Dear Family!

  This week has been relatively uneventful but we have had some ups and some downs none the less. The work in our area is going really well and I love the people here. The town is so beautiful and I love being so close to the beach. The area does have it's challenges though but that just pushes us to work harder and do better.

 On Thursday Sister Vasi and I decided that to show our devotion to Heavenly Father we would talk to every single person we saw no matter what and so that is exactly what we did. Every time we got in the car to go somewhere or to see someone there would be someone walking down the street so I would drive past them and then make Sister Vasi jump out of the car and talk to them (She was a bit shy when she started and she didn't like talking to people so I had to push her and make her do it and now she's great) Anyway on a normal day we are expected to do out best to talk to at least 20 people and somedays it's hard to even do that but this one particular day I feel like everyone and their dog were out walking around. We talked to close to fifty people and we didn't have one rude person! It was a miracle. Most of them weren't interested but they were still nice about it and we found some new investigators for us and the elders. It's funny though because we'll talk to men on the street and they will be super keen to learn more and they will give us their name and address and say that we can come back but then the elders will go there and all the sudden the men aren't interested anymore. I have no idea how that happens. Why they are more receptive to us I have no idea because the elders we share an area with are some of the best missionaries in the mission. They must not like the way the elders dress or something :)

   Sad news though. This is one of the hardest things that have happened to me on my mission so far. Last week I told you about Janet and Jesse. Well I can't go into detail due to the public naute of this email and the blog but unfortunately despite all the fasting and prayers Jesse won't allow Janet to meet with us or have contact with us anymore. To make it worse because of the way things progressed between Jesse and Janet, Jesse (who I really loved because I felt at home at her house) now feels like we betrayed her by allowing Janet to come to church with us. The whole thing is just so so sad. I love Janet and I feel like I have known her my whole like and to me she's like a little sister and now I won't be able to see her anymore. It is so sad. However despite all of this I still have a calm feeling inside and I know that everything will work out. I was texting Janet last night and I told her that this wasn't good bye and that I would see her again and she said "Promise me Sister Simkins that I will see you again someday. I just don't know how to say goodbye to a person that already means so much to me. I feel like you are my big sister and I love you and I don't want to say goodbye. Please promise me that I'll see you again." I promised her that I will find her again. Whether I am still on my mission or not I know that I will see her again because I know that she was one of the people that I came here to find. I am still praying that everything will somehow will work out. I know that Heavenly Father is in charge and that it is all in His hands but I am still pretty hurt by the situation. I can't forsee this being resolved anytime soon but I also know that I believe in a God of miracles so we'll see what happens. Janet will join the church oneday whether it's now or later she knows it's true and she knows that this is what she wants for her life. Missions are so great but they are also pretty hard. There is opposition in all things so you have to have the bad to enjoy the good.

  Well that is all that I have this week but I love you! I hope that things are going well!

Love,

Sister Simkins

Kia Ora Whanau (Hello Family),

 

   I had another really great week here in the beautiful land of Aoteroa (New Zealand). I love my companion and I love my new area. We had a challenging week this week because we had to build up our investigator pool and it felt like we weren't having a lot of success and that was really frustrating. The people here are so laid back that it's almost impossible to have teaching appointments. We tried so hard to set appointments but they always fall through and that is so hard. We finally figured out that if we are going to be successful in this area we are just going to have to really be in tune with the spirit and be on top of timing things. The key is to just drop by and see people and hope and pray that it's a good time. The elders have given us so many names and so many people to go and see, who they say are so keen and so prepared but we just can't seem to catch them at the right time and I feel like we are letting the elders down. Some weeks on missions are amazing and then some are harder. Don't get me wrong I am loving it out here, it's just hard to be the first sisters in an area. There is so much work to do here because they are working on splitting the ward. The bishop and President Rudd have high hopes for this area and I am just worried that we won't be able to reach their expectations. My companion and I have evaluated where we can improve and we have big plans for this week so hopefully things go better and we can start really working and help people progress towards baptism. 

