Sister Sughroue : March 2018

KIA ORA whanau.. I hope everyone is well and you all know that I love yous! So these past couple of weeks and months I have learned to really rely on my Savior and trust Heavenly Father. I received a phone call on Saturday morning that I needed to come home on a medical release for my back. I was expecting for this to never happen but it did. I hurt my back a couple times dancing in the past and it randomly hurts but not to bad until one night in January I woke up at 2am in a lot of pain, so I cracked my back and cracked something wrong and could barely twist my back to normal, that week I spent some time at the physios and in our flat.. I received a priesthood blessing and I thought if I had

enough faith everything would be okay and it was for a while but it started to flare up again resulting in me having to come home. I can't change the circumstances of this situation but what I can do is TRUST Heavenly Father and I do.

This has been the hardest but most comforting time of my life. I received the phone call Saturday morning got my plane info on Sunday and bussed across the island to the mission home on Monday. Then Tuesday I flew home. It all happened so fast and I didn't really have any time to process what was happening because I was in shock but I also felt so much peace. As I was on the bus traveling back to the mission home in Hamilton, I was reading some of my journal entries and I realized that on Friday night before I received the phone call I would be going home, I wrote down how in my personal prayers on Friday night I caught myself telling Heavenly Father "I feel like I have done everything you need me to do" and I asked him if he is happy with what I'm doing? .. I wrote this down in my journal and then forgot about it until I read it on the bus on Monday.. when I got to Hamilton I had my last interview with my mission president which gave me so much closure and PEACE. I looked at him and told him "President in my patriarchal blessing it tells me I am to serve a full-time mission.. not a 9 month mission" he then asked me "Sister Sughroue have you felt the Spirit each day?" and I responded "yes" he then went on to say "then you served with a FULL HEART.. serving a full-time mission. You need to

go home and get healthy and remember that Heavenly Father is proud of you and loves you more than you know.. you have done EVERYTHING he has needed you to do" this really hit me.. I realized I wouldn't be coming back out on my mission even if I got everything sorted out with my back.. this is definitely not what I wanted and I couldn't understand the WHY but what I could understand is that I did feel the Spirit every single day, I did serve with my full heart and my Heavenly Father LOVES me and is HAPPY with what I did for him and his children in NZ. All along from the moment I opened my mission call, Heavenly Father knew this is was what was going to happen, He has a plan for me and it is a perfect plan that I can't completely see or understand fully but its a plan that I will trust in.

I am forever grateful for the time i had to serve the Lord in aoteroa. i fell in love with the people, the culture, serving others, and the beautiful island. i cant even begin to explain what i have learned from serving the lord in nz. i know the gospel is literally for every single peron on this earth. i have learned that God loves each of us perfectly with no ends, i have learned that its through exact obedience miracles come, i have learned that happiness is a choice, i have also most importantly truly been converted. i know with no doubt that joseph smith restored the church that christ once established on this earth, i know that families can be together forever, i have learned that there truly is an enabling power of the atonement, i have learned that the book of mormon is another

testament of christ and is true! i have also most importanly leanred that no matter where in the world you are, where you come from, where you are right now, and who you are or who you once were that you are LOVED by the creator of the heavens and the earth. he is aware of you and loves each of you.. and i am still learning so much each and every day.

NEW ZEALAND will always have a special place in my heart and its because it is there where I was able to come to know my Savior personally.

I am grateful to all of yous for following along beside me on this journey and for supporting me! This is just a little trial that I have to go through but I actually see it more as a BLESSING. I'm excited to see what Heavenly Father has planned for me and I know everything will work out.

KIA KAHA.. stay strong!

"But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are." mormon 9:11

arohanui, XO Sister Sughroue

Sister Hunter, Sister Sughroue & Sister Allen

KIA ORA!

Just so HAPPY and loving life!

I hope everyone had a lovely week! This week was so good!! I'm so lucky to be here in New Zealand and in Opotiki, I'm learning heaps and I just love the people here so much! So this week Sister Ove and I just walked everywhere trying to contact the branch list and meet new people, we were able to find heaps of people who have been prepared to here the gospel! I'm lucky I get to be apart of the Lord's work and see so many miracles each day!

We have a neighbor, Rosemarie that we met on our first day, we see her everyday and baked some brownies (which I made and didn't burn haha, Heavenly Father truly can change your weaknesses into strengths lol..

Hungahungatoroa Marae

Ether 12:27) but she has been SO prepared by the Lord. She told us that we were an answer to her prayers because the week we moved in she was praying to have more female friends/ influences in her life because she is surrounded by men and then we moved in and became friends with her! She is in her 50's and her partner Mathew is interested in learning more about the gospel to! Her aunt who had passed away a couple years ago gave her her quad and some books on Joseph Smith to read.. she has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and the Doctrine and Covenants as well.. I was so shocked haha, GOD IS SO GOOD! He is truly looking out for all of his children!

We also met these two 12 year old girls that were walking by our flat.. they ran up to us, asked us where we are from and they now think I'm famous cause I'm from

Sister Ove

California, tall and blonde hahahhaha I was dying.. anyways they walked around with us and we took them to look at the chapel.. they walked into the room with the baptism font and asked if that's where we have babies hahah I was like nah mate and explained what baptism is, anyways they want to be baptized and we talked to the mum and she was all chill about it and the son Maikara who is 15 wants to be baptized and take the lessons!

I also ran into a lady and started chatting randomly about dance and she said that there is an old lady here in town who teaches ballet to little 5-18 year olds and needs some help so I may be able to start helping out with dance classes!!!!! I just have to get permission lol so we will see but that would be so dope if I could!

Anyways I LOVE being a MISSIONARY and serving the LORD! This week was so good and we had stake conference in Tauranga so I saw the Worthrens again and I SANG WITH OUR BRANCH CHOIR IN MAORI AT CONFERENCE... haha everyone was laughing cause I was the only white one haha anyways I hope yous have a lovely week and remember that I love you heaps and you are all in my prayers!!

"The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives" - Russell M. Nelson

arohanui, xo

Bridgette Worthren and me!
(felicia and lindsey lol- Felicia was
Lindsey's mission buddy & her
family is from Hamilton and her father
is in the Hamilton Mission Presidency)

sister sughroue

3/5. on a horse! the lil boy taylah calls me aunty and told me he is 21 hahah