You get summer, I get winter...

Wow!  I didn't even know it was Memorial Weekend!  Lucky for you guys, summer is starting.  I am going into winter again!  It has been really starting to get cold here.  I am excited but sad at the same time!  It s hard riding a bike in the cold because you start off cold with your jacket on, then you start riding, then get really hot, then go into a members really hot house!  So, it is a lot of just taking of and off jackets all the time!  Thank you so much for the pictures, but I am still missing a waterpolo team I coached, and swimming pictures.  Thanks so much.

So much is happening at home!  I need you to send me a list of all my friends who are out on missions and where they are.  People will say something about the Philippines, and then I think awww, I know someone on a mission there, but I don't remember who!  Anyways, enough about my terrible memory.  

I have been having a rough time with my bike this week.  3 holes in one tire!  I think I have worn the tread off of my back tire.  Now, I am probably going to have to buy a new tire.  I have started to carry around a bike pump just in case I get another flat, then I can pump it up till we make it to our next destination.  

This week people have been falling through on their promises!  We thought we were going to have 3 new investigators at church yesterday, but only one showed up so we are going back this week to ask them what is up.  I think people are scared of the church more than the world.  It is just weird.  But, Ryan is still very excited for his baptism on Saturday.  I can't believe it is already here!  He asked Elder Dorius to baptize him, and I will be giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday at church!!!!  So it is going to be a big weekend for us!  

I got the letters from you this week!  I love the talk you gave me from President Hinckley!  I am almost done.  It is really good.  It is everything that is being pushed  really hard over here in our mission right now.  It is cool to see the President Hinckley saw the same vision of things 10 years ago. [Here is a link to the talk I sent him]

We are going to play basketball with our district today, so we will be making a big bike ride.  I figured out it is 9K to get to Napier City one way.  I have no idea how many miles that is but I am loving biking now, it is fun!  

How are my bank accounts going?  I gave one of my ties to Ryan, so I just had to buy a replacement last Monday.  It is a cool Maori tie!  Totally worth it!  

Well, I love you guys and I hope America has a little bit better luck this week.  I also hear there was a tornado in Texas, Is that right?  I don't really know if I trust the news I hear over here from the members.  I hope Grandma wasn't close to the tornado in Oklahoma.  Everyone here says that the US is a dangerous place to live.  It is starting to sound like it.

I love you!
Elder Tuckett

The weeks are flying by!

This week was so amazing with my new companion.  He reminds me of Cameron Stoker [one of his best friends, and college roommate] so much.  He has the same attitude and everything!  It is really cool to see.  He is changing this Ward like no other, it is so cool to see.  He is also in love with soccer so I might just start calling him Cameron.  His dad was also asked to be a mission president like Cameron's too, but he couldn't because he still has little kids.  So, yea it's Cameron all over.  

You are going to have to keep a list of all the movies I need to see when I get home.  How many are there already?  And thank you for getting me the pictures, you can just email them if you want.  We print out photos every week to use as thank you cards for the members and investigators, so I can just print them here, but whatever is easiest.   

This week was amazing!  To start off.... I lost my wallet. After talking with you I dropped it on the sidewalk!  But like usual, God was watching over me and someone took it to a store (that we weren't even close to) so one of the workers brought it to us that night!  Thank goodness I put my address here in Napier on my drivers licence.  I wonder how many times I can lose my wallet and a random person will bring it back. [too many to count.... serious, luckiest kid on the planet when it comes to people returning lost things to him.] So that was a good start to the week.  

We did a lot of door knocking this week and I loved it!  People say the craziest things.  We went on splits with members on Saturday (my companion went with a member and I went with a member and we do different things, it is a nice break from being with the same person 24/7)  and so we were knocking and this old lady answered the door and asked "What is your problem?' and I said "Excuse me?" and she said it again, and I just said well we don't have a problem, we are just from The Church of...etc, and she slammed the door!  It is crazy how rude people can be to someone just knocking on their door.  There are so many stories I can tell from knocking on doors!  It is usually the hard hearted old people that think they know everything.  But it was such a great week!

Ryan, our investigator from China has progressed so much this week it is so great!  We asked him during our lesson how he felt and he pulled out his phone and looked up some Chinese words and looked up and said "I feel holy".  It was the coolest experience to see that.  He is learning so much and so fast it is beautiful.  Yesterday he passed his baptismal interview so he is getting ready for his baptism on June 1st!  We still have a lot to teach him but he is definitely ready!  After knocking all week we have 4 really good potential investigators that we are catching up with tomorrow to teach them and see if they are really interested.  So, wish us luck that we may be heard and the spirit can tell them that these things are true!   I am so excited for tomorrow!  I love this work that we are doing!  Our couple that we have been teaching might be moving.  We are praying they don't move and leave us.  We did some service with them this week cleaning their house for a move, but they said they are still not sure.

