Dear Family!

                So unlike the past few weeks, a lot has happened this week. But the only word that I can think of that would describe it is ridiculous! This week has been completely ridiculous!

First of all I have been waging a war with the bugs in my bed and so far it is sad to say that I am loosing… bad.  Now I am going to be honest but there is a flea problem here in New Zealand and it is terrible. I get eaten alive every night. But let me be clear it is not because I am not clean or because I have “let myself go” since being on a mission. There is just no way to control the demons. I cannot even count the number of bites all over my body. However this isn’t even the worst part. Mom, you may not want to read this. I am just warning you now. So I woke up on Wednesday morning last week with what I thought was a flea bite on my arm. Then throughout the day it started to swell up pretty big. It looked like one of my mosquito bites when I have an allergic reaction. We had the windows open a bit the day before to help with our mold problem and I figured that a mosquito just got in that way so I didn’t think anything more of it. The next day I woke up with more flea bites on my leg and the bite on my arm was even worse however it no longer felt like one of my mosquito bites. There was a hard knot type thing right under the bite so when I got the VC I showed the VC director’s wife. I told her that I thought it was a mosquito bite and that I was just having a bad reaction to in but then when she took a closer look she said “I don’t think that is a mosquito bite, there are two puncture holes here. Mosquitoes only leave one. I think this is a spider bite.” She told me to watch it but as I went throughout the day things just kept getting worse. My whole arm began to ache and the redness was spreading. The scary part came when I got a terrible headache and I started to get really dizzy. I told the McLaughlans and Sister Machlaughlan called Sister Rudd and explained the situation and Sister Rudd said that I should start by taking some allergy medicine and then go to the doctors. Sister Mclaughlan took me to the pharmacist and I showed him my arm and he said “Yup that’s a spider bite alright. That is a white-tail spider bite.” He then went on the say that white-tail spiders are poisonous and that some people have worse reactions to their venom than others. He said that it looked and sounded like I was having a bad reaction. He gave me some medicine and said that if it gets any worse then I was to get to a doctor right away. So I took the medicine and I started to feel a lot better. So the spider bite on my arm is healing quite nicely but the bites on my legs are another story.  You know the flea bites I mentioned before? Well the other night when I took of my black tights to look at the flea bites on my leg and my leg was all swollen and red. Well they weren’t flea bites and they aren’t spider bites so we are not sure what they are but they are really infected and they are not healing. In fact I am headed to the doctor to have them checked out later today. Then I have another type of bite on my legs. There are two red raised bumps and they don’t itch but they are rally sensitive to touch and the surrounding skin is really hard and red. These bites are just above my ankle but they are making my whole ankle swell. I really hope that the doctor can help me take care of this. Yesterday I hit my breaking point and I called Sister Rudd and she and President came over to our flat and she took pictures of my legs and arms and she is going to send them off to the area medical authority and see what he says but she told me to go to the doctors today and get it taken care of because some of them look like they are starting to get infected. So I have flea bites, white-tail spider bites, and two other kinds of un-identified bites and I am about to go crazy. The mission office has given us what they say is the most potent bug spray that you can have and we have used almost all of it and I am still getting bit every night. We have done everything that we can possible think of and it hasn’t helped. I literally wake up with five or six new bites every morning. Anyways I am sorry to be so graphic I just wanted you to know what I am going through in this beautiful land of New Zealand.

               Okay so on Thursday we set one of our investigators for baptism and that was a miracle because we have only had two real lessons with her. So during our lesson Thursday night we asked her if she would prepare herself to be baptized on August 31^st and she said yes! It was like the greatest moment on my mission so far. I was just so happy. Both Sister Whiting and I had to stay calm for the rest of the lesson so we wouldn’t freak her out. So this investigator is the one I told you about last week who lives with her in-active friend. So like I said we were over the moon. Well that was until we went to ward council on Sunday. We were sitting on the meeting anxiously waiting our turn to share our news and the leaders were discussing less-actives and someone mentioned the name of our investigator’s friend that she lives with. So Bishop turned to us to say something but Sister Whiting kind of interrupted him because she was so excited to announce the baptism. So she tells everyone that our investigator is set to be baptized and then the bishop says “Ya that will have to be put on hold…” and I was thinking something along the lines of the fact that she has a word of wisdom problem or something else like that and I thought no matter what it is we will work with her and it will all be okay. Then he dropped the bomb on this (Mom if you are reading this out load don’t read this part. It is too much information for Molly and Tyler) So the Bishop looked at us and said “I have been informed by a member in the ward who is related to [the inactive friend] and it turns out that they are in a lesbian relationship…” So that is the result of the first person I ever challenged to be baptized. Devastation is an understatement.

