Elder Zealand: Lessons in tithing, the tree of life, and watch where you're going when biking.....

So it was a great week and we got a lot done. It was just random things this week.

So lets just start off with last Monday! We went out to Muriwai. It's a cool beach. I went there the last P-day with Elder Willardsen and loved it so we decided to go out there again. After that we had a lesson with Alyshia. We got there and the family said that she had a question about tithing and they wanted us to go over it. Well we spent about an hour talking about tithing and service and what the church does with the money. So that was pretty cool! Aden (The friend) committed her to pay her tithing when she is baptized. Aden also committed herself to paying her tithing too! So that was really cool! We are able to bring a less active back as we are teaching an investigator!

Now we will move to Wednesday. We go and visit Maui and Vienne on Wednesday nights. So we got there and asked them if they had read the chapters we had asked them to in the Book Of Mormon (3 Nephi 11 - Where Christ comes to the Nephites). Well they didn't read it. So we started talking about the Importance of Scriptures and their daughter Tabitha walked in and she said that she had read it. And she said she started reading the B of M from the beginning. We asked her about it and she loved it! She read all about Lehi's dream and loved it and was thinking about whether or not she would have been one of the people holding on to the iron rod or if she would have been in the great and spacious building. So she really enjoyed it. During that lesson we decided to read the story of the Tree of Life with all 3 of them. So we read it and Maui told us that he would start The Book Of Mormon from the beginning and read some this week. So that was a really cool lesson.

So now lets fast forward to Saturday. Maui and Vienne invited us to a Ceremonial Cook Island Hair Cutting. So some of the Islands have a tradition of not cutting a boys hair until they are older. So their hair grows out really long! So this was for their nephew, he's 7. So his hair was pretty long. Well they had the Hair Cutting party and heaps of people went up and cut off pieces of hair. After that they had a bunch of dances and stuff for him and the whole thing! So we got to stay and see all of the cool traditional dances! I LOVE the Poly culture! Its sooooosooooo cool!

Now back to Wednesday! We got to have trade offs with Elder Long and Elder Saulo. They had MLC which only the Zone Leaders go to. So their companions came with Elder Chi and I. Elder Chi was biking in the Samoan Program and then I stayed in my area with Elder Pradana. He's been out for like 2 weeks now. He's from Indonesia. So that was pretty fun. Well we were suppose to meet at the Zone Leaders flat at 5 so we could go to dinner and finish trade off. So when Elder Salanoa (Elder Chi's comp for the day) was biking up the driveway he wasn't looking and he ended up running into a wall of the other house. So in New Zealand people use a lot of this useless stuff called Cement Board. Its like plywood but made out of like cement powder or something. Well this stuff breaks SO EASILY!!!! Well Elder Salanoa ended up going right through it and made a huge hole. Well it was sooooo funny! Sooooo.....the mission will be fixing that! But it was great!

So that's my Email this week! Hopefully you all get it this time! Love you! Talk to you soon!

Love Elder Seelos!

P.S. from Mason's mom- Mason has had a little trouble with his latest companion. He shared a story with us this week about an incident he had with Elder Chi, and as infuriating as he sounds, it's kind of a funny story. I'm sure Mas will laugh about it some day. In a long....long time :) I guess there are lots of lessons to be learned on a mission, patience is one Mason is working on right now!

Well Monday we dropped of Elder Long and Elder Pradana at their flat. Elder Chi and I were ready to go and then Elder Chi sat there. But he had to back me out of the driveway. So I said "Hey will you back me up?" He just sat there. Again I asked him to back me up. I did that a few times then Elder Long come out and asked why we hadn't left yet. Then he said "Elder Chi you have to back him up". Again he just sat there. It literally felt like a power struggle with a 5 year old! Well we both now had told him to back me up so we could go. Nothing. So Elder Long starts to come down the driveway to back me up so we can leave then Elder Chi gets out of the car and slams the door and storms down the driveway. Well I back up and he then sits in the Back seat... I was like whatever... Well we start driving and I turned the music up so I could just calm down and not freak out and he then sits up and reaches up to the front and turns the music down!!! I was like what the heck!!!! Well then I asked him if his seat belt was buckled... Well it wasn't. So I told him to buckle his seat belt. He didn't. So I PULLED OVER! Remember, this is an 18 year old boy. I sat there and told him its a law to be buckled so get buckled. He sat there. I then said ok.... I'll sit here all night if I have to, but I'm not moving until you buckle. So we sat there. Well A FEW MINUTES later I say again you have to get buckled. Then he looks at me and says "Are you talking to me?" That is the point I almost killed him. He was THE ONLY other person in the car!!!! And I looked right at him when I was talking to him! I was like "Your the only other person in the car! Who else would I be talking to?!" Finally he buckles. and we are off. Well I turned the music back up so that I wouldn't kill him. So then a few minutes later he sat up again and turned the music down again! I PULLED OVER again!!! I was like " Ok Dude! You HAVE to sit down and buckle your seat belt!" I was soooooooo mad! I just drove. We drove to our appointment with Alyshia and he was pretty quiet like always. Then we went home and we barely planned and I just was done... So then I went to bed at like 10.... Yep... Thats the crazy day....