The Holidays and Staying Focused

Hey Family-

I have had some technical difficulties with the computer today so it is going to be a short one. It was a good week but a hard week! Everyone is going out of town and really busy with the holidays so we just knock on a lot of doors in a day that don’t open.  Mexiko and Suede are still doing good but don’t see them as much as before.

It is getting really hot here and I am getting nice and tan. It feels like Christmas but just makes me think of home a lot so we don’t think about it. I love Sister Hughes but she goes home in a month and a half and is kind of zoning out a lot so I am trying to stay focused for the both of us. She is seriously so sweet though and happy all the time that I can’t get mad. It is definitely making me more tired though.

Love you all heaps! Talk to you on the phone next week!!:)

Love Lyndsi

Wading In

December 7, 2014

Love Sister Miggin

Hey Family-  

It was an awesome week! We started out with our trip to the beach which was super fun! We had fish and chips and had a little bonfire and we hiked around on the rocks and put our feet in! We also walked in the water over to this little beach cause it was just to our ankles but we played over there catching little crabs and things so long that when we went to go back the tide had come in and the water was waist deep! Don’t worry I didn’t swim just clung to the rock wall and walked back to the other side as fast as I could. It was pretty funny though! I never even thought of the tide coming in? I haven’t ever really ever swam in the ocean though so I guess I wouln’t have thought of it and we are allowed to put our feet in.  

Tuesday we got to go to leap with the young women which is like a trampoline place because two of our investigators Suede and Jehi came. I didn’t jump cause I was scared of getting hurt! I only have like 4.75 months left haha not getting hurt now!! But Sister Hughes put her little stretchy pants on under her dress and jumped around it was hilarious!!!  

Thursday we had Zone Meeting which was good but I really hate going to meetings where other missionaries are because the mission is in pretty bad shape . Apparently 5 more missionaries got sent home in the last two weeks. I did get to see Sister Lamoureux though because she is in our zone now! And they announced the HE IS THE GIFT initiative that the church put out and the youtube take over! Super cool! If you jump on facebook today the Church bought out all the ads for Christmas!! 

While we were here doing our email the store lady clicked on it and watched it and that was really cool. 

Saturday was our ward Christmas party! IT WAS SO FUN! We woke up at like 5 in the morning though to dig the pit for the Hangi (Cooking Pig in the ground) Sister Hughes and I dug the hole all by ourselves... it was HUGE!! It looked like we dug a grave (which we kind of did for the pig lol) and they played games at the park and had a huge slip n slide with a fire truck hosing it down it was fun and then that evening there was a talent show that was really good! We had about 8 investigators come and heaps of less actives!!  

Sunday was good too! Suede came to church for the first time and we gave her a Book of Mormon. She told her cousin that she wants to be baptized and we had another lesson with her last night at the Waters house with Jashon and Zsaraya and Suedes little brother and it went so well the spirit was really strong! I am sure that we will set her for baptism next lesson! I am so sad that I will probably get transferred before her baptism but so excited to have some keen investigators! Mexiko is doing well too!

We are seeing heaps of blessings right now! It is really awesome!   

LOVE YOU HEAPS!!

Love Sister Miggin

Roasting the Pig

At the Beach

Thanksgiving is a Bust

Nov. 30, 2014

Kia Ora Family~

It was a really good week here in Ngaruawahia! We had all kinds of things going on in the ward this week! Birthdays, engagement parties, and we even went to the temple visitor’s center with Suede. It is all kind of a blur now but it was awesome!

We are going to the beach this afternoon to bonfire and play volleyball and eat some lunch! It should be really fun! I am getting really excited for Christmas this year because we actually have somewhere to be other than the chapel this year. haha

I hope you had a really good week! LOVE YOU!

Ps Thanksgiving is a bust in this country. We didn't even remember it was Thanksgiving until the day after.  lol 

Staying for the Holidays

November 23, 2014

KIA ORA WHANAU!!!!!  

We had an awesome week! GREAT NEWS!! I am staying in Ngaruawahia with Sister Hughes for Christmas and New Years!! WOOT WOOT!! We had a great week missionary work wise too! We set Mexiko for baptism on March 28 and we found 5 new investigators (three of which are really keen to get baptized!!) Hopefully we will have some awesome miracles go on in the next few weeks!! And all of our progressing investigators came from referals from members! I was worried if we were pushing working with our members to much and maybe should go tracting but we are getting heaps of referrals now that the members trust us and we had 15 lessons this week with members present which is the standard of excellence for the mission! Our members even had a party with two of our investigators that they met at our family history class but they didn’t realize we had been teaching them and they invited us over and we were so surprised to see them there it was awesome!!  

The weather is getting just beautiful and it is getting really warm! Flowers everywhere! I  YAY! My allergies are just terrible right now! I went to the doctors to try and get some AllegraD this morning and it was a joke! The doctor treated me like I was a drug addict because apparently they don’t make that in this country and they have to combine two medications to get the same kind of thing and the decongestant is a protected medication! It was so ridiculous! But he gave it to me anyway thank heavens! 

Side note: Sister Isnard got sent home early! The one that used to chuck stuff at my head! I will have to tell you the whole story! CRAZY!!  

Love you all heaps!  

