Climbing Mt Everest

Kia Ora, 

I hope you all had a fantastic week. first off.. HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To my wonderful American padres. You will have another Fathers day in a few months but I truly hope you know how grateful I am for every man who is like a father to me and who has helped me become who I am today. Especially my daddy, grampa, and Jeff. You are all incredible wonderful men and I love you heaps! Definitely grateful for the priesthood and all the men who are worthy to hold such a wonderful gift. 

We were at a less active familys home on Monday and we watched some videos on family and they were all really centered on the father. It filled me with so much gratitude for fathers and all that they do and all that they sacrifice. A lot of things you do go unnoticed. I know my dad can drive me nuts at time. But the advice I got from him, Jeff, and my grampa truly helped me through my trials. I was blessed with the best. So thank you!  

This week has been focused on miracles!!! We were walking to contact a referral and a sweet old man was walking up a hill. We ran up to him to talk with him and we asked where he was heading and he said "Oh i'm just climbing Mt Everest." It was a pretty massive hill we were out of breath as well ;) But it made me think that sometimes we don't know how we are ever going to get to the top of our mountain. It seems hard, it seems impossible or unconquerable. Yet we keep putting one foot in front of another and eventually get to the top of that mountain just to get to the bottom of another. The wonderful thing about it is God. God is right there with us every step of the way. He has given us tools to use to be able to get through those things.Every day we have been looking at the miracles we were blessed with. Some days weren't exactly as we planned we had hardships but there was always a silver lining to those days. Being a missionary is the greatest thing ever. I love it. We felt the spirit in a greater abundance this week and we know it's because we tried a lot harder to be better. We know that living the gospel and learning more about the Saviour brings so much peace and happiness into our lives. I love you all heaps and hope you have a great week!!

Kia Kaha,

Sister Boiteux

pictures!

"come come ye chicken" Is what my companion said. When we don't get fed we make our own feed :)

This cheeky little boy just made our night!! We told him to smile and this is what we got.

Our first ward activity in ages. Turned out to be a success! Love Avondale ward so much. We had the Elders come and do push ups for eternal life. It was a grand experience.

Got to our bishops and the kids found out my favourite animal is a dolphin.. they brought out a massive as stuffed animal and I about died with happiness!

Ignore our nastiness, but we were having lunch and someone (*cough Sister Boiteux cough*) left the lights on in the car so our battery was dead. So we called one of our members who we were going to do service for to come save us. We tried the car a few times and it wouldn't work. So we waited a few minutes and then decided to just try it again and the car turned on so our member didn't have to drive and save us. Lesson learned. Lights will forever be checked to see if they are off :)

The Lady in the Museum

This week was full of miracles. I can't even begin to explain how spiritual this week was. I haven't had one like it in a long time and it felt so good to go out every day and fulfill our purpose then come home and collapse because we are so tired. This is truly what missionary work is about. Inviting others to come unto Christ. How great is my calling!! This week we have seen less active members overcome so many trials and humble themselves and come to church or call us for help when they needed. We have been able to visit investigators who have turned us away countless times and where able to testify to them of the restored gospel. We have been in members homes and invited them to strengthen their faith in Christ. The spirit that comes from testifying is one of my most favourite feelings. 

One of the most incredible things in missionary work is how thin the veil is. Countless times this week we have felt the help from the other side. Truly the Spirit is preparing the hearts of the people and helping us when we are in their homes. A few experiences from this week..

1. Jeannie. She is an 85 year old woman that we met on the street. We went back to visit her and she found out it was my birthday. So she let us in so she could give me two biscuits and some juice. She cracks us up. When we walked in, her walls and couches and everything were filled with dolls and stuffed animals and other little things that she has received from people over the years. She kept telling us "don't mind my museum!" It was the cutest. It really made me think of our own personal lives. How we collect things over the years they could be physical or they could be mental things that we put on our shelves and leave them their. They can be good or they can be bad. But either way we learn from them and from time to time we reflect on them to make us better people.

