Kia ora 30 July

Kia ora whanau,

     Transfers went great.  Found out that was moving for my last one.  Any guesses?  I'm covering Te Kuiti and Taumarunui again!!!  Except I'm also covering the Ta Awamutu Ward.  I loved this area last time I was here, and I still love it now.  My new companion is Elder Hughes (Elder Huge he's 6'8)  from Sanford Colorado, and he's easy to get a long with, which was an answer to my prayers.  This will be the greatest last transfer I could have asked for. 

     Yesterday (Sunday) we went down to Taumarunui to give a talk each, and also the combined Priesthood/Relief Society training.  It went pretty well even though there were only about 6 adults and 3 youth and 3 or 4 small children.  We also took some time to set up the missionary work and coorelate with the branch president down there since its an hour and a half away. 

     Elder Hughes and Elder Hatch (who I replaced) had just cleaned out the pipeline and there are 4 investigators now.  Ripeka is the closest to baptism.  I haven't met Repeka, but from what I've heard, she's ready for baptism.  The only thing standing between her and baptism is her dad.  Elder Hughes has told me that for some reason the dad won't let us teach her without him there.  Because they were busy with sports all weekend we weren't able to see them.  But we're going to go by as soon as we can.  The good news is that they came to church.  Both her and her dad. 
     I'm excited to work in these areas again.  I know we'll have great success in covering 3 wards/branches.  We just need to get everyone on board!

     Thanks for all the Pics of Leah.  Hopefully she gets out of NICU soon.  Can't wait to see her!  Keep sending pics when you can!

Arohanui! 

Sincerely,

Elder Sorensen

PAINTING OF CHRIST   This will no doubt remind you of many things that you may have forgotten.  The art work and story it tells, hang on to your hat.   To have such a gift and insight as this painter would be a privilege.   The Resurrection is a 12 x 40 mural, oil on canvas. It is a depiction of the moment of Jesus emerging from the tomb.  This mural was commissioned by the Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas , Texas .  Click Here to view the video about the painting.

23rd July 2012

This week was good. We've been working on clearing our pipeline and finding new people. President Porter called it using the back-burner, meaning not visiting people very often who are still interested in us coming by, but aren't progressing very fast, and then to spend more time finding those who are ready to progress. So we picked up a couple of old investigators this week. We've also picked up a couple of non-active members who, to me, talk as if they're not members.
      We picked up one old investigator named Brandon. After being dropped he quit drugs and smoking/drinking, and split up with his partner. So that will make things so much easier to work towards baptism, especially since he was doing those things at 16 years old. He said that he'd prepare to be baptized on the 18th of August. The major foreseeable concern is that he says that God has given a vision to build his church (Assembly of God). So he doesn't fully understand about priesthood authority. But he'll get there. We're working to start teaching his family too.
      We also picked up Brandon's friend named Rico, also 16. He's pretty keen but he has some major obstacles to overcome before baptism. His biggest concern is that he has a partner thats pregnant in her 3rd trimester, and is a strong smoker. He said he wants to prepare to be baptized, but he wants to work through those problems first. 
      We're excited that Emma gets back from Rotorua this week from her b-day holiday. We talked to her once while she was down there, with permission of course :), and we know that she's ready for marriage, and also her partner. Its just trying to convince the family that the sooner they get married the sooner they can start/continue living God's plan for families. 
      We've got some good people to work with here in Manurewa, and we're working to find more.
     So we got news about transfers early.  Last Wednesday we got a call from President Lekias.  And found out that Elder Fulthorp is training in this area.  And the new training programme goes for 2 transfers.  So by the end of this he'll have been in his 1st area for 5 transfers/7 1/2 months.  Compared to me being there for 1.  So I'll be headed to my new area and new companion on Thursday, but I won't know who or where until Wednesday hopefully.  So for me that will make 9 areas and 14 companions.  Crazy eh?  

Arohanui! 

Sincerely,

Elder Sorensen

July 16th

   This week was a good week. A bit different with interviews with president thrown into the mix, but it was great. President remewed my temple recommend. I appreciated it especially because it expired at the end of June. We also had a huge miracle. The zone leaders in Tamaki are referring one of their investigators to be baptized this Saturday to us. His name is Donny. 
      The last few weeks have been a bit more difficult because our ward mission leader was on holiday in America. But he got back on Friday, yay! We're putting together a plan to coordinate the wards efforts in missionary work with our friend share programme. So we're hoping things will improve with the ward as a whole. 
      On Thursday we got a call from Elder Walker. He asked if we'd been praying for a miracle, we said yes, then he told us that Donny, one of his investigators, needs to be baptized in our ward. He has a girlfriend in Tamaki who was his fellowship, but he lives down here. We're pretty happy about that.
      Sadly our 2 most progressing investigators have some concerns. Aukuso, who was supposed to be baptized last Saturday, told us on Friday that he's not ready. We didn't have time to discuss it well enough. But we think that he's not willing to make the step without his mum approving. The way he explains it, is that she's happy for him to go to church, but she's 50/50 about him being baptized. He talked to her about it on Thursday and nothing's changed. We're going to commit him to be bold and tell his mum that he feels good about it and that he wants to be baptized. or something to that effect. 
     Then Emma, we found out, went down to Rotorua to be with her family for her 20th b-day. We committed her to talk to her family about the marriage, so hopefully she remembers. She said she should be back by this Sunday. 
     A bit of bad news.  Someone broke into our flat on Friday night while we were away.  We came back at 9:30 ish and everything was on the floor scattered around.  luckily not much was taken of mine.  Just my ipod, speakers, memory stick with music, and 4gb camera card full of pics () and camera cord/case.  I had a funny prompting to start carrying my camera in my pocket the last couple days so I still have that.  But I really miss the pictures!  Luckily they also left the gifts that I'm bringing home too.  I'm still safe (don't worry mum), and I'm happy that my treasure is in heaven and not in little things like ipods and such.  
     P.S. Transfers is a week from Thursday.

