Week 78

Kia Ora!

This week has been an absolutely crazy one.. Corona virus is really taking a toll on the mission and on New Zealand as a whole. Everyone here is kind of freaking out (not quite as bad as American but still bad😂) and we are all just preparing for it to hit hard soon. 

We had transfers this week and on Wednesday I was to get my new companion but because he was coming in from American Samoa he came in Thursday night. I was in a Trio for a little bit and was waiting to see if my new companion, Elder Lotulelei, would have to do the 14 day isolation. He luckily did not so now we are back to work. But we also received an update that we as Missionaries are not to talk to people on the street or door knock so now we have to focus on those we are already working with and members.

It's been really hard not being able to do the normal things a missionary would but everything keeps moving. We had a few crazy days of sorting out stuff as Missionaries. We received extra funds to get some emergency food incase we get isolated in our flats. So we will be doing a lot of shopping soon.

That was pretty much our week. We had sacrament as a district and tried to make a few visits on Sunday but again things are getting wrecked because of this virus.

That's most of the updates really. I hope everyone is doing alright! Stay healthy everyone!!

Elder Wilding 

Week 76

Kia Ora Whanau!

This week has been a pretty busy one! We had some good success this week and it has been a blessing. We were able to find 4 new people to teach and hope to see them start progressing soon! Things will be a bit slow at first just to find out if they are really interested in the gospel or not but we think a few of them will accept it!

Tuesday we had an exchange and I was with Elder Peart from Virginia. We had a pretty good day. We went and did some finding and tried to contact a lot of the people we are trying to teach and didn't catch many of them at home but it's all good we had a few good conversations that day. Elder Peart and I are both training so we got to talk about each others companion and talk about how to better train. It was a good day.

Wednesday we spent a lot of the day driving and walking around our area trying to get in touch with people and trying to teach. We walked up to this lady's house and she let us in and we were able to teach about the restoration and we got a return appointment and she said she will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She seems pretty interested but we will see when we see her again.

Thursday this week was pretty weird we had to get the tires on the car replaced but we also had other things we needed to do so we pulled off a small exchange with a zone leader and another missionary he was on exchanges with haha so it was an exchange on an exchange😂 Elder Dansie and the Elder he was with found two new people in the hour they were together so that was great!

Saturday we held another exchange and I was again with Elder Peart and we got to teach someone in his area and he seemed pretty keen and hopefully he will progress. We did some other contacting in his area and visited some of his members to end the day.

Sunday was good we did a lot of contacting and no one was home. We had 3 people and church and also had a member call us and asked us to teach his niece on Monday! We are excited to do that and help her join the church.

This week had a lot going on and it was really fun. I hope you all had a great week!!

Elder Wilding 

Week 75

Kia Ora!

This week was so fun and it went by so quick! We had a bit going on and tried to get as much done as we could.

Tuesday we had District Council as usual. We set goals for the district and than we had an exchange with some elders in my district. I went with Elder Stoddard from Hooper Utah. We had a good day of trying to contact some people and talk to some others on the street. We didn't find anyone new to teach but we put in a good effort and hopefully with all the work we are doing we will see some miracles soon.

Wednesday we had interviews with President Walker and that was really good. I love interviews with him. He helps with so much and makes things way easy. We than went tracting and tried setting up appointments with some people that kinda fell through. Oh well haha we move on!

Thursday we had Zone conference and we received some great trainings on the restoration of the gospel and I definitely had my testimony strengthened after all we were taught. I'm so grateful for the gospel and all that comes from it!! The days after we had two people try to bash us and the restoration but we were able to get in a little bit to defend it we hope some day those people will accept it.

Saturday we had this big stake activity that took up must of the day and we were just meant to do Chapel tours but we didn't really do any because of other things getting in the way but it was a good activity for the whole community to come and get involved on the stake center grounds.

Things have been slow lately that's okay I'm used to it haha. I feel like patience is a big thing I've needed to learn. I hope you all had a great week!!

Elder Wilding 

Week 74

Kia Ora!!

This week has been a good one we had a lot of things that kind of ruined our plans and had to do some exchanges to get things done. We had  an activity wihh another ward that ended up being really bad cause no nonmembers showed up so we spent 2 hours for two days doing nothing and practicing for it.. It was kinda bad.. I felt bad for the ward that put on the event.

Any way I'm just gonna do some catching up and what has happened here. So this week we ended up having two elders move into our flat because of their neighbor doing some stuff that was not good and had to move the Elders for safety concerns. It was nothing too crazy but just as a precaution.

