February 24, 2014

Mom wrote that Utah is in a drought and actually, New Zealand is in a drought right now as well. There are all sorts of water restrictions going on, like odd number houses water lawns on odd number days, even on even, and only with hand held, no sprinklers allowed. The world seems to be going crazy all over the place, but no worries, we all knew it was going to happen at some point or another.

This past week was interesting. We spent every day working hard and trying our best to be where we think we should be, but the work still went by pretty slowly. Heaps of people not home, lots of appointments fell through, but as usual there are always the shining lights. For example, we've been working with a small family since we both came into the area, and they're doing awesome. Tiana is a less active member, and her partner (unmarried = not cool at all) is not a member. There have been heaps of missionaries before, and all struggled to get them to do anything, or progress at all, but since we've come in, every time we've gone over they've kept commitments we left, and are ready to learn more. We've had to take baby steps, but they're still steps, and we've been consistently making forward progress. I love it. We stopped by last night, and Devon talked about how he's been reading and praying, and that he notices when he does so, no matter how bad the day is, it makes it better; doesn't necessarily change any circumstances, but it just makes him happier and more able to cope. How awesome is that? He then proceeded to commit himself to coming to church, so we'll see what happens next time we go around to see him.

President Swenson (my home Stake President when I left) came to New Zealand to visit since he went here on his mission years ago. He had planned to visit me in Hamilton but since I got transferred, he wasn't able to come all the way down here but he did give me a call. Apparently he ran into President Rudd at the Temple and recieved permission to give me a ring. It was pretty cool to hear from him, and hopefully President Rudd told him only good things about me to bring home and spread.

Well. That should just about do. We're headed out to participate in some more P-Day awesomeness. Gonna go for a little hike and then play touch on the beach, so it should turn out pretty cool.

Love Ya!  Elder O'Neal