Elder Gardner: 12/30/24

 

Kirihimete i aotearoa

- Tuesday was christmas eve so in the morning we went to craigs and hung out there. We played uno and talked to his fam and had tacos for lunch so that was a W

- we went caroling with some other elders. We sang silent night and rockin around the christmas tree too many times im sick of those songs now

- went to pres granges for dinner. Hes american and his family is goated. We had dinner, read the story of jesus birth and they even gave us some presents which was sweet. Overall a great christmas eve. 

- Wednesday was christmas day. The morning was nice, we journaled and then got to open out presents. Thanks mom and dad for all the sweet gifts

- we went to brownies house to watch the christmas devotional with her and the speakers + music was really hitting me with the spirit so that was cool

- we went to a senior missionary couples flat for brunch and there was basically half our zone there so we all talked and ate food and had a good time

- after brunch we just came home and called our fams, it was cool for me to still watch my family do the nativity on christmas eve, it basically felt like I was there so that was cool

- dinner was at a members, we just chilled and ate food and played some games. Before bed, elder yapi and I watched 'the christ child' it was nice to feel the spirit on the day that we celebrate jesus birth 

- thursday was boxing day. They celebrate it here in nz, its basically just black friday. So me and elder yapi went down the main street to invite some ppl to church.

- we did some yardwork which was nice, the guy we did it with is pretty funny too.

- had some lessons in the afternoon so that was good.

- it was hard to go from chilling all day on christmas to getting back to work thenext day ngl

- friday was good. We had lunch with christine and antony and we were also able to help them out with some errands

- bus missed out stop when we were going to the church for our mentor meeting so we just did it at a park, very windy but not too bad 

- lesson with our friend jarvis. Hes the man.

- Saturday was good. I forgot to mention but on christmas we got asked to talk at sacrament lol so we worked on our talks a little bit sat morning

- had a comp study with the APs, that was nice

- lots of contacts in the afternoon and then dinner and language study to finish off the night

- i was writing my talk before bed and while I was writing it i thought "maybe i should just not write the talk and just wing it when I get to church" but then another thought came to my head: "maybe you are writing this talk to help you reflect on what youve learned" so i finished the talk and went to sleep

- sunday was chill, we had studies in the morning and then went to church. Jarvis came so that was sick.

- all the missionaries gave their talks and they were awesome, i felt the spirit and when it got to my talk we were already 2 mintues over. So I just bore my testimony on how the spirit had basically prepared me for that situation by prompting me to still write my talk for my own sake. Its pretty cool how God works.

- made some visits after church and then went to dinner and had a mean feed

- today we gotta get yapis bloodwork done and then we will prolly hike up this little hill and then do whatever the other elders are doing, should be good.

This is the last week of the transfer. One part of me wants to finish out Yapis training becuase theres still so much that I feel like I can do to help him, another part of me just wants to get out of this area lol. I reckon that ill be here for the next transfer tho bc the maungakiekie 6 month curse is real. We will find out the news tomorrow night so that's exciting. 

Anyways my spiritual thought is just to let you guys know that brad wilcox talk 'his grace is sufficient' is goated. I listened to it again to prep for my talk and it was even better the 2nd time. So if you havent heard it yet, go look it up. If you have heard it. Listen to it again. Thats all.

Ka kite ano