E-Mail dated 11/26/12

Kia Ora, So from everyone's email this week it's been a crazy week. I completely forgot about Thanksgiving. Oh well, it's been fun down here as well. We had a wedding for the other Elders' investigators. It was way hectic because they have one rowdy family. We've been told that looking back on it we're going to see rowdy families and think Man that's nothing! It was good to have their wedding though so now they can get baptized. Not much else happened last week. We had a linger longer after church yesterday because it was the Primary Program which I got to help with which has been heaps of fun. Then we got asked to help out yesterday in Primary doing the Music time because the lady that normally does it had to go with the nursery kids. It was cool though. I was a little caught off guard though cuz I didn't know what I was doing and yet she asked me to conduct. This week is transfers but I don't know what's going to happen. We don't find out until the night before. So I could go but I hope not. I love Gisborne so much. Well I got to go but I love you all heaps. Sincerely, Elder Lee

E-Mail dated 11/19/12

Kia Ora, It's good to hear from you. I can't believe you skipped out on Stake Conference! That's just sad! But, not much to report this week. We had our Zone Conference this last week which was pretty mean. We got to drive up on Wednesday to Hamilton. It was even more fun because I got to drive for some reason! It's been good here in Gisborne though. I love it here because it feels a lot like home. All we did for P-day last week is we played mini-golf again. I won this time with a score of 13. We also hung out with the other elder's neighbors. They're a less active family but they are so funny. Well our Zone Conference was the only thing that really happened this week. It was awesome because it was on the Doctrine of Christ and it taught me a lot about faith and repentance. We also started a scripture study class this last Friday and it only had one person there. But it's just the start so it'll get there. I love you heaps and pray for you all the time. Ofa Atu, Elder Lee

E-Mail dated 11/12/12

Kia Ora, This week has been a pretty good week! We've been doing a lot of service this week and we also had a couple mean ward activities. On Monday was a holiday called something that sounds like "Guy Forks." I'm not actually sure how you spell it. It's the one day of the year that they do their fireworks. It was really fun because the ward had an activity at the beach that we went and helped with. It was a big barbeque and a bon fire. It was heaps of fun. We also went to have our MCM on Tuesday and while we were waiting we were taking pictures of the Young Women's activity because it was crack up. They were playing a life size board game and at different stations they had to do funny things like put "makeup" on, but the makeup was different food dressings and things. We also had a ward missionary weekend where we had a speaker named Hiriwini Jones come and speak to us. It was all weekend basically and it was mostly about the whakapapa (genealogy) of the maori's and how they are descendants of Lehi. It was a really good weekend. I wish you could have heard it because I can't do it justice. Apparently he's been all around the world and he's done heaps of research. I also got to go on a couple Murae's this weekend. That was the venue for the first two activities. It was really cool because they are the Maori meeting places and they are pretty sacred. So sadly I didn't get any pictures of those. It was a really fun week though. This next week we have a Zone Conference up in Hamilton and so we have to leave on Wednesday to be there for Thursday. It's going to be so much FUN! I love road trips! I'll send some more pictures though. Love you Heaps, Elder Lee One of the Young women's putting on funny clothes.

Our Ward Mission Leader Brother Hales and his wife grilling at the ward activity.

Bon Fire

E-Mail dated 11/5/12

Kia Ora, Sorry Mom, for not answering your questions. It's just that usually by the time I start writing a new message, I forget about the questions. I don't think I really need anything. The only thing I would say would be a new pair of slip on shoes. The Clarks Bostonian pair was a good pair. I think I'm wearing a size 9 in this but I'm usually like 10ish. I would get a pair here but they wear out really fast here. My last companion went through a brand new pair of shoes in like 2 weeks. This week was pretty good though. We are trying to work with the members more. I think we've been gaining the trust of the Bishop because he has started inviting us to Ward Council and things. It's been pretty cool. We've decided that we're going to do a service day every week. We get asked to do heaps so we might as well. We also have been going with the other elders a lot lately because we've been told the best way to work our area is to just not worry about the boundaries. We are also looking forward to the Christmas time because it's summer here and it gets pumping! There is going to be heaps of people out that we can talk to. We also made some "Thank You" cards kind of. They are just pictures of us with our names and phone numbers. It looks pretty legit though. I attached the picture that we used and a couple other ones that I thought were funny. Dad- the baptism on the 26 was really good and went off with out a hitch but we didn't have a baptism planned for this last week. Nothing extremely interesting happened last week. Oh we did go fishing for P-day last week which was pretty crack up because all we had for bait was these little hot dog type things and we were using these massive poles in this river that wasn't all that big or deep. We looked like we were going to go deep sea fishing. I'll grab the pictures off the other elders. Love You Heaps, Elder Lee /Elder Gubler with a basketball "helmet" on his head.

