the weather cows, flowers, and Spanish!

Dear Whanu,

   Hello! I hope you are all having a great week! This week has been a good busy week! We had transfers! In Invercargill. The farthest I think I will ever be from the US, unless I am transferred there... we will see! They are next week, my companion and I are praying we stay here, but nevertheless the Lord knows best where we are needed.

    We went to Omaru on Wednesday for District Meeting. It was so wonderful to be in their new chapel which was dedicated on Sunday. They have a beautiful picture in the foyer called "Remembering the Covenants." If is this painting of two young men walking on a road with their scriptures dressed like missionaries. It really made me think about what it means to make covenants, that we don't just do it for ourselves than stop, but we make it our lifetime pursuit to always help others remember and make those covenants themselves.

     One of Elder and Sister Webbs investigators told them that if 1/2 or more than half of the cows in a herd are lying down that means it is going to rain... so far this has proved true. I can't wait to put it to the test in Idaho! :D

     We have been able to do service in the public Library here! We are so excited Sister Vila and I! We will help go through their foreign languages collections and I will get to use my Spanish skills! I am so excited. We will tell here what the names of the books are and help organize/ tell if they are going to be read...

    I hope you have a great day!

Love you heaps,

Mahal na mahal kita, ( I love you heaps in Tagolag, Sister Vila has been teaching me words :)

 sister Sudweeks

Our Miracle

Dear Whanu,

   This week is another week in beautful Dunedin. Transfers will be coming up soon! Only two more weeks, so little time to do everything we need to but I know the Lord will help us do it! We had a miracle this week! We received a referral from one of our members. Her name is Akrita. She is really sincerely looking for truth in her life. We met with her for the first time on Saturday, and she is so prepared to hear the Gospel. My companion asked her to be baptized when she knows this message is true and she said yes. We are so excited for her and I know this gospel will bless her life.  We had an exchange in the Gore Area this last week and this week we will be going to Omaru for District meeting and to Invercargill for the other exchange. It shall be exciting and an adventure! I am excited to help the other areas, but sad because we will only be in our area for a short amount of time this week... but that is okay I know the Lord will consecrate our efforts! Something I learned yesterday. That it is more important for us to know the process of learning than it is of the information we learned. It is through this process of learning that we come to learn more information, but if we are never able to learn that process we will forever be stuck with the same information and unable to obtain more. I really liked this insight because it has helped me realize how important it is for me to make sure my Investigators know the process by which they are able to come and obtain knowledge (such as the truth of the Book Of Mormon, etc) When they know how to obtain knowledge they will then be able to implement that and apply it in their own lives.

   I love this gospel. I know it is true and this Is the Lord's church on the Earth.

Have a great day!

love,

Sister Sudweeks

P.s. I drove up Baldwin Street! Not as bad as it looks :)

P.S> if you have time Read Jacob 3:1-2! It is great!

Vegimite...

Dear Whanu,

   Hello! I hope you have all had a great week! This week has gone by so quickly for us here in Dunedin! We had so much service and appointments. It was crazy good! I tried Vegimite for the first time this week. Not to bad, but definitely not my first choice for any meal. Vegimite is this popular spread that is made out of fermented barley... good source of nacin, but not worth eating it.

   We met with one of our members who isnt able to come to church anymore due to health issues. She is so spiritual and such a gem! I really enjoyed hearing her speak about her life and her work. She is currently working on her geneoglogy and putting that into a book. She is such an inspiriation to me! Truly meissionary work isnt just with talking with people, but it is also doing our fmaily history and temple work! She is such a missionary!

   One of our investigators Tara is really in to reading the BOM! She is already in nephi 18! Wow she is amazing!

  One of the speakers yesterady said something I really liked. She started her talk off by telling us how she would say If I was with Jospeh smith I would do this________, or if I was with (name some important figure from the church) I would do this. She then asked the question, But What will I do (for the name of the person afore mentioned) now? What will I do for Christ now? A lot of the time we wait for some grand momentous occasion to occur before we will change, or wait for some important figure to come into our lives, but by then the time is past. It is too late, and our change to improve our do that thing for that person is gone. May we act now, be bold now, and move forward in our devotion and love for the Savior.

   Something else I thought was very profound was a comment made by our senior couple Sister Webb. She made the comment that for years the 1st presidency has asked us to read our scriptures, pray, go to chyrch, attend the temple, etc. The basics if you will. Once we have the basics done, they ask us to continue to improve, by using the basics we use to strengthen our brethern. They then ask us to apply our scripture our praying to pray for missionary opportunities, help others, help to know how to strengthen others. May we do this I pray. The lord's work is hastening, may we do now the basics as the Lord wants us to do and really apply it into our live.

  I know our Savior Lives. He is behind this work, He loves us, and He will bring His work to a close.

Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Sudweeks

P.S. The Lord's work is a busy work, there will be no stopping day or night! :)

A pizza Joint

Dear Whanu,

   So this sign is found on a building called Hell's Kitchen: "Hell's Kitchen home to the World's 7 deadly sins." When I first saw it I was thinking what a perfect description for a place selling beer. Then it turns out that it is a pizza joint! Who would have known? I think it would be a bit out of place though if I did go there to eat pizza.

   This week we had a miracle! :) We went to see one of our former Investigators who didn't really like the idea of the Book of Mormon before the Bible. We talked to her for a bit and she told us she really feels she needs to read the Bible first. My companion and I tried to resolve her concerns and then she showed us how she liked this powerful verse in the bible and asked if there was anything like that in the Book of Mormon. I said yes and told her we could give her an example. We opened my scriptures and I didn't really know what to share when My companion opened up to 2 Nephi 9:50-51. The scriptures that says we should delight in fatness for our spirits because we feast upon the words of Christ. Then My companion shared another verse and it tied again to that verse, and we  showed her how the cross references tie the Book of Mormon and Bible together and that cross reference also tied to 2 Nephi 9:50-51. We felt so blessed by the Lord for helping us and we now have her again as our investigator! What a blessing! :D

   Cairo one of our investigators who is nine said the cutest thing this week. We had asked her about her day and then she told us "and we we to sleep thinking about God." I loved this! She is so young and yet says the most profound of things. I thought of the scripture in 2 Nephi 4:16 which talks about how we should ponder continually on the words of life. I felt like Cairo was showing me another way we do this. I loved it!

   I hope you all have a great week!

 love you all heaps!

love,
Sister Sudweeks