The zone is picking up this week. Pandemonium is rampant. I don't have too many responsibilities but I have a hard time being serious enough to lead, I am just too funny - I can't help it - and none of the other leaders really make too many jokes. It is a different approach but we will see how it works. (JK) The other leaders are funny, just a little more serious. It is Co Chief, the son of Chief but not Jr Chief because that sounds lame. We have not met him quite yet. Elder Blandford is okay, just a few things that are annoying - nothing too big. He does wear his sunglasses indoors when it isn't even sunny so that might explain some things. He is all good though and connects with the members really fast. He is generally really quiet in front of random people on the street but when it is just us he talks heaps. Boy's Camp sounded awesome and you actually caught some fish, that seems pretty cool. Wish I could have been there for the catching, but I am not too fussed about the missing the gutting. The trailer sounds like a frustrating situation. Boy's Camp wouldn't be Boy's Camp without rain. Kaden doing Scouts seems weird - he seems like too little still. That is cool for him. I bet Shannon is really mad at Keeg. I didn't think he could handle being Xander's little brother for too long. :)
This week:
This week has honestly been pretty hard. I have to lead in everything for the first time on my mission. My comp doesn't like talking too much so, in proselyting, I lead. Also being the DL adds that much more to the whole thing. It is really weird for the senior couple, who are both very experienced, asking me what they should be doing because I am the DL. I have been really stressed out. We haven't found anyone to teach and it has been raining all week. It is hard right now to be honest. I am not exactly loving the mission at the moment.
I did have a couple fun things happen this week. The first one was on Tuesday night. The Matauri Sisters went to a petrol station and their fuel card, that is given to all the missionaries, wasn't working. My companion and I went on an hour long drive to pay for their fuel but by the time we got there they had already called the company that the church pays, and the mission office, and had already gotten it taken care of. Well I was a little frustrated but I realized that the sisters were really stressed out. We asked them if they needed anything and they just kind of started listing off random things that were stressing them out all at once - this took me by surprise. Eventually it got to tears and I really had no Idea what to do. This whole episode was finished by the sisters saying, "We don't even have any milk left at the flat." Which now sounds really funny to me. I was at a loss what to do so I told the sisters to just go back to their flat to relax and take a break. It was about 8:30 so I gave them permission to head home early. I was pretty confused on how to help them but I remembered I had the Reese's from by birthday package were in the car so we decided to do a drop off. I felt like I was in high school again asking a girl to a dance but my companion and I both wrote a letter to the sisters, telling them they were really awesome. Then we went and bought a couple liters of milk. We stealthily delivered it to their front step and then doorbell-ditched them. We did the same thing for the other sisters too - didn't want them to feel left out. (minus the milk for the other sisters). The only bummer about the whole thing was that I only had like three of my Reese's cups. :(
We also had the privilege of meeting with another apostle this weekend. Elder Quentin L. Cook was in Auckland. We drove down as a zone to Auckland in the morning 4 hours down. Met with him for 2 hours and Drove back up. It was a long day but it was a great experience. I am sad to hear about Elder L Tom Perry passing. He was a great man and they already have a video. They interviewed Elder Cook for the Video while he is in Auckland.
Love,
Elder Summers.