Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Dear Family!



  After the week I had last week it's no wonder that this week was relatively uneventful. We had transfers this week but Sister Vasi and I are still together and still in Whakatane and I am still a sister training leader. It was sad though because two of our favorite elders left and so that has been a hard adjustment. We all had so much fun together and so it was hard to see them go but we know that they are needed in another place. The sisters that we shared the ward with were transferred too and replaced by elders. One of them is an elder that I served in Rotorua with so it should be a pretty fun transfer. 


 I don't really have much to say this week. We did have one miracle. The elders gave us this referral and said, "Her son is a member but she doesn't seem to interested. Maybe you'll have better luck." So last Friday we went to the address and this lady opened the door and we introduced ourselves and she seemed really happy to see us and she invited us in. After a few minutes of getting to know her she said, "You know I have been thinking a lot about your church and I wanted to come sometime. I remember a bit of when my son was being taught by guys like you. I just want to find the truth for myself." We started teaching her and answering her questions and she seemed generally interested. We invited her to church and she said she would go if we could find her a ride so we promised someone would pick her up and then we set a time for our next appointment. Sister Vasi and I went on splits Sunday so that I could go to a meeting and so she went with a member to pick up this investigator for church and when they got to the house there was another lady walking to the door. Sister Vasi intorduced herself and explained what she was doing. The lady then said, "Well she asked me to pick her up and take her to the Baptist church." Sister Vasi said she didn't know what to say (that's pretty rare for her) and so the lady suggested that she'd go to the back door and that Sister Vasi could go to the front door and then whoever got there first could take her to church. Sister Vasi said she ran as fast as she possibly could and then about beat down the door. She's Tongan remember. Anyway no one answered the door and as she was walking around the house the baptist lady walked up to her and showed her a note that said "Sorry but I have decided to go with my other friend to the Lutheran church today." Sister Vasi was so mad and we have been laughing at the whole situation this whole week. Along with that we have been praying really hard about what we could do to help her. We felt prompted to drop by her house one evening and she answered the door but didn't invite us in. She seemed colder towards us and I was really worried. I just kept praying and praying the whole time for guidance. Finally she said something. and now I can't remember exaclty what it was, but it was something that led perfectly into the restoration. So I just started sharing the Joseph Smith story with her and the spirit was so powerful. Right before I shared the first vision she stopped me and said, "Wait would you like to come in?" and so we went in and taught her the restoration and it was an amazing lesson because of the spirit that was there. At our next appointment she told us everything that she had been reading from the Book of Mormon and how much she loved it and it was so cool because there was a time in this lady's life when she was anti to the church. During the second lesson we taught her the plan of salvation and she kept saying things like, "Ya I believe that," or, "I already knew that was true." It was so cool! At the end we asked her if she had any questions about what we had taught and she said, "Nope. It was already stuff I believed you just put it all together for me." She came to church yesterday too and as it turns out she is related to half the congregation in one way or another and everyone just gathered around her and showed her so much love. It was amazing to see. We are still teaching this good woman and hopefully things will progress towards baptism so that she can make that sacred covenant with God. I love being a missionary and seeing the spirit work with people. It is unlike anything else. 


  Well that's all for this week! I love and miss everyone so much! Have a great week! 


Love, 
Sister Simkins

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Dear Family!

 I honestly don't even know where to begin to explain this week. It has honestly been the most ridiculous week of my mission and probably my life. I have never been in more stressful situations over the course of a week than I was in this week just passed. Having said that though looking back I can see the hand of the Lord so prominently displayed in my life this week. First of all let me say that now Sister Vasi and I are completely fine and safe so there is no need to worry but I have to tell you this story because of how crazy it is.

   First of all let me back track and tell you that about three weeks ago I got a phone call from Sister Doole in Rotorua informing me that someone had broken into their flat the night before. She explained that her and Sister Swindler were up late talking when all of the sudden the front door flew open and someone walked into their flat. After that they got up and made some noise and the person ran out but then they hung around the flat for a while. The sisters called their zone leaders and they told them to call the police and that they would be over as soon as they could. When the zone leaders got their they heard someone on one side of the flat so they ran over to see and they climbed up on the fence just in time to see a figure running away from the flat, across the park behind the flat, and get into a car and drive away. After this incident no one really seemed too worried about the fact that someone tried to attack the sisters. They thought they were just trying to break in an steel something but what they didn't consider is that the flat is so junky that there isn't anything inside to steel. Since then the sisters have just been waiting in fear for them to come back or for something else to happen. 

  At the beginning of the week I got a blessing from one of the elders and in the blessing he said "You will be protected throughout the rest of your mission and you will return home to see your family again."  and I didn't think anything of it. Well Sister Vasi and I went on exchanges in Rotorua with the sisters on Wednesday and I was so excited. First of all I was going to be with Sister Doole again and Sister Swindler (my MTC companion that I still absolutely love) and I was going back home to Rotorua. I was so ready for an exciting exchange but not one as exciting as what we experienced. We arrived at the flat around 9 and Sister Swindler was making cookies and so the inside of the flat was really hot so she opened one of the windows above the sink. When we were unpacking the car I was shocked to realize that for the first time ever I forgot our air mattresses. Now I absolutely hate sleeping on the floor and so I ALWAYS make sure that we have the air mattresses but for some reason this time I forgot. I remembered however that the flat had an extra mattress because of when I was in a trio with Sister Gunnell and Sister Vea and I came up with a plan that Sister Vasi would sleep on the couch and the three of us would sleep on the three mattresses and we would just pull them into the living room. We set up our beds and then at 10:30 it was lights out. As we were laying down to go to sleep I jokingly said "Well if the robbers come back tonight they'll be in for a shock because there will be four of us here and Sister Vasi will beat them up." We laughed at that and the other sisters agreed that Sister Vasi looked pretty tough.  Now because I was with two of my favorite missionaries in the mission of course we didn't go right to sleep. We had a lot of catching up to do and soon we realized that we had been talking for an hour and it was now 11:30. Around this time as we were just laying there talking we heard a very loud and distinct noise outside the back of the flat. Sister Swindler sat up a bit in her bed and said "Shh! Did you hear that?" and we all agreed we had heard something. A couple of seconds after we first heard to noise the motion sensor light turned on outside and it scared us all so bad. Now this happened really fast and in my head I thought quickly "Calm down it was probably just the dog." Now right after I thought this too myself all of the sudden the loudest noise came from the kitchen window above the sink and at first I thought someone had thrown something through the window. At this point I knew we were in trouble and I had no idea where our phone was and I was so scared that I figured the only thing that could save us was if I screamed as loud as I could to wake the neighbors up to come save us. Sister Doole and Sister Swindler thought the same thing and they too screamed as loud as they could. Finally after a few seconds of this screaming we got our bearings and Sister Swindler jumped up and turned on the light. She walked over to the sink and she realized that the loud crashing noise we had heard was this metal motel sign that had fallen out of the window into the metal sink below. At this point she was trying to say that the wind blew it down because she realized that she had left the window open. I was still convinced that someone had been out there and so Sister Vasi being the tough person that she is, decided that her and Sister Swindler were going to go outside and check things out. Now I know this wasn't the smartest thing to do but we thought that if someone was out there that they were probably just after the bikes so we didn't realize how dangerous it was for them to leave the flat. Sister Vasi grabbed a frying pan (yes a frying pan) and Sister Swindler grabbed the fly spray (to use a pepper spray if she needed it) and they walked out the flat and started to look around the side of the flat that the kitchen window is on. At first they didn't see anything and we were trying to convince ourselves that nothing really had happened and that it was just a string of coincidences. Inside the flat I was looking at the window and the way the sign had fallen seemed interesting to me because in the six months that I lived in that flat that thing had never once fallen over no matter how windy it was and it wasn't even very windy that night. Then I realized that the window had been open but there is a piece of fabric covering it so that is why we didn't see that we had left it open. Then it hit me that someone had reached their hand through the window but because of the fabric they didn't see the metal sign and so they hit it and it fell over and we screamed so they ran off. 