Hope all is well with all of you guys.  Yesterday we delivered the wood to the homes so this week we are cutting more up.  I love service! [Again, the Lord is watching over him -- he has seen two really bad accidents using the log splitter -- one in fact where he witnessed a finger being sawed off, I am just waiting for a phone call in the night telling me he has lost a limb giving service]

This week flew by for me!  It seems like I just talked to you two days ago.  I love you guys so much!  I hope you keep doing the simple things of reading your scriptures and praying!  Every less active member we visit, the only reason they are less active is mostly because of those things!  They don't gain faith every day from doing these things.

Love, 

Your Favorite,

Elder Tuckett

New Companion

Stake Conference was this weekend, which meant that we got to spend some time with President and Sister Kezerian.  I am standing next to my new companion....and Sister Kezerian is on my left.

Mother's Day

We were able to Skype with Ryan for 1 hour today.  That was a FAST hour!  Oh how we miss and love Elder Tuckett!  He has a new companion whom he LOVES!  He is from Utah, and they are so similar, both swimmers, water polo players, lifeguards, baseball and soccer players. He is excited to have a companion that knows how to work. 

We had a list of questions for him -- Here are some of them and some of his answers:

Do you like getting email or regular mail?  I like both, but it is nice to have regular mail so I can take my time at reading it.  We go to the Internet cafe and we usually only pay for an hours worth of Internet (today, he paid for 120 minutes -- splurging for the skype session, he hasn't changed, he is still frugal) So hint:  EVERYONE NEEDS TO WRITE HIM!!!!! (or email)

What are typical days for you?  We study in the mornings, then each day has a certain thing that we do.  They range from pdays, to splits with the zone leaders, giving service, church, etc.   He said that they had Stake Conference this weekend and the Mission President "rebuked" the members telling them that they need to find people for the missionaries to teach.  

Are you more outgoing?  Yes, Going up and knocking doors, and talking to people makes you have to not be so shy.  

What are you eating, what is the grossest thing you have eaten?  The food is pretty good, but the thing that I hate is chicken with bones -- that is all that they have here and it grosses me out.  We eat at a members house most every night.  Only a couple of times have they cooked on their own, if they do it is like eggs and sausage or noodles.  He just found out that he has eaten lamb the past three Saturdays.  He said that it tastes like tough roast beef.  

What is your favorite part about your mission?  Being not "in the world" -- in other words, dedicating every waking hour to the service of the Lord.  

Do you have all the clothes that you need, is it getting cold?  Yes, it is getting cold, I am going to go get a long sleeve sweater and hoody today.  I wish that I brought 2 pairs of slip on shoes and no tie shoes.  

What do you do at church?  We (either the Sr. Couple, or them)  speaks in Sacrament every 3rd Sunday, it is missionary Sunday.  I am getting better at giving talks.  Our ward is so small -- there are no young men, so we prepare the sacrament each week and bless it too.  

How is your investigator you have been teaching?  He is awesome!  We have been teaching him a couple times a week.  We have a baptism date set for June 1st.  Our other new member received the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday in Stake Conference.  I was so happy for him!

These are just a few of the things we talked about.  I love the technology that allows us to Skype with him.  He looks great.  And more importantly, he is happy -- he is loving his mission and being in New Zealand.  

Some final words --  I miss you guys, but really not that much, I love it here!  and God Be With you until Christmas!

We love you Elder Tuckett!

"I speak good English"

Awww --- It sound like you guys did a lot of good work for those missionaries in Central America!  That is crazy cool!  I think that because you guys did all that great work, we got a king of an investigator.  His name is Ryan and he is from China.  He just keeps saying "I know Mormon church is true"  His English stinks, but it is so much fun teaching him!  He keeps telling Elder Godinet that his English is bad and then looks to me because I have good English.  It is so funny!  He is here to learn English, then he wants to go to BYU - Utah so I have been helping him learn English and fill out his application form which is bringing back memories!  We set a baptism date for June 1st but we will see.  I love him so much!  We have the same name!  Every time someone calls him, I look.  So, I still know my first name, thank goodness!  I thought that  I would have to start to just use my last name when I got back home.  Elder Godinet is leaving this Thursday, I will be leading in this area Woot!  I am so excited!

