Friday, August 5, 2011

GREAT WEEK!!

Talofa lava!

We had a great week! We exercised some serious faith hoping to find new investigators, and God provided! We found 8 new investigators!!! And 3 of them came to church on Sunday!! All up, we had 4 people at church! Which was huge for us! We had this couple, Jennifer and Manassa (cook Islanders), Hoover (old, Tongan guy) and Saane (she's our keen one)!! It was a fight I tell ya, to get them to church!! We walked up to Saane and Aki's house and the brother told us that they went to the hospital.f I was like, "What?" I asked when they went, and he said two days ago... LIES!! lol! We had a lesson with them just yesterday... So we left and I sent our fellowship Haylee to go get them. And sure enough, they were there but they slept through the alarm, lol! so she woke them up and brought them to church, lol! Man, Satan has been working so hard on us doing everything he can to keep our investigators in sin! It's making me exercise heaps of faith, lol!

You won't believe it! This morning, I got "THE PHONE CALL"!! lol!! The office called to tell me about my flight home and everything... so it's happening... they are going to be booking my flight home... I never thought I'd get the call. Especially this early, lol!

Sister Jone and Donu had a baptism this week and we were helping them to teach this girl named Tahjshee, and the family wanted me to baptize her. It's a Maori family, and the whole week they're been calling me "uncle"... it's just a funny Maori thing for a member of the family. But, Elder Gentry got to perform his first baptism!! I was really excited for him! And I'm sure he was stoked!!

The ward is starting to get better! I feel the ward is starting to really trust us and they are getting to know us... We just need to get this ward to LOVE us and then they'll bring us people to baptize!!!

We have 2 people that are our "go" people... Haylee Clark, a returned missionary from Malaysia, and Chris Rass, a Tongan guy who is leaving for his mission in September to Austrailia! They are always helping us out! They're the best!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KEEP PRAYING THAT WE'LL FIND PEOPLE TO BAPTIZE!!!!!!
OFA ATU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Belnap

IN SUNNY NZ!!

Malosoi fua!

We had a good week... Elder Gentry got really sick on Saturday night though, and threw up all night. He's still a bit sick, but he'll be fine... We had an up and down week. We taught 12 lessons, which is really low, but since we really don't have many investigators, it's not too bad.... but we did find 5 new investigators! Right now, we are really banking on Ake (20) and Saane (21)! They are two Tongan girls. Ake really wants to be baptized, she just needs to overcome the things of the world. And Saane needs to gain a stronger testimony and not be lazy and she'll be baptized as well! We had a crazy experience with them. Saane's son got his hand slammed in the door and it like ripped off his nail so they put a cast on his arm to protect it. Anyway, we were having this really good lesson with them and you know how every time you share the Restoration, something ALWAYS happens?... well, this story tops it. Right as I got into James 1:5, and how Joseph asked the question, the kid's cast fell off! lol! But it did and it just killed the Spirit, and an ambulance had to come take care of the kid... then the next day, we tried to share the Restoration again with them, and the kids were noisy and it was so hard to feel the Spirit. They must be keen if that keeps happening! lol!

The weather has been okay. We've had some really sunny days, and a couple rainy days. I'm just so grateful that winter hasn't been as bad as last year....

Yesterday, I spoke in church. I was praying and asking God to let me speak so that I would be able to gain the respect and trust of the ward... and on Thursday, one of the counselors rang and asked me to speak... I spoke on the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. The Spirit completely led the talk. And afterwards, I had heaps of people come up and say how good I did. They said, "Elder Belnap, you're awesome." I had two people say,"That's exactly what I needed to hear." It was good. I'm glad that the Spirit was there. Because now the ward knows us, and we have started to gain that trust and respect with them which we needed so badly!!

We just really need your prayers for this area! We need to find keen people to teach and find those that we can baptize!