We have been trying to get to know all the people we are "teaching" but none of them are truly interested so we are just trying to thin it out and find those that are really prepared for the gospel.

We are starting some member work as well and hope to get them involved a lot more. They are such great people and we hope to see them get some more joy and blessings from the work.

We did so much driving around with our car getting fixed and doing small exchanges to get some work in our area done while I go with another elder to fix the car. Also an elder was in the hospital so we had to  go around in a trio for a bit and what not. It was just crazy this week.

Hope you all had a great week!!

Ofa atu!

Week 73

Kia Ora Whanau!

This week has been a busy one. We had a lot going on and it went by pretty quick.

So to catch everyone up this transfer I have been asked to train a new missionary from Salt Lake City and his name is Elder Dansie. It has been pretty good so far and definitely different. He's a really good missionary already also. We also Whitewashed the area so we have no clue who anyone is. 

Tuesday we had District Council and I had to lead that for the first time in over 6 months so that was weird haha. We later that day we did a lot of finding trying to help my new companion get into the Grove of things. We spent a lot of time trying to get to know the ward as well.

Wednesday we had mtc exchanges and spent the whole day door knocking and helping them get into the work. We tried to visit some members as well that evening.

Thursday we got with some other elders and went to go and do some family History that was pretty good. We had to drive to another area to do a Baptismal interview. We got stuck in traffic so that kinda ruined the rest of our day. We did some tracting as well so that was great.

Friday me and some other district leaders had to go to a training with President. It was really good on counciling with the district. It was also helpful for other callings in the church if I ever get one later in life. We had lunch with all of them and then drove back to our areas. We than did weekly planning and other studies so that was pretty much our day.

Saturday we did a missionary prep trade off with the Tongan ward here and spent the whole day working with youth it was pretty fun. Heaps of door knocking and I hope the kids like it haha.

Sunday Elder Dansie and I gave talks on our first Sunday at church so that was cool. So our first Sunday in this area was stake Conference so we didn't really get to meet anyone in our ward so we had to go this whole week still looking for all our members haha. We got to visit quite a few of them Sunday so that was great.

This week was good. We didn't have anything too exciting but it was good.

I hope you had a great week as well!!

Elder Wilding 

Week 72

Kia Ora!!

This week was a hot one for sure. We spent a lot of time out on the streets knocking those doors trying to find people to teach. We were able to find a few people to follow up with and that was good we hope to be teaching them soon.

Monday we team ups with President Walker and that was really good. We had 2 hours of door knocking with him and had some pretty good conversations with him and with other people so that was great!

Tuesday we had District Council and set some goals for the month of February it was good to see that there was big improvements not only in the district but in the whole zone in finding new people to teach and we hope to see that continue into people coming to Sacrament and getting baptized! We did some door knocking and got into a house and taught a man named Shaquille and hope to see him again.

Wednesday we had ZLC and set more goals but this time for the Zone and like I mentioned our zone took a huge step forward in the month of January we had a goal of finding 60 new people as a zone and found 75 so that was great. We Councilled on how to continue to improve and so on and it was great. We than started an exchange with some elders and I was in a trio for the day with Elder Morrill and Elder O'Halloran. We spent quite a bit of time doing some finding and just did some talking it was great.

Thursday we ended the exchange and Elder Yardley and I got back to it. We tried to visit some people and didn't have much luck. Even the set lesson we had planned for that night was canceled so things didn't quite end up the way we wanted but it's all good.

Friday we had weekly planning and started the day with a bit more finding. That has definitely been the theme of this area, knock knock knock haha. I feel like I've done more in this area than any of the others. We tried to visit some of the people that said we could come back and we didn't end up meeting with them or they were too busy at the moment. We did have a lesson with a part member family that night though and taught the whole family part of the Restoration and we hope to get the man of the house baptized in a few weeks if all goes to plan haha. He is a really good guy who wants the best for their small family. We will be seeing them on Tuesday and finishing the lesson with them.

Saturday we had heaps of door knocking and man it felt extra hot that day haha but we went out and had two really good conversations with some people and got to know them a bit and share a little with them. None of them wanted us back but it was good to get to share a little bit with them and plant those seeds. We had a rally nice Thai dinner with the stake president and his family and talked about how members can improve in doing missionary work and help us so that was good.

