"The Board is Set, the Pieces are Moving. We Come to it at Last, the Great Battle of our Time."

Not much time! SORRY......

Not much has been happening. Played basketball last pday, it was actually pretty good. Haha, you know me I don't usually enjoy Bball, but I got into it. ;)

 We have been having a good, but pretty average week. We got to swab the deck of a boat on Tuesday, it was AWESOME!! Then we had transfers and our district is pretty much the same. Only one of the sisters left. SO all goodsies.

We helped our ward mission leader's family move (into the sisters ward because that's where everyone is moving to...) and apparently their house is haunted. Hm. We saw the Zone Leaders a bunch.

We have an investigator named [Tanya] who we have been teaching for a while. We weren't able to see her for a while, but we caught up this week, I asked if she wants to be baptized, she said yes! No date yet, but it is still cool!! :))) We went to one of our recent converts house (won't say who) to teach his wife and help her with some word of wisdom things. When we got there, there was smashed window. Her kids said they had a fight, he broke the window, and she smashed his windshield with a 2x4. So that's fun....

Otherwise, it is all actually is fun! Love ya and let me know if you need anything! :))

-Elder Clayton-

"'There's Something Mighty Queer Behind This.' He was Quite Right, but He Never Found Out Anymore About it."

Not a lot of time, because everyone wants to go do stuff, but that's ok, cause not much happened this week. I think the most exciting thing we did was service out at a farm thing. There was this field of hay, and it was all being turned into bales, so we went out to go throw them all onto a truck, drive over to a nearby place, and take the hay off and store it into a barn. When we first got there we just threw the bales up. But on our first ride over, we all rode on top of it. Like a legit hay ride. It was like 10 feet tall. Then Elder Fanger and I threw the bales off to everyone else and rode back in the bed (standing too...) so we could get more bales. I ended up being the person in the truck that stacked the bales as people threw them up and I rode back on it every time. It was amazing!! Wish I had pics, but we didn't have a camera. So next time. But we are going out to "swab tha deck" of a boat on Tuesday, so hopefully we will get some then. Otherwise, I am rushed, so I gotta go. But love all of you and let me know if you need anything! :)) 

P.S. One of the worst things here are the fleas. They are awful. We killed one so there's a pic. ;P Nasty little buggers. They jump about 6 feet high and they are very hard to kill.... 

"Deeds will not be Less Valiant Because They are Unpraised"

Greetings! :) Pretty darn slow week this week. Almost everyone was out at the beach. So there was a lot of "no one home"s. But we will start from the beginning. Monday. Not much happened. All I can say is if you go to the McDonald's here, and buy the Reuben, it is gross. So disappointing. Not nearly as good as all the other ones I have had. Then we went and saw [Jim] and his new wife. We taught them simply about the temple. Which was cool, but they are a little weird about it.

 Aw well, I think they will be all good! :) Tuesday my companion was sick again, so I just studied a bit and read up on some "deep doctrine" stuff. LOVE IT.

 On Wednesday, not much weird happened, but we did go to our Ward Mission Leader's house, and when we got there he and his wife were working on a car. And they couldn't get the fan-belt on. So, in our nice clothes..., we got down and helped. Haha it was awesome. Even though we got one on, struggled to get the other one on, aaannnddd, never got it. Oh well.

 On Thursday it was New Year's Day. So we went up to the Zone Leader's area again. (Pictures included if you forgot) Then went back to the Zone Leader's flat and had the most intense deep doctrine talk ever. IT WAS CRAZY. Just saying, if you’re reading this, STAY A GOOD PERSON. :) Haha then the next day we talked about it again, and then that night we started a trade-off. 

On Saturday me and Elder Donaldson (the one I was trading with) went and walked almost everywhere. We didn't see a lot of people because, again, they were all gone on vacation, but we walked almost everywhere and knocked the doors of a lot of potential and former investigators from the Elders before us. We even got a return appointment. But Elder Fanger seemed a little judgmental for our low number of TWE (Talk With Everyone). But, in my defense, no one has really taught me how to count it, so I don't care if people judge. :P I refuse to get discouraged ever. ^_^ Oh and we were able to see 17 Miracles with an awesome family. YAY!! Anyways, rushed like always, so I will see you next week! Love Y'all!!!! :D

-Elder Samuel Clayton- 

P.S.: Oh, and those last pictures are our mirror. We came back one day and it was completely shattered. So I put every last piece in and taped it up. Heheheh...

