On Top of the World!

My Posterity:  Elder Rasband & trainee, Elder Taylor & Elder Ward, Elder Misbach, Elder Hammar & trainee
 

Dearest Mother and Father and the rest of the family,

So good to hear from you again.  Mom, I will start things off by saying I am totally fine and do not have diabetes... I pee a lot in the morning because I drink a lot in the morning but other than that I am sweet as. I have not gained or lost anything for almost my whole mission after Missouri. I feel the same I always have when it comes to eating habits, and as far as fatigue goes I think I have more energy than I have ever had in my life. I wake up alive and ready to go at 6:30 am. I think I have only not woken up at 6:30 two days on my mission because an alarm clock didn't go off, but I actually find myself waking up at like 6:00 because I feel too well rested and am worried I have slept in. So no worries Mom. I am feeling great!

So yes, the long-awaited news!!! Mom and Dad I am staying  in New Plymouth! I am also training yet again... another new missionary!!! Gee wiz. I am almost tired of training...haha.  I'm also co-training my grandson because Elder Rasband is training now after me just training him for 8 weeks. Also, Elder Hammar is training but he has moved on to another zone in Rotorua. My POSTERITY IS FLOURISHING!!!! Haha I took a picture of all the new additions to the family. I will make sure I send you a picture today.

I will be honest. I was hoping I would leave because if I get transferred next transfer I will be in a brand new area 6 days before Christmas where I don’t know ANYONE! It's nice to have some kind of family, but either way I will be fine, because when President called I felt the spirit letting me know that my work was not finished in New Plymouth. SO I AM HAPPY. J

Other news. J? Remember her? She is finally getting baptized!!!!!!! WHOOOHOOOO!!!  She is getting baptized on the 30th!!! Elder Rasband and I are on top of the world.

Well, Mom and Dad, I am doing well. I fight more and more every day to not care to look at a calendar or look at the days I have left.  I didn't really finish strong with my pest control job, but I am doing a little bit better on the final stretch of my mission. I was proud of myself. We ate lunch Sunday and then members invited us in for a steak dinner right after we finished. I turned them down so we could go out and get work done. THAT WAS PAINFUL!!!! I haven’t had a legit steak in ages!!!

OH and I almost forgot, Elder Taylor is my new companion. He is from Aussie... my 4th from Australia!

I actually don’t have too many funny stories or super exciting things that happened this week... I lost almost half my zone yesterday though. That was a big bummer. And to make things worse I don’t even know why I had 4 missionaries leave out of my 12. President asked me to not ask any questions so I didn't but man I am struggling not knowing why. Also pray for President Rudd. He is about to lose his mom. I called him yesterday and he told me he wasn't doing the best because his mom is slipping away. The whole family is gathered there and Thomas S. Monson even came and gave her a blessing. I don’t think I could have ended this letter on a more negative note.

But I will send some cool pictures and just know that I am UBER happy and I feel good because looking back on the past 22 months I don’t have any regrets! The Church is true everyone. The Church is true.

Love,

Elder Ward

 

 

Heavnenly Father Knows Us and is Mindful of Us

Me and my boys...Elder Rasband, Elder Hammar, and Elder Misbach

Dear Family,

My time is very very short today because this is the last p-day of the transfer!!! So the whole zone is getting together for a massive PDAY experience where we will have an eating contest and other crazy and stupid activities. One of our district leaders is buying two cases of Dr. Pepper which is a huge deal for us American folk, We are doing an eat off between three elders in the zone who are all tanks and then we are going to play a mean game of touch rugby.

First item of business, I think I have gathered that I still have all the money in my checking account from home. I would like you, mom, to take all of that out except for 500 dollars and give the rest to you and dad. I DONT WANT you guys paying for my mission. I know I didn't earn enough for all of it but I want to come home a very poor man, and I want to know my money is being spent on my mission. I know my dentist fee is around 600 dollars. I already took out 300 hundred for part of it, so I will take out the other 300 maybe today. So just keep enough in there for emergencies and stuff but other than that I want all my money out and paid back to you guys for helping with my mission funds.

