Johnny and Ely are back! Sounds like it is an exciting time back home. Homecomings, Work, Kaden got his Mohawk, Xochitl is traveling the world, oh and I definitely can't forget about the Goudie's big family vacation. I am enjoying it here and definitely working don't worry. The work is just kind of depressing at the moment. I know it isn't in vain, but I am not exactly seeing any fruits at the moment. Elder B is doing alright, our room smells really bad. The work is slow, and I feel really stressed out because I feel like I am doing everything. He seems to have the whole viewpoint that I am the district leader, I need to lead in everything and I mean everything. It is pretty stressful but I seem to be learning fast at least. He has been out for a year but all the members are surprised when they hear that he has been out twice as long as me.
This week:
Something president Bali asked us to do over the next few weeks is to teach 3 member families in each of our wards all lessons 1-5 to help us practice teaching and also to get the members excited to do missionary work. We asked our bishop who we should teach the lessons too and he sent us to the ex bishops home. Brother R- the Ex Bishop is a very interesting man. He was very pleased to have us come over and teach the lessons. He was the bishop for 4 years and during those 4 years or at least as he tells it, Moerewa was the promised land. We were there for about 2 hours and didn't teach any of the lessons, not even one point of doctrine. We did have the privilege about hearing all of the glory days of Moerewa, thanks to Bishop R, and the huge effect he had on the lords work, the number of priesthood holders he ordained, the number of blessings he gave, the many programs and activities he had running. Most importantly the number of converts he, single-handedly, baptized. Then he started bashing on our current bishopric and at that point I had had my fill and ended up sharing with this LA bishop. I said, "Bishop K may not be perfect but at least he makes the effort to come to church every week, this is something I admire the most, when someone has the strength to live the gospel no matter what is going on, and continue to stay active." As you can imagine this comment was pretty surprising to Bro R, I ended it with my testimony and then we thanked him, said a prayer and we left. This last Sunday guess who we saw at church. Bishop R and His family. None of our investigators came but it was still a good week to see some LA come.
It is still so crazy to me to see the differences between Moerewa and Maromaku. We attended Maromaku's Sunday School class this week and instead of us answering all of the questions in Gospel Doctrine. Everyone in the class had actually read the lesson before coming to class, and I mean everyone. We had one of the members lean over to us and ask what the custom was behind the oil in the lamps for the 10 virgins. He said he had read the lesson over but hadn't had sufficient time to study it. I was taken by surprise and didn't know the answer but someone else in the class quickly piped up and answered for me. In Moerewa I think the conversation would have been more like 'Hey do you know what the lesson is on Elders? Oh, the 10 virgins? Sounds like something you might know more about. Will you teach the lesson?" It is night and day difference between our two wards.
The main difference that I can see is the fact that the members in Maromaku have always come to church. They have covered these lessons so much. They know the doctrine because they have heard it. They come to learn, and they study the scriptures, they say their prayers. They do all the simple things that are necessary, and you can see the difference, in families, in work, in life. It is not something that we should take for granted. If we have these things in our life we should keep doing them. I am grateful to you, Mom and Dad, for always being such a great example, and creating these habits for us. It really makes the difference.
Love,
Elder Summers