It's been....a week. Ha. But there's always things that overcome sadness and help you to move on. And there's always this point of looking back when I realize that sometimes things are better than they seem in the moment of frustration and trial. Also: I'm convinced I'm just allergic to fleas. Or whatever is in my body that's tasty to fleas and makes them want to eat me... Yeah, bugs!
Last MONDAY night was a simple one - stopping in to the Papali'i's for a visit. We had texted them earlier to see if they were still planning on us for FHE, but never got a reply (or so we thought). Ha. So we decided to stop in anyway. Sister Papali'i was the only one home in the family - Bishop and the boys were all out at a movie. But we had a lovely chat with Sister Papali'i and heard about the trip they had for Easter weekend :) As we left their house that night, we dropped our phone — and in the process discovered about eight texts had come in that were responses/other messages we had received...but not actually received in the last two days. Hahaha. #PhoneStruggles And a couple of these messages were from Bishop and Sister Papali'i telling us that they had just gotten back and were all pretty tired/Sister Papali'i was a little sick.... So we then felt bad, but also blessed for having such a loving family that still lets us in, even when we don't know they've told us not to come in the first place :) Haha. And we had a few nice laughs with them as well - so, good ways to start a week!
We finally got over to visit Ivan on TUESDAY and brought our beautiful Alisha Gaitau with us :) And.... I love fun activities :) We went over the Plan of Salvation with him again, but this time we DREW pictures! Originally we came up with this idea to entertain Grace (Ivan's daughter Grace.... it's confusing having two Graces in my mind to talk about now). Haha. But litttle did we know that it would entertain Ivan even more than Grace! Haha. Apparently he really quite likes drawing. So...good things to know. A lovely afternoon, and a lovely time leading into dinner at the Pauna's :) —Which we also brought Alisha to. Love our RM :) We also had a mini lesson with Grace - overviewing the Restoration via doing the "Cupstoration" song. (Sorry, still haven't recorded it.) And it was exciting :)
WEDNESDAY.... my companion was sick again :( Sad face. And so I marked scriptures, and crocheted, and wrote letters, and tried to not start talking to myself. Ha. But all goods. :) She's....starting to feel better a little by little each day, so that's good. Oh. And this was also the morning that I woke up with bug bites, not having slept well 'cause I could feel them biting me....all night long. So when I woke up I tore off the sheets, put them in the washer, and Permetherined my mattress and box spring and covers and all the things. Fun fact: It didn't actually help. Still getting bitten. I just have clean sheets while getting bitten. Which is sad, 'cause they don't stay clean long 'cause of the lame little bugs that get blood spots everwhere. #Gross #OneDayTheyllGoAway
THURSDAY my ill/in pain companion had to force herself up so we could go to Zone Training! Wooooo! ...Also a training of quite a bit of "YOU CAN DO BETTER!" True. True. We can ALWAYS have more faith, and we can ALWAYS talk with more people. It was good though. I think...also just hard in my mind since Sister Anitema and I have spent so much time in lately, trying to figure out her illness and overcome the pain life. So, when we got back to our flat to have some lunch, Sister Anitema was spent again. And by the time lunch was over, it was just...still a struggle. So I decided we were still going to meet people somehow, even if it's from our couch! (We discovered our couch was a fold-out bed...which was helpful for Sister Anitema to lay out on!) How did we do this? We CALLED A BUNCH OF PEOPLE! Old phone numbers in our phone, people in the "former investigator" section of our area book... etc. And it was great fun. We also learned at the very beginning that we both have serious phone anxiety. Haaaa. It's one thing if you KNOW the person on the other end of the phoneline. It's another if you don't.... So, we made a script :) A script with many options like if they said "yes" or "no" to certain questions and whatnot. It was great. And we talked to a bunch of different people and weeded out numbers on our phone that no longer worked, and even got a RETURN APPOINTMENT, and a few people that said we could come around! #WINNING! Blessings. Miracles, and ....it made me feel productive again. Love.
We still got out to visit a member for dinner that night, and again later on to visit our dear Sister Frost and Avery - Brother Frost was out working. It was fun to have a little Plan of Salvation lesson with the two of them though, beginning with a brilliant Mormon message called, "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father." (It's beautiful!)
Link --> https://www.lds.org/media-
It's just a grand reminder of how even though day-to-day life can sometimes get repetitive, we have a Heavenly Father who's always watching over us. He's always there and always helping us along in everything we do.
FRIDAY — Happy April Fools! Yeah... Gullible Ottley day! Yay! Ha. So it started off with companion study with the Zone Leaders (Elder Saulo and Nielsen), which was grand! Until the end when they came out with the bad news... "Sisters, we were going to tell you this yesterday at the training meeting, but we felt it wasn't something we thought everyone needed to know... There's a Sister in the mission who has hurt her back and needs a car in her area. And so.... yours needs to be sent to her. The assistants are coming down before dinner tonight to pick it up from you." ...And then of course stress set in. Why? Because we had three appointments that night - in VERY SEPARATE PARTS of our area, with the NEED of a car to get there! (Sad faces.) But we said fine.
And they seemed oddly "not sad" for us as they left. And then... we received their text: "APRIL FOOLS." The Elders. They're so lame. So, yes, we still have our car. And her name is Tina, and we love her.