It sounds like exciting stuff is going on over there. I am glad everyone is doing well.  I appreciate your guys emails so much every week! To answer your question mom we are still all in the same place and we all attend the same branch... in fact I just sent in a request to have another two sets of missionaries to come down and help out in this area. So we will more than likely in the near future have 4 companionships attending this one branch... how about that?!  MOM SAMMIE JONES!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She and I were pretty good friends my senior year of high school. I went to some dance with her…I think it might have been the one in the fall.

So let me tell you of two awesome experiences I had this week. One was in Waitara where two elders had a baptism happening for S and B. It was happening at six o clock that Saturday and when I got there the elders were stressed to the MAX. One was even angry because he had gone through probably one of the worst days of his mission and then to make things worse, they forgot to fill the font so the water was going to be freezing and a combination of a lot of other bad things. I pulled him aside and tried to be as cheerful as possible and said look this is normal…Satan is trying everything he has got up his sleeve to make you feel like junk while your doing something so good. Now you have worked for months to have this happen so we are going to say a prayer to make sure that you can enjoy the thing that you've worked so hard for. So I said a prayer for him and he still wasn't doing the best... especially when he got in the FREEZING COLD WATER!!! Later that night though he called me and he thanked me and told me that as soon as he baptized her the spirit just rushed in and it honestly felt like he was getting baptized too. It was a good day for everyone. :) We even had J, the lady we have been bringing to church, come! And she loved it! 

Another awesome miracle that happened this week was we were visiting the C family who is from Fiji. They are a less active, part member family. We had a great visit with them and after we were done I asked if I could use the toilet (because they say toilet here instead of bathroom…if you ask for the bathroom they will think you’re weird and wonder why you want to go take a shower) Anyways while I was in there…which by the way I NEED TO GO ALL THE TIME NOW!!! I don’t know if its cuz I actually drink a lot of water now or what but I go like 10 to 20 times a day. Anyways, back to the story… I felt we should go out and visit our branch president who lives all the way out in the Whop-Whops. I pondered more and never really said no but the thought came back with just a little bit more force three times. After we left I told Elder Misbach…I don’t get obvious promptings a whole lot but we should go to the branch president's house. So we drove out despite it already being 8:30 at night. We got there at like 8:45 and when Sister C answered the door I explained we felt prompted to come and asked if we could do anything. She invited us in and grabbed her husband from upstairs. We sat down in their living room and I told them what I experienced at the C's house and felt like we needed to come. President C then broke down into tears and told us how the past two weeks have been dreadful for him. We all felt Heavenly Father’s love that night and it helped me gain a stronger testimony of how much Heavenly Father KNOWS us and is mindful of us.

I will end with those and try and send some pictures love you guys heaps!

Elder Ward

 

Wedding Time

First baptism in New Plymouth...not sure why I have the serious face??

 

The Fitzroy bridge

Elder Misbach  (I played my first game of golf on p-day!)



The rugby stadium down the street from my flat (Mt. Taranaki in the background)

126 This Week!!

Good thing I am so forgiving J [We were late getting our letters to him again.] I guess I will just send you an email without hearing from you guys first... But anyway, this week WAS AWESOME!!! The Chapmans’ son got baptized on Saturday!!! WHOOHOOO!!! I think there were at least 10 non-members there too. I tracked down most of them and got a few good potential future baptism candidates! So yes, finally baptized someone in New Plymouth! But at the same time I have come to realize how much success we have been having in this area. Remember how I told you that when I first came here our average attendance was in the low to mid 70s consistently the previous 4 months. Well, the past three months have been in the hundreds and now this month in November we had 117 attending the first week and just had 126 come this week! We almost had to open the back doors for the first time in YEARS!!!

So this week has been quite the week I have switched to the EAST side of New Plymouth.... and Elder Hammar came back to the West side. Elder Misbach and Elder Rasband are now taking the role of senior companions. It was pretty hard to leave all of the families I have grown to love, but it was for the best. Plus, I might be leaving within two weeks anyway... So yeah, I am starting things over and meeting all sorts of investigators and less active families. V and J is a couple we have been teaching. V is Maori and J is Samoan. They are getting married this weekend! J is a member and is sister to our branch mission leader and V is keen on joining the Church. He has a few concerns which I am having a hard time figuring out... he isn't married and he smokes, but he has almost quit. He has never once prayed asking God if he should get baptized or to ask if the Book of Mormon is true or anything like that. He still prays but just not to find answers. We are planning on just asking him why he won’t pray specifically for those things, but yeah that’s them! Also he went to the Chapman’s baptism and HE FELT THE SPIRIT STRONG!!!

