New Year: 6 Jan 2008

Well this last week has been awsome! We have three baptisms coming up! We just need one of them to stop smoking, and the other two to come to church every sunday (they have only missed one week). We are very excited here in Napier. This week is shifts. Which means we could go anywhere in the mission. I, being the man with the hook-ups, know what shifts are (I know where everyone is going). My companion, Elder Spendlove, is going to Christchurch (the third biggest city in New Zealand), there he will preside as a Zone Leader. I predicted this event happening. Elder Kumar (another elder in our district, from fiji)is also going to Christchurch. Sister Krok (a sister in our district, from Australia) is going to Levin. Sister Hatch is training another sister from Austrailia here in Napier. Elder McGrevy (Elder Kumar's companion) and I are staying put. So much for shifts. This last week was really powerful! Elder Spendlove and I are tearing Napier apart (that is good). We are having a hard time keeping up with our finding (we are supposed to do 10 hours a week). The reason for that is because we are so busy teaching people! I would rather teach than go finding any day. We are still in the process of teaching the family mission plan to the entire ward. My new companion and I will have to pick that up. There is a tremendous amount of work to do here, sometimes it feels a little overbearing. The members here are awsome they are so involved in the work. The family mission plan will help them get even more involved. We currently are getting 4 less-active families back to church! We are very excited for them. They are faithful people that have just slipped off the tracks. Two of them have just been offended by the members. I cannot express in words my heartfelt gratitude toward God. He has not just opened the windows of heaven over Napier. He has poured down countless blessings upon this people. I know this church is true. I now have a faith that cannot be broken. Being a missionary has shown me who I really am, or who God really wants me to be. I have seen my weaknesses and developed my strenths. I have been able to look into the eyes of many and testify to the truthfullness of this gospel. I love all of you. You all had a large part to play in helping me become who I am, a servant of God. I love you all, even if you don't e-mail me very often. -Elder Robert M Alexander-New Zealand Wellington Mission-P.O.Box 50448-Porirua, New Zealand