Blessings and a selfie stick....

This was an amazing week! This week was overall just a great time! Elder Oakes and I got great work in and were able to catch up with all of our investigators! 

     We got to have Trade off with the Assistants on Tuesday! That was fun. I went with Elder Hixon to the Shore and we spent most of the day doing office stuff. It is kind of fun to see how much goes on behind the scenes that no one sees. Its also fun to see how normal President Balli is. Like he is just a normal guy. Its weird to think that I was ever nervous of him or that he was scary to me. Being a Zone Leader we get to see President heaps more than the other missionaries would. So we actually gain a relationship with him. Its also funny to see how new missionaries are scared of the Assistants, like Elder Bass. We have a new missionary in our zone that when he saw the assistants he was nervous and asking why they were here. Its just funny cuz I know them so well and I was companions with Elder Bass. Like I know how they are. They aren't perfect. Just funny.

     Thursday was an interesting day... We had trade offs with the Samoan Elders, Elder Ualesi and Elder Zacher. I was with Elder Ualesi in the Samoan ward. So our car had to be serviced that day.... At 8am. So because Elder Zacher is new we figured that Elder Ualesi and I would take it so that he could have his studies. Well we took it in and they told us that it would take a few hours.... So we walked. We dropped it off at about 8:15 and they finally called us at about 3. So we walked for a while... And yes. Thursday was probably the hottest day of the summer so far. Just our luck! It was fun though! We were blessed with a mean dinner that night! We pigged out! 

     Now for our HUGE miracle! Shelby came to church! This is her 3rd time at church overall and her first time in our ward! So we sat down during Gospel Principles and it ended up just being us and her in the class. Brother Apiata (our ward mission leader) usually takes the lessons, but he wasn't at church so we took the lesson and we talked about the Sacrament with her and then lead it into Baptism. She had told us that she would want to be baptized and we had just left it at that for a bit. But as we started talking about Baptism her son, Trey (3 years old), said that he had to go to the bathroom. Well she left and Elder Oakes and I looked at each other and we decided we were going to set her right then. She came back in and we asked her straight up, "Will you prepare yourself to be Baptized on the 24th of December?" Well of course she said yes! If she didn't I wouldn't be telling you this story! She said that she wants to and that its important but she is a bit nervous. Just of the unknown and of committing. So please keep her in your prayers! 

     This week overall was really awesome! I feel like Ammon in Alma 26:1 "And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?" There have been so many great blessing's in my mission. I am so grateful to the Lord for everything that he has given to me! I am honestly so grateful for this opportunity to be here to serve the Lord on a mission! 

      Love yous! Love Elder Seelos!

                                    Hey we found a selfie stick!  Lots of pictures from our hike last week.

Primary, Zone devotioals, and haircuts....

Good Morning Family and Friends! 

        I have to say it is great to get to talk to you today!! This week has been like weeks past... Elder Oakes was sick this week. Again. So I stayed in the flat a lot this week. But! I have something to show for it! I realized this week that the last hair cut I got was 6 weeks ago... Yeah, thats a long time. So I decided that 1. I needed a hair cut. 2. I didnt want to pay for a hair cut. 3. I am tired of doing my hair. So I just used some Scissors and my razor and now I am bald! Haha. Just kidding. I know that mum had a heart attack right there! I am not bald but I did buzz it pretty short. Ill send pics! But I did cut it myself! So thats kinda cool!

      One great step this week was in Shelby! We had a lesson with Shelby on Thursday. I went with Elder Maughan to the lesson cuz Elder Oakes was spewing... We had visited a member on Wednesday night and asked them to come to the lesson with us. So they came with us and we sat down and basically just introduced them to eachother! She has been reading her BOM and she said that she is still keen for Baptism! The members invited her to come to church with them and offered her a ride. Unfortunately she was out south over the weekend, but she still went to the YSA ward. So she did go to church! She is defiantly our miracle this transfer! Shes so cool! Very prepared!

      Transfers! So I stayed. Yeah. Thats about it. Elder Oakes and I are still together. Still in Henderson. We are happy to get to stay together! We have heaps to do and heaps of work to do, so we are not ready to leave! Transfer day was crazy! It took all day... From about 9 to about 5 or 6 we were doing stuff... Happy its over.

      I taught Primary this week... That was.... Hard. One of the teachers asked us to teach her class of 7 and 8 year olds... All I have to say about that is that I am glad that its over. They were just crazy the whole time. Kids these days are just disrespectful! They dont listen, they say stupid as stuff. Like half the time I was like How on earth do you know about that? So that was my Primary Experience.

      This morning we decided to start the transfer off right! We had a Zone Devotional at the top of Mount Pukemateko. Its a lookout on in the mountians that looks over all of Henderson and you can see EVERYTHING! Its a really cool view. So we went up there with everyone and we talked about what we want to do to find that one that our Heavenly Father has prepared for us this transfer! So we were just trying to modavate everyone! Then we took heaps of pictures! 

       Other than that, that was basically my week. I was able to go on trade off's a few times to make some visits or to fill our dinner appointments. So I did go out. I didnt go crazy! I am just hoping that Elder Oakes is better this week! We have a lot planned this week!

Love yous heaps! Love Elder Seelos

Saying goodbye to this guy was hard!  Elder Summers was an awesome companion!  He is headed home!

My haircut!

Zone Selfies

More Zone selfies...

Awesome Zone devotional!

