Another week gone by!

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a great week! This week was a total blur for us going by so fast. Crazy to think I've been in New Zealand for a month now!! Any way lets get onto some important stuff. 

Monday night we had a get lesson with one of our progressing investigators Jerome. He came to conference which was a big step for him. He still has some doubts and he's worried about living by the commandments. We have a lesson with him and his partner tonight and we have our Elders Quorum President coming along who has a very similar story to Jeromes so we are gonna hit him hard with some good doctrine!! We are going to try and set them both for baptism on the 31st tonight so cross your fingers!! We have been talking with this guy named Jaemish. The guy who might get deported i'm not sure if I mentioned that before or not. He had a court case on Friday so they are waiting for the final decision now so he's been nervous. But we went over there a few times this week and talked with his auntie, grandpa and him. We had a fast with them so when we went over to break the fast they stuff us with Curry! (we've had curry three times this week. Heaps of Indian people!) But he has really come to like us and our gospel. His grand dad told us "We are welcomed there anytime we want, the door is always opened to us!" And just imagine that being said in an 82 year old Indian mans voice haha. We came home for dinner one night and there was this random guy just sitting in front of our flat. He waved us over and he was without a doubt super high. But being the nice guys we are we sat down and talked with him to try and figure out his story. He said he was baptized 2 years ago and now is Buddhist? He was telling us all about how he beat the crap out of a kiwi guy just cause he was a kiwi. He showed us were he punched him on me so while he was pretending to punch me, he got closer and closer each time and harder each time so I got a little nervous he was gonna drop me haha 😅 but E. Murdock had to go to the bathroom so we left him and went to visit him the next day. His mom is like the sweetest woman I've met here. She is 76 and can hardly move and do anything. Her son is crazy tho.. But he told us if we got him a ride to church he would come, so we should up on sunday and he wasn't there, not a surprise but oh well.

This week was very good! I hope you all are doing well!! My challenge for everyone this week is to find one conference talk and read it a few times this week. Find which one was your favourite and really study it!

I love you all and hope all is well back home!

Also keep up on the World Cup, the All Blacks are killing it!! ;)

Elder Maughan

Week 5- 1 month down, conference, and service!

Hello everyone!! As you can tell by the title, this past week I hit my month mark!! It was super crazy, it has felt like an eternity!! But at the same time it has gone by quickly. So this week was actually a very good week!!

Monday- We went over to this guy named Jaemish. 27, Indian guy. Elder Murdock met him before I was in the area so we thought we'd pop by. We found him and he was really discouraged. He had a court case for a DUI he had about a year and a half ago. The case would determined if he'd get deported and have to go back to Fiji or not. So Elder Murdock offered to give him a priesthood blessing and he accepted. After the blessing his mom came out. I saw her in the doorway before we started the blessing so I knew she was watching. She came up to us after and asked if she could "have a prayer also" haha. So I got the chance to give her a blessing of comfort. Very cool for them and us to experience. Right after we went to a FHE at the Tongimua's. Their son and his partner aren't members so we went in focusing on them, mainly the son Jerome. We talked with him a lot about faith- 

Sorry i accidentally pushed some button and it sent my email. so let me continue! If any of you are having a hard time with Faith in Jesus Christ, this gospel, or anything at all! I encourage and invite you to read Alma chapter 32. And really focus on 21, 27-30. Those helped me a lot. And these are the exact scriptures we shared with Jerome. That really hit him. and he said he wanted to follow through with this. I gave him the baptismal invite and he accepted! He said he will go to conference this weekend and let us know about the date we told him so when we saw him at conference yesterday we were super excited!!

