We spent the whole time emailing back and forth and he didn't have time to give us a weekly rundown. So, again apologies but he did send pictures, he is doing well, still in Papatoetoe, he and Elder Burns are working hard, and having "heaps" of fun. He sends his love and is grateful for all your prayers. Wishes everyone a GREAT week!!!!

Look, we both fit in size 50 pants!!!!

I'm FLYING!!!

Serious Study

Still looking fit, ha ha!!!

 Sorry no letter this week cause Elder Matua spent the whole time emailing his Dad. He'll definitely get one out this week. Love you all!!!

THE ELDERS IN OUR FLAT

NEW TIES FROM A RECENT CONVERT....STYLIN'!!!!!

The Marshland

Chillin' in the flat, like my haircut?????

Once again another week has passed and yet again I get to write you all another email! Woohoo!

Monday and Tuesday- Two days of being SICK! I did not even feel like a missionary for that space of time because the routine when being sick goes like this, Sleep, sleep, wake up, eat, take medicine and then repeat until better. That's all I did during the duration of the sickness. My companion on the other hand had his watchful eye on me making sure I was okay. He later told me that when I was sick he was SOOOO BORED!!!! But when I finally got better we buckled down and went to work.

Wednesday- Today was full of miracles! With our minds clear and ready to work we did as we have done and that is WORK!! It paid off because we were able to find keen investigators after sharing the importance of the temple and how they can be together forever, we asked if we could come back and share more. They said yes and we scheduled an appointment! We also had a service project at the Sagala's home doing some gardening! We ate lunch with them and then realized that we had another dinner with a Samoan family in the area. We had to be rolled out of their house because of the amount of food we ate! Not good!

Thursday - We had a Family Home Morning because last night the Family Home Evening we had planned fell through so we had to reschedule it for today. We taught the lesson of the Plan of Salvation then we sat and listened to Nga (an investigator) talk about her life story, she talked for an hour sharing experiences she'd had in her life about her kids and a rough divorce she went through.

Friday- We had intentions of inviting of investigators to General Conference and well it didn't go good at all:( But we still tried the best we could. We also had visits tonight with our Ward Mission Leader  letting him see who we are working with. The only person that answered was Erina (the one with the bunnies) We taught her about Prophet and the importance of Conference. She said she would try to come..we left with the feeling she wasn't telling the truth.



Saturday and Sunday- Conference Sunday or in other words a Missionary's Christmas! The best two days on a mission because the messages are so closely related to us as missionaries and a lot answers to questions came from it! I love Conference just because the spiritual intake of it brings more encouragement ! I love it so much! Any Favorites? Mine,  Elder Holland and President Utchdorf! So good!
Love you all and have a great week:)

Hello everyone Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening:) This week like any other week had it's up and downs. I hope all is well and that you all had a great week:)

Monday- Once again we had to wait for the sisters to come to the chapel. For one reason or another I don't think the sisters like me. I get serious when it comes to playing games. Either I or Elder Burns would win; oh the power of a companionship:) We watched two cops along with a helicopter hunt down two boys while talking with someone.
It's really awkward when a random person refers you to a member's house. While talking to a man named Emmanuel he did exactly that. Expecting us not knowing the area that well went ahead and knocked on the door. Just so happened it was the Roberts (Samoan member family in our ward). We had a family home evening with a member family, the Taani's (Tongan Family).

Tuesday- I wasn't the happiest today. Waking up in the morning with a sore throat is a horrible way to begin the week. Everywhere we would ride on our bikes I would feel so out of shape that or I was sick. Elder Burns would take off and I would be left in his dust. I got so mad I smacked my handlebars with my hand. We spent some time in the afternoon with the senior couple in our ward visiting families and other less-actives, and investigators. It was a pretty successful day besides feeling like falling asleep each time we got in the car. Elder Burns and I dozed in and out of sleep through the afternoon.