  After the Sisters concluded that they weren't going to be able to find anyone they came back into the flat and we turned the lights off and laid back down and stopped making noise. We wanted to just be quiet and see if anyone came back to prove whether or not someone was really out there. After about ten minutes of nothing happening we heard noises again outside the back of the flat. Sister Swindler and Sister Vasi watched out the kitchen window where they could see the bikes to see if that's what they were after but they never saw anyone. The noises were getting louder out the back of the flat so Sister Swindler quietly walked to the back bedroom of the flat and looked out the window and when she did she saw a black figure climb over the back fence and she yelled "Go now Sister Vasi!" so they ran back outside and ran around the flat to the back fence where they saw a car packed behind the park. They then ran around to the other side of the flat to get a better look but by the time they got there they car was gone. After that we realized that this was serious and that they weren't after the bikes but that they were trying to find another way into the flat. Sister Vasi and Sister Swindler also realized how incredibly dumb it was for them to be running around outside the flat and so they decided to come back in and not go out again no matter what. Throughout this whole experience we were debating on whether or not to call the police because the Sisters felt that the first time no one believed them and that the police didn't do anything. I know this was also dumb but we decided not to call anyone and just wait it out to see if they would try anything else. So for a third time we laid down and turned off the lights and remained quiet. About fifteen minutes later we heard noises again and this time we were so quiet that we could hear the people outside talking to each other. They just walked around the flat for a while but they didn't try again to get in. After a while I guess they gave up and they eventually left. If they had tried to get in again we would have called the police but since they didn't we decided to deal with it in the morning. 

   This was so scary though that it took us all forever to fall asleep. I think it was about 4 am before I could calm myself down enough to sleep. Well anyway the next morning we tried to explain what had happened last night but there were just too many occurrences to deny the fact that something had happened. The worst part for me was the feeling I had had during this whole experience. I think from the moment I heard the sign fall out of the window that I knew who ever was messing with us was evil and that their intentions were sinister. We tried not to admit that so we went throughout the day as if nothing had happened and we had a really good exchange. To end the night all four of us ended up and the Chrisohoou's home because they were some of my favorite members in Rotorua. As we were visiting with them we started telling them what had happened the night before and as we were telling him Brother Chrisohoou started to say things like "Oh Sisters this is bad." and "You can't stay there another night." Now Brother Chisohoou is a fully active member but he has a really rough past and so he knew the seriousness of what was happening and he seemed generally worried. As we were telling him this we started to admit to ourselves how bad it was last night and we realized the seriousness of the situation. For the first time since the first incident the sisters felt like someone finally believed them. As we left their house to go home that night we all had a really uneasy feeling and when we got back to out flat all four of us had the distinct impression not to go into the flat but to get back into the car. We got back into the car and then said a prayer and then we all knew that they were waiting there for us and so I jammed the car in reverse and drove away. We drove over to the park where we had seen a parked car and there was no one in the parking lot but as we drove our headlights reflected off of something shiny in the bushes down by the fence behind the flat and we realized that it was a license plate of a car so we drove back to the Chrisohoou's house and told them what was going on. Brother Chrisohoou called another priesthood brother and they went and checked out the the flat. Now to end the rest of the story they didn't find anything but they too had a really bad feeling so they followed us home and then blessed the flat. By this time it was 11:30 at night. As they were leaving, the land lords (members) came out and wanted to talk because they were mad at us for not telling them anything so we then spent the next thirty minutes trying to calm them down and that is another story for another day but it just added to the ridiculousness of the whole situation. 

   In the end they moved the elders into the sisters flat and the sisters into the elders flat the next day so the sisters didn't have to spend another night in the flat and it was a good thing they did because the creeps came back but didn't do anything because they realized that men were now in the flat and not sisters. Scary right. I know what they were after and now I can't even believe that we went through that that night. I can see the Lord's hand in this situation protecting us though more than in any situation of my life so far. One thing is there was no reason why I forgot the air mattresses because I NEVER forget them but I did. If we had brought them we would have slept in the room and the creeps would have gotten into the flat through the window and then we would have been trapped. I am just so thankful that we were protected. 

