Malo e lelei

Kia ora whanau:)

Wow it’s been amazing. God has seriously been so good.

So this week was zone conference which was amazing I can’t even describe it. The spirit was definitely present and so so strong. President Erekson is brand new to the mission got here about th same time i did. And he talked about all the spiritual preparation he did before coming out here because he wants to make this mission the best it can be with the Lord’s help. At this point we are having really low numbers about 2-3 baptisms a week mission wide and they said when a new mission president comes it’ll get even lower, so hes been stressing because that’s already really low and hes trying to figure out what he can do and after a lot of sleepless nights and prayer he said he received this promting that soon we are gonna have rates of 500 baptisms a year. And the second he said that the spirit filled the room really quick. And then he basically gave us this giant call to repentance saying hes not looking for missionaries but an army. Like the stripling warriors, and then he gave us this long amazing speech on on accountability, on making and really sticking to goals, on being bold, and seeking out those who are the elite and on obeying with exactness to the mission and church rules. Wow I’ve never been so happy after being so rebuked. it was so cool,  I cant even explain it, it was amazing. And since zone conference its been insane litterally miracle after miracle and miracle have occurred. We have found 10 new people! 10! God has been so good. And we are white washing the area. Which means typically we should have like nothing. And we have 8 more people on the verge of being new people.

It’s been great. I’ve cried so much. Shocker. But I think Sister Graham, my companion, has been a huge part of that. She just pushes us everyday to do a little better to work a little harder and to be more diligent, accountable, and obedient. Her testimony is so sweet too. I can just tell how much she really does love The Lord and wants to do anything he asks. And it’s all I want too. Don’t get me wrong, this past week has been so hard. Really hard. But I’ve never been happier in my life. We are always teaching about, thinking about, and testifying about Christ, always praying and trying to ask the Lord “what lack I yet?” and I’ve never been so filled with joy in my life. This is God’s work and i know it. This is his church there is no doubt in my mind. It’s been testified to me over and over and over through the Holy Ghost my whole mission experience. I’m just so grateful to be here and be a missionary. So thank you to everyone that;s helped me get here.

So side note I just really wanted to apologize to everyone that has written me. I have been having a hard time trying to find time to email but I’m going to  make it a bigger priority because you all mean so much to me and I don’t want to lose contact with, or let down any of you so please keep on writing and I promise I’ll write you too. Anyway keep on praying and being the amazing people I know and love. I’d just like you all to stop sometime this week and pray for missionary opportunities and see how you can better serve and love those around you and I know that as you do so prayerfully and faithfully the lord will put those people into your path. 

Mahalo - Sister Berrett

1) So funny story we thought we didn't have any bikes so we went through this long process and convinced our angels of district leaders to go through alot to try and get us bikes from the mission office and when we finally got them we took the bikes to the back yard to find a place for them only to instead discover a shed that I swear was never there before definitely might have been filled with bikes already.... so we may or may not have 4 bikes now and may or may not have been too embarrassed to tell the district leaders.... oh well.

2) our cute beach :)

3) beach pt 2

4) So story pt 2 so since in good old red hills they haven’t had missionaries here for a LONG time the apartment was completely empty so the same district leaders that definitely may or may not do so much for us all the time. rip. they are awesome,  contacted the mission office and got us like a crazy amount of stuff for our place and got it to us like Jimmy Johns level of freaky fast. So this was basically Christmas it was great.

5) Basically the sweetest family ever. Also side note in New Zealand they are like OBSESSED with KFC. So that’s cool we basically live there like every feed appointment is at KFC. But like it’s actually better here for some reason. Like not good, but definitely better. 

6) So we may or may not have invented a version of volleyball / dodgeball / yoga that we play with badminton rackets. And by yoga I mean the one pose were you lay on the floor and try not to fall asleep. And by playing this "game" I mean we have good intentions but usually sleep through exercise... 

7) :)