Sunday, December 27, 2015

Merry Christmas & New Years challenge...


Merry Christmas!!! That is basically what this week was all about! So you get to hear about Christmas all over again! So with it being Christmas heaps of people were not home... So because of that we basically did a whole lot of nothing... Monday we went to a place called Peha. Its a really cool popular beach. Lots of surfers, and tourists! But then Tuesday we got up to basically nothing. 
    
    For Christmas Eve we went to a family in the wards house, The Semu's. We spent until about 7 there and then we went caroling with the Zone to see peoples Investigators and sing to them! So that was really fun! The families were really happy to see us and to get to see so many missionaries! Then we had a Zone sleepover with all of the Elders! We were up so late just having fun and making a mess. We then woke up and Elder Willardsen and I went home to open presents and get ready for breakfast at 10:30. So we had Christmas Breakfast with a Chinese Lady, She made chicken, Rice, and Dumplings. We stayed there for an hour ish. After that we went to the flat for a break before lunch at a Tongan families house. We had a HUGE feast there. They are a really rich Tongan family so they went all out on everything. So we got Oti (really good fruit drink), Ham, Roast beef, Potato Salad, and Taro. Then we had another break at the flat before we went to go to the Prasad's house for the rest of the night and there we played games and just hung out. Then we spent the last hour on Mt. Pukamateco. Its a Mountain that looks over the entire stake and you can see everything. We met the Zone up there and were able to spend the time with them!
   
    I woke up on Tuesday morning with a big red spot on my leg and I know believe that it is a spider bite. So I that has been going on for a few days and it hurts and yeah... I decided to wait until Sunday night to call the mission doctor about it and she said we will just put heat on it and try to get it to go away. So we will see what happens.

    The 26th was a great day. I was able to Skype home to my family and talk with them. It was actually pretty hard to talk to them and have to say goodbye again but it was such a blessing to see them! After that we played games at the Semu's home and we went to dinner and played Touch with a big group of people. So it was really fun!

    This week with New Years coming up I just want to extend a challenge to everyone. I would love for everyone to look at real New Years Goals. Among all of the goals I would love for some of them to be Spiritual minded goals. Whatever you can do this next year to come closer to Christ. I would love to hear about those Goals next week and If I can do anything to help you meet those goals I would Love to help you with that. Please Pray and possibly even Fast so that you can honestly see the things that the Lord would want you to improve on. 

Thanks for the great Christmas spirit! And as always thank you for your love and Prayers!

Love Elder Seelos!

That is the Prasads family...where we went Christmas evening

Me and Elder Willardsen at Piha

Christmas morning

Mt Pukamateco

This is what happens at lunch when its really hot and humid. 


Sunday, December 20, 2015

Transfers! And it's a small world.....


Hello family!

This week was really good! We did a lot of fun things! So Monday we went to the Beach and got to be with most of the other missionaries in the zone! So Tuesday we had District Meeting, which I thought went really well! We just had a discussion about how to best work with our members! It was probably one of the better district meetings I have had. After that Elder Leung (Elder in my district) was feeling sick and didn't really want to go back to his area and walk around the whole time so I went with him and took the car there. We spent like half the day in the flat because he had a nasty stomach virus. But there were people he wanted to see because he was transferring so we did get out a bit to go and see them! 

So for any leadership changes President usually calls you to tell you that your changing leadership, and that usually happens Sunday or Monday. So after getting no call I figured I would be staying and not moving. So then while I was on trade off the Zone Leaders called to tell me all of the transfer news to tell the district. So they called and said that I would be moving to Henderson! I will be District Leader over there and have a new district and new everything. So yes I was transferred. I am now in the West Harbor ward with Elder Willardsen. It's actually interesting... Remember how Hayden Hale (a missionary from Mason's home ward) had a missionary leave from his ward on the mission to Auckland? Well his name is Elder Willardsen, and he is my new Comp! haha. What are the chances??? He come out in November so I am Follow-up Training him. So 6 more weeks of Training! 6 solid months! haha... But whatever! I'm happy!  Elder Willardson is the Man!!! He is so good! He is 19 and just came out. He went to UVU for a semester before he came. He is confident and ready and loving it. He is a great missionary! He's really fun and has a good sense of humor! So I am really excited to spend a transfer with him!