I am pretty sure I will be calling you on Monday (your Sunday) at the Christianson home, about this time.  We can use Skype, so If I can figure it out, we can Skype.  I will be with my new companion from America so we will see what he wants to do.

The time is seriously going so fast.  It is flying.  It does not feel like I have been here for 4 months.  And sad news, we are losing the car for good.  It is going down south where some other Elders need it.  So, I think me and my companion get to go for another 2 hour car drive south tomorrow.

We went and did more wood on Saturday with those big logs again!   We are half way done!  I got to work the wood splitter which was so much fun!  I should have taken pictures, sorry.  When we left every one was still going hard and we found out on Sunday after we left our Bishop smashed his hand on the splitter machine I was working on!  He had to stay overnight to get surgery on it, but we called him and he is alright, he just can't use his hand at all and they are just waiting to see if he damaged any nerves!  So we are hoping he will be fine.  It was so fun, but lots of hard work.  Everyone is going to have plenty of wood this winter which is great.

There was a big fight between one of our investigators and a member which really made us mad.  We are just waiting for him to get married to his wife (who is a member) then he will get baptized.  But the member and him work together and they got in a fight so we are stuck in the middle and just want to tell the member to get lost, but we can't.  So we are stuck in between a rock and a hard place!  We will just have to wait and see what happens.

I can't believe Brady Boren had 8 baptisms in a week [his friend in Mexico] I think that would set a record over here!  Did I tell you how many baptisms they had in this area for the whole last year? Only 3 baptisms for the year 2012 and they were all in December.  I think the area has changed a bit and we hopefully be getting a lot more.

Anyways, it isn't a vacation here all the time -- we do some fun work!  I love you Mom and I can't wait to talk to you next week!!

Elder Tuckett

They call me Joseph....

[Sorry this is late, Ray and I have been in Central America the last week, and I was so dog tired at the end of each day, I could not get this updated]

No big speeches this week.... Just 3 pictures and some words.  All is well though, I hope we get to skype on Mothers Day, that sounds like the easiest.  But, since I don't know how to work Skype, I may just call.  I look the same, don't worry.  We will figure it out.  I got my package this week.  Thank you so much.  I am loving the candy, it is just making me fatter.  I am excited to start using the warm clothes.  However, it has gotten warm again this week, so I don't know when I will start using them.  I like it hot though!  I am loving the deodorant and the food that you put in there too.

It looks like you are having fun in El Salvador.  I can't believe the guys with machine guns outside the church, and those shops on the side of the street -- I bet there are bugs all over that food.  Cameron is going to have some culture shock.  New Zealand isn't that bad.  Just a big island with people who are lazy.  I met a lot of Maori people this week at a funeral.  It was so different but very interesting.  I just wish that I knew what they were saying.  There were a lot of speeches and songs.  We went with a member that spoke the whole time for us thank goodness.  And then like after all speeches here, there was a little song.  We sang "Families Can Be Together Forever", which I almost cried during.  It was so cool and spiritual in that room with non-members and members!  It was so great!  I just wish I knew how to  speak Maori!  There aren't that many people that can speak Maori, it is so sad.  I have more of a chance of learning Samoan, which I am going to try once I find someone who wants to teach me.  My companion gave up on me.  So, I will find someone else.  Or maybe get a book.

This is my picture from my new drivers licence!  Which I am in LOVE with!!!  I love driving.

And this is a picture of Joseph Smith that our newly baptized member drew.  He calls me Joesph Smith because I am white and I know a lot about the gospel.  He is pretty funny but he is doing really good and has already blessed the sacrament twice and this week he is getting the Melchizedek priesthood which makes me really excited for him!

This is a crazy cool sunset this week taken outside our flat!  It is starting to get dark around 5:30 now and it totally stinks, but it is a lot cooler riding our bikes at night which is good.  I am pretty sure President Kezerian hinted that I will be staying here in Napier for 5 more months.  I told him I heard that this is the flattest area to ride bikes in and I am loving it!  Then he wrote back that he will make sure to put me in the hilliest area in 5 months... so I got a while here I guess.  We will see though, that could just be throwing me off because we find our who is getting transferred next week.  The transfer date is the 9th!  We are going to play basketball with the rest of the district today.  (I don't like basketball, I would rather play cricket again)  It should be fun to be with all of our district though!  I am excited for that!

I love you!!!

Elder Tuckett