Thanks again for the WONDERFUL phone call! That made my Christmas. No present could match the gift of hearing all of your voices!.. Everyone sounds great! Ryan, I still can't believe he's 5'8, and has a manly voice! I'm still buzzing out over it. Ha I'm bummed out actually, because I want my little Ry back lol!
Christmas was great here in New Zealand! We opened our presents and boy if I'm not the most spoiled missionary then I don't know who is lol! I love EVERYTHING! My family really made my Christmas! We had a huge dinner as well with some members! And the Temple Lights topped of the night! And another great gift from God. Yesterday President Worthen (Stake President from Tauranga) was in town and he called up and he and his family came and visited me last night! And I was able to give them a Christmas gift! It was great! Because I spent last Christmas with the Worthens so it was nice to have them around again! We had a good week, filled with the Christmas lights and just busy work that needed to get done. BUT...... Hamilton broke the ZONE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Zone Best hasnt' been broken for ages, we are talking like almost two years! So we all worked really hard and had many miracles and God blessed us to baptize 21! Breaking the zone best of 17! Great way to end the year out! Going from Gisborne, breaking the zone best twice, baptizing many people. And not to boast, I only boast in my God, but just to show you how blessed I've been. I've been part of 17 different baptisms the last three months! So right now I'm accomplishing my goal and President Porter's goal of baptizing weekly! So thank Heavenly Father for the success that I'm having! Right now our area needs some work. We are really focusing on only people that can progress quickly. Being a Zone Leader in a huge zone we don't have much time to work with those that will take ages to progress, so we've decided we can only find and teach those that are truely of 'thine elect'! It will take lots of faith, obedience and miracles but I know the Lord will bless us with this because he already has been!
This past week I got to catch up with lots of the people I used to know from other ward I've served in! Got to see Simi and Amanda. And pretty much the rest of the Swanson ward! That was a great blessing. As well as people from Tauranga. I don't know if you remember Mare from Greerton. But he got baptized and President Worthen told me last night that he is going to be serving his mission in June!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for that! Right now we have one person set for January 16! There is a little branch in Kawhia. And we have been having many miracles. We are teaching this guy named Bryon, his records are lost and we are going to re-baptize him. There is a Samoan family that we are teaching and they are great! I'm really looking forward to teaching them more! As well as this 80-something year old lady that is choice! So we are praying because they are probably our most progressing investigators right now!
THANKS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
TRANSFERRED TO HAMILTON
Hey sorry I'm late, been moving in some new missionaries today, and have been absolutely busy out of my mind!
SO THE BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got transferred to Hamilton! And you'll never guess who my new companion is lol!! I'm back with Elder Sessions! Can you believe it! When President Porter told me I just cracked up!
The Hamilton Zone is bigger than it's ever been! There's 13 companionships! Quite a few sister missionaries as well. And Whaanga is also serving now in Hamilton as well! So I get to see him and talk to him all the time!
I also get to work at the Temple! Right now we are doing the Temple Lights! It's wonderful and absolutley beautiful! I'm really enjoying it! We do it every night from 8:30-10:30 and we get to sleep in til 7:30 because we don't get home until late. Last night we didn't get home until around midnight. But it's all good, the Lord's work goes on!
I love my new area! It's really good! It's going to take some work! It seems President Porter always puts me in an area to build it up! But with the Lord's help it will be done!
Great miracle yesterday. I got to go with a different missionary to one of our branches called Kawhia and had some amazing miracles there! It was a beautiful hours drive out to this little tiny town outside of H-town! But we found 8 potentials there! There was a Samoan family of 5, there first time to church! And this week we get to go visit them! Really excited about that! Just hoping and praying that all goes will with them! But this little branch that hasn't been worked in years, and we went out there and had some great miracles! So we are hoping that it can turn into a Gold mine for us!
Mia, back in Gisborne got baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday! I missed it, but all went well! And she is doing great! I'm so glad that I got to be a part of her conversion!
I let Gisborne with one person, and there are several that should be set in the coming weeks! Sad to go, but the Lord needs me in a different part of His vineyard!
Saturday I was out contacting some potentials, when I got this feeling to knock this house, I wasn't going to, but I knew I would feel like a dog if I didn't knock it. So I did. This person was on the phone, but said that they would have to call the person back (which doesn't happen). She just happens to be from Boulder, Colorado. She just flew in because of her mom. She had surgery. But she lives by a Mark Smith whose the Stake President in Boulder. And when she was sick he gave her a blessing and it worked. And now she wants us to go give her mother a blessing as well. There are no coincidences. So if you look up a Mark Smith and facebook him you can tell him that your son ran into her and is hoping to start teaching her this week! I'm sure that will make him happy!
But we are having many miracles in Hamilton!
We had our Mission Christmas Party on Friday! It was great! Lots of fun!