Sunday we had some time to go and do some door knocking and we visited a few members sharing some short messages with then trying to help the kids learn and stuff so that was fun. Nothing too crazy that day.

This week was good. We had so much time out on the streets but it was really good. It's weeks like this that make you feel like you are living the old missionary life of knocking all day everyday haha it was good. Hope you all had a great week!

Elder Wilding

Week 71

Kia Ora!

This week was good. We did quite a bit or finding and a few exchanges with some really good Elders made for a good week. It's really starting to heat up here in New Zealand and man does the ocean look tempting haha

Tuesday we had District Council and we received a pretty good training on helping people keep commitments. That is definitely one of the hardest things to do on the mission. People just don't want to do what we ask haha but we will make things work some how haha. We had quite a bit of time to do some tracting as well. Tried contacting some people but still kinda struggling to meet them when they are at home.

Wednesday morning we did some family History stuff and started our exchange with the missionaries that serve in the Samoan ward. They are both really good Elders and I went with Elder Roberts from Utah. I've been with a lot from Utah lately haha. We did heaps of tracting and had so many rude people that day but oh well it happens haha.

Thursday we ended our exchange with them and started another with some elders serving more south of us In Favona ward. I went with Elder Lee and he is from Hamilton. We did some more finding and trying to contact some people so that was good. No luck that day but it was good serving with a great Elder. We had dinner with a couple we are trying to teach and they have some concerns with the Book of Mormon and we were able to discuss a few things with them while eating so that was good. We set up a time to teach them about the restoration and hopefully that will really lick things off with them! They are a really nice couple from South Africa and I really want to see them accept the Gospel!

Friday we ended the exchange with some more finding and drove the Elders back to their area and did some weekly planning. Not too much happened on that day so I'll just carry on haha

Saturday we had the whole day pretty much just finding. It was really hot and no one was home but overall things were good. We made it through a difficult day and hope to see blessings from it in the future! We did have a unexpected little lesson with a guy that morning though and that was good. Progress with him will be very slow though as he only wants to meet once every other week haha we will try to get things to move quicker with him.

Sunday was pretty typical. Nothing too crazy went down. We had a couple say they would come to church but didn't so that was sad but we hope to see them come soon. We spent some more time doing some door knocking so that was cool. It's been really hot lately and makes finding a bit more hard but we push along haha

This week has been pretty good we've seen some pretty cool miracles. Hope you all had a great week as well! Love you all!

Elder Wilding

Week 70

Kia Ora! 

This week has been a good one. Nothing to absolutely crazy but it was good. We got to go on an exchange with some elders and found a few more potential people. Things are starting to pick up after the long Christmas holiday.

So Tuesday we had District Council and then went off to go and teach a recent convert who had been struggling a bit but now she is doing so much better and we are continuing her follow up lessons. We also went to go contact a referral but she wasn't there but we ended up sharing the restoration with the husband and hopefully we will be able to go back and see him again sometime.

Wednesday we had our exchange and did quite a bit of finding still trying to get as many people in our teaching pool as possible. The work is so much better when you are teaching rather than walking in the sun haha. But we stick it out and also did some contacting and met the daughter of someone we are trying to teach and asked if she would be interested as well but sadly no. Hopefully someday the whole family will accept the gospel!

Thursday we had heaps of tracting and we also had a district blitz in our area and we were able to get 1 or 2 referrals from that so that was good. We also went and had dinner with a family that just moved out of the ward so it was kinda sad seeing them leave. Typically the missionary leaves first but not in this case.

Friday we had weekly planning and also had interviews with President Walker. I love interviews getting to catch up with President Walker is one of the best parts of the transfer. We talked about a lot of stuff and it's so sad that he will be leaving us in the beginning of July. Definitely an amazing person and a spiritual giant! Later that day we tried to contact some people that we planned to teach but they rescheduled and then we went finding again. One couple we did teach though had an amazing experience with the Book of Mormon! We asked the husband to read chapter 4 of 1 Nephi before we come back and he did! But the crazy part is he just kept on reading. And he finally stopped at chapter 12 because he had to go to work. He said it was so interesting and wanted to keep going. We invited them to come to church this next week! Things are looking really really good for them!

Saturday was pretty cool. We went to go help out with a YSA missionary camp out at Henderson stake. That was my first stake out here and I got to see a few members from out there especially one from West Harbour who is preparing to go on his mission soon! Pretty good day. Did some tracting with one of the members I knew so that was cool.

