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

E-Mail dated 10/8/12

Kia Ora, How is everyone? Have you all seen General Conference yet? It sounds like there is a lot going on. I haven't gotten to see it yet. We are going to watch it this weekend. I'm pretty excited. I heard they changed the age to go on a mission which is CRAZY! It's been a pretty good week here. We had the opportunity to teach L and her sister, P, about fasting. It was funny because we were just talking with them and then L asked what fasting is. We explained it to her and she said that she wanted to fast for her husband who drinks. She really has a desire to be baptised and everything but it's hard because her husband is holding her back. We are also continuing to work with a Maori/Tongan family. They also have the desire but the dad's not really for it. We notice this week that we are working with a lot of people with family concerns. It's going to be a struggle but it's also rewarding. Hope you are all doing well back home. How is home, Mom? Still lonely? Ofa Atu, Elder Lee

E-Mail dated 10/1/12

Kia Ora, How is everything? Brandon, how are you liking BYUI? Mom, how is being home by yourself? This week has gone very well for me. We are still looking forward to a baptism this weekend so that's exciting. We already took care of the program and everything. We have been working hard to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. We also have another person that we're teaching who is willing to be baptised. Her name is S. She is pretty cool. She is 16, but she is a crack-up. She is very busy for 16 because she does her Kapa-haka almost every weekend. We set her for the 20th of this month to give her a bit of time. It's so exciting all the success that is starting to happen in an area that no one believed it was possible. I guess that shows that anything is possible if we have faith. God is always preparing his children to receive the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. Who do you know that is ready? Even if they're not ready, give them the opportunity to hear the gospel! Hope everything is going well. Love you heaps. Ofa Atu, Elder Lee