There are many things happening, but there just isn't much time!
I still get to call you on my Christmas. So can't wait to hear from you!!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
KEEP PRAYING FOR ME!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
SO THE BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got transferred to Hamilton! And you'll never guess who my new companion is lol!! I'm back with Elder Sessions! Can you believe it! When President Porter told me I just cracked up!
The Hamilton Zone is bigger than it's ever been! There's 13 companionships! Quite a few sister missionaries as well. And Whaanga is also serving now in Hamilton as well! So I get to see him and talk to him all the time!
I also get to work at the Temple! Right now we are doing the Temple Lights! It's wonderful and absolutley beautiful! I'm really enjoying it! We do it every night from 8:30-10:30 and we get to sleep in til 7:30 because we don't get home until late. Last night we didn't get home until around midnight. But it's all good, the Lord's work goes on!
I love my new area! It's really good! It's going to take some work! It seems President Porter always puts me in an area to build it up! But with the Lord's help it will be done!
Great miracle yesterday. I got to go with a different missionary to one of our branches called Kawhia and had some amazing miracles there! It was a beautiful hours drive out to this little tiny town outside of H-town! But we found 8 potentials there! There was a Samoan family of 5, there first time to church! And this week we get to go visit them! Really excited about that! Just hoping and praying that all goes will with them! But this little branch that hasn't been worked in years, and we went out there and had some great miracles! So we are hoping that it can turn into a Gold mine for us!
Mia, back in Gisborne got baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday! I missed it, but all went well! And she is doing great! I'm so glad that I got to be a part of her conversion!
I let Gisborne with one person, and there are several that should be set in the coming weeks! Sad to go, but the Lord needs me in a different part of His vineyard!
Saturday I was out contacting some potentials, when I got this feeling to knock this house, I wasn't going to, but I knew I would feel like a dog if I didn't knock it. So I did. This person was on the phone, but said that they would have to call the person back (which doesn't happen). She just happens to be from Boulder, Colorado. She just flew in because of her mom. She had surgery. But she lives by a Mark Smith whose the Stake President in Boulder. And when she was sick he gave her a blessing and it worked. And now she wants us to go give her mother a blessing as well. There are no coincidences. So if you look up a Mark Smith and facebook him you can tell him that your son ran into her and is hoping to start teaching her this week! I'm sure that will make him happy!
But we are having many miracles in Hamilton!
We had our Mission Christmas Party on Friday! It was great! Lots of fun!
There are many things happening, but there just isn't much time!
I still get to call you on my Christmas. So can't wait to hear from you!!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
KEEP PRAYING FOR ME!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
Thursday, December 16, 2010
APINERU'S BAPTISM!!!!!!!! MIRACLES!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO GOD!
This week was arguably the best week of my mission!!! We had miracles left, right, and center! We were supposed to baptize 4 people but we ended up baptizing 5!! MIRACLE! Taught 28 lessons (23 member present lessons/new teaching record in Gisborne), had a wedding and then the baptism on Saturday! Crazy busy and LOVIN' IT!
It was Friday and we were driving down the road and I was thinking how nice it would be to baptize the whole Apineru Family, when I got this thought (from the Holy Ghost John 14:26) to find out if Sister Apineru had her records sent over from Samoa. So we called up the mission office and had them do a check for us. And guess what?!!? Her records were lost. And on paper, though she was baptized in Samoa, she had no record. So the miracle happened! We told her that night that the only way to complete the record was to have her get baptized with her family! And she agreed!!!! So we baptized the WHOLE FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was on my knees thanking my Father in Heaven for this wonderful miracle! One of my goals was to baptize a WHOLE family! And God blessed me with my Christmas present. I was able to baptize two of the daugthers! They are just wonderful! It's a family of 7! They are very strong. And have great potential to progress very much in the church! We filled up the chapel as well for the baptism! Great attendance! The Spirit was so strong! I was just happy to be a part of that miracle!
Yesterday we got to confirm all 5 of them! It was so wonderful! I just wish you could've been here to witness such an amazing miracle with this family!
On Thursday we had Andrias' and Aimee's wedding! (They were the people that moved from our ward to Gisborne 3rd ward) So we got to go to their wedding! It was wonderful! Then on Saturday, the newly wedded Hillman's and their cousin Georgia got baptized!!!! Once again another miracle! I count them as people we baptized because we were there from the beginning to the finish, so in a sense we had 8 baptisms!!!!!! It was huge! God is a God of miracles!!!
Yesterday, Raymond, came us to us and said that his flight to Austrailia got pushed up a couple weeks and that he's leaving for Austrailia on Wednesday. I couldn't believe it, because he's set for this Saturday. So we were freaking out, but he is now going to get baptized tomorrow!!!! Really excited about that, another miracle!
