July 21st Email

Elder Tibbitts emailed us today and we found out that he is in the "rough part" of his area.  He said his flat (apartment) is a 2 room shed, with an old rusty stove and a washer.  And a shower that drizzles a little bit of hot water.  

We are currently praying for the safety of an old rusty stove...

There are a lot of nationalities in his area.  In the last 3 days he has talked with Tongans, Samoans, Maoris, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Cook Islanders and Tahitian.  He said they keep a record of who they talk to.  So far, in the last 3 days, out of 144 people they have had legitimate conversations with about the church, 1 of them has been interested. He also said they get rejected all day, but he is loving the work.

We learned some New Zealand verbage from him...."coolaz" instead of just cool, or "bigaz" instead of big.  Just put az after a word and there ya go!  

He ate with a Samoan family one night and he said the food just kept coming and coming.  It never ends.  And it's awesome!

He has the only Latino elder in the whole Auckland Mission as his companion.   Elder Tascon from Mexico City.  He loves him.  He only speaks broken English. 

He apparently still has his photogenic-ness....

 ....and we're thinkin' that is one big ol' pineapple  ;)

"It's just hard as hard can be. I think it is similar to how a missionary feels when he comes home. He misses those people he served, and loved, and laughed with, and taught, and prayed for, and struggled through, and everything. I tried my hardest to serve a mission to the Tibbitts family before I left for New Zealand, and over the past few years we've done all those things. You guys were my mission! and because of that, it's just been hard to adjust. but I'm doing really well!" --- Elder Tibbitts

"Ma te Atua koe e manaaki,  Elder Tibbitts!!"

(God is watching over you)