WE HAD A BAPTISM! Woohoo! I am still on top of the world. I can't explain to you how great it is to have a front row seat to so many miracles. On Saturday night Janet Phillips was baptized by her son and it was such an incredible experience. I cried it was so beautiful. I mentioned last week how this baptism was already a miracle but after this week the word miracle takes on a new meeting. Janet had more challenges leading up to her baptism than anyone that I have ever seen. Everything seemed to fall apart for her as her family completely turned their backs on her and her son. Despite what was happening though she remained firm and steadfast in her resolve to be baptized and she never looked back. When a person has decided to be baptized we start what we call "daily contact" which is where the person getting baptized is visited by either a us or a member of the church so that they can feel the uplift of the spirit everyday. Because Janet lives with her son who is a faithful member we didn't worry too much about the daily contact from us. On Thursday however I felt really strongly that we needed to go see her. When we got to the house we could see through the sliding glass door that she was reading the Book of Mormon and I was feeling like everything was okay so I thought we would stop in and say hello and then leave. Well when we got in the home I asked her how her day had gone and then she broke down and started crying because her daughter had said and done everything that she possibly could to prevent her mom from being baptized. It was so sad but we were able to talk through everything and Janet kept saying "I know I need to be baptized. I just wish they would support me." We ended up staying at the house for over an hour until she felt better about things. We just read The Book of Mormon and sang a hymn and when we left it felt as though a weight had been lifted off the home and off of Janet. When Saturday came she was so excited that she could hardly stand it. She just about jumped on the font. It was the most amazing thing. Then yesterday after she was confirmed she glowed. The light that shined through her eyes was spectacular. She is going to do amazing things in her life and I can't wait to see how many of her friends and family she brings into the gospel.

This week, as always, we had some pretty good rain storms except this time we also had a pretty mean thunderstorm. I love it when there is a thunderstorm because it doesn't happen that often and it reminds me of home. The only down part is that we have to be out walking in it. On Thursday after we left Janet's home we had an appointment so we had to walk in the pouring rain and as we were walking this tree not far from us was struck by lightening. It scared us all half to death but nothing bad happened. We probably should have gone home but we had an appointment that we couldn't miss. 

   Now it's no secret that as missionaries we are expected to wake up at 6:30 every morning. After we wake up we are supposed to exercise for 30 minutes and then proceed to get ready for the day. Normally we are pretty good about doing some form of exercise and then we walk everywhere all day long so I would say that we are all pretty active. The elders in the zone however aren't and they all have cars. I guess none of them do their morning exercises and then they just drive everywhere all day so some of them were pretty unhealthy. Well our zone leader decided to start this morning challenge thing where every morning he comes up with an exercise challenge and we are supposed to do the challenge and then report on what we did. One morning we did suicides and another morning we did jumping-jacks. Well Thursday morning we got the text that said "Let's see how many body-weight squats you can do!" so we took that challenge and went all out. It felt like we had been doing squats for ages. In the end Sister Pongi did 85, Sister Doole did 100, and I did 200. I really wanted to see how many I could do and by 200 I was pretty smashed but I could have kept going I think. However, Sister Doole pointed out that as always we would be walking all day so I decided to stop. We went about the rest of our day and I forgot about the squats. That night after dinner I went to stand up and my legs were so sore that I barely could. I thought to myself oh man I am in trouble and I looked at Sister Doole and her face told me that she was thinking the same thing. Lets just say that the next day we all struggled to walk which is a major problem because that is all that we do. Sister Doole said "As long as we don't walk up too many hills I think I'll be fine." We had a pretty good laugh about it all. The funniest part however is that we walking to see Janet after we had eaten a good sized lunch and the phone rang so I answered it and it was one of our favorite members and she said "Sisters I found a whole chicken in my fridge and I can't eat it all by myself so I wanted to know if you wanted to come eat chicken and salad with me." the thing is she sounded so excited that I couldn't tell her no so I said we would walk over. Now not only we still stuffed from lunch, but she lives at almost at the top of this mountain that is in our area. She literally lives on Mountain Rd. Luckily there is a short cut to get half way up the mountain but it involves walking up 200 stairs. I hung up the phone with the member and I looked at my companions and said "You are going to hate me! I just did something really stupid." When I told them what I had done they both burst out laughing because they thought I was kidding and then they laughed even harder when I told them I was serious and when they realized what that meant. So we walked up the mountain and climbed 200 stairs with extremely sore legs from all the squats we had done the day before all to eat chicken and salad that we weren't even hungry for. Luckily another member found us after we had finished climbing the stairs so we didn't have to walk the rest of the way up the mountain. It was a pretty ridiculous and funny situation.  