What else happened??? OH yes, Elder Misbach and I started playing pranks on the other two elders... we think of the dumbest things! We planned to have the elders open the garage and the garage would make something fall yanking another string tied to an egg that would fall off a ledge and pedulum swing into the person opening the garage. We spent half of our lunch hour preparing it and doing practice runs... but IT DIDN'T EVEN WORK!!! It was still funny though.

I finally got your letters. It’s good to hear from you guys as usual. I like the random trip to California too. That sounds pretty awesome! WAY TO GO ON THE MISSIONARY EXPERIENCE!!! DID you get a return appointment? Ask if you can have them come and be taught in your house with the missionaries there! That is such an ideal situation! DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!!!!! In fact, let’s use the Preach My Gospel commitment pattern. Mom and Dad will you invite them back to have a lesson with the missionaries??? Awesome! I knew you would accept. I PROMISE YOU that if you do that it will invite a powerful spirit in our home which will be beneficial for not only you but for Ava, and Aubrey. Then your joy will be great as you fulfill the Prophet’s call to RESCUE! I know that this will happen because I have seen it time and time again and even you can remember how special it was having Joey and his family taught in our home! I will follow up on how you guys do next week! OH and have the missionaries come over before so that you can inform them of where they are at. I know it's hard trusting 18 and 19 year old boys but I just trusted an 18 and 19 year old with HEAPS OF PEOPLE!!! The missionaries will do Great! J

Oh and Mom, I think dad and president Nuttall was right. It would be better for you to appreciate the temple while you’re working there. SIGN ME UP!!! I will be keen to help out there! Put me in the Celestial ROOM!!! haha I saw the announcement of the temple on Lds.org. I am pumped! I was so sure it would be finished before I got home.

Anyway, I love you guys. The Church is definitely true and OH WAIT, I got this question/theory. You know how the three wise men came to see the baby Jesus? And how they said they came from the East and saw the star there (Matthew 2:1-3)? Do you think it's possible it could have been Nephites or Lamanites? Cuz Samuel the Lamanite disappeared and then Nephi did as well. I forget the chapter and verse but it mentions him randomly leaving and not being found anywhere in the land???

Also question number 2, in D&C 20:37 it talks about the qualifications of baptism and one of them is receiving the spirit of Christ unto a remission of their sins. Does that mean people are forgiven after they repent before they get baptized? All my sons think that is the case but that does not sit well with me. I always thought forgiveness came after baptism and confirmation. Anyway, things to ponder on.

Love,

Elder Ward

I am Still Sweet As!

Well family, it’s a crazy hectic day at the library and there are a lot of people here so I am going to have to make this letter pretty brief as well!!! Thanks Dad. I forgive you [for being a little late writing the week before]. D&C 58:42-43 I won’t remember that one slip-up you had any more. Hahaha. And I did come as a thief in the night didn't I? haha And Dad, I liked your scripture next to Mom’s picture. We had the assistants come down for companion exchanges and Elder Lui, the assistant closest to going home, told me to Read 1 Nephi chapter 11 verse 10 and then jump down right to verse 15....

Anyway, back to what’s going on in my mission! Everything is going quite well. I am leaving NEW PLYMOUTH WEST!!! and going to NEW PLYMOUTH EAST!!!! I am not super thrilled about it but it’s for the best... Our transfer will be a little longer and last for another 2 weeks. Then the one after that will be cut short 2 weeks and last for 4... SO yeah, that’s what is happenin’. Mum, I still am coming home toward the end of January but yeah, I am really starting to hear it from everybody, “YOUR  TIME IS SO SHORT,” the Elder who is about to finish his mission. haha Don’t worry though. I am still unfazed. I think I would be embarrassed to admit if I was fazed but I am still sweet as!