My good friend and assistant president Elder Handy came and played basketball with us on p-day. I had a good talk with him. And we both shared some good experiences. He really helped me and gave me great advice for me and my companion. Things are getting better. I've definitely been blessed with patience and I look at things differently than I used to... God has been blessing me. We also had interviews with President Lekias. We had a really good chat. I asked him all my questions, like why I'm not a zone leader anymore, things about the area, etc. I was very up front with him, because I wanted to know. He answered all of my questions which I'm thankful for! And the Spirit was there to testify to me. He is wonderful. He is a man called of God and he will do a great job leading out this mission!

LOVE YA HEAPS!!!
OFA ATU!!!

Elder Belnap

Monday, July 18, 2011

CRAZY! TRANSFERRED :(... SET 2 PEOPLE! - July 17, 2011

Malosoi fua!

Wow, this week has been one crazy week!! It's been an emotional roller coaster! I got a phone call on Tuesday from President Lekias. He said, "Elder Belnap, you have been a zone leader for a long time. 10 months. And you have done a fantastic job. You are a stellar missionary and with most of the leadership leaving in the coming transfers, I need to make some changes..." (right there, my stomach dropped and I knew what was coming)... he said that he has some exciting news and that he was going to make me a trainer. As he said that the first presidency was making a BIG emphasis on having the best missionaries train. So now I'm training. It's exciting, but hard. And he said that I would get doubled from Mangere and go to Panmure and be a district leader. And I have the biggest district in the mission! There are a total of 6 companionships including the zone leaders.... it's massive! And to be honest, I was gutted! But I accepted. I'll do whatever the Lord wants me to do... Though I had a huge passion for being a zone leader and loved it!

Right now it's hard. This has been the toughest thing that I've ever had to do.... You could say that I went from being on top! In the biggest zone, the heart of the mission. We were on pace to break the zone best! We had 5 people set for baptism! I was running the Thomas Road Ward. Me and my companion got along great. Everything was just pumping!! Not to mention it was my favorite area by far. I thought that I might finish my mission there.... then I get the call, I'm no longer a zone leader, I'm put into an area that is struggling, we have to build it up. And we need to build up the ward as well. Training is hard. I've been blessed with incredible companions my whole mission. All but 3 of my companions have been a zone leader and one of the 3 was a district leader. My new companion is named Elder Gentry. He's from Missouri, a small town of 300ish. We get along okay, but it's a bit hard. I still love him. I feel like I have all this weight on my shoulders. And it's just ME doing all the work. I know God is there. But I feel that I'm the only instrument. It's hard when I have to lead all the lessons, talk to all the people, make all the phone calls, do happy chappy 24/7, love and lift a district and a ward. It's just so much... and it's hard.

But... I am blessed. I still have a cell phone and guess what? I was just praying that I would have a car. And when the assistants rang, they said I didn't have a car. I was super gutted. But I prayed for a car. And right when we were leaving transfers, one of the assistants ran up to me and said, "You must've been saying your prayers, we got an extra car! And we're giving it to you!" I was like WOW! That is a direct answer to my prayer!

Before I left Manutoetoe, I wanted to set one more person. We were teaching Martha, who's set for the 30th. And her neice just moved in. And so we set her for baptism! That's the way I wanted to leave that area! So there are six people set for baptism and another 3 that could still be baptized this month!!

It was super hard to say goodbye to everyone over there! I was just so close to everyone. I'm going to miss that place, but no doubt I will be going back there! I'm really going to miss all the islanders!! There aren't as many in Panmure!

This week we had a good miracle! We found a former named Paul. he was asking good questions and really wanted to make a change in his life. And so we set him for the 13 of August!!

I need your prayers!!
LOVE YA HEAPS!!!!!!!
OFA ATU!!!!!!!!

Elder Belnap

GREAT WEEK!!! - July 10, 2011

Malo soifua!

We had a great week! We worked really hard this week to help solidify our investigators that are preparing to be baptized! Right now we have 5 people that are set to be baptized this month, Tony (26), Matthew (18), Lois (17), Lawrence (20), Martha (45). But we have 8 people that can be baptized this month!! So we are working hard hoping that we can qualify for God's blessings for it!