                Another adventure we had this week was with our online chat. I have mentioned before that we chat with people who come on mormon.org and we try to teach them the gospel while answering their questions. Well the other night it was really really busy. There were always 10-12 people waiting when there were 12 active conversations which is more than normal. But the problem was that they were all people just on to mess with us. I was wondering what was going on because every chat we had was someone trolling us or messing with us over the internet. Then this girl gets on and she says that there is a board on some popular social networking site that is telling everyone to get on and troll mormon.org. So basically everyone was there just to mess with us. It was so frustrating. But the thing is I never let that show in my messages. I kept calm and I just kept inviting people to really learn about the gospel. Normally I tend to get a bit snippy with people when I know there are just there to mess with me but for some reason I didn’t get that way the other night even though it was the worst that we had ever seen. This was a blessing though because Sister Swindler was chatting with someone who got on to tell us about the website add and they said “I just want to apologize for all of these morons. I have seen all of the screen shots and I think that you are handling it really well.” So not only were there a ton of people on chat that just wanted to mess with us, they were taking screen shots (its like a picture of the computer screen) and they were posting them on this website. So I am so grateful that I didn’t let them get the best of me because that would have been really bad. I just can’t believe that so many people have nothing better to do with their time then mess with us on mormon.org. Another thing I was thinking about though after the fact is I don’t know what will come of this. Maybe we did touch someone that we talked with. Maybe someone will be touched when they are looking at our screen shots on the website. I don’t know but it sure was annoying at the time.

                So this morning we were sitting having companion study and there was a knock at the door so we went and answered it and it was two… Jehovah’s Witnesses. Awkward! So we opened the door and said Hi and they greeted us and then it was so great when they saw our badges. Their faces were priceless. So they looked at us and then they looked at each other and we invited them to share their message with us. So they did and we thanked them and then they asked if they could give us this paper so we graciously took it and then we asked if we could give them something. But they wouldn’t take our pamphlet which was sad but they said that they will if any of us ever knock on their doors. It was just the funniest situation. I also can’t imagine they are having very much success seeing as how they are visiting houses that have the highest percentage of mormons in the country.  

Transfers are on Thursday and we still don’t have any idea what is happening yet except they told us on the phone last night to pack our bags and clean our flat. They said that we are being triple shifted (normally its double shifted but seeing as how I am in a trio…) This means that all three of us our leaving and being transferred. But we still don’t know where we are going or if we are training or not. I am so scared I didn’t sleep last night. I have no idea what is going to happen and that is what I am so afraid of. I also am pretty sure that I am going to go full proselyting meaning I will not serve in the Visitors’ Centre. This thought makes me so sad because I really love it here. I love the people that I serve with and I love the people that I get to meet here.  However the MTC in Auckland comes down to the temple every other week and so we were able to meet most of the sisters coming to the mission and they all seemed really great. We only have one VC sister coming this transfer and she is still in Prove so we didn’t get to meet her but I am sure that she is great too. I guess whatever happens I will be okay. I can’t believe that I am this scared to leave Temple View. In the beginning I couldn’t wait to get out of here and now I don’t want to leave. I know that everything will be okay in the end I just really don’t want to train in a new area. I don’t want to train period. The sad part is I am going to be worrying about this for the next three days because we won’t find out anything more until Wednesday night and Thursday is transfer. Please keep me in your prayers.

                I am sorry that I wrote you a book today but so much has happened and I wanted you to know all of it! Haha. Congratulations to those who actually read the whole thing. I love all of you and I really miss you! Have a good week.

 

Love, Sister Simkins

So this week we had an impromptu photo shoot with all the sisters in the VC. I was having a bad hair day so try and look past that. Some of these are pretty great though and I am sad to be leaving these sisters.

 

Dear Family,

I love Mondays because I love emailing all of you. Thank you to everyone that sends me emails. It really makes my week. I'm sorry that I don't send any hand written letters it is just that the postage is so expensive here. I hope that no one is offended. 

Anyways I had another great week here on my mission. I honestly love this country and the people here. You have to meet them because they are the best. The members are so sweet and they take such good care of us. They know that when they help us they get blessings so they are always bringing us food or taking us to do our shopping. It really is great. I have found a few families that I click the most with and I love visiting them. We really have a lot of fun. Because we have mostly members in our area we visit them A LOT. So we decided to start making better use of these visits instead of just stopping by to share a scripture. Sister Whiting made these cards that we give out when we visit the members and it has a picture of Jesus on one side and then on the other there is a place for them to write a missionary goal for their family and then the date that they are going to accomplish it by. The response to these cards have been great. This one 10 year old girl brought her non-member friend to church and we taught her a lesson in primary. Another family brought their in-active friend up to the VC and he watched the Joseph Smith movie and afterwards he told them that he wants to work towards coming back to church. We then got a call last night from the same family saying that the in-active man wants to bring his non-member friend up to the VC for a tour and to watch the Joseph Smith movie. I am so happy that some of our work is paying off. 

We are still struggling with some of our investigators though. We haven't seen the 13 year-old girl since her grandma cancelled her baptism a few weeks ago and so we are starting to get really worried. It has been school holidays here the past few weeks and so the girl was up visiting her mom and her grandma just hasn't gotten her back home. I don't want to be negative but I am starting to doubt whether or not she will get baptized. Our other investigators are at a cross roads right now and it remains to be seen whether or not we will keep teaching them. The wife who is the investigator really wants this but her husband who is less-active just doesn't want to change right now. So even though the wife wants it she won't do it without her husband. We have a lesson with them tonight and I am praying that we can teach them in a way that the spirit can really touch them so that they will begin to make those necessary changes in their lives. But the situation with this family is really complicated because the investigators sister lives at the house too and she is less-active. Now this sister has a non-member friend who also lives at the house and we started teaching her this week as well. But the hard thing is that the less-active friend has some really hard feeling against the church right now and so we are trying to pull our investigator one way and she is trying to pull her the other way. The thing is that the less-active girl is sixteen and she developed a crush on one of the missionaries that baptized her earlier this year. Then I guess after she was baptized the missionaries moved on and she felt abandoned and betrayed by the missionaries but it was more serious because she was in love with one of them. So now she is just really bitter and she says that she will come back to church in a few years. Its just hard because her friend is really interested and she lights up every time we teach her but we have a hard time getting in contact with her because of the friend. Wow I know that is really complicated but we are told not to use people's names in our emails home. Sorry. But hopefully over time we can help both girls find the happiness that they are looking for. 

