Week 12

Kia ora!

This week has been pretty good! Monday was elders pray so we went to a trampoline park and played basketball. Pretty fun day.

Tuesday we had district council and we decided to do a secret Santa deal so that will be pretty cool. I got my phone back from Samsung too and lost all my photos that I took from the day it broke so that was kinda sad. Good thing i had the rest backed up Haha. I did get some other pictures from the people in my district and zone so there shouldbe heaps more. We had dinner with a senior couple serving in our ward from Utah that was pretty fun. And i ate banana cream pie for the first time in YEARS. Grandma Wilding should be pretty happy about that Haha.

Wednesday we had another district blitz but didn't really have to much luck with that but it was fun to see the district again this week. We got invited to another birthday this week and it was at the Prasads. They had a Fortnite themed party it was pretty cool Haha

Thursday we did reacting and heaps of walking. We also went to visit a guy named Shui. He's from China and we met him a like 4 or 5 weeks ago tracting and found out that his mom who is 85 was being taught by the Chinese sisters so when Shui invited us over we didn't really want to go cause he was already being taught. But we saw him while we were shopping on Monday and he insisted that we come visit. Long story short he wants to be taught in English even though he doesn't speak it very well and wants us to teach him. It's kinda crazy cause Shui and his mom were also referred to the Chinese elders so there is 3 sets of missionaries involved in this family Haha. Anyway he wants to get baptized but has to quit smoking and drinking. 

Friday was crazy we got called by the mission office to help Elder Baasansuren get ready for college when he goes home so we drove to the office and dropped off my replacement phone and spent some time getting Elder Baasansuren ready to apply to BYU Hawaii. We also go the Book of Mormon stories book for Shui and went back to his house to help him understand the Book of Mormon. Pretty fun time. I'm getting really good at understanding broken English Haha

Saturday was way fun! We went to Shuis' Mom's baptism at the Chinese branch and listened to people speak Mandarin for 2 hours Haha. It was so great to see her get baptized we hardly knew her and couldn't talk to her but the happiness she had on her face was all we needed to see it was great! We hope Shui will be able to follow her in a few Months after he gives up his addictions. We still have to figure out if we can teach him or not because he goes to the Chinese branch not our ward so we will talk to the Mission President soon about that!

So Saturday night we went to a dinner appointment with the Patterson's and they made the best New Zealand style Thanksgiving ever! Pumpkin pie, Turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes! They had just about everything! It was so nice of them to help me feel at home it was great! And sorry again I stuck at photos and didn't get a picture of the Thanksgiving dinner sorry Haha. But we also taught a lesson with one of sister Pattersons new friends and taught the Restoration it was awesome we hope to visit with her again!

Sunday I gave my first talk! It was kinda nerve wracking but it turned out great. I really do love this ward and the support they have for us! We taught Selena again and we have another lesson with her on Wednesday and we hope to set her baptismal date! Pray for us cause we are so close with her!It's super excited!

I hope all of you had a great week and an even better Thanksgiving cause mine was awesome! I love you all and hope you have another amazing week! And don't forget to #LighttheWorld 

Aloha atu!

Love, 

Elder Wilding 

Week 11

Kia ora!

This week has been pretty good! We didn't really do much on Monday. I took a nap so that was great haha. We went to go teach a lesson with Jaden and his sister Monday night but they weren't paying attention at all so that kinda sucked but it's all good.

Tuesday we had lunch with Brother Wihongi again he is awesome. He always offers to help us out and if we need a fellowship he is always willing. We also met a guy named John. He's from Tonga and he's really nice. He was hit by a car when he lived in Tonga and now he's mentally slow which is really sad.. but he's great to talk to and he's already a member but we are trying to get his mom involved in the lessons cause shes a nonmember. Its a work in progress but we will get there.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference which was really fun it was just our zone this time and we went over how to use technology more effective and using time wisely. Me and elder baasansuren wore matching ties so that was pretty cool. We have to sets in the same design just different colors one is red and one is blue they are so nice! And Elder Ross who is from Idaho Falls has the same suit as me so we took a picture so I matched with two people that day haha Elder Bingham from Malad gave his out going testimony so he will be going home this transfer. He's awesome he's one of the assistants to the Pres and I always had great Idaho conversations with him haha. 

Thursday we went to the Auckland city mission again and served food. It was pretty fun serving food and getting to talk to the people that come through. Its always super fun to go serve there. That's pretty much our Thursday nothing else really haha. 

Friday we did heaps of tracking and didn't have too much luck but we went to meet with John again and taught him the Plan of Salvation and we are waiting for a good chance to talk to his mom about bringing him to church and participating in the lessons. She always seems to be busy but we will keep trying. We got invited to a members birthday party. Her name is Sister Semu she and her husband are leaving for Samoa for a mission in a few months and her family through a surprise party. It was way fun and heaps of people were there. We got a picture with her and her husband and wore our matching ties and she loved them haha. We helped clean the dishes and clean up the food after.

Saturday we did more tracting and we went to a place called Hobsonville. Its a relatively new town here and heaps of people already live there haha. On our way back to our car a member that works at a restuarant saw us and bought us lunch and that was awesome. I had a pork sandwich and it was so good haha. We did our studies and more finding and that was pretty much it.

