We are Literally Powerless without the Spirit

 

Dearest family,

WHOA!!!! Well, why did you go and do that???? [referring to Ava who munched and broke her big toe] I can see very clearly how a lot of that went down the night Ava hurt her toe... especially Collin holding her. I think those are some of the tender moments in life that one doesn't soon forget, even little 7-year-old Ava, and yes, I sure haven't forgotten the day Collin got hurt. That goof. I'm glad our family is tight enough to want to spend most of the night in the ER together to help comfort each other when we’re hurt. I hope you get better soon, Ava!!! It's funny how I spent a lot of time talking about patience in my last email, because it sounds like for a lot of people this was the week to find it... or more of it. Haha. My companion, Elder Manewell, or my step dad (1st companion in this mission) told me of an experience that he had where he prayed that he would be more patient and good ole Heavenly Father with his omniscience and sense of humor gave him a lot of opportunities to learn patience. J He let me know that he will not be praying for that again any time soon.

So Mom, I know you’re wondering about transfer dates and such, but I need to tell you, I have given it some thought and it would probably be better if you and Dad didn't come to pick me up.... HOWEVER, I would be thrilled more than anything in the whole entire world to come back and visit anywhere from 1 month to a year after my mission! I want to go back and see and introduce you to ALL the people I used to go see and the area I served in, but I feel that whatever time we would spend would not be sufficient and if we went too long I would be worried too much about seeing the rest of the fam. Something to consider and ponder on because, let’s face it, we need at least 2 weeks in NZ to get the full experience plus I think there are a few things you two and I would be restricted on doing. Give it some thought. I am keen for opinions and suggestions so respond back to that next week then we will drop the matter until the future to avoid any trunky feelings and stuff like that. J

Anywho, I had another transfer kinda!!! I’m still in my area with Elder Wright (the 3^rd companion), but the mission has a new AP—Elder Alder!!! So I got a new companion as well. His name is elder Hatch. He is from the States so I bet you can guess which state he is from!!! If you guessed anything but Utah then you obviously have been hit in the head recently! At first I was a little scared and intimidated by him, because he is definitely a straight shooter! He has a lot more drive and is super serious about the work and knows how to get things done. Elder Florence (my old companion) went to Hamilton (to replace Elder Alder?)... SO we had a small transfer a week early before the giant massive transfer! So, no I haven't figured out when transfers are going on and when I am going to go home now, but no worries I will figure out by next week. Also, I had my first zone leader council which was just awesome!!! It's cool how the zone leaders help make a lot of decisions on where the mission is going to go next and what we are going to do. We learned heaps from our mission president and I have grown to love him a lot more! He is for sure going to be a general authority some day.

This week was awesome though and I had a few awesome miracles in the past two days... Some shocked me at how much I have learned on the mission and how literally powerless we are without the Spirit... Saturday we went to visit a Kiribati family and the daughter turned out to be a member. She is about 21 years old, but the dad isn't. We came in and he said to go talk to her and we asked him to join and he started to walk off when something just tapped me on the shoulder and said, call Elder Tebano! I asked him if he knew that name and he said maybe and I was like, "Well, let’s call him." (Elder Tebano is a missionary in our zone from Kiribati) they started talking in their native tongue and it turns out they’re COUSINS!!! Long story short we did a trade off, brought Elder Tebano over and the man was in tears the whole lesson... He accepted the invitation to be baptized March 30th along with his younger son. What’s funny though is I wasn't there to see that happen cuz I was with Elder Denkers who has only been out 4 and a half months. He is a great missionary and he got trained by a zone leader in our mission, Elder Matau'tia. He and I also had a sweet experience! They were teaching a lady named E who is KEEN to get baptized and was set for March 16^th. The thing is the elders never taught the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, or tithing................. We didn't have a whole lot of time and Elder Denkers said we were going to teach tithing... when again the Spirit said, “Nope, word of wisdom,” and I had to awkwardly cut him off mid sentence to tell him we needed to teach the word of wisdom... Turns out she was smoking, drinking tea, and coffee... We had a POWERFUL LESSON with her and gave her a blessing. She was in tears and Elder Denkers felt pretty dumb for not figuring that out sooner. I had a good heart-to-heart with him and let him know I wasn't half the missionary he was 4 months out.

 

I love my mission. I love you guys. The Church is true. The Book of Mormon too!

Love,
Elder Ward