A baptism and a broken key....

  Well Guess What!!!! We had a Baptism on Saturday... YES!!!! Haha. Elder Bass and I are calling it our Miracle Baptism! We were able to Baptize our Investigator Lucy Aholelei. Lucy is a 9 year old girl. Her whole family is active. So I honestly am not sure why she wasn't baptized yet. I think they are recently returning Less Actives. So the missionaries have been teaching her for about 3 months now. I came in and there were still a few lessons left. So on Monday we talked to them and wanted to set them for the beginning of April. So we talked to them and talked about the 5th(a Tuesday), and they agreed. So we then thought about it and we realized that the next Sunday would be Conference. So we went back on Wednesday and said that we would have to either do it the 2nd or wait until after conference to do the Baptism. Well Brother Aholelei decided he just wanted to get it "Done with!" He had "Waited long enough" So he asked if we could do this Saturday. We told him that we had to teach a bit more but if we saw them every day before the Baptism we could get it knocked out. So we did just that. We taught her on Thursday and Friday and did the Interview an hour before the Baptism on Saturday then She jumped in the water and we did it! It was so great! We were so happy to see her get to make that Covenant. She was so happy all day! So that is our Miracle Baptism!!

     So over all we had a pretty busy week. It was pretty crazy to be honest. We had a lot of appointments to make and A LOT of people that we had to see. So we were kind of frazzled this week. Its such a nice change to what I am use to. It so nice to be genuinely busy. I'm loving it down South! Its the Land of Miracles!!!

     So now for our funny story of the week! We were getting ready for the baptism and we were filling the font and we just were leaving to get a few more things ready and we had borrowed a key from the Second Councilor to get into the building and the font and as we were leaving I tossed Elder Bass the Keys. Well he didn't catch them and they fell on the floor. Well as they hit the floor one of the keys literally broke in half.... Like what the heck... A key literally broke right before our eyes. So we tried to fix it and no luck so we called Bishop and he said not to worry about it and so we gave it back to the Second Councilor and yeah... We broke a key. 

      Well we got to have a bit of fun this week! The Elders Quorum had an activity. We had a bike ride at 7 in the morning. So we started by the flat then rode until about 10 then had a Feed at the park. It was honestly so fun! A few Less Actives showed up and we got to meet some new people and help create some bonds in the EQ. Our Elders Quorum is so great! They are all so fun and just get along! We have such a great time!

So that's my week for Y'all! It was pretty fun! Thanks for the Emails and I'll see you Later!

Love Elder Seelos!

Elder Neufi's District!

Bored waiting for our appointment....

Still bored....

Me and Mahony...sorry, blurry

Elders Quorum bike ride

Lucy and her family at her baptism

Lucy 

Zone conference! 

Great week, and bad things happen in 3's....

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you all had a GREAT week!

So to start out I will just say that I have had such a great week! Like as much as I loved my last companions and my other areas, I have completely loved being here in this ward with Elder Bass! It has been so fun! Elder Bass is really fun and we just get along together! So its no stress. 

So here's the Low Down. I will first start off introducing a few of my Investigators. So First off is Dom and Madison. So they are the family that came to church last week (If you remember that story). So we went over on Friday to see them and teach them. Before we did that we called President Balli, because they live out of our area.... Which really stinks! The issue though is the fact that they want to come to our ward because its where Dom got baptized in 1999, so a while ago. So President Balli said that it would be best to have them go to their ward, but we cant control them. So we talked to the Bishop (awesome guy! Very Helpful!) and to our Ward Mission Leader (Not as awesome! Not that Helpful!) and to The Ward Mission Leaders Son, who just returned from serving in Fiji (Really Awesome guy! Very Very Helpful!) So basically they all said different thing.... So that was stink. President Balli told us to ultimately go with the Bishops feelings and what he wants us to do. So we are going to be teaching them for now and work with them until we feel like they are strong enough to move to the other ward then move them there! So Dom is a Less Active Returning Member, and Madison is an Inactive Jehovah's Witness who is Very Open to us!