President Lekias came on a Mission tour to visit all of the missionaries. It was really good. He had me conduct the meeting. It's different conducting. Haha, looks easier than it is, lol! The missionaries love him! Which is great!

We just stayed really busy this week! We taught like 30 lessons again! And just stayed really busy! I love it! We are putting on a Missionary Stake Fireside for the Manukau Stake on the 31!! Man it's going to be great! A lot of work is going to go into it, but it's going to be mean!!

Not a lot happened, just worked on making sure our investigators came to church, which they did! So grateful! We taught heaps of lessons! Things are looking good for us!

We have transfers this week!!! It's crazy! I can't believe it's here already! I'm hoping to stay, I think I will, but I'll go wherever God needs me!

Funny story. We were knocking on doors, and this drunk Tongan guy yells out, "Yo LDS!" lol! He's like "Brotha's, come over here!" while he was dancing. So we walk over there (I love drunk people, they are so funny, lol) across his grass and he told us that our shoes would get dirty. He came running down the stairs and started cleaning our shoes!! lol!! It was just crack up. Then he invited us in, and I asked him to turn off the music, and he was so wasted that he couldn't figure it out! It was funny. Sad that he was drunk, but funny.... Hopefully we can help him....

LOVE YA HEAPS!!
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!

Elder Belnap

MIRACLES ALL WEEK!! SET 5 PEOPLE!! - July 3, 2011

Malosoifua!!

We had a killer week!!! Once again, great miracles! We really needed to find some new people that we could baptize for July! We went out and exercised great faith that we would be able to find some new people to baptize! And God provided! We found 10 new investigators and taught 30 lessons! It was great! Then we set 4 of those new 10 for baptism! I was just blown away by how merciful God is! He's preparing people for us all the time, we just need to find them and help them prepare to be baptized!!!

At church last Sunday, I had this impression to go to the Folau's house and just ask them if they had anyone living there that wasn't a member. We went, and guess what? He has 2 boys living with him that aren't baptized and have been coming to church off and on since December! I'm continuously learning that the Spirit will put the thought in your mind; you just need to follow it. Thursday, we are going to teach the boys!!

That day, we prayed that we would be able to find a family and set them for baptism, we first found the boys at the Folau's. But Elder Moss was on a tradeoff with a member named Sanchez and found a Maori family that we set for baptism: Angel (13) and Lois (17). How merciful is Heavenly Father? We read in Moroni: "Whatsoever thing ye shall the Father in my name which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be done unto you." How true is that? That has been my favorite scripture and probably the biggest principle I've learned. GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS! That day, we found 2 families!

It doesn't stop there! We fasted that God would bring someone to church that we could baptize this month. We didn't see anyone. But a member came up to us and said, "Elders, I have a 14 year old boy that is living with me, and he needs to be baptized!" Last night, we taught Martin, and he's good. I have no doubt that he will be baptized this month. Once again, God answered our prayer!

If we have faith, and just believe, God will help us. He will help us overcome hard days and trials. Because just before all this happened, Ake, who was set to be baptized said that she doesn't want to be taught anymore and doesn't want to be baptized. And we just had a rough day. But the next day, we set 4 people for baptism! Right now, we have 5 people set! And another 4 that still have the possibility to be baptized this month! We just need to qualify for it!

We met President Lekias on Friday. He's really into it and will do a GREAT job! I'm looking forward to working with him. I have no doubts that he will continue to help this mission progress. It was sad to say good bye to President Porter. He rang me before he left and we had a good chat. I told him that I'll see him in a couple of months.

LOVE YOU HEAPS!!!!!!!
ALOFA ATU!!!!!!!

