7/25/10
We had a wonderful week in so many reguards lots of lessons, but the most important was the Baptism of Mihi and Jessie-Lyn. In the Pics from left to right Elder Larsen, Mihi, Jessie-Lyn, and me in my skirt, boy I wish we could wear those EVERYDAY!!! The other picture is of a street Called Tabitha I thought of cousin Tabitha so make sure that gets to her!!! Anyways the baptism was great they had probably 60 or so family members there from all over, and good support from the ward members as well. After they had a huge Hangi which is where you cook the food in the ground with hot rocks. Just like we used to do with the turkey. It was pretty good. The girls looked so so so happy and clean and pure! It was one of the easiest/smooth baptisms of my mission. What is funny is that 1 month ago I did not even know them and now they are like sisters!!! As for the rest of the work it is going very well, we had 9 at sacraments meeting and have had to adjust some baptisms to make sure they attend church often enough and have had all the lessons so now August is stacked!!! I had the honor of giving Tanifa the Priesthood on Sunday so I believe on the 13th he will baptize three of his children!!! We are so excited for that family! I will be sad if I am transferred out before that date, but the most important thing is that they are getting baptized. Transfers is the day before, but you never know what is going to happen. The weeks just zoomed by tomorrow is my 14th month mark and I have such mixed emotions from happy to anxious nervous, but I am mostly working at staying focused so that I don't miss a beat 10 months is ages left. Many more promptings to have and live to change. Boy being apart of the work of God is the greatest! As for other work we had 2 men in their 20's just walk up to church after a casual invite on the street earlier in the week. We had a great lesson with them in Gospel Principles class and one said, after telling us he has been to the Mormon church before " I know the Book of Mormon is true and that this church is true." The only problem is his home life is less that supportive so we have a lot of work to do, but that is one thing I do know how to do is work!!!
I have had some great studies lately I have begun to read Jesus the Christ, for those of you that know how much I liked reading pre-mission you would not even know who I am now hahah. Definitely one of the biggest books I have taken on, but it is helping me to understand all the history of Christ. That is something I am working on now is being able to know the stories of the Scriptures. I feel I have the doctrine down quite well, but need to understand the background info so it gives me purpose in my studies. I am grateful for the time each day that is set aside for me to study and expand my knowledge. I would love to have a number chart or graph that can show my increase of knowledge, but then compared to the apostles I am still just "a babe on his mothers lap" just as the men in the school of the Prophets. That is what Joseph Smith told them when they talked about missionary work in the future. He pretty much told them they have no idea the magnitude of the work and where it will go. What a great time to be alive and apart of this GREAT work!!! Friends and family may I remind you of the knowledge in which I do have. I know that God lives and loves us. Jesus Christ lives and is our Saviour and Redeemer! I know Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and to bring back the Church of Christ in its fullness. I know we have a living Prophet even Thomas S. Monson. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God along with the bible. I know this not because of brain wash of fact I know this because of the Spiritual experiences that I have on a daily basis as I stand as a witness of truth in a world of lies!! It saddens me to see people throw away what have brought peace, hope, and joy into my life. May we all come to the realization of these truths and then act upon that knowledge is my prayer and wish I leave with you in the Sacred name of Jesus Christ Amen.
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M
Sick again?!?!?
What a week came down with the same thing again of flu and cough cold what ever you want to call it I like to call it near death haha, but I went to the doctors and forced them to give me medicine this time and so now I am getting better and finished the week strong as a companionship, but the mission had a bit of a dip with the # of sets that were lost so we had a meeting this morning and are working with our District Leaders to get everyone back into shape. We are excited and ready for the coming week. We had 9 people come to church yesterday haha I made that sound like we just sat at church and let them come. We fought Satan to the end as he tried everything he could to divert the people that we had invited to come to church!!! Everything from family popping up last minute to car problems. we saw it all. I now just find it humorous how hard he works for absolutely nothing!!! We had to reset TeWhai for August, but that's ok because his Dad also came to church yesterday!!! We were stoked. That is the Richardson Family that the Mom is a member, but the Son and Father are not, They are really close with me and my last companion and wanted us to stay in the house which is super super nice while they were in Australia, anyways things are good we have 5 set for this coming weekend so all your prayers will be needed please!!! This is a weak weak email, but we had been flat out and my brain is mush!!! We had an emergency shift of a missionary this morning so we have been running around like crazy hence my email is later than normal. Kyle you need to come and translate for me we meet heaps of Koreans in this area that are Christian, but the problem is that we have no Korean Missionaries!! We do have Chinese, but that isn't helping with these people!
Yes mom we get fed plenty not crazy new food, I have just started working out every morning like more that the old push ups sits ups stuff and really watching what we eat as a companionship. We have made a goal to live the word of wisdom better so I am excited for that and the blessings that will come of course sometimes at feeds we don't have a choice, but we can eat better when it is just us!!! I definitely feel healthier and have a bit more energy, but the sickness is kind of haltering those results haha. what else is new..... Oh I got a package from Leanne this week that was awesome and a sweet card from Grandma Tryon thanks sooooo much I know what it is like to be chased by dogs hahah!!! The new MTV in Manukau (MON-OO-COW) opens in a few weeks. It is so so flash holy moly!!! Our mission has been put in charge of all sorts of tours and singing for the Prime minister and stuff for the Grand opening so that will take lots of time for about 20 companionship's, but they hope to spread it out through all the city zones!!! Yep that's about all the updates, things are just chugging along!!! Love you all take care and have a good week!
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
Yes mom we get fed plenty not crazy new food, I have just started working out every morning like more that the old push ups sits ups stuff and really watching what we eat as a companionship. We have made a goal to live the word of wisdom better so I am excited for that and the blessings that will come of course sometimes at feeds we don't have a choice, but we can eat better when it is just us!!! I definitely feel healthier and have a bit more energy, but the sickness is kind of haltering those results haha. what else is new..... Oh I got a package from Leanne this week that was awesome and a sweet card from Grandma Tryon thanks sooooo much I know what it is like to be chased by dogs hahah!!! The new MTV in Manukau (MON-OO-COW) opens in a few weeks. It is so so flash holy moly!!! Our mission has been put in charge of all sorts of tours and singing for the Prime minister and stuff for the Grand opening so that will take lots of time for about 20 companionship's, but they hope to spread it out through all the city zones!!! Yep that's about all the updates, things are just chugging along!!! Love you all take care and have a good week!
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
Mommy it's cold out side! 7/11/10
What a wonderful week it has been and just flew by!!! To expound on one of the miracles of last week. when we found the Samoan man on his porch in a towel.......Well we passed the family on to the Samoan missionaries and now the daughter of that man is set for baptism for the end of the month!!! Things are progressing nicely and it was so great to see our miracles pan out and we will be excited when she receives the blessings of baptism!!! As for the now 9 we have set 4 of them, Tanifa's children had to be pushed into August because they missed church, even after calling, visiting them, and making sure they were ready, and then doing it again for our afternoon ward haha Satan is in the details, but we will act better next week and just have a member pick them up!!! Other than that things are going great this past week God placed before us a 9 year old that has been coming to church so we taught and set her yesterday for the 24th of this month so that brings us to 5 set for the end of the month and 4 in August so far. Miracles are just all about if we but qualify and seek them out!!! This week we had Zone Leader council and then the next day Leadership training so we had minimal time in our area this week, but we stayed diligent and our numbers were still very good!!! We just got word as well that the missionary "Curriculum" and 6 week schedule will be making big changes over the next10 months or so. So now the missionaries will be taught 8 trainings repeatedly that will build their teaching skills, we only have Zone Conference every 3 months and interview every 3 months instead of once a transfer! They have also make ZL council1 time a month instead of once a transfer and a few other minor changes!!! This is not just our mission, but world wide from the brethren!! It is excited to see that the church will continue to progress and work on the things that God wants us to so that we can be effective as possible.
On other notes one of our investigators Mihi, who is 19 who we found when her mom said that her daughter wanted to be baptized, I talked about her 2 weeks ago, anyways she is just doing amazing!!! She shared with our Gospel Principles class that when we first set her for baptism she was scared to death and very unsure about it, but as the lessons have went on she is now just excited and loves everything she is learning. We went and taught her last night and she said she wants us over every night of the week. She has just brightened so much you can totally see the change that Heavenly Father is helping her to have as she keeps commitments and reads the Book of Mormon and attends church. She is one of those investigators that all missionaries search for, but I have been so blessed to find her. She loves to laugh so that works well with me since I love to joke, but she also is very receptive to the spirit!!! Also her niece who is 14 is doing great!! I am stoked for them to be baptized and to completely be into the Gospel.
It has been a week of work and miracles and meetings I have never realized how much one can accomplish in a day with proper planning and the assistance of a loving Heavenly Father!!! I am tired and freezing, the weather has taken a dive in temperature, but we work hard and the spirit keeps us warm and gives us the energy necessary to do the things that we have been asked to do!!! Mom I am not sure why you didn't like my joke about shorter emails it was a good one!!! Thanks Dad for your thought on Humility and the encouragement there!!! One thing I laugh at is having no idea what is going on in baseball. Mom always says Dad will fill you in, but nothing, so some updates would be nice!!! Love you all have a safe and happy week!!!
