November 9, 2014

Dear Family!! 

wow how fast this week has been going! It seems like Monday yesterday!! We biked 15 miles this week, went to all our little towns, we are doing farm work this week, milking and other things with cows. We had to go to Palmy twice and that made the middle of the week pretty crazy! Helped an old lady move, went to the river with the boys, saw a spider that runs across water, it was creepy as! We had so much fun, meetings were good, we have a Christmas Zone Conference coming up and also a Zone P day, Amazing Race around Palmy, should be sick!! Pretty crazy busy week, but love the area, the members, our new branch president, awesome!! The mission is the best!! Love you all! 
Have a marvelous time together!-Elder Richard G. Scott. 
Oh yeah we talked in sacrament meeting. Went well. Love you!

Elder Passey

October 26, 2014

Dear Family,

 My new comp is the man!! His name is Elder S*avage from P*anguitch Utah, and he is awesome!! we have been going hard already and just doing our best, it is going to be a good 8 week transfer I think.

This week we will be helping out at the school as much as we are able to help them set up for their Halloween disco this week, it is going to be really fun and I think we might be able to DJ, we just need to see how busy we are. We made a mean as spider and the haunted house that i might have already uploaded. We also got a new branch president, it is the senior elder in our zone, Elder Morris. He is really cool, and they will be here for the next 7 months before they go home, so he said he wants to get 3 people ready to be made Branch President when he goes home, so that should be great! They seem really cool, so I think it will be pretty fun. 

We are getting kicked out of our awesome flat though... we are moving to a new flat on the road leaving Pahiatua, and it is way smaller than ours is now. It is basic as, but fits our needs. It is old too, so not as nice as ours, but hey, the Morris' need to live here now, so all goods. But this week has been good, the kids are still doing good, keep getting new ones at church, and that is good. Investigators moving good, no baptisms up yet, but not bad. Love the area still, and my new comp is the man, so that should make it awesome! On Sunday we also went to a Marae for a family reunion we got invited to, and that was really cool! They did this big thing on whakapapa, family history, and it was cool. They had their line all displayed from a few generations back, got to talk to a bunch of them and they were so inviting and nice, they offered us dinner but we had to go sadly... been having fun, doing good, and this week is gonna be crazy I can already tell, so here we go! Love you all! 

Elder Passey

October 20, 2014

Dear family,

Another week come and gone, they just seem to go by faster and faster as time goes on! This week was pretty fun. I had exchanges with Elder Porter in Dannevirke this week, that was really fun, I like that town, not as much as Pahiatua, but it was cool. It was super funny though, Elder Porter got the call that he is training next transfer when I was there. It went something a little like this..

Elder Pelo (the AP)" Hey Elder Porter, where's the nearest hospital to you guys?" 

Elder Porter (confused)" Probably palmy, why?"

Elder Pelo" All the way there huh? Well, you're going to need to get there fast, because your water just broke! You're training!" :D HAHAHAHAHAhA I just cracked up laughing.....so funny. That was a pretty great exchange, and from that I found out I am not training either, so that was nice. I wouldn't mind, but one less stress in life. 

Our sports days are still kind of a mix up of good and bad...they can be really fun at the start, but then they start to get annoying when the kids try to be cool and push each other around, pretty annoying, but it goes okay. We might be starting a new thing where we have one for the older kids and one for everyone so the problems aren't as bad, because the older ones say the younger ones were it, so we shall see.

 

Then we had stake conference, and that was awesome! The Saturday night session was awesome, President Morley from our mission presidency spoke, and that guy is just the man! He is so cool, and he is letting us do more here too, and President Hudson is just getting so much going for our areas, it's pretty awesome. Our mission has just leveled up and it is great! The Sunday session wasn't as good, mostly because we were stuck in a side room with our investigators and we couldn't hear, it was the video feed in the primary room and the seats were all full where we were so we had to go in that side room, kinda the room to take your crying kids into, and it was just loud the whole time, and those boys were a bit loud trying to sit still for two hours too, so it wasn't as uplifting, but the parts I did hear were good I guess. Still liked it though. 

We have a Tangi (funeral) to go to as well, so we will see how that goes. Other than the norm, still doing good, we had 5 investigators at Stake Conference which is amazing, so that was the best! 

Transfers are here, and so now..... I am being made District Leader again, I am staying in Pahiatua, my new comp will be Elder Savage, and Foremaster is going south to Dunedin for the first time in his mission so that is cool for him. It should be all goods, looks like it should be fun as! Love you all! Have an awesome week!!

Elder Passey

October  12, 2014

Family!! and others....

what an interesting week this was....we witnessed a catfight...a couple girls outside the grocery store started going at it. We weren't sure if we were going to stop it, but then one of their boyfriends stopped them, so that was just crazy! Then I think I discovered something I am allergic to. Surf laundry powder. It has been making my skin really itchy and dry, so I got a cream and an oil thing to try and help it, and I am getting new powder today as well. So that was annoying. 

We didn't have as amazing of a week as last, I mean with a baptism it is hard to beat, but it was still pretty good. We had two investigators attend conference yesterday, and one of them we didn't even get to invite, but she showed up! That was so cool! We were so happy she was there!! The other was one of the boys we are working with, he also has expressed a desire to get baptized, we just need to talk to his parents. Other than that, Conference was awesome, lots of new stuff to teach about, hopefully using and applying lots too. I like Conference more now that I am a missionary sadly to say, but it is just awesome! I didn't have much of an appreciation for it as I do now, and I love it! Great week still though, and hope this one is awesome too! Last week of the transfer so next week I might be getting a new comp, lets see what happens! Love you guys!

