We don't get trunky!!!

Date: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 1:54 PM

Well it has been a week of shoulder to the wheel and harvesting the white field!! Last night as we were reporting stats to the assistants they got our numbers and were shocked at how well we did even though it was Brown's last full week. Since it was on speaker phone I yelled we don't get trunky in Tamaki!!! We beat both of our personal bests with regards to member present lessons we had a whopping 32 which is 12 more than the standard. We have some YSA boys and a few of the Priest age boys that would just spend the whole day with us. Such a blessing and it is really helping them as well. All the boys that got the priesthood last week were preparing, blessing, and passing the Sacrament yesterday it was such a boost to see the fruit of our labors in such a big way!! On Saturday Teresa was Married to her now active husband, and them baptized straight after!! IT was a very simple service since they wanted just a small one, but lets put it this way no girl back home would ever ever ever ever settle for the simplicity of most of the weddings that we have here! She was so happy to have it all done and she was just glowing!

We have a few more baptisms coming up on the weekend one is real solid and the other is a bit shaky because she has some outstanding community service that needs to be finished before she can be fully repentant! We are hoping to get all of that solved ASAP and help here to receive what she has be working so hard to achieve! While on trade-offs Elder Brown and Elder Papalii found these unbaptized kids. Their parents are members, and they have not been to church in a very long time! Crystal is the oldest (16) she is the motherly type that helps her younger brothers in any way that she can. Then there is Matthew (what an awesome name) he is 14 and understands the scriptures better than most adults! Then the youngest Theodore who will be 9 on the 11th of February. They all came to church on Sunday and loved it and keep every commitment we leave with them. As of right now they are set to be baptized on the 18 of February!!! They are so fun to teach because they are just hungry for the truth. The mom who is a Samoan lady came out the first time I went, and growled at us for being in her home, then her attitude completely changes after Elder Brown and I sang her a hymn in Samoan ha ha. She melted in our hands! She now says come over when every you want and insists on feeding us constantly!

Also this week we had our city conference with Elder Bednar. It was of course an event that I will never forget! The last hour we got to ask him questions, and I asked the last one which was, "How has your wife helped you become who you are today, and what did you see in here that stood out to you when you first met." He answer brought tears to his wife's eyes and went some thing along these lines. #1 She always honors her womanhood she understands her role in the Plan of Salvation, and acts just as Heavenly Father needs her to! #2 She is a virtuous woman. She honors and seeks after virtue. Elder Brown and I had the privilege of greeting them as they got our of their car and escorting them into the chapel. When we saw Sister Bednar we both made the comment of just how pure she looked!! Heaps of the Elders came up to me after and said that is what I wanted to asked, but was to scared. It was very inspiring and something that we all needed to hear!!

The zone is doing very well across the board, but there is always room for improvement and what not. Tomorrow I will take Elder Brown to the mission home and he will fly out tomorrow night. My whole mission I always said once that intake is has gone I will have no time left, and here they go. I still feel like I have ages 18 weeks is along time and a lot of time to have miracles and to baptize heaps! I am excited to get a new companion I hope he is young and just all about the work I am tired of killing off missionaries (2 comps in a row). It is the least fun to watch them go and even worse because you feel like you are going too and preparing everything and then the day comes that they leave and you are still here ha ha. Life is good though I am healthy and happy and will give it all I have for as long as I have.


--
Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M.