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
On other notes one of our investigators Mihi, who is 19 who we found when her mom said that her daughter wanted to be baptized, I talked about her 2 weeks ago, anyways she is just doing amazing!!! She shared with our Gospel Principles class that when we first set her for baptism she was scared to death and very unsure about it, but as the lessons have went on she is now just excited and loves everything she is learning. We went and taught her last night and she said she wants us over every night of the week. She has just brightened so much you can totally see the change that Heavenly Father is helping her to have as she keeps commitments and reads the Book of Mormon and attends church. She is one of those investigators that all missionaries search for, but I have been so blessed to find her. She loves to laugh so that works well with me since I love to joke, but she also is very receptive to the spirit!!! Also her niece who is 14 is doing great!! I am stoked for them to be baptized and to completely be into the Gospel.
It has been a week of work and miracles and meetings I have never realized how much one can accomplish in a day with proper planning and the assistance of a loving Heavenly Father!!! I am tired and freezing, the weather has taken a dive in temperature, but we work hard and the spirit keeps us warm and gives us the energy necessary to do the things that we have been asked to do!!! Mom I am not sure why you didn't like my joke about shorter emails it was a good one!!! Thanks Dad for your thought on Humility and the encouragement there!!! One thing I laugh at is having no idea what is going on in baseball. Mom always says Dad will fill you in, but nothing, so some updates would be nice!!! Love you all have a safe and happy week!!!
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
Week of Miracles!!! 7/4/10
Well this week was transfers so I finally have a companion. His name is Elder Larsen from Sandy, Utah. He was my district leader while I served in Dargaville so we know each other well and get along pretty good. He has a lot of faith and loves to work so things will be great!!! I never went on a trade-off with him without setting someone for baptism so we do the Lords work well together. We currently have 8 set yes 8 in our personal area and 26 set throughout the zone for this month. The Lord is truly blessing us. One of my favorite qualities about Elder Larsen is his sincere humility. Something that I can always do better at. I feel that is a big reason we are together!!! Last Monday our zone had only 11 set, but they have been working hard and experiencing miracles everyday!!! This week should show more improvement as well so we are looking forward to another great month!!! On Saturday we had some extra time and through a series of promptings Heavenly Father blessed us to be led to a street. As we drove up the hill there was a house that had its porch light on, too perfect I know, but true story we got out of the car and walked towards it then we saw another man and went and talked to him then continued the journey to the house that we saw!! When we got there we talked to the daughter because the mother didn't speak very good English and got their details to pass onto the Samoan Elders!!! Then we went to our car and went to turn around in the circle. We looked back to the house and saw who we would later learn is the father in a towel in the freezing rain flagging us down. Come to find out he is less active and wants to come back to church and have his 12 years old daughter baptized!!! I stand as a witness that God will lead his children to us and us to them as we follow the promptings of the spirit. Some thing that my companion and I have been doing well and we have had other miracles just like this in the past few days!!! What a transfer it will be if we continue to qualify for the companionship of the Holy Ghost and listen to the quiet promptings it gives us!!! The work is great, but there is much more to be done. Things to perfect and skills to improve, until we become the precise instruments that Heavenly Father needs, what a life long and worth while pursuit!!!
My you asked for my flat address for google earth...it is 17a Flaggstaff so the flat under the house you will probably see just the carport down a little hill!!! I am glad you got my letters for everyone, and yes they all have a collage picture in them! Estee, Tanifa has 11 kids in the house 6 of which are his 4 of which are eligible to be baptized!!! Last week I told you about the mother coming up to us at church that wanted her daughters to be baptized so Monday we taught and set three of them, but only 2 came to church because one goes to another church for now anyways so the miracles are all about and I feel like I am doing what the Lord wants. So pretty much I am just letting him do his work instead of getting in his way through disobedience laziness and all that. IT feels good to be able to know that you are on his side, because you are either on his or Satan's we all have to make our choice!!!
Well I know the letter is short, but supposedly that's what happens on the last half of the mission hahah love you all I love to hear about your families and things each week. May Heavenly father bless us all as we strive to do his will I pray each day!!! Love ya loads
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
My you asked for my flat address for google earth...it is 17a Flaggstaff so the flat under the house you will probably see just the carport down a little hill!!! I am glad you got my letters for everyone, and yes they all have a collage picture in them! Estee, Tanifa has 11 kids in the house 6 of which are his 4 of which are eligible to be baptized!!! Last week I told you about the mother coming up to us at church that wanted her daughters to be baptized so Monday we taught and set three of them, but only 2 came to church because one goes to another church for now anyways so the miracles are all about and I feel like I am doing what the Lord wants. So pretty much I am just letting him do his work instead of getting in his way through disobedience laziness and all that. IT feels good to be able to know that you are on his side, because you are either on his or Satan's we all have to make our choice!!!
