Surprise!

I guess I lied last week and told you that I would be emailing on Tuesday.  President told us that we would be meeting with Hamulas today, but it is not happening until tomorrow, it was obviously a mix up.  So, I am emailing you today!  [what he does not know is that the Hamulas were sick, and They were going to cancel their trip, but Joyce said, NO, we have to go see Ryan!  So, they just waited until they were feeling better and postponed their trip a couple days, which I am sure is what caused the change of days for Ryan.  Joyce and I have been texting all week and she can hardly wait to see him.  I know he is going to be so happy to see them.  If I can't be there, the next best thing is sending your best friend, whose husband happens to be the Area President of the Pacific. ]. Anyway, we are leaving for Dunnedin right after emailing.  We will spend the night with members, then have meetings in the morning.  I am so excited to see them.  I hope they just run up and give me a hug, and everyone will be like wow... You know the Hamulas!  [what he also doesn't know is that Joyce is bringing him a big package, I just got a picture of his mission presidents wife holding it and he is going to be so surprised!!!!]. I am also excited that Julie is going to Japan tomorrow.  So exciting.  [Julie is Hamulas daughter and Mary's best friend]. 

I got some mail from you this week.  I love getting mail.  Thank you so much for sending me mail!  Send me Paula's address, I want to thank her for all of the postcards I am getting from her.  I got the church magazines you sent and Cameron's letter.  Again, I love the mail, even though my companion is feeling like his family doesn't love him.  Maybe you could write a letter with his name on it.... Ha ha... 

If you can in the next package, I need some razor blades, I looked here, and the refills were $50.  I could also use some of my pens and deodorant.  My clothes are doing good, much better than my companions who just came out.  My white shirts are still white, but are starting to get a bit wrinkly, I might have to iron.  One of my long sleeve shirts button broke, so I will sew it back on.  My pants have a few cuts on them from the bike chain, but they are still good.  Some of my pockets have holes, but I am learning to sew, don't worry, they are an easy fix!  Shoes are getting worn, but still good.  You can just put money in my account if I have to get something, and I could also buy some ginger beer which is my favorite drink in New Zealand!  

I have started reading Jesus The Christ.  I really got into studying it this week. It is the best book in the world!  I am reading in the middle now where it is talking about all of the apostles individually.  It is so cool. I now make free time for reading that book!  

I love you so much Mom, I miss you too!   But I love this work. The work is still going great!  The meeting today and tomorrow has cancelled about 5 meetings that we had, but hopefully we can get them all re-scheduled.  My companion is doing great and is growing a lot.  He wishes that he was in a high baptizing place and a place that teaches every hour of the day, but he is slowly learning that New Zealand is the place to be!  

And guess what?  Springtime is here!!!!

I love you all!

Elder Tuckett

Pics for the week... Most of these are from a little city called Glenorchy where we were this week.  There were a lot of Lord of the Rings sights.  

  Can you see how blue this water is?

I think this is the biggest sheep I have ever seen!

This is a cat on my lap where we have been teaching a blind lady.  She also has a mini horse that we take on walks.  She is a wonderful lady and has had many trials in her life!  

Three Cars

I think that this is the only picture I took this week.  So, yes, it is still beautiful here in Queenstown.  

This week was fantastic!  I don't know happened, but we got 4 investigators this week!  Some seem totally ready to come to the restored church of Jesus Christ bit a few are still needing some faith in our Savior and his atonement.  But, it's all good, we can help them.  

Yesterday was the most interesting day of the week!  I love Sundays because we do not have time for mess ups in our planning.  We had three people to teach one right after another.  It was just wonderful!    The first couple were a little stuck in their ways so it was a little rocky at first,  but we left them with a good spirit.  Our second appointment fell though, but the last one, we helped an educated man about the bible understand why we need the priesthood and authority to baptize.  So it was a wonderful day of teaching, and at the end of the day we went to another faith's church service with our branch mission leader.  And had a good time there seeing how other people worship.  The service was all about evolution and the creation which was very interesting.  Every church seriously does have some truths in it, but I am so grateful that I have the full gospel of Jesus Christ.   So, this pastor invited a man from Australia to come and teach because he had some sort of special degree and right after the closing prayer/chant, he came straight to us and we had a great talk. He started by bashing the Book of Mormon, but we did end up on a good spirit.  So that was the highlight of my week.

