"A Day May Come When The Courage Of Men Fails...But It Is Not THIS day!"

HI GUYS!! Wow I have much words to give as to the current state of affairs and those that have come to pass in the last few days. So let’s start from the beginning-ish. We left the MTC Wednesday morning. It was just me and Elder Maxfield in our room the night before. (Man I loved those islanders but is was SO peaceful once they left...) We got picked up by the mission president and his wife and we headed down to Auckland. We had some orientating, and we spent the night in a motel and then a little more orientating at the mission home, and then we met our companions!!

Before I tell you about mine though, I have to say, what a time it has been for Colorado!! The mission president and his wife are from the good ol' mile high state to begin with. And one of the first missionaries I met was a sister missionary in the mission office recovering from a broken foot. Her name is Sister Camiletti, and I totally know her brother. YEAH. I know him from when I was being Senior Patrol Leader at 11 year old scout camp. He was my Assistant Senior Patrol Leader. We were like best friends. I think he moved to Kansas and now he is on his mission somewhere in South America, but he never told me he had a sister. And then there's my companion. WHO IS ALSO FROM COLORADO. Same area as me actually!! His name is Elder Fanger, and I didn't know him before I came out, but I knew his younger brother. And we have a LOT of the same acquaintances. So yeah it is pretty shweet.

We have been assigned to the Whangarei Zone! (In Maori, wh makes an f sound, and the r's all have a sort of roll. So its pronounced Fawn-ga-ray, but with the little r roll thing, it sounds a lot like fawn-ga-day) When I first met my companion in Auckland his driver's license was expired, so they threw me the keys and said I was driving. In all seriousness. That was the first time I have felt nervous. Especially since Whangarei is TWO HOURS AWAY. Luckily they found someone else to do that drive, but I still had to drive before my companion renewed his license. It's actually not that bad though. You just got to make sure you turn the right way (cause everyone drives on the wrong side of the road, bunch a weirdos) and that you remember the blinker is on the LEFT. I have given so many "American Salutes" with those stupid windshield wipers.

Anyway, my coolest experience so far was probably my first one. Me and my companion got to go up with our zone leaders to Whangaruru (Remember, Fawn-ga-roo-roo, but it sound like fawn-ga-doo-doo. He he he), it’s a looong drive on this really winding road through jungles and trees with lots of cliffs and stuff. I NEVER get carsick, but boy this one did a number. Relatively speaking. Anyway, it's waaayyy up in the bush with lots of Maoris. (They call them "hoary Maoris) But we got to go up to see a Tongi (Tawng-ee) which is a Maori funeral. They was a lot of Hongi-ing. A hongi is a Maori thing where you start like a handshake, but then you go in and put you foreheads and noses together. It's interesting for sure. We also got to see one of our recent converts do the Haka. And apparently he has been on the national team or something, cause he was good. It was really cool though. Two of the other three elders had never even done anything like that, and I got to do it my first day (YUS).

 Afterwards, we went to this little fish'n'chips shop right next to a gorgeous beach. It wasn't the water or anything, but man it was just cool. It was like a little cove surrounded, nay, hugged perfectly by two large mountainy structure things. Other than that, it has been a little slow. It has not been a lot of sit down visits. Just mostly going to people's houses, seeing if they are home, and having a little "get to know you" chat. But it's been going good, cause apparently a lot of the people who are usually mean to us have been really nice and inviting. And I am starting to feel more comfortable as well. The first few days I was more of "watch and listen/quiet Sam". Now I am getting more like "normal Sam...." ;)

 The weather here as also been very nice. Apparently. I have really enjoyed it, but lots of people have been talking about it as if it is uncharacteristic. But the nights have been COLD AS. (That's a thing they do here. If they want to really emphasize an adjective, they put as after it. It's a little weird, cause it sounds KIND OF like swearing, but if you say it right it is all good. But it goes on about anything: cool as, sweet as, in this case, cold.) Luckily I have some good blankets and super warm socks my aunt made me (awwwww).

The bed is nice though and so is our whole flat. Relatively anyway. Compared to the states, especially the rural areas I have lived in, it is downright trashy. But compared to some of the houses here, it's pretty nice... The style and standard of living is just so dang different. And the houses are weird too. They aren't in nice neat rows on defined blocks. They are all twisty and none of them look remotely similar to any other ones. But many many times we have had to get to a house by walking down a loooong twisty driveway to get to a tiny house you never would have guessed to be there. It's got a very strange appeal though. So it has been pretty cool and I haven't even been out here a week! But of course I remain in high spirits and reckless optimism. (Is there an alternative?) It will be very interesting to see how things go.