Love, Lyndsi

Feeling Close to the Spirit

November 16, 2014

Kia Ora Whanau~

It was an awesome week here in Ngaruawahia! We don't find out about transfers til tomorrow afternoon and I am really nervous! I don't really want to get moved right before Christmas but the Lord knows best so pray that President Rudd is super inspired!

I learned a lot this week and felt really close to the spirit all week which was super cool! I have been studying a lot about consecration and obedience and I learned that the difference between the Celestial Kingdom and Terrestrial Kingdom is sins of omission! It’s amazing the answers we get on questions we think about but don't always ask. This is something that has been on my mind because I feel like I am trying to do what the Lord wants me to do but that I am falling short. It has crossed my mind a couple of times in the last few weeks if I am really living worthy of the Celestial Kingdom. I know that I want that more than anything else I was just so puzzled as to what is the determining factor of what keeps you out or lets you in. And it is the little things. Once we learn to keep the commandments of God and qualify for the spirit it is acting on those promptings and living in such a way that God can rely on us to do his will. And he promises that if we give him our whole hearts and souls that we will reach the celestial kingdom and be given everything that he hath. I also learned that by surrendering our will to God it enables us to become who we truly are and were meant to become. To overcome the carnal and develop the spiritual, which comes down to self-control. Learning not to fear man more than God. To be so focused on following Christ that he is always on our mind. So that if we were asked what we think of the Savior we would not have to reply..." I’m not sure I do not think of him much at all."

Also this week we found an amazing new investigator. She came to the ward fireside with one of the members who is a recent convert herself. Her name is Ara and she is really excited about the gospel and absolutely loved being at the church last night. We are having a lesson with her right after emails today and we are going to try and set her for baptism. She is so ready! She said she has met some missionaries before but she even texted us this morning to make sure we are coming today! I am really excited to teach her! She is the first super keen investigator we have had in a long time! I have really been putting God to the test this week because we have needed to find some new investigators and so I told him I want a keen investigator this week and anyone that we have been trouble contacting that if we go this week and they don't answer again we are dropping them and we found another investigator through that this week. We have tried knocking on this one door like 10 times no joke and we knocked on it one more time and a sweet lady named Hine answered and was really excited to meet us and schedule an appointment with us! The miracles are rolling in just requires a little more faith I guess!

Well love you all heaps!

Love Sister Miggin 

November 10, 2014

Hello family!!

It was another awesome week in Ngaruawahia! Transfers are next week so were going to soak up Ngaruawahia for all its worth:) We had a great week catching chickens, breaking up fights between old ladies and killing rats! We have more and more, less actives coming back to church each Sunday and this week we found a new investigator who is really keen named Chance. She is a sweet girl and a little young but I have met her multiple times and given her a Book of Mormon. I always don’t really try to hard (guiltily) to teach her because she is only 11 and I don’t like baptizing kids without any family support that will just go less active but we ran into her at the park again yesterday and she asked how she can get baptized and that she has been reading her Book of Mormon. I figure why not teach her she just keeps coming back maybe it’s a sign or something so we will see how it goes!

The weather has been nice and warm so we are loving life! And Sister Hughes and I decided we need a hobby so we started collecting these little super hero blockheads from the gas station that you get free when you buy gas! They are really stupid but when people in the ward heard we were collecting them and they usually just don’t get them they started getting them for us and so now we have HEAPS! lol TOO FUNNY!

So one of the recent converts we have been working with that is really struggling, we talked into going to the ward bonfire for Guy Fox with us and when we got there Sister Hughes and I had to go to the restroom so bad that Clayton let us climb in the trailer behind the four wheeler and he towed us up the hill to the house while one of the members stayed with our RC. Well only like 10 minutes later we get back from the bathroom and our RC was cutting the reiwana bread and the little old lady who had made it was throwing a big fit that she was cutting it wrong and it seriously would have broken out into a fist fight if we hadn’t got there. Just then because the one lady stormed off one way and then our RC was like fuming and we had to take her home right after we got there! Don’t worry it’s like a 40 minute drive. haha Oh well, it was pretty funny after the fact! Bummer that she didn’t have a good time though she really needed a boost!

Oh I must have said it last week wrong or something! Nope still one more blessed week in Ngaruawahia at least!  And with your little lady you are trying to get back to church I have a couple ideas from all the less actives we have been working with here! The best one we have used is making them feel needed! I know your tired and worn out but maybe if you could think of an activity or service project that she could help with or that involves one of her talents and then call her up and say I really need your help! Or we really need your help! That helps a lot of people feel the spirit and remember what church is all about! Serving others is the best way to help people out of a slump and stop dwelling on their problems and start doing things they wouldn’t normally do! Most people won’t turn you down if you ask for their help I have found. If that doesn’t work than maybe serving her some of the tactics we use are oh I just love weeding gardens it’s my favorite can I come help with yours?? Even though it may not be our favorite thing to do if they think it is and we do it with a smile they are always really grateful and often times they have come back to church from that. Just like this week catching chickens. I didn’t really want to run around wacking at chickens with a stick for two hours but Rangi has come to church two weeks in a row now and she hasn’t been in like 10 years I think!

LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS!!

Love Lynds

October and November Updates

HoLa!!

Things are great here down under! Working hard and loving it! We are doing really great with less actives right now and our teaching pool is alright but nothing to fantastic. Just keep pushing along:) Sister Hughes and I are happy and working hard.