1203- Elder Gentry with a basketball "helmet" on his head.

Elder Viane, Myself, Elder Gentry, and Elder Gubler - It was our picture that we put on the card with our phone numbers.

Elder Viane, Elder Gentry, Elder Gubler, and Myself in the middle of a gardens in our area. (We were trying to take a picture that we could put on a card. We didn't end up using it though.)

E-mail dated 10/29/12

Kia Ora, First I want to say Happy Birthday on Friday, Ryan! How does it feel to be a quarter of a century old? Haha, that's kind of a sad way to look at it, eh? Well not much is happening. My companion is pretty sick today so that means nothing is happening today. I have my cord this week so I attached some pictures for you. I got the ballot off so hopefully my vote counts! It's been an interesting week. We did get to have another baptism this last week so I'm happy about that. I attached the pictures. 1091-Zone Picture after our Meeting. Left to Right (Myself, Elder Lui, Elder Rangi, Elder Palaiti, Elder Gentry, and Elder Willson) 1104-Baptism of S K. L to R (H, Myself, S, and Elder Viane) 1111-Baptism of M H. L to R (W B (Kid sitting down), Elder Gentry, Myself, Elder Gubler, M H, N H, Elder Viane, and President Lekias) 1163-Baptism of H K. L to R (Elder Viane, D K, S K, H K, and Myself). 0160-Funny Goodbye Picture for Elder Rangi. L to R (T (Less-Active Member), Elder Rangi, and Myself). The baptisms went exactly according to plan. Everything is going good though. Love you heaps. I wish I had more to say but I can't think of anything that happened this week out of the ordinary besides the baptisms and my companion being sick. Ofa Atu, Elder Lee

E-Mail dated 10/22/12

Kia Ora, It's been a good week. I got the package and the cereal but it was just at transfers so Elder Rangi didn't get to try them. We were both pretty gutted that he left. Neither of us were really expecting it. My new companions name is Elder Viane. He is from Apia, Samoa. He is good so far. It seems like its going to be a little bit of a struggle with the language barrier but hopefully we'll be able to work well together. I'm excited to report that the baptism on Saturday was successful. I will send pictures next week because I realized that I forgot my cord at the flat today. We didn't get to hike a mountain last week but that's alright. Today is a public holiday so there should be a lot of people here to play basketball. Nothing much happened other than the transfers and the baptism. Oh, only one person got baptized on Saturday instead of the original 2. The other one is going to get baptized this Friday because President Lekias wanted him to come to church one more time. That's alright though. I'm just glad that I get to be here and that he's getting baptized. Hope all is well at home. Love you heaps. Ofa Atu, Elder Lee

E-Mail dated 10/15/12

Kia Ora, I'm getting a little worried because I haven't heard from Mom in about 3 weeks now. I'm not worried too much I'm just a little bit surprised. We had a decent week nothing really has changed. We still have two people preparing for bapism on the 20th. They are so awesom and are prepared. They are Shanti and her brother. His name is H and he is a 12 year old b-baller. He's a crack-up. We have so much fun with them. We're really excited for this weekend because I don't think anything will get in the way. The only sad part is that transfers is coming up this Thursday. We don't know who's going yet but I doubt it is me. There is a chance that it is my companion but neither of us wants to go. We don't want to miss out on this baptism especially since we worked so hard for it. It will be the first baptism ths area has had since this area has been opened. We haven't been doing anything really special for P-days lately but we're supposed to be hiking a mountain today which should be fun. The last few weeks we just played sports here at the chapel. Nothing else to report really. Hope everything is going well back home. I still love you all and pray for you everyday. Ofa Atu, Elder Lee