This week I had another awesome mission leadership council at President Rudd’s house. I took up Elder Christie, the Canadian district leader in our zone, just to have a mean 3-hour heart-to-heart with him on the trip up and then for the trip down. I learned a lot from him, especially at night. He knelt down and prayed for at least 20 minutes. He inspired me to stop saying lousy prayers where I am kneeling with my face in my bed, and to get away from my bed and to start my prayer with a small hymn or something to help me focus cuz I lose focus easy. J

Anyway, things are going great. The entire zone has 7 people set with a baptism date now!!! That is phenomenal!  SO I couldn't be more proud of the effort and hard work that has been put into making this area awesome to be in! It's fun and exciting too because I kinda get to play a big role in developing the Hamilton mission. I am determining areas that missionaries will be put in for the Taranaki Zone... Of course, President gets the final say but President has trusted the zone leaders to figure out what areas should start being covered and stuff like that! So it’s fun serving right now.

Other good news, J is still progressing. She came to church for the 2nd week in a row! She was deathly afraid to be there still but she came! We have a few other investigators starting to progress so that makes things really exciting.

Another completely random side note… remember how we always used to watch the same movie on Sunday—The Other Side of Heaven? Since I have been on my mission I have collected A LOT OF DVDs... Another Testament, How Rare a Possesion, D&C Resource DVD which has Legacy, Mountain of the Lord, Only a Stonecutter, the John Tanner story and the Joseph Smith movie... the Old Testament resource DVD, the old Family Home Evening DVD, On Our Way Home, Mormon Messages, Reflections of Christ (thanks Mom), Between Heaven and Earth, On the Lord’s Errand, and Finding Faith in Christ... Mom, I have one request. If you REALLY NEED to send a package for Christmas, there is now a Mormon Messages 2 DVD… it should have a green cover... Elder Hammar got it and it is AWESOME!!!

Anyway, love you guys and good luck at the temple dedication!!! Make sure everyone gets those booties on! OH and YOU DIDN’T TELL ME THE MISSOURI MISSION SENT A COPY of the cultural celebration!!! That’s awesome! I am stoked for that!

Love,

Elder Ward

Happy Birthday Mum!!

Hamilton Temple at Night

So I am here a little bit early today because the library is shut down so we are at the chapel. We got permission from the assistants to have one companionship email first while the other does companion study and then swap to save time. Sooo yeah, here I am!!!

I started with the paragraph below but I figured that I better move up a little and start with something a little bit more uplifting. MOM I LOVE YOU! Happy Birthday YOU DID IT! How old are you now? 39? Still lookin good for your age, Mom. You got all the boys wanting you to hug them. J It was really fortunate actually that I remembered your birthday. haha I woke up this morning not even knowing if it was November or October let alone which day of the month. I did the usual exercise, shower, eat breakfast routine and I had about 20 minutes before study and I was looking in my study desk and I found that calendar you made for me... Sorry MOM. I love the calendar and the time and effort you put into it, but I usually keep it hidden down in my drawer... I don’t know why but I picked it up to check what day it was and I look down and it's mum’s birthday! It just registered now that it’s actually tomorrow for you so happy early birthday Mom. Even though I have been away for awhile and changed a lot on my mission you don’t have to worry that I will never change from being a total complete momma’s boy. In fact, my mission has probably just made me more of one especially cuz I do all the cooking in my house full of noobs! I miss you Mom and look forward to getting a hug from you even more than Hans Peter. J

Now time for the not-so-positive portion.

Mom, don’t worry about sending me a package on Christmas. Honestly, it's not worth it... Haha Maybe it will make my companion feel bad for me and he will just give me some of his stuff. J jokes Do what you like, Mom. In fact, you probably won’t want to get anything for me any more because I have some bad news. This week I went to the DENTIST!!! and I had to get some work done... $600 dollars worth in NZ money so probably 520 American... I just got two cavities filled and this stupid gap in the back of my mouth from wearing those brackets for my braces, one of the two cavities was found under one of my fillings. The dentist had to take out the old filling and put in a new one IT STUNK!!!!!!!!! I almost had to get a root canal. They suggested doing it in two different parts but I HATE WASTING TIME!!! so I said nope lets get it all done at once. MY WHOLE mouth was numb for a couple of hours that day I sounded SO DUMB!!!!!! Anyways I thought that it would be covered by the mission but it turns out they don’t do dental sooo they asked me to ask you to contact the mission office and pay them or I could just use my own personal card... I honestly just don’t know how much money I have on mine and I am scared to use it. Mom can you figure that out for me? 

