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