Mission Tour with President and Sister Callister (Pacific Area President)!

Our smallest gathering occurs in Whangarei, in which the Whangarei/Kaikohe Zone group is shown with the Callister's! Elders and Sisters from the Harbour/Henderson, Mt.Roskill, and Manukau/Papatoetoe Zones take their picture with the Callister's! Elders and Sisters from Glenview, Hamilton, Templeview, Tauranga, Rotorua and Gisborne Stakes are together with the Callister's in Hamilton! Cousins one and all! Elders Greening, Whaanga, and Smith are all cousins and originally from New Zealand--with Elder Smith's mission coming to an end, the cousins see each other one last time while on their missions together! Elders Hibbard, Jensen and Espino find each other and are discussing their experiences since being in the same intake just a few short weeks ago! Boys to men -- that is what a mission does! Elders and Sisters from the Panmure/Waterview, Tamaki,and Manurewa/Papakura Zones pause for a picture with the Callister's! Elders Gardner and Porter take a moment while waiting for interviewing missionaries to read their "love" from home! Elders Hehepoto, Shepard and Tokelau patiently wait after the Mission tour! Darling Sisters Jones and Sitthidamrong after our final meeting of our mission tour! Elders Davis, Finau, Loomis, Jolliffe, Trainor and Snow wait for those being interviewed by President Callister! Elders Asa'Asa, and Matu'u wait for the interviewees! How grateful we are to our noble assistants who did such an excellent job of running the mission tour in a professional and dignified manner! Go NZAM!
This song was presented at one of the meetings for a special musical number by the cousins! The song is in honour of God, the words are as follows: The honour and glory, peace on earth, goodwill to all mankind, forever and ever, Amen. To Heavenly Father, whom I hold close for my well being.

Our latest couple--the Nelson's!

A big NZAM Haere Mai to Elder and Sister Nelson from San Luis Obispo, California! They will be serving in the office taking the place of the Walch's who have served NZAM so faithfully! God bless great Senior Missionary Couples! They are invaluable to building the Kingdom of God!

Anybody wonder what NZAM is up to----we're BAPTIZING!!!

Here is the latest Tamaki Stake Baptism in which Elders Utai, Papalii, Petty, Bake, Afoa, Kaufusi, Stucki and Mutton, along with Sisters Alatini and Pasiaka are looking quite happy! This is what I imagine the que to heaven looking like! All dressed in white, lead by angels! This was the happiest family--Crystal and Matt Coates and Theodore Tavete all were baptised and confirmed and then came to the "Come and See" fireside that Sunday night with the biggest smiles ever! Gloriously happy to be entering in at the strait gate!
These adorable young women are the Fetu Sisters who sang "Ye Elders of Israel" at the baptism! It was so beautiful I had to have them sing it again so I could record it for all to hear! They have just made a CD--they are that good!

We are well enough!

Just wanted to put out a shout to all who are worried about your missionaries that all is well! We here in Auckland have not even felt tremors! Cease you concern about us! Our prayers are with the good people of Christchurch!

A heartwarming scene!

Today, I was on my way to some of the Sisters flat and saw two of our Elders on their way to an appointment! I was so touched by their faithfulness and so I followed them without them even knowing for several blocks!
I then caught up with them and told them I was stalking them and caught a picture of Elder Falapapalangi and Elder Battsagaan!
With these Elders having 8 or 9 souls to be saved this month--it reminded me of what one of our dear prophets Spencer W. Kimball said:
“If only you could see the vision as I have, I wish I had your bodies to do the mission work, I would run to every house to teach the gospel and when I could no longer run then I would walk, and when I could no longer walk, I would crawl on my knees, and after my knees were so bloody that I could not use them, I would use my arms to drag myself, and once every muscle in my body was gone I would begin to yell! Oh that you could see the vision that I have."
We are about a great work!! Bless you faithful Elders! WE LOVE YOU!!!

February Specialized Training!

President and Sister Porter played a dirty trick for Specialized Training this month--we decided to give the mission a bit of a wake up call and call on a few missionaries at 8:00 a.m. for companionship study without warning!
Elders Kauhenga and Vaolupe were the first lucky ones to receive us! It ended up being a wonderful experience as we studied and talked about the Atonement with them!
Elder s Faka'i and Fafai were our next victims (I mean lucky recipients) and we had a great experience having them give us the lesson they were planning to give their "golden investigators" that very night!
We also spent time going on tradeoffs with some of the missionaries to teach with them. In one night I was blessed to teach with Sisters Siilata, Alatini, Pasiaka and Teaupa! Strong spirit and wonderful teachers!
Elders Fillimaua and Fuataga were next for the early morning call! They were able to practice teaching us the Atonement!
We caught one companionship on a tradeoff. Elder Seuga was with his district leader, Elder Jenkins! They too were able to teach us about the Atonement!
Funny thing happened as a result of the tradeoff--Elder Love (Elder Seuga's companion) had the key--therefore, they ended up having to crawl in and out of the window for half the day!
I was blessed to have an incredible experience teaching with Sister Chen and Sister Feao!
Sister Jones and Sister Sitthidamrong looked so adorable that I just had to post them on their bikes! They are wonderful teachers as well!
Even without the gift of tongues it is a pleasure to listen to Sisters Auva'a and Fu'e teach in Samoan--they carry such a wonderful spirit! We left our experiences saying, "We need to do more of this!" Just a warning for the rest of the missionaries! Good times ahead!

New Stake President in Tamaki Stake!

President Arthur did an absolutely fabulous job as the Stake President of the Tamaki Stake for 9 years and now will be able to have a bit more time to spend with his grandchild, shown here in the picture with he and his lovely wife, Lisa.
President Pulu was President Arthur's first counselor and has been chosen by the Lord to lead the Tamaki Stake for the next era--go Tamaki Stake! Thank you and best wishes to the Pulu family!