  We did have a really cool experience this week however. So if you remember back in October when I was in Rotorua I taught and baptized a girl name Dominique and then in January her grandmother Janet got baptized. Janet is one of my favorite people and I just love her so much. Well while we were teaching her before she got baptized it was the school holidays so Janet had her other granddaughter, Dominique's younger sister, staying with her so we met her and got to know her pretty well. Her name is also Janet and so in order to prevent confusion I refer to the grandmother as big Janet and the granddaughter as little Janet (Not to their faces of course because they might take offense to that. It's just so my companion knows who I am talking about). Well every time we went to teach big Janet, little Janet would sit at the kitchen table or on the couch close to us but she would never contribute to the conversation. We invited her a few times to join us but she always said that it wasn't her thing. Anyway after big Janet's baptism Sister Doole and I noticed that little Janet seemed to be paying attention to the lessons and she came to church a few times and seemed to love it. We even started planning lessons to teach big Janet around what we thought little Janet needed to hear. After doing this a few times we could see a bit of progress with little Janet but unfortunately school holidays ended so she had to go home and go back to school. Well guess where she lives... in my new area of Whakatane. When I was saying goodbye to big Janet she told me to go visit her daughter Jesse and she would take care of me. I had met Jesse a few time before that and I knew she was really nice but I was also aware of the fact that she is very strong in another faith and she wasn't too happy with her mom joining our church. Our second day here in Whakatane I decided we should go see Jesse and so we went over for a visit. As we were walking up to the house the front door was open and I could see little Janet sitting on the couch with her mom Jesse. I peaked my head in and said "Hello!" and little Janet looked at me in shock. She couldn't believe that I was there at her house and she said "Wait what are you doing here?" Her mom looked at her and said "Oh ya I forgot to tell you that she got transferred here." Jesse invited us in and fed us some delicious food and we had a gospel discussion. With Jesse we aren't allowed to talk about the Book of Mormon because it really makes her mad so we normally just talk about the bible. Jesse likes us and we get along great she just doesn't really like the mormon church which I find a little ironic but I'm not complaining because she has the best food. We figured that we weren't going to get any where with Jesse but I had hoped that maybe little Janet was still interested but every time we went over we couldn't really discern whether or not she was. Then this past Saturday we received a challenge from our Zone Leaders to go out that day and find someone to be baptized. I knew that because we were given this commitment that Heavenly Father already had someone prepared for us so my companion and I prayed really hard to know where to go. After we prayed we both had the strongest feeling to go see Jesse and I kept thinking "There is no way that Jesse is going to accept the invitation to be baptized but maybe little Janet will." We went to Jesse's and had a nice visit but the whole time little Janet didn't seem interested. There was a point when Jesse was talking about her church and Janet agreed with some of the things she was saying as to why it's better and so we took that to mean that little Janet really wasn't interested any more. At the end of the visit we said goodbye and we were walking across the front yard and I walked up to give little Janet a hug and say goodbye and she said "Maybe I can come to church tomorrow with you?" and I was a bit shocked but we talked for about thirty minutes after that just standing in the front yard. During that time little Janet explained that when we would be over teaching big Janet she loved to listen to the lessons and they always made her feel good inside. She said she would look for every excuse to be in the same room as us. She also said that she absolutely loved going to church with her grandma and uncle. She then explained that she had been thinking a lot about our church lately and that her uncle had been teaching her and she felt like she needed to learn more. Well all this was going on and then who should turn up at her door? Me! Little Janet said that the moment she saw me she knew it was time. She said "When you were at my door I said to myself 'She's here! This has to be a sign. It's time to get this started''. After this happened she said she was talking to her uncle and she told him that she didn't know what to do because her mom is still against the church so every time we came over we weren't allowed to teach anything. He told her to talk to me and tell me what she was thinking and then something would work out. She continued to explain that she had been waiting for us to come back and then it took her the entire time we were there to work up the courage to talk to us. So after she had explained all of this I said "So Janet you want us to start teaching you the lessons is that correct?" and she said "Yes that's what I want." so then I said "Janet if we teach you this and you come to find out it's true will you be baptized?" She paused for a moment and then she looked up with tears in her eyes and said "Yes I want to get baptized." It was such a powerful moment and I knew that Heavenly Father had led us to that moment. Seriously out of all the places in the mission I could have gone what are the odds that I would go to the area that she lives in? It's not a coincidence and we both know that. Little Janet even said "I know you're here for me. When I told Dominique that you were here she said 'Oh you know what that means don't you? She's going to get you' and I told Dom that I knew that too. I know you are here to teach me." I wanted to cry as she was saying this to me. It just strengthens my testimony to know that Heavenly Father is so aware of all of His children that President Rudd really is inspired. We are fasting and praying this week that Jesse will soften her heart and allow Janet to have the lessons with us and get baptized. If you could please pray for that too I would appreciate it. Little Janet is a remarkable girl and I really want all of this to work out. Prayers are so powerful! 

   That's it for this week. I hope that things are going great at home. I love and miss all of you!

Love, 

Sister Simkins

Dear Family!