   Another great story from this week came when we were finishing up teaching a lesson to one of our investigators and the phone rang. I saw that it was the elders that we share a ward with. Since my companions were telling our investigator about sports night I decided to answer the phone because they wouldn't call if it wasn't important. So I answered it and the conversation went something like this "Where are you?" "We're in a lesson." "I have to tell you something but you can't freak out. When I tell you just say 'ok' ok?" Ok just tell me" "We just wrecked the car..." "You what?!" "I told you not to freak out!" By then everyone else in the room was looking at me so I said I would call him back and I hung up the phone. As it turns out the elders were driving out in the country to this house and they turned a blind corner and a cat ran out in front of them and out of instinct the elder that was driving swerved to avoid it but because of the rain the car slid and he lost control and hit the side of a hill the ran along the road and the force spun the car the other way where they slid into a fence. Luckily no one was hurt but the car is pretty beat up. The engine and everything like that is okay but it now needs over $2500 worth of body work done to it. The mission office is not happy and when the car goes in to be fixed it means that we won't have a ride anywhere any more. It should be a fun few weeks!

    So that is all for this week. I hope that you can see that I am loving life and having the best time! I love my companions, I love my area, and I love my mission! I love and miss all of you! Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Simkins

Kia Ora Family!

 

Let me start out by saying Happy New Year! I cannot believe that it is 2014 already. The crazy thing that I can't wrap my mind around is the fact that I will be home in 2014. Like my mission ends in 2014 and then I am coming home. Oh my goodness that thought makes me sick. I am trying so hard to hold onto the time but it is just slipping away so fast that I can't help it. I will be out 8 months next week. Can you believe that 8 months? That's almost 9 months which is my halfway mark and everyone says that after you hit 9 months there is not stopping the time. I guess it just slips away. I don't my time here to end. I love being a missionary and I love being in New Zealand. I honestly ask myself everyday how I got so lucky. 

