It has been a long time but here is an update from New Zealand.

I guess I should explain the pictures. A pheasant jumped out in front of our car the other day.  It did not survive the impact and my companion and I decided to not let the gift go to waste.  We took it home and well.... the pictures tell the rest of the story.

I am now serving in the northern part of my mission and love working among the Maori people here.  It was hard to leave my last area as we had a lot of success and were in the process of teaching many wonderful people about the restored gospel and had several baptisms.  However I know the work will go on and I am excited for the new blessings here in Kaikohe.

We have a new mission president (President Balli) and I had the opportunity to interview with him this past week. I look forward to getting to know him better.  Already I can feel of the great love he has for the missionaries in our mission and for the people we serve here in New Zealand.  

I have learned through recent experiences on my mission that the Lord really does know each one of us and is standing ready to bless us with the things we need  if we are doing what we should and are willing to be humble enough to go to Him and ask for His help.  Sometimes He is just waiting on us to be humble enough to ask.

Kaikohe is a great place and the scenery in northern New Zealand is absolutely amazing.  My district covers all the way to the northern most part of our mission so we get to see a lot of beautiful country.  

I love this work and I love the people of New Zealand.  I hope all is well with family and friends back home. I will try to give Mom and Dad more to share in the future.  

Love Elder Jarnagin

Another Update From Elder Jarnagin

Hearing Elder Anderson speak was amazing.  I had several things that I have been thinking about lately and as he spoke I received answers to some of those questions.  One of them was why have we been working so hard and having success teaching but have not been seeing people enter into the waters of baptism.  Elder Anderson spoke about focusing on the bigger picture and it hit me that all things come in the Lord's time when it comes to this work.  Sometimes all we can do is work hard and share testimony of the restored gospel and leave it to the Lord.  Since applying this change to our approach we have really seen a difference.  We found a couple who are not currently married and began teaching them.  As the spirit has began to work in their lives they have accepted the invitation to get married and be baptized members of the church.  THE LORD'S WORK... THE LORD'S TIME.

I love being a missionary and I love serving in New Zealand.

I am really looking forward to general conference and the opportunity to hear from the prophet and apostles.

I pray that everyone back home is doing well and doing your missionary work.  Members are the key to this work being successful.

Love Elder Jarnagin

Update from New Zealand

Since the last update in December I had the opportunity to talk with my family at Christmas.  It was so good to hear everyone's voices and talk to all the kids.  Glad to hear all is well at home.

Sorry for not updating more often.  Things in New Zealand are amazing.  I have seen so many miracles in the lives of the people here.  Elder Thorpe and I are still together and the work is going great.  We have completed his 12 week training and expected that we might see a transfer but President Lekias decided to leave us together since the work is going so well.  I was called as the District Leader for our district and was quite surprised by that but look forward to the added responsibility and I am glad that the Lord trust me with this call.  

We have seen a lot of success among the people in our area and have found that the best success has come with working with the members in our ward.  We have started going out with the members of the ward council on exchanges and it is amazing how the spirit of missionary work has exploded.  Members really are the key to finding people for us to teach.  We have also had success through our own efforts to find people but having a built in friend to start off helps people make and keep commitments easier.  We are teaching a lot of people and most are progressing well towards baptism.  As we have extended invitations to them to make changes we have seen several real miracles.  There is no question who is in control of this work.  I feel so honored to be a part of helping the Lord move His work forward in New Zealand.

I have worn out 2 pairs of shoes already and thanks to Mom and Dad I just got 2 new pair.  Hopefully I can get more than 4 or 5 months out of these 2.

Elder Andersen of the Quorum of the 12 is coming to New Zealand this week and I am so excited to be able to hear from him in person.  

I have really grown to love the Samoan people.  I wish I could have President Lekias switch me to the Samoan program so I could learn the language and spend all of my mission working with them.  They are amazing and so humble.  They have such a love of family and love for the Lord.

I hope everyone is doing well and that you are doing your missionary work.  So many blessings and miracles are waiting for those who do.

Love Elder Nathan Jarnagin