Miracles Upon Miracles

FIRST: I got my HAIR CUT today. No, Rach, it's not as good as when you do it... people here also make you pay extra for a wash and dry. (Is that normal? Am I just spoiled?)
BUT, nonetheless, I am grateful. And the lady that cut my hair was really nice :) And had purple hair. So what's not to love? Haha. Sister Tcheou was getting her's cut, so I thought, "Well, Rach can always fix it when I get home if it goes badly. " Haha. But it didn't. It's pretty good :) And it's healthier now and I don't feel like I've been electrocuted anymore :) #Bonus

MONDAY. Allll the appointments CANCELLED for Monday night. (We originally had 2!) But, it was okay. 'Cause instead we got to see Brian and Jo :) And they will always and forever make me the happiest of happy.
So...bonus.

TUESDAY. The miracle! We had District Meeting.  And then we went to visit Sister Maher to return a pot she had given us with some food a few days before. As we were talking with her, she was saying, "Sisters, hmm... I really wish I had someone for you to
teach!" (Golden words to a missionary's ears from a member) ...and then: "Ah! Wait! I do!" A lady named Robyn.  She found Robyn when looking for a different house on the street, and instead knocked on Robyn's door! Haha.  They became friends, and now WE'RE friends with Robyn as well. Love her to pieces. We're excited to continue getting to know her too. :)

WEDNESDAY. A GOOD DAY of tracting, and dinner with the Heaps', and RAIN. Lots of RAIN. (That was most of the week though, so ya know. #NZWinter Yes, transitioning out of winter ...ish.)

THURSDAY. Kaukapakapa! To visit the Heta's!  Harper Heta is a MIRACLE CHILD! I hope to have one like her one day. She's an inspiration to all, and clearly loves learning and knowledge and all the things. She's 8 (well, now she is. It was her birthday when we went over!). But - due to an unfortunate accident while doing a backflip, Harper is now paralyzed from the hips down.  Apparently it's not a permanent thing - but she's still got a bit of time ahead of her, and a lot of faith and blessings ahead. Anyhoo.  Harper has been thinking about getting baptized, but still isnt' sure (her mum's a convert of about 4 years ago).  SO - she has ALL THESE QUESTIONS.  She literally wrote out her own "mind map" of "Things I wanna know about God" — so now we're on a journey to answer the questions for her, and teach her the rest of the lessons so she can continue learning while she's not super able to come to church.  Their family is adorable, and we're so excited to be teaching them. (We're ALSO grateful that we have the amount of km's we do for the car...'cause Kaukapakapa is pretty far out from Torbay. Ha.)
SECOND MIRACLE of Thursday: James and Scho. Sister Lemalu and I had met James (a referral) quite a while back - but it's been hard to catch the family since. But Tuesday night we had caught Scho, and she said we could come back around Thursday night. Fun fact: they've HAD the discussions before, and Scho says they still actually read the Book of Mormon! So... Interesting things. We're excited to see how things continue, especially since she said she would love to have us come around - it's just a struggle with time (always).  Everyone has crazy busy lives. But - MIRACLE. Love.

FRIDAY. Visited Jo, helped her in getting down and re-arranging some things in her garage, and found a lizard in her house. (Ha.) –Which I had to warn Sister Tcheou of before she saw it, as....she strongly dislikes them. :P

SATURDAY. Warkworth! And BUCKETS OF RAIN!  Still good. People not super home, 'cause...well, school holidays have now started. But all is well. We did still have a miracle moment of a family that let us in as we doorknocked an area! Cass was the girl's name. She goes to a baptist church, and her mum is JW. But they let us in and we talked with Cass for a good while, sharing different beliefs and whatnot.  She wasn't super interested in learning or "becoming mormon" (ha) but still said she'd have a read of a pamphlet.  :) Love open minded people.

This night was also our Hibiscus Ward Talent Show (yes, both wards decided to make their activity this month a talent show. Haha). And it was grand :) Lots of talent here in North Shore!

SUNDAY. Was a CALMING day. Also a BUSY-AS day. Seriously. We ran alllll over the place.  But it was good. Met some LA's we haven't been able to catch, and met the MUM of one of our referrals. (Still not the referral yet, but her mum said that she would be excited to see us when we do catch her.)

