This email was sent by Sister Welker on August 14th.  We received it on August 13th.

Week 53: Exchange, and Welcome Surprise

Not too much happened this week.  We had exchanges with the Hawera sisters this week.  They use to be in the Samoan program in South Auckland, but they are in the English program in Taranaki for now.  I went with Sister Cole to her area, and man is their flat nice.  They are currently staying in the senior couples home, since they don't have a senior couple at the moment.  And man, missions treat senior couples well.  It felt so flash that I didn't feel like I was a missionary, haha.  It felt too much like a home.  Sister Cole is cool though.  She comes from a big family in Missouri, I think.  And she loves books and fairy tale stuff, as well as some popular crime shows that mom loves to watch too.

We visited a former investigator of theirs and were surprised when she invited us in.  She was a super cute girl and had meet with missionaries before.  She even had a baptism date at one point in her life, but felt she wasn't ready and canceled last minute.  We reviewed the Restoration with her, and by the end of the lesson she was flipping through pages in her scriptures looking for a specific verse.  We helped her to find the verse she was looking for, and it just happened to be about baptism!!  I'll have to follow up with Sister Cole to see if she progresses or not.

We were also knocking doors (not my favorite, but we're pretty desperate).  We knocked on this one door and a Maori lady answered.  She asked us "What makes our religion different?"  I was then able to briefly summarize the message of the restoration, and to our surprise we were invited into the home!!!  That like never happens, so we were pretty excited.  We then took 10 minutes to explain the message of the Restoration in more detail.  By the end of the lesson, she wasn't sold, but she was curious to learn more.  

That's about it for this week. Hope you all have a good week, and talk to you again next week.

Sister Mandy Welker

Book of Mormon, Alma 26: 11-12
      "I do not boast in my own strength, nor in  my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God."

      "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

(Sorry about not having pictures for the last couple weeks.  Hopefully, we'll have some next week.)