New Zealand Delicacies

Kia ora whanau! How is everyone doing? I hope all is well wherever you are reading this. This week was a good week. The work was very slow but it was a good week nonetheless, I cannot complain.


There was a couple of interesting things that happened this week. I got to try the infamous vegemite and marmite. Let me just say I will never eat that stuff again. I don't know why on earth it is so popular here. If you know me, then you know that I eat almost anything that is put in front of me. But, you could not get me to eat vegemite or marmite ever again. That stuff is an abomination. Anyways, that was cool. I'll just give yall an update on some of the foods that i do love here. First is Coco Samoa, it's a hot drink made from a seed that is crushed up. It's really good. Then, there is otai which is a fruit drink that is made with crushed up fruit and milk. It's really good. Brother Taufe'ulungaki told us that you crush the fruit by squeezing in between your toes, and the mixture of the flavor of the feet and fruit go really good together, which is why it tastes so good. He was just kidding haha. I also got to see a full pig on Sunday getting absolutely slaughtered by one of our members, brother Taufa. He took a bunch of hard chops at it, and then looked at us and said "Eat!!". I then started to grab some of the pig meat while the pig head was just sitting there staring at me. We have a huge umu with the Tongan members every Sunday after church. It is a ton of fun and they are hilarious! 

Anyways, the work this week was a little slow. A lot of long and unsuccessful days but we're going to come back stronger this week!! But, things are going good with our friend Gila. We moved his Baptismal date back from the 1st to the 15th of April. Which wasn't a bad thing, it was actually a good thing so we can help him with some things and work with him some more. We had a very spiritual lesson with him this week. Possibly one of the most spiritual lessons on my mission so far. It's up there with Sam's lesson. Anyways, we had a lesson with him on Wednesday. This lesson, we planned to be really bold and just tell him what needs to happen in order for him to be baptized. So, the lesson was going awesome. We had to be pretty bold and frank with him but it was all out of love. He took it perfectly. At one point in the lesson, he opened up to us about an experience he had just a day or 2 before. He told us that he went into his garage (where we were sitting at the time) and he went and prayed. He said he prayed to know if baptism was something that he should go through with. He wasn't sure if he should do it and he had some doubts. Which is exactly what we want him to do. He told us that right after his prayer, he heard a voice say to him "do you not love me?". After that he said he just sat there in his garage and cried. He didn't know what it meant but the sudden answer kinda just shook him a little bit. When he told me that, I was so shook. The spirit was so strong and right when he said that tears just started flooding. I didn't know what to say. But, I then felt prompted to share one of my favorite stories in the Bible which is the story of Peter and Resurrected Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias. I'll give a summary of the story. Basically, Jesus comes back after being Resurrected and finds his apostles fishing in the sea of Tiberias (which Jesus found them fishing 3 years earlier in the sea of Galilee). When he finds them he had a conversation with Peter who was the Senior apostle. Jesus asks Peter "lovest thou Me more than these?", Peter responds "yea Lord thou knowest that i love thee". Jesus asks him this same question 2 more times and Peter gives the same response 2 more times. Jesus tells him to "Feed My sheep". Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave an interpretation of the story in "The First Great Commandment" general conference talk. He tells the story as this, Jesus puts Peter in a tough spot by asking him that question. Obviously Peter loves Jesus. But, why is he asking him that question? Well, 3 years earlier Jesus had found Peter doing the exact same thing. After he found them, he led them on to one of the greatest journeys in all of mankind with all kinds of miracles. But, when Jesus died, his apostles went right back to their old ways. So, what I think Jesus is trying to get at with this story, is that why are you still in the same place doing the same things after all I have shown you? Why have you not changed and tried to better yourself after the miracles that you have witnessed? Why are you fishing and not sharing the gospel after all that the gospel has done for you? If you love me than why are you still here fishing? I believe that Jesus is telling Peter in this story that if he truly does love Jesus then he would go out and change his own life and the lives of others. So, I told Gila about this story and he said this is the exact answer that he was looking for. That made my day and I was so glad that I was able to follow the spirit. He is super excited to be baptized and I can't wait for him to be baptized. Please pray for him yall. Sorry I know this was a long one yall. But it was worth it. Spiritual thought for the week. I just want to ask you guys to ponder and think about the question that Jesus asked Peter. Replace Peter's name with yours and think about it.

Alright that's all. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Arohanui Elder Larson

                                                                               me and a moose in the wild

                                                                             ratchet ping pong table set up😂

otai😋

saw a sick 190 E😁


some sausages, cooked Bananas, Taro, and Chicken legs😋

livin on the edge

nice view


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