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