July 11, 2011

Kia Ora!!


This week was pretty good. We got to do I think a bit of everything. Trade-offs, setting people for baptism, traveling (to Rotorua) last minute, sun, rain, lightning, wind, sun rain lighting and rain all at once, and to top it all off we started teaching a guy from Switzerland.

We had the mission tour to meet the new mission president (President Lekias [Lee-key-us]) scheduled for Saturday morning at 7:30 am. So that meant getting up at 5, leaving by 6, and getting back to work at 10 am. But on Friday they called and changed it to that night. So last minute we shot up to Rotorua and met the Lekias family. Pretty cool family, hard auzzie, and I got the 'new missionary' feeling from them. Completely understandable though. He's kept the NZAM vision the same, but changed a couple of things. The vision is "In the NZAM we: Save Souls, by being exactly obediant, being preach my gospel missionaries, and Preaching by the way to everyone." Preach By The Way (PBTW) is a key indicator that I think is special to our mission, and it just means we keep track of the number of people we talk to. Pretty cool.

We had a couple of really choice lessons this week. The guy from Switzerland is probably in his mid 60's and is a real crack up. When he was talking about his car he said in his really heavy swiss accent that when he gets to a passing lane "you put ze svitch to ze 's' (for sport) and you put ze foot down!" We had a good lesson with him on Sunday and he finds it important to be baptized by the priesthood authority, but he's just not willing to set a date becasue it feels too soon. He really likes the plan of salvation because it makes a lot more sense than what the Jehovah's Whitnesses have shared. They've probably been one of the most frustrating people to work with, and the people they teach, they teach to turn out all other doctrines. I really don't like that church. But anyways. We had a lesson with Jack, and he hit us with a real surprise. We had asked him to pray about the 23rd of July to be baptized, and he said that he did so, and he got his answer at work throughout the week. He said its time to stop putting things off, and start doing things for his family. So we're pretty excited for him and his family.

So for the past few P-days, we've been working on a project with Brother King for a school dance. They had the theme for Narnia. And so we helped him build the sleigh and the throne. So thats what the pictures are about. We were going to go play golf, but the rain has put it off another week. Oh yeah, transfers are this week. I almost forgot. I don't know if I'll move or stay, but I'll sure let you know.

Thank you for all you support. I do need your prayers, and appreciate them.

Aroha nui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen