Kia Ora!
We had an AMAZING WEEK! Full of miracles, hard work, and lots of prayers!
In order for us to break the Zone Best we needed all 4 of the zone's people set to go through. I interviewed 3 of the 4! And it was wonderful. We had an interview miracle. On Thrusday, Elder Sessions was on tradeoff and was teaching Tama (was one of the 4) and anyway, he decided that he didn't want his interview and wasn't going to be baptized. We continued to pray for him. The next morning we got a phone call from Elder Beckstead and he told us that Tama wanted his interview and wanted to be baptized. He were worried for the fact that we didn't know if he was worthy enough to be baptized this week. And after an intense interview, it lasted probably 2 1/2 hours when they usually go 30 min. But I really needed to find out if he was worthy and willing to keep all of the commandments. At first I didn't think he would pass, but as the interview continued then I could see that there was a possibility that he could be baptized the next day. At the end of it, I told him that I needed to go and have a prayer. As I prayed I got a confirmation from God that it was ok to pass him to be baptized. It was a MIRACLE!!! Even the other missionaries couldn't believe he passed. But then again, it's between him and the Lord, and the Lord saw fit. His baptism was wonderful! He was crying so hard because he was so happy! What joy it brought to me.
Ashlie, our investigator, got baptized with the other 3 people! She was so happy! She was full of the Spirit! Her and her husband are working on going to the temple! We are excited that we get to help them with their journey! Then one of the girls in that got baptized in the other ward asked me to confirm her, so all 4 of the confirmations got done in one ward. It was amazing! And it feels so good to be a part of something so great! To know that I (as well as the rest of the zone) was used as intruments in God's Hands to bring to pass something so great!!!! We have been on our knees giving God thanks for all of the miracles!!!! Thank you for all your prayers, I know they were heard!
Well my Mother will be glad to know that we did a service project, and we did Gardening! I thought that I'd never have to do that again. The Lord said, "Think again!" lol! So we did Zarah's (Whaanga's cousin) garden. We are softening her heart!
On Wednesday we were on our way back to town, when all of the sudden Elder Sessions yells out "That car just rolled!" Sure enough, the car that just past us going the opposite direction had rolled. We turned around and went to go help this person. We were the first on the site, and I thought that we were going to have to go all out and help save this person. When to our surprise, he walked away from the accident with nothing more than a strained back, a broken tooth or two, and some cuts on his head. A miracle that he walked away! And an interesting thing, that was the second rolled car in 5 days! Pretty Crazy!
This past week was also the bussiest week that I've had so far in Gisborne! We were busy out of our minds this week! And I like it that way!
Had a crazy experience this week. I was on tradeoff and this guy came out of nowhere. has this power walk going on, he looks a little crazy. Dressed in black. Doesn't say a word. I don't know what he's going to do, so I'm thinking to myself, "Does he want the left hook or the right hook?" lol! Anyway he comes right up to me, and tries to grab my pen, but I smack his hand. Then the Spirit was like, "Just let him take it." So I did. He put his details in my planner and said to come see him. I look back at the day, and I know that God put us right there at that exact second to see that man. We went by to visit him and we will go back to visit him. He's an inactive member, going through a rough time. So we'll see what happens.
We have Transfers this week!!!!! Crazy, the fastest transfer! Sessions and I are getting along great! And I love him! Great Missionary!
GREAT WEEK!!!!!
THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU TONS!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
SET 2 MORE PEOPLE!!!
Kia Ora!
We had a great week! We worked hard and stayed really busy and were blessed!
Right now the Gisborne Zone is on pace to break the Zone Best, "if" everyone gets baptized this weekend! We have a total of four people set for this upcoming weekend and three of four have a smoking problem! So we are working hard on helping them with their problems! Lots of prayer! So please pray for them to overcome this trial in their life so they can be baptized!!! Ashlie, our investigator, is going to be baptized this weekend! She is really strong-willed and has a strong testimony of the gospel. If this month goes as planned, the mission will baptize over 200 people! Something that has never been done before in the mission! So we are all working really hard!
