The Other Side of Heaven

Hello, hello! I hope you're all doing well. I'm doing very good! Like the subject line reads, there were lots of miracles this past week! The area where I'm serving has sooooo many less actives and I feel like a lot of people already know about the church and don't want to hear our message. So it can be hard to find new investigators. But... we got a referral from a ward member for his niece! We met with her  on Wednesday  and her name is N. She's very nice and she already wants to get baptized! She's truly prepared, but we have to teach her the lessons first. When we spoke with her, she felt the spirit and started crying at the beginning. I almost started crying with her! I'm so grateful she's so ready and wants to follow Jesus Christ. On Friday , we met with T and M and talked about prayer. It was so nice because M shared an experience with us where her dog passed away and she was very close with this dog. At that time, she prayed and then...

Hello all! This week has been good, but it's started raining. It's getting colder, so Sister Tony and I huddle around the heater for warmth and put on jackets.  This week as we went tracting (just going from door to door to see if anyone will listen to our message), we came across this one woman who said she was a realist. as we started talking, she began saying all this stuff about the church, and I'm a little ashamed to say that I started getting pretty angry. (I like to think about it as righteous anger.) It felt like she was looking down on us as kids who didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. but after a bit, I was able to calm down and tell her my testimony and then we wished her well and left.  Another time when we went tracting, this family was getting ready to leave and they were interested and thee husband eventually said, "Just go away," with a wave of his hand and it kind of stung to have someone dismiss me like that. I...

Kia ora! Hello all! I hope you're all doing well. I'm very good! I've been in the field for about five days now and it's great!  On Wednesday , we went from the MTC and met our trainers. My trainer is Sister Tony and she's awesome! she's from Malaysia and she's been out over a year, so I know I'm in good hands. we get along very well and she likes cats! There are a lot of cats here, so I give them a lot of love. President Walker and Sister Walker are both awesome! President Walker came to the MTC  tuesday  night to talk to the Auckland missionaries, and he just told us the history of the mission. He said that the mission used to be very disobedient and didn't live by the mission rules, but he came in and he cleaned it up. he commited us right there to be exactly obedient! of course, I said yes. He's very nice and I can feel that he is truly a servant of the Lord! So when we all met our trainers, the senior couple said to me, ...

I'm also excited to go out in the field! We got to go proselyting for a couple hours  on Wednesday , so I got a little taste of what's to come. I also had to ride a bike... That was terrible!! It was way too hot and there are so many hills!! It was rough. We actually got to go to the temple twice, so that was really nice   We have one zone, and then we have districts. so we all get to know each other pretty well. Sundays don't feel much different. We have Sacrament, district meetings, and then Relief Society. Although at night we have devotionals. And guess who's giving a four minute talk on Sunday??? I thought I could avoid it, but I have to speak. But it'll be good, it's about you!  Sister Fisi'ihoi ( I think that's it) is so close! I don't know if she can visit... But I can't wait to see her! That would be so funny if I served in her ward.  I can't wait to talk to you on Mother's Day!! I think I did the math r...

I'm doing really well! My companion is awesome, her name is Sister Reall and she's from Saratoga Springs, Utah. We have a lot of fun together and I think we get along a little too well... It's good to have her around because it helps me get more adjusted here. There are tons of missionaries from all over the Pacific! The majority come from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji, but there are also some from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and even one from France and one from Bolivia! It's so fun to talk to them and learn more about their cultures and even pick up on some words. I don't know if they like my accent, but it's fun to hear how some people perceive Americans.  I won't have access to a temple for a long time, and so I hope that the missionaries will really treasure their time in the Houston Temple. You don't know what you have until it's not there anymore. When it's put into a list like that, I have been through some tough ...

Hailey left for the Auckland MTC on April 24th and arrived on April 26th! She had a non stop flight from Houston that lasted 15 hours and she skipped an entire day! We know that she landed and we're just waiting for an update. I will keep this blog updated with Hailey's emails and pictures. We can't wait to see what NZ looks like through Hailey's eyes.