Well we had a great week this week! We have an investigator getting baptized this Saturday and we are so excited! Her name is Janet and if you remember Dominique, the seventeen year-old girl that we baptized a while ago, well it is her Grandma. Teaching her has been the coolest journey because she is just so prepared and it's crazy to say that because when I first met her she was so against the church. Her journey started 3 years ago when her son was baptized and married an LDS girl. She was against it at first but then she learned to accept the choice that he had made. Well when I first got into the area and was teaching Dominique, Janet was living with her son and Dom and so I would see her all the time and although she was friendly she really didn't want anything to do with what we were teaching. Now  they all lived in the elder's area and we got special permission to teach Dom because she felt more comfortable with sisters. Anyways the elders tried so hard to teach Janet. They were constantly talking to her and asking her questions to get her thinking but she still didn't want anything to do with it. Well Janet's son and his family recently moved into a new house in our area and when we were helping to move her in Elder Krull said "Maybe you will have better luck with Janet" and I thought "Ya right. She is one that will never come around." Now knowing all of this you can imagine my surprise when I got a text from our Ward Mission Leader telling us that Janet wanted us to teach her the lessons so that she can be baptized. So that was a few weeks ago and ever since we have been working with Janet and she has done a complete 360. She reads the Book of Mormon constantly and she says that she knows it's the word of God. She gave up smoking and coffee all on her own and she told us she was coming to church before we could ask. She even came to the baptism we had last weekend. Oh my goodness we have just seen so many miracles with this woman! One of them happened last Monday actually. On Saturday the three of us got down on our knees and petitioned our Heavenly Father for a date that Janet would be ready to be baptized. After the prayer I said "Well I have a date but it's kinda crazy." Sister Doole said the same thing and so I said"alright everyone write down the date that came to your mind and then we'll share it." and so we did and as it turns out we had all chosen the same date that was just a few weeks away. This date seemed crazy because at the time she was still struggling with smoking. We had planned that day to visit Janet and present this date to her and see how she felt about it. Now I don't know if you remember from last week how I shared the story about going into the lesson wanting to teach word of wisdom and then I felt to switch it to Plan of Salvation? Well that was this lesson and so because of all the family there it didn't feel right to talk about a baptismal date. I guess we could tell that it wasn't the right time. Ok so fast forward to last Monday and we were sitting in the car and we got a call from our W.M.L. saying that he had just talked to Janet's son and that Janet had decided that she was ready to be baptized and that she had chosen the 11th of January which was the same date that the three of us had chosen. I cannot tell you how happy we were and just how excited we are. Another cool story from teaching Janet is the other morning I was praying to open up my personal study and I was asking that I would know what to teach the people that I would be coming in contact with throughout the day and the thought popped into my head "Teach Janet tithing" and i thought that was odd because we had talked about teaching something else but I decided to go with it and I told my companions that we would be teaching tithing instead. Then we went to the lesson with Janet and Sister Pongi started to introduce the lesson and what we would be teaching and Janet interrupted and said "Wait I read about this today! I was reading Malachi chapter 3 this morning and it talked about tithes and I didn't know what that meant. I wondered why we didn't pay tithes today but I guess we do." We then had an awesome lesson and it just reaffirmed to her that this is the true and restored church on the earth and that we as missionaries are inspired to  teach what God wanted her to learn. It is just so flippen cool! So Janet is getting baptized this Saturday at 6 pm but I know that she would appreciate of you would please pray for her too. She, like everyone else, is facing some pretty tough opposition and temptations. 

Now for our New Years celebration. First of all we were surprised by a trip to Hamilton on Tuesday for a Mission Conference. The whole mission got together and we had a devotional and a Christmas/New Years Celebration and it was the best! I had so much fun. I got to see all of my friends and the McLachlans and the Rudds. It was just so much fun. I seriously have the best mission President ever. At the start we met in this forest reserve owned by the church and we had a devotional sitting under these trees. The devotional was focused on the Prophet Joseph Smith and all that he did in his life. The spirit was so strong because although I am in New Zealand I looked around at the trees and tried to imagine that I was in the grove of trees in New York when the prophet saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. Again, as it has numerous times in the past, the spirit re-assured me that it was true. It really happened. They appeared to that fourteen year old boy and as a result the Gospel of Jesus Christ has once again been restored to the earth. I was just overcome with peace and joy as I pondered my testimony. We then listed to an address given by M. Russell Ballard on how Joseph and Hyrum were the best missionary companions and we need to love our companions like they loved each other. That talk too made me want to cry because it was just so powerful. After that Presidnet Rudd got up and talked about the miracles that have take place over the years in New Zealand and I was overwhelmed with a love for this country and the people here. There is a magic that resides here in this beautiful country and it is like nothing else. The people are just so full of faith and its no surprise that so many amazing things have happened over the years. Again I am so blessed to be serving here. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the last day in 2013. 