I had dinner at Whaanga's aunt's (The Gilberts) this weekend. Man she asked what I wanted, so I told her an American Breakfast!!!! Haha New Zealanders don't know what that is, so I told her and they made me the meanest breakfast!!!! It brought back many memories! I think I got home sick lol!!!! Can't wait for that meal when I get home!
We set two kids this week, Damion and Rachel! They are keen, and really like church! We set them for the 13 of November! So we are really excited about that!
While we were at Gilberts, these two kids were swearing at us as soon as we got out of the car. We didn't do anything, just kept walking. After we cross the street, we hear this bang. I look back and yell at the kid, "What's your problem?" So we go check out the car, and at the time I didn't see anything. When we came back I checked the car again, and sure enough, the kid had dented the car. It made me really mad! They dented the car for no reason. But it made me be patient with those people. I had to control my anger.
We had a conference call this morning with President Porter. And I can't say anything right now, but there are BIG PLANS in store for this mission! I can't believe what is expected to happen! I'm really excited for this mission and to end this year strong. I'm just blessed to be here right now!
Things are good in Sunny Gisborne!
THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS!!!!!
KEEP EM COMING!!!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XOXO
Elder Belnap
We had a great week! We worked hard and stayed really busy and were blessed!
Right now the Gisborne Zone is on pace to break the Zone Best, "if" everyone gets baptized this weekend! We have a total of four people set for this upcoming weekend and three of four have a smoking problem! So we are working hard on helping them with their problems! Lots of prayer! So please pray for them to overcome this trial in their life so they can be baptized!!! Ashlie, our investigator, is going to be baptized this weekend! She is really strong-willed and has a strong testimony of the gospel. If this month goes as planned, the mission will baptize over 200 people! Something that has never been done before in the mission! So we are all working really hard!
I had dinner at Whaanga's aunt's (The Gilberts) this weekend. Man she asked what I wanted, so I told her an American Breakfast!!!! Haha New Zealanders don't know what that is, so I told her and they made me the meanest breakfast!!!! It brought back many memories! I think I got home sick lol!!!! Can't wait for that meal when I get home!
We set two kids this week, Damion and Rachel! They are keen, and really like church! We set them for the 13 of November! So we are really excited about that!
While we were at Gilberts, these two kids were swearing at us as soon as we got out of the car. We didn't do anything, just kept walking. After we cross the street, we hear this bang. I look back and yell at the kid, "What's your problem?" So we go check out the car, and at the time I didn't see anything. When we came back I checked the car again, and sure enough, the kid had dented the car. It made me really mad! They dented the car for no reason. But it made me be patient with those people. I had to control my anger.
We had a conference call this morning with President Porter. And I can't say anything right now, but there are BIG PLANS in store for this mission! I can't believe what is expected to happen! I'm really excited for this mission and to end this year strong. I'm just blessed to be here right now!
Things are good in Sunny Gisborne!
THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS!!!!!
KEEP EM COMING!!!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XOXO
Elder Belnap
Monday, October 18, 2010
SET ASHLIE FOR BAPTISM!!!!
Kia Ora!
We had a great week, full of miracles!
We set this 27 year old girl for baptism at the end of this month!!!
It was a serious miracle! We have been fasting and praying that we would be able to baptize someone else this month! And we got blessed with her. She had family get baptized last week, and she has been coming to church and wants to be baptized! So we had our first lesson with her and set her for baptism!!! God is a God of miracles! We are praying hard for her and hopefully she will be baptized on the 30th!
If everyone that is set gets baptized this month we will have broken the Zone Best and get 10 baptisms!!! So a lot is on the line here in Gisborne! But as long as we qaulify the Lord will bless us with people to baptize!