My parents google earth picture of my flat:)  It's the red brick house in the back.

I'm getting SO sick of my flat!!!!

      So I am going to start out with the lower points of the week. So Elder Oakes woke up on Friday with some bug bites and they KILLED him! So yeah... Elder Oakes gets sick a lot... So we were in the flat again Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday. So that was pretty stink... I am very tired of not working.... I know that people think that sounds like heaven for missionaries... Get a break, can rest, just hang out.... Well no, we can't. We have nothing to do... Like nothing. So I read Scriptures, and listened to music and just laid there....

          Update on the Investigators! The biggest thing that happened this week was Shelby. She was our New Investigator this week. We sat down and taught her the Restoration. She is super keen! She's awesome! Her friend referred her to us, then she went to church with her friend on Sunday! After teaching her the restoration we asked her if she would be baptized if she knew this was right. Without even blinking she said yes! It was mean! Just goes to show you that Heavenly Father is working on many people behind our back's. Also how important Referrals are... We NEVER would have met her! She lives in a random as street in a house in the back of a house. Like we never would have found her... Heavenly Father is very mindful of not only us, but all of his children!

        We haven't seen Grace for 2 weeks now... Idk what shes up to. Hopefully shes ok. She won't answer our texts or anything... So I really hope that everything is ok.

        Dora is doing well. We had a lesson with her where I learned an important lesson.... I need to listen more... When we give her time to speak more and just leave the time quiet she brings things out. All I have to do is give her that time! 

       We had interviews this week with President Balli. It's always great to be with him! Its a different relationship with him now that I am a Zone Leader. I know that he is a normal person! Like I have a relationship with him. Its not the scary guy in charge thing any more. I honestly Love him for all that he does and has to deal with.

       Now for some funny stories! So we got the Samoan Elders back for the Ducks and Roosters... We broke into their flat and we filled up their bathtub with water and we went and bought some fish at the pet store and we put the fish in the tub. Then we had 2 dead fish. We put one in the bath tub with the live ones, then we hid the other one in the closet and let it rot in the closet for a few days. Well they found the live fish fast and then about 4 or 5 days later they smelled the dead fish and found it... So that was pretty funny!!! Until they got us back.... First was rice all over the flat.... With the live fish in the tub and the dead fish taped to the back of the dresser.... We cleaned that up fast. Then they did it again.... They caught 2 live eels! yeah..... those were in our tub..... Yeah. We caught those and then we let them go. We tossed them over a bridge into a stream. So that is our funny story! We made a deal that the pranks are over. Elder Nielsen goes home tomorrow also so we don't have to worry about that any more!

        Well that's basically my boring week! 

              Love you! Love Elder Seelos

P.S.  I didn't even know there was an earthquake until I read emails..... Awk... but I'm fine, didn't feel a thing.  It was really far south.

Saying Goodbye to the Singh family who moved this week
 

Aren't we funny...?

MLC, Fireworks,and Pies...

 Hello Family! Just to start off, yes. We were healthy all week. No issues in our week. Well mostly. We were on trade off this week and Elder Oakes called me and told me that he had gotten the Chicken and Rice that we had on Thursday and heated it up after it had been sitting on the counter and in the car for 2 days. Well he ate it and about 30 minutes later he un-ate it. So he took a bit of a break. We were on Trade off so it didn't do anything to me! 

       So big news in the Land of NZ! Saturday was Guy Fawkes day. Idk if you remember it from last year,  but its a stupid holiday where England and all of the British colonies celebrate when this guy was going to blow up the Parliament but they stopped him. So they light off heaps of fireworks... I dont understand the logic..... But that's what we do. In Henderson they do a big firework show in the city every year. So we had 6 of us come to our flat and we climbed onto the roof and watched the fireworks all over the city for a good 45 minutes. It was really cool. We were just worried about the roof caving it! Luckily nothing happened.

        Most of our investigators are in just about the same place... Not much of any improvements with them this week. We had 5 Investigators set up and committed to come to church, but they all were build up's. None of them actually came. That was pretty sad. 

        Our biggest Miracle this week was Shelby. We got a referral texted to us from the mission. It was a referral that was sent to us online. So her friend Destiny sent it to us. She is from the YSA ward out south. Well we went over and contacted her and she was confused as at the beginning. She had the look of "Why the heck are you talking to me and how do you know my name?!" So we told her that her friend sent us and then she was like "Oh, yeah. Makes since." So we talked to her for a while and she already had a Triple Combination. Like she has been getting prepared for a while now. She was so keen to listen and was asking us about church and how to go and what we do. We ended by committed her to read 1 Nephi 8. We are going back tomorrow! 

     MLC went well!! It was fun. Its always good to get to see all of the missionaries. Its kinda funny because all the zone leaders become close and talk heaps because of that... So we become friends with each other! I learned about not judging. We talked about gossip in the mission and how we need to have clean and right perspectives of missionaries. We cannot listen to others opinions because they usually aren't true!

       One fun thing this week! We had a Youth activity this week and it was a Halloween Carnival. So they asked us to do an activity or game or something. Well we decided that it would be fun to do a Pie throwing game. Well yes, the youth had the chance to throw pies at my face... I only got hit like 5 times. It was totally worth it! Heaps of fun! Love the youth in our ward!

Love yous!

       Love Elder Seelos

October Zone conference

November Mission Leadership Conference

Fireworks on the roof

The girl in the middle hit me pretty good with a pie!

yummy!