At the conference President Rudd said that he didn't want the sisters out working because it was unsafe and he told the elders that they didn't have to go out and work too if they didn't want to because he was just worried about or safety. Alcohol is a huge problem here and he was worried about all of us being out and about. He also gave us permission to stay up until midnight to see the new year come in. We were so excited because we had planned to party with the three of us in our flat. Unfortunately that isn't exactly what happened. After the drive to and from Hamilton and everything that had happened that day we got back to the flat and crashed. We thought we'd just take a short nap and then wake up at 11:30 and party. We even had sparkling cider. So we set an alarm and went to sleep. When the alarm went off unconsciously turned it off so we didn't wake up. The next thing I know I woke up because I could hear these really loud fireworks and I looked at the clock and it said 12:01. I turned over to Sister Doole and said "It's 12:01. Happy New Year" and Sister Doole looked up and barely said "happy new year' and then she turned over and went back to sleep. Sister Pongi never even budged. I had this mini inner conflict wondering if it would be worth it to wake up and celebrate but then I was so so tired that I decided it wasn't worth it so I too turned over and went back to sleep. Talk about the lamest New Years ever but we were so tired that we couldn't help it. This mission has made me more tired then I have ever been in my life and I guess that New Years wasn't even an exception. 

Well I guess that is all for this week. I hope that everyone had a great New Years and that you are all looking forward to an awesome 2014. I know I am excited. This is going to be one of the best years of my life I can feel it! I love and miss all of you!

Love, 

Maquel

Dear Family,

Let me first of all start by saying that I am still on cloud nine from talking to you. I can't tell you how much I loved the time that we got to spend skyping. I really miss all of you so much and so being able to see your faces and talk was the best Christmas present I can imagine. I just wish it could have been longer. I thought that I was different from everyone else and that when I was at home I thought that I was pretty good about appreciating all of you (I know I wasn't very humble back then) but being separated from you I really understand just how much I love and adore all of you. Heavenly Father honestly blessed me with the best family ever and I can't wait until Mother's Day when I can talk to all of you again. 

Now for the week. Monday for P-day we went on a hike through this redwood forest and it was incredible. I still am in awe of the beauty of this country. After that we went to the ward Christmas party which was really a huge BBQ and bonfire at our Bishops house because he lives out in the middle of nowhere. I just love the ward that I am serving in. I feel like I am at home because I feel like I fit in so well with all the members. I also feel like I have my own fan club with all of the little girls that follow us everywhere. I tell you when you put on a missionary badge you become an instant celebrity to kids. So I really enjoyed spending time with my new ward family.  Now I know that we talked briefly about our Christmas Eve and Christmas day activities but I thought I would just write it all out again. For Christmas Eve we just had a normal day of proselyting except that during our dinner break we decided to make our own "fancy dinner". Our logic is that one day we are going to be in charge of the Christmas festivities at our house so we better start practicing. Sister Doole made bread-sticks and mashed potatoes, Sister Pongi made otai (which is a Tongan fruit drink) and I made chicken fried steak and a dessert called "banoffee pie" (It's supposed to be a banana toffee pie) I must say that I was pretty impressed by the food because it all turned out amazing. Maybe there is hope for me to one day be as amazing as the women in my life when it comes to Holiday parties :)

Christmas day was great because the members in our ward are just so amazing. We had a couple invite us and the elders over for breakfast and it was wonderful. This couple is so sweet and they have been married for seven years and are struggling to have children so I told them our story and they said that it gave them a renewed hope in the plan that Heavenly Father has for them and their family. After breakfast we went to the home of an investigator that the elders in the other ward are teaching so that Sister Pongi could make otai for them. These investigators are a Samoan family and so it was a lot of fun to experience a part of their Christmas. Lets just say that they really like their loud music and dancing. After that we went out to our Bishops house for Christmas dinner. He and his wife have five kids, one boy and four girls with ages ranging from 7 to 15. It was just so much fun to spend Christmas in their crazy house because it reminded me of our crazy house on Christmas day. Another family from the ward also came over and they have four kids all under the age of 10 so it was just very loud and fun. I honestly loved it. We spent the rest of the day visiting other members and then we went for a drive up the mountain that is in our area. I have to say that it was a much better Christmas than I could have imagined. I opened all my presents Christmas night and I am still so grateful for everything I received. I have the best friends and family. I also know that my companions loved the gifts that you sent them too. I was also overwhelmed by the love that we felt from the ward and our investigators. Everywhere we went people had gifts for us from huge boxes of chocolate to nail polish to sentimental cards. It really was a Christmas that I will never forget. 

