Week #27 - December 31st, 2017 - an island CHRISTmas

KIA ORA!!! 

Lil groms

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!! It was the best Christmas present ever to see your lovely faces and hear your voices!!! And it was so hard to say bye hahahah that kinda sucked but all goods! Okay so Christmas here in NZ is so lame hahaha no one really celebrates any holiday here. But we did go over to our Branch President's house and had a mean feed and a Hangi on Christmas! 

On Christmas Eve day, Sister Gase and I sang with the Branch President's daughter during Sacrament meeting hahahahaha Yes I sang lol never again, that was a one time thing haha But all day Sister Gase and I passed out cookies that we made for heaps of the members and investigators! It was fun going around on Christmas Eve and passing out cookies and sharing scriptures, one member gave us taro chips and coconut cream taro. It was so yum and then a pastor that we are friends with

Cecily, the pastor

gave us chocolates and we sang songs with her again on her guitar! That was fun haha She is such a lovely lady and will one day accept the gospel. 

We also dropped of cookies at the petrol station to the workers there cause we always run in and use the bathroom like everyday so we are pretty good friends haha And then they gave us chocolates too hahaha so much food.... too much hahaha 

Okay so the work in Whakatane is good, door knocking is like all we do , and just trying to get the branch members involved. But its all goods cause even if we don't find new people to teach we always have little miracles everyday! Here is a little experience that happened with one of our investigators Wharenui. We had such a neat experience on Thursday. We were planning to walk to Wharenui's house to start the 15 steps to stop smoking program, on the way there we decided to take a short cut instead of our normal route and to door knock homes on Churchill St. If we felt prompted as we were walking to Wharenui's house. As we passed Paterson St. off of Churchill a car was turning in and stopped in the middle of the street and out popped Wharenui. He was yelling "my missionary girls.. my missionary girls" at us to get our attention! I know for a fact that Heavenly Father prompted us to take the shortcut and leave 10 minutes earlier than what we were planning so we could cross paths with Wharenui at that time. Wharenui walked with us back to his home which was quite a way and he told us he was driving to Paterson St to see a member, Brother Morgan because he was about to have a smoke and was going crazy. So he at first tried calling Brother Morgan but he didn't

Wharenui!

answer so instead of falling into temptation he ran next door to his neighbor to drive him over to Brother Morgan's house which is when he saw us walking on that street. I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of all of his children and that he is miraculous. Trusting in Gods timing is a lesson I will continue to learn through out my life but I am grateful I was able to experience this little miracle with Sister Gase and Wharenui! 

I LOVE YOU all sooooo much!!! here is a scripture that i love so muchhhhh, mormon 9:11 give it a read! remember God is miraculous! best wishes to everyone in 2018!!!! XO

arohanui,

sister sughroue

LOTS OF PICTURES THIS WEEK!

 Locked the keys in the car!! woohooo
Typical me! right outside our investigators home so we walked
and got sushi cause we didnt know what to do hahaha

Ngapera!! Visited her at work on Christmas Eve!

Car broke down wooohooo

Stole all of wharenuis ash trays and lighters!!!

Lil Groms

Jandals cause we had so many blistersssss and
 I may have a sress fracture again in my foot hahahaha
Our branch mission leader is a doctor and told me I need an x-ray
 but ill wait till after transfers :)) all goods! LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS!!

Koru district!!! 

Week #26 - December 24th, 2017 - SKYPING Family

 Passing out cookies on christmas eve! 

Sister Sughroue was able to Skype today. She is doing great and LOVES serving in new Zealand. Here are some pictures of her CHRISTmas in new Zealand!

Our cute lil tree

Thanks for the shoes dad and the facemasks mom!! 

Christmas feed (hangi) 

 Passing out cookies on christmas eve! 

Week #25 - December 17th, 2017 - Merry CHRISTmas !

KIA ORA!!! 

KOHI POINT! Sister Gase gave me a puletasi <3

I can't believe Christmas is next week!! And I can't wait to see your beautiful faces and hear your voices!! So excited!! It's summer here, so don't worry about me haha I'll be having an island christmas! ;) I have a gnarly tannin haha it's so bad!! People keep asking me if I'm an american-indian hah I love walking around, we try to walk everywhere! 1. We meet more people that way! 2. I get tan and 3. Got to get those steps in!! 

