"...because thou hast not murmured...I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them...and it came to pass that when my father heard these words he was exceedingly glad..."
I Nephi 3:6-8

2 months to go!

2 months to go!

Friday, November 30, 2012

Remembering.

Can't believe it has been a month since I last posted something.  This month has just flown by.  Thanksgiving has passed and it wasn't quite the same even though we had a lovely meal with the Sr. missionaries from the north island at the mission office.  We are at home right now getting some things together for our baptism today.  We are really excited about this one.  We have told you about this man that Ken met at the op-shop.  He has done everything he has been asked to do in order to be ready for baptism.  It hasn't been easy for him because he has many challenges but in a way, it has seemed easy.

When we first met him, he told us that he kept asking his partner, "What would Joseph Smith do?" with a very smart alecky attitude.  Well, we told him what Joseph Smith would do and he has followed our requests.  He has since left his partner and given up smoking and coffee.  He seems so much more at peace with himself.  When we first met him, he would pace and act quite agitated sometimes.  He has stopped that too and is so much happier.  His son will be baptised by him tomorrow.  It is pretty amazing to watch such a change in someone's life.

We spent last weekend in Masterton on the North Island.  Ken's great grandfather served there for 3 years starting in 1895.  We were able to find the Marae that we had a picture of.  It is in Dannevirke and so we weren't able to see it but we were able to visit two others, the first two units of the church in New Zealand which grandpa would probably have attended.  We visited one at length and heard lots of history from it.  The other, named Te Ore Ore, was near where he lived but there was a funeral taking place there so we were unable to go to that one except from afar.  There are very strict codes of behavior surrounding activities being hosted at the Maraes.  You must be invited to go on the property and you do not enter unless given permission.

We spent one morning inspecting the original carvings from the Te Ore Ore Marae.  The lady whose grandfather carved them now has them in her possession and is restoring them.  It was amazing to hear the story of them and what they mean.  There were a lot of church teachings incorporated into them.  The Maraes have now become Maori cultural sites and there is no church directly connected with them as it was in the past.  The two we visited were originally constructed as units of the church.

We gave a little fireside at the Featherstone Branch buidling which included everyone from Masterton to Featherstone.  The Masterton church is under renovation because of the earthquakes.  It was very interesting to meet some of the people there and to find them connected to some of the pictures we had with us.  It was so interesting to learn more about the area and what grandpa might have done.  Most of all, it was wonderful to see where he may have walked and remember through someone else' eyes, days gone by.  It is a trip we will not soon forget.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

A Remarkable Day

Today we had a difficult choice to make.  We had set up the entire day with teaching appointments when we got notice that we were invited to go to Christchurch to an ARP meeting.  We were a little torn.  We had finally started getting some people to attend our ARP meetings and we probably needed more training but we already had set up the day.  We decided to stay home and do the teaching appointments because we are called to be missionaries.  We surely are glad we chose to stay.

Our first appointment was with a lady that we met briefly before the missionaries knocked on her door.  Because the mssionaries are no longer allowed to teach single sisters alone, they gave us her name so we could contact her.  We had already set up one appointment which she had to cancel because of another appointment.  We were kind of tentative thinking that perhaps she may cancel again.  It was quite the opposite.  She welcomed us warmly and listened to everything we said with deep sincerity.  We taught her many things and she was so receptive.  She is coming to church on Sunday and we have a return appointment next week.

Next, we visited a man and wife who we have known almost since we arrived here.  He had walked up to us in a business, looked at our name tags and invited us to come see them at their home.  He had not intended to go to that business nor had we.  We both decided to go on an impression and we all felt the spirit guiding us.  We taught them almost the same set of lessons that we taught the first lady.  These lessons included the dvd "The Restoration" and some short clips from another church dvd.  There was a strong feeling in the room and we felt that we made much headway especially when he was challenged to pray about what we taught and he said, "I think I already know."  We will see them again next week as well.

Our third appointment was with a fellow we have been teaching along with his young son.  He is a man we met in an op-shop shortly after we arrived and had only a brief "Hi, how are you?" kind of conversation with.  We happened to drop in to his home one night.  We did not know it was his home and really didn't remember meeting him until he reminded us.  He had been looking for us.  He has been praying, reading and coming to church regularly.  He has committed to do what we have asked him to do. He has been having "feelings" he has never felt before for some time now and we set a tentative baptismal date for Dec. 1.  He is so nice and so sincere.  He really wants what is best for the future of he and his son.

All of these people have had difficult lives.  One of them said, "If you had come a few weeks ago, I would have said no.  Today, I am in the right place and I am ready."  We would have loved all of them regardless of whether we were allowed to teach or not.  There are many here that we love even though we know we may never get the opportunity to teach them much about the church except what they see.  Today was remarkable in that we had two good choices to make.  One, to go to the meeting and learn more about the ARP or two, to go out and share what we hold so dear with some wonderful sons and daughters or God, our brothers and sisters on the earth.  We are so grateful that Heavenly Father led us to make the choice that was just right for this particular remarkable day.