Week 31 - Dad's Birthday

Kia Ora!

It's been a great week. Truly. We went out to the Visitors Centre twice this week with investigators and that was awesome. The spirit is so strong there! We are just super excited for Nikki's baptism this Saturday, so that's pretty much all I can think about at the moment... But HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Still so young. We've just been super busy, the Uni here started back up today so there have been people all over the place, too many for us to handle honestly. But we found a couple solid new investigators this week and are excited to start teaching them.... We made fajitas for lunch one day this week and they were AMAZING. But joke's on us because the same day for dinner a member made us fajitas. Crazy because no one ever makes us Mexican food. Also, the exercise thing in the morning has been terrible cause we have been so tired. So the truth of the matter is that I am soooo out of shape and the fat life is a reality. So depressing. But as in all things, the Lord will provide a way for us to be fit! One day... Hopefully soon. 

Not much else, Sister Taylor and I are together for a long transfer, she gets 8 more weeks of me! Lucky her... :) Something that has really stood out to me lately is the simple fact that Heavenly Father loves us. There is no denying it as you look around you at the beautiful world, the blessings of great family and friends, and most of all, the opportunity to have a perfect gospel in our lives. It truly is wonderful! May we all be a little more grateful this week.

Love you all HEAPS.

Sister Machen

PICS:

The Hamilton New Zealand Temple... right before a crazy summer storm!

Us with Isaiah... getting baptized in two weeks!!

In my happy place with homemade fajitas. I <3 Sister Taylor.

Week 30 - Swimming in Miracles

HEY

This week was sooo busy but so awesome. yet again. On Tuesday night we drove three hours to the Coromandel peninsula (look up pics), basically one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. And probably ever will see. But we double covered with the sisters up there and they cover the entire peninsula, it's crazy. Their area is enormous and they drive so far to get to people's homes. The actually have two different apartments that they go back and forth to. Anyway, to get there you drive on this super windy and narrow road with a cliff face to your right and a drop off into the sea on your left with no side rails or anything. So my comp was ooing and ahhing the whole time while I was trying to stay on the road and not die. Pretty fun.

They even had mirrors for super sharp turns so you could see if anyone was coming the other way. But we survived obviously, and it was the prettiest drive ever.  So basically when you see stuff like that, you cannot deny Heavenly Father's love for us. And no we didn't actually swim, sadly. Never been so tempted in my life.

Other news, we had sooo many people at church yesterday. It was actually stressful trying to make sure everyone was being looked after and getting to the right classes. A good problem to have of course. We got there earlier and investigator after investigator just kept coming into the chapel and I just sat there sooo full of gratitude to be a part of this work. Seeing people actually act and find joy in the things we invite them to do! Great sabbath. And especially this one Chinese family, the ones who called us angels from america haha. they came and loved it and want to join! So next lesson we'll invite them to be baptized!!!

The only downside of the week I can think of is that my companion loathes role plays... but I love them slash think they help sooo much. So making her do them was partly a struggle and partly hilarious this week.
Anyway, keeping enduring...

Kia Kaha,
Sister Machen

Week 29 - Valentine's Dayyyyy

I LOVE Jesus Christ (ft. my new skirt - thx Mom!)

Hi peeps.

Valentine's day is not even huge over here. But i still told everyone i loved them. So basically, it was a normal day anyway. This week we went on two exchanges, one with the Tongan sisters that cover all of Hamilton and don't have a car (so just a struggle) and one down in Te Awamutu. On the first one we basically just tried to cover as much ground as possible in the car so we almost visited their whole ward between the two of us but it was so fun! Then the next day we double covered the other sisters area and they had done awesome planning so we were in houses all day and doing work. So I honestly think I learn more from these exchanges than anyone and my comp just increases in her hatred for me hahhaa. JK but I did make her walk a lot and yeah we were both just super exhausted this week.

But we definitely saw miracles! We set our 14 year old investigator for baptism finally! He is actually understanding what we teach cause he mentions stuff in his closing prayers, so that's way awesome. And he really enjoyed church and the Young men were sooo welcoming. I felt like a new mom dropping her kid off at school for the first time peeking to see if the other kids were being nice haha.

Something cool- We had dinner with our family history specialist in the ward and I mentioned that I have my great great grandfather's missionary journal from when he served here in NZ. She totally freaked out and got so excited and made me ring the church history specialists in Hamilton and they ended up coming over and picking it up so they could make copies. AND they said they would try and find the family of the little girl (my great great aunt Violet) my great great grandfather adopted while he was here, so maybe I could meet them and teach them if they're not members! So that was super super cool and I reckon that's part of the reason I got called to New Zealand.

Man the church is true. The gospel has been restored. We have a living prophet today. Those are things we take for granted and people need to know! Hope every one has a great week and tries a little harder to share the gospel this week.

Arohanui,
Sister Machen

Choc Bears from LA

Week 28 - This Week

 In Hamilton Gardens

Hello hello,

Well this week was great. Really great. We did so much! We had 5 investigators at church and they all loved it!!! Sister Taylor bore her testimony in Spanish for our Columbian family and the rest of the ward just looked so confused haha. But it was awesome, my comp is a star. But crazy because the Columbians kind of dropped us on Thursday, right before our lesson with them we got a text saying they found the Pentecostal church and felt at home there. I am not fond of that church. Truly. So my comp cried cause that's the first time she got dropped and I tried my best to console her (comforting people is not my thing). And then I gave her a really awesome pep talk and said we have to go back there and talk to them. So we called up Brother Potter, who speaks Spanish, and went back and basically the whole thing was that this other Columbian,  who was actually baptized a year ago and is now super anti, had befriended one of the sisters and led her to her church. But the rest of the family still wanted us to come over. So problem solved and with the help of a super spiritual lesson the whole family came to church and brought the Pentecostal friend with them hahaha. So good.