Also THANK YOU HEAPS FOR THE CHRISTMAS LETTERS THAT YOU ALL PUT TOGETHER! I sat on the beach reading them and crying hahahahahah So pathetic but I am so grateful for each and everyone of you! This was the best christmas present! <3333 

Trying to figure out how I can get in the water ;)

So this week I have learned so much!! Patience, especially in the Lord and myself! We are trying so hard to find new people to teach but everyone is to caught up in life and it's so annoying cause hello people! We are trying to share a beautiful message with you that will help you!! But ya so all week we just tried finding new people and then at the end of the week we found 2 people! Hopefully they don't dodge us when we come back to see them haha But I do know when we give all we have to the Lord, he will always help us out and when we give ourselves to the Lord he will help us become the person he knows we can be! 

So update on Wharenui, he's not in his 70s, he's 55 hahahaha That's what drugs do to you lol but ya we are just trying to help him stop smoking and quit drugs. He's

Little Pony!

really awesome and knows the Book of Mormon is true and wants to be baptized so bad but it's gonna be a long road for him but I know he can do it! But funny story, so this week we went by to his house to give milo so he would stop drinking coffee and he was drunk and smoking and had a hooker over at his house HAHAHAHA I was trying so hard not to laugh.... the lady was about to fight Sister GaSe and I. It was so funny but we decided not to go back to Wharenui's the next day, so we went back a couple days later and he was so sorry and was so ashamed. He's really trying to change his life but there are a lot of people in his life from his past that are trying to pull him down, so we are just trying to build him up! But ya that was the greatest day even though it was sad to see him drunk 

This is our picnic table that we do our weekly planning on!

But okay, so update on Ngapera, she couldn't come to church sadly cause her boss made her come to work or else she would get fired so we are doing everything we can to help her find a new job! And she is so cool, she truly understands the gospel and loves when we come to teach her! Hopefully we will start teaching her partner and daughter Litara who is 8! 

And then Hinehou, the 14 year old we are teaching, asked us to come by to read the Book of Mormon each week with her! We were about to drop her but then she asked us to keep coming to read with her! We went over to her house and helped decorate Christmas trees and had a little picnic with her! 

Waffle party withe the Young Women in our Branch!

So thats an update on the work here in Whakatane! We also finally got to do service!! So many people won't let us do service because were sisters but they would let the elders do service haha I don't get it cause I'm totally cable of mowing a lawn in a dress... haha but we painted doors and sanded a table down for a recent convert Natasha and had a lil paint fight haha It was fun! Anyways that was my week and it was so good! Crazy I have a year left.. each week goes by faster and faster.. MERRY CHRISTMAS, remember CHRIST is the true meaning of Christmas and He truly is the LIGHT of the WORLD! I know that he loves us perfectly as imperfect we are. share his LOVE and LIGHT to all those around you!!! LOVE YOU HEAPS!!

Paint Fight!

arohanui, xo 

sister sughroue

Moko mean as mural in a lil town we cover Taneatua

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LETTERS!! 

Here's me reading them and crying lol 

Miss and love all of you heaps!!

Week #24 - December 10th, 2017 - I love WHAKATANE!!

Sister Tase
(my gorgeous soa)

KIA ORA! 

This week was so good!! I'm so blessed to be right next to the ocean!!!! Okay so be outside of the VC and full-time proselyting is wayyyy different but I LOVE it!!!!! I want to stay in Whakatane forever and outbound cause you are truly able to get close with the members and the people you are teaching because you have more time in the area!!

So this week Sister Gase and I tried so hard to find new investigators and we were able to find 3 so we will see what happens! I'm excited to work with them and hopefully they are actually keen to learn about the gospel and not just interested because I'm the first blonde they have seen from California.. gotta do what you gotta do hahaha jokes!!! 

So to update yous about the work in Whakatane! It's so good!! We talk to heaps of people that give us dirty looks and are so rude which makes it fun but we also are able to meet some a really amazing people. It's at the end of the day when you almost feel like giving up and all the appointments have been cancelled (because no one has a schedule and always flakes) and everyone is dodging you BUT then you decide to keep going and then that's when Heavenly Father will lead you to someone who is willing to listen! We had some pretty cool little miracles this week! We are teaching this lady, Ngapera, who has an 8 year old daughter that we are going to  start teaching as well! She works on Sunday's but wants to be baptized so bad!! Before one of our lessons my soa and I decided to be BOLD with her and straight up if she is truly going to commit herself.. so we in a way committed ourselves to Heavenly Father to be bold and then during the lesson without us

asking, she told us she told her boss she needs time off on Sunday's so she can

finally got to go to a marae!
(I LOVE the Maori culture)

come to church and be baptized!! 