So now about our other Investigator Cyprian. He is a 12 year old boy. He is the foster kid of a Very Active family in our ward. He is really great! The missionaries have been teaching him for a while now and he is ready to be baptized! The only hold up is his real parents. Because he is a foster kid and not adopted we still need some permission from his real parents to baptize him. So he sees them every other Saturday for lunch. So he has asked them before and they said no. But he asked them again last Saturday and they said they would think about it! So we are hoping in 2 more weeks we will get a yes!!!

Now for the EXCITING stories!!! 

       So on Friday we had a Zone Conference. This is a mission thing that they do over the whole week and combine 3 zones together and then we get a training from President and the Assistants and other missionaries. So it was Penrose Zone (Me) Tamaki Zone and Otara Zone together for this. Elder Bass was asked to give a 10 minute training on Nightly Planning. While I was mocking him for having to give this a few days later they said that we had to do it together... So that was stink. So we gave our training. It went well, no mess ups.  At zone training's the members of the stake that we have it in make us lunch. So we were in Otara and some of the women made us a great lunch of spaghetti and Curry and Rice, and they even had JELL-O with Fruit in it! So everyone ate then we finished our zone training and went home. 

         Well we finished off the day and went to bed, then the next morning we woke up and I was saying my prayer and all of a sudden I was like "Oh man... I need to go to the Bathroom!" So I went to the bathroom and did my business I guess and then I came out and I looked at Elder Bass and he was getting off his bed and coming to the Bathroom. Well he also had the "Oh man" feeling, just a bit after me. So we thought oh well there must have been something bad in the dinner last night... So Elder Bass then goes out to the car and comes back in on the phone. I looked at him and he told me to go look at the car because our window was smashed! So I went out and like he said the window was smashed in. It was the little window on the back door. Not one of the roll down ones. But whatever. So nothing was stolen so we were really confused... But we called the mission office and we called the glass place and they came and fixed it. But then I asked Elder Bass who was on the phone. Well he was talking to Elder Maxfield, our Assistant. He was calling to see if our Zone was sick. Well we called around and yes, they were. So apparently the Curry (which everyone ate) at Zone Training was bad. So about 60 missionaries were sick from the bad curry and heaps of missionaries were up all night sick... So that was pretty funny! 

            Well I have always been told that Bad things happen in 3's, so I was getting ready. I was prepared for whatever else was going to happen. Although what happened wasn't bad. But it was funny! We were going to visit some people on Saturday and we parked the car and we saw a guy walking in front of us, so we got out and started to talk to him and we quickly found out that he was High as a Kite! Because of this he was EXTREMELY funny! We found out his name was Aux (His whole name is something weird but it means August Night Death) and he lived right across the street. He invited us to come over and chat. So we did. The entire time we were there he was making us laugh so hard! He lived at 2A and on his mail box next to the 2 he had written k-47 So he lived at 2AK-47. We asked what he had done that day and he said that he was with his friend, who is a girl. He told us that she smokes more than he does and that he smoked today. He asked us if we had smoked, when we said no he said "Man I wish I had some and I would let you have it!" We both left Cracking up! It was so funny!

Well that is my week! Sorry for such a long Email, But hopefully I got some laughs! Love you!

Love Elder Seelos

Our broken window

Elder Bass and I

Elder Leung and I

Goodbye to Elder Chi...Hello to Zone Leader!

Hello everyone!

     So I guess the big thing this week is Transfers!!! So I got a call on Monday Night around 7 and it was President. He asked me if I would be a Zone Leader in Penrose.  So of course I said Yes!! So that was cool! Well to be honest I was so relieved... I was honestly really worried that I would be in West Harbor with Elder Chi for another Transfer. If that was what had happened I would have been fine I guess but it would have been hard! So my New Companion is Elder Bass. He is from Florida. He actually came out at the same time as me into the mission! We were companions in the MTC for about 3 hours but then things had to get changed around! So I'm really excited to get to be with him! We are already having a lot of fun together! I love getting to be with someone I can actually talk to!  He is a really cool guy! He reminds me a lot of Spencer... He loves sports and just muckin around. We get along really great so far! As Zone Leader we just have to do a lot of different things for the other missionaries. We have to report the numbers to the Assistants, then we have to instruct the other missionaries and stuff. I guess I have mixed feelings. I'm glad for the opportunity but also have no idea what to do... So its just weird... But its all good! I'm figuring it all out!  I'm in the Favona ward, in Favona.  My address is 57 Tua Place.  You can google earth it.  