As for the rest of the week it was pretty good. Everyone was still in the holiday mood so it made the work a little harder but we did our best. We had a lesson that we were going to where we were going to teach the word of wisdom to our investigator that wants to be baptized but has a smoking problem. She already knows she needs to over come it but we thought that if we taught her the doctrine behind it then it would help her. So we went to the house but when we walked in there were all of these extra people over visiting. I mean there were cousins and aunts and uncles and grandchildren of this lady and they all sat down with us for the lesson. I started to panic for a second because I knew that we couldn't teach the lesson that we had planned. I said a quick prayer in my heart and then I knew instantly that we needed to teach the plan of salvation but there was still one problem, my companions thought we were going to teach the word of wisdom and that was the lesson we had practiced and had all figured out. I said another prayer and I calmly pulled the Plan of Salvation pamphlet out of my bag and showed it to my companions during the opening song. Both of them looked at the pamphlet and at me in terror but I nodded to assure them that everything would be ok.  As we started to teach things just started to flow and the spirit was so strong. They asked us hard questions but we always had an answer and when I didn't know what else to say my companions were there to back me up. It was so incredible. At the end of the lesson everyone kept commenting on how it all made so much sense. The lady we were there to teach really really wants to get baptized now and we are hoping to set a date with her this week. The rest of her family is interested in learning now too. It was an awesome experience for all three of us. 

We had another great experience this weekend when we got to be a part of the baptism of this teenage boy. This boy named Mannie has been coming to church faithfully for over six months but his mom wouldn't let him get baptized because she thought it was just a phase. However it wasn't a phase and he stuck with it for six months and then out of no where she said that he could be baptized on Saturday. It was so cool! Now Mannie lives in the elders area so technically he is their baptism but we all taught him together so it was another joint effort. Mannie said he liked the lessons more when we were there than just the elders :) But he was baptized by his best friend and it was such a spiritual experience for everyone that was there. He had waited so long and he finally made it. He just kept saying over and over again that it was worth it. He is already planning to serve a mission when he turns eighteen and then devote the rest of his life to living the gospel. It was just see someone his age have such a determination to do whats right because of the testimony that he has. I feel so blessed to even be a part of it. 

Well that is about it for this week. I love and miss you all and I hope that you had a great Christmas. Thank you thank you thank you for the gifts and the love! I love you!!!!!!!

 

 

So this one was from last Monday when we went to this huge Redwood Forest. It was massive and the trees were amazing. Actually this first picture was from the drive over but I think it illustrates how great my companions are. 

 

Dear Family,

 We had another great week here in New Zealand and I am loving every minute I spend here. Finally the weather is really starting to warm up. I have been waiting for months to be hot and it finally happened this week. It's funny though because everyone kept saying that it gets really hot here and that I need to be prepared for it but the heat never really came. Yes it was warm and we would have days that I didn't need to wear a cardigan but still it was nothing compared to the summers I am used to. Actually last Monday it was really nice outside during the day but as we were walking to our FHE appointment I thought "I should have grabbed a sweater, it's a bit chilly outside." then we got to the house and one of the ward members was standing outside the door saying how hot it was. I laughed because the locals think it's so hot here all the time when in reality it is still chilly. This week though it did get pretty warm and I loved it. The only problem is I am not used to the humid heat. So even though it isn't that hot because it is so humid it can be pretty miserable. It's also so weird to me to see Christmas trees and lights everywhere but have it be warm out. I really cant get over it. I am pretty sure that is why it doesn't feel like Christmas.

