Week 55

Hi Everyone :D

Yes we can wear beanies, yes I have a beanie, no I don't wear it haha (I asked him can they wear beanines, seeing his maximum temperature some days this week will only be 8c)

No holes in the jumper. make it dirty to clean it??? that makes total sense..... I'll give it a go. no I didn't satck - i'm to good to stack my bike now i've been riding 1 year :P (Last week his jumper got caught in the wheel of his bike, just told him a way to try and get the grease off it)

Elder Niu'unga left I got Elder Vaili from Samoa - another islander haha  

a bit about the new district;

Elder Glass is with Elder Tuiaki (tongan from utah) 

Elder Gilmore is training Elder Kinau (from Australia fairfield stake haha) and E.Gilmore is the DL too 

Elder Ioteeba is with Elder Fili (Yes elder Fili again)

ZL are Elder Noa and E. Tibbits 

Sis Frederick is training Sis Vailea (from tonga)

I played the piano at sis D's volunteer work - an old people community centre haha they enjoyed it. N is all good to go. We had a pretty cool exp when we were biking in the street (E. Niu'unga was still here) and this woman just stops her car and asks us if we're the mormon missionaries and if we can come over some time. 

Taught sunday school this week trying to get youth to participate in a lesson is like pulling teeth esp when they have smart phones..... was I ever that bad?? (He was never that bad!! He didn't have a smart phone!! hahaha)

We're climbing a mountain for p'day apparently so should have some good photos next week.

have some photos from the past week.

Love you all

Elder Cox 

Ice on the ground still at 11am.

Look Mum...No hands!!

And Elder Niu'unga can do it too!

Elder Tuaki and Elder Nui'unga.

Elder Niu'unga saying goodbye 

before he was transferred.

Reilly and his new companion Elder Vaili.

Week 54

Hi Everyone :D

This weeks been alright. No news about transfers, as always :P  We had FHE with J on Monday and they loved it, surprising enough he knows the primary songs... so I don't know what's stopping him from being baptised, he seems to have a decent knowledge of things and he has nothing against the church. and then we had dinner with them as well.
no H hasn't set another date :/ and yep N is all good, with it at first I think she was a little disappointed about not being able to get baptised in a river, but it looked like she thought about it and realised it doesn't really matter where we get baptised as long as it's water. Sister D is a tough one hahaha she is very .... stubborn (like most catholics I suppose haha :P) but she is willing to keep commitments just not baptism  

 We helped the G Family move some more this week too after they fed us smoked fish for dinner.

Photo below is what happens when you hang your jumper off your bag and the wheel decides to grab it .... any suggestions on how to get rid of the chain grease from the jumper, I soaked it washed it... 

Ether 14:23 - Here. Rotorua....hehehe (Because of the sulphur thermals!)

Love you all :D

Elder Cox

Reilly's District.

Week 53

Hey Everyone :D

Week was good, met N who was happy that we we believed that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are separate beings. H felt like it was too fast so we haven't set another baptismal date with him. N asked if she could be baptised in a river. (not sure if I told you) so we asked Pres and he said no haha (that wasn't a surprise tbh) We helped 2 member families move on saturday service for the week hahaha. Then on the way to church our WML asked if we could take gospel principles so we taught that and then there was no Elders Quorum Presidency there either so we got asked to teach that too bc the High Priests were doing something so we couldn't combine. Sis D (one of our investigators) almost came to church but she didn't, at least she's still reading scriptures. hopefully tonight we have a FHE with J. 

Today we did outdoor laser tag for P'day it was heaps of fun :D so yeah 

Pres Rudd quote:

"Anyone who regards the Sabbath as a day of rest isn't very active in the church"

Scriptures:

Ether 2:14 - Here. don't forget to pray.

Mormon 9:14 Here. - if you're unhappy living the gospel don't think it will be any different in the celestial kingdom.

Not much to say so that's all for this week

Love you all

Elder Cox

Photos from laser tag.

More laser tag.

Week 52

Hey Everyone :D

This week was awesome we didn't get out too much having the Zone conference all Tuesday and Mission conference all Saturday and Church sunday, too many meetings hahaha.

