Week 74 - Jan. 1, 2017 - Happy New Year

Welcome 2017!

Kia Ora Fam,

Well this New years was pretty cool. We went to bed on time as we were directed, but we woke up early to watch the sunrise because - get this - Gisborne NZ is the first place to see the sun. Therefore, I saw the first light of 2017!!!! So cool. Pics to prove.

We ate a lot, talked to a lot of people, and didn't sleep enough this week. There was a massive music festival/rager here for 4 days called rhythm&vine, where people come from all over the world, so we met people from all over the place and the traffic was ridiculous for such a small town. But mostly we tried to stay out of the car so it was stinkin' hot!

We got a lot of new potentials/investigators this week, though, so I'm really excited for our teaching pool to grow. One sad/interesting story is our investigator that we've been working with since I got to this area dropped us. She is the one that prayed about the book of mormon and right then and there she felt warmth in her heart that she said felt like Jesus's hand. But in the past few months she has moved into a good place, gotten herself a job, been blessed with some family coming back into her life and so many other things. She had been realizing that all that was blessings for her obedience and finding God. But just like in the BoM, the pride cycle hit. She called us to come over and basically denied that any of her spiritual experiences were confirming truth of the BoM and Joseph Smith but they were just witnesses of Christ. It was really sad to see a precious soul turn away after all that but at the same time I felt such peace knowing I had done my very best studying, teaching and praying for her. Agency is sometimes a missionary's worst enemy haha. But I know one day she will come back when she gets a little humbling.

One last thing, I got bullied by our stake president into eating mussels yesterday for only the second time on my mission (i have avoided them like the plague). But they were actually bearable and now I'm the stake president's favorite missionary muahaha.

Okay bye!! The church is true! I love the mission! I love these crazy people and this beautiful country!

Sunrise 1-1-2017

First Sunrise of 2017