  Sister Pongi really showed growth this week. I have been working so hard to help her build confidence in herself so that she is willing to contribute to lessons. She has opened up and there are as few homes that we go to that she feels quite comfortable so she really lets her personality come out. She is just so much fun. In some ways she reminds me of Sister Vea. I think it's a Tongan thing. I LOVE TONGANS! and I love my companion. I am so blessed to be given the best companions and to get to know so many phenomenal sisters. This week Sister Pongi and I had exchanges with out Sister Training Leader and I went with Sister Harman (the STL) and Sister Pongi was with her companion Sister Mu'amoholeva who is also from Tonga. Both sisters are relatively new and so we just let them go for it. They ended giving away eight "Joy to the World" dvd's and teaching a few lessons all in the span of a couple hours. They said that there were some people that tried to avoid them when walking down the street but they chased them down and made them listen. I told Sister Harmon that they should put two Tongans together more often. I think this experience helped Sister Pongi so much though because she was able to teach without being self conscious about her English because Sister Mu'amoholeva is the same as her and so now she has the confidence to teach lessons when it is just her and I.

   We had a baptism this week too. Well kinda... so the Elders were teaching these 9 year old twin boys and their mom (a returning member) found out that one of the elders was finishing his mission so she wanted him to baptize the boys. The only problem for the elders is that the boys have a single mother and so they couldn't go in the house to teach the lessons. Instead of them trying to teach outside in the rain, the elders invited us along to a lesson. We all had so much fun teaching them that the mom asked if we could always come to the lessons. From then on we went to every lesson and helped teach the boys and prepare them for baptism. I tell you it was a blast. The boys were baptized on Saturday night and it was a really special experience. Both elders got to baptize one of the boys and they asked me to speak on repentance. This was a really cool experience for Elder Krull too because he finishes his mission tomorrow and he was able to have one last baptism. I am grateful that we were able to be a part of it. 

   Last week I mentioned our investigator Kahu who is supposed to be baptized this Saturday. Well that whole situation has been pretty interesting because all week we have been at her house but we have been prompted not to talk to her about it. To add to it all the people that said they were going to visit her and talk to her about her baptism never did. At first I was discouraged but then I realized that everything was happening just the way Heavenly Father wants it too. Kahu came to the baptism on Saturday (she comes to everything) and I know she felt the spirit. Bishop talked to her afterwards and she expressed that she didn't know what to do. She wants to get baptized she just feels like she isn't ready yet. She is thinking of now getting baptized on January 4th at the same time as her son is planning on baptizing his best friend Mannie. Bishop told her to pray about it and counsel with her son. When I heard this I thought "We need to go talk to her now" but then the spirit told me to keep waiting and to give her her space. I still don't know what's going to happen this week but I know that the Lord is in control because this is His daughter and He knows her better than she knows herself. I know it will all be okay no matter what happens. Please keep praying though. I know the prayers have helped because last week she wasn't going to get baptized at all and now she is considering it again. Thank you all so much.

   Well that is all I have for this week. I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season. I am a little sad that I can't be there to share it will all of you but I know my place is here. I love Christmas and I believe that I am able to share more Christmas joy being here than anywhere else. I love and miss you all!