And. now, it just got better because you guys all got to go to the temple this week [we were in San Diego with Mary and did baptisms]. And, I am guessing grandma is all good because you mowed her lawn!  Plus, I got a letter from you mom this week, that made my day!  

I found out that I am going to stay here in Queenstown for another transfer this week with my same companion.  Transfers are on Wednesday, I don't know why, but we are losing only one person in our district, and we are getting a set of sisters!  Excited about that.  

The Hamulas....  They come next week!  I believe on Monday.  They will be coming to Dunedin, so we will be traveling over there.  My goal, is to tell no one that I know them, they probably won't believe me.    The meeting is Monday, so I will be emailing you on Tuesday,  but I bet Joyce will be texting you before that!  Elder Hamula is going to try to do personal interviews with all of the missionaries.  I hope I pass and won't take too much time trying to get caught up on everything.  

Another amazing thing is that I got to drive a 2013 Chevy Cruise. We have three cars here at the flat right now.  One we are selling, one that the church just bought, and we are keeping one.  So I am loving life here with three cars.  One old, one sorta new, and one flashy one!  I hope we get to keep the brand new one!  We will see.  I love driving, and now I have three cars.... So many blessings!
  

I Still haven't gotten Kylie's package.  I probably won't get it this week either as they don't send out mail on transfer weeks.  I had 19 emails today, that was a lot, and not enough time to respond.  

I love you and miss you, and thank you for the long, beautiful email!  

One faith, One Lord, one God,

Elder Tuckett

Into the water, I go

It was a successful baptism!!!  The heater for the portable baptismal font was not ready, so we had to travel 4 hours round trip to Gore for the baptism.  Unfortunately, that meant that there were very few  members there, but it still turned out great!  There were 4 families from the branch that came!  I was able to baptize her and her husband confirmed her.  It was my first time to baptize someone, I would definitely recommend going to do baptisms for the dead to practice before your mission, and remember to tell people to bend their knees.    We got a ride from Lee and Mark [the lady getting baptized], and Lee talked the entire way there, she was so excited.  She is so funny!  On the way back, we took the top off of the car, so all that we could hear was the wind!  She has a 4 seater convertible, so it was pretty sweet!  

On Friday, we had to sprint home riding our bikes and it was freezing cold, so because of the cold air, I have a cold.  I haven't been feeling the best this week, so hopefully I will get some rest today and I will be back to 100% soon.

I miss you so much!  I was looking at all my pictures this week, and I realized how much I miss you all.    It has been a challenging week.  We have had a hard time catching people and finding new investigators.  Hopefully we have hit rock bottom and we are headed up from here.  After the trial of our faith, the miracle happens, and I have a feeling a miracle is coming soon.  

I also miss my old companion -- however, my trainee tries 100% all the time, so that is cool to see.  

I am going to be so depressed when I have to leave Queenstown, it is seriously, the most beautiful place I have ever been.  I love it here!

My companion, he does whatever I ask, even if it is carrying the poster board to the church on his bike

I love you all -- 

Elder Tuckett

[sounds like he could use a letter]
Drop him a line at the addresss below:
Elder Ryan Tuckett
New Zealand Wellington Mission
325 A The Terrace
P.O. Box 24327, Manners Street
Wellington, 6142
New Zealand

We have a font, Let's have a baptism!

This my friends, is a portable baptism font!  

So -- I still haven't gotten a package from Kylie yet!  I got heaps of mail this week too -- however, no package.  This mail came right when I needed it the most.  This week was really hard for me.  There was so much stress with the President here, then the Zone Leaders too -- I thought I just missed my companion, but then he came back and decided I missed Elder Edwards [his last companion]!  He had fun and we got a lot of work done!  My companion now doesn't know how to have fun and do work at the same time.... it's depressing. 