2. A wonderful less active member that I adore with all my heart. She told us how her husband made her choose between him or the church. She choose the church. Now for any person im sure that would take a lot of strength to do. I looked up to her so much that day and still do. The blessings she will receive from that one small but very large decision. 

3. We just visited Brother Eteru so we were on a spiritual high and we talked with a man. Instantly he told us we need to worship Jesus Christ and not Joseph Smith. My sweet sweet companion tried to teach him and tell him things and he just tore us down piece by piece. Letting us know that we are a cult and that we are going to hell. Lol. It was really funny. I just had a smile on my face and he looked at me and said "you have a silly look on your face, im serious go home and research what your church actually teaches." people crack me up sometimes. After he was done giving his sermon and tried to ask us questions and break our faith we walked away. Sat in the car and prayed. How grateful I am for a testimony on the Saviour Jesus Christ, for the knowledge that we have of the restored gospel. That it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. That Thomas S. Monson is his successor and our living prophet on earth today. Im grateful for people who try to smash us because it strengthens my testimony a whole lot more. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is true. God loves each and every one of us. We are his children. The spirit guides us and leads us to people who really do need us. You have a testimony that can change some ones world. Go out and share it. 

I love you all heaps. Thank you for the birthday wishes :)

Love,

Sister Boiteux

pictures:

Service at Brother Halls. He has one arm so we showed up just in time to help him lay some cement. 

Zone conference. My dream companion is now a sister training leader. Lol so there goes that dream. But it was awesome to see them. Also finally got a generation photo. No longer a failure :)

Helped the Raos move

One of our favourite familys. They have 9 kids. 4 sets of twins. 

Birthday. The elders were so kind and made me some cakes! 

Jeannie! She had us sign her sign bear :)

We had an ant infestation so this is what our kitchen currently looks like.

The Shardinands fed us and made me an upside down pineapple cake for my birthday. Avondale Ward is thee best. 

Hear Him

Kia Ora, 

I hope you all enjoyed your fast Sunday. Such a great day to be able to go to church and be uplifted by all the wonderful saints. Our stake president came to our sacrament meeting yesterday and shared a powerful testimony on the Prophet Joseph Smith. It made me think a little bit differently of the sabbath day.

Joseph Smith was a young boy who had a question. A question that brought such a wonderful change in the world. His question was which church was true, and from that he searched. Joseph Smith decided to go to a grove of trees and pray to ask God that one simple question and this is how he described his experience: 

" 16 But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head,above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

 17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!!! Joseph Smith literally saw God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. They told him what must be done to restore the church of Christ on earth again. He listened, and because he listened we are blessed to be members of that restored church. Our instructions for today given in the Book of Mormon are found in Mosiah 18

23 " And he commanded them that they should observe the sabbath day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God."

and 25 "And there was one day in every week that was set apart that they should gather themselves together to teach the people, and to worship the Lord their God, and also, as often as it was in their power, to assemble themselves together."

We go to church every Sunday to worship our God, to strengthen and uplift each other, and to hear Him. We get to be spiritually fed by the word of God and we get to hear what He wants us to do to become more like Him. Sometimes we forget the importance of the Sabbath day. We forget that it is a day of rest, a day that we give to Him because He gave us everything. My companion and I have seen a difference in our Sabbath day when we try to make it more holy and sacred. By changing the music we listen to, just listening to talks, not doing the regular things we would do on the other days of the week. We have truly felt the spirit in a stronger abundance and the sabbaths meaning has definitely changed in my heart. I know it is the day of the Lord. I know that sometimes church is the last thing we may want to do, but its always the best thing we should do. I know that we can have the greatest spiritual feast if we let the spirit teach us. I know that if we give this day to the Lord then He will bless us far more than we can ever imagine. 

I hope you all were able to learn from some testimonies today and if you didnt share yours that you will be able to share it with someone this week. I love you all heaps and hope you are doing well!