This Saturday Mia is going to be baptized! Can't wait for that! And she is going to get married hopefully next month as well, and her partner is also preparing himself to be baptized!!!!!
Another cool experience... That Tongan girl that I told you about, well we started teaching her this week. It's interesting, she can't really speak english or understand it. But I have a testimony of the Gift of Tongues. You don't always have to speak in a different language to have the gift. I received it in a sense of understanding. As we explained the Plan Of Salvation, we then had her uncle translate and tell her. He then told us what he explained to her and told her about her brother who died when he was 8. And that he is in the Spirit world. I then felt very prompted to ask her how she felt? She said that she understood and it makes sense. But I said, "Niva, how did you feel as Brother Latu was explaining about your brother?" She said she felt good, and just had a good feeling. I then helped her recognize that it was the Spirit telling her that her brother is ok, and what we have shared with her is TRUE! And she sure understand that! She's making great progress.
Then on top of all these amazing miracles and blessings, we BROKE THE ZONE BEST! We are now at 12 Baptized and 3 set! When President Porter sent me to Gisborne, he said to turn Gisborne into a South Auckland (which is the highest baptizing zone in the mission) at first I thought, "WOW. That's going to take lots of work for a place that doesn't baptize." But as I've learned to rely more on the Lord and exercise greater faith in my Savior I have witnessed something that no one that could be done! At this time, we have more baptized than some of the city zones, which is unheard of. And we have the highest rate of baptisms per companionship in the mission. I don't take any credit for the work and miracles that have taken place. I'm just happy to be here. Happy to be used as an instrument in God's hands. I'm thankful for my mission! I love it with all my heart! I know that God lives, that this is HIS work! Last Christmas I didn't baptize. And I said to myself that I wouldn't let that happen this month! I've worked as hard as I possibly can (lost 3 pounds this month, lol) to make this month the best month of my mission. To give my God a Christmas present, and bring as many of His children back to Him. This is my testimony in His name, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Also we have Transfers this week. I have no idea if I'm staying or leaving. I guess I'll find out on Wednesday. Whether I stay or go I know that I'll be where ever God needs me.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
It was Friday and we were driving down the road and I was thinking how nice it would be to baptize the whole Apineru Family, when I got this thought (from the Holy Ghost John 14:26) to find out if Sister Apineru had her records sent over from Samoa. So we called up the mission office and had them do a check for us. And guess what?!!? Her records were lost. And on paper, though she was baptized in Samoa, she had no record. So the miracle happened! We told her that night that the only way to complete the record was to have her get baptized with her family! And she agreed!!!! So we baptized the WHOLE FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was on my knees thanking my Father in Heaven for this wonderful miracle! One of my goals was to baptize a WHOLE family! And God blessed me with my Christmas present. I was able to baptize two of the daugthers! They are just wonderful! It's a family of 7! They are very strong. And have great potential to progress very much in the church! We filled up the chapel as well for the baptism! Great attendance! The Spirit was so strong! I was just happy to be a part of that miracle!
Yesterday we got to confirm all 5 of them! It was so wonderful! I just wish you could've been here to witness such an amazing miracle with this family!
On Thursday we had Andrias' and Aimee's wedding! (They were the people that moved from our ward to Gisborne 3rd ward) So we got to go to their wedding! It was wonderful! Then on Saturday, the newly wedded Hillman's and their cousin Georgia got baptized!!!! Once again another miracle! I count them as people we baptized because we were there from the beginning to the finish, so in a sense we had 8 baptisms!!!!!! It was huge! God is a God of miracles!!!
Yesterday, Raymond, came us to us and said that his flight to Austrailia got pushed up a couple weeks and that he's leaving for Austrailia on Wednesday. I couldn't believe it, because he's set for this Saturday. So we were freaking out, but he is now going to get baptized tomorrow!!!! Really excited about that, another miracle!
This Saturday Mia is going to be baptized! Can't wait for that! And she is going to get married hopefully next month as well, and her partner is also preparing himself to be baptized!!!!!
Another cool experience... That Tongan girl that I told you about, well we started teaching her this week. It's interesting, she can't really speak english or understand it. But I have a testimony of the Gift of Tongues. You don't always have to speak in a different language to have the gift. I received it in a sense of understanding. As we explained the Plan Of Salvation, we then had her uncle translate and tell her. He then told us what he explained to her and told her about her brother who died when he was 8. And that he is in the Spirit world. I then felt very prompted to ask her how she felt? She said that she understood and it makes sense. But I said, "Niva, how did you feel as Brother Latu was explaining about your brother?" She said she felt good, and just had a good feeling. I then helped her recognize that it was the Spirit telling her that her brother is ok, and what we have shared with her is TRUE! And she sure understand that! She's making great progress.