     So it was kind of hard to leave, but definitely easier than leaving my first area! The Semu's were probably the hardest family to leave. I got to know them so well and I loved it! It was really fun! They are such a great family and they really mean so much to me! They really were one of my favorite people that I got to know there! 

      So now in my new area we have a lot to do.... We have had to spend heaps of time just running errands for everyone! It was stink. So we basically spend the first few days only working in our area like for a few hours. So I am still getting use to the area. Although it is so great! This is South Auckland! South Auckland is where all the Islanders are! At church yesterday I was one of like 3 white people in the whole Sacrament Meeting!

      Now my first Miracle in South Auckland! After Sacrament I was meeting a lot of the members and such and then Bishop came up to us and said he wanted us to come meet someone! So we went over and met Madison and Dom. Dom is a Less Active member, he has lived in NZ for most of his life but spent 7 years on the West Coast of Cali and Washington. Madison is his nonmember Fiance, who has never been to an LDS Church before. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation in Gospel Principles and then set up an appointment to see them on Thursday! So that was really an amazing experience! Oh! Also Dom cannot find his records so he may have to get baptized again. So that would be really cool also!

      So in the first 2 days in my new flat I got about a million Flea Bites... So I have now sprayed the ENTIRE flat and I have taken care of it. So no more fleas but a lot of bites! Yeah!!!  Don't worry about the Fleas mom.... I got rid of them. It's all goods. 

       Well that is my Email. Sorry I don't have too much this week! It will be better next week I promise! 

                                                               Love Elder Seelos!

Elder Bass and I gettin stuff done!

Elder Long and I.  It is SO beautiful here!!!!

Cool missionary picture!

Elder Staniscia and I

Elder Bass and I.  BTW...he LOVES my ugly hat and asked to wear it!!  

My rugby buddy Elder Dalton

Trade off's and a Brazilian Companion!

Well this week has been a great one! A whole lot went on this week! 2 Trade off's, heaps of fun, and a new comp. So its been interesting...

     So on Tuesday I got to go on trade off's with Elder Long! It was honestly AWESOME to spend time with him! I loved it. I left right after District Meeting with him.  We got to visit and tract and do normal missionary things and it was so fun because we could talk and be our selves. It was great for us both! It was awesome to get to be able to really actually speak English to someone.

Hold on.....I'll be right back.  

Well that was a really unfortunate situation... We just had to pay $200 to get a boot off another missionaries car... He accidentally parked in Private Parking and the guy put a boot on it... And I'm about 99% sure he was a member also... He knew the car was a missionary car and came and found us. So that is why I just used my debit card. Elder Saulo didn't have $200 on him so I used my card and so then he just exchanged some Australian money and he payed me back... It literally was so stupid! Now I'm just angry...

Anyways, back to my email!

     So an update on my investigators. Alyshia wasn't at church because she went to the YSA ward to check it out. I haven't heard from her if she liked it or not. So we will see whats up. We met with Maui, Vienne, and Tabita this week though! Tabita is about half way through 2nd Nephi. She is doing so great! She is really so great! She is showing so much progress! I have loved getting to teach her and her family! 

     So Elder Long has been teaching seminary in his ward for the last week. So on trade off's I went with him and we taught seminary. We had to wake up at 4:45 to get up and ready for seminary that starts at 6... So that made for a long day... I ended up taking an hour long nap during dinner because I was so tired. I also got to teach this morning. Partially because he doesn't want to teach with his comp because his English (or lack of) makes it so hard. But also because we teach well together. So we got to teach together 2 times now! Its actually been really fun! We are teaching Genesis. So a lot of different strange things! I have loved it though!

    So now about my New Comp. He is from Brazil. He just got back from the Cook Islands. He needed somewhere to stay until transfers. So he gets to be with Elder Chi and I. So it has actually really been fun! Its been nice to get to be with him! His name is Elder Steniscia. He is a really cool guy! I really like him! We get along really well! So it has been so much better having 3 of us instead of just us 2. 

So that's my boring az email this week! Sorry about that.  

   

Love you guys! Love Elder Seelos!

We went on a p-day adventure to see some of this amazing country.  It is so beautiful here.  And my mom is glad I'm not wearing what she calls my "ugly shirt and hat!"