I ate brussles-sprouts for the first time this week and they weren't as bad as I had always imagined. I was really scared when I saw them on the table but I ate them and I survived. Thank you for also making me eat beats when I was a kid because they eat a ton of those here. The food here however isn't as weird as I thought it would be. We eat a lot of mashed potatoes and shepard's pie and other things like that. I haven't had anything too crazy yet but we'll see what the future has in store. 

Mom guess what I just did at the store. We were doing our grocery shopping and we needed bread so I walked over to get some and I automatically just started pushing on the loaves of bread  to find the right one. Sister Whiting looked and me and said "What are you doing?"  I didn't even realize I was doing it. I then had to explain to her that I had turned into my mother who has to feel the bread before she can pick a loaf. Man even when I am 10,000 miles away I am still turning into you. But that thought makes me happy :)

So I will find out on Wednesday if I am training or not. Supposedly it is inevitable and everyone will be training but I am still hoping for an alternative. We have transfers next week and the number of sisters in the mission is just about doubling. I have no idea what President Rudd is going through right now trying to get everything ready for them. We have a ton of elders coming too of course so big changes are in the future. Hopefully I will know what's going to happen by the time I email next week. It is just crazy to me that right now there are 125 missionaries in the mission. 18 sisters and the rest elders. Then by the end of the year there will be 100 sisters and 150 elders. That is 250 missionaries! It is just crazy. Plus by the end of the year most of the experienced sisters will have gone home and the sisters and I that came together will be the experienced ones. I can't believe it and it makes me really nervous. A saying that we often repeat is "Whom God call, God qualifies" so I guess everything will be fine. Its just crazy to think about. 

Well I love you and I hope that you all have a good week. I miss you all!

Love, Maquel

Here is a picture of me with my first bucket of KFC. I mentioned a while back that it is a delicacy here and that when you get KFC you know the members love you. So I guess now they love me and I am an official New Zealand missionary :).

Dear Family,

    Well this week was not very exciting. We still have three investigators that aren't progressing and so that has been really frustrating but we will keep working. Missionary work is hard but I still love it. I just love these people that we are teaching and it is so hard that they aren't even reading their scriptures or saying their prayers and then they wonder why they aren't developing a testimony. I just want to shake them and make them see that if they want an eternal family and if they really want to be together forever like they say, then they have to start making some changes. I just didn't expect to love the people this much. I didn't expect that it would hurt this much when they cancel lessons or don't show up. One thing they taught us in the MTC is to envision the people that you are teaching dressed in white. Doing this however makes it so much harder when they aren't progressing because I can see it. I can see where they can go and I can see what the end result is. But they can't and so it hurts that much more because I know that they are preventing themselves from attaining all of those blessings. So that has been hard. I am sorry I just needed to vent. Don't worry though I am still having the time of my life here in New Zealand and I am loving being a missionary.

   So last Sunday when we were at a members house getting ready for dinner, Sister Whiting was sitting next to me and all the sudden she started to wobble in her seat and she said that the room was moving. I asked her if she needed to lay down and she said she was fine and that the room stopped moving. I just thought that she was dehydrated or hungry or something but she didn't think so because it only lasted a minute and then she was fine. I didn't give it another thought until the next night at dinner when someone asked if we had felt the earth quake the day before! That's right it was an earthquake and I didn't even notice it. Another Sister Missionary said that she just got really dizzy all of the sudden and then a member told her that they were experiencing an earthquake. So ya I have been in an earthquake and I didn't even feel it. I just thought Sister Whiting was crazy. Wow my first earthquake. I guess they are becoming more frequent here. All the members say that it is a sign of the times. That or they also say it is because New Zealand legalized same-sex marriage. Don't worry though I am protected so its all good. 

    I had my first real interview with President Rudd this week. It was nice because I got to spend fifteen minutes just talking with him instead of the three minutes we had last time. He said a few things though that have me thinking. First of all he said that he has been told by a number of people that I didn't even need to be trained. Pretty much the first thing that he said to me was "Well Sister Simkins I hear that you came pre-trained?" so that was a great compliment. He also said that Sister Whiting and I make a powerful pair. But the thing that scared me is he said "Are you ready to train? Because ready or not its happening." At transfers we are getting 18 new sister missionaries and 5 old ones are leaving. This means that every sister in the mission is going to be training. I am so scared. I don't know if I can do this. I don't think that I need more training myself, I just don't think that I am ready to train a new sister yet. So I have been thinking a lot about that. President Rudd also said that we will only be in a trio for three more weeks and we are then having a mini-transfer. I really hope they don't take Sister Whiting away from me but I am pretty sure that it is inevitable. The thing is that Sister Whiting and I are just so similar and we have the same teaching style so I love teaching with her. I really don't want her to leave. I guess we'll see what happens on the 14th.