Then on top of all these amazing miracles and blessings, we BROKE THE ZONE BEST! We are now at 12 Baptized and 3 set! When President Porter sent me to Gisborne, he said to turn Gisborne into a South Auckland (which is the highest baptizing zone in the mission) at first I thought, "WOW. That's going to take lots of work for a place that doesn't baptize." But as I've learned to rely more on the Lord and exercise greater faith in my Savior I have witnessed something that no one that could be done! At this time, we have more baptized than some of the city zones, which is unheard of. And we have the highest rate of baptisms per companionship in the mission. I don't take any credit for the work and miracles that have taken place. I'm just happy to be here. Happy to be used as an instrument in God's hands. I'm thankful for my mission! I love it with all my heart! I know that God lives, that this is HIS work! Last Christmas I didn't baptize. And I said to myself that I wouldn't let that happen this month! I've worked as hard as I possibly can (lost 3 pounds this month, lol) to make this month the best month of my mission. To give my God a Christmas present, and bring as many of His children back to Him. This is my testimony in His name, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Also we have Transfers this week. I have no idea if I'm staying or leaving. I guess I'll find out on Wednesday. Whether I stay or go I know that I'll be where ever God needs me.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
Sunday, December 5, 2010
GREAT WEEK!!!
Kia Ora!
We had a great week! Full of miracles and lots of hard work paid off! Monday was crazy! We had a lesson with the Samoan family, the Apineru's, and the two oldest girls were having some serious doubts about getting baptized. There were really worried that they would mess up after being baptized. They are a bit caught up in the world right now. So we are helping them. But luckily Elder Collett did a fantastic job addressing their real concern! And they are all set to get baptized this weekend, all 4 of them!
Tuesday was crazy, were had District Meeting in Nuhaka (where the church first began in New Zealand) then came back and went crazy to teach as many lessons as we could before we had to catch our flight up to Auckland. Well Mia, whose set for the 18th, went through a rough patch were her grandpa was filling her with heaps of doubts. So once again we had to address her concern. And we were really worried about losing her! But we caught the plane, I wasn't in a good mood because of that, but when we landed we got a text and she said that she apoligizes for what happened. She realized what had happened. And for that I am so grateful! That's one thing that I ALWAYS tell my investigators: that Satan will do all he can to make sure that you don't get baptized. And we tell them to watch our for these things, but UNLESS they recognize it (like Mia did) they fall off. It just upsets me that we tell them and then it happens, and they start to doubt. It's like having a little kid and you tell them not to touch the stove because it'll burn them, then they do it, and you think, "Boy you are dumb... I told you that would happen." It just makes me upset. But just like Ether 12:6 says, "first comes the trial THEN a witness..." So we have been a little stressed about that, but I knew this would happen. If God is going to bless us with so many baptisms and miracles, then there has to be OPPOSITION!!! (not that I am a fan of that), but it's the way it goes.
Another miracle with Mia was that her partner Tony, hasn't been in support of her at all, in fact they live with her dad and he hates churchies and won't let us come by. Well we all have been praying that their hearts would be softened and to our surprise, Mia called and told us that her partner wants to learn and that we her dad said it would be ok if we came to her dad's house! And Tony came to church yesterday and we committed him to be baptized! MIRACLE!
Right now we have a total of 15 people set to be baptized!!!! That would be another new Zone Best!!!! Very excited about that! In fact, we had more sets than one of the biggest zones in Auckland.... Good for us, but not for them....... Heavenly Father is just pouring out the blessings in abundance right now!!!
We flew back to Gisborne Thursday night and you won't believe it. I accidently locked the keys in the car... Hence, God works in mysterious ways.... So you just have to imagine with me. It's 8:45 at night, at this po-dump airport. I'm sure my dad knows what I'm talking about when I say that. It's an airport where you walk, drop off your bags, NO security, and get on the plane. It's RUGGED LOL!! That's it. So it's in the middle of nowhere. And the airport is closed, and remember Gisborne, everything shuts down at 5 p.m. anyway. So there's no way that we can get a locksmith unless we want to pay a couple 100 bucks... What happened was this. I was putting the luggage in the car, well as they were handing me stuff I wasn't paying attention because I was talking. Elder Beckstead handed me the keys and I just kept doing what I was doing and put them in the car and closed the trunk. Then as I'm walking to the car I said "Hey Elder Beckstead, wanna throw me the keys?" He's like, "I gave them to you. "No you didn't." Then we were all like, "CRAP!!!!" Long story short, I called up a member who's good at fixing/breaking into things lol! And we broke into the car.... But the miracle... One of the workers at the airport was on her way out and said, "Do you have a problem?" Well Elder Tham and Elder Collett were busy with her and while they were talking they got on the subject of religion. And tonight we are hoping to see her. Wow, God is truely Mysterious!!!!
THANKS AGAIN!!!!!
LOVE YOU HEAPS!!!!!!!!
ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
P.S. Hope you're enjoying the snow!
