Happy New Year!!

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful new year! We didn't stay up at all, just crashed as soon as it hit 10:30 cause we were tired. 

This week was pretty average! We had a lot of trade offs with the zone leaders again because one of them has the Chicken Pox so we all had to babysit him haha. But we had some fun! I got to be with Elder Maxfield a lot this week and just talk with him and learn a lot from him! He's from Farmington Utah so it was good to talk with someone who lives close!

We had two people set for baptism this week. Andrew and Jeffery. But neither of them came to church so we have to push them back further. Andrew is still smoking pretty bad too, and he has a really bad chest infection and was coughing up yellow slim balls, yummy. But we aren't giving up hope on him just yet! Jeffery is just super busy so we will keep working on him!

This week should be good! Lots of potential out there that we are going to try and find! Just have to keep having the faith! 

I love you all and I'm super excited to be able to serve for one whole year as a missionary. I know 2016 will bring many miracles and I'm excited to see what comes!

Christmas

Hello once again everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this last week! Here it was a good 80 degrees and we had a couple of BBQ's and some good meat!! 

This week was pretty good with everyone being out of town! We had Andrew at church and he is really improving. He reads the BoM every single day and is praying all the time. He is slowly moving closer and closer to the 9th of Jan for his Baptism!! Then we taught Donald after Church and he is very interesting! He might be another set by the end of this week so keep your fingers cross!!

Other than that not too much went down besides just hanging out as a zone. They really made this Christmas a special one! Made us all feel right at home so we can really all feel happy being away.

I hope you all had a good week and have a Happy New Year!!! Next time we talk it'll be 2016 :) Love you all!!!

MY SON!!!

Hello everyone!! Just wanted to wish you all a very merry christmas!!! 

So this last week we had transfers again, crazy how time is flying by!!! But as you can tell by the Subject I am now training a new missionary!!! Crazy only 3 months in and I get to train!! It's a big responsibility that the Lord and President Balli has given me!! I am super excited!!

My new comp is Elder Syndergaard, he is from Nibley (Logan) Utah and went to Mt. Crest High this last year! He really wants to work and get the job done so we are gonna smash it!!

One highlight from this week was a referral we got from Bishop. It was actually just yesterday so we haven't contacted him just yet! But He came to church last week all on his own, walked up to the door and asked for the Bishop. So he had a good meeting with him, and then he came back this week and had another meeting with him. He said many years ago some missionaries gave him a BoM but he never bothered with it. Until just a few weeks ago he picked it up and started reading. He is already in the book of Jacob and he told our Bishop he believes what he has read so far is all true!!! Talk about PREPARED RIGHT?!?!? So he gave bishop his contact details and we will talk with him this week and try to work out his concerns! Miracles are coming to BHB!!!

My last thoughts to everyone is just to have a wonderful Christmas! Be smart and safe and enjoy the time with your families. Remember why we celebrate and what Christ Birth did for all of us. I love you all so much and will talk with you soon!!

Elder Syndergaard and Elder Maughan

TEMPLE WEEK

Hello again to everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful week. Highlight of this week as you can tell by the subject is the TEMPLE!! We got to go as a mission to the New Zealand temple and it was gorgeous!! As you pull into the parking lot the temple is on a little hill. So when you first start walking up to the temple it is the only thing you can see, and the back drop for it is the big blue sky! Man it's awesome! I was able to find a family name to take to the temple and do all of the ordinances. From baptism all the way to the endowments. It was such a beautiful place, and the spirit that was there was so strong. Being there with other servants of our Heavenly Father and just being in his house is such a blessing. 

The cool part too is that the Temple President is a former Rugby Player for the All Blacks named Sid Going. People say he basically changed the game of Rugby for NZ, so it was cool to walk among a rugby great!!

I hope all is well back home and you are staying warm with the snow ;) Here for Christmas people like to have a BBQ on the beach, so that's kind of weird..

I love you all and will talk with you next week!!

Hamilton, New Zealand Temple

Tis the Season!

Hello everyone!! I hope you are all well and enjoying the Christmas season!! I have video but It won't upload so my mom and dad will put it on their facebooks so you can look for it there ;)

Any way this week was pretty crazy!! An elder in our zone got bite by a pretty big spider and had to go to the Hospital multiple days. So we were on trade offs right and left. My comp and I were only together in our area for probably a day and a half total this week. But we have been getting in the Christmas spirit here so it's all good!! Our ward had a massive ward party this weekend! It was so fun to mix and mingle with all the members and hear some missionary stories themselves! And we had 3 investigators there so it was awesome!! But this ward is amazing and I love it so much! 

I'd like every one to watch some time this week the new Church video. There is two really good ones that they came out with this year. Please take a look at these and try to remember the real meaning of Christmas. We have found these videos to be super effective with teaching and helping people remember the true meaning of Christmas and why we need a Savior. What the Savior did for us is such a blessing and I encourage all of you to ponder on what the Savior has done for you. I love you all and wish you all a good safe week!!

Thanksgiving week in NZAM

Hello everyone once again. Can you believe it's already December?!

This week was pretty average for the life of a missionary. Woke up every day, and tried to find some people to teach!;) We had a companionship study with President Balli and that was super cool. He gave us a lot of fantastic insight that I will take throughout my mission. We had a good lesson with these two people named Leo and Makayla. Brother and sister Samoans. Very nice people and very keen and wanting to learn. We were teaching the Restoration and it was flipping awesome! But once their mom came in, it just died. The spirit was gone and there was nothing left. They are a very strict Catholic family and it was hard to get her to listen to us without her denying what we were saying. But there is some potential with her kids so we will see, and we will keep praying and hoping for the mom to come along!! 

Other than that it was a solid week!! We didn't do anything for thanksgiving sadly... But I'm still very thankful for all of you and this Gospel and the chance that I have to serve!!

I love you all and will talk with you next week!!

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!!