Stolen Moments

Yikes! Our bikes were stolen! We went to the mall to try and find me a swimsuit before our appointment with the elders last night. We chained up our bikes right in front of the main entrance and then just walked around the corner for about 20 minutes in this little shop (where I got some super cute flood pants) and when we came back at twenty to seven to head off for our 7 pm appointment, our bikes were gone! We felt really bad when we had to tell Farran. But of course, he was super nice and gracious about it. Whoever stole them just pulled apart our chain. So sad!

Classes are Done!

Yay! Today was our last day of BYU classes! What a relief. Of course we still have to do our assignments during the practicum, but that's okay. This weekend we're going to do some hiking, which I'm excited for because I love to hike. And then next week, we head off to the south island for all the exciting adventures that await us there. I'll try to keep you as updated as I can on all the death-defying activities I participate in. My comp, Estephanie, is the absolute nicest. She is just always serving me and finding little ways to show me that she cares. I keep telling her that she is going to be the best missionary, but she is still not convinced she's going to be a missionary at all. But I'm still working on her. We're going to an appointment with the elders tomorrow night which I am psyched about! It's a 17 year old girl named Teri, and this is the first return appointment. I've been praying for her that she will let us in, and that she will accept our invitation to church the next day. The elders sounded positive about her, so we'll see what happens.
Mumique (my combination of Mum and Monique) bought us some really yummy food today for dinner. Butter chicken. It's an Indian thing I guess, and it was SOOO delicious. She is always thinking of nice things to feed us. She's really great. And you know why else she is great. She always listens to me. When I get home from school, Estephanie usually gets on her computer, and I usually get a glass of water and sit at the kitchen table. And Mumique asks me questions and listens to me ramble on about whatever it is I decided to talk about. She is a very good listener. I think one of my love languages is probably listening. Anyway, I better go, but I just wanted to give you all a little update. I hope you're all doing well! Love, Arisa

The Adventure is Overwhelming!

Hi friends! Sorry I haven't been keeping things very updated here. There is just so much fun stuff going on that it's hard to remember to write. I should actually probably be writing my science paper right now, but it can wait. So, this last weekend was high adventure! We went off-roading in a jeep through the mountainous jungles of New Zealand to our own little private beach cove where the water was perfectly crystal clear and the sand was pure and white. The water was warm too! Oh my goodness gracious, I felt like I was in heaven! The next day we went to another beach for the ward party, and one of the ward members was letting us all have a turn trying to surf. I stood up-twice! The first time I stood up and then fell off right away, but after some more practice and some more falling, I stood up again, and stayed up for at least fifteen seconeds, all the way to the shore! It was so awesome! I love surfing! It is kind of addicting cause you just want to keep going and keep waiting for the perfect wave. It is so fun. Anyway, so this weekend was so super fun. And I only have two more days of BYU classes! Hallelujah! Next week we take two weeks of traveling around the different great places of New Zealand, which I'm super excited for. And then when we get back, we start our practicum. Oh man, I wish I had time to tell you about ALL of the wonderful little adventures and miracles that are happening, but there just isn't time! I love you and and hope you're having a blast wherever you are!

This was last night at the beach in downtown Auckland. I had a nice long walk on the beach with one of the guys that came on the bus. We talked and talked... It was oh-so-romantical!

Perfect Weather

Hello family and friends. I just wanted to catch you up on how life has been for me since I left for New Zealand. In a nutshell, it has been fabulous! We had a layover in Fiji, which was absolutely beautiful, and super fun as we were greeted in the airport with four Fijians playing the eukalalees and singing to us as we waited in line for our transfer check-in. Then we flew the three more hours to NZ and got to the airport. Nobody was there to pick us up, and we didn't really know what to do, so we just sat around and waited. I suggested we stand up and sing I Am A Child of God to attract any members, but my traveling companions weren't too fond of that idea. So we just kept waiting, until our family found us!They are SO wonderful and super fun to be with. Monique is Maori (the natives to NZ) and Farren is Samoan--they are the Fitisemanu family. Farren is the bishop of one of the family wards here. They have five children: a 19 year old girl Shahn that lives away from home, a 17 year old girl Klyne that lives at home for now, a 15 year old girl Raven, a 9 year old son Mosiah, and a 4 year old girl named Shantell, but they call her Mini as a nickname. Except when they say Mini, it sounds like they're saying Money. It's pretty funny. We started our BYU classes, which we take at the chapel. Our teacher comes in and teaches us for three hours in the morning, we get a lunch break, and then our other teaches us his class for another three hours. It is pretty intense way to do school, but I am grateful for it because we will only be doing BYU classes for the first month that we are here.
Last night we joined one of the families in the ward for their son's 21st birthday (which is a big deal here). They rented a big party bus and we drove the bus around downtown Auckland which was really fun. I think we met most of the guys from the singles ward, which was really fun. Apparently singles ward activity increases immensely when the BYU girls come.
Today the other girls all went to the beach with Dr. Jacobs, but Monique invited us to come with her to the market and her niece's first birthday party. So we decided to go with her. The market was so fun, and I got a bunch of cool things that I'd love to tell you about, except for then all your presents won't be a surprise. So just trust me when I say it was really fun to go shopping at the market. Then we went to this one year old's birthday party, which I was excpecting just to be some small little family party. Um, no. It was like a quinceanera. They decorated and set up the cultural hall in the chapel like a carnival with games and prizes and even had a jumping castle outside. There were a bunch of people there, and it was almost all just family. Whanau (pronounced fahn-oh) means family, extended family. So it was a huge party, and they had TONS of really great food. It was so awesome. I was in charge of the bowling game and so I spent most of my time setting up bowling pins, and resetting up bowling pins. It was super fun! It is really fun to hang out with our mom, Monique. I'm really sleepy though. I fell asleep in the car on the way home. And tonight we're just chillin', trying to digest all that food! Hope everything is well with ya'll!