We had a great week! Full of miracles and lots of hard work paid off! Monday was crazy! We had a lesson with the Samoan family, the Apineru's, and the two oldest girls were having some serious doubts about getting baptized. There were really worried that they would mess up after being baptized. They are a bit caught up in the world right now. So we are helping them. But luckily Elder Collett did a fantastic job addressing their real concern! And they are all set to get baptized this weekend, all 4 of them!
Tuesday was crazy, were had District Meeting in Nuhaka (where the church first began in New Zealand) then came back and went crazy to teach as many lessons as we could before we had to catch our flight up to Auckland. Well Mia, whose set for the 18th, went through a rough patch were her grandpa was filling her with heaps of doubts. So once again we had to address her concern. And we were really worried about losing her! But we caught the plane, I wasn't in a good mood because of that, but when we landed we got a text and she said that she apoligizes for what happened. She realized what had happened. And for that I am so grateful! That's one thing that I ALWAYS tell my investigators: that Satan will do all he can to make sure that you don't get baptized. And we tell them to watch our for these things, but UNLESS they recognize it (like Mia did) they fall off. It just upsets me that we tell them and then it happens, and they start to doubt. It's like having a little kid and you tell them not to touch the stove because it'll burn them, then they do it, and you think, "Boy you are dumb... I told you that would happen." It just makes me upset. But just like Ether 12:6 says, "first comes the trial THEN a witness..." So we have been a little stressed about that, but I knew this would happen. If God is going to bless us with so many baptisms and miracles, then there has to be OPPOSITION!!! (not that I am a fan of that), but it's the way it goes.
Another miracle with Mia was that her partner Tony, hasn't been in support of her at all, in fact they live with her dad and he hates churchies and won't let us come by. Well we all have been praying that their hearts would be softened and to our surprise, Mia called and told us that her partner wants to learn and that we her dad said it would be ok if we came to her dad's house! And Tony came to church yesterday and we committed him to be baptized! MIRACLE!
Right now we have a total of 15 people set to be baptized!!!! That would be another new Zone Best!!!! Very excited about that! In fact, we had more sets than one of the biggest zones in Auckland.... Good for us, but not for them....... Heavenly Father is just pouring out the blessings in abundance right now!!!
We flew back to Gisborne Thursday night and you won't believe it. I accidently locked the keys in the car... Hence, God works in mysterious ways.... So you just have to imagine with me. It's 8:45 at night, at this po-dump airport. I'm sure my dad knows what I'm talking about when I say that. It's an airport where you walk, drop off your bags, NO security, and get on the plane. It's RUGGED LOL!! That's it. So it's in the middle of nowhere. And the airport is closed, and remember Gisborne, everything shuts down at 5 p.m. anyway. So there's no way that we can get a locksmith unless we want to pay a couple 100 bucks... What happened was this. I was putting the luggage in the car, well as they were handing me stuff I wasn't paying attention because I was talking. Elder Beckstead handed me the keys and I just kept doing what I was doing and put them in the car and closed the trunk. Then as I'm walking to the car I said "Hey Elder Beckstead, wanna throw me the keys?" He's like, "I gave them to you. "No you didn't." Then we were all like, "CRAP!!!!" Long story short, I called up a member who's good at fixing/breaking into things lol! And we broke into the car.... But the miracle... One of the workers at the airport was on her way out and said, "Do you have a problem?" Well Elder Tham and Elder Collett were busy with her and while they were talking they got on the subject of religion. And tonight we are hoping to see her. Wow, God is truely Mysterious!!!!
THANKS AGAIN!!!!!
LOVE YOU HEAPS!!!!!!!!
ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
P.S. Hope you're enjoying the snow!
Monday, November 29, 2010
MIRACLES!!!!!!! 6 SET!!!!
KIA ORA!!!!
So I just have to tell you...... I'm still buzzing out about the BYU game!!!! How in the WORLD DO WE LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Lord is going to have to continue to chasten me when it comes to refs lol!!!! But still!!!!!!!!!!!! REFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I might be half way around the world but I still bleed blue!!!!!!
Anyway.... Back to the spiritual side of things!
We had many AMAZING MIRACLES where the Lord continued to bless us like none other! We were blessed to set 6 people for baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the Zone is flourishing! As a Zone, we have 14 people set! That is more than some of the city zones baptize! So people can't say that Gisborne (which people think, "you can't baptize") can't baptize!! I am really loving Gisborne! The people are still "different" but I love them! I am really enjoying my mission right now.
We set the only Samoan family in our area lol (everyone is either Maori, Pakieha (pok-ke-a, white people), or Tongan) But we got the only Samoans! I LOVE that family so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the Apineru Aiga (family). I have been praying that God would help us and bless us with the opportunity to set them for baptism! And He did, Saturday we set them!!! A while back, Elder Sessions and I were out tracting, and we had knocked on their door, but the daughter didn't seem too keen on having us come back. But a week later, we got a referral from a member to go see this family! And ever since we've been teaching them! There is Sister Apineru (a member) Oleeta 19, Vali 18, Lea 14, AJ 9, Nea 7, and Nico 4. Just a beautiful family!