   Guess who I met last night! SHERI DEW! Can you believe that? She is here in New Zealand for the Time-Out for Women conference that was in Auckland and so she traveled down to Hamilton to do a fireside for the YSA last night. The mission policy is that we can't go to any firesides or ward activities unless we bring an investigator or a less-active. So we heard about this fireside and we really wanted to go so we prayed and we thought about this less-active 20 year-old who lives with her active brother and family and we decided to ask her to go to the fireside with us and she said yes! She also committed to coming to church this Sunday. Anyways we were standing in the foyer waiting for her to come in and then in walks Sheri Dew and Virginia Hinckley Pearce (President Hinckley's daughter). I got to give Sheri Dew a hug and I shook Virginia Pearce's hand. Sheri Dew asked where I was from and I said New Mexico and she said asked which part and I said Farmington and she said that she has been there so that was neat. We then got to listen to the wonderful fireside. It was a great night. Who would have thought though that I would have to travel all the way to New Zealand to meet Sheri Dew?

   Well that is about it for this week. Not too much happened. I love and miss all of you and I hope that you have a good week!

Love, Maquel

P.S. The spiders here are crazy and so this is a web that is on one of the trees in our front yard.

Dear Family,

 

New Zealand is wonderful. I really really love it here. I think that I have completely adjusted now and I don't know if I want to leave. I really miss all of you so you should just move here and I will be happy. Really though this country is amazing. 

I completed my first transfer and I am on week eight of my training program. Four weeks to go and I am an official missionary. I am scared though because right now there are twenty-three sisters serving in the Hamilton Mission. Ten are leaving in the next couple of transfers and 100 new sisters are going to be in the mission before the end of the year. President Rudd has hinted that we are all going to be training next transfer and I am terrified. I am just so new and I don't want to be responsible for another sister. I am not mature enough for that! 

So we had transfers last week and I am still in Temple View and still in a trio with Sister Whiting and Sister Hiyas. We will be together for at least three more weeks. Then there is a sister going home mid-transfer and three sisters coming so we don't know what is going to happen. The three sister that are coming aren't VC sisters so it probably won't change anything for us. I am happy here though for the time being. I am learning to love the area. There still aren't very many people to teach. We have a few investigators that we are struggling with because they aren't progressing and the baptism that was scheduled for Saturday fell apart so that was really sad. The girl just wasn't ready and she only agreed to be baptized because that was what her grandmother wanted so I guess it is a good thing that she didn't go through with it. We are going to continue to work with her and hopefully she will someday be ready to be baptized. We are struggling with our other two investigators because they just aren't progressing or keeping commitments. We really don't know what more to do. If we were in a regular area with other people to teach then they would have been dropped by now because they just aren't moving forward. But because we don't have any one else to teach we keep going back to them. This week though is going to it however. We have a dynamite lesson planned and if they still don't keep their commitments after that then we are going to stop working with them for a time. It is very sad and frustrating. But missions are hard and I know that. 

Well I had my first Islander meal last night. Remember the 20 kilo mission thing? Well this was a 20 kilo meal. I have never seen so much food in my life. The family that fed us are great. I love them and they have the best personalities. The dad actually served his mission in Albuquerque so I like talking to him about New Mexico. I'm worried though because he said that he makes the best Mexican food. I hope he doesn't make it for me sometime because then I would have to eat it so his feelings wouldn't be hurt. I really thought I had escaped the Mexican food thing but I guess not. Anyways we are sitting at the table in the kitchen talking while they were finishing up preparing the meal and they just kept bringing plate after plate to the table piled high with different types of food. To make things simple I will just make a list of all the stuff that they cooked for us last night: fried chicken, chapsuey? (This is how Sister Hiyas says its spelled), mashed potatoes, rice, shrimp, pork strips, carrots, broccoli. It was nuts. I tried to get a small amount of everything and I was so full I wanted to throw-up. Then they brought out a truffle dessert and I forced myself to eat it. After I finished I was thankful that I was able to fit it all in but then the brought out another dessert! Can you believe that? TWO DESSERTS!!! It was so much food that I felt sick for the rest of the night. Sister Hiyas said though that that was what every meal was like in Auckland. I guess I need to be thankful that the rest of the members here feed us a normal amount of food. I really love the family that fed us though. The are Samoan and they are just so funny. I guess they just really love us. 

Let me just say this again that I love President Rudd. He is the greatest! He is so funny. When he came here at first he said that there was a scripture that described him and that is Moses 6:38. Read it and ponder how great he is. I really love him and Sister Rudd. They came into the VC yesterday and we got to talk to them for a long time and Sister Rudd found out that we hadn't been to the temple here yet and she said she is going to take care of that :) We were also taking some pictures (we are always taking pictures) and Sister Rudd yelled "Let's do a funny one!" So we did and even President Rudd made a funny face. It was the best thing ever. They are just so cool. Mom and Dad I hope you get to meet them someday. 

Over all it was a great week even though our baptism canceled. But it's all good! We will just work harder this week. I am sorry that this is a short email. Not much happened this week. Just hard work. I love and miss all of you! 

Love, Maquel

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Family!

TWO MONTHS! Can you believe it that I have been gone for two months today? It feels like I saw all of you last week. Well that's not entirely true. When I think about all of the stuff that has happened it feels like I have been here forever. Two months down, sixteen to go. It sounds like forever when I think about it that way. But if time keeps moving as fast as it does now then I will be home in no time. Time is so weird here because the days are really long but the weeks are incredible short. I know I say this every week but it feels like I emailed you two days ago. Time goes by so fast. so fast.