Elder Passey

October 5, 2014


Dear Family, yes we had a baptism!!!!! Joe got baptized, and it was awesome! It all went smoothly, no bumps, he loved it, there were a lot of other kids there and now his brother wants to be baptized too. We are killing it out here! Then yesterday, he got confirmed, the priesthood, and set apart as deacons first counselor all in the same blessing! It was intense! I guess it's allowed, we just don't do it back home that much right? I don't remember it happening. The earthquake wasn't bad, but it was pretty scary, hope we don't have another. At least a big one.  After the baptism we got a referral from a member to come with her and her family to teach her mom, and I think that s going to be awesome! We had one lesson yesterday that went great! We are continuing every Sunday. 

 It is awesome out here! I love my mission right now, just love it! all is well, the kids are good, the area is awesome, rainy and windy as right now, but it's alright. like torrential rain and wind, it's insane. It beats against the library windows, I can hear it. Thanks for all the love and support, let everyone know New Zealand is the best mission ever!! :) haha love you all, miss you heaps, let's make the next 10 months rock!! 

 Hope all is well, love you too!

Elder Passey

October 5, 2014

Kia ora from New Zealand! I was asked to write a letter to the seminary about missions and such, and so I will do my best to make it awesome! 

My mission thus far has been....where do I even start? Awesome, amazing, inspiring, hard, the best thing I have ever done, the hardest thing I have ever done, the most rewarding thing I have ever done. A mission is something that will change you, make you grow, inspire you, make you better, help you overcome obstacles and challenges like you wouldn't believe, prepare you for the real world, living with someone else, rooming, marriage, the works. 

My mission has taught me so much, and has helped me grow and learn so much about the gospel, about the way it helps you, and about how it can help other people too. When you see someone change, when you see them take steps, when you see them want this because they know it is good, and it has "swelled within them" and they have found it to be "delicious", that's the thing that makes a mission worth it. These people need what we have, not just that we want them to have it, but they need it. A mission is something that changes who you are as a person, makes you want to be better, and makes life more meaningful. When you get your testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ cemented in your hearts, that's the day you will see it in everything. It really is the most amazing message that the human family could ever hear. I have seen that, and I know that, without a shadow of a doubt, that this IS the true church of Jesus Christ upon the earth today. Yeah there may be hard times, times where you feel like nothing goes right, when all your baptismal dates fall through, your investigators don't progress, you feel like your area has nothing in it....those are the days you really have to turn to Christ, give it all to Him, and He will help you. This applies to everyday life, you just have to realize that. A mission really shows you that there is more to it, you just gotta get out there and find it. You have to want it, and then the real miracles start happening. 

My mission has been...irreplaceable.....amazing....I would not trade this time for anything.... to get ahead in college, to be dating, not even if I was offered a fantastic 6 digit contract for a job, this time is something that is precious, you can't get it back,and it is so worth it. So if you have been debating a mission, young men especially, thinking do I have the time, do I want to, is it worth it? I can fully testify it is worth it, every day, every minute, worth it. I have been out for just over a year, and it has been too fast, this next year, I want to do more, be my best, and just do anything and everything to help people. Is a mission something you should do? YES. 

Seminary students and otherwise general people, I want to testify that this gospel is true, it blesses families, it brings us closer to Christ, and it is the only way to eternal life. To exaltation with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that they live, and they love us, unconditionally. If you ever doubt that, you can reach out to them through prayer, and they will hear and answer you if you have a true desire to know. I hope I have impacted even one of you in some way, because all it takes is one, to help hundreds come to know of the truth. 

Sincerely, 

Elder Cameron Passey

September 28, 2014

Dear whanau, (family)

What a week! I'm glad you got the package safely, I figured hey, I can't have it here, but that is the first legit LOTR thing I have found, so hey, might as well, and it was really cheap too. Glad you love that chocolate, I do too, too much haha :P I got those bracelets from members in Hastings so if the girls want them they can have them....well...maybe I'll just hold on to them for memories. Yeah I'll do that :) 

Investigator...main one at least...BAPTISMAL DATE!!!! He's getting baptized this Saturday!! :D :D Soo excited!! he's ready, reads the BOM a lot, and he is just ready. We have lots of other boys who come to church too, but it's hard to keep 15 boys all getting along and not fighting...hard as. But we do our best, and they are all under the age of like 13 anyways, so we try our best.We had 6 kids at church yesterday, it was a bit intense. 

Crazy thing! We had an earthquake Tuesday morning! It was a 5.5, and it woke us both up! It was around 2:40 in the morning, and it was pretty shaky. Those things are crazy! haha my first kinda big one and it was pretty sketch. Probably craziest thing of the week.  

We helped at the Maori school again, i love those kids, and they love us, I drew a bird there while they were doing art for the end of term, and I'll show you the pic. Other than that, still playing games, still working with people, trying to get more things going, but we do pretty good overall. I love this town, love this branch, just love it all. This is a good time on my mission. A really good time. 

Love and miss you all, have an awesome week, and do good things! 

Love Elder Passey