The coolest miracle was we went on splits this week,  Aunty Sav and I taught this girl named Maria and it went really well she really felt the spirit it was a super cool experience!

Anyway love you!

Love Lyndsi

NO we are too busy to walk and bike because our area is so big and we have so many appointments during the days! But it is going really good! I love Ngaruawahia I think it is my favorite area thus far! We have brought 4 less actives back to full activity which is so cool and a couple more that are coming to church and should be active soon! That is really what this area needs because the last 14 people they have baptized here except for 1 have stopped coming to church like a week or two after they are baptized and I don’t really know what the missionaries that baptized them were thinking because most of them were still smoking and drinking and they just wanted baptisms. So we have done a lot of work to actually get them where they need to be! The bishop thanked us on Thursday and told us we are inspired and doing exactly what this area has needed for a long time so that was cool! We are still trying to teach and find investigators but the ones we have found are slow movers. We just keep going! The Stake President told us how awesome we are doing the other day.  He had told our Mission President, but every time we see him now he gets so excited and just says thank you so much for all you are doing we need more missionaries like you! It is really cool and even though we haven’t had any baptisms lately, it confirms that as long as I am trying to do what the Lord wants me to do, it is his work and he knows what Ngaruawahia needs!

Kia Ora Whanau~

We had a great week this week! We had another less active come back to church this week! And we had an awesome lesson with Maria at the floods house! The work is moving right along:) We also had interviews with mission president this week and Sister Hughes and I both asked to stay together and he said that he will see what he can do so here is to hoping!:) If I stay one more transfer I will probably only have one more area besides Ngaruawahia left! Which is awesome! My clothes are starting to fit better! In two more days I will only have 6 months left! CRAZY!! 

Love Sister Miggin

October 19, 2014

Hey Mama Dearest-

It has been an awesome week! We have two investigators progressing towards baptism named Piki and Mexico and we had 3 less actives that we have been working with the last few months who came back to church yesterday!!  Sister Hughes and I are doing great we finish each other’s sentences we have been together so much now and people say she is even starting to sound like me. When she came she was super quiet but now she is starting to get loud too ha ha I tease her that I bring out the best in her:) We had exchanges this week with our sister training leader to so I was down in Hamilton for 24 hours. It was alright but I would have rather stayed in Ngaruawahia lol of all the places I have been on my mission Ngaruawahia feels like home I love it here! We get to do heaps of service to which is fun for members and less actives especially but I think that is why they trust us so much and help us every day with the work! We have family home evenings a few times a week and the members invite people over for us they are always introducing us to their friends it is really cool!! I am almost down to the six month mark so I started the 6month diet a week early! I am packing on the love I think lol In New Zealand if they love you they feed you so no matter that we wake up at 530 to work out I am still gaining a bit of weight haha time to get it off! I love you so much! Miss you heaps!

PS the luggage is fantastic I think I have the best luggage in the mission I LOVE IT! For Christmas I would like money in my account to start buying souvenirs with! Lame I know but I want to bring back some really cool stuff! And as far as testimonies did I tell you what happened with the Waters family? I was studying a few weeks ago and I got this really strong impression that someone coming to church before first Sunday really needed to hear their testimonies so I just kept feeling it as I studied so we went over Saturday morning and had a little lesson with them and invited them to. Sunday rolled around and testimony meeting went 20 minutes over but they did it and it was awesome and Aunty Sally told me that Bishop had called her and thanked her because he thinks there are quite a few people in the ward that needed to hear what they had to say! It was cool! And I have learned on my mission that if you bear your testimony your sins get forgiven. There are quite a few scriptures on it... how sweet is that! Lol

Doctrine and Covenants 62:3

Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.

Anyway love you much!!

 

October 12, 2014

Kia Ora Family-

It has been a really great week! I have lots of funny stories for you but first I have some sad news, My little baby Lukey from work passed away this week. I am sad that he is gone I will miss his little spirit so much! If this letter makes it on the blog I hope Katie and Danny know how much I love them and their family and am so grateful to know them and especially their precious little boy!

This week was crazy! Busy, busy, busy! We were sick at the beginning of the week I was on Wednesday and Sister Hughes was on Thursday. Our members saved our lives they stayed with one of us while we rested while the other went out with another member and worked! Some went out for like 4 hours! SOO Grateful!!

We had a service project on Saturday that we took Grace and George Flood to trying to catch 6 roosters! IT WAS HILARIOUS! We spent two hours running around and jumping fences trying to catch them and didn’t even catch one! We eventually gave up and just mowed this massive lawn taking turns on the riding lawn mower lol Needless to say this Saturday we are rallying the troops and going to catch the roosters for real this time. haha I will try and take heaps of pictures it should be crack up!

General Conference was awesome! Pretty powerful this time they didn’t mess around at all! Our youth go back to school this week which is a bummer because they have been awesome the last two weeks they come out and do service and lessons with us every day!

This morning we got a startling phone call to! We were just about to start studying and President Rudd called. I have never heard of him calling for anything good before. But, apparently he got an extremely nice letter from our Stake President saying how wonderful we are and that we are the best missionaries that have ever served in Ngaruawahia! HOW COOL IS THAT! Made my day!