Tuesday was nothing special. Wednesday was awesome tho!! Our day really started after lunch. We went and were going to mow this ladies lawn so we got to be in our p-day clothes. And we didn't have a lawn mower that we could borrow. so we made arrangements to have someone with a mower come and cut it on friday. We just had an edger and she insisted that we cut it with that since it was so long, so we did!! We started going and got like 1/4 of the way done and she went and asked the little school next door if they had a mower we could use. They let us borrow one and she wanted it cut super super short so we went over it like 3 times. It was an old mower but I liked it! Right after we mowed her lawn we went to this families house that is always working in the yard so we thought we'd go offer them help again. We come to the driveway and the youngest one (Daniel) goes running inside yelling to his mom (Mum the mormons are here the mormons are here again!!) Haha so they came out and put us right to work! We dug up their garden and put their own kind of fertilizer on it (coffee beans) So we got to do that and we had a follow up appointment with Jaemish at 4. So we had to cut the service/lesson with them short and run. Jaemish had his case and they are making a decision sometime this week. They were super nervous and stuff. But we taught them a lesson and told them how much peace and comfort can come from our gospel. He told us he was planning on coming to church next week without us even inviting him yet! So he came to a session of conference with us this week and that was super cool! We then  had a dinner appointment with a less active/ part member family. So we talked with them, had a good meal, and had to run to another FHE with a Niuean family. I like going to that family because they always feed us no matter what 😁 After that lesson Elder Murdock realized he forgot his planner. So we ran back to Jaemish's and we called him to let him know we were coming, but he said he wasn't home because his mom collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance!  She's been in there since then and is in intensive care so it was kinda scary. Any way the rest of the night was pretty relaxed. But you may have noticed that I didn't say once that we went back to our flat. We spent the WHOLE day in our P-day clothes!! It was by far the best proselyting day ive had  😉 Friday was mine and elder Simelanes month mark. But it was also Elder Murdocks year mark. So the other elders brought over some cake and we just chilled. It was way fun!

Saturday after priesthood was awesome. We decided our post meal would be Wendy's. They have a Black bun here for the All Blacks. Looks super gross. Any who. We went to take some other elders home. However we took a wrong turn and got totally lost. We went around one turn and BOOM there was the main city!! We were in downtown Auckland!! So we thought we'd take this chance and go see the Sky Tower!! We drove past it and then had to find our way home haha. We were lost for like an hour. But we drove over the Harbor bridge and the view from there of the city was a sight I will never ever forget!! It was so cool to see all that!!

Other than that the week was chill. Weekend was very slow, but conference was awesome. I highly recommend rereading some of them or watching them again because there is some great insight and perfect for our days!!

I love you all, 1 month down and it's going fast!! I'll talk to you next week!! 

Week 4-Not Our Cup of Tea

Hello everyone!! It's crazy that this upcoming Friday is my month mark!!! For Elder Murdock it's gonna be his year mark on that same day, so we might treat ourselves to some cake or something 😁  Any who let me tell you about my week :)

On Monday after emailing we got together as a zone

This is all the elders devouring some fries we got. The one in the middle smiling and actually paying attention is elder clark from Salt Lake!! 

So we got together at our stake center, played some soccer, touch (rugby) and just chilled. Super good day to hang out and get to know the district. That night we went to a FHE with a family called the Tongimuas. Their son and his partner are not members so we went in ready to teach about the BOM. But of course those two weren't there and they were the whole reason we went over there... So we continued with regular lesson with the family and the last 5 minutes those two show up.. So they gave us some really good sandwiches and we sat and just talked with Jerome (the son). And he finally opened up to us!! He has a strong desire to know the truth of this gospel, but doesn't really have the will do to anything to find out for himself. Stubborn people are no fun.. But we got some good gospel in with him and left him a Challenge to read a certain chapter in the BoM and to pray every day. We have an appointment with him tonight and we will follow up with him and talk with Him about Faith!!

Nothing really happened on Tuesday expect we did some service for a Chinese woman who we haven't really started teaching but have an appointment with this week!!

​We washed her car inside and out!! It was really gross on the outside and we made it sparkle like new 😎

Wednesday we had another FHE with a family and that was good because they are less active. But Thursday is when things get exciting!!