Arohanui! 

Sincerely,

Elder Sorensen

From the President

Dear Elder and Sisters, July is our month (We do not want to be grasshoppers!!)

July is promising to be a very good month IF we continue to do our part.  We are so very close in reaching our monthly goal of 167...BUT, there is much for us to do.

As of last night our accountability is:  68 accomplished with a further 143 set...which is projected at 211.  This is fantastic Elders and Sisters, however we all know that we have been at this level before.  WE NEED TO HOLD OUR SETS WITH ALL OUR MIGHT, MIND AND STRENGTH!

The QUESTION is:   What are we prepared to do to see that we HOLD onto the sets we have remaining for JULY?

Our prayer is that your ANSWER will be:

·         A focus on item 2, page 147---set goals and make plans for investigators to be baptized;

·         Prayer and Exact Obedience so Heavenly Father can bless us;

·         Ask the zone leaders for help if you are having trouble holding onto your sets;

·         Use the members as much as possible;

·         Make sure the Ward Leaders are aware of the Baptism; and finally

·         Plan the baptism so well that new investigators will be found as a result (at the baptismal service for example).

With all this in mind for July, we need to continue the focus on Finding and Teaching so we get a great start in August.  Remember..in the NZAM we no longer get "Transfer Trunky"....do not get DISTRACTED with thoughts of...I wonder if I am moving, where will I go, who will be my companion...it does not matter.  The Lord has it all in hand..He will watch over you.

We love and appreciate all you continue to do.  Have a fantastic week...and Remember....You can DO IT, you are a Disciple of Christ!!

Love

President and Sister Lekias

July 9th 2012

Kia ora whanau!

     This week was a more difficult week to keep up with what we've been achieving mostly because we didn't have our bikes.  On Tuesday the zone leaders took Elder Fulthorp's bike in to get it fixed.  Hopefully we'll get it back today.  Other than that we have a marriage on Tuesday, a baptism coming up this weekend, and another baptism the next week.  
     Walking this week slowed things down a lot.  It took up way too much time.  We would go from one appointment to another just to find out they're not home.  We tried to see all the people we knew in between places, but the most we'd get is a return appointment.  
     We were able to see some good progress from our investigators though.  Aukuso finally opened up to us and told us that his concern is that he wants his family (Mum) to support him.  He said he's 18 and can make his own decision, but he still wants to respect his Mum.  We've committed him to have a real good sit down talk with her about what he's doing and how he wants her blessing when he gets baptized.  It shouldn't be a big problem or something that will hold him back, but we're definitely going to do all we can to help him make the right decision to get baptized as soon as possible.  
     On Sunday evening at our last visit we had a new set.  It was Emma that we found about 2 weeks ago.  When we met her she was pregnant and due any day.  And she did.  So after a couple of week she finally back from the hospital and ready to have us come visit.  So we went and had a good talk with her less active partner Jeff and found out that he is ready to get married whenever.  He's following what we asked him to do and gave up drinking, and its now been two days since his last cigarette.  After a little while Emma came in and we asked her how she felt about things, and she said she's ready any time.  So after some talk we set them for marriage and Emma for baptism both on the 21st of July.  They both said yes, and they committed to pray as a couple about it too.  
     I'm excited to see so many people finally making the decision to live the commandments and receive the blessings.  We also saw a recent convert from last year (Elder Killingbeck) go to the temple and get sealed as a family.  Time is sure flying by fast.  Weeks do feel like days, and the days sometimes like weeks.  The nights go by in about 5 minutes and another day starts.  I'm truly blessed to be in a part of the world where the work is moving so fast.  Most areas I hear about a new ward, or a chapel extension, or the stake is going to split.  The people are so good and treat missionaries very well, always making sure we're never hungry, that we have enough blankets, and letting us pretty much be part of their families.  I love the gospel!  Its true, and without it there's no promises.  

Arohanui! 

Sincerely,

Elder Sorensen

July 2nd

Kia ora whanau!

 

     This week had so many things happening. To start off we got a new investigator from a family home evening, then we heard that one of our recent converts ran away from home, then on Friday Deja calls us up and says "can I get baptized tomorrow?", Saturday morning we also hear that one of the memers of rowandale ward passed away as part of a home invasion or something. With all of that we had great success this week.
      After the family home evening we were talking with someone who we thought was a part of the familiy and he said his name was Aukuso, and that he was investigating the church. We asked him if had missionaries coming by, and he said no, and that he's just been coming to church and loves it. He said that at his church he doesn't have a relationship with God, but since he's been coming here he's felt better than he's ever been. So we set him for the 14th of July. He just has to ask his mum. He said that she's already happy that he's going to church anyways, so we're praying and expecting a good answer from him.
      Friday morning just as we were ending weekly planning Deja rang us up and asked if she could get baptized the next day. We said we'd work it out, and everything went through well.
So now we'll be working with Aukuso, Michael, Laeton and Tyrese for this month. So with Deja, that will make 5 for this month. It feels great seeing so many people working towards and being baptized.

 

Deja w/ Dream (nearly 2)

Elder Fulthorp, and yours truly

Arohanui! 

Sincerely,

Elder Sorensen