So the new flat... That is interesting... Its ok... Not terrible but makes me miss my old flat. Its just old and falling apart and kind of gross. But that's what I signed up for right! haha. It's a basement house that is being rented out. It's all good and the area is MASSIVE!!! Like HUGE! really. Its like an hour to and hour and a half to go from the bottom to the top of the area. But we have the same amount of K's as my last area so we will try to get more! Its been really fun so far. Its a pretty white ward, so that's good and bad I guess. I'm use to more of an Island ward but I'll re-adjust. 

Well Wednesday was really hard. That is when I had to say goodbye to everyone. Some were hard some were harder... Its almost like leaving home again. I had gotten to know all of those people so well and then I just have to get up and leave. Idk if you remember Alvin and Cheryl. But they are a less active family I found my first transfer and I have been visiting ever since. That was probably the hardest people to say goodbye to. I ALMOST shed a tear. Almost. But they gave us a Christmas gift and there was a letter inside that had my name on it.  So that was cool. I really love them.

Then the end of the week has just been meeting people, and setting up Christmas. It will be fun to be here. I'm loving it so far!

Love you so much!

Love Elder Seelos
P.S. Oh did I tell you I got a package from Ben and Brenda and from Grandma and Grandpa Seelos?  Thank you!!!!!!  
P Day hike

Danielle and kids...Alex is the one closest to me that I baptized a few months ago.

This is Alvin and Cheryl.

and their dog Woody :)

Brother Takau and kids
My zone (picture sent to my mom from Elder Dalton's mom) Missionary moms LOVE Facebook!

Enjoying beautiful New Zealand!


Sunday, December 13, 2015

Temple trip & transfers coming up...


Hey Family!!! 

     How is everyone? Im glad to hear all about your week! I love getting to see what you are all doing and how everyone is doing! 

      So this week had been good. I will start with the Highlight of the week! That would have to be the Temple! I loved getting to go there and get to go through the Temple and feel of the great spirit there! I was able to go with all o f the missionaries from my zone and from a different stake also.  We did a session & Initiatory.  So I got to meet new missionaries and talk with them! So it was really good! I was talking to a Missionary from Mt. Roscall Zone and he is from Farmington and went to Viewmont! He graduated last year. We knew a lot of the same people. His name is Elder Maxfield. Apparently his little brother is on the bike team with Ty! Hes a really nice guy and it was nice to get to see him and talk about home!

       The next good thing about this week was the Christmas Party the ward had! We got to go and just have fun with the ward! I love getting to see them all and talk to them and just help them trust us and develop friendships there. Danielle (the mother of the kid I just baptized) showed up. We were able to talk with her because we haven't seen her for a while. She came with her Ex-partner. He is the one who went to Jail for restraining order issues. He is apparently changing and coming back. So we will see what happens there. He is a really nice guy and so I hope that he has changed and can help motivate Danielle to keep going. 

         The other great thing this week was yesterday the stake showed the First Presidency Christmas video. Usually to go to things like that we have to have an Investigator with us. As we were texting people trying to get someone to come so that we could also go the Zone Leaders texted us and told us that we didn't have to have anyone and could go either way but to try to get people there. So we got to go and it was an hour long and I loved it so much! It was so great! I loved the spirit it brought and to be honest made me a bit home sick thinking about it all. But I'm so grateful to be out here serving Christ this year!

       So the last thing is my investigators. I guess this week has been really slow and it seemed like all of our investigators are either gone or really not moving anywhere. I just cant figure out what it is that these people need to progress. Whether it be coming to church or it being reading the Book of Mormon or just doing what we ask. Its just hard to see people I care so much about not progress. So please just keep them in your prayers.

      Last of all it is that time again! Transfer week! So I will let you know next week what happens. I have very mixed feelings. I don't know whether I want to stay or go... I love the people but I want to see new areas... So just pray for what is right.