So we started off just walking around and tried to visit people and find new investigators. We talked with this older Chinese woman named June who didn't speak very good English. She told us to follow her to her house so of course we did. And we got to the doorstep and we aren't suppose to go inside unless there is a male 18 years or older home just out of respect. So we were standing at the doorstep and she kept telling us to come in and help her move. She went into another room for like 2 minutes expecting us to follow her but we didn't because of our rule. So we were standing there and she came back and she grab Elder Murdocks hand and started to pull him inside!! We ended up moving a small self for her into her garage and passed her on to the Chinese elders haha. We then went to try and catch this one investigator but he wasn't home. So we went knocking on some doors in his neighborhood. We knocked on this one flat and this lady answered and said they weren't interested but her drunk husband came running to the door asking what we know and who we are. So we gave our little intro and asked what we belief. We started talking and probably 15 words in he cut us off and told us what we believe. Saying the F bomb probably every 2 or 3 words he went on to tell us that the BoM basically tells us that "we believe in a planet that is full of virgins. And at a certain age we get twinkled up there and get closer to God." Super weird right?! So he bashed us for going out and "Not educating ourselves in our own gospel". But he was nice about shutting the door in our faces! He said cheers and shook our hands and put the door in our face!  We both walked away in complete shock and didn't know what to do haha. Later on that night we went to go teach a Recent Convert named David. His wife Shuana isn't a member and we just kinda gave up on teaching her because she wasn't progressing or doing anything we asked. So we went in planned to teach David more about commandments. But half way through Shuana spoke up with some concerns she thought we should know. She's going away to Tonga for a month and she's worried (for some WAY strange reason) that her husband won't keep the Law of Chastity while she's gone. She got very deep and personal with some of the things that she shared with us. She wanted us to help and just to let us know what was holding her back. Elder Murdock just looked at each other, tried our hardest not to laugh and just said "that's not our cup of tea and the only person to really help with that is bishop". We were in complete ah and just didn't know what to do!! So she was talking and getting way more personal than we EVER needed to hear. Elder Murdock just kindly asked Brother David to give a closing prayer and we were gone. We couldn't stop laughing and talking about for the next two days!! It was completely random. On friday we had zone planning and then we went to the McDonalds here and you can create your own burger!! Something back home needs to invest in. Later that evening Elder Murdock got super sick. So we went home at like 4, both took naps, watched a movie about the building on the Salt Lake Temple and crashed pretty early that night. Same with Saturday. He still wasn't feeling too well so we didn't do a whole bunch just relaxed.

The work here has been dead for a long time in Blockhouse Bay! The ward keeps saying that things need to start changing. Elder Murdock keeps saying that his last comp didn't do a whole lot in this area and he was stuck doing all the work and it just wasn't going well. I'm here to change that!! I couldn't be more ready to work and bring this ward what it deserves! Many stories to come and great adventures!! I love you all so much, thank you for all the prayers and blessings! I will talk to you all next week!!

Pictures from the MTC

The Sunday before Elder Maughan left for the MTC our family went to a baby blessing. In the meeting a Brother got up to bear his testimony and said how excited he was for his son to leave for the MTC that Wednesday. After the meeting was over Elder Maughan and his dad went over and talked to the Houck family. Turns out Elder Houck and Elder Maughan were in the same zone in the MTC!

Elder Baucom and Elder Maughan

Elder Stewart and Elder Maughan

Elder Maughan and Elder Miggin

Elder Maughan and his "roomies"

Elder Maughan and Elder Pingree

               

Weeks 2 & 3

Hello everyone!! SO this email will probably be long since I haven't gotten the chance to email in about two weeks!! So I made it to NEW ZEALAND!!! I didn't know if I'd be coming here until the morning I was suppose to leave. Pretty crazy stuff if you ask me really. I absolutely loved the MTC!! I made so many great connections and miss everyone there so much. I don't know if I could do it for more than 3 or 4 weeks but it was a blast. The MTC Nothing super crazy happened until my last night. Our zone of elders had a rap battle going and it was super sweet. But right as 10:15 hit we had to go to our rooms. But it was a really good night. So my roomies dropped me off at the travel place at about 11:30. Got all checked in and everything and got on a bus to the Provo FrontRunner Station. I was hanging out with Elder Hunter and he was the only other elder going to New Zealand. So we were kind of comforting one another. It was super harder again with lots of doubt doing this and how fast I could of gotten home. But I am staying with it no matter what!! At the airport we were just chilling and I saw Sister Nikki Flink!! She was just getting home and when she read my name tag she was in total shock to see me!! It was good to see someone from home, rough, but good!! In San Francisco I finally got some food and was able to just relax a little bit. On the plane it was super nice. I had an empty seat next to me and an old guy at the window. So we had room and we talked. The safety video was very strange.. It was like some All Blacks players doing something as Men In Black with that movie? Idk super weird, I was mostly talking to the dude next to me. For the first our I was messing around with the screen in front of me and watch the first part of Lord of the Rings. Then I wanted to sleep so I turned on Monsters U and was out very fast after dinner. They gave us like roast and potatoes, actually wasnt that bad. Then I was out. When I woke up I tried to go back to sleep but I wasn't overly comfortable. So I turned on Toy Story 1 and watched that whole thing all the way through! Just kind of relaxed for a while.