We have wonderful people in this area! The work is still hard and finding people to teach and helping them progress is the challenge but I have never seen members who do so much missionary work ever before! They do it on their own, they help us daily, and they really live the gospel the best they can its amazing! I can’t imagine going out and making time for the missionaries everyday almost, they really get it here! They sacrifice a lot to help the work move forward and literally help us with anything and everything we ask of them. When I got transferred to Ngaruawahia and Mission President told me I was going to the promised land I didn’t get it lol but I do now!:)

Oh yep and we didn’t get transferred in it for another six weeks which is great because I love Sister Hughes! We laugh constantly and she is ALWAYS happy! I can’t believe how fast the weeks go now but I am absolutely loving everything we do!

Love you All HEAPS!

Love Sister Miggin

October 5, 2014

Dearest Whanau~

I had the best week! This week was the end of a great transfer and we saw so many miracles. Sister Hughes and I were talking that this must be the end to the "trial of our faith" because we don’t even know what happened. Last week we didn’t have any progressing investigators and were struggling to find people to teach. This week we had the most Member Present lessons of my entire mission and we had one of our less-actives sons named Dontay want to get baptized. On Saturday, during studies I felt so inspired that I couldn’t deny it that a family in the ward needed to bear all their testimonies in sacrament and they did it was so powerful! I also bore my testimony without being asked for the first time (like assigned in a talk or bishop has us do it sometimes on the spot) and I was so nervous but I felt the spirit really strong it was awesome! Also our amazing investigator Piki has come back and is still super interested it is awesome!

The biggest miracle this week was that we saw someone be healed! One of our recent converts has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and now she is in her fifties it is really bad and on Sunday she missed church because she couldn’t even stand up or turn or anything! We called a couple men in the ward to come give her a blessing and immediately when the blessing was over she sat up straight and started moving around. She walked us to the door and came to a fireside with her son last night. He is the boy that wants to be baptized! IT WAS AMAZING!

Sister Hughes and I have been working on memorizing a scripture a day. We are doing pretty well but we have missed a couple days. This morning we climbed to the top of Hakirimata with Zsaraya and it was such a beautiful view! I had the best week and  it made all the long slow weeks really pay off!

I love you all so much!

Love Sister Miggin

Hey Mama Guess WHAT!!!! You know Aunty Sally Waters that I told you about that reminds me of you! Were related to her lol On your mom’s side the Harveys! We figured it out this week after a family history class that we did! Found us some awesome cousins here in New Zealand and ever since I told Uncle Willy dad has a Harley he freaked out. haha

Elder Pearce from Texas

Working with Less Actives and got our faces painted.  One way to do a lesson 

Dontay at the Temple

September 14, 2014

Kia Ora Family-

It was an awesome week! I am on a slow computer today because the other ones are full so it may be a short email. We went to the temple this week! It was awesome and we ran into Brother Aupouri from Pukekohe, our old ward mission leader, and Brother Tuipala who baptized Shanti in the Celestial Room and it was just like heaven seeing my old friends again! SOO COOL! They let us know that Shanti went and did baptisms for the dead this week and is still going strong! Also I heard about Simon and he is doing well too.  One of the other missionaries found us at the lunch after the temple and told us that they are teaching Teno now. She was the one we had so many miracles with in Pukekohe and then she fell away and moved. Apparently she chased the sisters down on the street and was like. “Are you Mormons?” They are teaching her again and they said she talks about Sister Holmes and I all the time! How cool is that! Things in Ngaruawahia are good this week we had an awesome lesson with Piki and Jodi! I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting which is still stinks as much as it ever did. You would think I would be used to it by now!

We have been waking up at 530 every day to hike Hakirimata you should Google it. It is intense! 1500+ stairs to the top!

Anyway love you!!

Love Sister Miggin

September 7, 2014

KIA ORA WHANAU-

Things are so good here on the mission! We had an AMAZING week! Work work work! We found six new people to teach this week and half of them come from non-member families awesome! We also had a little lady wanting to leave the church last week so we invited her over to the Waters family’s home for Family Home Evening and now she is doing wonderful and even bore her testimony of the gospel! Also I had a cool experience listening to the spirit again I have been working on that and while we were driving the other day I felt like we should go to one of our less actives house who every time we go is always drunk or high but this time we went she was sober and so excited to see us! She invited us in for the first time and we were having a good lesson with her when her daughter who is not a member came in and started asking heaps of questions. She was misinformed about a lot of things and when we told her what we really believe she was like oh ya I believe that or I like that! Then she had a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation because her brother committed suicide a couple years ago and we were able to share with her Alma 40:11 with her and share our testimony and you could just see her heart soften from trying to bible bash us to inviting us over to her home to visit with her it was awesome!

This ward here in Ngaruawahia is wonderful!! I love the ward members and the people in this area are so nice! We spend quite a bit of time with the Waters family. Their 18 year old daughter TeAniwa is getting married in a couple of months and I think she is feeling a lot of the emotions I felt before I almost got married but just a little bit different situation. I love her to death though and she is amazing! Their family brightens my day everytime we get to see them! Especially because Auntie Sally reminds me of Mom!:)

Funny story to.. Yesterday was Fathers Day here in New Zealand and needless to say no one wanted us over or no one was home because they were all having big family get togethers... Rough night hahaha Until the Floods realized we had nothing to do and nowhere to go and it was getting dark so they invited us to their family party they are the best! Not only were they celebrating Fathers Day though it was also the twins 20th birthday. Anyway Auntie Savoni's family was down from Auckland and none of them are members so her son Josh did a little fathers day message and at the end Auntie goes and now Sister Miggin will sing us a song in Tongan haha Oh man I almost died!! I dont know why I have to sing in public so much on my mission lol Im not even a good singer!! Anyway thank heavens Josh knew the song to or I really would have croaked cause we just sang one verse and I thought my heart was going to beat straight out of my chest! Killer man! I think her Dad recorded it but I was to embarrased to ask so hopefully if he did he will delete it haha

Anyway all is good here in beautiful New Zealand! Summer is coming on and everything is more green than I have ever seen it and the trees are blossoming! I dont think grass could even get this color green in the states haha

Well love you all!!