So things this week were pretty uneventful. It was just a normal week. I got to teach more real lessons so that was great. We have a new investigator and we have a baptism this Saturday. I'm not going to count it as my baptism because I have only just started teaching this girl but it is still exciting. The girl that is being baptized is really excited and that has been so much fun to watch. She has invited all of her non-member friends and it should be a really great day. 

I am still in a trio with Sister Whiting and Sister Hiyas. It has been awesome because I love Sister Whiting. She is so great. We just teach really well together. We also have a lot of fun together because she thinks I am funny. Things are a lot easier when people think that I am funny too. Sister Hiyas doesn't think that I am funny so that is why we have some difficulties. Transfers are this week and I am scared that they are going to take Sister Whiting and her wards away from me. Actually I am pretty sure that that is what's going to happen. It will be hard but I know that I will make the best of it. The thought of having just one ward though terrifies me. It was so hard when we didn't have anything to do. Oh man I am scared. But it's all good.

I had a hard night on Thursday. We had set up to have this lesson at the Visitor's Center with one of our less-actives that we have been really working on. She is the one with the non-member husband. Anyways we set it up with her last week and then on Tuesday we made a cute card reminding them. I was so excited because I thought that this could be the miracle that I have really been praying for. So we planned our tour and we were going to do it on the temple because she has never gone through. We planned to teach her about all of the blessings of the temple that she is missing out on. It was cool when we were planning the tour because we had initially thought to give her a normal tour to try and re-convert her. But then I was just pondering the things that I was going to say to her and then the I got the strongest impression to teach her about the temple and have that be the focus. So I told my companions this and they agreed. We then planned everything around the temple and I immediately knew what movies to show her and what to say. It was a really neat process and I was so excited for this lesson. I really thought it was going to be the break through that we have been waiting for. At the end of the tour we were going to challenge her to come back to church and work towards going to the temple. Sister Whiting even bought her a picture of the temple to hang on her wall to remind her of this goal. Anyways we were so excited and then ten minutes before the tour she texted us an canceled. My heart broke. I was devastated because I really thought we were going to be able to help her. I am not going to lie, Sister Whiting and I sat down and had a good cry. It was so discouraging. Then I had the thought that this wasn't going to be the only time this happens. I knew then that my mission will be filled with many more times of heart ache and devastation. This pain comes from the fact that I love these people. I love that woman and I can see her life now and where she is but I can also she where she could go and who she could become if she were to just come back to church. I now know a little bit what the missionary heartbreak feels like and I am scared for when  it really hits. I know though that this means that I am being a good missionary because I love the people. I really do. We will continue to work with this sister and hopefully someday she will find her way back. 

We cover three wards now so we go to church three times. It is a bit crazy so I guess that it's a good thing that I like church so much haha. Yesterday we had to speak in one of our wards. The three of us and the ward mission leader were asked to speak on missionary work of course. Specifically however Sister Whiting talked about what we do on chat, Sister Hiyas about missionary resources such as mormon.org, and I talked about the visitors' center. When we were walking to church I told my companions that I wasn't nervous about speaking. Everything was going so well and I really wasn't nervous at all until I see my mission president and his wife walking into the chapel. I about dies. This meant serious pressure and I was immediately terrified. I had completely forgotten that this was President Rudd's ward. So I was terrified. But it all went well. I have few talents in this life but I do know how to talk in from of people. All of the talks were great and I think that we got the ward really excited about missionary work and the role that they play. Not too many people here got to watch the broadcast but I told them to watch it on lds.org. But I guess that our talks were good because we got three referrals after sacrament meeting so that was exciting. President and Sister Rudd said that I did a good job too that was nice. I really like President and Sister Rudd. They are really great. They took us to our other ward meeting because two of our wards here meet in different buildings and its a long walk back an forth. So president drove us over and it gave us time to get to know them better. I really am so happy that he is my mission president because he really is great and it is so cool to have them so close. 

One more exciting thing that happened this week was that I got to call Bishop! I am sure that you heard about it but I got to call and talk to him. The church has a new system for missionary work that they just came out with and Sister Whiting and I were the first missionaries ever to use it. My VC director said it was because we were chosen from all of the missionaries serving in the VC's around the world. I don't know why they chose us but it must mean something good. So right now we are the only missionaries set up and authorized to use this technology. We are able to call any one anywhere in the world and teach them the Gospel. We are teaching people that we met on chat as well as church headquarters referrals. I guess it is a good thing that I got over my issues with talking to people over the phone. This technology though is so amazing. I just select the country I am calling into and then enter the number and I am immediately connected to that phone but it is all through the internet. The day after we got it all set up my VC director told Sister Whiting and I to call our Bishops to make sure that calling into the US wouldn't be a problem. I felt bad because it was after 10 at night your time but I had to do it. I called and no one answered. So I called again and still no one answered. The thought crossed my mind that Bishop probably didn't recognize the number. I was sad because I really wanted to talk to him. I was about to put my headset away but I thought I just have to try it one more time and he finally answered this time. It was so great talking to him. Mom, I didn't think that you would believe him so that it why I told him about Molly's order because I knew that that was something just between you and me so he would be able to prove to you that he talked to me. Bishop Carter is the best and I was so happy that I got to call and talk to him. Too bad I can't call the rest of you. I can only call people that I am going to teach to gospel. It stinks that you are all already members :)

Well I love all of you and I hope that everyone had a great week. I love it here and everyday I am just overwhelmed with a sense of amazement that I am really here serving my mission. I love and miss you!