Elder Belnap

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

3 BAPTISMS!!! - June 26, 2011

Malosoifua i lau susuga

We were busy out of our minds! But we had a really great week!!! We had 3 great baptisms!!! Charntay got baptized on Friday night, and Ashleigh and Leisa got baptized on Saturday! Both baptisms were really good! I got to baptize Charntay and Elder Moss confirmed her! And the girls had their cousins baptize and confirm them, it was a great experience for the whole Tafiti family! We finished the month with 5 baptisms! Ashleigh's mom didn't get baptized with the girls, she's going to be moving back to Manurewa and get baptized over there!

This week, we set another 2 people for baptism for next month. Ake is set for July 9 and Nooroa is set for the 16th! so we are super excited about that! We should still be able to baptize at least another for July.... We just need to work really hard to make it happen. Because our pipeline is running a bit low right now, but I know that Heavenly Father will provide and that we will be able to baptize a lot of people next month....

We had a really good miracle. I was running this guy down in the parking lot and I couldn't quite catch him. But along the way, there was this Asian kid just behind me. I turned and said hi, with no intention to talk to him. (No offense to Asians, but you typically never teach or baptize any Asians). But I just asked how his day was. And we got to talking and I told him that we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And he said that he thought that he went to the same church in Cambodia, but he wasn't sure. So he grabbed his mom and asked her. They can't really speak English, they've only been here in New Zealand for 3 1/2 years. But anyway, she said that she is from our church. But there are many churched that have the name of Christ in it, so I didn't quite believe her. But then she said, "Joseph Smith?" I was taken aback.... Yes! Yes! That's the same church! Long story short, this family moved here 3 1/2 years ago and since they have been here, they haven't found the church. And they were praying, asking God that they could find it! We were their answer.... So we took them to the chapel. And showed them around. Then we showed them the picture of Christ wearing the red robe. And the mom said, "We have that." They went out to their car, and grabbed their Book of Mormon and they had put that picture on the cover of it. During their whole time here, they still carried with them the Book of Mormon! Unbelievable.... and yesterday, they came to church, all 5 of them! What a miracle!

Things are going well, we really need to have some BIG MIRACLES because we need them!!

Everyone is doing well!!

ALOFA ATU!!!

Elder Belnap

MORE MIRACLES!! - June 19, 2011

Malosoifua

We had a great week!! The temple was great!! Had a really good trip. I love going to the temple, it's so peaceful and every time I go, I receive some kind of revelation that will make me a better person and missionary.... I STRONGLY encourage you to go to the temple to receive the blessings that Heavenly Father wants to bless you with!

On Friday, we set another person for baptism for next weekend! Her name is Chantay. She's a cute little 9 year old girl. She comes from a part-member family, but she hasn't been baptized yet. She's so cute, she said she wants to come to church and get baptized to help her family to go back to church! And that's exactly what is happening, because of this little girl's faith in Christ, she is helping her family change, and come back unto Christ....

Then Saturday another miracle.... Ashleigh and Leisa's mom was at a lesson with us and she said that she wants to be baptized with her daughters this weekend!!!! So we will have the Kennach family all baptized together! What a miracle!

So for the month, we will have 6 people getting baptized!! God is preparing people left and right and center for us. I thank Heavenly Father for every day that I get to serve here and for the success that He has been granting to us!!! We are being so so blessed!

And yesterday we had stake conference! There were so many people. We had something like 24 recent converts, less actives and investigators that attended as well! What a good feeling that was to see so many of our people that we are teaching come to church!!!

Once again, Elder Moss and I prayed that someone would come to church that could be baptized in July! And God once again blessed us with someone. Kylee, who just got baptized, had one of her friends come to church yesterday! And hopefully, we can go teach him and set him for baptism!!!! Right now, we have about 3 people that are doing very well, and are looking good for next month!

We also found 8 new investigators this week!! God is so merciful! He always is hearing and answering my prayers!

It looks like winter is here :(..... Dang, hate the rain. But luckily it has been a late start to the season!

LOVE YOU!!!
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!
OFA ATU!!!

Elder Belnap