Happy New Month

Dear my favorite family,

Happy New Year! It's weird to think it's already been another year. What an interesting one it has been! So much has happened, and all for the good, for me, that is. This year will be another wonderful one. I'm quite positive of that, being on a mission and all, it's pretty much guaranteed to be a great year. I hope it's a great one for you all as well! 

This week has been pretty slow, mostly because of the holidays. Kiwis seem to take the whole week between Christmas and New Years as a holiday, not just the 2 official holidays. So being unwanted made the work a bit slower. For New Year's Eve, Elder MacTavish and I partied at our flat starting at 5 pm. President Jolliffe told all of the missionaries that we had to be back at our flat by 5 pm for safety reasons. Starting at 4, Elder MacTavish and I starting hearing more than the usual amount of swear words directed at us, and we realized it was a good thing we were going home soon.

For New Year's, getting drunk is the Kiwi's way of celebrating, which I guess is what most people all over the world do. But luckily, nobody was having a party on New Years nearby our flat, so all was well. As part of our four extra hours of free time, Elder MacTavish and I did our weekly planning. Then we played some random games that you play while driving on vacation. So it was pretty fun. We didn't stay up until midnight though, the lack of sleep wasn't worth it.

And do we have a tradition of Chinese food on New Years in our family? Or am I confused? Because Elder MacTavish cooked us some Sweet and Sour chicken on New Year's Eve, and I realized I was fulfilling tradition! Or isn't the tradition more on New Years Day? Because some ward members brought us some leftovers from their afternoon "barbie" as well as some more Sweet and Sour chicken. So, either way, tradition fulfilled!

Everyone is getting so old! I can't believe Jenny is going to be 12 and going to the temple! That will be so wonderful. And Anna is getting braces as well! And later this year Melissa will be graduating and Katie capable of dating and Sara will be a Mia Maid!

It's not true! Melissa is only 14! and the rest of you ages down from there. Anna is still a 6 year old to me. Oh man.

So the biggest news is that transfers are this Thursday. Elder MacTavish will be going to Wellington, and I will be leading my 2 new companions around the Riccarton area. And yes I said TWO companions! We are going to be in a tri-companionship. It will be weird. But it should be great. Elder Prebble, from Aussie, will be replacing Elder MacTavish as the District Leader. I met him at the Christmas Conference and he's awesome. He's the one right behind my left shoulder in the South Island picture from last week. I will send one of the three of us in the near future. Elder Segi, the other companion is Samoan. I haven't met him. The weirdest part about all of this is that Elder Segi will be in charge of the Wainoni area, which is the Samoan program! So the three of us will be in charge of two areas. Two areas that are separated by two areas in between them. I don't know if any of this makes sense. But it all should by next week, I don't have any details besides this excerpt from the transfer announcement:

Elder Prebble -  Elder Rowe - Elder Segi

Riccarton -Wainoni

And I will be moving house. So it's all very crazy. So next week I will clarify it all, as to how our tri-panionship works, and about what it's like having a car and driving 15 minutes from Riccarton to Wainoni, and whether or not I will be learning Samoan. Yeah crazy. But sweet as.

I do need to share some spiritual things from this week. We saw Rudo twice this week. And we asked her a very important question. "Is there anything that we've taught you, that would make you not want to be baptized?" (It was better phrased than that). She said "No, I just need to know it's true." So she's continually praying for the answer and confirmation from Heavenly Father that everyone who gets baptized needs to get to know the truth. And so when she receives that witness through the Holy Ghost, we will set a baptismal date. The date we have in mind now is Saturday, January 22nd. :) So I will be sure to inform you next week how she's doing.

I think that's about all that's worth reporting. Enjoy your week back at school and work!

Just remember (and I hope it hasn't become cliche):
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay

Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!

Have a wonderful week!

I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe