Kia Ora Whanau,

We had such an amazing experience last night.  We met Michelle. She is a less active,  and we got to know her and her two kids.  She's a single mother and also served a mission. She opened up to us and explained why she doesn't go to church anymore.  Her ex husband had an affair along with other issues, so she went to seek help from her bishop. She explained to us that her bishop actually started blaming her for her husband's affair and didn't believe her because her husband had a high leadership calling in the church. She was shocked and heartbroken and moved away. For 10 years, She continued meeting different bishops and leaders to seek guidance and help but they all either didn't help, didn't believe her, or saying it was her fault. She even showed them evidence  but still, no one listened. Ever since she moved away from that area, she kept having a really hard time coming to church.  She wouldn't be able to stay in sacrament meeting because of seeing all the nice "perfect" families around her and she also felt judged. There are many reasons but those were the biggest ones. I've actually heard a lot of stories like this and it breaks my heart.  The whole time we could feel a huge hole in her heart, filled with sorrow &  betrayal. She told us she knows the gospel is true,  but she had lost faith in the church leaders. We then explained that before meeting her,  Sister Toi and I were discussing what to share with her, and we felt impressed to share just 30 seconds of Dieter F Utchdorfs talk. We played it:

"It is the love of God that rescues, restores, and revives.
God knows you. You are His child. He loves you.
Even when you think that you are not lovable, He reaches out to you.
This very day—every day—He reaches out to you, desiring to heal you, to lift you up, and to replace the emptiness in your heart with an abiding joy. He desires to sweep away any darkness that clouds your life and fill it with the sacred and brilliant light of His unending glory."

Afterwards we were all in tears and crying.  We testified that Heavenly Father had not forgotten her,  and he loves her so much,  he is here for her to literally sweep away any darkness.
We testified that the people in the church are far from perfect but this gospel and our savior is. The spirit was so strong. We don't think she'll come back to church anytime soon,  but that's okay. Healing takes time, and I rejoice in our savior who has made it possible for broken hearts like hers to eventually feel whole again. I know that He lives and I know that our Prophet is called of God. He is a Leader that will never fail us (He is still human with weaknesses) but he will never lead us astray. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
P.s. General conference is coming up! I'm so excited!

Arohanui,
Sister Wihongi

Kia Ora Whanau,
We had a fun lesson this week. We were teaching Rangimarie Maori Traditions and the Church (it's a talk on lds.org). We invited some members to the lesson, the Bayleys. I love them so much, they speak Te Reo and all of their kids have beautiful green or blue eyes, and some of them are blonde as! They testified to Marie that she didn't need to give up her culture to join the church, which was Marie's concern. In fact, the gospel is already in the Maori Culture! And it was given as revelation to Joseph Fielding Smith that the Maori's are descendants of Hagoth mentioned in the Book of Mormon. We bore our testimonies and Marie felt the spirit, she now wants to receive and answer herself to know if she should get baptized. And I know she will, she is so faithful and goes to church, prays, and reads the Book of Mormon. The last few days of this week has been slow.

I forgot to mention a hilarious story. So Sister Toi and I had dinner at a members house, the Reedys. And they live out in the woods and they are very 'hori' I love it. Sister Toi was talking at the dinner table and said "There's this joke that someone told me & I don't understand it"  And we told her to tell us the joke. And she said:

"What's smaller than a teeny weeny flea?"

"What?"

"A flea's teeny weenie"
....
I started cracking up and she was still confused, and then The Reedy family soon got it later. Imagine telling that joke to a hori Maori family, poor Sister Toi. She is now called Sister Teeny Weenie. And now she feels bad because the joke turned out to be inappropriate. Here's a lesson: Dont tell jokes you dont understand.

Anyways, I've seen many tender mercies through this slow week. The Lord's hand is in every detail of our lives, even when we feel like there's nothing happening. In the name of Jesus Christ,  Amen.

Arohanui, 

Sister Wihongi

Rangimarie

Kia Ora Whanau,

This week we had a big conference with almost the whole Hamilton mission in Hamilton. We listened to Elder Natress and Elder Nelson of the seventy.
  I loved this conference, it was very helpful in so many ways. We talked about two amazing talks that you can find on the Gospel Library app. (I highly recommend "The Atonement amd the journey through mortality" by David A Bednar in the April 2012 Ensign.) It talks about not only is Christ's Atonement used for repenting of sins, but also for gaining strength called an "enabling power". Instead of praying to have your circumstances change instead, pray for strength to Overcome your circumstances. For example, if it's stormy outside and you pray for the weather to change, will it? No. So instead pray for a way to live through the storm.
  My companion,  Sister Toi is very much a young adult at times, but her strength is door knocking. When she is knocking on doors, there's a sudden change in her. She is fearless. I love how on the doorsteps, she is confident and bold, but when we walk away she mentions how sweaty she is because of how nervous and scared she was. I laugh because you can literally see sweat drops all over her face and neck. But regardless of how drenched and nervous she is, she'll take a deep breath and move on to the next house. I admire that side of her, she really puts herself aside when we are out finding.
  My first impression of being her companion was "Why does it feel like I'M the one training here." Because of how much she loves to talk and her childish excitement about everything. It took me awhile to actually realize why I was with her: All of her strengths are my weaknesses. I am horrible at starting conversations, to her, it's an instinct! I am shy and I let fear overtake me when it comes to doorknocking, she is bold without knowing. I have always been realistic and slightly pessimistic, she is the most optimistic and positive person I've ever seen. It's sad to say that I just now have started to learn from her bright personality , instead of always viewing her as "childish". I guess this is what you call 'embracing' your companion, instead of 'tolerating' your companion.
Anyways, I was very happy to speak yo most of you at Tyrells homecoming! I love you!

Arohanui,
Sister Wihongi

This week has been one of my favorites of all time. We worked a lot and taught a lot. We went to Turangi to teach RangiMarie a lesson. She is a girl our age and really wants to learn about our church. Her mum is a member but has fallen back to Ratana/Maori beliefs and doesn't come to our church anymore. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and even gave her a baptismal invitation. She said she will get baptized when she receives an answer. We told her she will definitely receive an answer from Heavenly Father if she continues reading the Book of Mormon and praying and asking!
In Taupo, we are also teaching Sue Wikohika, she was baptized when she was very young but didn't understand anything, i mean Anything, about the church because she was deaf. She couldn't here anything about the gospel and didn't understand a lot of it and has been inactive a bit because of it. But she was able to SEE how it blesses others, especially through her nephews. She now has hearing aids and is loving to learn more about the gospel. She soaks everything in.

We are now staying with the Senior Couple in Turangi 3 days a week, and then we come back to Taupo the rest of the week! President has saw how much we've been helping Turangi region (it's a 45 min drive from taupo) each week, that he has decided that we can just stay with them.
I love you all!

Arohanui,
Sister Wihongi

This week has been fun! We are teaching a Tongan lady named Sela, she is the first person I've found that wants to have lessons. She is so funny and speaks broken English and a strong Tongan accent. She really wants to learn about our church and she even talks about "When I get baptized, i ..." so she already has a thought of getting baptized! We went out to lunch with a family that my Companion knew from home, the father's name was Oscar Lawrence and he said he went to Church College with Uncle Jody. Haha it was funny, he said, "Who's your father? Shaun, jody, Jared, or Scott?" And I said, "Neither,  it's Jason." And he looked at me confused and said "....who's Jason?" Haha! Geez Dad, that's how quiet you were in high school, they don't even know who you are! I made curry twice this week for dinner, thanks for always making yummy curry mum now I can make it when I crave it.hope all is well! Love yous!

Arohanui,
Sister Wihongi