But, things are going great.  On Thursday, I got the most mail I have ever gotten on one day so far!  I got 5 letters!!!! 3 from you, Mom (this is the most exciting person to get mail from), and 2 from my 2nd family (Paula and Bekah).  It made my week a lot better -- thank you guys so much for mailing me letters.

We are still planning for the baptism this weekend here in Queenstown this time!  So .... no long drives!  The girl is totally looking forward to it and I am excited for her to experience it.  We also have a great investigator that I believe is getting super close to baptism.  We had a faith building lesson with him yesterday, with one of our members!  He is diligently looking for Jesus Christ's church and I hope he gets his answers soon!  I believe he will because he says he is asking the man upstairs about everything we teach!  And, he is reading the Book of Mormon like no other investigator I have ever seen!  So, I believe he will find out that it is the truest book on the earth for himself.  

This week we are going to try a new way of finding investigators here in Queenstown.  The Zone Leaders gave us the idea to go to the busiest place in the town, and we are going to set up a bucket lesson and try to teach very fast the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am excited to see how that turns out!  It is going to be like a little booth, but instead of standing on a soap box, we will be on the ground hopefully having conversations with people.  So wish us luck!  We usually just get referrals for other missionaries all around the world since we are in a tourist town -- so we will see how this turns out.

Also Mom -- I need a new watch in my next package.  It will be great to see what you can come up with.... do your best.... [love the confidence he places in me]  The three cheap ones I brought are all broken.

Today, we are going to  Lord of the Ring sight -- I am excited but scared because it looks like a long hike!  It should be fun!

Love you,

Elder Tuckett

The lake was so blue when we were riding to email today!

P.S.  I get an email from Ryan [the guy he baptized in Napier] every week.  It always pretty much says the same thing -- here is this weeks.  I love him and miss him so much.[He is from China and is still learning English]

Dear Tuckett,
Have you received those pictures I sent?  Tuckett, I really miss you very very much.  You gave me a very good memory in New Zealand.  You are a very good man, I hope I can become your very good friend in our life because it was God let me meet you and let you guide me join the church.  I was very sad when you leave Napier, I hope you will go to Utah for me, I wants to meet you in Utah, I have lots of things want chat with you and I wish you will take me to travel your hometown and the Statue of Liberty.  Can you take me?  Remember I will not forget you, you are very easy going, I want becoming your real friend.  I will go to Utah next month and I have gotten the student visa, and I also hope you will go to China.  I like to email you, but sometimes if I go to traveling, or I can not use Internet, I will not email you, but if I get time I will email you every day, you just reply to me once a week is enough.  Can you promise me that you will meet me in Utah?

Ryan

[this is the sweetest note I have read in a long time]

The Great and the Terrible

I can't believe that it is almost time to hear our Prophet again at General Conference!  Our President is telling us to get ready to invite people to General Conference in our buildings.  So, it is coming.... Who are you going to invite?

Yes mom.....  I was just thinking this week that I need more people to write me.  Thank you for getting Kylie and her family to write a random missionary who they only have met a couple of times!  I hope they and everyone else that I sent postcards to this week gets them and I hope they don't get lost in the mail.  I would love to know when you guys get them.  

So, this week was both great and terrible!  Bad news first, the baptism didn't go through.  The husband of the lady getting baptized was not well enough to take the long drive (2 hour) to Gore, so they cancelled it the morning of the baptism.  So, we pushed it bak to the 31st of August so hopefully he feels better.  So that is good and bad news.  Reset the date, but missed the first one.  We also got a portable baptismal font, so we might be able to have the baptism in Queenstown.  [I asked him what a portable font was, and he said to google it -- he said they use them at the "rocking out" churches, where people just come up to the front to be baptized.]  It would be better for them if we can do it here.  

Yesterday we also had the District President at church and there were like 15 people at church and it was wonderful!  it actually started feeling like there is a branch there!  Most of the seats were taken and I loved it!  Until I had to teach the Sunday School lesson -- more people means more pressure.  But it was wonderful!