Well I know the letter is short, but supposedly that's what happens on the last half of the mission hahah love you all I love to hear about your families and things each week. May Heavenly father bless us all as we strive to do his will I pray each day!!! Love ya loads
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
What a week/month/year to date!!! 6/27/10
Well this morning we, the zone leaders of the mission, had a conference call with President Porter to account for the month and talk about goals for July. We learned that the N.Z.A.M. saved 156 souls in the Month of June what a miracle this beats the record set last month of 144, and we humbly pray that we will continue to be blessed with this progression!!! Things have been crazy everyday this week with out a solid companion, but I will get one on Thursday since this week is transfers!!! I am very excited for this coming month and transfer in about 1.5 months 8 of our Zone Leaders will finish so our mission will be very very young, but it is interesting to see that with each new intake the Lord is greatly blessing us with faithful young missionaries that believe that they, with the Lords help can baptize monthly and more than one. As a zone we accomplished 19 baptisms which is 7 more than the previous month and we have a goal of 24 for the month of July with many people that back up that goal. As we have been focusing on living our covenants as a mission we have seen how the Lord can truly use us as instruments in his hand. Just as President ALWAYS says best case we are just instruments in the work of God. Oh and if I remember correctly that puts us at 732 baptisms for the year!!! What miracles are all about!!!
So this past week I spent lots of time helping other missionaries solidify their baptisms and training so at was heaps of fun, but I am excited to work in my area again. We have a lot of good things going for the coming month. Tanifa who was baptized 2 weeks ago will get the priesthood and currently 2 of his children are set, with a potential of 5 more so that would be huge for us and his family!! That is the bet, when you watch families join the gospel and just observe how living the teachings of Christ completely unify the family. Also We have been teaching for a while now the Richardson Family who the mom is a member recently coming back to church, and the father and son are investigating. We are hopeful that they will choose a date this week that they want to be baptized on. They are an incredible family, and Elder Davidson and I got very close to them so is was hard for them to say good bye to him, but the work will go forward.
This coming month we will focus on the "Christ-Like" attribute of Purity. In everything from thoughts to actions and everything in between. It will be incredible to see what Heavenly Father can do with us as we purify our lives thus enabling us to hear the quiet promptings of the spirit!!! I truly do love the work all though I am worn out, I think of a picture Kyle sent me while on his mission that had Christ carrying a missionary and it says "If you had anything left you didn't do it right", I pray that I am doing something right and am grateful to my Savior that picks me up when I am down, and carries me!!!
Well that's about it for me no real plans for the day except we have a funeral to go to that bishop has asked us to attend because most of the family that will be there will not be members of the church so hopefully this will be a great opportunity to help them understand where there Father/Brother/Son is now and how they can return and live with them. Then tonight we are teaching a girl that her mom came up to us at church yesterday and said that her daughter wants to be baptized. Our jaws hit the ground and we said well yes we can help with that ha ha. So things are just looking great, some days I wonder why I am so blessed, and then just humbly bow my head and offer thanks to He from which all blessings come!!! Ts is is work, I am his servant , and what better thing could I ask for?!?!? I love you all and am grateful for your support remember we can choose who we are and what we become by deciding today who that some one is!!! God bless and take care!!!
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
So this past week I spent lots of time helping other missionaries solidify their baptisms and training so at was heaps of fun, but I am excited to work in my area again. We have a lot of good things going for the coming month. Tanifa who was baptized 2 weeks ago will get the priesthood and currently 2 of his children are set, with a potential of 5 more so that would be huge for us and his family!! That is the bet, when you watch families join the gospel and just observe how living the teachings of Christ completely unify the family. Also We have been teaching for a while now the Richardson Family who the mom is a member recently coming back to church, and the father and son are investigating. We are hopeful that they will choose a date this week that they want to be baptized on. They are an incredible family, and Elder Davidson and I got very close to them so is was hard for them to say good bye to him, but the work will go forward.
This coming month we will focus on the "Christ-Like" attribute of Purity. In everything from thoughts to actions and everything in between. It will be incredible to see what Heavenly Father can do with us as we purify our lives thus enabling us to hear the quiet promptings of the spirit!!! I truly do love the work all though I am worn out, I think of a picture Kyle sent me while on his mission that had Christ carrying a missionary and it says "If you had anything left you didn't do it right", I pray that I am doing something right and am grateful to my Savior that picks me up when I am down, and carries me!!!
Well that's about it for me no real plans for the day except we have a funeral to go to that bishop has asked us to attend because most of the family that will be there will not be members of the church so hopefully this will be a great opportunity to help them understand where there Father/Brother/Son is now and how they can return and live with them. Then tonight we are teaching a girl that her mom came up to us at church yesterday and said that her daughter wants to be baptized. Our jaws hit the ground and we said well yes we can help with that ha ha. So things are just looking great, some days I wonder why I am so blessed, and then just humbly bow my head and offer thanks to He from which all blessings come!!! Ts is is work, I am his servant , and what better thing could I ask for?!?!? I love you all and am grateful for your support remember we can choose who we are and what we become by deciding today who that some one is!!! God bless and take care!!!
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Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.
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