We had heard that they didn't really like our ward and wanted to go to the third ward because they knew some people over there! So I was freaking out because I love that family and I didn't want to lose more of our investigators to the other Elders. So I felt like asking a Tongan Family fellowship them. Well everyone thought it was a bad idea. Even the Bishop, his remark when I told him that we were going to get the Latu's to fellowship the Apineru's, "Have you ever seen the Samoans and Tongans play rugby? It's nasty." I was blown away! I was like it doesn't matter whether you're white, black, brown, Japanese, American, or Spanish. We are all God's children, and we Love everyone regardless. If we have a problem with that, then we are not being true followers of Christ. So I went ahead with it anyway. Elder Collett baked some brownies and we gave it to the Latu's to give to them. And guess what?! Sister Latu and her niece (not a member but she pretty much is a member, just not baptized) hasn't missed church in a year! lol! Missionaries have never taught her, they all thought she was baptized, so we're going to start teaching her (another miracle)! We went over and stayed over there for 2 hours just talking! And on Sunday they sat with the Latu's and the Apineru kids all went with Latu's kids to class and LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! They are set for the December 11!!!! LUCKY 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mia is also re-set for either the 11th or the 18th. She is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We taught her the Word of Wisdom, and she gave everything up straightway. It's been like 6 days since she's done anything!!! We taught her chastity, and she told her partner that they need to get married. He said "no", so she said "see ya later." She is so determined to keep all the commandments of God!!!!! She is A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!! I love teaching her! She calls us her older brothers lol, and we call her our older sister, she's 26 lol!
And can you handle one more miracle?!!! Hope so! We got a call on Friday that someone from Auckland is moving down here and set for baptism! Well a couple of weeks ago, Elder Magleby baptized some Hoopers and said that they have family in Gisborne and to keep an eye out for them. So we've been looking around, seeing if we can find them. Well guess what? This kid is the Hoopers' kid and he moved in with his Grandparents! So as I'm talking to the Grandparents I was like, "Do you know anything about the church?" And they go on about Elder Magleby and the Hoopers and I was freaking out! Anyway, his name is Raymond (17) he came down on Saturday and he walked to church yesterday!!!! And he's KEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Set for the 18th! I talked to Magbleby last night and he was so happy that we found that family and set Raymond for baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many miracles, I don't know why God is blessing us so much!
Then we also got another blessing, the Elders are so busy with Kaiti that they don't have time to cover Mangapapa, so we got permission from President Porter and we are now covering it! And that area is pumping!!!!!!!!! We starting working in it this last week and WOW!!! Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KEEP PRAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AROHA (a-doe-ha, LOVE)
Elder Belnap
FULLY INEVESTED
IN
MY MISSION!!!!
So I just have to tell you...... I'm still buzzing out about the BYU game!!!! How in the WORLD DO WE LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Lord is going to have to continue to chasten me when it comes to refs lol!!!! But still!!!!!!!!!!!! REFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I might be half way around the world but I still bleed blue!!!!!!
Anyway.... Back to the spiritual side of things!
We had many AMAZING MIRACLES where the Lord continued to bless us like none other! We were blessed to set 6 people for baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the Zone is flourishing! As a Zone, we have 14 people set! That is more than some of the city zones baptize! So people can't say that Gisborne (which people think, "you can't baptize") can't baptize!! I am really loving Gisborne! The people are still "different" but I love them! I am really enjoying my mission right now.
We set the only Samoan family in our area lol (everyone is either Maori, Pakieha (pok-ke-a, white people), or Tongan) But we got the only Samoans! I LOVE that family so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the Apineru Aiga (family). I have been praying that God would help us and bless us with the opportunity to set them for baptism! And He did, Saturday we set them!!! A while back, Elder Sessions and I were out tracting, and we had knocked on their door, but the daughter didn't seem too keen on having us come back. But a week later, we got a referral from a member to go see this family! And ever since we've been teaching them! There is Sister Apineru (a member) Oleeta 19, Vali 18, Lea 14, AJ 9, Nea 7, and Nico 4. Just a beautiful family!