Another miracle... We were able to get 20 lessons this week (which is somewhat hard to get in Gissie) and found 12 new investigators!
Wednesday and Thursday it rained ALL DAY!!! It never stopped, and it POURED! We were literally wet all day, even though we were in a car! I was just thanking Heavenly Father for the car, lol!!!
On Wednesday, I was on a trade-off with a greenie missionary from Orem. And we had tracted this one area, and didn't really find anything, but as we were headed back to the car, I had this distinct feeling that we needed to keep tracting, so that's exactly what we did. We walked all the way back to the car, and I just couldn't unlock the door, so I said, "I just feel like there is someone that we need to see." So we kept walking in the pouring rain. I walked straight to a house and knocked on the door. And you'll never guess who answered.... Well, as we were talking she seemed standoff-ish at first. Then I just started talking about her family and asked where she was from. Well, she is from where Elder Whaanga is! And guess what?! It's his cousin. She isn't a member, but as I was talking to her she softened up and let us go by and teach her. And we taught her, and she is doing good! How crazy, we never would've been able to teach her if I wasn't companions with Whaanga!
Things are good! Gisborne is a different place, the people are just different! But I do love it!
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!!
KEEP PRAYING FOR ME!!!!!
I NEED ALL THE PRAYERS I CAN GET!!!!!
LOVE YA HEAPS!!!!!!!
XOXOXO!!!
Elder Belnap
We had a great week, full of miracles!
We set this 27 year old girl for baptism at the end of this month!!!
It was a serious miracle! We have been fasting and praying that we would be able to baptize someone else this month! And we got blessed with her. She had family get baptized last week, and she has been coming to church and wants to be baptized! So we had our first lesson with her and set her for baptism!!! God is a God of miracles! We are praying hard for her and hopefully she will be baptized on the 30th!
If everyone that is set gets baptized this month we will have broken the Zone Best and get 10 baptisms!!! So a lot is on the line here in Gisborne! But as long as we qaulify the Lord will bless us with people to baptize!
Another miracle... We were able to get 20 lessons this week (which is somewhat hard to get in Gissie) and found 12 new investigators!
Wednesday and Thursday it rained ALL DAY!!! It never stopped, and it POURED! We were literally wet all day, even though we were in a car! I was just thanking Heavenly Father for the car, lol!!!
On Wednesday, I was on a trade-off with a greenie missionary from Orem. And we had tracted this one area, and didn't really find anything, but as we were headed back to the car, I had this distinct feeling that we needed to keep tracting, so that's exactly what we did. We walked all the way back to the car, and I just couldn't unlock the door, so I said, "I just feel like there is someone that we need to see." So we kept walking in the pouring rain. I walked straight to a house and knocked on the door. And you'll never guess who answered.... Well, as we were talking she seemed standoff-ish at first. Then I just started talking about her family and asked where she was from. Well, she is from where Elder Whaanga is! And guess what?! It's his cousin. She isn't a member, but as I was talking to her she softened up and let us go by and teach her. And we taught her, and she is doing good! How crazy, we never would've been able to teach her if I wasn't companions with Whaanga!
Things are good! Gisborne is a different place, the people are just different! But I do love it!
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!!
KEEP PRAYING FOR ME!!!!!
I NEED ALL THE PRAYERS I CAN GET!!!!!
LOVE YA HEAPS!!!!!!!
XOXOXO!!!
Elder Belnap
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
MIRACLES!!!
Kia Ora!
We had a really great week!!! And today is also my 11 month mark!! Crazy how fast time is flying by! I'm really loving and enjoying my mission!
We were blessed with many great miracles. We found a boy on monday that is really keen and excited to learn more about Christ and knows that he needs to be baptized!! Then Tuesday after District Meeting we left for Auckland for our Zone Council and Leadership Training! To look around the room and be sitting with so many great missionaries was just awesome! There is great leadership here in NZAM! Thursday we had our Leadership Training! Saw my boy Elder Whaanga! He's doing great! And he was able to baptize Mystique and Brother George baptized Reyna! So he's doing really well! It was good just to catch up with him! I learned so much from the training on how I can become a better missionary and become a better leader in this mission!