Sunday we had stake conference and that was a really good meeting. The talks were all focused on the area goals and stuff so that was cool. We then did all our studies and did heaps more tracting. It was a pretty good day though.

Overall this week was really cool we saw some miracles with people reading the Book of Mormon and helping them progress. We are seeing things pick up and it's great! I hope you all are enjoying the Winter!

Ofa atu!

Elder Wilding 

Week 69

Kia Ora Whanau!

This week week was pretty good! After a few days of being in the flat sick we were able to go out and get some work done it was great!

We started off with the Auckland City Mission on Tuesday and went to pack food and some hygiene packages as well. It was really fun. We get to do it quite often and it just gets us out with other missionaries and doing some work together. We also went on Wednesday and that time we served food at the other building. It's always fun getting to help out in that way as well. It's always a humbling experience!

Thursday we had a full day of finding planned out and then that morning right as we were about to leave we received some referrals and we were able to go and visit them. They are from Brazil and we taught about the restoration and invited them to read and pray and now we will visit them again hopefully this next week. Later that day as well we went and saw a South African couple and taught the both of them about the restoration and invited them to do the same and set up a time to go and see them on on Monday. Pretty successful day!!

Friday we had weekly planning and started an exchange with some elders. I went with Elder Tenney from Orem Utah and we went ou and did some finding and didn't really see much but Elder Yardley and the other elder went and had a lesson with a Mexican couple that we found the previous day! They were very accepting and now we will be teaching them as well! So that was pretty good!

Saturday we ended the exchanges and Elder Yardley and I did some finding through Facebook and went to go follow up on some potential people and we sat down with another lady and shared the plan of Salvation with her and will see her again on Wednesday hopefully! We had a pretty solid day.

Sunday we had a pretty crazy one. While we're were walking to church I talked to a guy and he said we could come by his place another time to share a bit with him. That was pretty neat. We than had a guy that Elder Yardley talked to on an exchange walk to church and we sat by him and helped him understand what we do during sacrament. Then after sacrament a Chinese man walked in and started asking about the church as well. We had a member that speaks mandarin talk to him and we hope to see him again or send him to the Chinese Branch. Later that day we went to go and visit a couple we taught a few weeks before Christmas and we set up a time to visit with them next week! Things were going super well on Sunday! 

Overall this week has been great!! One thing for sure I learned this week is New Zealand is more culturally diverse than I thought!! We found 2 South African couples, a Mexican couple, two Brazilian guys and one Maori person to teach this week! Absolutely crazy how many different kind of people live here! We asked the members to fast for us and the work in the Howick area on the first Sunday of the year and we definitely know that because of that we have found so many people! Fasting does work! It might be hard but it works! I hope you all have a great week! And enjoy the cold😎😂

Week 68 ? 😬

Kia Ora!

Tuesday we had MLC and we received some pretty good trainings from the assistants and from President Walker. One on the atonement and missionary work, one on charity and another on reading the Book of Mormon with people we Teach. It was a really good day of learning how to improve and do better. We are trying to implement that into our zone now as well. We went back to our area and tried talking to people and sharing our message and it was really fun just doing God's work even though no one really was interested.

Wednesday we had District Council and got to receive some insightful feedback on following the prompting of the Spirit. It was pretty good. We spent the rest of the day out on the streets. We have no one to teach as of now so we have been doing so much finding and it has been really fun but really hard at the same time. We tried to contact some referrals and also some potentials but nothing too big happened. We will be pretty grateful when the people we were teaching come back from being on holiday.

Thursday was pretty good we had exchanges and I went with an Elder from Bountiful Utah and his name is Elder Cox. We spent a lot of the time door knocking. I was very impressed with how well he could talk to people at the point he is in his mission he is doing great. I was able to learn some things from him and hopefully he was able to take a thing or two from me. He has heaps of potential and I'm excited to see what he can do.

Friday we finished the exchanges and I got pretty darn sick.. We spent the rest of the day resting and trying to get some medicine in me to help prevent me being out the rest of the week. We were able to get some weekly planning in though so that is a brightside.

Saturday and Sunday I was pretty sick so we were in the flat all day for both of them.. We had a member bring the sacrament to us and got a blessing so that was good. It's a humbling experience when you can't go and do anything for two days. So I'm just waiting to be able to get back out and work.

Overall this week has been a good one. Being sick is definitely not fun especially when you lose your voice for 2 whole days😅 

Week 67

Kia Ora and Merry Christmas Whanau!!