That night we helped Sister Papali'i set up a single adult activity during our dinner break, before going out to visit and get to know a new less-active family as well as one of our potentials that we had called the day before! Win! Sadly we weren't really able to stay, as he had family show up that day, so he told us we could come back Monday. So we'll be seeing him later on tonight :) Party. Excitement! Anyway, after our appointments we dropped by the chapel again to see if they needed help cleaning up. They had finished up their movie, and instead, asked us if we wanted to draw some pictures for their last Pictionary game! Haha. Love our ward :) They're all lovely.
SATURDAY was spent mostly running around visiting people for short times and inviting many to the Women's Broadcast :) HAPPY! And at the last home we visited, Sister AhHong gave us ribs—literally wrapped them up in glad-wrap for us and said, "Here! For your dinner!" Haaaa... and here's where Sister Ottley has changed. Yup. I like ribs. Not that I didn't before. I just laughed at myself as Sister Anitema and I gladly chowed down on ribs in the car before going to Women's Conference. #CompRibs That's what our day was called. Comp Ribs. Love it. And then the broadcast. Happiness and joy and gladness. And peace and calm and just....loving forgetting everything for a bit to focus on words from such wonderful people. Sister Neill F Marriott will never cease to make me smile with her adorable southern accent! :D
And then yesterday. SUNDAY. We contacted some referrals - one which was actually a very young child. We were both expecting a grown man! Haha. So hopefully more comes of that and we can actually meet the whole family/parents' 'Cause, the two kids we talked to said that there's TEN in the household! Exciting :)
We had a lovely church time, a lovely time in gospel doctrine ('cause no one was there for the principles class yesterday), and then we got to go help teach in YOUNG WOMEN'S! Win :)
Alisha Gaitau was given an assignment to teach for YW, so she invited us to come help. We taught the Restoration and then Sister Anitema and I did the Cupstoration again. LOVE it. Also terrifying in front of more than 4 or 5 people. ...#ShyOttley Yup. That kicked back in. But it was good. Love them all :) It was also great because we got some of the YW saying they want us to come to their house to show their families! Haha. Good times :) Love my musically talented comp!
Sister Anitema then got to meet the Hakaraia family :)
One of my favorite families to visit in the ward, purely because it's always entertaining. Their less-active son always complains how we ruin his night when we show up and he has to turn off his game - or whatever he's watching. HaHa. Always in joking though. Basically, anything he says you don't take seriously. But they're just wonderful and make us happy. And they invited us to start teaching the lessons to the family as well. Yay for building up member trust and happiness in Missionary work!!
And then....to finish off the night with a bang of HAPPINESS, we had a lesson with Birgette's family. Her daughter, Ivy, and partner, Jason, aren't members, nor is her Korean home-stay boy, Harem. Harem didn't stay for the lesson last night, but it was a fun night with the rest of them! Ivy is just a ball of excitement and actually knows the teachings of the gospel quite well, so we're excited to keep teaching their family.
So.... like I said. The week was a struggle, but also somehow not. It must just come from being in the flat that turns my mind into a struggle and makes me start feeling like a failure. But.... Heavenly Father hears prayers, and he helps our faith grow by putting people in our lives just at the right moment—helping us overcome sadness. I love getting hugs from my Heavenly Father, and little whisperings of Him telling me that I've done better than I give myself credit for. And this is why I love night prayer. 'Cause... Friday I just felt kind of like I'd failed all day. Sister Anitema and I had a good weekly planning - but part way though I found out she felt it wasn't going the way it needed to and she was getting impatient and ... bored. Sometimes it's like she has a switch of "happy" and "bored" that takes me by surprise and once the happy and excited is gone - well, it's just.... struggle. And my mind doesn't know how to handle the change between the two sometimes.
ANYHOO... Rambling. That night as I started my prayer before bed, starting to tell Heavenly Father how sorry I was for the things we didn't get done that day or this week really.... when I was almost "cut off" in a way with this whisper that said, "You HAVE done what I wanted you to do today. Now just keep going tomorrow." I love HUGS from Heavenly Father. And from His angels ALLLL around me. It's one thing in my life that I know I've always had, but
probably never fully realized until I came here. And that's another reason why I needed to come on the mission — after the fact of all the brilliant people I know I needed to come meet, and I constantly feel like I've already known long before we met.
Our Gospel is true. The teachings of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, are REAL and BRILLIANT, and if we let them, they can change our lives. Because that's really all our Saviour and Heavenly Father want for us, is to be safe and happy. So that's what I'm striving to be. Safe and happy, and to share that happiness with others around me :) And I know that as we STRIVE to increase our faith, MORE miracles happen, little by little each day. All the knowledge and strength and FAITH we gain as we move forward comes together in our little jigsaw puzzles called life :)
(Btw: I may become obsessed with doing puzzles when I get home. It just sounds like something that would be a lot of fun to do right now... Haha.)
I LOVE you all, and I hope you have a most WONDERFUL week. May you see beautiful blessings and miracles in your life as you apply the things you've learned in General Conference this weekend! ...And I'll join you next weekend in the happiness when I've seen it as well ;)
ALLLL the LOVE from the other side of the world, Arohanui,
Your Favorite Kiwi Missionary —
Sister Mckenzie Ann Ottley ;)
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