  Now to top off the week we barely made it safely home to Whakatane because of the rain and all Friday it rained and rained and rained some more. In fact it rained so much that it flooded! That's right we had a flood. Our back yard turned into a swimming pool and the front yard and street looked like a lake. It was the craziest thing. Luckily our house is build up high so the water didn't get in but it caused so many problems around town and we almost got stuck driving our car a few times. Sister Vasi and I walked around in the flood water outside our flat and it was under our knees as we tried to save this stranded cat and help our old lady neighbor. Along with the rain there was the most amazing lightening storm I have ever seen and it knocked out the power throughout town. That was another night we didn't sleep because we were so afraid that our flat was going to flood. It rained and rained and rained. Luckily they got the flood gates open in time and the water drained out before our flat flooded. We are so grateful for that. 

  All in all we went three nights with virtually no sleep, took on creeps trying to break into our flat, and survived our first flood. The only word I can use to describe this week ridiculous. But we had out miracles along the way and the work is still moving forward in our area and we are finally getting our investigators to progress. I am excited to work hard this week and leave all of the bad stuff behind. As a missionary I am so blessed and I have seen the protection that comes from my Heavenly Father. I love and miss all of you. Please don't worry about me because I am fine. I love you!

Love, 
Sister Simkins

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Dear Family!

  Well it's official I am no longer a teenager anymore! I don't feel any different but it is still weird to me that I am in my 20's. I had a really great birthday and I will write about that later but first I have to talk about the rest of my week. 

  We got to go to the temple on Wednesday and like always it was incredible. We went with a third of the mission but I only got to see one of my old companions and that was Sister Doole. All of the others were assigned to go on a different day. I was a bit disappointed but I got over it. We drove to Tauranga on Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning we caught a bus to Hamilton. The temple is so beautiful, peaceful, and wonderful on the inside and I was just so happy to be there. As I was sitting there waiting for the session to start I couldn't help but think back to just about a year earlier when I entered the Salt Lake Temple for the first time to receive my own endowment. I was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude for that experience and for the incredible year I have had since then. I got to sit by Sister Doole in the temple and Sister Vasi was on my other side and the other missionaries filled the session. I was surrounded by people I love that I wouldn't have met had I not embarked on this crazy adventure and all at once I was just so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me here and allowing me to have this wonderful experience. Being in the temple I was able to receive the revelation I needed. Well sort of. Out of no where again my mind has been troubled with what career and schooling I should pursue at the end of my mission. I guess I just don't want to come home without a plan and be depressed and not have a focus for my life so I have been trying to figure things out again. Anyway I went to the temple seeking some direction for what to do. As I was pondering my options I got the impression that I need to quit wasting time and energy on these things and leave it to the Lord to work things out. I need to focus more on my life right now and leave everything else in the Lord's hands. He hasn't failed me so far so I know that no matter what happens after my mission I will be okay. I didn't get the plan I was looking for but I got the promise that if I continue to give everything I have for the remainder of my mission, I will be guided what to do afterwards. Now when I think of the future or after my mission I feel peace and I am no longer trying to figure things out. I will just take it as it comes and trust that the Lord is in control. 

  Well after the temple we had to catch the bus back to Tauranga and then drive home to Whakatane. Now if the roads between Tauranga and Whakatane aren't bad enough, a massive storm moved in while we were gone and the rain was ridiculous. I have never seen rain pour like it was as I was trying to drive home. I had two other sisters in the car with Sister Vasi and I as we drove and all we did was pray to make it home safely. The rain was so heavy that the wipers couldn't keep up and I could barely see the taillights of the car in front of me. It took us two hours to get home. Had we been in America where the roads are normal we probably would have pulled over and tried to wait it out but here the roads are so narrow between us and the mountainside that we had to just push forward and keep praying. We finally made it and we dropped the other sisters off to get their car, filled up the car with petrol, and then we headed off for Tokoroa which is another two hours away for exchanges. All in all we spent three hours on a bus and four hours in a car that day and by the time we got to Tokoroa I never wanted to drive again. 

