed a bit anxious and didn't talk to us much there. However, we finally ended up meeting with him on Sunday and we had to meet outside the Primary(elementary school) and we taught him there outside on the bench. He shared with us how he was nervous that we would judge him and that we would be scared because he's had many bad nick names. He shared with us how he has been in and out of jail for years and finally he read the bible and it changed him. He's read it through 3 times now. It's truly amazing. He understood completely the concept of prophets and them having an authority, it was just so neat to see how the Lord prepared him to understand that so that he could accept the Gospel. He said that as we taught him he felt so good inside but was bothered that he couldn't show it rejoicing on the outside. We saw him many times, smile at the things we were teaching him. The spirit moved him to say that he would come to church next week, so hopefully he follows through with it like he did with the lesson. It's been great!

Lastly, i want to talk about a lady named Barbara Turnbull. This is Roberts mom, the man who was healed by the priesthood. He told us this time that we wasn't ready to learn, which was disappointing but it was okay. We had an amazing lesson with Barbara. I have grown to love this old lady so much, it truly reminds me of the nursing home because we take care of her. Not physically but we are now doing her house work and we offered to do lawn care. It's beautiful how appreciative she is. :) She is so sweet. I'll try and get a picture soon! ha she cried as she told us that since we have been coming her spirituality is going back to what it used to in the past. A hole in her heart is now being filled with light. We also invited her to be baptized, she knows it's true she said, and she's going to give it deep consideration. She knows that she needs to do something about how she feels inside. It is so amazing to have these kind of experiences everyday. If only all of you could serve a mission, you would know why missionaries say that they love their mission, it's because of this, because of these precious moments.

We had two baptisms this week. They are both ward baptisms because they are 8 and their parents are members but less active.
Heremia is the son of Fitz and ruby. Ruby is an investigator and fitz is a less active. It was good to see him baptized, i think it really is helping his parents to come closer to the steps they  need to take.

sikale is also 8 and he is kiribus. I absolutely love him. I've known their family since i got to this area and they are really so dear to my heart. When i saw him go down into the water peace just filled my soul because the little boy i loved was coming unto christ and even if he didn't remember much of the things we taught him he did understand and know that what he was doing was right. The family is slowly coming back to church, it's been more of the mom bringing the younger kids but now hopefully even the dad and the older kids will come. I am so proud of them:) I'm getting pretty good at organizing good and spiritual baptisms. ha Sister Samataua taught me well, let's hope i can continue with this and get better and now worse.

This week i learned how to be humble. Hopefully that stays. I have realized how much the Lord is blessing me and helping me to have these wonderful experiences and i am so grateful for that:) I just hope i can be all that he needs me to be. I love Him with all my heart.

Love you all

Challenge this week: study the doctrine of the Sabbath day and see what you can do to keep it more holy. it will change your life! honestly. PMG says "When a nation, community,  [or an individual] grows careless in their sabbath day activities, their religious life decays and all other aspects of life are negatively affected." "our Sabbath-day behavior is a reflection of our commitment to honor and worship God" Let us be more careful in the activities we choose to involve ourselves in on Sunday. I can promise you that if you brings your lives in closer harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ, you will see more peace in your life. We all need the peace that comes from the Savior and i have grown in testimony that a big part of that comes from keeping the sabbath day holy. Even if this means no more TV on Sunday, do it. It will bless and impact your life more than you know.

love you
sister Bird

                             Sikale's baptism                   Heremia's baptism      

I know that the Lord loves his children. He loves us:)

Yesterday we went to the Marae(this is where the moari's go to have their funerals and wait for the spirit of the deceased to leave). It was a great experience. Our mission president wanted us to learn more about the culture of our people so that we could connect with them better. We learned how significant "mountains" are not only to the Lord but to the people as well. All cultures all over the world have a sacred mountain, even us and our temples have been even built on the mountains. It was really neat to learn all that we did about the background and culture of our people here.

So we have some great news about Roxanne and her family. They are doing great, so great that they are probably worn out of church activities. They been going since Thursday seeing us and having activities everyday! ha crazy! We had lessons with them on thursday, stopped by on friday, had sinner and a lesson with them on saturday, went to church and had an evening fireside with them on sunday, and had a big family home evening at the stanfords on monday or yesterday. They are really progressing and loving everything that they are involved and everything that they are learning. My love for them is certainly growing. As i watched them participate at the family home evening last night i just smiled because i love them:)

Jordon spoke at the fireside. It was good to hear him share his testimony and experience of meeting us. He did a great job:) He has been struggling a bit lately. HIs mom and step dad have been fighting and he doesn't like to be at home. He's felt a bit lonely at church and church activities...he doesn't have a true friend. He has lots of friends but not someone who will listen to him, understand him and help him like he needs. He says we are his closest friends... NO!!!  He needs a lasting friend is the ward and i am worried for him when we leave. 