Love Sister Miggin

August 10, 2014

Hey Family-

Its been a good week! And a hard week! I think this is the hardest area I have served in! Before it was pretty easy to find people to teach but with companions dragging feet and such it kinda puts a damper on things. I am trying to endure well and work hard its coming along. I had a good week revelation wise and it has made it a lot better even though nothing has changed my attitude has a lot so that is good.

As far as teaching goes we have a couple people to teach kind of but honestly no one that is really interested. ROUGH! But I am trying to learn what God wants me to learn and find the one person in this area that he sent me here for! I hope I dont have to wait til the next companion comes to find them but its sorta looking that way!

I am mailing the birthday package today! I finally finished making my gift! Sorry its going to be late for moms birthday! I am putting yours and dads together though so that It saves in shipping I hope you dont mind! I love you so much!

Love Lyndsi

August 3, 2104

Kia Ora Family~ 

Im honestly glad it is Monday. This last week was really hard but I am doing much better now. I think I hit the pit of my discouragement this week and it didnt help that I have been sick and hacking up a lung! I have been praying a lot and studying the scriptures a lot to find encouragement and for the last few months I have been trying my best to keep motivated and keep fighting along. Last night we went to a fireside at the temple visiting center and after it was over I had a little chat with the AP's. It was alright but I still left feeling confused and lost and struggling to know what to do. While we were driving home with the Zone Leaders I felt inspired to ask for a blessing. I haven't asked for blessings out here and I didn't want to because I think most the Elders are immature and annoying lol But I asked anyway cause our Zone Leaders are alright. Elder Saville gave me a blessing and I haven't had one like that in years. Every worry, concern, thought that I have had in the last couple months was answered. I felt a lot of peace and I received all the answers I needed to overcome my trials. Also at the end of the blessing he promised that when I finish my mission I will be able to look back and know that I have become the woman God wants me to be. So I look forward to that after all these struggles! Thank you for all your prayers I think they are what has kept me going til now! 

In other news I have been waking up at 530 every morning to do kick boxing. Brother Waters in our ward and his daughter TeAniwa and his son Jash have been training us! IT IS SO INTENSE! All my muscles hurt lol and the other day we climbed Hakirimata which is almost 1500 stairs to the top of a mountain... OUCH CHARLIE! So that is going well! 

Sister Taiseni and I are getting along really well and I really love her! She is really young but is going to be an amazing woman someday! I am grateful to be her companion. 

Our teaching pool is kinda yuck right now because the last missionaries in the area didnt do anything they were supposed to so we are still knocking on lots of doors! I hope you have a safe fun trip to San Diego and enjoy the rest of your summer because it is really starting to warm up down here! 

Love you sooooo much!

Love Sister Miggin

New Area!

Dearest Whanau-

It takes about a hundred years to type on this computer so I don't know how great our emails  next little while. I am serving in Ngaruawahia and my new companion is Sister Taiseni I LOVE HER AND THIS AREA. It is like a breath of fresh air I am feeling much better this week and had lots of good emails from home about what is going on I don't know if I will be able to reply much to people but I will try my best It has taken me 30 minutes to just write this!  I love you all so much !  

Yep transfers went good my heart hurt when I left Cambridge but I know it was for the best and I am so happy in my new area! I really truly love it and Sister Taiseni is the best companion I have had! She and I get along about everything its soooo nice! Usually by this time of transfers I often think to myself that I need to be more humble and patient haha My new area is super ghetto! My first day here we saw this super stoned lady try to steal a car and then this other prego lady grabbed her and they drug her out back and beat her up! It was crazy!lol And HEAPS of gangs here! I love it though brown people love me haha

Love, Sister Miggin

A dream

July 13, 2014

Kia Ora Family!

IT HAS BEEN A ROUGH WEEK!! But as to be expected I guess life is just hard sometimes! It is good to keep in mind that Satan is real and so clever! I dodged some big mistakes this week by listening to the spirit and I am oh so grateful! I am so grateful for my Mission President this week to and heads up I will be transferring on Thursday! Don’t know where yet but I will let you all know next week!:) Things are looking up this week so no worries!