Big news for the mission, almost every zone is expected to break the zone best! And it looks like we'll be able to baptize over 200 souls this month which is phenomenal!!! Very excited about that!
I got to stay with Elder Magleby back in Tauranga on Thursday. We had some time so I got to go see Fale!!! She's doing great! She has a calling in the primary now, and is going to be going to the temple soon!! So it was great news to hear that from her!!!! Then I got to catch up with Magleby. Magleby is doing great in his area!
MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!! We had just got back from our long 3 1/2 day trip. And we had a potential at 274, so we go there and there is NO house at 274! Couldn't believe it! So we decided to go tract. The 1st house that we knock on a lady came to the door, at first she was not interested at all! So I asked her about her family and we just started to talk. Next thing you know she asks so what happens if she doesn't keep all the commandments. I told her that's why Christ came. To take upon our sins, and He taught us that we need to repent, be baptized, and received the Holy Ghost. The next thing she says is, "Can you come in?" I was in shock, I just talked to her about baptism and she invites us in!!! MIRACLE!! And it's a family of NINE!!!!!!!! WHAT!! WHAT!!! I couldn't believe it! The family listened as we taught. But this lady said, "If I didn't feel the Spirit I wouldn't have let you in." We don't even know this lady, but she told us some very personal things. Right then I realized that this is a real person with real needs/concerns. We helped her and addressed her needs and she felt comforted. But we are going back to teach her and her family this week! PRAY for them that they may progress to be baptized!!! And that would be the biggest miracle!!!!!!!!!
Then on Saturday, I was on a mini tradeoff and we were on our way back to church to watch conference. And I decided that the next person I see that I'm going to go talk to them. As I say that, I look up and I see two girls on this deck. We go and talk to them and one happens to be a less active from Wellington, but the other lady is married to a member. And she was recently talking with her partner about going back to church. And that she wants to go to the Mormon church. She invited us to teach her and her kids!! And the best part, she is moving...but we are helping her move into "our" area!!!! I am amazed at how my Heavenly Father blesses us with these amazing people to be baptized! It goes to show me that it doesn't matter where you serve, as long as you qualify, God will bless you with people to baptize!
General Conference was "Da Bomb"! I really enjoyed it, especially the talk on pride! Very humbling. As they were speaking I couldn't help but think of all of you! As Elder Holland spoke I was thinking of my mother and father the whole time and all the sacrifices that they have made for me. I just really related that talk to them! And the talk that Elder Lawrence gave reminded me just of my mother. And all the times that she didn't let me go to things because she had a "feeling". I thank her for looking over all of my spiritual being. I know I wasn't always the sweetest or understood when she said that, but I am grateful today for what both she and my father did for me to keep me spiritually safe when I wasn't understanding the "why". And that man spoke about the Aaronic Priesthood, I never understood what that meant. I would encourage my younger brother and all young men to read that talk again and ask their father what power you hold in the Aaronic Priesthood! They have great power, they need to exercise it in worthiness and faith! And they and their families with be forever blessed! I want to thank my father for the times when he made me go see the people I didn't know when I did fast offerings. Not only was he helping me prepare for a mission but also helping me fulfill my priesthood responsibility. When Elder Holland spoke, I remembered all the times that Dave Wadman helped me in Young Men's and all the memories he helped me have.
I also had my interview with President. He said why he made me a young Zone Leader. He said that I'd probably be Zone Leader for the rest of my mission. One thing that he talked much about is that he doesn't want this mission to fall after I left. And he feels that I'll be a big part of the transition so he wants to train me young. He said he didn't know if I'll be Assistant President or anything, but he has high expectations for me. But he said a lot of things to me that really made me think. I'm grateful for President Porter. I just hope that I can be all he wants me to be! Love Him tons!
LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS!!!!!!!
KEEP PRAYING FOR ME I NEED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XOXO
Elder Belnap
It's raining in Gisborne! Crazy! LOVE YA....FULLY INVESTED!!!!!!!
We had a really great week!!! And today is also my 11 month mark!! Crazy how fast time is flying by! I'm really loving and enjoying my mission!
We were blessed with many great miracles. We found a boy on monday that is really keen and excited to learn more about Christ and knows that he needs to be baptized!! Then Tuesday after District Meeting we left for Auckland for our Zone Council and Leadership Training! To look around the room and be sitting with so many great missionaries was just awesome! There is great leadership here in NZAM! Thursday we had our Leadership Training! Saw my boy Elder Whaanga! He's doing great! And he was able to baptize Mystique and Brother George baptized Reyna! So he's doing really well! It was good just to catch up with him! I learned so much from the training on how I can become a better missionary and become a better leader in this mission!
Big news for the mission, almost every zone is expected to break the zone best! And it looks like we'll be able to baptize over 200 souls this month which is phenomenal!!! Very excited about that!
I got to stay with Elder Magleby back in Tauranga on Thursday. We had some time so I got to go see Fale!!! She's doing great! She has a calling in the primary now, and is going to be going to the temple soon!! So it was great news to hear that from her!!!! Then I got to catch up with Magleby. Magleby is doing great in his area!
MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!! We had just got back from our long 3 1/2 day trip. And we had a potential at 274, so we go there and there is NO house at 274! Couldn't believe it! So we decided to go tract. The 1st house that we knock on a lady came to the door, at first she was not interested at all! So I asked her about her family and we just started to talk. Next thing you know she asks so what happens if she doesn't keep all the commandments. I told her that's why Christ came. To take upon our sins, and He taught us that we need to repent, be baptized, and received the Holy Ghost. The next thing she says is, "Can you come in?" I was in shock, I just talked to her about baptism and she invites us in!!! MIRACLE!! And it's a family of NINE!!!!!!!! WHAT!! WHAT!!! I couldn't believe it! The family listened as we taught. But this lady said, "If I didn't feel the Spirit I wouldn't have let you in." We don't even know this lady, but she told us some very personal things. Right then I realized that this is a real person with real needs/concerns. We helped her and addressed her needs and she felt comforted. But we are going back to teach her and her family this week! PRAY for them that they may progress to be baptized!!! And that would be the biggest miracle!!!!!!!!!
Then on Saturday, I was on a mini tradeoff and we were on our way back to church to watch conference. And I decided that the next person I see that I'm going to go talk to them. As I say that, I look up and I see two girls on this deck. We go and talk to them and one happens to be a less active from Wellington, but the other lady is married to a member. And she was recently talking with her partner about going back to church. And that she wants to go to the Mormon church. She invited us to teach her and her kids!! And the best part, she is moving...but we are helping her move into "our" area!!!! I am amazed at how my Heavenly Father blesses us with these amazing people to be baptized! It goes to show me that it doesn't matter where you serve, as long as you qualify, God will bless you with people to baptize!
General Conference was "Da Bomb"! I really enjoyed it, especially the talk on pride! Very humbling. As they were speaking I couldn't help but think of all of you! As Elder Holland spoke I was thinking of my mother and father the whole time and all the sacrifices that they have made for me. I just really related that talk to them! And the talk that Elder Lawrence gave reminded me just of my mother. And all the times that she didn't let me go to things because she had a "feeling". I thank her for looking over all of my spiritual being. I know I wasn't always the sweetest or understood when she said that, but I am grateful today for what both she and my father did for me to keep me spiritually safe when I wasn't understanding the "why". And that man spoke about the Aaronic Priesthood, I never understood what that meant. I would encourage my younger brother and all young men to read that talk again and ask their father what power you hold in the Aaronic Priesthood! They have great power, they need to exercise it in worthiness and faith! And they and their families with be forever blessed! I want to thank my father for the times when he made me go see the people I didn't know when I did fast offerings. Not only was he helping me prepare for a mission but also helping me fulfill my priesthood responsibility. When Elder Holland spoke, I remembered all the times that Dave Wadman helped me in Young Men's and all the memories he helped me have.