Transfers are next week, i sure do hope i stay. i wouldn't mind being in tuakau for 6 months all together. It would be nice. i would even be ok to stay with sister samataua. i love her. 

I know that the Lord loves his children. He loves us:)

I read D&C 138 this morning. It was a mean chapter, it talks about what happens in the spirit world and how the spirits in prison get taught:) so cool!

How has your study of preach my gospel been going? Lately i've learned so much from preach my gospel i love it. If you wanna know how to work with the missionaries then please read ch 13 and help them. We need your help, we honestly can't do it without the support of the members. Go out to lessons with them, go on tradeoffs to visit people. fellowship the new faces at church and help them feel comfortable and have true friends. This is the work of salvation:) let's do it together. I promise you that if you do it, the Lord will help you do it and bless you for it:) It's a great work and brings much happiness. I am so grateful for all the help that the Stanfords give us. They really are helping us almost everyday and providing opportunities for our investigators to be fellow-shipped and having activities to come to. What a great blessing they are. 

I love this work and i am excited to push myself even further this week to be an even more effective missionary for the Lord and his work. He needs it and i need it. 

I know that gospel is true. Yesterday at FHE we watched an old film called "mans search for happiness". It was really cheesy but i felt the spirit testify to me so strongly that it is true. We really did live with God before as spirits, he loves us so much and he created this world just for us. Even though it seems hard and treacherous now, he has a great plan in store for us to be happy now and in eternity. i am so grateful for this knowledge. I love my savior Jesus Christ, for without him we would be nothing and have nothing. He is everything.:)

I love you. Have a great week

Sister BIrd

Let us not just learn[the scriptures] but do them!

I love my companion sister samataua and i am so glad that she was able to meet you and you her and that we were able to share a message with you:) It wasn't the best we've ever worked together but i hope you were able to feel he power of the Holy Ghost in our companionship and as we shared that message with you.

we had stake conference yesterday as well. a special broadcast to all of the new zealanders. Our special speakers were elder Oaks, Bishop Causse, Sister wixom of the primary (i think) and President Monson. How cool is that! ha It was really great. They spoke of so many good things that were just right for the new zealanders to hear. It was a lot to do with proper family home. Husband and a wife. Not partners! ha Everyone here just has partners...they live together and never get married. There were so many good things said but one of the things that stood out to me was from President Monson. I feel that this is the thing that i always learn from him but never master. He told a story of when he was a bishop and on his way somewhere he felt prompted to take a different route rather than his usual. As he did he passed by the house of an inactive members and felt prompted to stop and visit. HE OBEYED THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT AND STOPPED! Because of that one act he was able to bring them back into full activity. sometimes we are also prompted to do things that we dont' understand why, and because we don't understand we often don't follow it. But i urge you to be like president monson and follow those promptings because only good will come from doing so and you never know who you might save.

This week was a good one, we went and visited Loesja again this weekend and now we are feeling a bit uneasy about her and hoping that we can trust her. Earlier that day she went down to the sita family and asked for more food and nappies (diapers) for her baby. I hope that she doesn't take advantage of them. i feel bad we pulled them into the situation. They told her she needed to come to church for them to continue to help her. she agreed, so we'll see how that goes. We actually found out that she is a member and was baptized when she was 18 or so. but she didn't tell us that when she first saw us.. we are not sure what to believe right now. still love her and her kids tho. We went around and knocked some doors and they said that she begs almost every day.... not sure what she is doing with the money that she does have... may the Lord bless her.

This week we set the kids that came to church last week for baptism. This is Roxanne and her family. Roxanne wants to be baptized too but she is still living with her partner. not really sure about their relationship, because they don't love or trust one another. but the kids Asheigh, esvarano and cody-rae are all getting baptized on the 21 June. it's exciting! :) We probably won't be here but it's all good. I am excited for them. 

Jordon is doing good but he could use some prayers. 

There is this inactive that we found a couple of weeks ago. His name is pita and the day we met him was the day he moved into his wives sisters back house (while his wife is in rehab). It was a miracle that we found him. As we worked with him he expressed his sincere desire to raise his little boys up in the gospel and his desire to quick smoking and drinking. we were able to help him get a start on that and then he fasted and prayed for help. He was drug free for 2 weeks and then things started to happen between him and his wife and he got angry and went back to it all. He told us that he was lying to us and we were wasting our time. It was sad. he didn't change his mind. Please pray for him. He'snot in the right mindset. I hope he's alright. It's crazy how we can be doing so well and then satan steps in extra hard and things go down hill fast. If this has happened to you, please come back . Know that God knows that we have weaknesses, we will all fall short at some point but the Savior is always the only way to come back. come to the savior and be healed. 