My quote at the beginning of this email also comes from Sunday. Our lesson in Relief Society (given by my dear Sister Amende) was on Elder Holland's "Tomorrow the Lord Will do Wonders among You" talk from last conference. FAVOURITE. Peace, calm, love. Why?  'Cause it definitely brought back the feelings that I felt and the memories of sitting next to Sister Anitema in Henderson as we watched that BRILLIANT talk. Relief.

It's funny how something as simple as a quote or a memory can bring back such feelings of peace. Heavenly Father just keeps bringing them back to me lately, and for that - I'm very grateful, and very aware of Him always watching over EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US. Truth :)

Anyhoo. I'll stop with all the words. (Ha)

But I love you all, and I hope you're having a most beautiful beginning to fall, as I make my beginnings into spring here! Woop!

Alofa tele atu!
Sister Mckenzie Ann Ottley

I Love Mission Life!

[Just before Sister Ottley wrote this email she received devastating news in another email about a dear friend of hers she went to high school with, that had, unfortunately, overdosed and passed away this week. So she was struggling to write.]

I'm struggling to find words today now.... so we'll see how this goes.

FIRST: I hope Neen, Hannah, and Josh had HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

SECOND: Mum. I found out Sister Lott is trying to SURPRISE her mum with getting home earlier than expected.... So if you somehow ever come in contact with her.... maybe don't tell her when we're coming home? Haha. (Obviously, I'm not one that can keep secrets like that from my mum. ;)

THIS WEEK has been filled with moments of happiness, meeting new people, and getting to be companions with my dear Sister Lott again – even if it was only for one day :)

MONDAY: A lesson with the Kumar's.  They'll never cease to make me laugh. Explosions of JOY everywhere with that family! The Plan of Salvation was a fun one to teach with them, and we're excited to continue with the Gospel of Jesus Christ tonight.

TUESDAY: A beautiful afternoon with Jo – getting spoiled with food, and helping her out in washing windows around the house.
This week we'll be doing gardening :)

WEDNESDAY was one of those days where most of our plans definitely didn't actually go the way we had planned. However, they worked out just how they needed to! We were able to visit with our dear Maiema—who in turn asked me to say the opening prayer at her wedding that weekend! (Wha!?)  Her fiance, Kometa, isn't a member, so we had a little service at our chapel this weekend. They're the cutest. And I'm so happy for them :)

The rest of the day folllowed with us dropping in to see Branden and his mum (yes, It's BrAndEn, not Brendon). So, we don't actually have 2 Brendon's like I said we did last week. Different spellings. Ha. His mum, Sandra—who originially we had planned to see earlier in the day—most likely when Branden wouldn't  have been home, was also there due to a different appointment she'd had cancelling. So we were able to see the both of them! We chatted a bit, and then set an appointment for Friday, as Branden had to go to Cadet training.

And then began .... TRADE OFFS :)

My dear Sister Lott [MTC companion] came to Torbay, and we were able to spend a day together on THURSDAY! It's also fun being with someone who's served in your area before—getting new insights as to what they did before, who they met, and who you could possibly go back to. It was also PRICELESS to see the member's faces when I brought her in with me. Haha. "What are you doing back here!!??" Loved it :) Love my Lott. Miss her heaps :) Good thing we'll have an entire plane ride to fully catch up when we come back home together. Ha!

FRIDAY: A beautiful lesson with Branden.  It's exciting teaching someone who's SO KEEN TO LEARN. And so willing as well. He's ready for anything that comes at him, and for that, I'm grateful :)

SATURDAY was full of lots of activities. First, the baptism of Maria Luiza Santana—a little 8-year-old girl in our ward. We were invited to help, and we brought Philip along :) Then, Maiema and Kometa's wedding, AND finally, the Torbay's "Got Talent" ward activity :) LOTS of things! But we LOVED all the things!

SUNDAY followed with our Fast Sunday due to the stake changing it because of our Father's Day last weekend. Ha. I bore my testimony. I cried, knowing that this ....could potentially be my last Fast Sunday in Torbay (as the next Fast Subday we'll be in Hibiscus, and then it's transfers....) And apparently that was shown in my testimony with people coming up after asking, "Wait - are you leaving!?"  Hahahaha. Fail on subtle-ness on my part :P

I LOVE my mission life. It's still weird that I"ve been out this long. But I'm grateful. I LOVE LEARNING, and I LOVE the PEOPLE. I LOVE MY ever-growing FAMILY AROUND THE WORLD :)

Life is grand - LIVE it up my friends :)  Because, it's the only one we've got!

