Father of the Bride Speech for Miriam

 

The Arunsapai family, with Elder Reynolds
on the right and Elder Ceff on the Left

Chapter 4 Missionary Service

After 2 weeks in the Missionary Training Centre (MTC), I couldn’t wait to get into the mission field and actually teach people about the Restoration. Not that the MTC was a bad place to be (although the food was really bad) but I wanted to get out where the real action would be.  I soaked up all I could learn there. Prior to going to the MTC, I had spent almost a week staying in the Temple accommodation and spending as much time as I could in the Temple.

I had heard a little bit about the Temple in my first 18 months as a member of the Church. But it was shrouded in mystique. Sometime before attending the Temple, I had a dream about being in the Temple. It’s too long ago now for me to remember the details of the dream, but I remember feeling distinctly at home in the endowment room of the Temple, feeling like I had been there before.

The MTC lessons were fantastic. We had lots of different guest instructors as well as a young recently returned missionary who was our main instructor. So many times, I felt the Spirit bear witness to me that the Restored Gospel is true.

I’ve been reading my mission journals. I’m so glad I wrote a reasonably good journal of my experiences. One of the guest instructors at the MTC was Bardia Taiapa. He was an excellent instructor – a former Stake President, a Bishop, and at the time he was working for the Church in Public Affairs. I met his son Daniel on Facebook a couple of years ago. It’s a small world in the Church.

One day I sat down for a chat with Nigel Farthing, our main instructor, and Rex Kennerley, the MTC President. It turned out that President Kennerley had served part of his mission in Geelong. It also turned out that he taught and baptized the Holland family in Geelong, which was a family that I was a home teacher for, prior to my mission. I was able to give him their address so he could write to them. That to me is more than a coincidence.  Yes, it’s a small world in the Church, but what are the chances that (a. I happened to be baptized in Geelong (and not perhaps in Queensland), that (b. I was assigned to home teach the Holland family, that (c. I thought to ask Pres Kennerley where he served and (d. he happened to serve in Geelong and (e. meet and baptize the same family. Too many coincidences there in my opinion. Divine intervention is far more likely I believe.

On the last night in the MTC, we had a three-hour testimony meeting. Everyone bore their testimony of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel. The spirit was very strong. When you are in a room of young, committed missionaries who are bearing testimony, you will feel the Spirit bear witness that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Joseph Smith was the prophet of the restoration, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that we have a living prophet on the earth today.

Apart from the older couples in the MTC, the Wallaces and the Shrimptons from Sydney, I was by far the oldest there. One of the Maori Elders, Kevin Watane, told us that he looked up to me as the senior Elder of the group and that I had always set a good example for him. The humbling thing about that was that I had always looked up to him! My MTC companion was Ken Haurua, a Cook Islander. A great guy, an eternal friend, I was going to miss him as he was going to Auckland mission and I was going down to Christchurch.  

After a couple of weeks in the MTC, I flew down to Christchurch, spent the day in the Mission office meeting the President and his assistants. It was a little bit overwhelming to be honest and then towards the end of the day I flew up to Napier to meeting my first companion, Ron Curtis from Monroe, Utah. It was a big day!

I could probably go into a lot of detail about my time as a missionary, particularly if I went to trouble of looking back through my daily planners. It would be boring reading. I’m going to try to remember specific instances in which I felt, either at the time or later, that the work of preaching the Restored Gospel, was true.

Sometimes the Spirit bears witness of the truth at the most unlikely times. I remember one time, later in my mission when I was a Zone Leader, that we had a South Island Mission Conference at Dunedin. As part of the conference, we had an evening of entertainment. Most of the entertainment was provided by us missionaries, while everyone else who was not on stage, was eating. While I was sitting eating, and there was some act on stage, I felt the Spirit bear witness to me of the truth of the Church. It was a strange situation to feel the influence of the Spirit really. It was just a fun night.  But even at a fun night, when you are surrounded by people who are united in the cause of preaching the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, a person can still be spiritually affected, I think. I will always remember the feeling I had that night, although I won’t remember the details of the event.

I remember while I was serving with Elder Reynolds in Canons Creek, Porirua East, that I member came to us asking if we could give her child a blessing. I can’t remember if it was a little boy or girl, but there was a needle stuck in the child’s foot. In the morning, the mother called us to tell us that that the needle came out. I think we were both surprised by it, but I don’t think the mother was – I think she fully expect a miracle to happen. The church members in New Zealand back then had great faith. I’m sure they still do.

Probably all the missionaries serving in New Zealand back then listened to talks by Elder Matthew Cowley, particularly the talk titled “Miracles”. Matthew Cowley served a mission as a young man in New Zealand and I believe was responsible, or at least partly responsible, for translating the Book of Mormon into the Maori language. He returned to serve as the mission president there in his later life, and then after returning home to Utah, was called to the Quorum of the Twelve. He talked of the many miracles he witnessed as he served among the Maori people. One miracle occurred when some young parents asked him to bless and name their son. The parents also asked Elder Cowley to restore the child’s sight, as he was born blind.

Elder Reynolds and I were on the bus one day in Porirua. A middle-aged man approached us and asked us if we had listened to Elder Cowley’s talk. “Of course”, we replied simultaneously. “I am the blind child whose sight was restored after that blessing from Elder Cowley!” After that, it was more than just a story to us, we had met the evidence of the miracle, a real person, getting around on a bus, leading a normal life.

There were many instances on my mission where I felt the Spirit of the Lord guiding us and most importantly confirming the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Thinking back to my time in Cannons Creek, it was certainly the busiest time of my mission. It was also the time that both I and my companion were sick for a long period of time and struggled to do anything. It was also the time when I saw the first fruits of our work with a family being baptised. A family minus the father unfortunately. The family was from Laos. They had escaped Laos, crossing a river, and being shot at by border guards. The mother’s youngest baby was shot and killed in her arms. How they ended up in New Zealand I don’t know exactly, but most likely through a refugee program. I felt sure that the Lord had a hand in bringing them to New Zealand and guiding us to them to teach them.

There were countless “mini-miracles” I witnessed while serving as a missionary. There continue to be miracles in my life today. Dreams I’ve had which have come true, where very specific things were communicated to me, which could only have been placed in my mind by an Eternal Parent who loves and cares for me and wants the best for me. Those same Eternal Parents love and care for you too, but you just may not be aware of that yet. Trust me - I would not lie to you!