I know God lives, i know he loves me. I know he hears me and he answers when i pray. I know his son, is my redeemer and that he died for me that i might live eternally one day. (song of testimony). I know that these things are true.Mosiah 4:10 "and if ye believe all these things, see that you do them".  We learn things each and every day, from the scriptures, from church. Let us not just learn them but do them:) 

Love you all

Sister Bird

How has it been 9 months already?

How has it been 9 months already, honestly i still feel like i just got out here! ha :) Things went really well this week, Jordon got baptized! i am so happy for him, and he is so happy. i couldn't help but smile so big when he received the Holy Ghost. What a precious gift that he can now enjoy. :)

So i don't know if i told you but sister samataua and i are still together here in tuakau! yay! We are becoming great friends, and i feel that 3 transfers is the perfect amount of time to become lasting friends. We have so much fun together, lots of laughs and jokes! ha she's making me a funnier person! ha 

I wish i could think of more things to write, but i am stuck! ha 

I'll tell you a bit about the baptism. so honestly is was the most spiritual baptism i've been to... and i'm not saying that because we planned it because i've planned a few in the past. But i'm going to tell you some reasons why it was so good. We were given a list of things to accomplish starting at 2 weeks in advance to prepare for a spiritual baptism. So we did that. we were able to get the ward involved and delegated a lot of things and then stayed in contact with them so that they got it done. Honestly, the ward helped out so much . there were no hiccups or nothing that went wrong for the baptism. i am so pleased and continue to thank my heavenly father for a great day. I sung at the baptism with our zone leader, elder terry. It was really nice. i started off soloing... bad idea. i got so nervous you could tell but as the song went on and we sang together, it progressed. i am so grateful to have a companion that plays the piano beautifully and i am so blessed to be able to sing like i do. i am grateful to the Lord for our protection each day and for my talents he has blessed me with . i know i wouldn't be able to have have accomplished any of this without him.  

i know that God lives. i love you all! have a great week! 

Sister Bird

This week i learned about keeping my mind focused and centered on the work.

Wow! Another week come and gone. i honestly cant even remember what happened to write you about. All i know is what happened today. so i will start with that and the rest will probably come!

so this morning we had a zone activity in papakura. We played kick ball and it was a blast! usually sister samataua and i do our own thing on p-days but it was so fun to be with all the other missionaries! loved it! Hey by the way, i'm actually getting better at sports and i'm liking them:) Sister Samataua has been training me on volley ball in the mornings. We gotten to the point where we can pass it back and forth without having to run after it every hit! yay! i'm not as afraid of the ball. Remember back home when we would play. It would come at me and i would duck and run! ha silly  me! sometimes that still happens but i've gotten SO  much better.

So the next fun even of the day was.... We went to go do a spirutual thought at someones 21st birthday party. We get there at the ward members home and their giant dog runs out, bite's sister princes' companions let and it was bad! We all freaked out but she was in the front so she got attacked. She got a bit hole in her thigh. So we left straightaway and took her to the doctor. Mom understands me, i just couldn't stop laughing. It wasn't funny but i always laugh when someone gets hurt. ha :/ ha So we just came from the doctor and here i am emailing at 5pm. ha sorry!

Jordon is coming along so great! He has great fellowship in the ward. None of them are his age at all, because there are none his age but all the RM's take him around and take him to institute. He loves it all. Everyone's been asking him if he was excited about his baptism and since we told him about the interview he wasn't giving an excited reply. ha so finally i asked him if he wanted to see the questions and he said yes. He looked at them and was good! ha silly kid!

Transfers is this week. We will find out in the next few days what will happen. So i'm not so sure if i'll be here for his baptism... but that is okay! i am just excited for him!

So earlier this week it was crazy stormy, raining and windy. Because it was so windy it was useless to have an umbrella, so we walked around in the rain and tracted for 2 hours. We had some good experiences! Most people actually said no. But we got chased by a dog for one of them and i look up and see that it passed me and was chasing sister samataua. ha and so i stopped. nec minute there is a kid standing by us asking us if we are okay. ha we ended us teaching him a bit. super nice kid, erik, who sounds like he is from england but is kiwi! loved it!

we have found an almost new investigator from doing that. We knocked this one door and the lady wasn't interested but said that her husband was. So we went back to meet him the next day and he said that his family has recently joined the church and are urging him to do so and learn. So i'm so excited to teach him. He really wants to learn. His name is fili!

please pray for these people!
This week i learned about keeping my mind focused and centered on the work.

2 ne 9:39

Dc 4
mark 6:22 this one really touched my life! so good
i love you all!

Sister BIrd