Love you lots! Hope you have a brilliant week, and I"ll catch you next week! :)

Ofa lahi atu,
Sister Mckenzie Ann Ottley

Ka-BOOM with Joy!

Hahaha. Ohhh - my little Aryan Kumar :)  One of the cutest kids you'll ever meet. And also one of the most energetic missionaries there will ever be one day! (He's still got 10 years until that day though.)

It's always funny looking back on another week, and always good too.  'Cause, sometimes you start to see all the things that you WEREN'T able to do - when in reality, it's because it's physically not possible to put in all the things you want to do in a single day sometimes.

Last MONDAY we had FHE with the Kumar family—Brother and Sister Kumar and their adorable kids, Amysha and Aryan.  Aryan—the one I mentioned at the beginning of this letter—is getting baptised this coming week, and he's the most keen 8-year-old I think I've ever met! As we taught the Restoration to their family last week, he started talking about how he's grateful for the gospel because it makes him "Go KA-BOOM! with JOY!" Hahahaha. We CRACKED UP laughing! The energy! We all agreed that he's going to be a grand missionary one day, and will make many people smile from ear to ear! :)

TUESDAY, in the beginning, was honestly one of those "this is the longest day ever" kind of days. We were both exhausted, and we weren't sure why - and no one we planned to see was home.... #StrugglesOfMissionaryLife But - it perked up. We were SPOILED WITH LAUGHS at the Amende's home for dinner, and spoiled with a chat and mini message lesson with Jo that night :) And then Sisters Anitema and Holt showed up to our flat, as they had MLC meeting Wednesday morning, so they stayed the night instead of driving down from Whangarei at some ridiculous hour of the morning. And they were another laugh for us, as we showed up to the flat a bit later than we had planned, but there they were already there - perched on our doorstep with a cardboard sign that read, "HOMELESS. Looking for shelter or bus fair," or something along those lines. Ha. Love 'em :)

WEDNESDAY! The MIRACLE of the day was getting to catch up with Brother Maire when we went to our volleyball night. Apparently that past SUNDAY (while we were in Torbay Ward) there was a 16-year-old boy named Brandon who showed up to church — following the meeting he met with Bishop, asking HOW COULD HE GET BAPTISED INTO THIS CHURCH! *MIRACLES!* ...More to be continued on this story later ;)

And also on Wednesday, we had dinner with the Viljoen family. FUN FACT: We're related!! Brother Viljoen's 2nd cousin is Jarold Ottley! Small world :) CONNECTIONS.  Also: they have the cutest children ever. Teina, Ana, Sian, and Kimball. LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

THURSDAY we had Zone Training! All about (or mostly) Accountability. It's an interesting one to study on. You should all do it! We learned more about the importance of being accountable for the things we do—not only to ourselves, but to our leaders—and most importantly to our Heavenly Father. So, we've now been challenged to be better at giving an accounting to Heavenly Father of what we've done each day in our nightly prayers. It's been interesting to realize how perspective changes as you learn new things. I just love learning :) Also: this has helped me greatly even in the last couple days in simply gaining an even better relationship with my Father. So... steps :)

Also: Dinner at the Rapata's. Here's a question posed in the form of a joke:

Q: What do you get when you have 2 RM's in a room who are engaged (love birds), and they find out that you and your companion don't have "that long" to go on the mission?
A: You get a WHOLE BUNCH of questions about the "guys back home!"

Yes, folks, that's what you get! But - luckily I didn't get drilled as hard as Sister Tcheou, since, well, I don't have a special someone! Ha! Perks? But then Fred (Libby's fiance) was like, "Wait - where are you from again?  ---- Oh. You'll get married in NO time!" Haha. #UtahAssumptions

FRIDAY. I've titled this day as "DON'T BLINK" in my journal.  'Cause... it was literally that fast! (Also: Dr. Who reference.) We planned, we visited, and it was gone! Just like that! I don't even understand. The weeks just move faster and faster! It's crazy! I've got Sister Tcheou to remind me now, almost daily, the amount of months and days until I go home. Ha. It's pretty weird.

