Thoughts

I'm learning bits and pieces of other languages. Mostly just greetings/goodbyes/how are you? and stuff like that.

Hindi-Naumaste

Sri Lankan-Wanna Kom

Maori- Kia Ora/Ka kite/Kite pehe akoe? (Ke te pai)

Cook Islands-Kia Orana

Tongan- Malo leilei/A lua/Fefe Hake (Sai pe)

Samoan- Talofa/Fa se fua

Nauru-Tarawang

Kiribati- Mauri (check it out. ;-) Btw, Mauri means life in Maori))/ Kouara (almost Kiara. ;-))/Meraru

Arabic/Persian/Muslim based: Salam Alaikom

German- Guten Tag

Spanish- Hola/I forget goodbye. Lol.../Como esta (Muy Bien)

French- Bon jour!/Adieu/Como tale vu? (spelt wrong, most likely.)

etc...

Oh. So, Islanders are much cooler than white people. We went looking for this member in one of the more posh places in Hamilton East, and it's filled with pretty nice upper class houses (these aren't California-style upper class, but they are a modest home. Well, some lady called the cops on us. We have never been able to have success in that area, and it's not wonder why. "The people that have the hardest time accepting the gospel are the proud who are rich and the proud who are  [educated]." Very true. So, it was weird to see these posh houses, because I haven't seen many of those since I've been in NZ. Most people live in very small houses, and they are poor or middle class. So, Satan uses money to stop our work. So while it's useful, it's not a completely good thing for us in the long run. Looking back, I have only baptised 2 Europeans. The rest have been Maori, Tongan, or Cook Islands. Vast majority are not white. But, there is still success with White people, otherwise the church wouldn't have started in America. They just need to be humble. 

We seem to be finding a lot of investigators for the other missionaries in our ward. So, while we found heaps of new investigators (8, the most I've ever gotten in one week), 2 of those just moved to the other missionaries' area. We just need to get them to stick.

We found a Filipino family, a South African Family, a Cook Islander, a European, and Iranian family, and two Samoan sisters this week. 

Missionaries are the people in the world that are most exposed to everything. It will be abnormal for me not to be smelling smoke when I get home. I have never met so many Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, or otherwise not Christian people in my life. It's crazy. They are really nice, but I'm not too sure what the Lord's plan for getting them the gospel. Muslims are really nice people with really high standards of modesty, kindness, and other things that make them really very wonderful people. It's nice to be aquainted with them. I don't know if I mentioned this, but one of them gave me a Qui'ran (or Koran). Cool.

Well, I'm running out of time. This week has taught me a lot about humility, for myself and for others.

Love,

E. Staheli