We are also teaching an older man in his 70s Wharenui, he is an ex mongrel mob gang member and has come a LONG way! He wants to be baptized to! We knew the doctrine of the gospel wouldn't be hard for him to understand but the the different commandments would, so yesterday we brought a member who got baptized 5 years ago, Brother Morgan with us to his lesson. Brother Morgan is an ex black power gang member and has a gnarly past but this lesson we had about the Word of Wisdom was so powerful it was unreal and Wharenui is going to try his hardest to give up all his drugs and smoking! We are helping him and visiting him almost every other day to check up on him! He really wants this change and I am so excited for him! 

The GOSPEL is for EVERYONE no matter who you are, what you have done it is for everyone and it also CHANGE your life for the better, I can see peoples lives around me changing because of their WILLINGNESS and ACCEPTANCE to follow the Lord but I can also see my life changing. missions are so hard but SO WORTH IT!!!! I am truly beyond blessed to be here! I LOVE each and everyone of you heaps!!! <333 Have a great week and remember you need to choose to allow this gospel to change you, it's up to you!

arohanui, xo

sister sughroue

ps we go to the beach every day for studies and we go on this gorgeous little hike for exercise that over looks the

Burger fuel!!! So yummmmmmmmmm

ocean! (kohi point) and I basically take the beach back to our flat everyday because I cant stop picking up all the seashells! NZ is coming home with me! 

My heart is so happy <33333333

Companion study on the beach!

Week #23 - December 3rd, 2017 - whakatane.. on the BEACH!

Christmas at the VC in New Zealand! 

KIA ORA! I hope everyone is doing good! This week we had transfers and I got transferred outside of the VC finally to
Whakatane!! It's on the east coast and it's sooo gorgeous! we cover 6 little beach towns and I LOVE it. There are heaps of Maoris so we really get to see the culture! we did our weekly planning the other day on the beach and it was so nice, I've missed it so much!! I feel like I'm in HEAVEN!! haha 

Decorating the VC for Christmas

Besides being on the beach, my (SOA) companion is Sister Gase from Samoa/Wellington, she grew up in Samoa but moved to Wellington 5 years ago. She is so great and has such a big heart! I love islanders they are so crack up and always laughing at everything and everyone, I love her! 

Decorating Crew for VC!

My STL knows Michael price from school she use to play basketball up at Virginia (Sister Cramer) she's cool! I'm in Tauranga zone and the sisters are so chill and nice! We had dinner at our Branch Presidents house, and had a bbq my second night here, He is a big Maori man with tats and is so funny, the family taught me some songs in Maori, the branch is SMALL, but we just got to get to work and work smart ;) 

VC Decorating

The branch mission leader's family reminds me of the Papworth's from home! So far it's been hard in the past finding new people to teach here that are actually keen and once you do they don't keep commitments so it's gonna be way different to be here in Whakatane as suppose to the VC in Hamilton but it's gonna be a good different! The bus ride down to Whakatane was GORGEOUS, New Zealand gets prettier and prettiest. 

The New Zealand Hamilton Temple CHRISTmas Lights!

I don't have many pics of my new area or with my SOA but I will send some next week! But real quick here is a little spiritual thought, the other day I was reading a talk "The Fourth Missionary" (on the beach hehe) and as I was reading I gained a whole new perspective on what faith truly means. In the talk it says, "FAITH is to know the course of life which you are pursuing is according to God's will." just thought I would share this and invite all of you to "re-evaluate" your FAITH! I love you all HEAPS and am so blessed to be able to share this BEAUTIFUL gospel that truly brings pure bliss and happiness to our life's in such a BEAUTIFUL place! Have a great week and remember Heavenly Father lovesyous and so do I!

arohanui, xo

sister sughroue

ill send pics later!!!

Last district meeting in Hamilton, Sunnyhills!

 Gonna miss this little boy so much <333 

Whanau (family) Arleigh, Evanne, and Te Akaurangi

Saying goodbye to Sister E'e my Samoan mum in Sunnyhills!