As for stories this week my companion and I had a very strange experience that I am kind of worried about... The other night I had an extremely vivid dream.. I dreamed that we were driving to transfers and a truck came into our lane right past the Goodman’s house on Hamilton Rd. Our car got smashed and I was really hurt but my companion was completely fine. She didn’t know what to do and then the next thing I remember was being in the hospital but I was standing in the room watching and I wouldn’t wake up. All the people that I have met on my mission so far were there from Pukekohe and the Cambridge branch coming to visit and then my Parents showed up. But it was like I was just standing there watching everyone come in and out. Eventually I woke up but it was a really horrible dream.. Well the next morning I was getting ready and couldn’t get it out of my head so I told Sister Paletaoga "Hey I had the weirdest dream last night that we got in a car crash on the way to transfers" and she looked at me really funny and said that is what I dreamed about last night and then she went into detail describing the exact same dream and crash every detail the same except the part where I was in the hospital she said that she remembers them making her still go to transfers after I went off to the hospital and she was worried sick about it and her dream went on to her in a new area. It was really weird and we have been worried about it for two days. I even prayed about it to make sure it wasn’t a warning or anything but no answer just a feeling that everything will be alright so I guess we will run with that?

Oh and teaching Renee is really excited and wants to get baptized she is moving out of the house with Andrew and getting her life all back in order it is great! Simon gets the priesthood next Sunday, and Mihi is working on her smoking so she can get baptized I am so proud of all of them! Zea is struggling a little so keep her in your prayers! I love you all very much!!

Love Sister Miggin

AROHANUI

 

Simon's Baptism and the Visitors Center

Renee and Cruize at the visitors center. They loved it!

Lyndsi Visits the Hobbits -- June 22nd

Kia Ora Family,

 

I have heaps of pictures to send so I will keep it short and sweet! Simon’s baptism is this Saturday and I am very excited.  He is doing really well! Our sweet investigator Zea just decided yesterday she is ready to be baptized in July! She is a tiny little thing with colorful dreads. She used to be a professional jockey and now she owns like three businesses and has a farm of misfit animals she is so wonderful! Mihi and the kids are doing great to we had a really good lesson with them this week and we have another one this Thursday. The work is moving right along and we are having so much fun doing it! I just heard that I lost another one of my sweet kids from work this week and it has been One year since my little Millie died! I thought a lot about work this week and all those sweet spirits helped motivate me to work harder and be better this week! I miss working with my kids! Anyway I love you all!

 

Love Lyndsi

Elder Mangakahia and Elder Saville with the Mustaches together

Our poor tour guide I think we all tried to preach to him haha and they kept pushing me away from him cause they thought the tour guide was hitting on me haha Dont worry I invited him to church!

Fathers Day

Kia Ora Family!!

 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! I am going to get right into it so I have time to email some pictures. We had a huge week of miracles!! Renee and her Partner Andrew are very interested in the gospel and joining the church! She is wonderful and I think we were made to be friends. She rides dirt bikes and four wheelers she LOVES nitro circus and has been twice when they came to NZ. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and we are having so much fun teaching this little family!

 

Also Simon’s baptism is coming together nicely! I don’t remember if I told you about our fasting miracle but we found someone in our Branch that signs and so things are moving right along now!:) The 28th is coming up fast!!

 

We have another little family that found us this Sunday and they want to get baptized. The mom’s family is all members and she never joined. She said that it is time she joins the church and introduces her family to the gospel we will start teaching them this week!!

 

Also one of the wonderful couples in the branch have been doing their missionary work and invited their friend Zea to church. She is adorable and used to be a jockey and is so fun. She loved Sacrament Meeting this Sunday and has accepted our invitation to take the lessons to learn more!

 

Last P-day we hiked up to a waterfall that was gorgeous we hiked right up to the edge where it falls off the cliff! The hike was pretty straight up there were stairs pretty much the whole two hours up and the way down we were pooped! It was a gorgeous.  The rain forest though and the waterfall looked straight out of a movie!

 

This Monday we are going to Hobbiton so we will have more fun then!

 

Well love you all have a great week!

 

Love Sister Miggin

The Kiwi Birds - June 8th

Dear Family-

 

I have so much to write today and so little time so I will try to squeeze it all in! First AWESOME DAY AT CHURCH YESTERDAY! Simon and John were both at church and one of the less active girls named Sara, who we have been working with came.  It was so good to see her there! She is an amazing person and so funny and sweet! It was great!

 

Second: On Monday we went to the Kiwi Bird Zoo it was so cool! I got to see real kiwi birds running around Nicki would have loved it! I was not expecting them to be so big but they are about as big as turkeys! Also at the zoo we got to see some big eels feeding and this nice lady gave us some bird food so we got to feed these little parrots and they came and landed on our hands it was sweet!! Grandma Miggin would have loved that!

 

Third: I got a new companion!!! Her name is Sister Paletaoga she is from Savaii, Samoa! She is super nice and we get along great so that is a bonus!! We are already having lots of fun working in the area and teaching together!

 

Fourth: People keep calling me Blonde!! I don't get it? MY HAIR IS BROWN! DARK BROWN!

 

Fifth: Funny story; So sister Finau gave me this ring before she left that we always used to tease about that Elder Naria had given her but she didn't like him and so she gave it to me. Well Elder Mangakahia saw me wearing it and was like where the heck did you get that and when I told him he started cursing Elder Naria! "THE LITTLE THEIF!!" lol apparently it was Elder Mangakahias given to him by his girlfriend. He laughed and said well I give it to you even though it was already mine haha it was funny anyway now the rightful owner gave it to me but I just thought it was funny!!

