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!