Wednesday- We were back on bikes and had a few appointments today with some recent converts and investigators. We had to go to our first appointment with Leonda by ourselves. We taught him the importance of the Priesthood. When we were teaching him he asked, "Can you give it to me right now?" Our reply was No because he needs to stop smoking first. He said that he would prepare to receive. Other appointments with some other recent converts: Jyshiah 15, Viarn 11, and Hunter 9. Along with Elder and Sister Irvine (Senior Couple). Three Girls who were just recently baptized. Wow are they a handful. They don't have a father figure in their life and their mother is steadily working on getting a Masters degree in medicine. We planned to re-teach the Restoration to them. We finished the Lesson at 3:00 pm and our appointment was at 1 pm. Our other appointment with Shirley fell through so we visited with some members we hadn't met yet.

Thursday- Zone Meeting today and it was good? Of course it was! Then we had Trade-off with the Zone Leaders following zone meeting. I was with Elder Jones for the day along with the Irvines. We visited with Shirley and talked to her about Family History. We all shared experiences about families and invited her to be baptized, she said No. But gave her the commitment to pray to know if it was what Heavenly Father wanted her to do. We then continued on with our day contacting less-actives. It went great! Having the Irvine's with us opens the doors to more opportunities to meet with new people. Jane a recent convert never told her mother that she was baptized in to our church. Her mother is super "anti" but with the Irvine's the doorway was opened wide for us to say a prayer with the family. Our dinner appointment went over an hour. A bird pooped on my head while walking to contact the girls (the three girls in the last paragraph), we ended up meeting with Megan the girl's mother.We talked and taught and she later said that she's been reading the Book of Mormon off and on for the past 10 years. We committed her to Read 2 Nephi 25.

Friday- The night before we didn't get any planning done so that meant we were going to have to wing the day. But for some reason the Lord knew our situation. We again spent the entire day with the Irvines going off their schedule. We worked all day with them and wow were we tired of sitting in a car.

Saturday- We had companionship study with Sisters Tuneti and Solia Lulai, practicing using a Ward Mission Plan effectively with the ward members. We did one role play, and we committed them to use what they did in their role play with their next member visit. The weather in New Zealand is SO RANDOM! It would be sunshine and clear skies then suddenly the weather would change to cloudy and raining. We were out in this weather all day. It got to me and gave me the flu. After having a member visit with the Lapu'aho Family, he is the Elders quorums president. We went home and I began to get chills so I took an ibuprofen and went to bed. The whole night I was tossing and turning because I got a fever. I kept shaking all night even though I took more medicine.

Sunday- Only went to Sacrament meeting. We went back home and I tried my best to get as much rest as I could. Elder Burns checked up on me every hour or so, to make sure I was okay. I felt good enough to go out for about three hours last night and felt great, but the symptoms came back around two o' clock in the Morning.

Love you all Bye:)

This week has been a crazy one! Full of fun and funny experiences and well obviously work!:)

Monday- District Leader Council and Elder Ofahengaue was struggling so I shared with him D&C 122 and bore my testimony to him...He perked right up and said thank you. We spent the day with the Zone Leaders getting some shopping done, cleaning the flat and getting lunch (Subway) we didn't have much time to email so we went straight to sports.

Tuesday- We had a cool experience of trying to set one of our member's siblings. She declined but it's what she needed to hear because the previous missionaries in this area never invited her to be baptized...we hope to hear back on what happens:)

Wednesday- We had the another cool experience of teaching a miracle family. The couple had a brother serving in this mission and we began to talk to them. They had some idea of what the Church was about and we taught them about the temples and committed them to pray to know if they should be baptized, great spirit, but we still aren't sure if that will happen either. After teaching some people on the street about the Nature of God Elder Burns said, "God is the Perfect Scientist he's the Only Scientist who doesn't need to do experiments because he has all knowledge." In other words God knows everything and he knows the outcome.

The week was full of amazing experiences but unfortunately I don't have enough time to share them. I'll try better next time. Have great week everyone!