 

Sixth: We had this lesson with Simon the other day and after we were teaching we asked Melinda to say the prayer so we all bowed our heads and closed our eyes and she started praying and like ten seconds in she started laughing hysterically so you know me the sympathy laugher starts chuckling but I tried to finish the prayer and then just started laughing harder and then sister finau looks at Melinda and I who are now laughing hysterically and then looks at Simon who still has his head bowed and eyes closed and then she lost it to! After a minute or so Simon peaks up to see if we were done and saw us all laughing and then he started laughing to! It was so bad but soooo funny! I think that is why Simon likes us more than the missionaries before though cause we have fun while we teach!

 

Any way I love you all!! Arohanui!!

 

 

Sister Miggin

 

June 1, 2014

Hey family!!

The work is soooo good! We had a crazy busy week but working hard and loving it! We had a zone meeting at the Marae this week (Its a Maori temple!) And one of the Maori princesses spoke to us and we learned how the Maori people literally came from Lehi. They showed us where the prophets have talked about the lineage and it was super cool! Also this lady named Rangi Parker has been collecting a history on the missionaries that have served in New Zealand for twenty years and when I told her that my Great Grandma served at the temple here she got all excited and started jumping up and down! So I have to get some information on her. Simon is doing well and he is our main focus right now because he is so hard to communicate with but we are teaching about 10 other people. Trying to get Simon ready for his baptism this month! WOOT WOOT Any way my time is short to email but I love you all!!

Love Sister Miggin

 

Short and Sweet

Dearest Family-

 

I miss you all very much! The work is rolling right along here in Cambridge and we are teaching a bunch of people. Simon is still doing very well and was finally brave enough to come to church and he stayed for the whole three hours!! We still have not found anyone that could interpret in the entire Hamilton area we are still hoping and praying it would make the teaching so much faster and easier. It was funny though he took us out and showed us his motorcycle the other day and he knows I like them so I went over to rev the engine and it was so loud Sister Finau grasped Melinda in fright. It was hilarious we all laughed at her for like ten minutes! We went and watched Sole play rugby during our lunch time on Saturday for a bit to. It is still sad not to be able to have lessons anymore but he is still staying pretty strong and we are still hoping for a miracle. Anyway my mind is kind of blank today this week has been a blur of craziness but I hope you are all well I love and miss you!

 

Love Sister Miggin

The baby is a girl we work with named Simone she is two weeks old in that picture soooooo precious!

Us hitting up the bike riding!

Elder Mangakahia from Austrailia and Elder Sagato from Samoa hit a bird on the way to District meeting....... MMm Gross!!

And this car we passed by made me think of that show with The European guy that drives mom nuts he was always fixing up funny little cars like this!

Sole's Rugby game he is the one in the middle.

Knowing.

Kia Ora Family!

I am glad to hear everyone is alive and not smooshed on the side of the road (aka DAD!) I am glad that the angels are protecting you guys like I ask everyday! Things are wonderful here! They took our car to get fixed this week though and so we have been biking on average like 20 miles a day woot woot! Only problem is it is cold and rainy so needless to say I have the sniffles and feel kinda poopy but like they say "let us all press on in the work of the Lord.."

EXCITING NEWS!!!!!

Simon is getting baptized on JUNE 28! He came to a baptism last night for an eight year old in the Branch and he loved it. We had multiple investigators there and Elder and Sister Goodman were indespensible in helping us with them because it takes a lot of time to communicate with Simon. He doesnt understand a lot but he likes coming to things because he can watch and he is still feeling the spirit. And its fun to watch people change. The first couple things he came to he was in jeans and a coat and hat and last night he had on a button up and a suit coat with his jeans. I have noticed that you can slowly watch peoples conversions through the way the dress. Some of the members that grew up members try to tell them what to wear but I like to watch them slowly do it on their own its like you are watching their heart change outwardly in how they worship and feel!:)  PS Melinda that we have been taking over to his lessons is so wonderful as well. And ;) he likes her so my match making skills are back in session woot woot!

Also we had a little but wonderful miracle this week.. one night we were walking down the street to an appointment and we ran into Sole. It was so good to see him and talk to him face to face instead of on the phone. He is still holding in strong reading his scriptures and praying, but his family has still not talked to him.:( He is still in our prayers!

Something that I learned this week in preach my gospel was in the Christlike Attributes chapter. As I was reading it and studying and trying to apply it this week, I took the little quiz at the end of the chapter. I haven't taken it since the first month I was out and it was fun to see that I have progressed quite a bit! Also by studying this chapter I have come to realize even more so what it means to be a disciple of Christ. This one night as we were planning this week our next door neighbors were having a party they had laughed at us as we walked home and while we were sitting there I looked at the picture of the Savior and had a massive realization. That those people out there must think I am completely crazy. To leave my family, my job, my friends...not to party, and drink, and date... to go out rain or shine and talk  to heaps of people that don't usually want to talk to me. And then as I stared into the Saviors eyes I thought about it from my point of view. How could I not come? When he did everything for me. How could I stay inside when it is raining in case I find someone who is starving spiritually. How could I not leave my family when I know how blessed they will be if I serve faithfully. How could I break his commandments when he gave them to me to save my soul for no personal gain for himself. How lucky am I to know my Savior personally, to talk with him in a two way conversation on a daily basis. How lucky am I to know that I will be with my family forever and someday when I make a family of my own they will be sealed to me forever. How lucky am I? And as I looked at the picture of my Savior and could hear them partying outside I have never been so happy to be me and to be different and to know who I am, a daughter of God, and even though I make many mistakes everyday I know my Savior and he knows I am trying and that I love him. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Any way that is most of the good stuff! Sorry I forgot my camera today on my bed so I will have to send pictures next week of all the mischief we got up to. Please be safe and careful!! I love you and miss you all!