Love,

Sister Boiteux 

pictures:

Had to go to the city for my eye appointment and parked at the chapel... Came back and they locked us out and we had no key.. Adventures in the city for the sisters!!

Some of our favourite kiddos

#cinderella

Holding a caterpillar and he decided to use my finger as his bathroom..

Sister Lott sent me a birthday present!! Love her heaps :)

Life's Drama

Hello everyone! 

I hope that you all had a fabulous week and enjoyed every day! Our week was full of rain, rain, and more rain. Its definitely winter time here in NZ, but we love it! Our message of the week is lifes drama. Based on the new mormon message by the church. It is a powerful message so if you have time to watch it. Take it and then ponder on what you can do to use your agency in a better way. The message behind the story is "it's not my fault." The man in the video wasn't taking responsibility for his poor choices which led to other events that could have been prevented. As my companion and I pondered on this message it really just made us think of our agency. Every decision we make leads to a consequence whether it be good or bad. We had some crack up events happen to us this week. 

1. We had an investigator who is kinda hard to teach. Never really able to sit down and chat with her. One day she offered us some tea. Which is what everyone always offers us in this area. Drives us nuts. Anyway, we said we arent allowed to drink tea and she brought it out anyways. Lol. So we sat there for a good 10 min just staring at the cup full of the word of wisdom. Thats when we had to make the decision of drinking it or taking it back to her and telling her we cant have it. The little voice in our head was saying "it is okay to drink it, Heavenly Father knows. You can repent and it will be fine. You dont want to offend her." Seriously thats all we heard. So we looked at each other and said "choose the harder right than the easier wrong." We walked into the kitchen and explained to her why we cant have it and all was well. Not sharing that to be like. Oh look at the sisters making righteous choices. But sharing it because honestly making the right choice can be hard. We sometimes dont want to do it. Whether or not its because we could offend someone or we just dont want to put in the effort of doing something that is harder than the wrong thing, but it is possible and it is worth it. 

2. We were visiting some members and he use to be a bishop. He was telling us about how his members would use their tithing money to buy food for ward activities instead of paying their tithing. Went on to explain more of the situation, and their words of wisdom to us were "be praised by the Lord, not the people." So true because a lot of times we give into peer pressure we want others to like us. So we make the choice to do things that make us seem more "cool" when in all honesty its not. The only person we should be trying to please is our Heavenly Father and do things that he wants us to be doing. 

3. This week has been really focused on our personal agency. I thought of things I have done in the past, things my friends have done, people I see here in the mission field and what they have done. And the domino effect of everything. One choice always leads to another. But those choices we make dont define us. Yes we went through them we made those choices, but we dont always have to dwell on the negative ones. They are there so we learn and grow. So we can be refined and come unto Christ. Change can be hard, but if its what is needed then do it. Remember that you are an agent unto yourself. You can change the circumstances you are in. You can become better.

I love you all. And I know that Jesus is the Christ, I know agency is a gift we were given from our Heavenly Father and that it is so important that we make right choices. I know that we can return to him again and how great will that day be when we can say "We did all we can" and He can say "i'm proud of you!" I hope you all have a great Sabbath day!

Love always,

Sister Boiteux

Pictures:

Had dinner with the Eterus. Was she reping a U of U hoodie? Yes yes she was. BYU PRIDE!

Took Ofa out with us! Love when we have members join us.

We witnessed a miracle the other day in a part member familys home.. Sister was so excited she started running down their yard and it was raining and she was going to fast and slipped and fell right on her back. Lol she was covered in mud.

When Sister Boiteux says something crazy. It's like woah!

Ninja sisters. Thats all we gotta say. (tell you the full story when i get home) ;)

Our friend Alex the bird.

We love visiting Swati!!! She was a miracle of weekly planning!

You probably can't tell but it just poured hard out and we got drenched. Gotta love the NZ weather