I also had my interview with President. He said why he made me a young Zone Leader. He said that I'd probably be Zone Leader for the rest of my mission. One thing that he talked much about is that he doesn't want this mission to fall after I left. And he feels that I'll be a big part of the transition so he wants to train me young. He said he didn't know if I'll be Assistant President or anything, but he has high expectations for me. But he said a lot of things to me that really made me think. I'm grateful for President Porter. I just hope that I can be all he wants me to be! Love Him tons!
LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS!!!!!!!
KEEP PRAYING FOR ME I NEED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XOXO
Elder Belnap
It's raining in Gisborne! Crazy! LOVE YA....FULLY INVESTED!!!!!!!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Adrian's Baptism!! - October 3, 2010
Kia Ora!
We had a pretty solid week! We had Adrian Lynch's baptism on Saturday! It was wonderful to have a baptism in a branch of 9 people! The Spirit was strong. Though it was a small branch, it was one of the best Spiritual baptisms I've been to! Really enjoyed it! And we stayed over night at the President's home up in Tolaga Bay and had the confirmation! I thought it would be weird to have testimony meeting with just 10-12 people, but it was wonderful. Everyone bore testimony and the Spirit was strong. It goes to show that you don't have to have a big ward to have a powerful testimony meeting. We (North Fork Ward) is blessed to have so many people in it with testimonies. And there should never be a silent moment in the chapel for us to have the opportunity to bare our testimonies! So I encourage all of you to bare your testimony in sacrament!
My Birthday was fun! We were up in Tolaga Bay on Wednesday, so we slept over again at Pres. Hindmarsh's home. And this lovely old couple were wonderful. Sis. Hindmarsh got up early and made me a cake and a good breakfast. Then the branch came over and sang happy birthday! Then we went more up the coast and had an activity with the Tokomaru Bay branch. It was really good. They sang as well, and there is this family called the Tehei (ta-hay) family. They have a son serving in Sydney. And he just had his birthday. So he had all his girls sing me a song. And the father was getting all emotional. He said I was like proxy for his son. But I used them as proxy as well, for you guys singing to me! It was wonderful!
Also on my birthday, I tried this food called 'kena'. It's a sea urchin. Yuck!!! It's the tongues of the urchin!! It's nasty! Lost my appetite after that lol! I took pics!
The area for me is rough. The people are really different. I've had to change the way I talk to people. I'm used to getting tons of potentials, investigators, and lessons. And down here, well, we didn't get it. It's a lot tougher. It doesn't mean it can't be done. Everyone down here drinks and smokes weed. No joke! It's ridiculous, most teens do it as well. And there is a huge teen pregnancy rate! It's nuts! It's just going to take a lot of hard work! Lots of prayer! For me it's been hard down here in Gisborne. My companion is a really good missionary. He's a hard worker. This area is beautiful, but is really trying my faith. I need prayers for strength and faith. It's been hard for me to go and talk to people. You have to really go out of your way to talk to people. It's harder than the city that's for sure. I'd compare this area to Huntsville/Valley. It's nice/beautiful, and just more people, like 20,000 or something like that.