   Now for Saturday! So we woke up at 6:30 like normal and Sister Vasi screamed HAPPY BIRTHDAY and it scared me really bad. I love her. She then made me this really delicious breakfast and we did out studies. After that we went to the chapel where we had General Conference. At the chapel the elders gave me some pancakes they had made for my birthday and I was touched that they had thought of me. I don't like pancakes so I didn't eat them but it meant a lot to me that they would do that. We then spent the majority of the day watching prophets, seers, and revelators, give us the guidance and help that our Heavenly Father knows we need. I took so many notes and all I could think after every talk was "Wow that was amazing. I needed that." It was the best way I could think of to spend my birthday on my mission. For lunch the elders bought us pizza and for dinner Jesse made this beautiful meal of roast chicken. She is an amazing cook so dinner was wonderful. I felt like I was with my "other family" because I love them so much and I know they love me too. On one hand it was really hard to be away from everyone that day but then I kept telling myself that I will never have a birthday in New Zealand again with these people that I love and it made things easier. During the priesthood session on Saturday night our ward showed the general women's meeting and let's just say I cried the whole way through it. It was so beautiful and it made me so proud to be a daughter of God. I spent the rest of the night on a conference call with the other Sister Training Leaders and Sister Rudd trying to sort out some of the issues in the mission. All in all it was a wonderful birthday and I am so blessed! 

   I absolutely loved the Sunday sessions of conference as well. I feel like each talk told me something that I need to hear. I have one remarkable story though from the week that I have to tell you! So back a few weeks ago when I was a the seventh day adventist baptism an older woman in the congregation approached me. After talking for a minute she said that a year ago she had been in Hawaii and she had visited the Polynesian Cultural Center and she said she loved it. She said that there was a remarkable feeling there and then she said "I met a sister like you and you remind me of her. She was lovely and you could see that she really believed everything she was saying to us. If there is anyone out there that would cause me to step back and maybe change I think it was her. There was something about her and I thought it was just her but now I see it in you too." Now because I was in a Seventh Day Adventist Church I couldn't really say much but we talked briefly about it and then she had to go. Since then I have been praying for her because I know the spirit was working on her. Well last night Sister Vasi and I pulled over to talk with this man walking his dog and I made Sister Vasi go talk to him and while she was doing that I felt like I needed to walk down the opposite side of the street so I did and I saw this old couple walking towards me. I was working up the courage to talk to them when I recognized the woman as the one I talked with a few weeks ago. When she recognized me she said "It's so good to see you again. Believe it or not that I was just thinking about you and here you are. That is remarkable." I then talked to her and her husband for sometime but every time I went to share a gospel principle the spirit stopped me. It never felt right to preach to them or to invite them to let us come by. In my head I kept hearing words saying "Let the spirit work. she already knows our message. Let the spirit work." At the end of the conversation the lady said "So when is your Sunday services?" and I said "It's at 10 am on Hinemoa st." and She said "Well we might just pop by sometime. I'm intrigued by you girls." The rest of this story is still unwritten but I am hoping and praying that the spirit keeps softening her heart and working with her and her husband so that when the time is right they are ready to accept our message. I knew I needed to go to that baptism a few weeks ago and I think this is part of the reason. Isn't Heavenly Father amazing? 

   Well that's all I have for this week. I love and miss all of you! Have a good week! 

Love, 
Sister Simkins

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Dear Family!

Well this week has been so busy and I feel like I spent the majority of it in the car or in meetings but having said that I am still in New Zealand so it was amazing.