This week has been a roller-coaster ride. We had so much going and and I'm not sure how we were able to make it through.

Monday night we had to plan out transfer. Our last hole zone had at least on person in each companionship moving so we had to plan every little detail perfectly or things would get messed up (spoiler... It all got messed up😂😂)

Tuesday we had a pretty normal day. Did a lot of tracting and had to plan out some more transfer stuff so nothing crazy yet.

Wednesday was an absolute crazy one. We started our day with moving Elders within the zone and getting there luggages moved. We than went to transfers and had to switch out our car with another one but get this.... No one knew where the keys were!! So we spent hours trying to sort out where the keys were but it turns out a zone leader just left them at his flat. We than had other zone leaders take care of some of our transfers while we had no car... We finally got our car and took some elders and their stuff to their areas, dropped off some sisters stuff at their flat and we forgot to grab a sim card from a set of elders so we could give it to some sisters so there went the rest of our day tracting down the sim... Moral of the story... Make sure you plan better or someone ends up with a sim car somewhere in the middle of Auckland😂

Thursday we got to work. Our area has been very slow 1 because of Christmas and 2 because we have been dropped by heaps of people... It's been pretty sad but we know if we stay diligent we will see miracles!! That night we had dinner with a part member family and have been trying to work with them so hopefully that turns out good!

Friday we had weekly planning and some other stuff. We got to plan our district skit for our Christmas Zone Conference and let me tell ya it was pretty crack up! I'll send the video when I get it! We again spent heaps of time tracting in hopes of finding someone and we were able to find 2 potentials so hopefully we can visit them again after the new year.

Saturday we had the Auckland City Mission and we got to do it with another zone and it was super fun getting to work with a few newer missionaries and some good friends! That took up our day and it definitely was worth it!

Sunday was good we had the special Sacrament meeting and man sometimes things just go down the drain😅 haha our ward didn't prepare very well so our musical numbers were out of tune and bad but hey we all enjoyed it and felt the spirit of Christ so it was great! We had lunch with family and had a nice meal and got to visit more with them about Christmas.

Monday we didnt have pday we had our Christmas Zone Conference. It was so fun!! The district skits this year were so funny!! I will try to send as many videos of them as possible. There are quite a few mission jokes in them so you might not get some stuff but it's funny either way!! It was such a fun day!

This week has been pretty crazy but none the less it was fun. Remembering the true meaning of Christmas is definitely what makes it Christmas out here when there is no snow and no real family to celebrate it with, but I'm enjoying it so much!! I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!! ❤️

Ofa Lahi Atu!!

Elder Wilding

Week 66

Kia Ora!

This week was so fun. It went by so fast as well. We had so much going on the made us have to leave our area and not get too much done but it was definitely a good week!

Tuesday we had the Auckland City Mission and we went and packed food for a few hours and got to enjoy the company of the missionaries in our zone. We went and had lunch and came back and did some clothes sorting so they could set it all up for donations or selling. It was way fun. That took up the most of our day and then we tried to do some visits that night.

Wednesday was pretty good. We woke up and went straight to the north shore to have a MLC meeting and it was really cool because Elder Ardern was there of the area presidency. We got to talk to him and receive some insights so that was great. We than had lunch with him and then off to a Zone Conference. Elder and Sister Ardern gave some great trainings there and I recken helped a lot of the missionaries to get a bit more on track and understand some stuff. It was a great day!

Thursday we had the Auckland City Mission again and this time we were part of serving food to the poor. That is always fun and I love doing it. It can be very tiring and such but it is so worth it when you think of the good you are doing for all the people there. That was pretty much our day there as well. It sure does take up a lot of time haha.

Friday we had an awesome lesson with a recent Convert who is kind of struggling and needs some help so that was great. And we then started an exchange and I went with an elder from Australia named Elder Afoa. We spent heaps of time door knocking and trying to find people to teach. We did some member visits as well following up on an activity we did with them. Pretty fun day for sure.

Saturday we finished the exchange with a service. We went and pulled weeds cleaned up some stuff and that was us. Elder Yardley and I than finished the day with contacting potential people and finding. We have been doing a lot of that in hopes of getting the area pumping a bit.

Sunday was good we had a typical day. The young women did put on a little Devotional about the Savior so that was really cool. This week a busy one for sure!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season and don't forget to serve others!! ❤️

Ofa atu!

Love,

Elder Wilding 

Missionary Haka and cold flat!