I am sorry I haven't sent pictures yet. I have not had many chances to be in wifi, and I haven't found a charger for the weird outlets. yet. But I will I just haven't gone to the store. Other than that, I don't know how often I will be able to email. We go to this little cyber cafe thingy to email and it is expensive as, man! So I will do it when I can, and it will probably be every week, but if I am not able to, then you know why! And in my next transfer, I will probably go someplace it will be cheaper, but that could be a while. Have a good time at all the times and email when you can! I love to hear from you even if I don't respond with a novel. ;) Love you guys and I will see you in two(ish) years! :))

-Elder Clayton-

It's a Dangerous Business Frodo, Going Out Your Door...

Hallo! This is the last letter I am going to write from the MTC! It is Tuesday the 21^st, and we drive 
out to Auckland tomorrow morning right after breakfast. It has been fun but man I am ready to get 
out there.  Two of the guys in our district left this morning and one of them was going to leave as well but he is headed back to Tonga while he waits for his visa, and his flight was delayed by a lot. 

We have had some good experiences though. We went to the temple and it was awesome.  The other night we were all headed to bed after a draining devotional thing (We tried to stay awake but we were so tired), and when we all went back to our rooms, we heard loud noises from outside. When we looked out the window there were these HUGE fireworks. Everyone was excited, but us “yanks” really let our American show.

 One of the funniest things that has transpired was during one of our closing devotional thingies (elders and sisters go back to their respective halls and have one last little spiritual thought and business issues), and the zone leaders asked if there was any problems anyone had been having. Elder Moy, who has the most stereotypical Australian accent (he is the one who calls us yanks) just said quite loudly “yeah, our room is starting to smell like bloke?”. Man, with the way he said it and how tired we were, it was one of the funniest things I have ever heard. We have started to use “bloke” as a negative term for describing smells, as lots of the things here do smell like bloke from time to time.  Our room isn’t bad though…. 

So I had written down in my journal stories to tell you, but I don’t have it on me, so if there’s any that you REALLY should here, I will let you know. J I will say, the candy here is great. I don’t know if I would say better, just different in a really good way. The fruit though. I cannot even describe how much better just the canned fruit in the cafeteria is. I love it. 

I am excited to get out there tomorrow and experience more of it though. The weather here is pretty darn weird though. It has been pretty cold the last two days, but it is pretty warm today. But we have these humidity explosions. It is always pretty humid here (in the best possible way, I love it), but we will just have times where everything fogs up, like on our windows, and then is gone within the next ten minutes. I love it though. Otherwise, I would love to hear from you guys when you get the chance! Haha when everyone else opened up their email they had like 30 letters. I had 4. Good thing I am so emotionally detached. ;) I remain with high hopes and resolute determination. I plan on sending some pictures very soon, so if you have any questions about them, let me know. 
:D

Elder Clayton

PS: I had a question about what kind of food I have been eating so far. Most of it has been about the same as the food I have been eating in America, just with slight differences I can't explain. Like, we had hamburgers today(t'were amazing) but they were just slightly different. One of the biggest differences is the ketchup. They have Ketchup here, but it's weird. It seems slightly thicker and sweeter. I can't decide which I like better. Another thing is fruit that I mentioned. And as for the candy(or should I say: "lollies"), you have heard of Cadbury? Well here they are pretty much Hersheys. Everything to do with anything chocolate is Cadbury. What seemed like really fancy stuff in America is just normal, everyday chocolate here. It definitely seems less special. But still good! I love it, but there's honestly something about a plain Hershey's chocolate bar that I love. Something I thought was fun, and you probably will too, I have had fish'n'chips at least four times. Each time it was prepared different though. But it's still a funny thing cause it is probably one of the most stereotypical things about these countries though. Next time I talk to you, I will have been out in the field! But for now, see ya!!!!

Kia Ora!

   Kia Ora!! (I'm pretty darn sure that's hello in Maori...)  Second e-mail is here! Today is day 6 in the MTC, so officially halfway. It has been pretty crazy. We watched general conference again, which was

awesome. I ended up taking 13 1/2 PAGES of notes. Crazy stuffs. 

   We have been teaching "investigators" and we have two we are currently teaching so far. I put that in quotes because they are just teachers here, but we treat them as actual investigators and they do well at

acting as such.