So other awesome news this week, J came to church this week!!!! WHOOOHOOOO! She is an awesome lady. It’s really sad she suffers from anxiety and post traumatic stress and does not do well in large groups of people!!! But she came to church and I knew she was having a hard time but all the relief society sisters really helped out and held her hand and were really nice to her! So yeah, this week was pretty good. My companion, Elder Rasband, got really sick. He has bronchitis so we have had some serious ups and downs this past week. 

Anyways, I honestly don’t have a whole bunch of time but tell Trevor thanks for the letter to me with all those suggestions for member missionary work. Keep being good and pressing on. Tell dad that he is lame and needs to not be in the habit of doing things last second (Alma 34:32-34) but that I still love him! 

Oh just real quick, other cool things that happened this week, the C family, the less active family that we helped come back met with the branch president and arranged a baptism date for their son! It’s not a convert baptism but I couldn’t care less!!!!! And then one last thing that I did this week was I spoke again at church for the third time. Missionaries are pretty much the high council speakers... We usually get called monthly here. Have a good day.

Love,

Elder Ward

P-day on Mt. Taranaki

AWESOME Week!!!!

Dear family,

Sheesh! Mom and Dad, it feels like I have written way too many of these letters but really you guys have been writing them twice as long as me and still have quite a few more to go. J hahaha No breaks. Back to back to back. So thanks for always emailing me. It's cool you guys do that.

To answer some questions, Matt Devlin—I am shocked that he remembers me... That was ages ago! I am surprised. I don’t even remember watching The Other Side of Heaven with him, but obviously he remembers. That is pretty funny. Oh and Mom, that is totally fine by me. I don’t need anything for Christmas. Maybe it would be sweet if I had a combined Christmas and birthday when I get home??? Feel free to wrap up whatever Collin leaves behind that will still fit me... I am not sure if I have gotten any bigger or skinnier which is shocking with all the Massive Samoan feeds I have received, but even they couldn't break the Ward Family curse/blessing.

Well, Robby is home. Karson is coming home. Ryan Nelson is back. Sean Wade should be home pretty soon... All of Trevor’s friends are getting married. haha Well, at least all the guys are that happened to the girls before I left. J Time will never slow down will it?

Good job Dad. It sounds like things are really good in young men’s. Between you, Brother Aubrey and Brother Morris, you three coached a super team of awesome young men... Even guys that I thought wouldn't make it on a mission have made it. Give yourself a pat on the back and keep working at it because just like Edward Dube's mother said, don’t look back—we still got a lot of work to do.” Oh, and something must be terribly wrong. Mom informed me more about volleyball this week than you did!!!

So let me tell you what happened this week! I will start off by saying this week was AWESOME!!!

One of the foremost experiences was when I was sleeping and I had this dream... I think I was still a missionary in New Zealand because I was in the passenger side which was on the left side of the car... Anywho, it was dark outside and there were a lot of dark, low-hanging clouds. When I saw them I thought, "Oh shoot, that looks like a tornado forming." Then, next minute A MASSIVE tornado touched down in the street in front of us. Weird though. I wasn't really scared I kinda just felt at peace and figured it would be okay. God would protect us... Then we drove straight into this tornado and as we passed this thick wall of gray there was a big light shining above our heads over the car. Everything kinda just slowed down and I tried to look up to see where that light was coming from, but then we passed through the other side of the tornado. I still looked back behind and the tornado was actually lifting back into the sky and the light was coming out from the bottom... As I kept watching some kind of angelic being came out and stretched his hand out after me and I just remember hearing “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son....” And then I woke up completely overwhelmed by the spirit.  I knelt down and said a quick prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for letting me experience that. Then I went back to sleep... Later that morning during personal study I read a cool scripture. I think it is in Alma 26:5 where Alma is glorying in God and is happy over the people he converted and it talks about how they will avoid the storms and strong winds...

