Kia Ora Whanau

Kia Ora Whanau,

An update from the land of the Kiwis.

I will forewarn you that this week was one of the hardest I have experienced yet on my mission. Satan is working tirelessly down here in Gisborne and we are feeling the effects.

To start of the week, two of our baptismal candidates dropped off the radar. One lost his desire to stop or give up the things of the world, and the other revealed a court date in two days from now that she might go to prison or get a home detention bracelet. It was a depressing start to the week. Our third baptismal prospect looked hopeful until we received a call Thursday night informing us that her Nan (Grandma) died. So she was up the coast, out of town, all weekend. So all three were unavailable for baptism this week.

The next thing that happened started on Wednesday. Elder Tham woke up with a headache but didn't think anything of it. As the day progressed we went on trade offs and then when we traded back, Elder tham was mostly out of it. We went to our next lesson and he crashed the entire thing. So the next appointment I canceled and I took him home and put him to bed. All day Thursday he was in bed. Friday he stayed in the flat all day as well. He only slept for part of the day but was still out of it. He still isn't recovered totally to this day but at least we were able to work a little bit on Saturday and Sunday.

A few good things that happened was that the media campaign started and we had a miracle find and lesson with one of those. We walked in and taught her about the book of Mormon. We even got her to pray and receive and answer that it was true. However, we went back for our next lesson and found out that she had called us and told us to not come back. We tried to figure out why and she said that she wasn't going to consider the book of Mormon the word of god. She told us the scripture that says nothing shall be added or taken from the bible. That is an annoying scripture but we couldn't do anything about it. Another bummer. Another good thing though was that we have four solidly set people for next week. We have the baptismal program all set up and now it is a waiting game as well as keeping in contact as best we can. They live forty-five minutes away by car which is kinda hard to get to on a bike. Phone calls will have to suffice for the time being until we see them on Thursday.

So that was our week. Exhausting to say the least. Anyways, it is done and gone so now we can focus on this new week.

I love you all and am grateful for all the prayers and support sent my way.

Aroha,
Elder Beckstead