This was a Frozen week, literally. We put a yoghurt tub with water in it outside over night and half of it was frozen in the morning (pics) and the frosts hahaha Elder Niu'unga thought it was snow "Is that snow??!?" HAHA but I guess he's never seen frost before either being from Tonga and all, and we could even see our breath INSIDE the flat!!! 

Zone Conference we all went to Pres B's and no Dad I didn't lay down. I was smart tho bc even tho everyone thought it was freezing I wore a short sleeve so I would have to get out of everything to get jabbed. (He got his flu shot. He usually feels dizzy or faints when he gets needles...it's just how his body reacts!) We were with Tauranga zone as well so I got to catch up with Elder Morley. I got the package you sent. President is good, we all love his sense of humour. He talked about the greatest thing he could teach us as our Mission President is to live by the Spirit. 

Mission conference was amazing. yes I got to see Elder Pinono and Sister Inia and Sister Snow. Elder Pinono says hello (he was very adamant that I got that message to you ok hahahaha he told me like 5 times to say hello to you and Dad)  We only got to shake Elder Cook's hand as we went past. He did it at the start of the meeting, he wasn't expecting so many of us but he said he wanted to shake all our hands. And Taylor, guess what, he said he assigns missionaries to Mission Presidents not missions or countries haha you could see Pres Rudd was very happy about that after he said it haha 

Now I'm not sure if he was your boss, but the name rang a bell so did you work with Paul Coward Dad?? bc he was one of the seventy who spoke at the conference. He gave us counsel to Love our companions, the people we serve, our mission president and his wife, and to love the Lord. he spoke about some more things too but my note book is in the flat. Elder Cook invoked a powerful blessing at the end which we were all very grateful for. 

It was sad to hear about Elder L.Tom Perry dying, I thought he looked quite healthy but it seems like the Lord needs him on the other side.

13 degrees isn't cold Mum..... hahahahaha :D I'm still cheeky I know

We went Site seeing for P'day today (hence the late email) so have a bunch of photos :P 

Scriptures:

1 Nephi 3 Here. and 4 Here. How the tried to get the Brass plates. 

Attempt 1: chance and did not seek the Lord's advice despite it being a commandment from Him. did not get the plates (chap3 v10,11).

Attempt 2: made a plan but still failed to include the Lord, used their own logic, ie the wisdom of man. did not get the plates (chap3 v22-26)

Attempt 3: Were led by the Spirit and received the plates (chap4 v6,7,18)

lesson to learn; include the Lord in you plans and Live by the Spirit and you will have success

1 Nephi 5:21-22 Here. (don't know if i've already sent this) Scriptures are desirable and of great worth :)

Love you all 

Elder Cox

Catching up with friends at conference with 

Elder Cook, one of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Pinono and Reilly.

The frozen water they left outside overnight.

How much ice was in the container.

Frost!!

Where he went for P-day today.

More of the lake.

Looking from a different angle.

Reilly and some of his district. 

"Look what I found!!"

The back of the Ute.

Reilly and other Elders again.

His friend from home, Elder Glass, 

who was called to the same mission, 

and now they get to see each other on P-days.

More of the lake.

"Badge in the sand" photo.

If you can call it sand!

All the badges of the missionaries in the district.

Week 51

HELLO EVERYONE :D

How big are your strawberries then HAHAHA 

Yep looks really cold hehehe should be fun

We see Elder Cook on Saturday 30 May and yes same as last time apparently Auckland will be there too. I think it was in 2007 when he was called that I got to meet him before.

This week we met Sister Inia's Uncle!!!! A, we're going there tonight, H is set for baptism on the 13th of June, he's cool and N is sure for the 26th of June. and Sister A loved "Ayo" and "Ayo ayo" when we went for dinner :D (Taylor told him to say that because she is a Filipino sister, and speaks the same language that he learnt.)

We've been working with N this week, even tried to get him to church, didn't work but we invited him to our P'day today - ping pong bc that seems like the best way to get him back, reminding him about his mission, bc he's always happy when he talks about his time in Japan.

The E family are Samoan and everytime we visit them (they're LA) they feed us pork buns, I think I've had enough of the pork buns hahaha 

No I haven't gotten my box yet, probably tmrw at Zone Conference and guess what we all get there, A flu shot, Sister Rudd is sick of missionaries getting sick hahaha :P so i should be warm for the rest of the week.