Love Maquel!

 

 

This is Sister Holmes and Sister Whiting. We all met in the MTC so today we are celebrating our two months of meeting each other and of being on our missions. They are the best. I love them so much.

 

 

We also found chips and salsa at the store today. We got the hot kind of salsa and it isn't spicy at all. But I guess it will do. Everything here is just so sweet including their salsa and pickles :( Next week Sister Whiting and I are going to make pink-dip because she makes that at home too. She asked me yesterday "Have you ever put cream cheese in your salsa?" I about died. We were meant to be companions. 

Hello Everyone!!

It's crazy to think that another week has come and gone. Its true about what they say about time flying when on a mission. I seriously emailed you like yesterday. But not really.

So this past week has been amazing. First of all one of the sisters was honorably released mid-transfer so her companion joined my companion and I so we are now in a trio! Woohoo its like a party all day long. not really. But I love it. So my "new other" companion is Sister Whiting. Funny because we were in the MTC together so we are really good friends. She is the one in the pictures with the beautiful red hair. Anyways she is great. When Sister Whiting joined us we also picked up two more wards. I now have more than three streets! I can't tell you how happy I am. Another awesome thing is that Sister Whiting also brought with her two investigators that are set to be baptized next week. One is a fourteen year old girl that lives with her grandma who is a member. The other is a woman who is married to a less-active member. So the girl is for sure going to be baptized next Saturday but we are probably going to have to push back the date for the woman. Its a standard that a person has to come to church three times in a row in order to be baptized and the woman came last week but she just had a baby so she isn't going to be able to come to church for a few weeks. But she still wants to be baptized so that is great. I am so flippen excited!  We also have a few families that may turn into new investigators so please keep us and them in your prayers so that they can take the leap and let us teach them.

I have loved being in a trio with Sister Whiting because we are so similar and we have the same goals and mindset. We also have similar teaching styles so we have been really effective so far. I hope that we will be in this trio for a while but we really don't know how long it will last. Because of the mission split we have no idea when the next transfers are so we have no idea how long we will be together. I hope that it is a long time. I can't imagine how hard it is going to be to go back to having just one ward and three non-members. But I know that everything will work out the way that it is supposed to.

I met President Rudd on Thursday and he is great! He has an awesome sense of humor and his wife is so sweet. Its going to be great to get to know them better. I also love the fact that he will be my mission president for my entire mission. When I met him though I just knew that this is the man that God called to lead this mission so that was a neat experience. Plus he lives in our neighborhood and right across the street from the VC so we see him all the time. I guess this is a big deal too because the other sisters said that they never saw President Lekias because he was always in Auckland. Another funny thing is that Sister Rudd just comes to hang out at the VC while President is in a meeting or busy doing something. She really is great and I am excited to get to know her better.

I rode by bike for the first time the other day. Because my original area was so small it wasn't even worth it to ride our bikes we just put them in the shed and forgot about them. Well now we have a huge area. I guess I got what I wanted when I asked for a bigger area because now one of the wards that Sister Whiting brought with her is enormous. Honestly it takes a 30 minute car ride to reach the end of our boundaries. This is because it is made up of huge farms and so the houses are all spread out. So obviously it is impossible for us to visit a majority of the homes on a bike in the three hours that we are allotted. I guess for the most part this ward is kinda neglected by the missionaries because Sister Whiting's previous companion had a hard time riding her bike for a long time. We decided however to try it again with the three of us. There is a family that we specifically wanted to visit because the mom is pretty much a member but she hasn't been baptized and the kids are all begging to be baptized but the husband in less-active and so he is the one that is really holding everything up. So they live far out on one of these farms and so we were going to ride out and see them and see what we could do to help. I was worried though because I haven't really ridden a bike since before my surgery. I know you are laughing right now... I still know how to ride a bike! I just didn't know if I would be able to ride that far and for that long. My knee has already been giving me some trouble so I was worried. Anyways we decided to just ride our bikes around our neighborhood and to a service project and a few other places. So riding my $600 was better than I thought it was going to be. Let me just say that it is a really nice bike. But anyways it did make my knee sore but that was the only problem I had. I was all ready to ride out to that family but we called them and the mom said that they are out of town so we will try again sometime this week and I will let you know how it goes.

Alright now I have a funny story from last night. So we went over to eat at this members home but they were having like this huge family get together so there were a ton of people. It was great because it felt so familiar. The thing though that made it feel like home was their sense of humor. The things that the men in the family were joking and the way that they went about it sounded just like our family. They were hilarious. At one point one of the men at the table turns to me and Sister Whiting (who is from Utah) and says "Are you democrats?" and I was a little stunned because I was not expecting that. So I guess I hesitated to answer and I was also worried because the white handbook says that we are to abstain from any political conversations so I just didn't know what to say. I guess I took to long to answer because he looks me right in the eye and says "Now would be a good time to lie if you are." The whole family just burst out laughing and I assured them that I was NOT a democrat. They then asked if I owned a gun and I told them that I personally didn't but that my dad and other family members did. Anyways they then started making jokes about Obama and liberals and if it weren't for their accents I would have thought that I was back at home surrounded by my family. It was great. It makes me think though that even New Zealanders can see the problems that most americans can't. That's as political as I am allowed to get but I thought that you would enjoy that story. (especially you Dad).

