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