Dear Family!

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

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

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

Love, 

Sister Simkins