And we did a heap of service this week stacking wood, helping someone move, mowing a lawn but not actually mowing it haha so we told the person who we were doing their lawn to get petrol for the mower and we would find a mower so we came and there was no petrol so we left; thought it was a good teaching opportunity about being prepared and doing your part that you're responsible for. 

We had a trade off this week too with the DL and he got all the jokes for the day, (the DL is still a Tongan, he's just been out a year and a half so his english is pretty good) made me realise how important language study is for Elder Niu'unga 

 

Elder Glass says 'shot bro' haha

@DAD Welcome to my weather minus the traffic hahahah (Stoo had to go to Melbourne for work and the weather and traffic were awful)

@ TAYLOR the protocols said we couldn't wear a jumper without our suits and he changed the rule so we could wear our jumpers anytime.

Love you all

Elder Cox 

Playing Ping Pong for P-day.

Week 50

Hey Everyone

This week was good it was funny hahaha. I fixed another flat tyre sheesh I don't know why we missionaries get so many either.

 Sis R's (a semi active) son R (yes his name is R R) is a crack up, we rode past on our bikes and 3 of her kids were outside (R is the youngest) and we asked if they were coming to church tmrw and one of the girls says "maybe" and R turns around and goes "NO! We ARE going to church tmrw!!" HAHAHAHA he's probably 5 or 6 it was so funny.

And Sis D our investigator we asked her to read Nephi chapter 1 so we follow up and she goes "I haven't finished the reading I've still got a few pages" she had read up to 1 Nephi chapter 20!!! haha she was trying to read the whole 1 Nephi so we went with it and finished reading 1 Nephi with her hahaha. 

and some tracting responses;

"who are you, what do you want?!?" "we're missionaries" "missionary somewhere else!!" 

and then

*as we hop off our bikes in the driveway* "Harae Atu!" (go away) hahahaha 

We met H this week he's good, came to church once and says he felt drained bc it was so long but that he enjoyed it and wants to keep coming we're looking at setting up a FHE with him bc he knows the P's :) 

haha and at MCM with D K he looks at our progress record with J and S on it; "You're just going thru my family aren't you" hahaha He's good though, still has a strong desire to do the work. 

President said they allowed sweaters again and the next 2 days were absolutely FREEZING (wind from the south off the mountain) so guess what, I wore a jumper hahaha 

(It must have been cold if he thought it was and actually wore a jumper!!)

I was reporting some referrals to Sister Marsden so I said hello from you and Ma and Poppy she says she misses you're happy voice on the phone Dad haha.  

No change with N but she loves to tell everyone that she's joining.

So we're privileged enough to get to hear from another Apostle the end of this month. Elder Quentin L. Cook, I wonder if he would remember shaking my hand all those years ago as a kid. 

Did Taylor end up composing some stuff? music I presume, could he send that if its finished idk what else to send. the more you send the harder it is to fit in in a suitcase haha

Photos

That's not a feijoa, THIS is a Feijoa 

Zone photo

nice view

Scripture:

1 Nephi 21:14-15 Here.

Love you all, Have a great week!

Elder Cox

That's not a feijoa, 

(I've only seen them as big as large strawberries here)

THIS is a feijoa.

The zone.

Nice view.

Week 49

HI ALL :D

Yep good to see you yesterday :)  (We got to Skype with Reilly for Mother's Day, and because of that this week's email is really, really short!!...... But lots of photos!)

bc yeah I'm like Taylor I said everything yesterday. don't know what to email today..... We pretty well ate the same thing you did at the B's; roast pork, chicken  and veges mmmmmm and yes apple sauce and gravy. The B's are cool always fun to go to their house. 

Heaps of photos for you this week tho :D

my hand hahaha  (He cut his hand on an open window frame and needed it stitched/taped together - photos below.)

LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Cox :)

Last week's p-day activity - bowling.

He got a strike, and of course needed to show us!

Reilly and Elder Glass that he knew 

from Sydney before he left. 

Reilly and Elder Gilmour, from England.

They were in the MTC together, 

and keep getting moved into the same district or zones.

Some walnuts.

Elder Niu'unga thought he could take 

a short cut under the bars instead of getting off his bike.

Don't think it's working!

The cut!

Close up!

Taped together!