"For the Time will Soon Come When Hobbits will Shape the Fortunes of All"

Sorry it is going to be another short email. The email shop we have been using has been shut down, so we only have the stake center right now and there are lots of elders that need to use it so I am pretty rushed. But I have some pictures for ya! So that is still good!

We had a pretty slow week cause everyone is out at the beach. For Christmas itself we went up to a hardcore bush area (where the Zone leaders teach) and we went out to a "beach" and had a huge feed. It was my first hongi. Which is basically like a tin foil dinner in that they just shove everything together so it all cooks right and it is amazing!! Love it. Then we played Risk with the zone leaders and two other elders. 'Twas awesome.

Otherwise we were able to catch up with [Jim] (picture included) and we have gained a lot of trust from members! Love you guys and thanks to everyone who sent me their Christmas wishes!! :)))

-Elder Clayton-

"Your Time will Come. You will Face the Same Evil, and You will Defeat it"

Hey guys! I don't have much time at all, but I will try to be descriptive as I am quick. The marriage/baptism I told you about last week went well. The only catch was that at 11 (when it was supposed to start) there was like two people there. Around 11:10, bishop shows up. Around 11:45, Brother Haika (the one baptizing) gets there. [Jim] (the one getting baptized and married) doesn't get there till about 12:05. And his bride didn't get there till 1:00. So yeah a bit of a fiasco. But oh well. Other than that, we have had some good lessons this week. And we went to the temple on Tuesday! Oh it was awesome!! Look up Hamilton, New Zealand temple it's so gorgeous. But yes it was very very cool. We went back to those caves on Monday. There was a LOT more water than last time cause of rain. What was about ankle deep last time was going almost knee deep. And I climbed up a sketchy hole like a weasel. (What a funny word) And we are going to some different ones today... XD 

Anyways, love you guys and I apologize for the shortness! It is a very jam packed day today…:D

-Elder Clayton-

PS: We got a Christmas tree!! Elder Fanger’s family sent it and every day we open up a present with ornaments to put on it! It's awesome. Also, shout out to my awesome family for the Christmas stuff. ;)

(And some pics of our flat [apartment])

(http://pixgood.com/new-zealand-christmas-traditions.html)

“A Hunted Man Sometimes Wearies of Distrust and Longs for Friendship"

HELLO!!! So it sounds like a lot of people are starting to get a bit cold. Well I sympathize, but I cannot empathize. Because it is getting quite hot here. ;) Well, mostly. These last five-ish days have been rainy and muggy and humid and wet. Most people hate it. But not me! I RELISH in it. It is so awesome! And it makes the mountains ( Haha "mountains", more like hills next to the Rockies ;D ) look way cool. They look cool all the time, because they are just covered in the greenest most rain forest-y looking trees. But when it rains, they get all enshrouded in mist. I CAN'T even describe it!! It looks just like a movie, it is so exciting.

Anyway, yes the work has been going good! We have been seeing [Jim] (the one getting married and baptized on Saturday) almost every day, because we have to teach him the lessons before his baptism. We worry we are overloading him a bit, but I think it is all good, because he is very accepting and learns quickly. It is very cool to see him change, because before last week, he pretty much wanted little to do with us. There was another time this week where we taught the same lesson to different people about 4 or 5 times in a row over the course of two days. It is awesome.