Love Sister Miggin

Happy Mother's Day!

So Family, 

First ,Sole didn’t get baptized. I cried and cried and cried and cried.... and then some more. But we are still praying for a miracle. So last week I told you that his family disowned him and he is still willing to get baptized but then the people he is boarding with don’t like Mormons and threatened to kick him out and started causing problems with his rugby coach which led to his coach threatening to kick him off the team and send him back to Tonga. He called us crying. None of us know what to do so we just keep praying. The adversary really pulled out all the stops on this one!! Anyway I will keep you updated. If I write to much more about it ill be sobbing in the library and we don’t want that, please pray for him.

 Next we are teaching a guy named Simon. He is completely deaf and so I am now also learning New Zealand Sign Language along with Tongan. And holy moly its hard work getting ready for each lesson!! But we took him to the temple yesterday for a fireside at the visitor center and he loved it. We cannot find anyone to interpret for him but when we talked with him after he told us he can feel it in his heart. I feel bad that he cannot understand anything in church or the meetings and I wish there was a better way to help him understand so we are working on it. All we can do for now is teach Sunday School and write everything on the board and watch movies with subtitles. If anyone has any better ideas please send an email with them we can use all the help we can get.  

We are teaching some other people but not too much progression yet. We are still happy and loving it here in Cambridge! And I am pretty professional at eating vegetables now I can hardly believe it! I ate a cabbage stir fry the other day and a whole bowl of peas and carrots! CHAMPION!  Love you all and have a very HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!! 

Love Sister Miggin

First Transfer.

Kia Ora Family!!

I have heaps of news this week! First I GOT TRANSFERED!!! I am now serving in the Cambridge Branch in the Temple View Zone just 30 minutes south of Hamilton! I LOVE IT! My new companion is Sister Finau. She is from Tonga and she is the best!! Cool story.... On our temple trip a couple of weeks ago I sat next to her in our meeting in the Visitors Center with her and had a little chat with her but didn’t think much of it. But she is such a faithful sister and she was getting nervous for transfers and had prayed in the temple to know who her new companion would be. When she was in the Visitor’s Center she felt that the next person to sit next to her would be her companion. Guess who sat next to her... This girl – ha ha. When they announced in her zone, who everyone’s new companions were, they forgot my name.  Sister Goodman a senior sister, got out the book with our pictures and told Sister Finau to pick her new companion off the page I was on and she pointed right at me and said is that my new companion. Well the story spread around at transfer meeting and everyone was talking about us.  It was crazy. We were totally meant to be companions in this area and I am very excited and happy to be here!

Leaving Pukekohe was one of the most heart wrenching and hard things I have done so far on the mission I will miss those people so much. They showered me with love and gifts as I left for my new home and I will miss them until we meet again! Shanti and Kavita did something that I think you all should know about though. We went over to say goodbye on Wednesday and when we got there they had a new Kitten. I asked them about their new little kitty and they said they bought it and named it after me, and they made sure it was a white kitty I am sure you will be glad to know dad.  Ha ha ha.

I almost died laughing so yes there is now a kitty in the world named Sister Miggin and it lives in Pukekohe New Zealand:) I love my Pukekohe family!  

Sister Finau and I are loving it here in Cambridge and we laugh all the time! Couple funny stories … When we were companion studying this week, she was trying to pronounce Capable and she kept saying K-Bubbles. It was hilarious and needless to say I now call her K-Bubbles ha ha  Next funny thing was I kept saying I need to go "potty" without knowing it and she kept saying I need to go to the Party? I asked her if it was an island thing because Sister Isnard used to call it the Party too, and she goes "No thats what you call it!" haha so without knowing it I have officially taught two of my companions to refer to going to the restroom as going to the Party. haha 

As far as teaching goes it is amazing! This Saturday we have a baptism his name is Sole. He is here on a rugby scholarship from Tonga and he is 15 years old. I could talk about his spirit and strength forever but I will just tell a brief little paragraph instead. Sole has been taking the discussions and the day I got her he had been emailing his parents and shared his testimony with them. They told him to do whatever he wants and that he is no longer a part of their family. He has officially been shunned by his family and when we met with him my first night here he cried and bore the most powerful testimony and prayed in Tongan. I could not understand what he was saying but the spirit was so strong that the language barrier had no influence. He is still preparing for baptism and is willing to give up everything to follow Christ. I feel so blessed to be a part of his life and conversion now. And good news my Tongan has literally grown heaps just this week. I just asked my companion how it is and she said that I have gone from a 0 to a 5 and even though I still don’t hardly understand what they are saying when I teach in Tongan they understand almost everything I say.  

I love you all so much and wish I had more time to write! But I pray for you everyday and can feel all your prayers so thank you so much!! 

OFA-ATU(I love you in Tongan)

 Love Sister Miggin

Sister Finau

Saying goodbye to the Tuipalas and Sister Filou

Cambridge

Saying goodbye to Shanti and Kavita

Wikaira Family

Sister Finau

learning Tongan

The cat named Sister Miggin

Tangi Fmaily

So she wrecked the car. I wish we were surprised.