Welcome to Macca's - 10/8/2023

Make sure to wish my dad a happy 50th birthday! I'm sure he's beyond overjoyed that I'm going around telling everyone he's 50! Love you dad!!


I was finally able to watch general conference, which was amazing, as always! It was especially cool to watch it from the perspective of a missionary because I was able to find a bunch of concepts that will help with some of the people we're teaching. We call this new perspective "Mission Goggles", and it's the same thing that makes the bland cereal here taste like Frosted Flakes after a few months.


One of my favorite talks from general conference was from Elder Alan T. Phillips, who talked about the love of our Heavenly Father. My favorite part of this talk was when he was talking about his son and said,

holding back tears, "He is my son, and I love him more than he will ever know. If an imperfect, earthly father feels this way about his child, can you imagine how a perfect, glorified, loving Heavenly Father feels about you?" I could just feel the power of those words through the screen of my phone and I'm sure it perfectly described the feelings of every father watching. I also loved Elder Gary E. Stevenson's steps to more easily receive spiritual promptings. He counciled us to:


1. Stand in Holy Places

2. Stand with Holy People

3. Testify of Holy Truths

4. Listen to the Holy Spirit


We got a baptismal date set on the 21st for this brother/sister duo, Dangen and Ayva, who we've been teaching for the last 4 weeks, and it's been so inspiring to have seen their progress over the lessons we've had with them! I always leave their lessons overflowing with the spirit and I cannot wait to see the joy on their faces when they're finally able to make that first covenant with God and be baptized. They don't have a ton of support from their Mom which has been rough for them so please keep them in your prayers!


I've been learning Tongan since I left the MTC and was finally able to hold a conversation with this one gentleman who's door we knocked on. I saw the Tongan flag hanging outside his house so when he answered I just kinda went for it and introduced ourselves in Tongan which was super cool! We talked for a but until I ran out of Tongan words; turns out he also spoke English and didn't seem too happy that missionaries were standing on his doorstep, but was impressed by the gesture and agreed to hear what we had to say. We made an appointment for next week so we'll see how that goes!


I've officially accepted the fact that New Zealand McDonald's (or Macca's, as they call it) tastes so much better than in the states; the beef is all from the south island and it's MUCH more fresh than the greasy patties we get back home. I will admit though that the sprite doesn't have the same battery acid taste like it does in America, which is the only downside.


I CANNOT wait to go climb the volcano today!










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