7 Investigators at Stake Conference

15 June 2009
Dear Family,

Good to hear from the whanau. We'll start off by answering mum's last question. Transfers happen to be this week. This transfer has been going so fast that i can hardly believe it. For some reason i feel i may be getting transferred to another area. We shall see. Also, i haven't received your college information yet, but i should be expecting it today. I usually seem to get my mail on Mondays, our preparation day. I will have to ask some questions about all this college stuff later on in my letter.

As far as receiving a birthday card from the Howes, i will have to check my drawer where i keep all my birthday cards and letters. I think i may have, but i can't remember if it was for Christmas or for my birthday. I am quite terrible at responding to letters, but i should have responded to hers if i did get it. I should send a letter to Grandma as well. She sent a beautiful card to me for my birthday.

We had a pretty awesome Sunday. We were able to have seven of our investigators come to church for the Stake Conference in Kaikohe. It was very uplifting, but to be honest it was a bit boring at first, possibly because we were so far in the back sitting with a less active family, and its hard to concentrate the farther one is from the pulpit. I actually had to put my glasses on so that i could see the people speaking. The guest speaker was Elder Smibert (i don't know if that is the right spelling). He used to be the mission president before President Cook. He was very inspiring and was able to correct some false notions that a lot of kiwi members have about raising kids. He basically said that parents don't retire or they shouldn't retire early.

On the way back to Kawakawa from Kaikohe, i had the thought to go see one of the referrals we had from a recent media campaign. We had tried to contact this person last Sunday, but she wasn't home. Again she wasn't home yesterday, but we decided to walk down the country road a bit farther and try a couple more houses. The next house didn't have any adults home, so they said. We then went to the next one. While walking up the driveway, this massive rottweiler comes tumbling off the porch and barking like mad. Then a lady came out and said "We were just saying the other day that we haven't seen Mormons in a while." She then let us in and she happened to be a member of the church and her partner was a non-member. We taught a half hour lesson on the Restoration, and it was one of the best lessons I've had. They were very open and Chris, the husband, had a lot of sincere questions. We gave them a Book of Mormon and taught a lot about how to receive an answer. It was neat how they were placed in our path, because we were supposed to have another lesson around that time and it fell through earlier, but then we found them.

As for the college questions, i would like a better understanding of the following: the different degrees (associates, bachelors, etc) and what each would be useful for; basic knowledge on the SAT and ACT and whether i should take one of them or; if i want a higher degree in engineering, then what are my options; and also, out of curiosity, are there schools that are in Europe and surrounding areas that would be good?

Thanks. Love you all for the great things you do. Have fun with the party.

Love, Elder Cashmore