Sunday was awesome! We had sacrament and after we had a lesson with Quinton. He is a guy that Brother Wihongi met months ago and has been trying to get his life back on track. I think I mentioned Quinton a while ago but I'll tell you about him again haha. He grew up in a gang and had bad relationships with his family. He got into a bad situation and now has a 3 year old son who has been taken away from him and the mom doesn't take care of the boy either. So Quinton is trying to get him back but has to go through some trials first. He has to get his health better cause he had a heart attack I think from smoking and he's getting heaps better. Anyway we had a lesson with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and having Faith it was pretty good! We also met with Selena. I think I mentioned her too. She is a friend of the Bishops daughter and has been taught a few months before I got here but was dropped because she didn't come back to church for months and stopped talking to the Elders. But Bracken (the bishops daughter) kept inviting her and talking to her about the churchand helping her understand the Book of Mormon. So we had a lesson with her and she loved it. She has been talking about getting baptized so hopefully she will take that step soon! It's pretty exciting!

Anyway that's my week! I hope you all have been doing great! I love you all and pray for you! Have an amazing Thanksgiving and eat enough Turkey and mashed potatoes for me!!

Love,

Elder Wilding

Week 10

Kia ora!

This week absolutely flew by! We started off on Monday night going to Jaden's house. He is the kid who is 14 that we've been trying to teach for a few weeks now. His sister is 12 and we played touch with them which is rugby but you touch instead of tackling haha. We had a short lesson with the on the restoration which was good but they only listen for a few minutes so we had to make it fast and keep them busy with object lessons and analogies. It was a much better lesson this time and we have tried but failed for weeks haha. Oh yea so a holiday here is Remember, Remember the 5th of November and for the past week they sell fireworks and set them off every night and Monday nightfireworks were going off every where in Auckland and the surrounding areas it was awesome! I tried to get a good video of it but they were too far away to see them but it was awesome!

Tuesday we had district council and talked about what we could do to improve. We need to work on talking to people on the streets and getting new people to teach. After we decided that we wanted to get to visit some of the less active members and that day we had loads of extra time so we set off on a 1 1/2 hour drive to go see a less active. When we got there he said that he wasn't interested at all but that we could come in and talk to him and have a drink which was really nice! It turns out that Elder Baasansuren served in this guys mom and dad ward up in the north zone. So they talked heaps about them and got to know this guy pretty good! He is always nice to missionaries cause he has cousins and nephews that have served but he has given up on the church so he wasn't wanting a lesson or anything.. but if missionaries take the time to drive up to him every so often maybe his heart will change.

Wednesday we did heaps of tracking but that night we went to the Prasads house to get some help with the ties we are going to make for zone conference (which is this Wednesday) and Sister Prasad took them and said she would make them for us do that saved us heaps of time trying to make them haha.

Thursday and Friday we did so much walking and trying to talk to people and knock doors and didn't have too much success. We went to a members house Friday night though and gave a short lesson on the Atonement. This family feeds us the Saturday after Thanksgiving and told us that they will hold a New Zealand Thanksgiving and they will do their best to make it as close as possible so that will be super exciting! 

Saturday the youth in our ward held a fundraiser for FSY and they did health and fitness activities. It was really fun we tried doing broad jumps and vertical tests in our church clothes and that was interesting haha it was a fun activity heaps of other food booths and mental health activities. I cant remember if I mentioned her name but Kylie is the woman me and Elder salmon found during our district blitz. But we went to go to our appointment with her and her husband answered the door and said now isn't a good time and didn't seem to happy we were there so we dont know what will happen there... 

Oh and so the very first lady me and elder Baasansuren found dropped us this Tuesday because her husband doesn't believe in God and got mad that we were trying to teach her.. so she told us to stop coming even though we haven't even taught a lesson yet.. really sad.

Sunday was pretty great! We had a primary program and man was it so amazing! The kids brought an amazing spirit into the meeting and sang so beautifully! We than went to a priesthood meeting that night and was reminded about how important the name of the church is and how we can use the correction to teach others. The members here are so amazing and have shown me how important the little things in the church are. They always strive to keep the sabbath day holy no matter what comes up and the attend every meeting possible and have shown me that everything we do as members is important and we need to go to as much activities and meetings as we can!

 

That's been my week I hope all of you had a great week as well! Congrats to Zane again and I hope this next week is amazing for you all! 

Alofa atu!!

Love,

Elder Wilding

Week 9

Kia ora!

This week has been pretty crazy not too much going on though. We did have transfers this week though. Long week but so I'm excited for a new week to start.

Monday we had a district pday and went to Muriwai beach again that was way fun! The beaches are so amazing and I'll never get tired of them! I took more pictures there but sadly I cant send them to you this week...

Tuesday we went tracking and we decided to walk... worst decision we've ever made. We walked for 2 hours going to visit less actives and some potentials and then it decided to pour. It rained so hard and we were about a 30 walk away from our flat. My phone got a little wet and decided to stop working haha. So I'm hoping the photos and everything is still saved when I get it back from Samsung. We sent it to them on Wednesday. 

Wednesday was transfer day and as we expected me and elder Baasansuren are still together haha. It's good because I'm not sure if i could deal with getting transfered this soon. We spent most of the day getting stuff ready for the new sisters coming to our district. Two sisters got white washed and its a trainer and a new sister so that's got to be hard but exciting for them. The sisters didn't have hardly any food so we dropped off a little bit that we could spare.

Thursday we spent just about all day studying and finding so nothing really happened. No luck with finding people but we keep trying! We also dropped off a meal for the sisters so that was good

Friday and Saturday were about the same haha. Not much success but we gotta keep moving forward. Saturday morning we did have a breakfast with all the missionaries in the Henderson stake provided by the stake President. That was way fun and we got to listen to a RM sister that served in California. That was good.

Sunday was great I love testimony meeting and listening to the members and their thoughts. 

That's all I really have for this week. It was kinda rough but this week will be better! Congrats to Austin for an amazing mission and best of luck moving forward in life! I'm excited for everyone that got to celebrate his return!

Have a great week everyone alofa atu!

Love 

Elder Wilding