Other than that, it sounds like we are going back to Waipu Caves today. But not with our whole zone again. This time only with the elders in our district. But it will still be fun! And tonight we are going down to Auckland to spend the night so we can go to the temple in Hamilton!! I am so excited it is such a gorgeous building. I feel peacful and spiritual just thinking about it!! Anyway, it is going to be way fun. Going to try to send more pictures soon!  :) 

One thing, has anyone seen a movie called Ephraim's Rescue? If you haven't, DO IT. It is SO SO good. A lot of people have seen 17 Miracles. (If you haven't seen that one, I recommend it too. It is good and makes me cry...) Well, Ephraim's Rescue came out this year and is pretty much a "sequel" to 17 Miracles. And if the latter makes me cry, then Ephraim's Rescue makes me weep. Hard. I do not want to seem unmanly, but it does. And if you watch it you will see why. Plus, it has good acting, an amazing soundtrack, powerful effects, and camera work that I LOVE. So yes, 'tis but a recommendation. ^_^ 

Anyways, love y'all and hope you're doing well!! 

-Elder Clayton-

"Let Us Remember that a Traitor May Betray Himself and Do Good that He Does Not Intend"

Oh man, did we have a miracle. It was one of the coolest things. FIRST, some background. There is a sister in our ward named [Mary]. She has been less active but has started coming back recently. There is also our Relief Society president's brother. His name is [Jim] and he has been relatively against the church, mostly before I got here. But yesterday, he showed up on Sister [Roberts’] door (our Relief Society President), and said he was coming to church. Needless to say she was a bit surprised. Anyway, he came to church and he and [Mary] (who have known each other for a while because [Mary] is one of Sister [Roberts’] friends) came to our gospel principles class. It is just a little class taught by the missionaries for new people or people who are just trying out the gospel. Anyway, he seemed to enjoy it and the ward was pretty friendly.

Move to later on, we were talking to a family who is moving out of our ward soon. We were outside and just wrapping up, when the phone rang. Elder Fanger was talking to the mom of the family so he handed the phone to me. It was Sister [Roberts] asking if we could come teach a lesson. I said yes, and asked what she wanted us to teach on. She said to just start from the beginning. She then said, quite calmly, that [Jim] and [Mary] were getting married on the 20th. Needless to say I was surprised. She then said that [Jim] was going to get married and baptized all on the same day. We were very surprised and very grateful! He is very solid and earnest. And the story is made even cooler because I was fasting, because it was fast Sunday, that we would find a new investigator. I didn't realize till after that [Jim] was the answer, and not only is he an investigator, but he is also a set! It was so cool to see and I am so grateful for the Lord, He really does provide. 

Ha I hope you enjoyed that. Especially all the people who think I have just been partying the whole time. No I am actually working... ;) No but it is cool. We have four more that may have a date for a baptism soon. It is so exciting!! 

So I have a funny story. I was on a trade off with Elder Palmer. We were down in his area, called Bream Bay, though specifically we were in a township called Ruakaka. Anyway, we were doing rescue nights. It is basically where the elders get with some of the members of the ward and go out to visit some of the less active members. So it was me, Elder Palmer, and his branch president (a branch is like a ward but smaller). We went to go see a man named [Tim]. Anyway, we got to his house and he was sitting in his garage with a pakia (basically Maori for "white person". Used to be quite derogatory, but now, just means white person. Pronounced pa-key-uh, if you’re interested...). Assumedly they were friends. Anyway we went around and met up with them. And they were both on the bottle. [Tim] wasn't too far gone, but his friend was WASTED. He was drunk as. So it came down to the Branch President talking to [Tim] and us elders distracting the other. And WOW he was going on about the weirdest stuff. All I really remember though was him talking about why Christmas is good...I think. Anyway, he grabbed my head and gave me a big ol' kiss on the neck. And then did the same to my companion. Ugh. It was scarring. Cause it was a wet one. From an old drunk relatively hairy white man. So yeah that was interesting.

 And after that we went and saw Maori Santa Claus. He looked exactly like him, he just needed the hat and suit. Man 'twas uncanny. Haha, Bream Bay is a little hoary. 

Other than that, we have just been continuing to teach people and get to know families. It is awesome! Speaking of awesome, I got a letter this week full of a bunch of notes written by a bunch of people, so thanks guys it made me all fuzzy inside. ^_^ 

Anyways, love ya'll and keep being cool people! :D

-Elder Clayton-

(Our Thanksgiving Meal)