Hello from NZAM

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and are getting ready for a good Thanksgiving! Sadly that doesn't happen here so it will just be another day for us haha. But that's all good because what matters is the Lords work!!
So this week was pretty boss!! We achieved almost every single one of our weekly goals, so we were super happy with that. We met this man named Andrew. About 46 years old, loves himself some ciggys all day long, but has a desire to stop. So we got an appointment with him and started working! We take things very slow with him because it's not the easiest for him to understand. But we are working with him! We had a power house lesson with him and a member on the Restoration and we set him for Baptism on thec!! He has to give up his smoking by then and it's going to be hard, but I have faith that our Heavenly Father will bless him and give him the strength to push through this and get to the waters!!

I am loving this place!! Every day is a new adventure! Some people are very open to talk with us, some like us but don't care about the gospel, and one man looked at us through the door, yelled at us to go away without even opening the door haha! But what matters most is that my companion and I are working our hardest to improve this area and help build the Lord's church. All we can do is invite, that's our number one purpose as missionaries it says so in our purpose that every missionary knows.

I love you all so much!! Thanks for all the support and encouragement! Have a good/safe week and Holiday and I'll talk with you all next week!!

Hello from NZAM

Hello everyone! I hope you have all had an amazing week! This week was pretty good! There is a lot of potential in the area just need to make that potential into something real here!

The biggest two things were Andrew and the Come and See/Jerome.

Andrew is a man we met on the street one day and he said he'd love to come to church with us. He is very addicted to smoking and has some struggles keeping away from it for too long. He came to church and almost started smoking on church grounds. But we talked with him and made sure that he didn't do anything. He said afterwards that he really loved church and felt something good there. We are going to try and work with him this week and keep him on the right path.

Now Jerome is a tricky one. He has been investigating for a very long time and just has some concerns about the commandments and stuff. But he came to our Come and See fireside. That's where all the missionaries in NZAM get to come to a stake center with investigators and listne to a recent convert speak with a lot of musical numbers. The spirit in that room was indescribable!!

He said that he really enjoyed himself and had a good tringling inside his stomach. The spirit is working on him!

Other than that not much to report. The district is on fire and our area is slowly picking up. I love you all so much and love hearing from you! Keep to the basics of the gospel and look for your own missionary opportunities to share your testimony!!

Until Next week!!

One Transfer gone

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had an awesome week! So by the title of this email you can probably tell that it was transfers here in the mighty NZAM. My comp and I didn't get shifted but he got assigned district leader so we have some new responsibilities to take care of! We lost two elders in our district and got two brand new missionaries. SO I'm no longer the youngest in the mission field!!:) This week was just chill. Not a whole lot of teaching right now due to no investigators keeping the appointments we set with them. But we got a lot of potential this week so I'm excited to see how these next few weeks go!! Saturday we had a ward baptism for a girl named Brianna. If she would of waited just 2 more weeks she would of turned 9 and be considered a convert baptism haha. But it was way fun to be a part of! The dad invited us to be in the circle to confirm her so that was way powerful. Then that night we went to the ward seminary graduation and they had a massive feed!! Nothing like my graduation haha. They had a full roasted pig and ham!! IF you want to see those pictures ask my parents and they'll show you haha. Yesterday while we were having lunch and having some down time we got a call from bishop at 12:30. He asked if I'd speak for 10 minutes. Church started at 1. So I was scrambling trying to find a topic and I tried to plan like 3 topics and they all didn't seem right to share. I ended up sharing the Importance of Daily Scripture study. How we should read, understand, find the doctrine, then apply it in our lives. I felt really good about it and I had a lot of people say they enjoyed it and that they needed it. The cool part followed my talk. The lady that got up to speak after me said that her topic she chose to share was on Daily Scripture study. My mind was blown and I knew that the Spirit was with me! I knew that by listening and praying with a sincere heart the Spirit told me what to share and what my ward needed. So my challenge this week- open your heart in prayer and really be sincere about it. Take that prayer and apply it to your studies so you can apply your studies to your life. Thank you for all you do!

Love you all and have a good week!!

Another Week Gone By!