Love, 

Sister Simkins

Dear Family,

Well I had a rather uneventful week this week so there isn't going to be too much to this letter. Sorry. First of all let me say that I have been really really sick. I caught a cold on Tuesday and it just  got worse and worse each day. I probably should have stayed in a day or two and rested but when I can't work I get a little crazy so I tried to work through it. One of the days it rained here like crazy and the elders dropped us off at our first appointment and said they would be back to pick us up when we were done because they didn't want me walking in the rain. So we taught our lesson and we were waiting on the elders when they called and said they had to see someone and couldn't come get us but they said because I was sick to just stay where we were and hang out with our investigator. (The girl we were teaching is named Julie and she has become one of our really good friends. Her little brother and sister were baptized last year and now we are teaching her. But she's great and the elders knew she wouldn't mind us just crashing at her house.) So we stayed there for a while and she taught us a lot about Maori culture so I don't feel like the time was wasted. However we kept waiting and waiting and I felt like we really needed to see this other family. Mom you would have totally killed me but I decided to brave the weather and walk to this house which was about 20 minutes away even through it was pouring outside. Sister Pongi and I put on our rain coats and went for it. It was one of the funnest things I have done and probably the stupidest since being here. The rain was so intense that within five minutes my rain coat reached it's max capacity and quit repelling water. After about ten minutes we were soaking wet. I don't think I have ever been that wet being fully clothed. Now keep in mind that this happened while I was fighting that bad cough that I get sometimes. We eventually made it to the house that we wanted to and as soon as we reached the front door the elders called saying they were done and on their way to get us. I laughed and told them that we were at this other house and when they found out that we walked in the rain they were so mad but all we could do was laugh. It was all worth it though because we were finally able to meet with the family I told you about a while ago whose house burned down. They said that they still want to be baptized and that they have missed having us around. I think they also took pity on us because we were soaked so they saw the sacrifice we made to come see them. In a way it help to prove to them how much we love them. After that the elders came and picked us up and when I got in the car one of the elders turned around and said "Going for The Notebook look Sister Simkins? " I was so wet my hair looked like I had just gotten out of the shower but it was just so much fun. Seriously when will I ever walk in the rain like that again after my mission? I wish I had taken pictures but my camera battery died and so I didn't get any. This whole adventure in the rain did make me sicker though and I thought I was going to have to see a doctor but this morning I woke up and I think I have turned a corner. Don't be mad because I don't have any regrets.

Now another funny story of the week. Sister Pongi and I went this week to visit one of our favorite members and we were talking with her and she said "Alright sisters I have to ask because you know probably know more than me. What caused the fight on Sunday?" I was surprised and I asked "What fight?" and she said "You didn't hear about the fight between Brother Khan and Brother Barber?" and I was even more surprised because Brother Khan is our ward mission leader. So apparently last Sunday during priesthood one man said something that made the other mad and so they went out into the hall and started fighting it out. Can you believe that? There was an actual fist fight at church and not between young men but high priests. I couldn't believe it and then I couldn't stop laughing about it. Seriously how do you get in a fight at church? Its times like these that I am reminded that I am in fact in a foreign country. 

So one of our investigators is supposed to be baptized next week and now she is having second thoughts... again. She has been taught by missionaries for years, she comes to church, reads the scriptures, says her prayers, goes to a FHE group, and does everything else that an active member of the church does. And when she found out that the family I mentioned before had lost their house she immediately gave them one of her beds and her couch. She is honestly amazing, but she just won't commit to baptism. When we fist started meeting with her in October she was the one to set her own date for baptism and she chose December 21st but now she is backing out and we don't  know how to help. Her kids are active members and her son was supposed to baptize her so she has a ton of support. We don't really know what to do at this point so please please please keep her in your prayers. This week is crucial because if she doesn't get baptized next week then she will wait a another year because the date means something to her and that is the only she will be baptized on. She is ready and everyone knows it. She's just letting the adversary get to her. Please she needs all the help she can get. Because I have seen the power that comes though praying for people by name I will tell you her name is Kahu and its pronounced "ka-hoo" Really I love her so much and I love her family and I want them to be united in the temple someday so please keep her in your prayers. 

Well that is all that I have for this week. Sorry its a pretty boring/depressing letter. I hope that everyone else has a great week! . 

Love, 

Maquel

 

 

Dear Family,

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great day. I guess I'll start off this letter by telling you about my thanksgiving. So Thursday morning the phone rings and I answered it by saying "Hello this is Sister Simkins" (because that's how we're supposed to answer the phone) then the voice on the other end said "Is this Sister Simkins from New Mexico?" and I instantly recognized the voice so I responded by saying "Yes it is. Is this Elder McLachlan from Canada?" and sure enough it was. It turns out that Elder and Sister McLachlan's daughter is visiting from Canada so they were visiting all the tourist attractions and they happened to be in Rotorua and they wanted to meet up for lunch. So I got to spend have a thanksgiving lunch here with my temporary adopted grandparents and it was so great to see them. For dinner the elders organized to have Thanksgiving dinner with this lady in the ward who is from America. She's lived in New Zealand for over 15 years or something like that and she is married to a kiwi. They (the Brooks family) are one of my favorite families in the ward and Sister Brooks served her mission in California and she said her trainer was from New Mexico and her name Kara Sewell. Sound familiar? Anyways they are a great family and we had a great night. Turkey here in New Zealand is really really expensive so we feasted on roasted chicken and kumara (New Zealand  sweet potato) and Sister Brooks made a bunch of different pies.  So all around it was a very different Thanksgiving from what I'm used to but I still loved it non the less. I wish you all could have been here. It's weird though because it's warm outside it didn't feel like Thanksgiving and it really doesn't feel like Christmas time now. I think that is why it was so easy to be away because it really doesn't feel like the holiday season. I am also grateful for the fact that I only have to miss one Thanksgiving and one Christmas because you all know how I live for those holidays. 