Next week we have our President coming.  He is coming Tuesday/tomorrow.  I have been freaking out getting read for him to come to town!  Then the rest of the week we will be on exchanges with the Zone Leaders so I will be running things in Queenstown this week!  So things are going great hear in beautiful Queenstown.

Last P-day, we hiked up that Queenstown Mountain so we got some crazy good pictures of the city.  This is downtown  Queenstown that we pass through a lot.  It is a big city for New Zealand!  We hiked up which took 45 minutes but it was straight up so we were dead tired after that hike so we took the Gondola back down.  It cost $15 but was totally worth it -- It was a terribly hard hike up.  

I feel so blessed to be serving in beautiful Queenstown!  It is the best area in the south!  Many missionaries have told me I am so blessed!  I believe it!

I love and miss you --

Elder Tuckett

Excerpt from Mary's letter:

I made some awesome cookies like as good as Mother's cookies -- [they made them for the baptism that didn't happen]  So we had to eat them all -- it was great, but now I am so fat!  Everyone loved the cookies and kept asking where I bought them! But, nope there was and American cookbook at our flat that had snickerdoodles and chocolate cookie recipe so we took like an hour making those 2 cookies and they were great -- So proud of myself!

 

Coming down on the Gondola. 

I am getting in the water!!!!!

My week was amazing!!  This week just flew by!  We have been running around trying to put Lee's baptism together and make sure she is all ready and also teaching my companion/son all that he needs to know and do.  It has been super fun!  Thank goodness, the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency has returned so that he can handle the branch and can take care of things there.  However, yesterday, we did learn how to do tithing because you need two people to do it!   We had 7 members at church yesterday, and 3 visitors.  Finally, the members out numbered the visitors!  Elder Richardson gave the talk and taught Sunday School, so I had the week off!  I love him!  He is so hard working and knows his gospel principles!  He is still building muscles on the bike though, but he has started out in one of the hilliest areas around.  He is doing good though!

Yesterday, we started putting together the baptismal program and we asked Lee who she wanted to baptize her, and her husband was like "You, of course!"  I am so excited!  So, it looks like I am going swimming this weekend!  Exciting!  Maybe I could do some laps!  (just kidding, I wish)  It is going to feel so weired though, I haven't stood in water in over 7 months!  It is going to be great though!  The baptism is this Saturday at 1 pm in Gore (2 hours away).  Hopefully we can get some members come to support her.  

I am going to go to the post office to mail a lot of letters today.  I have about 7 things to send in the mail.  Hopefully it won't cost too much!  

Thank you for keeping a list of movies that I will want to watch when I am home.  Sounds like I am going to be in my room watching movies for a while.  I will see if I ever really watch them or have time for that.

Time is seriously flying by.  It feels like Christmas is around the corner!  So excited to see you guys again!  Then it will be my year mark, how crazy is that?  It is so weird to think about, it is far off, but not really.  

I miss you so much and I love you guys out the wazoo!  

Your favorite missionary, 

Elder Tuckett

Lots of deer and a HUGE cow!!!

My City --- Sometimes we might just have too much fun!  

Such a beautiful place!

Love this place!

More of my beautiful city....

Spiritually exhausted

[he was obviously so exhausted that he forgot to write us a letter, i guess the mid week letter counted, right?, just a couple pics this week]

My son is here!  Here is Elder  Richardson. He is from Boise, ID!  He is wonderful and practically already trained!  I just have to get him used to the mission life.  It is so much fun being a trainer but so exhausting!  Not physically exhausting, but spiritually and emotionally exhausting!  It is weird to explain.  I totally understand  everything that my missionary father (trainer) did now!

We had a blast this week. But had to say good bye to Elder Edwards and Elder Christianson!  Here we are putting four bikes on a 2 bike bike rack. 

Here we are sitting on a bench.... We have been busy working this week so not many pictures. 

I miss you guys!  How does Dad feel about retiring from the Air Force?  I hope we still get our military discounts!  Tell him I love him!  Don't worry, I love you too mom!  You two are my heros!  

I love you!

Elder Tuckett