Kiwi Life!

Kia Ora from your (adorable) Kiwi Missionary! —Ha, so humble, I know ;) 

You are all beautiful. And I love your messages and happiness and QUOTES. ALL the quotes you've found and that others have found are WONDERFUL.  I love them all so much! I'm also laughing at the amount of people that were searching for this little quote for me! Haha. So much love ;) 

The Kiwi life is splendid. Though - I think I forgot to mention to you last week that my dreams of ever seeing an actual Kiwi Bird were shattered when Elder Blandford (who is from New Zealand) said to me, "Ha! Yeah right! I've even only seen like 5 in my lifetime!" ...So - this resulted in the true hunt of "finding a Kiwi" - a stuffed one that is. So, you now get to meet "Kaikohe" the Kiwi Bird! - Yes, named after my Zone :) I found him on Saturday in a super tourist-y shop during our lunch break.  Good times :) And he now sits on my bed and keeps me company :)

Has it truly really already been another week though? Each week I'm amazed by how fast time flies, and how much more we wish we could do each day! But the Lord's timing is the right timing, and He leads us where we need to be.

This week, while yes- fast, was also kind of slow... I know. Oxymoron-ish. But Sister O'Reilly and I have struggled a bit in both of our areas in trying to find people, having the faith to walk up to people on the street and just talk (Yes. This is definitely still a difficult concept in my mind.), and finding things to do as it gets later in the night. "Why later in the night," you ask? Because people here actually sleep! — I know, a super foreign (Ha. Haha.... I'm funny) concept to our family. But not only do they sleep, but a lot of people go to bed WITH THE SUN. Aka: 6pm it gets dark, which is the end of our Dinner break. ....Struggles. But! All is well. We're going to be looking for more people that are available at night - other than members (cause we know they're open to us coming) - but hopefully some less actives.

Which brings me to things I've come to realize this week.
There's actually kind of a lot of people in our Branches - but, they're mostly less actives. Thus, our wards only being 20-40 people. And this makes me sad. So: Question time for ya'lls. What are the best ways you can think of to help us get MEMBERS INVOLVED in ACTIVATING THE LESS ACTIVE?? Other hard things this week:  Daniel has been gone, so we haven't been able to see him this week. (But THANK YOU for prayers - I KNOW they help, and hopefully we'll get to see him this week to catch up and see how he's doing.) And then - another one of our investigators, Nazarene, is now moving :( She's moving to Auckland with her mum so she has some help with the baby that's on it's way. This is...another reason why I think this week has been a struggle. They were kind of our main progressing people we were teaching.  And now there's been times when we feel a bit like we've lost them. But - I can feel that it's going to be okay. I know it. The Lord has planted us here to plant seeds, and that's what we're going to do for now.
Lets see.... what else.
MONDAY. (Last week) ZONE Nerf war.  Hahaha... so many good times, and our district is the BEST - playing in onesies.  Cause we're adorable.

Nerf War District Onesies

Another great thing this week was going to the "2$ shop" as Sister O'Reilly calls it - to find costume pieces for the Cultural Night the Stake Relief Society put on this weekend. Each ward/branch represented a different country/place of the world - our Branches did Japan (Paihia branch) and Brazil (Matauri Branch) - so, we found chopsticks and fans for Paihia, and masks and beads for Brazil! This resulted in much excitement and joy for the two of us!
Thursday - we had Zone Training. Have I mentioned how much I love my zone?  "Choose This Day" - I think that may be the title of the talk our meeting was based off of? It's a talk by President Eyring. And it's wonderful. And... something I think we can all put a little more into practice. I KNOW I can!

ART PROJECT.  Yessssss. Win win. Thursday night I got to relive a little of how my life used to be spent. Staying up late to do an ART PROJECT. One of the sisters in our district (Sister Johnson) left is this morning for home after a beautiful 18 months was served on her part :). Therefore, this past Friday morning we had a "district companion study" — aka: a farewell for our dear sister. And a Sister O'Reilly and I put together a little book for her that all of us signed and put pictures in and happiness - because, clearly we're her favorite district ;) But really. All the happiness. I miss art life. So much!
And last, but not least - of course - a miracle moment of the week: JEMMEKA CAME TO CHURCH. Sister O'Reilly and I had to walk from the church to go pick her up — but she CAME.  Jemmeka is a recent convert in the Matauri Bay branch who turned into a "less-active" not too long after being baptized.  She's 12 years old and truly does understand things of faith, and we know she sees the blessings the Church has brought into her life. It's just hard for her to get to church. - Cause, ya know, all the peer pressure and whatnot at that age.  But she came. And sat with us, and she's wonderful. We're also fortunate enough to get to do Personal Progress with her when we visit in the week — which makes me want to do it all over again. (Something I probably never would have said before. But definitely true now.) There's some great things in this program.
QUESTIONS:
1. Is there any way that maybe someone would want to find me a Plan of Salvation print out that I could color and cut out and laminate to share with people? Sister O'Reilly has a little kit and I'm going to be sad the day that I dont' have a visual.... one thing her kit has that I especially like is a spirit and a human body that goes on top, to show how/when our spirit and bodies are separated...
2. Can someone tell me more about the Anglican religion (and others...)?
3. Is there some sort of chart that shows the "genealogy" of Nephi/his family/book of Mormon peeps in general?
I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT THIS LAST WEEK. And..... the fact that I still haven't taken a picture of it.  (That's just pathetic.)  But BROTHER TUA (the member family that feeds us SO WELL in the Matauri Branch) MADE ME A NECKLACE. Did I tell you about the one he made Sister O'Reilly?? Well- they're beautiful. And mine is made out of a cow bone. It's the shape of a hook, representing me as a "provider" - for now on the mission, as well in my future life in my family he said.  And then within the hook there are four little circles of energy shell. One to represent each of the four Standard Works.  IT'S BEAUTIFUL. And I'm obsessed.

I thought about you all on the 24th as I told Sister O'Reilly that it was another holiday for me! And thank you for saving my poor neglected little bike! I'm sure it'll be much more comfortable at your house where it may at least be moved around a bit, making it seem a little less dusty!

Anyhoo. Life is beautiful. The gospel is true. And it's been interesting for me throughout the different teaching I've been doing, as well as the personal study I've had each morning to realize the simpleness of this gospel. I've started breaking it down more in my study - doing lesson plans - because that's all people need in the beginning. Main points and not a ton of detail. But our Gospel really is simple. If we follow the Lord, keep his commandments, and show our faith in Him, He will guide us home. How could it get any more simple than that????  STRENGTH comes from the SCRIPTURES. And not just reading them - but truly STUDYING.  And PONDERING. And PRAYING before and after. I am honestly understanding and getting more out of the Book of Mormon this time through, than I ever have in my life. PRAYER IS ESSENTIAL - none of us should ever forget that!
Life is wonderful - and I hope you all have beautiful weeks of joy and happiness!!
And I HOPE YOU HAVE A FANTASTICAL WEEK!!!!
MUCH LOVE!!!

Our District—Haruru Falls

Cool Tree Pic

Love, 

Sister Mckenzie Ottley