We were supposed to fly up the Auckland tomorrow. But we are picking up a different car so now we are driving 8 hours up to Auckland. But I get to stay with Elder Magleby back in Tauranga on Thursday!!! So that will be great, don't know if I told you but he's Zone Leader up there!!!!!!!! So this week I'll be at my 1st Zone Council, and we have a leadership training this week as well. President just threw me right into this Zone Leader stuff. I'm learning on the fly. I've already done my 1st couple baptism interviews. In fact I just finished 2 baptism interviews before I came to e-mail..... We accomplished a NEW ZONE BEST!!!!!! Every companionship reached a 100 PBTW!!! That's never been done before in Gisborne! So we are happy about that! And tomorrow is my 1st district/zone training!
THANKS FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY SONGS!!!!!!!
LOVE YA TONS!!!!!!
THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS!!!!!!! KEEP PRAYING FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XOXO
Elder Belnap
FULLY INVESTED!
We had a pretty solid week! We had Adrian Lynch's baptism on Saturday! It was wonderful to have a baptism in a branch of 9 people! The Spirit was strong. Though it was a small branch, it was one of the best Spiritual baptisms I've been to! Really enjoyed it! And we stayed over night at the President's home up in Tolaga Bay and had the confirmation! I thought it would be weird to have testimony meeting with just 10-12 people, but it was wonderful. Everyone bore testimony and the Spirit was strong. It goes to show that you don't have to have a big ward to have a powerful testimony meeting. We (North Fork Ward) is blessed to have so many people in it with testimonies. And there should never be a silent moment in the chapel for us to have the opportunity to bare our testimonies! So I encourage all of you to bare your testimony in sacrament!
My Birthday was fun! We were up in Tolaga Bay on Wednesday, so we slept over again at Pres. Hindmarsh's home. And this lovely old couple were wonderful. Sis. Hindmarsh got up early and made me a cake and a good breakfast. Then the branch came over and sang happy birthday! Then we went more up the coast and had an activity with the Tokomaru Bay branch. It was really good. They sang as well, and there is this family called the Tehei (ta-hay) family. They have a son serving in Sydney. And he just had his birthday. So he had all his girls sing me a song. And the father was getting all emotional. He said I was like proxy for his son. But I used them as proxy as well, for you guys singing to me! It was wonderful!
Also on my birthday, I tried this food called 'kena'. It's a sea urchin. Yuck!!! It's the tongues of the urchin!! It's nasty! Lost my appetite after that lol! I took pics!
The area for me is rough. The people are really different. I've had to change the way I talk to people. I'm used to getting tons of potentials, investigators, and lessons. And down here, well, we didn't get it. It's a lot tougher. It doesn't mean it can't be done. Everyone down here drinks and smokes weed. No joke! It's ridiculous, most teens do it as well. And there is a huge teen pregnancy rate! It's nuts! It's just going to take a lot of hard work! Lots of prayer! For me it's been hard down here in Gisborne. My companion is a really good missionary. He's a hard worker. This area is beautiful, but is really trying my faith. I need prayers for strength and faith. It's been hard for me to go and talk to people. You have to really go out of your way to talk to people. It's harder than the city that's for sure. I'd compare this area to Huntsville/Valley. It's nice/beautiful, and just more people, like 20,000 or something like that.
We were supposed to fly up the Auckland tomorrow. But we are picking up a different car so now we are driving 8 hours up to Auckland. But I get to stay with Elder Magleby back in Tauranga on Thursday!!! So that will be great, don't know if I told you but he's Zone Leader up there!!!!!!!! So this week I'll be at my 1st Zone Council, and we have a leadership training this week as well. President just threw me right into this Zone Leader stuff. I'm learning on the fly. I've already done my 1st couple baptism interviews. In fact I just finished 2 baptism interviews before I came to e-mail..... We accomplished a NEW ZONE BEST!!!!!! Every companionship reached a 100 PBTW!!! That's never been done before in Gisborne! So we are happy about that! And tomorrow is my 1st district/zone training!
THANKS FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY SONGS!!!!!!!
LOVE YA TONS!!!!!!
THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS!!!!!!! KEEP PRAYING FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XOXO
Elder Belnap
FULLY INVESTED!
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