Other things that happened, we keep finding all these investigators. We found 31 in the past three weeks... That is no small task but a lot of these people are not doing the best at progressing or keeping appointments... Sooo we’re going to have to change something in order to have more success. I do a pretty sad job at working with members to find people to teach which isn't good because that is the best way to find people that are solid and ready to progress, so I will try to change that around. Trevor, do you have any good ideas for working with members? I have heaps that are keen to have us over for lessons with our investigators and family home evenings which we try to do a lot, but when we try to find people to teach through them I have been met with small success here in New Plymouth.

Also WE DID IT!!! Elder Rasband and I had an awesome lesson with a lady who suffers from post traumatic stress from all the abuse in her life... We taught a really powerful lesson and Elder Rasband invited her to be baptized on the first lesson. She said yes but she wouldn't commit to a date cuz she is leaving to Hamilton for 2 weeks. So we will wait till she gets back! Keep pressing on family! The Church is true and I love you!

Love,

Elder Ward 

Conference Was Spectacular!

Dearest Loved and Cherished People,

GOOOO UTTTAAAHHHHH!  It sounds like you guys had a great time while you were there. Mom, that is actually where my two new sons are from—Utah, one from Orem and the other from Provo. Haha It’s so funny how ashamed missionaries from Utah are about being from Utah. Some elders just say the city they are from and some even say they are from somewhere else justifying their lie when they say they were born in California even though they lived in Utah the past 19 years... I have no idea why I’m starting my letter this way but just a fun fact.

Way to go Collin! You made it to the Temple!!! It’s cool to see on MLS or a ward list a family that has marked down an Elder or High Priest and it's really cool to see Endowed or Sealed next to their name as well... It's funny. This is my missionary way of thinking, but I would like to see what our Family Household report would look like on paper... with 4 Elders, 5 Endowed, and 2 Sealed. I would kill to have a family like that move into our branch. Anyway, this is once again, another weird topic to be starting on.

SO sorry I just keep getting interrupted by a lot of different things and I have to work on some accident report because we got backed into yesterday by a less active member... We got her details but I just felt bad for her because she is not insured. I tried to make a few jokes to lighten the situation and did my best to let her know I didn't care at all that she hit our car.

Other news, I had to help with an emergency shift of an elder up to Hamilton because he was having some concerns so that was pretty bummer...

Enough with the negative! Time for some positive!!!!!!!!!!! WE found 15 new investigators this week which was pretty dang awesome. One lady was having some major problems with her 17 year old son. We had a good lesson with her and her 5 kids. Then we found a less-active member and taught him and his 5 kids the ten commandments and they all felt the spirit and he just promised us last night he is coming back to church this Sunday. And then we found another mom with a few kids. This week was absolutely awesome!!! 

Conference was spectacular! My favorite talks were given by Edward Dube, David Bednar, Henry B. Eyring, our beloved Prophet and the usual Jeffrey R. Holland. I learned a lot and made a few suggestions for myself to improve after listening to all the general authorities speak. I know for sure those men aren't just your average old and dusties THEY ARE special witnesses of Jesus Christ and everything they spoke was pure truth. Don’t forget Elder Ballard’s challenge FAMILY!!! INVITE ONE PERSON BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!! Don’t worry. I will join in on his challenge too.

Another good experience this week was I was talking to an elder who is having a hard time recognizing the spirit. We had a good chat to make sure he was worthy, and he was so I assured him that he does have the spirit with him as long as he is praying, reading and partaking of the sacrament, and doing the things he is meant to be doing... He was still a little bit down SO I told him here is what we’re going to do today. Not only are we going to pray to have the spirit with us throughout the day (like we normally do)  but we are going to pray to recognize the spirit’s guiding influence everywhere we go, and in everything we say!!! The very first time we prayed to recognize the spirit we talked to a lady who was not very keen to talk to us at first... We offered service and we started talking about her family and then we started talking about the gospel. Little by little her countenance changed until she told us she could give us 30 minutes when at first she was pretending to be in a rush out of her house. After, we had a short lesson with her. I pointed out how her whole entire countenance changed as we met with her. The spirit is so quiet and so gentle but it is SOOOO POWERFUL!!! I don’t think we realize how much the Holy Ghost influences our day-to-day actions. Always live worthy of its guidance family.

I love you guys heaps and miss you too even while I am in the best place and amongst the best people on Earth.

Love,

Elder Ward