Absolute Most Fun Thing: Teaching People to Understand the Spirit

Dearest family,

This week was a good one! I loved hearing about all your experiences, especially COLLIN, ya dork! At first I was thinking YEAH!!!...that is hilarious, but Mom and Dad were right to give you a consequence. Something cool about commandment number 5 is that it's the only one that comes with a promise. I don’t have a set of scriptures, but I think it says that thy days may be long upon the land. It's true bro, if we didn't have parents to correct our bad behavior or even a Heavenly Parent who allows us to feel Godly sorrow when we sin or make mistakes, I don’t think we would really grow. It's sad to see parents here in New Zealand who do not have the gospel that do everything opposite of The Family: a Proclamation to the World. In the words of Ava, “I am glad I got you too.” (Sorry, I’m not supposed to say anything negative about areas I serve in. Don’t think for one second that I look down on them for it at all. I love them to death and I understand that Satan is good at his job and Amos 8:11 is true. A lot of people have not found the gospel.)

Danny McBride…poor fella…let him know that he is in my prayers. Also, I think he could appreciate the story of Job when he got boils and I think oozing sores all over his body. It's funny too, Dad, because I just rememorized that scripture in D&C 13 and I was pondering on that part, the ministering of angels. It's cool that Heavenly Father trusts that authority with 12 year olds. He will be fine and dandy in no time. How is his brother doing by the way? I miss Alex! I heard his Spanish is getting better!

Hmmmm... So I need to tell you some of the funny things that happened this week. I think the one that tops everything was my trade off with Elder Wasden. He is from Canada and he is a little crazy and anyway he really likes cats. Long story short…we found one and he picked it up by the scruff of its neck and kind of twirled it around. I will send you a video of it if I can except I don’t know how. Oh and a member of the Seventy Presidency called Elder Denham this past week too! He is helping with a criminal investigation. So, yeah, that was cool talking to him.

Oh and Dad, I feel ya big time on memorizing the shortest scriptures possible! We are doing the master teacher, teaching guide which involves memorizing 15 scriptures for each lesson. My scripture mastery scriptures helped a ton because I remembered where a lot of good scriptures were and had a lot pre memorized. I decided to challenge myself a little more though and memorize some of the bigger scriptures. It's awesome how much you get to learn on your mission!

Now enough of that…lets talk spiritual matters. I said I would update you on things. C moved to Ruatoria…sad day! N is SOLID! She is more likely than not getting baptized at the end of the month. Just needs to break a few bad habits but she is getting there. We made a calendar for her and she has cut down heaps. She did slip a little this week, but she said she felt super guilty so that made me happy.:) L is from a part member family. We are helping to baptize and reactivate her family. Her niece killed herself, and she took it really hard. It was good being able to bring hope by letting her know that there is life after death.

N and J are a really young couple we are teaching. They are keen to learn and we have gone over pretty much every day in the past week to help them feel the spirit and understand everything. We had them pray to know the BoM is true and N actually had a dream where he couldn't see anybody or face of any sort, but he heard a voice just saying the BoM is true! It gave him crazy goose bumps and he woke up and couldn't go back to sleep... pretty cool huh? J then asked why God didn't answer her the first time she prayed. I really had to think. Yeah, why doesn't he just let everyone know it's true the first time they pray?! But Isaiah 55:8-9 came to mind and we explained that God wants her to know but he isn't going to give an answer until she’s ready. He knows exactly when you need it most. I don't know if I've already explained this, but baptisms on the mission are AWESOME!!! However, I think helping people understand the Spirit and the truth and recognize answers that God gives is one of the absolute most fun thing about serving a mission.

The work is going good and I’m learning heaps. Also, Elder Denham and I are getting along great! In fact, apparently our mission president used us as an example in Zone Leader Council about how we are an ideal companionship in getting along and that there are too many missionaries that fight, bicker, argue, etc. and just cant wait to get transferred. Apparently he praised us saying that we are serving in the slowest part of the mission, we came into an area that had nothing from past missionaries, and we have other difficulties we have had to work through, and even with all those challenges they still manage to be happy and get along. YES!!! That felt good to hear that! Also, I finally got my birthday package!!! YAY THANK YOUUUUU!!!

I think that is all I have to share. Feel free to ask me any questions! Also I forgot to tell you there are 40 new missionaries coming into our mission!!!! There are over 250 missionaries in our mission or at least there is going to be over 250 next transfer. I love you guys so much! The Church is true!

Love,

Elder Ward