We had heard that they didn't really like our ward and wanted to go to the third ward because they knew some people over there! So I was freaking out because I love that family and I didn't want to lose more of our investigators to the other Elders. So I felt like asking a Tongan Family fellowship them. Well everyone thought it was a bad idea. Even the Bishop, his remark when I told him that we were going to get the Latu's to fellowship the Apineru's, "Have you ever seen the Samoans and Tongans play rugby? It's nasty." I was blown away! I was like it doesn't matter whether you're white, black, brown, Japanese, American, or Spanish. We are all God's children, and we Love everyone regardless. If we have a problem with that, then we are not being true followers of Christ. So I went ahead with it anyway. Elder Collett baked some brownies and we gave it to the Latu's to give to them. And guess what?! Sister Latu and her niece (not a member but she pretty much is a member, just not baptized) hasn't missed church in a year! lol! Missionaries have never taught her, they all thought she was baptized, so we're going to start teaching her (another miracle)! We went over and stayed over there for 2 hours just talking! And on Sunday they sat with the Latu's and the Apineru kids all went with Latu's kids to class and LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! They are set for the December 11!!!! LUCKY 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mia is also re-set for either the 11th or the 18th. She is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We taught her the Word of Wisdom, and she gave everything up straightway. It's been like 6 days since she's done anything!!! We taught her chastity, and she told her partner that they need to get married. He said "no", so she said "see ya later." She is so determined to keep all the commandments of God!!!!! She is A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!! I love teaching her! She calls us her older brothers lol, and we call her our older sister, she's 26 lol!
And can you handle one more miracle?!!! Hope so! We got a call on Friday that someone from Auckland is moving down here and set for baptism! Well a couple of weeks ago, Elder Magleby baptized some Hoopers and said that they have family in Gisborne and to keep an eye out for them. So we've been looking around, seeing if we can find them. Well guess what? This kid is the Hoopers' kid and he moved in with his Grandparents! So as I'm talking to the Grandparents I was like, "Do you know anything about the church?" And they go on about Elder Magleby and the Hoopers and I was freaking out! Anyway, his name is Raymond (17) he came down on Saturday and he walked to church yesterday!!!! And he's KEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Set for the 18th! I talked to Magbleby last night and he was so happy that we found that family and set Raymond for baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many miracles, I don't know why God is blessing us so much!
Then we also got another blessing, the Elders are so busy with Kaiti that they don't have time to cover Mangapapa, so we got permission from President Porter and we are now covering it! And that area is pumping!!!!!!!!! We starting working in it this last week and WOW!!! Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KEEP PRAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AROHA (a-doe-ha, LOVE)
Elder Belnap
FULLY INEVESTED
IN
MY MISSION!!!!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!
Kia Ora!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!! Man I'm missing "basting" the turkey! lol! And I'm missing that apple pie, hmmm... But I did enjoy those pumpkin cookies, they were gone in a couple days lol!
We had a really good experience this week. We were planning on setting the Samoan family, but during the lesson I just couldn't set them. And I had the feeling that we should go back the next day and talk to the mom about baptizing her children. So the next day we go see her. And she pulls up just after we pull in, good timing huh! She starts telling us how happy she is that we come and visit her. And then she starts crying and she tells us that she wants her children to be baptized!!!! How cool is that! So when they get back from Hastings' were going to talk about them getting baptized! Next month we are planning on baptizing five!! It's going to take a lot of work and faith but it can happen!
We talked to someone yesterday and they want us to baptize their son! So that's another good miracle!
We had some rough things happen this week. We found three new investigators that are really keen. And we were planning on setting them, just really good. But this week the moved to the other ward! Man I was pretty upset just because we are having a hard time getting keen investigators, and so when they moved we not only lost some of our baptism propects but we also lost some of our few investigators. But the Lord provided, the next day we found two new investigators.
I love Gisborne. It's got it hard parts, but I learn and grow from them.
The zone is really struggling this month. We've only baptized two this month. And we are projected to get only three. Next month looks really good! We are looking at breaking the Zone Best again! And our goal for the zone is 14!! So we really need your prayers!
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!
CAN'T WAIT FOR THE CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!! Man I'm missing "basting" the turkey! lol! And I'm missing that apple pie, hmmm... But I did enjoy those pumpkin cookies, they were gone in a couple days lol!
We had a really good experience this week. We were planning on setting the Samoan family, but during the lesson I just couldn't set them. And I had the feeling that we should go back the next day and talk to the mom about baptizing her children. So the next day we go see her. And she pulls up just after we pull in, good timing huh! She starts telling us how happy she is that we come and visit her. And then she starts crying and she tells us that she wants her children to be baptized!!!! How cool is that! So when they get back from Hastings' were going to talk about them getting baptized! Next month we are planning on baptizing five!! It's going to take a lot of work and faith but it can happen!
We talked to someone yesterday and they want us to baptize their son! So that's another good miracle!
We had some rough things happen this week. We found three new investigators that are really keen. And we were planning on setting them, just really good. But this week the moved to the other ward! Man I was pretty upset just because we are having a hard time getting keen investigators, and so when they moved we not only lost some of our baptism propects but we also lost some of our few investigators. But the Lord provided, the next day we found two new investigators.