    Thank you for the 3 levels of Christmas article mom.  Christmas is such a special time and I am also really hoping that it means that I can focus on other things this Christmas. I love the thoughts of having a more meaningful Christmas.


          Thank you for the prayers and love!!

                             Love Elder Seelos

My Christmas Tree...Thanks mom & girls.

Hanging out

Elder Inglis & I at the temple

Elder Dalton & I enjoying our ice cream

Our temple trip.  It was awesome!

Sister Balli sent me this picture from the bus ride home from the temple.  Poor Elder Inglis had a long day.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

A baptism set...I hope!

     Hey Family!! I'm glad to hear that Festival went so well! I have to say that I'm actually really jealous that I missed it. So you better keep doing it when I get home. Because I just love it there! It's honestly the best! It is the best feeling in the world. There is no better way to get into the Christmas Spirit!

      So this week has been... Interesting. Last week I'm not sure if I said this or not but we had a set baptism date!!! Her name is Raewyn and she is preparing to be baptized. She is a Former Investigator that we just decided to stop into and see a few weeks ago and she decided then and there she wanted to be baptized so we have been teaching the lessons to her again. So we have taught the first three lessons (Restoration, Plan Of Salvation, and Gospel of Jesus Christ). So while we were teaching her Gospel Of Jesus Christ, she broke down and started to tell us about all this stuff that is going on with her and her Ex-Partner, don't want to  go into much detail but in the end she basically told us that she was feeling suicidal and so we called the Relief Society President (Sister Tina Pauga) and she was able to come over and talk to her more and they called an ambulance to take her to the Hospital to be watched and get some help. So that was on Saturday Night so we have to push back her date because she missed church yesterday. So that's the exciting story of the week. After that lesson we had like half and hour to an hour tell we had to be home and both me and Elder Inglis decided we needed an easy calm down visit with someone so we went to one of our favorite Less Actives and talked to him and basically hung out tell 9 and were able to relive our stress. So that was nice. 

       So this week we had Zone Training and so we talked about our members and how to best work with them to help us in our work. So that meant no District meeting so that was really nice! I didn't have to prepare anything. After Zone training on Thursday we had Trade-Off with Mt. Albert Elders. I went into their area and walked/biked all day and it was actually really fun! It was fun until we started to head back to the Flat at like 8:30 which was about 2 K's away so like 1 mile ish. So we were riding and I tried to shift gears and the chain came off and got stuck in the pedals, and after 5 minutes of twisting and pulling and stress we decided that it wasn't coming off. So I got on the bike and I was going to push it, but then I realized that the wheels still work so I put one foot on the pedal and I pushed with the other foot like it was a Scooter or a longboard and I did that for like 20 minutes up and down hills all the way back to the flat! It was SOOOOO FUN!!! Haha. I'm very grateful for my longboarding training for that. Elder Mahreza tried to do it and gave up after like 2 minutes because his leg was shaking and he couldn't hold himself up like that! Its was awesome!

      Yesterday one of my mission dreams came true. We were at the Flat and the Samoan Elders had stopped by and we were talking during Lunch and all of a Sudden we heard a knock at the door, and we looked over and through the glass we saw the outline of a little plump white guy. So we started to freak out thinking it was the flat inspector and our flat may have been a bit dirty from the lunch we just made. After having a little heart attack and opening the door we realized it wasn't the inspector it was someone better! It was a "missionary" from Jehovah Witness. So we talked to him for a bit and I will promise you that they are just as annoying and crazy as everyone says. It was crazy! It was also very funny! He sounded more like a sales person then a religious person. It was so weird...

     I have some very great news for everyone! We were informed by President Bali this week that this year the mission will let us SKYPE home for Christmas!!! So I will get to see you guys!!!! So yeah that's some pretty great news!!! Also I got all three Packages. Thanksgiving, and Christmas from mom & dad, and I got a Package from Grandma & Grandpa Hanni! I loved them all! 

     So that's my email this week. Please pray for Raewyn that she will be able to work through her issues and work towards baptism again. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts! Love you!!!
Fun day at the Auckland Museum.  And another ugly thrift store shirt...(that last part added by mom!) 

I'm adorable

The stocks

Me & my cars....