   Our district is the Jacob district. We have 5 elders and 4 sisters. We have 2 sisters in a companionship from Tonga name Sister Fetuani and Sister Tualoni. (that second name may be wrong I am

still trying to learn all these names) The other companionship of sisters has 1 from Samoa named Sister Esau and the other I think is actually from here in New Zealand, but her name is the easiest with Sister Dixon. As for the Elders, there's me and my companion Elder Tameifuna from Tonga. The other companionship is one of the Americans named Elder Maxfield. His companion is name Elder Ratukadreu and he is from Fiji. (His name is definitely the hardest out of anyone here. We still say it all the time. We had a sort of game where we would all

just say his name over and over again and see who could say it the best.) The 5th elder is another American named Elder Whithers, and we aren't completely sure which companionship he is in, so we sort of

just trade him around...hah. Anyway, its a cool bunch of guys and we are all in a room together. 

Elder Ratukadreu speaks pretty good english, but he has definitely gotten better as well. Elder Tameifuna

struggles a little more though. He has been getting better, but he still needs work and and a lot of confidence though. Haha I will send out pictures of all these things later. But it has been interesting how we are so different in some of the weirdest ways. They both have Facebook, which is interesting. Elder Ratukadreu was saying how they don't really have apples in Fiji, so he really enjoys it when they're here, but he also said that they have a very large amount of coconuts. He said that they just climb up the tree and get them when ever they

want! He also didn't know what chapstick is. But we gave him some cause  his lips are chapped and it is kind of funny to see. Another game we have sort of started with him is saying "I luh dat" or "He/she

luh dat" (Luh being love and dat being that...) around him, and we have gotten a lot of people to say it, but he won't say it cause he "hates gangsters, man". Its really funny, and we are trying to get him

to say it, and he is coming close! He also taught me "Au lomani iko", which basically means "I love you, man" in Fijian. And Elder Tameifuna says I need to find him a girl when we get off our missions. In the words of Elder Rotukadreu, "He's a funny guy, man!" Haha you may have noticed he says man a lot at the end of his sentences. And I am picking it up. Not his accent, but a lot of his inflections. They are pretty overbearing. :)

 We have been playing some awesome games during "sport" but the only one I have played is Soccer. People have also been playing Basketball, but I have never been good at that, and Volleyball, but these Islanders are way too good and crazy scary when they play v-ball. They spike it with more force than I have ever seen,

but hit it really gracefully at the same time. It's scary. But I actually stand a chance in Soccer. 

And the food? Oh my goodness. We have been eating way too much. Of some of the best food ever. And I

think it is just their version of cafeteria food. But it's so good. Especially the canned fruit. I have NEVER had canned fruit this good. ever. So I think when I get back I will definitely be a bit bigger, but not in a bad way. Just more substance, haha. Cause this food is all pretty healthy and we work hard too.... Anywhoo, I am about out of

time. So I love you guys and I will see you later! :D

        

 -Elder Clayton-

"Far over the misty mountains cold"

 After many hours, and only one night as opposed to you having two, I am here in New Zealand!! I love the humidity and the sights are already what I expected: very beautiful and very green! And apparently, right now it is "cold". But I gotta say, if this is cold, then I am gonna like it here! It does get colder apparently, but this is wonderful weather. 

As for the flight, all went well except for one of the elders losing a bag, but I guess something had to happen to someone. :) Speaking of other elders, there were no other missionaries going from Denver to San Fransisco, but once I arrived in SanFran, I found another elder headed here and almost immediately we found a large group of elders headed to New Zealand. We had gotten up to 11, and wanted one more (cause 12 is awesome, what with the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles, etc.), and wouldn't you know it, we had one more guy show up right before we left. He was promptly given several nicknames, which are(in order of most used to least) new guy, the chosen one, and the child of the prophecy. Haha we are pretty clever... It also worked out great because 6 of us are going to the Auckland mission(mine) and the other 6 are going to the Wellington Mission. So we have already started a sort of friendly rivalry. Out of the 12 of us, I am from Denver, 1 is from Washington, 1 is from Florida(New Guy), 1 is from Idaho(lovingly nicknamed "Elder Spud"), 1 is from Houston, and the rest are ALL from Utah. 

Only one of the guys in the group is in my room though, and my first companion(who I haven't met yet) is from Tonga. So we will see how that works, gonna be awesome. :) Also, I am definitely going to pick up this accent, at least a little bit. I am going to have to understand more than half of what is being said. The same goes for all the other white guys here(there's more than I expected).

(http://englishbusiness-blog.de/2014/06/)

 Anywho, I am pretty much all settled in, and this MTC is a pretty awesome place, though extremely small. And one of the first things I saw in the airport was a large statue of a Dwarf with a sign that said "On loan from Middle Earth, please do not touch. Yeah that was enough to tell me I am gonna love it here. ;) After a while, I think I will be able to fit right in!!  Thanks and love all of you! :D

-Elder Clayton-