I love Gisborne. It's got it hard parts, but I learn and grow from them.
The zone is really struggling this month. We've only baptized two this month. And we are projected to get only three. Next month looks really good! We are looking at breaking the Zone Best again! And our goal for the zone is 14!! So we really need your prayers!
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!
CAN'T WAIT FOR THE CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
DAMIEN, RACHEL & NAOMI'S BAPTISM!
Hello Family!!!
We had a GREAT week! We had a full on week as well!
First off, we flew up to Auckland for a Zone Leader Training! That was really fun! It was different being on a plane! I was about to tell President if he keeps putting me on a plane he's going to make me homesick lol!!! The training was really fun! Learned a lot! Then we flew back on Wednesday night! Then Thursday I was not feeling good at all! I slept til 4 pm then had to get up to go to our lessons... I'm fine now, I just think I caught a little something. But all good!
Friday, we had the Alovili family baptism!!!! That was GREAT!!! Heaps of people there! Super super stressful though. The baptism was SUPPOSED to start at 5:30, but didn't get started til 6:15! And the brother that was supposed to baptize the children couldn't make it!!! Find out probably one minute before they get baptized. And the wife threw some clothes to some other Tongan at the baptism to baptize the kids! Talk about crazy and stressful!!!! But they got baptized. Which is all that matters! Then I got to confirm all three of the kids on Sunday! That was wonderful!
We had tradeoff and luckily I was in a different area and we had a great day. Well my companion went to a Tongan wedding for lunch and apparently one of the 20 pigs (no joke) was cooked properly and everyone got food poisoning that ate it. And it just so happens that it was my companion and another missionary. So he had a long time where he was more on the toilet than he slept, he even missed the confirmations because he was on the toilet, poor guy. Then we made the 8 hour trip to Auckland!! With two people that have food poisioning LOL!!!! Have you heard of anything crazier!!!!!
We just got back from Auckland a couple of hours ago. We had a Mission Conference with Elder Hinckley! It was powerful! Really wonderful! We as a mission have been really blessed. The general authorities talked about how this mission is on fire! And how this mission has improved so much! That this mission is one of the few that is having so much rapid success! Elder Hinckley described this mission as a "on the go" mission! So it makes you feel good to have such wonderful compliments from a General Authority.
We found some really choice people this week as well where Heavenly Father placed us right in the perfect spot at the perfect timing for us to meet certain people! Always a blessing!
I'm really tired and we have a packed night tonight as well as tradeoffs so it's a bit short of email!
I LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!!!!
MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!!!
I AM FULLY INVESTED IN MY MISSION!!!!!!!!
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!
KEEP SMILING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
We had a GREAT week! We had a full on week as well!
First off, we flew up to Auckland for a Zone Leader Training! That was really fun! It was different being on a plane! I was about to tell President if he keeps putting me on a plane he's going to make me homesick lol!!! The training was really fun! Learned a lot! Then we flew back on Wednesday night! Then Thursday I was not feeling good at all! I slept til 4 pm then had to get up to go to our lessons... I'm fine now, I just think I caught a little something. But all good!
Friday, we had the Alovili family baptism!!!! That was GREAT!!! Heaps of people there! Super super stressful though. The baptism was SUPPOSED to start at 5:30, but didn't get started til 6:15! And the brother that was supposed to baptize the children couldn't make it!!! Find out probably one minute before they get baptized. And the wife threw some clothes to some other Tongan at the baptism to baptize the kids! Talk about crazy and stressful!!!! But they got baptized. Which is all that matters! Then I got to confirm all three of the kids on Sunday! That was wonderful!
We had tradeoff and luckily I was in a different area and we had a great day. Well my companion went to a Tongan wedding for lunch and apparently one of the 20 pigs (no joke) was cooked properly and everyone got food poisoning that ate it. And it just so happens that it was my companion and another missionary. So he had a long time where he was more on the toilet than he slept, he even missed the confirmations because he was on the toilet, poor guy. Then we made the 8 hour trip to Auckland!! With two people that have food poisioning LOL!!!! Have you heard of anything crazier!!!!!
We just got back from Auckland a couple of hours ago. We had a Mission Conference with Elder Hinckley! It was powerful! Really wonderful! We as a mission have been really blessed. The general authorities talked about how this mission is on fire! And how this mission has improved so much! That this mission is one of the few that is having so much rapid success! Elder Hinckley described this mission as a "on the go" mission! So it makes you feel good to have such wonderful compliments from a General Authority.
We found some really choice people this week as well where Heavenly Father placed us right in the perfect spot at the perfect timing for us to meet certain people! Always a blessing!
I'm really tired and we have a packed night tonight as well as tradeoffs so it's a bit short of email!
I LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!!!!
MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!!!
I AM FULLY INVESTED IN MY MISSION!!!!!!!!
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!
KEEP SMILING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Belnap
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