We get into Auckland at about 6:30 am on Wednesday. Major jet lag. Elder and Sister Reeves (Our mission secretaries) came and picked us up and took us to the MTC here. Being there I felt like I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as Provo. Very very small and there's like no where to go, youre in a box. But there I met up with Elder Berger, Nakamura, and Kessinger! They are all from Utah so it was fun to see them. We left the MTC and went to One Tree Hill. It was this big hill with a monument on it and we could look out on basically our whole mission. So the AP's and Pres Balli talked to us there but it was really cold so we left fast. We went to the Mission office in Takapuna and had a little intro and interviewed with the President. There we got our debit card and some other info that we needed. They then took us to a Motel were I finally got to sleep for only an hour and a half but it was better than nothing!! After that we went to the mission home and kind of had a testimony meeting and dinner. 

The next day we went to the mission home at about 7:30 for breakfast. After a little instruction President Balli announced our companions and areas. My comps name is Elder Murdock from South Jordan Utah! We went to a stake center for a transfer meeting and that's when I first met him!! So we went through the whole meeting and blah blah stuff. Then we went to our flat. We have a car!! It's super nice like a 2014 Corolla. Our flat isn't anything special. Just one bedroom and small living room and a kitchen and bathroom. Nothing crazy. We kind of sat there and waited for the zone leaders to come by and they brought the whole herd! They raided our kitchen and just chilled with us. It was good to see other elders. Then right off the bat it was time for work! We didn't do much besides just talking with people on the streets and he was showing me the area. Then at night we met with a girl named Joe. She's Chinese and is here for work. But she was so interested! She wanted to know more and more and it was just her first lesson. We talked about the Restoration and she totally understood. we were talking and everything and I got to give her the Baptismal Invite!!!! and she said YES!! But shes moving like next week... so we can't help her there. But it was still so cool!! Any who, the rest of the week was super good. Just getting to know the area and talk with people. The work here is somewhat slow but needs to be done. I will inform more next week on anything crazy but I think I'd rambled enough!! 

I love you all and I will talk with you soon!!

Meeting President and Sister Bali

The new Sisters and Elders at One Tree Hill

Elder Maughan and Elder Berger

Meeting his new companion Elder Murdock

  

Made It Safe and Sound

Dear Brother and Sister Maughan,

We are writing a quick note to let you know that you son arrived safely into Auckland this morning.  We picked him up along with the other missionaries from the MTC coming into the mission and brought him into the mission office and mission home for training.  We will send a few photos with some information about his new area and companion in the next few days.

Thank you,

All is well.

Sister Balli

New Zealand Auckland Mission

Just a little story. As we were talking to Elder Maughan before he got on his plan to New Zealand he was telling us that one of the Elders he was with was a little sick and almost didn't travel to New Zealand with him. Anyone who knows Elder Maughan knows that it is in his nature to take care of others first. During the conversation my mom mentioned that she had changed his seat to an aisle seat and that nobody was sitting next to him. His reply was, "Oh good! Maybe Elder Hunter could switch seats and sit by me. I want to make sure he is okay."  

Elder Maughan is New Zealand Bound!!

Last Wednesday night we got an email from Elder Maughan saying he would be going to Knoxville, Tennessee because his visa hadn't come yet. After scrambling to figuring out where his visa was, and what the heck was going on we found his visa, and found out his flight plans and he was confirmed to go to New Zealand and he is on his way!! We got to talk to him for about an hour and heard all about his adventures at the MTC! He is doing very well and can't wait to get to New Zealand! While waiting for his flight to San Francisco Elder Maughan saw Sister Nikki Flink and her family returning from her mission from Independence, Missouri! Elder Maughan doesn't know when he will be able to email again; we are thinking next Monday (Sunday night for us) and he said he would send lots of pictures. Elder Maughan would love to hear from everyone, we will update his address for New Zealand when we get it from him. But you can fill up his email and he would love it! carson.maughan@mylds.mail