   We had a good week this week but we were faced with one of the biggest problems we face as missionaries and that is agency. Heavenly Father has given us all the freedom to choose for ourselves and make our own decisions. These decisions will ultimately decide whether or not we will return to live with Him again after this life. As missionaries we are responsible for teaching people so that they can use their agency accurately and make the decisions and covenants that lead back to Heavenly Father. Well this week we experienced the pain of someone choosing completely to turn their back on the things they know to be true and not follow the path back to Heavenly Father. To make a long story short I have been working with this 21 year old woman since November. She just progressed really slowly and at times we questioned whether or not it was worth it to keep working with her but every time we got close to dropping her we didn't feel right about it. After working so hard, during a lesson she finally said that she got her answer and that she knew that the Book of Mormon was true and that the church was true. From there we kept working with her and she started to progress faster and we finally made it to the baptism interview a few days before her baptism. We decided to meet with her an hour before the interview to go over everything with her again because she is a bit slow. Anyway when she came in the room and sat down with us there was a weird feeling there and she started to explain that some of the views of the church don't match her views and that she was doubting her decision to be baptized. At that moment our bishop poked his head in the room because he was at the church building for something else. I knew we needed all the help we could get so I quickly called him in and our investigator started to explain her concerns. The trouble was that she couldn't really explain it and we struggled to follow along. She was saying something about the paleontology and how that pertains to the bible but no matter how hard I tried or how many questions we asked I could not understand what was going through her head. Bishop tried to help her but I am pretty sure that he had no idea what she was talking about. Finally Sister Doole and I just explained that there was always going to be a debate between science and religion and ultimately it is up to us to decide what we believe based on how we feel and not what others say. She then seemed to feel better and from there Sister Doole and I bore very powerful testimonies about the church and the book of mormon and it was so powerful that we were both trying to keep back tears. Honestly it was one of the most powerful lessons I have been a part of. After our testimonies we invited her to kneel and pray and ask whether or not she needed to be baptized. She did so and again the spirit was so strong. After the prayer we asked her how she felt and she said she felt a lot better about things and that she wanted to go through with the interview. We were pretty nervous but we felt comforted that we had done our best. The way the circumstance played out is the district leader (who we share a ward with) was going to interview her and the bishop offered his office and so he sat in on the interview too. Now from what I have been told it was the strangest baptismal interview that both the bishop and our district leader have ever been a part of. He said that she flew through the questions and knew everything. Then at the end he asked her if she was ready to make this covenant with God and she just said "Nope" both our District leader and the bishop were shocked and they then spent the next thirty minutes trying to make sure that she knew exactly what she was doing by refusing baptism. Despite all their efforts she was adamant that she didn't want to get baptized even though she knew that church was true and that The Book of Mormon was true. I honestly still don't understand how she said turned her back on everything especially after the incredibly powerful lesson we had had just a few minutes before. It was so sad. I am praying that she comes around someday because I think it might have something to do with her social disorder like maybe she was saying no because she thought we would still work with her or that it would bring her more attention. I am not sure but I hope that she one day realizes the mistake she made and that she will repent. Agency is the worst sometimes!

   Other than that sad experience we had a good week. We spent the first couple of days in a town called Kawerau. It is a small little town that survives solely because of a paper mill there. I cannot explain how bad that paper mill smells though. The whole town just stinks! It's funny though because people always say that Rotorua stinks which it sometimes smells like sulfur due to the geothermic activity but it doesn't smell near as bad as that stupid paper mill. The sisters there are nice but they are like the exact opposite of Sister Doole and I. We like to laugh and have fun and they don't and I guess you could say that we are a little more high maintenance than them considering we do our hair and make-up everyday when they just don't. They made us feel weird though because they kept making comments about it. Don't get me wrong I loved working with them because they are great missionaries and I learned a lot however I just felt like they were judging me the whole time because of how I looked and because Sister Doole and I laugh alot when it's appropriate. At the end of the exchange with we got back together Sister Doole said that she felt the same way. It was neat to see a more industrial part of the country rather than the tourist towns I have spent all my time in. 

Well that is about it for the week. We should be getting the transfer call anytime today so who knows where I will be emailing you from next week. I love and miss all of you! Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Simkins

Dear Famiy!

This has been another amazing and exhausting week. We have been so busy that it feels like forever ago since I last emailed you.

