New Companion and Still Set for Baptisms

22 June 2009
Dear Family,

It was really nice to receive an email from each one of you. That hasn't happened in a while. Thank you Dad for answering my questions about the college information. I also got the letter from Mom about the info on Cal Poly and BYU-I. I think now that i would rather go to Cal Poly for engineering. Maybe enter the military as well, but not too sure on that one.

To answer your first question, I did not get transferred, but Elder Burr did. He is now in Kaitaia training a new missionary from Nevada. His new companion is part Maori, has a lot of whanau down the line in the other mission's boundaries. Its crazy that Elder Burr is training and he's only been out 4 1/2 months. My trainer, Elder Alberts, trained his first companion during his fourth transfer. He'll do great.

My new companion is Elder Grant. He was just in Kaitaia. He has been in the Northland for the same amount of time as I have. He is from Melbourne Australia. He comes from a family of 10 kids. Hes been out about 9 months.

It gets a bit lonely up here and being so far away from other missionaries. Even when i was in Hamilton, we were quite a ways from other missionaries and they usually didn't involve us in activities on Prep days (then again we didn't try too hard to get involved). But I know i am in each of these areas for a reason. In one of my recent interviews, President Porter said that he usually doesn't leave missionaries in the country for so long.

Probably the best thing that happened this week was the baptism of Evan Richards. He was the only convert baptism, but there were two others that were baptized with him. He also had his cousin Liam and his grandfather's nephew Steven baptized with him. I had the opportunity of performing that ordinance. There were loads of people there all supporting the three boys. Next week will be their confirmation, since their baptism was on Sunday.

Last Monday, we had our FHE fall through, so we had to plan some other things. I had a thought to go visit a family that we were planning on seeing Tuesday night, and they were home. We had a great lesson with watching The Lamb of God. It worked out well, because they weren't supposed to be home the next night. They didn't come to church this Sunday, but hopefully soon.

On Sunday night, we visited a family in Moerewa that is less active and one of their sons needs to be baptized. The last couple of lessons have gone well, but the parents have somewhat refrained from participating in the lessons. We were able to have a family discussion on how the gospel blesses families and Elder Grant used a card trick to display how Satan wants us to stop and that he wants us to procrastinate. The lesson was a bit different than normal, but they all participated and we read some scriptures from Mosiah 4 and answered some questions. After the prayer, they all felt a bit better and are looking forward to our next lesson on Thursday (we are booked in the late afternoon for the next several days until then).

We still have some people set for baptism for the next several weeks. We are going to have to be focused and obedient to qualify and receive those blessings. I know you pray for me, but if you could specifically pray for me to be obedient despite the opposition and to have positive faith.

I love you all and thank you for your prayers and for thinking of me. I can't wait to be able to help Blake prepare for his mission so that i can help him. Blake, you can get far by studying the scriptures and recording what you learn and using Preach My Gospel, so that you become a missionary long before you go on a mission. Ka ki te ano. Chau.

Love, Elder Cashmore