SATURDAY. The Adventures of.... KAUKAPAKAPA! We got lost. Ha. Issues with only having a little tiny map of such a large area. But it was fun :) We helped in narrowing down the ward list a bit with some people (less-actives) that don't actually live at the addresses listed anymore. But, yes, at some point we did  take a wrong turn, and ended up in a dead end with a dodgy, empty/broken-down van and a railroad track... But we always find our way home, so it's all good :) It's super pretty out there though. All the green hills, and the ADORABLE LAMBS. FYI: I also learned something new this day about lambs.... They actually start off with long tails (clearly I never grew up around a farm). Sister Tcheou educated me on how when they're young, they cut off part of their tail so it doesn't get in the way! (Poor lambs.) And people apparently eat the tail too! #ThingsINeverKnew

SUNDAY was FATHER'S DAY here in NZ :) (Sorry I don't get to call/Skype you dad.... But only 3.5 more months until I get to see you in person!) And Sunday a new face showed up to church :)  .....This is the continuing story of BRENDON, the 16-year-old young man who walked into church and asked how he could join our Church. :)
Sandra Walker is the mother of Brendon, and they BOTH came to church!! Apparently last week Brendon asked her if he was allowed to go to church. She then asked, "What church?" He said it was ours, and she said, "Yes! Go for it!" She's a member! :)  However, she's been less-active for quite a while, but she told us her cool story about how she always knew there would be a time when she would come back. So when Brendon came to her asking about our church, she got her answer! And we're so excited to be a part of her journey :) Brendon is friends with some of the YM in our ward, so that's how he found out about the Church and now we get to teach him!! :)

We also did some service most of that night, helping out at Love Soup with dish duty :) And then we visited the Knox's. LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Members are really a blessing in missionary life sometimes. Because sometimes you just need a few minutes to laugh, and Brother and Sister Knox have definitely been that for me, from the first time we met them upon coming into this area.

So.... that's the week. Learning more and more each day, and trying to figure out how to fit everything in that we need to. I was reading in Helaman 10 this morning about when Nephi (young, young Nephi. son of all the sons) departs from the people, once they divided themselves from him. And in this moment I can only imagine how tired he probably was...
Preaching all day—almost finally getting to the hearts of some people—but then they all depart.
As he's walking home, he's given this:

"Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou has done; for I have beheld how thou has with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but has sought my will, and to keep my commandments.  And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will."

...And then I thought about my own missionary life. Because after this came to Nephi, he TURNED BACK to the multitudes. Even when he was probably exhausted. I thought about how - even though I've made up my mind already that I'll never let missionary work ESCAPE from me again - I want to have that same thought, feeling, and ability to keep going even when I return home. To continue bringing families into this gospel so that they can be blessed forever, just as I have been blessed in mine :)

My companion and I are grand :) She's been a member her whole life, even though she's presently the only active member of her family. It's got to be hard. She's MY AGE (born 5th of December 1991)! Haha. We always get "pep-talk" type advice from our dear Brother Maire :) I love his knowledge and the love he shares all the time—mostly a lot of "If you EVER go less-active, you'll be hearing it from ME!"  Hahaha. He's so great. We had a lovely talk with him Sunday, which I think helped lift my companion's spirits a bit too.

I had a night this week of multiple dreams, all about going home. There was a lot of me crying in that dream. Weird, weird things.

Anyhoo. Lots of words today. Haha.
But I love you all :) I hope all is well, and I hope that you're enjoying the sunshine! (Soak up some from me, 'cause I'm gonna be freezing when I get back.....)

Love you and miss you HEAPS!

OFA LAHI ATU,
Sister Mckenzie Ann Ottley

Green & Growing, or Brown & Dying!

"Green & GROWING, or Brown & DYING." Sister Valette in Torbay Ward mentioned this quote yesterday in her Sacrament Meeting talk, speaking about Self-Reliance. So I've had it stuck in my head since then. And I love it. 'Cause.... it kind of reflects the things I've learned over the course of my mission. If we're working toward SOMETHING—studying, learning and GROWING, we're STRONG AND GREEN and happy—facing the sun, and holding strong, regardless of what comes our way. But ....if we let our guard down—if we don't take care of ourselves—get lazy and droopy, we become brown and dying.... It's all about FAITH. ACTION. and keeping a positive attitude about life.