So lets just say that if the bugs aren't biting me in the flat then they are biting me when I'm walking outside. My legs were destroyed again this week and like the last time a few of the bites got really infected. Like they got so infected I had to go see a doctor and I am on antibiotics again. I am so sick of the bugs here and the bug bites I could scream. My legs are just trashed with scars. It's pretty sad that my mission battle scars are from flea bites. 

We had zone conference on Tuesday and so we got to travel from Rotorua to Tauranga. Tauranga is a town right on the coast and it was so beautiful. I couldn't take pictures but I hope I get to go back there someday because it was spectacular. Zone conference was really great though and I am constantly reminded of just how amazing my mission president is. President Rudd really is the best. His wife is my favorite too. I am so blessed to be serving here in the most beautiful place in the world and under the best mission president. 

Sister Pongi and I are really starting to get to know each other and have a good time together, She is pretty funny although she isn't as outgoing as Sister Vea was. I am really enjoying serving with her. It's funny though because she is so shy that I have to do most of the talking because she just won't talk but I am not used to being the talkative one. I don't like starting conversations with people but that is all I do now. I'm turning into this social butterfly and it's so weird. I am going to give Tyler and Molly a run for their money when I get home. I also can't wait to see what a mission does to Danny because he hates talking to people and that is all missionaries do.

Yesterday we went out to bishops house for dinner and they live in one of the farming suburbs of Rotorua and while we were out there we visited some other people. I loved it though because we visited farms so in one day I got to hold baby ducks, puppies, and kittens. I would say that was a pretty successful day. This area is just so great and the members here are the best. It will be a sad day when I have to leave. I was sitting in Relief Society yesterday watching all the women and I realized that I felt the same as when I was at home. I feel like this ward is now my ward and I love them like I love everyone in 7th ward. It is a very neat feeling.

This week we had a hard week because all of our appointments and back-ups fell through so we went to visit less-actives and members and every time we visited someone they would say "Oh I was hoping you would come by today" or "I was just thinking about you sisters" it's pretty cool when this happens. Another cool story from this week was one night Sister Pongi and I had just finished up meeting with someone and we were going to walk home to do language study before it got dark because it's not safe for us to be out at night. So we started to walk home and we were pretty far away and I got this really sick feeling inside.  I felt like something really bad was about to happen. I didn't know what to do because there wasn't anyone that we knew close by and I thought the elders were at a lesson in another town so I just prayed in my heart and we kept walking. I explained to Sister Pongi what I was feeling and she said she felt the same way. The feeling didn't go away and I was waiting for whatever it was to happen.  All the sudden the phone rang and it was the elders. I answered it and one of the elders said "Where are you? We're coming to pick you up" and we were in the car three minutes later. They said that they felt like they needed to spend the night just visiting members and they wanted us to come. The elder that had called said that it was his idea and for some reason he knew they needed to bring us with them. I then explained what we were feeling and we all were pretty amazed. I don't know what would have happened had we kept walking but I know we were being watched over. 

Well that is all I have for this week. I hope that you all enjoy getting into the Christmas spirit. Just don't forget me sitting here on a rock on the middle of the Pacific ocean living the dream. I love and miss all of you!

Love, 

Maquel