We had zone conference this week=stellar. And exchanges again. So much fun!
I think the biggest thing I'm trying to learn right now is to let myself be content and happy with my work. I like to go big or go home, be the best I can be at something. But I have to realize that some things are out of my control and that the Lord really is pleased with the work I am doing. So even though I know there is always room for improvement, I've been trying to give credit for good things where credit is due.

Anyway, it's been a great week. I'm never leaving New Zealand. The church is true. My comp is the BEST. And the Savior loves us all more than we can comprehend.

Arohanui!
Sister Machen

PS. RIP Daisy the dog. Truly a beloved pet. Tbh I actually cried reading dad's obituary...  she'll be waiting at the gates of the celestial kingdom hahaha.

KFC rocks in NZ fyi!!

Week 27 - Another One Down

Hello Hello,

This week was weird, so many meetings! We had MLC at President's house and the best part about it was definitely the food. We have a mission cook. Basically my favorite lady ever. Then we had Zone meeting on Thursday and it was extra long cause we had to watch a 2 hour broadcast from Salt Lake to all the missionaries in the world. Pretty cool but so long! And I can sum it up in one line- Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. That's what we do as missionaries! So having that has been great and really helped us focus on simplifying and just going back to the basics of missionary work.

Then I had to give a training to the zone on stuff from MLC and of course, just my luck, the APs decided to come to ours and there's me sweating even more than usual. Seriously I am melting right now in this heat. It is SO HUMID.  But at least I no longer cry every time I bear my testimony so that was a plus hahaha. Basically, as STL, I just go on exchanges with sisters and have comp studies with them blah blah blah. It's pretty basic. I'm hoping president gives me permission to go on an exchange with some sisters in Coromandel, which is a peninsula like three hours away through a windy gorge... but I heard its GORGEOUS. So, crossing my fingers on that one...

I can't really think of much else, the work is still slower than I would like and we still don't have a solid set for baptism, which is really rare for this area so the pressure is on a bit. But I know if we keep being obedient and following the counsel of our leaders, miracles will come. My comp is so awesome, we're like the same person. She almost cried when I told her there are no hot cheetos here hahaha. Love her.

The church is true, the gospel is the way!

Arohanui,
Sister Machen

Week 26 - I'M A MOM!

Kia ora,

So I'm training the only new sister that came to the mission! She's from Phoenix Arizona and spent the last year and a half at UVU, BUT she's full Mexican and grew up in Casas Grandes till she was 9. So basically we are bffs now. Her first language is Spanish so I have completely thrown her into the fire and taken her to all the Colombian families in our area. And she killed it! She doesn't even need to be trained. Honest. So after a gun lesson with one family (me being silent) we committed them to come to church and 4 came! So then she translated all of sacrament meeting for them and then taught gospel principles in Spanish just for them. I didn't say anything hahaha. There are two brothers in our ward that served Spanish speaking so they helped but she did most of it. I'm so proud of her and so excited for this transfer! Crazy how the Lord works to put you places and with certain people for a reason. I think I need her more than she needs me to be honest haha but it's great. Other than that, we had a great week, still a little dead around the university but people are slowly coming back from holidays! Also the NZ sun is apparently really strong... so I'm constantly burned and my hair is way blonde. Just a fun fact.

The church is true, I love the prophet and the apostles with all mi corazon. lol. But yeah. Great hopes for the coming weeks!

Oh, and I now look after the sisters in all 4 zones of Hamilton, so exchanges will be fun and interesting! The mission is the bomb.

Sister Machen

SISTER TAYLOR-She looks slightly like Tatiana Abbas for those who know her.... 

At the temple/VC with our two Fijian investigators and some YSA!!! I <3 the temple

Week 25 - Six Months!

 Rain Forces Ponytails

Kia Ora,

The word of the week is diligence.... We lost car privileges for two days (my bad) and of course it was the day we practically had a typhoon (my comp's words) and the next day of ridiculous heat and humidity. SO GRATEFUL for a car. And even though the weather sucked and we struggled to ride our bikes, I learned that diligence through trials brings so many blessings! But just some details, my umbrella got thrashed in the first five minutes, my comp wanted to change like four times, NO ONE is smart enough to be out walking in that weather so therefore no one to talk to, and mosquitoes go hyper active or something so now I have like 40 bites but it's okay cause BLESSINGS! People let us in easier to get out of the rain and more people were actually home, so we got to have a couple good lessons.

Also shout out to the best track team eva for the belated Christmas package!!!!! The taco seasoning is my personal fav.

We had a dinner with a single member lady and she is super health conscious, like super so we basically ate everything out of her garden and some very bony fish. Afterwards Sister Urgel's stomach was hurting really bad and so of course she does the only logical thing and eats like 15 pieces of chocolate. Miracle of miracles she is healed!

I don't have much else from the week except I learned that the most unlikely people can be interested in the gospel, you just have to try! So if there are people you haven't invited to learn about the gospel, DO IT. You never know who might need it, and the gospel is for everyone. Seriously.

Transfers are this week but we still don't have news, I'm probably staying and Sister Urgel could be leaving but either way we'll be all good! They changed transfers though so no more meeting up at a chapel together, you just take your bags on the bus and go straight to your new area... weird. That means a lot of sisters will have to get rid of stuff cause there are limits on luggage, haha suckas!

That's all, have a great week and read and pray everyday! Love yousssss.

Sister Machen

My comp having a blast (literally)














                                  JALAPENOS??? IN NZ??? S/O to EP