President Uchtdorf is just BRILLIANT. And I love his stories. Especially since the talk he gave in Women's Conference (I'm a week behind you all back home) is the OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY to another talk he gave previously. I'm pretty sure it's his "Your Happily Ever After" talk that he tells the story of when Harriet first walked into the chapel when he was a deacon. And now this story being the "prequel" to that was just brilliant for me. Anyhoo. I LOVE missionary work. It's the LIGHT of my life, and I love sharing with others why this gospel is so brilliant. Whether the people we talk to are member or non member, we can all be missionaries. :)
MONDAY we had TWO FHE appointments. With the Hall family and the Kumars. Love them all. They bring light into my life. :)
TUESDAY. Teaching in UNITY! Honestly, it's been a struggle this transfer for my companion and I to get the hang of teaching with one another. We just both have very different styles of teaching—she'll tell you the same. But, this day was just the beginning of brilliance. We just felt grand. And it was great. And teaching was happy. We got to visit with Harper and her family, and taught the first part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—Faith, Repentance, and Baptism. We then were able to have another brilliant lesson, teaching The Plan of Salvation to Brandon, and his niece, Piper.
Sisters Holt, Anitema and Ratukalou came to stay—Sister Ratukalou because she was leaving—Sisters Anitema and Holt because they were going to be going to MLC in the morning. It's always a blessing to have a little of Anitema in my life :) And I love Sister Holt. She's just like this ball of sunshine everywhere she goes. I hope there's partying with her when we're both back home as well!
WEDNESDAY. Sick day. Sister Ratukalou was ill (right before she was to go home...sad). So we just helped to doctor her, get her packed, and let her rest, until we dropped her at the mission office for her interview with President before leaving. Helpful day, getting myself more organized—as I really don't know what's going to happen with this transfer this week—so, basically, I started packing. Or rather "de-junking" my life. #TooMuchStuff #Gatherer #ItsAProblem
We had Dinner with Elder and Sister Collins :) (My heart. Love them.) Which was quite perfect, as they live in Takapuna—which is where the mission office is—where we dropped Sister Ratukalous :)
THURSDAY. Zone Training. "Grandma! Listen Harder!" I loved this story from President Uchtdorf. And it was BRILLIANTLY exciting at Zone Training, 'cause we WATCHED his talk for part of training. And I loved his point of how sometimes we don't need to listen harder, but instead "differently." TRUTH. I've learned that a lot on the mission. And this transfer. Not only with people and physical things, but with Heavenly Father. Paying attention in different ways so He can show us things in different lights of life.
Anyhoo. Training was brilliant. And "becoming a fourth floor, last door missionary" is just a grand thought to me. LOVE it.
Another lesson with Harper. :) - The Heta family is just....amazing. And light and happy and grand in our lives. We met a referral named Belinda. She's brilliaintly adorable, and we have an appointment with her this week :)
And we received some texts from another investigator contact. Haaaaa.... #Flirt. He's actually kind of a miracle. Last week we met him while looking for someone else's house. He ran to the door when he heard that we said "missionaries" and said, "Wait! Did you say you're missionaries? Do you have a card or something? I would talk to you now, but we're in a meeting. So I'll call you later." So...we gave him our card! Then, Thursday we got a text from him asking, "Is this the correct number for a lady I met the other day by the name of Ohley?" ...Struggles with the "tt" in the name looking like an "h". ...He then proceeded to ask me out to coffee to "talk about all things theological and mission based" Haaaaaaa!! I was CRACKING UP in the car when Sister Tcheou was reading it to me as we drove around Kaukapakapa. Anyhoo. Long story short, he's definitely a flirt. Hahahaha.... Sister Tcheou's response when he kept asking me out for coffee: "He DOES realize that we're a package deal right? I'M not the third wheel in this — HE is the third wheel!!!"
Hahahaha.... I literally about died laughing! But I hope we actually get to meet him this week, because from my point of view, he legitimately does want to know about missionary work, ... and he apparently lives right next to the chapel. So.... ya know. There's that. You never know!!
And then there was the....struggle side of the day. We went to bring something to a sister in the ward who...we've been trying to figure out how to make friends with. Not sure what happened, or if we offended her somehow, or if it's something in the past.. don't know. But she was still rather sharp with us and sent us away with...not so nice words. Sister Tcheou was FUMING. Didn't really speak much the rest of the day.
But I knew why and understood. (Sister Tcheou was told by this lady that she was RUDE the last time we came over.) BUT.... lessons came of this, for me. It made me think back to this talk by Elder Holland—"Missionary Work and the Atonement"—where he says, "Salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy!" He talks about how someitmes we have to walk a bit of the path that the Saviour walked for us in order to make everything more real. And it TRULY works. It makes you more frustrated and hurt than ever, but it's comforting because it makes the ATONEMENT more real—even though the things we experience are nothing compared to what our Savoiur had to go through for us. And... Sometimes you just want to slap the people that make your companions sad and hurt. But, unfortunately that woudn't make things better. So there's that.
FRIDAY. Bugs. Lots of attacking the flat with flea bombs and vacuums and all that jazz. Sister Tcheou has been getting eaten (and somehow not me for the first time, ever.)
SATURDAY. Robyn. Love her. She's KEEN to learn—EVEN THOUGH she has friends that found out she's been meeting with "Mormon missionaries" and they told her "not to get sucked in" Hahahahaha.... But Robyn is brilliant. And we love her. She's a light in our lives :) And her ankle is slowly, but surely healing – so that's good.
WOMEN'S BROADCAST. BRILLIANT. I've already said things about it, I know. But I also loved the emphasis that was put on POSITIVE THINKING. BROTHER, am I EVER an advocate for that! Truth. And will ALWAYS BE TRUTH.
SUNDAY. BRANDON IS SET FOR BAPTISM. ...That was the most exciting thing of the day! Ha. We had a lesson with him. A visit with Emma. A dinner with the Woods family. And a visit with LINDA. Brillliant day, loved it all. Especially since Linda's been sick for a while now, so glad to see her up and going again :) Hate it when people get sick :( So yes. BRANDON is set for baptism :) 15 of October. Joys! Only sad thing is that we're now to the end of the transfer. Ha. And, well, I've been here for ages. So we'll see. But it's okay. :) The important thing is for them to make that step – not that I have to be here for it :)
Anyhoo. Life is grand. Another week has passed, and I can't even believe it! It's OCTOBER, PEOPLE. How did that happen? Where did the last YEAR go!?
I'll be off now. But I hope you have a most brilliant week!
Alofa tele atu,
Sister Mckenzie Ann Ottley