Okay so I have another meal story for you. Most nights we just eat here at the VC because we are on shift. But there are a few nights that we are able to eat at members homes. So it is a lot easier than I thought because so far I have just had really good food. And they automatically eat ketchup (or tomato sauce as they call it) on everything. I tell you I fit right in at meal time. However we were eating at a members house the other night and she has just served us and she ran back to the kitchen to grab something and she yells "I hope that you aren't allergic to anything" and I thought to myself "I am allergic to cashews but I this meal looks safe so I won't say anything" I then took a bite of the salad but then I tasted something crunchy. So I look down and I saw that there were almonds and cashews in the salad. Uh-oh was my first thought and then I hoped that I had eaten an almond and not a cashew. Sister Whiting then looks at me and points to the salad because she knows that I am allergic to cashews. I mouthed that I wasn't sure whether or not I had already eaten one. Then the lady walked back in and so we couldn't talk anymore. I felt bad and I didn't want to embarrass the lady that was feeding us because I really like her so I just kept eating and I prayed that I had just eaten and almond. But then I started to feel it and I knew that I had in fact eaten a cashew. So yup I had a reaction and this one was bad. I got hives on my chest and my face and my throat was swollen for a couple of hours. I wonder if my reactions are getting worse. Anyways I made it out of the house without the lady knowing but we had to go home so that I could take some allergy medicine. I just have benadryl (I have no idea how to spell that ) here and it didn't really help, it just made me really sleepy. Anyways you should tell me what to get just in case this happens again and the reaction is as bad. But its still kinda funny story. Because I ate the cashew literally right after she asked it we were allergic to anything. Oh the joys of serving a mission.

I have found one thing that I hate about New Zealand and I am worried that I won't be able to last another 16 months. The thing that I hate is that they DON'T HAVE PICKLES HERE! Isn't this devastating? I would give anything for a pickle right now. It has been like a month and a half since I have had one and I want one so bad. All they have here is the stupid sweet kind. It is devastating. I guess that I will have to survive somehow.

Well I am sorry that this is a relatively short letter haha. I can't think really of anything else to tell you. I have settled into life here and I can say that I love it more and more with each passing day. The members here are incredible and I love serving in the Visitors' Center. I love being a missionary!

I love and miss all of you!

Love, Maquel

P.S. Nicole Hampton if you are reading this on my blog you need to email me! I can't find the letter you sent me and so I don't know your email address. I want to hear how life is going! Also I am currently wearing the scarf you gave me for Christmas. Every time I look down I am reminded of you. :)

Oh and I found this mormon ad that I think you all need to learn from.

hint hint...

NEW ZEALAND HAMILTON MISSION!

Hello Dear Family!

    Well it's official I am now one of the first missionaries in the NEW ZEALAND HAMILTON MISSION! I cannot explain to you how exited I am. It is so cool to be able to say that and I feel so privileged to be one of the first missionaries in this mission. Our new mission President flew in Saturday morning but I haven't met him yet. I guess he came into the VC last night but I wasn't on shift. So far four sisters have met him and I guess that him and his wife are just really nice. The one thing that I was worried about was that he wouldn't have a sense of humor but I have been assured by a number of people that he is a pretty funny guy. One of our senior missionaries knew him before his mission and he said "He's a hoot" so I am feeling pretty good about things. They are from Utah too so all of the Americans keep making jokes about that and the fact that the two assistants are from America as well. But anyways if I am scheduled to meet him Thursday but hopefully I will meet him before that. Because I came here knowing that I was going to be in this mission and have a new mission president, I didn't really get to know President Lekias because from day one it didn't really feel like he was my mission President. Him and his wife were really nice though so a lot of the missionaries that have been here for a long time are struggling. But I am just so excited because I feel like my "real" mission president is here now and my mission is officially starting.

    Things here in Temple View went well last week. My companion and I are doing better I guess. We are just SO different that it has been really challenging.  Its nice when we are at the VC because we don't have to be right next to our companion. We can be in different rooms and be doing separate things and so it gives us a break from each other. The thing is though she is really nice and she is a great teacher and missionary but our personalities just do not mix. I am sure that she still doesn't know what to think of me and my loud sense of humor. You know last week how I told you that I knocked on the other sisters' window and scared one of them half to death? Well it scared her too and she still doesn't understand why I did it. I have tried to explain to her that it was a joke and she thinks that I am just a mean person. She also heard me telling another sister about the crazy things that Jade, Nicole, and I used to do to the Isaacsons and others and I think that confused her even more. I just think that I got a double dose of ounry from both of my parents and some people just don't know how to handle my personality. (Well she is the only one that doesn't think that I am funny. Everyone else seems to like me... I think...) Anyways I am doing my best to identify with her and that is all I really can do. Unfortunately I can't change my personality.

   Okay so remember when I was little and I always wanted to be in a cloud? Like literally? Well I may not have actually told you that but I used to think it would be the coolest thing ever. I can now say been there done that and it is not as great as it sounds. In fact I hate it because it destroys my hair. But we literally walk in a cloud every day because it is so foggy. I have never seen anything like it. It gets so bad sometimes that we have to watch the ground when we walk because we can't even see two feet in front of us. Don't worry I have only ran into a pole once. But seriously it is nuts! The Maori people named New Zealand Aoteroa which means "land of the long white cloud" and I now know what they meant by that. One night we left our flat and my hair was in really tight curls like it normally was at home and then hours later when we were walking home Sister Hiyas asked "When did you straighten your hair?" I am not joking. It literally takes all the curl our of my hair and then it makes all of these random pieces stick up everywhere. It looks absolutely awful. No matter what I do or how hard I try I still end up looking like a frumpy sister missionary. Its so sad. I am going to have to take some before and after pictures one of these days so that you will believe me. Walking in the clouds is not all its cracked up to be I can tell you that much.

