Kia Ora,

I just came across the list of the 58 new missions being created! http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/list-of-58-additional-missions-created If I could direct your attention to the one that starts with New Zealand and ends with Hamilton. Yup! That's right! The Auckland mission is full to capacity, and it cannot handle any more missionaries, so it is being split. This will really cause the work to Boom!

Personally, I'll go wherever I am called, but I think that I would like to be called to the Hamilton Mission. Most likely, if you are in the Hamilton mission boundaries when 1 July rolls around, you will be assimilated into that mission. So, Hamilton is taking a few southern Auckland stakes, and everything south until the Wellington mission, including one of their districts, the Taranaki district. So, Hamilton will be roughly the same size as the Auckland Mission, if I am not mistaken. So, the Lord's work is really hastening. The only possible downside to this split is that the Auckland mission no longer gets use of the temple on their mission. So, hurry it up! Lol... That's another reason I want to go to the Hamilton mission. But, I might not. Oh well. Anywho, the Lord will put me where I am needed most. :-)

Transfers happened, as you might have already guessed. My new companion is amazing. I have been praying and praying for a companion like him, and the Lord is finally allowing me to have what I prayed for. I can already see the change that is happening. We have 3 new sets as of this week, and the amount of lessons that we are teaching per week has almost doubled. 

So, let me tell you a little bit about the new sets. So, Dana (Dayna) is set. She will have to be reset because she was unable to make it to church yesterday. However, that won't be a problem. She is really super keen. She is incredibly receptive, and accepts everything that we have to teach her. So that is really great. :-)

The other two sets are a Mother and her daughter. Jenelle and Keisha. Keisha is 8, so she won't have a problem with getting baptized. Anyways, I'll tell you the whole story, because it's cooler. So, we met her on Thursday. You remember how I said I could see the difference between E. Lee and my previous companion immediately? Well, the very first person--the very first-- that we spoke to was Jenelle. We went there because it was in our way, and it seemed logical. It was an address on the ward list, and we didn't know who it was. So we decided that would be a really good idea to find out who it was. Well, we got talking to Jenelle, and she told us that she had just recently moved into that house about a month ago. Wow, thanks Lord. That's really good timing. :-) 

Well, we could have just said "thanks for letting us know that so-and-so is moved, have a great day!" and left, but the important thing is that we didn't. We mentioned religion, and asked her about her religious background. Well, she had been studying with the Jehovah Witness church for 18 years, but something about it just didn't quite sit right with her, so she could never bring herself to be baptized. She got hung up on some points of doctrine, and we testified of the church stance on it. For example, she had issues with the fact that JW's claim that there is only going to be 144,000 that are saved. She disagreed. We testified that everyone can be saved if they follow Christ. Everyone. She also couldn't agree with their concept of God. He doesn't care about your prayers unless you pray correctly, they claim (I think. I could have misunderstood.). Well, we testified that God hears all of our prayers and answers them all. We set up a time to see her on Saturday, and we took along a member. She absolutely loved everything we taught. It made so much sense to her. She was so happy that she found a church that agreed with what she felt inside to be true. Well, she said absolutely yes to being baptized. To the 23rd of March, she was hesitant, but we invited her to pray, and she received the felling that "I guess it's a yes!" So, the daughter said maybe, and we asked her daughter the next day, and she said most likely/maybe. So, she is counted as a set because she will get baptized with her mother. On a scale of 1-10 of preparedness (where 10 means they come to you and ask what they need to do to be baptized, and 1 being a guy that wants you dead or something, she is a 9). Everything we taught was carried to her heart by the Holy Ghost, and she felt so good about it. :-)

We recently were talking about how the Book of Mormon applies to all of us, and then boom. An unplanned relation came out of Ether. I would like to direct your attention to Ether 14 & 15. 14 relates the how Shiz and Coriantumr came to fight against each other. Shiz swore in rage to kill him because he had killed Shiz's brother. So, Coriantumr fought back. The loss of lives was so great that the dead couldn't be buried because there were too many of them. The stink from the dead people because to cause people to be unable to sleep because it was so pungent. Well, in Ch 15, after a battle, Ether relates the following:

 1 And it came to pass when Coriantumr had recovered of his wounds, he began to remember the ^awords which Ether had spoken unto him.
 2 He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly^atwo millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart; yea, there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.
 3 He began to repent of the evil which he had done; he began to remember the words which had been spoken by the mouth of all the prophets, and he saw them that they were fulfilled thus far, every whit; and his soul ^amourned and refused to be ^bcomforted.
 4 And it came to pass that he wrote an epistle unto Shiz, desiring him that he would spare the people, and he would give up the kingdom for the sake of the lives of the people.
 5 And it came to pass that when Shiz had received his epistle he wrote an epistle unto Coriantumr, that if he would give himself up, that he might slay him with his own sword, that he would spare the lives of the people.

So, Coriantumr started to realize that this war was not going to end well. 2 million men and their wives and children (so effectively 6 million or more) had been killed on his side alone. Well, he repented and asked Shiz to end the conflict  Shiz refused, because he wanted the blood of Coriantumr. He didn't care about the lives of his millions of followers, just like Satan. Well, Coriantumr wouldn't give up his own life to save the lives of his people. Well, they fought and fought and fought, and millions more were killed. But they still wouldn't budge. So they gathered, for 4 years, all of the people in the land to fight. Everyone was armed. Men, Women, Children.

14 Wherefore, they were for the space of four years gathering together the people, that they might get all who were upon the face of the land, and that they might receive all the strength which it was possible that they could receive.
 15 And it came to pass that when they were all gathered together, every one to the army which he would, with their wives and their children—both men, women and children being armed with^aweapons of war, having shields, and ^bbreastplates, and head-plates, and being clothed after the manner of war—they did march forth one against another to battle; and they fought all that day, and conquered not.
 16 And it came to pass that when it was night they were weary, and retired to their camps; and after they had retired to their camps they took up a howling and a ^alamentation for the loss of the slain of their people; and so great were their cries, their howlings and lamentations, that they did rend the air exceedingly.

Well, they fought, and nobody would think, how can we end this peacefully. They fought even more, and Coriantumr realized again that this was not going to end well, so he sent a letter again, but it was again denied because the "the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle."

20 And it came to pass that they fought all that day, and when the night came they slept upon their swords.
21 And on the morrow they fought even until the night came.
22 And when the night came they were ^adrunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords.
23 And on the morrow they fought again; and when the night came they had all fallen by the sword save it were fifty and two of the people of Coriantumr, and sixty and nine of the people of Shiz.

Can you see the disastrous effects that came because of two people that wouldn't submit to the will of the other because they were too proud. As you might know, the story ends with just Coriantumr left. Everyone else had been killed. So, this all could have been prevented if one of them would have given in. If Shiz would've been happy with the lands, millions of lives would've been spared. If Coriantumr had given himself up as a sacrifice, then millions of lives would've been saved. this applies to us. We can't win every battle we fight with others. We have to give to get. We have to lose some to win some. Because if we win all the battles at the cost of others, then we haven't actually succeeded in winning anything. Just something to think about.

Arohanui,

E. Staheli

Pictures

1. What we thought was a Bugatti Vayron. Well, it wasn't. :-) The Body was just shaped to look like it, but the inside was gutted out and clear. Another thing, the back tail lights were stickers. It was painted to look like one. It was cool looking from a distance, but not too good looking from right next to it. (For those of you who don't know, the Bugatti Vayron is the fastest and most expensive street legal car in the world. So it would be a big deal to see one.)

2. The cake I made for E. Jubitz's 21 birthday since he was in NGA for a few days waiting for my new companion. (Btw, E. Brown stayed as well as E. Jubitz. And me, of course)