I LOVE learning. Even if you're like me and it seems slow at times, to actually get things STUCK in your head enough to EXPLAIN them to others, it's still all worth it. And it brings spice and new things to life. It's great. Little by little. That's how things go :)

So. Adventures of the week.

Last MONDAY. Zone P-day. We went to Laser Strike again :)  I really quite like Laser tag now. Haha.
Leave it to the Elders to make me like something that I'm still....really bad at.
Haha. It's exciting though. Running around, trying to not get distracted by the lighting fixtures they use in the maze.... #LightingNerd #Forever

But then, part way through our laser strike happiness,
President Balli called! Perfect timing too—right in between games.
Haha. He's great :)
He surprised me with different news than we'd been given earlier in the day from the
assistants — my new companion would be coming to us THAT day around 6pm. Not Tuesday.
So the Sunset Sisters—since they were in a better place to be able to go pick her and another sister up from the mission home—went and got them. We met at their flat in Browns Bay to take my companion. Her name is Sister Tcheou (che-oo). It's a French name. I thought it was pronounced "chew" last week, but that's because no one really knows how to actually pronounce her name. Haha. She's from Tahiti, speaks English and French, and she's been out just over 10 months. Always new adventures with new companions :) We got her settled into the flat, and helped Sister Lemalu finish packing that night.

TUESDAY was pretty full-on busy. District Meeting, good-byes to my Lemalu, and then running around like crazy people with our little trio for the day. Visiting people in Hibiscus—seeing Linda and Rochanna—and running back to Torbay to get Sister Lemalu's things to bring her to the mission home.

And then there were SURPRISES at the mission office and mission home :) First: The CLEMENTS. Elder and Sister Garth are off back to Austrialia, so the Clements will be taking over their job in the office. A shock for them and everyone up north, as they didn't know they'd be taking over until that week! But they're going to be grand, and now I'm closer to them and get to see them! Blessings and exciting things :)

THEN – at the mission home, who else came running, chasing after our car as we went to turn around? My dear SISTER POINTER!! Hahaha.... She's adorable, and I'm glad I got to see her one more time before she was off on her new adventures going home :)

The rest of the day was spent getting to know Sister Tcheou as we made visits around Torbay, had some dinner, and then went to MCM.

WEDNESDAY. Visits, meeting new less-actives that I hadn't met yet, dinner with Bex Maire in Hibiscus, and some Volleyball. And just to initiate her into the group, my poor companion accidentally got a volleyball to the FACE. But she's okay, so we're all good. It was kind of a shock for all though!

THURSDAY. Same bit as Wednesday, going around meeting people I hadn't met before either, as well as some lovely potential investigators—one man named, Chris, who says he's "kind of Atheist at the moment," but he still loves learning about other religions and things. So he took a pamphlet! He's also already read the Book of Mormon before. So there's that. We're excited to go back to visit him. Some of the kindest people I've met on the mission have been Atheist! Seriously.

Dinner at the Rapata's, as always, but with a spin this time. When we got to the house their power had been out for a few hours, so Tina took us out instead. Spoiled. It was a great time with Tina, and a blessing and an informative time for me about my companion, because Tina asked her about her background and everything.

FRIDAY. Weekly Planning. Sickness.
Tuala's, Santana's, and Elli :) Sickness = my body's been doing that thing again where everything I eat makes my stomach upset. So there's that. But we're fine. I'll be fine :)

SATURDAY we found out that Brendon (our musician, rocker investigator)  has apparently flown the coop to Europe! So.... there's down one investigator until October. Ha.  But all is well :) We'll find more!

SUNDAY was my beautiful day in Torbay of learning and peace.

Here's the main thing this week: Learning that even when things change—and you're TERRIFIED of that change—it always works out the way it needs to. It's allllll about having faith in the Lord. Because HE'S the one that really knows what's going on, and what needs to happen. Even though I've gotten significantly more used to change over the last year of my life, I still don't love it — but I've been blessed with the things I've been able to learn and grow in, whether it be because of certain companions, or areas, or people I've come in contact with. Life is crazy. And it goes SO fast.

Anyhoo. I hope you all have a most LOVELY week back home. Life is grand. Build your foundation on Faith in Christ, and all will work out :)

Love you all heaps!

Alofa tele atu!
Sister Mckenzie Ann Ottley