   I went on my first tade-offs this week. Because of the influx of sister missionaries, the church created a new leadership position for sister missionaries and they are called the sisters' training leaders. They function somewhat like the district and zone leaders but only for the sisters. but they are in charge of initiating trade-offs which is where one companion goes with one of the STL's to their area for 24 hours and the other companion stays in her area with the other STL. So I got to leave Temple View and spend 24 hours as a full proselyting missionary with one of the STL's. I really liked it because I got first of all see another area in New Zealand and I also got to experience a day as a full proselyting missionary. I even got to teach my first official lesson! It was so great and the young man that we taught was just so prepared. I can't wait until I get a real investigator of my own because it is just the best. But we did have some not-so-nice experiences but I guess that happens to everyone. There was this man that we were talking to on the street and it sounded like he has had a hard life and so I really wanted to help him but every time I would say something he would just interrupt me with some dumb contradictory comment. It was so frustrating so finally I told him to listen to me and I then began bearing to him one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever born. When I was speaking the words I could just feel the spirit so strong re-affirming to me that the words that I was speaking were true. I even began to get emotional because I could feel it so strongly. The power and the fire that I felt inside was indescribable. The thing that was different about this time bearing my testimony was that it was fueled by the knowledge that the things that I knew could help this man completely turn his life around and help him find the happiness that he had been searching for. Even though I had just met this man and he wasn't being very nice I felt a real love for him and I know that that was just Heavenly Father's love for this man that I was able to feel. So I bore this testimony and I felt electrified after I was done. He then looked up and made another dumb comment about something so irrelevant that I have now forgotten what he even said. The thing is though that I know he felt the spirit. I know my words cut deep into his soul because I could see it in his eyes. He just wouldn't let himself accept it and that is his choice. If anything though this experience taught me that the power and strength of my testimony is not measured by whether or not people accept it. The fact that people choose not to listen or choose not to believe me doesn't change the fact that these things are true. I know that Heavenly Father lives and that he loves each and everyone of us. I know that Jesus Christ came to earth and atoned for our sins. I also know that His gospel was restored to the prophet Joseph Smith and that he translated the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know all of these things and more are true and the fact that other people don't listen to me or don't believe me, it doesn't change the fact that these things are true. So even though that man chose not to accept my message, I still cherish that experience because I learned so much about myself and my testimony that night. I also think that that was just the first of many similar situations.

   I have mentioned in the past that we do chat as part of our Visitor Center assignments. Some interesting things have happened lately though where that is concerned. So the way my day normally works is I spend half of it out in my area and then I spend the other half in the VC. Then half of my time in the VC is spend down of chat. For the first couple of weeks here however, we would go to get on chat at our assigned time of 6 pm NZ time and the chats center would be closed. So Elder McLauchlin called Salt Lake and told them to keep chat open until 9 pm NZ time and so that's 3 am Utah/New Mexico time. The chat director in Salt Lake was worried though that it would be a waste of resources because he thought it would be too late and people would all be asleep so no one would get on chat. But he decided to give it a try. Well the number of chats coming through at that time have been so high that they have had to bring more people into the call center in Provo to help keep up with the traffic. They have said that since they have extended the hours, they have been getting more chats during those hours than any other time of day. So Its great to be a part of that. But really, here in New Zealand we have the optimum time to be on Chats because it is late at night in the US and its in the middle of the night that people are laying awake with questions that the Gospel can help answer. Now that's the great thing about chat but there is a hard part that comes along too and that is that when we sign onto chat, we are opening ourselves up to the world and anyone can get on and say/ask anything. We get a ton of people who just want to bible bash with us or they get on to convince us that our church isn't true. We get people who make inappropriate jokes and say rude things to us. It can be really hard sometimes but it is all worth it when we get that one person who is so prepared. When that happens I get their information and I then teach them online until they are able to meet with their local missionaries. Right now I am currently teaching four people via email and they are all in the United States. So its great because we can use this technology to spread the gospel all around the world even through I am sitting in a small room in New Zealand. But can you guess what the most common question on chat is? Is it about the Book of Mormon? no. Is it about Joseph Smith? No. Is it about polygamy? No. The most common question that is asked during almost every single chat is "Do mormons believe that God lives on a planet named Kolob?" I am serious. This is the most common question and it drives me nuts!

   So all in all a pretty uneventful week here in the beautiful land of New Zealand. I love and miss all of you! Do your best to be missionaries yourselves everyday. When members do their part, it makes our job so much easier. Also if it is ever pouring rain and you see the missionaries walking, don't just honk and wave, pull over and give them a ride! Its always the worst when we are walking in the rain and people honk at us just to wave as they drive by. They aren't doing it to mock us. The people here always honk and wave whenever they see us anywhere but the thing is they also do it when its raining so I am telling you if you see the missionaries walking in the rain, do me a favor and give them a ride. Anyways I love all of you!

Tune in next week for an exciting update from the New Zealand Hamilton Mission!

Love, Sister Simkins