Hello again from Aotearoa! Good News!

Hello! This was a great week, we had much going on and well it's quite apparent that the time is beginning to dwindle. But the good news is that Elder Burns and I are still in the same area, but with a new addition: Elder Masoe from Wellington. Yes, we are in a trio now for the time being. Elder Masoe is supposed to serve in the Suva Fiji Mission. He is here on a temporary assignment while he waits for his visa. We were kind of surprised by this transfer. On Transfer Day (Thursday) we received a call from one the Assistants, Elder Tibbits, asking us if we'd like to train. We said YES!!! And so we had to get to Transfer meeting quick. Elder Larson picked us up. When we were introduce during the meeting we had to stand up, Elder Masoe first, then us. We had formulated a plan that we would have him sit in the middle so we could squeeze him between us! It worked and got a laugh out of everyone!  He's the man! But he is a little shy. Won't be long before we get that out of him! Elder Burns and I both are training him until he goes. With training it really packs our morning with even more studies. Personal study, companionship study, training program (exercise), and language study; which equates to 5 hours of study. Phew is that a lot of study time! It's good for him but on our side it's a struggle to get used to. Being out of the flat by ten on a normal schedule then jumping into more study is a humbling experience.
              We want Elder Masoe to progress quickly so we've given him daily challenges to work on during the day. The two goals this week. 1. Ideas on finding new contacts 2. Invite investigators to baptism. The first goal was accomplished in finding a few appointments. On one occasion, Elder Masoe was given the chance to talk with someone. At one house, Park Ave # 52 we saw a sign on the fence indicating there was a dog. We hesitated but decided we wanted to find someone new to teach, so we opened the fence. Elders Masoe and Burns went to the door and knocked. The woman who answered was pretty fired up. She was not happy to see us. But Elder Masoe handled it well for as long as he could. Then Elder Burns was able to get her to lower her voice. He asked questions wanting to get to know her but she wouldn't have any of it. "Did you not read my sign? I've got a dog in here. You are lucky it was in my backyard. Then she continued her rant. "Go talk to the people at the Pub (Bar), they need you to talk to them more than me." They asked her if there was anything we could do for her. She said No and we were off. Elder Masoe's first conversation as a missionary and he gets an angry woman yelling at him.
     We are having a hard time getting around our area (because we only have two bikes). The three of us walked to meet with Shontelle our investigator. Sad thing, she wasn't home so we talked to her Indian neighbor. (Who was drunk, watering his flowers) He asked us if we'd like him to spray us with the hose to cool down. Ha Ha! We said No and talked for a while. He used some very foul language to express his life and " How bad his life was." He questioned us on what we were doing and his advice to us was "Don't go to anyone on this street they won't answer." We shook his hand, and we continued on our way. I think Elder Masoe has learned heaps thus far into his mission and we have every intention to make sure he gets the best training he can!