I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go

May 01, 2023

Hey yall, how is everybody doing? Hoping all is well. This week was a tough week in the new area not going to lie. But we've made it through and it's only up from here.

Anyways, my new area is the Avalon ward here in Lower Hutt. We have a small district which is weird, it's just us, the ZLs, and sisters. We live with the ZLs which is fun. When we first got to the flat, it was absolutely disgusting. There was some milk in the fridge that had been expired for a couple months. So, the first day we spent just cleaning up everything. We are still cleaning some of the flat. But it looks much better than it did at the start. I don't understand how people could have lived in this flat before hand haha. But anyways that wasn't very fun.

I'll give a quick run down on the work in this area. We don't have a car, which is alright because I've been in a bike area before and it was one of my favorite areas. But, my comp doesn't know how to ride a bike. And he doesn't want to learn how to. I've been begging him to let me teach him, but he doesn't even want to learn because he thinks it's dangerous. So, if yall could pray for my comp to have the courage to learn how to bike I would really appreciate it haha. The work this week was really hard because it's a big area and we are walking everywhere. We spent 50% of the week walking which was pretty tiring. I have a lot of respect for the missionaries that walk their entire mission. So, to all the missionaries that do that, hats off to you! I'll tell yall a little story about the walking this week. So, bishop gave us a name to go visit up in Stokes Valley which is either a 2 and a half hour walk or a 15 minute bus ride from our flat. So, we took the bus to Stokes Valley. But the bus only goes to the bottom of the valley. So, we walked all the way up the valley to the middle of town, then we realize that the guy lives at the very top of the mountain. So, me and my comp spent an hour hiking up to the top of this mountain hoping that this guy was home and would let us in. We got there and he was home thankfully. But, he was drunk so we had some funny conversation with him. It was 5 in the afternoon but he thought that it was 5 AM haha. He kept telling us that he didn't know we visited people this early in the morning. My comp told the guy "sir, it's 5 in the afternoon". I almost burst out laughing. That was quite the experience. Anyways, we will figure out the work and get it going here soon hopefully.

I just want to tell a quick story about this awesome experience we had with an inactive member. Her name is Luvonda, and she hasn't been to church for years. She told us about how she had been really beaten down by life recently. She felt that things she had done were too much for forgiveness from God. I could tell she was holding back tears of pain while saying that. She was overwhelmed with guilt and the weight of her mistakes. So, I felt the urge to read Alma 7:11-13 with her, which talks about the Atonement and how he suffered for our pains, sins, and afflictions. While she read it the spirit was so strong. She began to cry and you could just see a big sense of relief in her eyes. Of course when she started to cry I also started to cry haha. So, Jesus Christs Atonement is very real and is for every one. There is healing in his Atonement and his Atonement is infinite.❤

Alright time for a spiritual thought: we had dinner tonight with one of our members named Brother Sione. They are really awesome and he is a super young dude that is our first counselor. I got to know them pretty well and how they served missions. Brother Sione served in the Vanuatu mission. Idk if any of you have heard of Vanuatu, but it is a region of a bunch of islands in the pacific. He told us all about his mission and it was honestly so cool to hear about. It was honestly so humbling because he had to do some things that you wouldn't think you'd have to do on a mission. The areas he served in were very much 3rd world areas where they built their own houses, chapels, bathed in rivers and the ocean, moved areas by small tin boats. He said it was very similar to "The Other Side of Heaven". While he was telling me about his mission experiences I realized that I really don't have it bad at all. Honestly I am so blessed in my life and in my mission. This whole last week I was complaining about how we have to walk and all that nonsense. But, I truly am so blessed to be here in New Zealand. I don't really recognize all the blessings I have been given in my life. It was a real eye opener for me. So, my invitation to you guys is to just take a step back and look at your life and recognize all the blessings you have. Because I guarantee there is somebody out there that has it worse than you.

Ofa atu Elder Larson

the view from the top of our hike haha. It was worth it