  The elders that we share an area with had something of the zone leaders that was really important and they really needed it. The only problem is that the zone leaders are in Tauranga with the rest of the zone and we are down here in Whakatane about an hour and half away. In order to get whatever was needed to the zone leaders, the elders in our area came up with the idea to travel to Tauranga, spend Sunday night and p-day there, and then drive back. So that's what we did but what we didn't take into consideration is that Sister Vasi and I would have to turn around and go back to Tauranga Tuesday night because I had to go to Hamilton for a meeting on Wednesday morming. All in all my week of travel went a bit like this: Sunday night drive to Tauranga and meet with our bishop (he lives in Tauranga and travels to Whakatane every week because of the lack of priesthood leadership), drive back to Whakatane Monday night for our lessons, drive back to Tauranga Tuesday night, drive to Hamilton (another hour and a half drive), drive home from Hamilton Wednesday night, have zone meeting Thursday morning and then drive back to Whakatane Thursday. I bet that doesn't make any sense but all in all I have been driving so much. My car was brand new with 17 kilometers when I got it three weeks ago and I have already used 2,400 kilometers in driving. The roads here are so windy and narrow too so driving again in the states is going to be no problem for me when I come back. I don't mind the car trips though because it gives whoever is in the car a chance to talk because during the busy work week there isn't much time or opportunity for that. I have to say this week has been one of the funniest weeks of my life. Sister Vasi is absolutely hilarious and we laugh all the time but when we are with the elders something happens and everything that is said is hilarious. On the drive Monday I was laughing so hard that I was struggling to drive. I can't even tell you exactly what we were laughing at but whatever it was it was hilarious. I think we were laughing at Sister Vasi because she is so easy to laugh at and make fun of. Lets just say that she thinks she is "straight-up gangster" and so she has a "don't mess with me or I'll kill you" attitude and it's so funny! I love my mission so much. I have had  more fun here than I ever could have imagined. 

   Well also have good news in regards to Jesse and Janet. Heavenly Father is so amazing at how He makes things work out. I have been praying so hard for all of this and it seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Sister Vasi and I went over to Jesse's house on Tuesday because Janet was at camp and we just hung out with Jesse and her other kids and had a really fun evening. We just wanted her to know that we loved her too and that we weren't just her friend to convert her daughter because we really do love her. By doing this I think we were able to regain some of her trust. Well we kept working through the week and talking to her and things seemed to get back to normal and the whole church thing wasn't brought up again. Well Jesse was baptized on Saturday into the Seventh Day Adventist Church and she invited us to come along and support her. At first I thought to myself "no way!" but the more I thought about it and the more she invited me I just felt like we should go for some reason. This made no sense to me because I am missionary for heaven's sake. But as much as I tried to tell her and myself no I just knew we needed to go. I called President Rudd Saturday morning and explained the whole thing to him and he said that he didn't have a problem with me going as long as we would be treated with respect. I have met a few of the members of that church at Jesse's and they always were so nice so I wasn't worried about that. President said "If you decide to go I want you to wear your badges and walk in there proudly and still be missionaries." So that's what we did. We went to the baptism to support our friend and we were treated with such respect. I was surprised by how nice everyone was to us and in the end I was happy we went. The whole thing just strengthened my testimony though but that is another story for another day. Big Janet (my convert from Rotorua) came over to support her daughter so I got to see her and that was amazing. After the baptism there was a lunch that we were invited to stay for so we did and it was there that we had to opportunity to talk to people and share a bit of our message and so that was really neat. Jesse seemed so happy that we were there for her and I know it meant a lot to her. It was such a miracle that we went though because we stopped in later that night and Jesse and Big Janet were having an argument over whether or not little Janet would be allowed to come to church with big Janet on Sunday and Jesse was set that she wouldn't be allowed to go. The argument was pretty heated and I felt so awful and I felt like it was over again. After we left we got the sweetest message from Jesse apologizing for fighting in front of us and she informed us that little Janet would be allowed to come to church and have lessons but The Book of Mormon wouldn't be allowed in her house. Big and Little Janet came to church yesterday and it was so great. Little Janet loves church so much and she really really wants to read the Book of Mormon and I keep telling her to be patient because I know everything will work out. I am interested to see how this story progresses because just when it seems like it's all over the Lord steps in and saves the day. It's so cool!

  Well that is all I have for this week. I had a really great week but this one coming is going to be even better. I am so excited for conference! I love conference so much and I can't wait to watch it! Also I had Mission Leadership Council with President Rudd on Wednesday and while we were there he announced that we have a TEMPLE TRIP this week!!!! I am so excited! I have been wanting to go to the temple for months!!!!!!!!! I haven't been since September and that feels like forever. We get to go on Wednesday and I honestly can't wait. I love the temple so much and I can't wait to be in there again and feel the spirit. Can you believe that it has been almost a year since I went through the first time? I can't it feels like the fastest, craziest, most amazing year of my life. 

   I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!!!!!!!

Love, 
Sister Simkins