Elder Johnson reported on the 4th of July 2013, so he has been here for a while. He grew up in Logan Utah He claims to be a Californian so he doesn't ever want people to think he is Utahn. He is the oldest of 3 kids and has grown up in the church. He likes baseball so we don't really connect through sports but he is very laid back and I love it. He seems like he knows what he is doing and is a great example. We are getting along fine so far. We will see:)
Something I have noticed about living in New Zealand is that everything here seems smaller, and I mean everything. The roads are smaller. The Cars are smaller. Our flat is very small, not that we spend that much time there. The money is smaller. The drinks at the fast food places are smaller. Almost everything is just smaller. The good part though is that the people are definitely not smaller, man the islanders are big people, on the street I see kids and Elder Johnson says guess how old that guy is, and I always guess at least 2 years too high. They are just big people. There has to be a reason they are so big so the obvious explanation is that the meals are big too.
Meals have been so good so far. I had the opportunity to attend a baptism and wedding my first full day in the field. This was a Samoan / Maori wedding so the food was all Island food. Stuff like Chop Suey, Taro and Puaka. All very good stuff and I ate so much it is unhealthy. One fun fact though is that Taro is a natural steroid so don't be surprised when I am totally buff by the time I am back. hahaha jk. This does explain why the people are so big though. I have not had the opportunity to try horse yet but everyone is telling me that I will, and if I am lucky I will get to try dog a Tongan delicacy.
As far as the work is concerned we have 0 investigators in our area right now, we have been TWE (talking with everyone) just trying to find people to teach. I have placed a Book of Mormon to one person, surprisingly it was to a Brazilian guy named Tiago, he was nice and is very interested but he is moving out of our area by the end of the month. It was the only Brazilian guy my companion has ever seen here so that was cool. In other areas we have been able to meet some of our Eternigators, the investigators that people have been working with for years, so technically they are investigators but we don't really need to teach them anything at the moment. I am sure we will find people this week. Panmure ward is a beutiful place and the members are great but I feel that we are at a standstill so we will see what happens.
Dad it was way cool that you have been able to connect with your old companion, I am sure I will make friends like that. Sydnie has moved in that must be fun, you are right Ryan is a dork, I am sure he and Syd will get along and we will see how long Syd will have fun with Kaden - I know I never got sick of it. I don't get the emails from my siblings but I guess I could just look on their blog. Keegan's ankle is a bummer. I hope I don't get hurt when my ward trys to teach me how to play rugby. Tell Gramma that I am a little homesick but it is only when I am laying in bed thinking, throughout the rest of the day we are too busy to think about anything. I love you guys and hope you guys have a good week and would like to leave you with this scripture. Ecclesiastes 4:11
Love,
Elder Xander Summers