Elder Ryder Atkinson

onna keep this super short... 1. Had my second zone conference and didn't get called up to give a talk! 2. Made a really dumb move baking some chicken in the oven and burned my hand real bad. Should be fine in a few weeks. 3. Bought a ukulele 4. I learned how to fade but when I tried it out during Elder Genoguin's haircut it didn't really work so now he's stuck with a wack haircut til it grows back. My second go at it with Elder Nowatzke was much better. 5. I guess my companion had too many previous speeding tickets so Prez made me the designated driver for the area. I had never driven on the left side of the road and it took a TON of getting used to. 6. Had some really cool lessons with new people so hopefully those pan out in the coming weeks. 7. Ate way too much ice cream and got sick 8. Had my first meal with a Samoan family and lemme tell you how they just kept shoving food in our faces, it was awesome and the food was amazing! Until it just kept coming and coming ...

Everyone in my flat, except me for some reason, is currently sick, so the halls and rooms have been echoing with coughs and sniffles all week. However, we have not let it affect our missionary work this week and had some really cool spiritual experiences. Since my companion is the district leader, he has to conduct all of the baptismal interviews for baptisms that the other missionaries in our district have set. So on the very first day of the transfer we drove up to Tokoroa for the baptismal interview of this 10 year old boy named Kaiden, and when we walked through the door of the chapel, President and Sister Nikoia were standing right there. Apparently they were meeting with the Sisters in Tokoroa and decided to stay to have lunch with us. Our mission president is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and his wife is just the most genuine human being alive, so that was one of the most fun lunches I've had! Elder Jones had served in the Tokoroa for the last 5 months so after...

Such an awesome first transfer! Had an awesome baptism this weekend! Some awesome meals! Awesome weather! I'm just doing awesome! It was a really rough week for the family leading up to the baptism, we could definitely see that satan DID NOT want it to go through. The family really had their heart set on getting baptized in this section of the river that has been owned my their whānau for generations, and it got approved by our bishop, and the stake president, but then the mission president sadly shut it down. It kind of bummed them out a bit which was sad but they asked us to give them priesthood blessings and they felt much better after that comfort and council. So we held the baptism in the font at the chapel and it was still such a cool experience. They asked me to speak and I was so lucky to be able to share my testimony of the power of baptism and of the church with them! Its been so cool to see their progression over the last 6 weeks and the see it all come to fruition at th...