Things are doing well now. I still love being here in New Zealand. It is Anzac Day - I don't know how it is going to be as far as celebration goes. Last year It seemed like a pretty normal day. They have high restrictions on fireworks here so I am not sure if they will do that, we will see. It is the only time I have really seen Kiwis be patriotic. It is good and most things are closed except for little Chinese shops, so we are limited but we still managed to get some email time. Sounds like you got through you work alright Dad. It always feels nice to have progress to feel like you are making a difference or at least working on something new. I am so happy for you Mom. You have put in a lot of work. You really are a good student and I think you may be just acting surprised still at your grades, it's kind of like when we play Yahtzee, you always do so well. :) It is a pretty cool accomplishment to have a masters and now you are way smarter than Dad ;) It was a lot of work I am sure. I know while I was home you were putting in a lot of work and that was before you were even started on your project. I bet you are happy to be done with that. It is amazing that you are already done with it - from my perspective that seems really fast. There are some good Thai food places here but it just isn't the same as Chabaar. I think it may be the fact that we have had so much fun at that place, it probably makes the food taste even better.
This week:
I don't mean to complain but this week was a hard week. It was really busy and should have been an awesome week but for some reason by the end of the week I felt really depressed, Things are much better now and I am glad that it didn't stick around for long but it was still a hard week.
So we started off the week having a zone p-day. I have really been trying to do an original p-day but the zone decided on just going bowling and doing laser tag, It was fun but it just was so bland. This transfer we will try again for a better one. Everyone else seemed to have fun except for me, I am not sure what it was, I just wasn't feeling it, I was even winning and I wasn't happy, that's different.
Transfers were a headache this week. They were on Wednesday and we had 5 people moving out from our zone (which is a pretty average size move). My feeling from last week was correct, I am still in the YSA ward for at least another 6 weeks for a total of 7.5 months so far. We will see if it will be my last one here. I was happy to stay. I love the area but at the same time I think I am ready for something new. Obviously the Lord needs me to stay in this area a bit longer.:) On top of the 5 people moving from our zone, we were also in charge of getting 5 more people, along with all their luggage, on the buses and headed up north. It required a lot more planning from us -the main issue was we didn't receive very much information on the situation with transfers and the buses. We ended up renting two trailers to get all their luggage moved. We had everyone calling us all day asking us what the plan was even though we had called everyone and told them the plan a day prior. And then everyone in our zone started making their own plans which just made it so we had to change the plan while we were focusing on the bus missionaries. I am very grateful to the district leaders for helping us out. It was confusing and we had a really long day with a whole lot of Non-Proselyting. Those are the days I don't really like, I just want to work with people but sometimes we just don't get the chance and end up working for people instead.
The next day we were able to have a lesson with Alyshia. She said she didn't want to ask me in case I got transferred but she wanted me to baptize and confirm her. It was so cool to have her ask me. I felt very privileged. Alyshia is an amazing investigator - she doesn't like being called that because she thinks it makes people assume she doesn't know anything about the gospel. She has been studying and learning a lot and has a surprisingly good knowledge of the gospel, has plans to serve a mission, and is 2/3 of the way through the Book of Mormon. She was able to change her whole life over the course of a few months for the gospel so she definitely isn't like most investigators. It has been awesome teaching her. I feel like I learn more than she does.
Alyshia's baptism was on Saturday, it went well. She had a lot of support from a ward in another stake in which she first started attending. Unfortunately there were two weddings this weekend down in Hamilton so most of the YSA were out of town. We only had about 5 or 6 people, not including the bishopric, who came to the baptism. It was a little disappointing but it was still a really good service. I was glad to be a part of it. President Balli came as well which was really nice. I think it is the first time he has come to one of my baptisms my whole mission so that was really cool.
It wasn't the best week for sure. I am still receiving a lot of blessing and loving the mission just maybe not as much this week.
Love you,
Elder Summers.