I guess I will start at the beginning of last week. After we were finished emailing, Sister Doole and I went to a maori village tourist site called Te Puia. It's like this culture center where people can go to learn all about the Maori people and their traditions. Sister Doole and I have been wanting to go there for ages but it is so expensive. One day we were talking about it with one of our members and they mentioned that they had a family card that gets them in for free and so she gave it to us so that we could get in for free. The member wasn't quite sure how everything worked though so she told us to try and be as inconspicuous as possible. Because it was p-day and because we were going to participate in a cultural activity we didn't have to wear our proselyting cloths or our badges. We got in without a problem using the card and it was funny because as we were walking in Sister Doole mentioned how weird it was not to be stared at because we looked like normal people again. We are so used to people looking at us because we are missionaries that it was weird to be normal again. Well anyway we were almost to the gate and we handed one of the workers our tickets and we said thank you but before we could get through the gate he looked at us and said "you two wouldn't happen to be sister missionaries would you?" and we were like "Oh my goodness! How did you know?" and he said " I could just tell. Even though you are wearing normal cloths you just look like missionaries." It's funny though because we have never met this guy or seen him before. He went on to say that we was almost ready to send in his papers for his mission and he was working at the village to save up money. We thought it was funny that even when we thought we were blending in, we still looked like missionaries. We had a great time at the village though and we learned a lot but it was neat too because a lot of the stuff that the tour guide was teaching us about we already knew from living here and learning from the people. I love that as missionaries we live with the people because I feel like I am really getting to experience New Zealand more than if I was a tourist going to all of the sites. Te Puia also had this huge geyser that sprays continuously and we were sprayed a few times and Sister Doole was ticked because it ruined her hair. I just laughed. We also got to see a kiwi bird! But I wasn't allowed to take pictures of it. It is so cute and a lot bigger than I imagined. The sad thing is that they are super endangered here and so the locals have started this campaign to try and save them. At least I can say that I saw a kiwi bird while I was in New Zealand. 

After the visit to the village we had to pack up the car and head out to Te Puki. Te Puki is the kiwi fruit capitol of the world and a large percentage of the world's kiwifruit supply comes from Te Puki. We had a great exchange with the sisters there and I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of Indian people. Heaps of people move to Te Puki from India to work in the kiwifruit orchards and they are really interested in our message so the sisters there are having a lot of success with them. It went a lot better then the lesson one of the sisters took me to the week before with a Muslim man that I forgot to write about last week. Anyway we had a great exchange with them. The sisters there had a dinner appointment that night and so I decided that both of them should go so while they went there Sister Doole and I drove fifteen minutes to the beach! It was so beautiful. I was stunned. Sister Doole also told me that the sister she had been with during the exchange said that President Rudd told the zones by the ocean that "You are only going to be in New Zealand for a short time. Make the best of it! You are allowed to go into the ocean but only as far as knee deep." Sister Doole also said that this sister told her that her entire zone walked in the ocean with their zone leaders. I was surprise but after confirming this we decided it was our turn to take a walk in the ocean so we did. It felt amazing and I promise we only got our feet wet. I still can't believe how lucky I am to be serving my mission here. 

After this exchange on Tuesday we came home and worked in our area Wednesday and then traveled to Tauranga for an exchange in Mount Maunganui on Thursday. This area also is right by the beach so we spent our dinner Thursday night there as well. We had a great time with the sisters there too except it was so hot that day and the sun was brutal. Even though I put on sunscreen I still got burned. I blame my extremely white skin. 

After that exchange and being in the sun for so long we both had hit our limit of exhaustion and Sister Doole was sick and I could feel myself starting to get sick that we headed home early and then called and asked permission to go to bed early. We had just laid down in bed and I was about to fall asleep when my phone rang and it was one of the sisters that I am over so I felt like I needed to answer it. I answered it and then I heard the sister on the other line crying and it broke my heart because this is a sister that I have really come to love. It turns out that her and her companion were having some real struggles and this sister felt like she was at her breaking point. I talked to her for quite sometime on the phone trying to encourage her and then she said she was going to try and talk to her companion and work things out. After that though I was so hyped up that I wasn't able to fall asleep for hours. I was so frustrated with myself because the next morning I literally couldn't open my eyes when the alarm went off and I started to cough really hard  because I had gotten really sick. I then spent the rest of that morning on the phone trying to straighten things out and help these sisters and President and Sister Rudd. The whole situation broke my heart because I had gone on exchanges with them not too long ago and we had a great time and I really love them and so to have both of them struggling so much was really hard for me. I just wanted to fix everything and make it all better for them. Fortunately they have worked things out but unfortunately the problem that started all of this is a lot deeper than I first imagined and so something serious is going to have to happen. I am surprised by how much I love these sisters that I serve with and I will do anything for them. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to be their Sister Training leader and get to know them because in this mission we have phenomenal sisters and I love them all so much. And don't worry I'm not sick anymore so that was a huge blessing! 

I guess that is really it for the week. We have a baptism this week! Her name is Katherine and I have been working with her since I was with Sister Gunnell. She is a special spirit and has progressed really slow so we are so thankful to have finally reached this point. It should be pretty exciting. We are headed out tonight for our last exchange of the transfer and then we are going to Hamilton on Wednesday for another mission leadership council. It should be a pretty busy and exciting week. I hope that things are all going well at home. I love and miss all of you! 

Love, 

Sister Simkins