Hello everyone! Where did the month of October go?! Crazy to think how fast time went with that month!! This week wasn't too crazy! We got a new relief society president, this is her 3rd time being called as a relief society president so she's pretty experienced! She really wants stuff to start moving so it'll be good to work with her!! On Friday we had our ward trunk or treat! Halloween isn't very big here but it was good to get to see and know the ward more and more. We had a good turn out and a lot of Less actives showed up so it was good to get them back with the ward!! We had a question and answer game so we still had some gospel teaching in it!! On Saturday we thought we'd use trick or treating to get some good door knocking in ;) some people thought it was funny when we said trick or treat some people not so much, but some people actually gave us a few pieces of candy and let us talk with them a little about the gospel so it was a good thing!! Yesterday was the big day.. On our way to church we were just driving and I was relaxing just gathering my thoughts for church. I heard my comp say "are they going to slow down?" I didn't get what he meant by that then BOOM!!! We got rear ended bad. I wasn't expecting it at all so I was like a rag doll. Blacked out for a quick second and walked away with a very sore back and neck. So we were both pretty out of it for the rest of the day. But our car came out victorious. Still drives, the trunk just doesn't close and the back is smashed. SO everywhere we drive the car beeps at us saying our door is open. But their car is destroyed. Won't start or anything. They had a 92 corolla and we had a 2014 corolla so that just shows how much better cars have gotten over the years haha!!  Today we had a zone devotional where we really got to know every person in our zone and had a good breakfast to go a long with it! One of our zone leaders finishes his mission tomorrow so it was sad to say goodbye to him! But that's the mission life so all is good!! 

This week was a good one!! Nothing too crazy but a lot of good potential out there!! Make sure you keep to the basic church standards! CPR. Church attendance, Prayer daily, and reading daily. During halftime of one of the All Blacks games they didn't go into the locker room to sit and recharge, they stayed on the field and did the basic rugby skills such as passing the ball, kicking, and tackling. Ask yourself how often do YOU do the basic church things to keep the spirit in your life and draw closer to our Heavenly Father. I know as you continue to do that basics you will see the blessings in your life!! Love you all! Please keep the letters coming! It's a blessing to see and hear from all of you!! Have a good week!!

Elder Maughan

Be YOU

Fakaalofa lahi atu!

That is "Greetings to you" in Niuean!! Elder Murdock and I have taken a challenge starting today to try and learn Niuean much more! So that will be interesting for us to see!!

So lets start with monday shall we? We went minigolfing as a district and got haircuts for flipping 18 dollars!! But it looks fresh! 

Tuesday we went on tradeoffs with the zone leaders. I got to go with Elder Gulliver from Aussie. He is a super cool guy. Lots of good insight and inspiring stuff for myself!! Then we got to sleep at their flat which is freaking massive and nice!! Played some good touch in the morning, getting pretty good at that!

Nothing happened until Friday night at 8, our last visit. We went over to the Malupo family to see Junior. He showed us all these cakes he was making since that's what he does for a living and he is freaking good! He let us eat some and I enjoyed myself :) But that's not why I bring up this story! Elder Murdock has tried with this guy many times to get him back to church and Junior said we are the 6th pair of missionaries to talk with him. He told us what his issue was. He is gay and has been in a relationship with another man before. Elder Murdock was being really pushy with him and Junior just kept shutting him down. I could tell Junior was uncomfortable and not happy. Murdock kept pushing him and trying to make him do something he didn't want to. I didn't want Junior to give up however so I took a turn at talking and let Murdock think. I told Junior, "No matter how you feel or think is different about you, you are still your Heavenly Fathers child and he loves you more than you will ever know." I went on about that for a few minutes and you could just see a light in him spark and how comforted he felt. Then Murdock tried to push him again (Murdock isn't very patient haha). So I told Junior we will just start with the small steps and get him to the point he needs to be. SO this has been in my mind all weekend long. No matter who you are, what you have done or how you feel. If you have weird teeth, depression,you're gay, or missing an arm or have cancer, no matter what is "different" about you, You are still your Heavenly Father's child. He made you this way and watches over you and wants what is best for you. Never feel like you are unclean, unwanted, not loved, or anything. Know that your Heavenly Father will always love you no matter what! If you slip up, it's okay! He will always love you and want what is best for you. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week!! I love you all!!