8 Months on a Mish!

Aloha mai e kuʻu ʻohana i aloha nui ʻia!!!!
What's up my weekly subscribers 😊 first off, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the birthday wishes!!!!! I'm so grateful for each & everyone of you who took time to write me & send your love. It was such a great birthday week for sure full of tender mercies & little miracles. It was a busy week. Last week Monday, we had zone Pday before transfers. It was fun but sad at the same time cuz so many changes were happening to our zone. Change is good though!!! 

My Polynesian Peeps!

Tuesday we went & did service at the food pantry. Always super fun. We even got to talk to another guy that works there about our missions & our religion. He ended up asking how him & his wife could sign up to be missionaries. It was cute! We're gonna try & see if he wants to maybe learn more about the gospel. I don't even know his name (I know terrible), but we'll figure it out! After service, we went tracting to seek out old potential investigators & also less actives. It was super hot but nonetheless, it was fun. Got to meet a nice family who gave us water & also invited us to come back. It was great! Wednesday was transfers. We went & did service with sweet Sister Greco. We helped her set up her class room & she also ended up treating us to lunch. Score! We even had an awesome lesson about how we should never give up on anyone if they fall away from the church & the gospel. We should love them & continue to pray & fast for them & believe me, Heavenly Father will answer those prayers. He always does! Not on our time, but on his time.

Can you believe it? Me and a Lemur? LOL!

Later that night, we had dinner at  La Casa Villarreal. Shout out to them for going out of their way to make my birthday a special one. It was a total surprise. I honestly wasn't looking forward to it since I'm away from the ones I love the most but they truly made it one to remember. Mahalo nui!!!! ❤️ 

Thursday we went & helped set up for this activity called Granny's Attic. It's where a whole bunch of people from the stake come together & donate clothes & all kinds of stuff that they no longer need. Then people can come & take them all for free. Like a mini garage sale but for free. It was fun! Then we did weekly planning. Then we went & did service for Paulette. It was fun too!! We got to talk about church & we also gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon & invited her to read it. Then we set up an appointment to come back the next day & teach her more. It was awesome!! After dinner, we went & taught the activity day girls about missionary work & what we do as missionaries. We also got to teach them a game we learned on the mish which was chair soccer. We thought we would go easy on them but these little girls don't mess around. It was so much fun!!!! They're crazy & I love it. Friday we had our first Zone Council for this transfer. Lots of changes happened to our zone. Change is good! After zone council, we went to go visit a possible potential but she had to reschedule. We ended up having dinner with Paulette & Becky. They made seafood!!!!! Crab legs, shrimp & corn 😍 I was a happy camper for sure. It was such an awesome visit with them. We talked more about the Book of Mormon & Paulette even said, "y'all just might convert me!" We replied with, "hey we'll take you up on that offer." Please pray for her that she'll have a desire to learn more about the gospel.

Saturday we helped out at Granny's Attic. That's was fun. We even got to meet some people who aren't members that came & we got to talk to them about what we do as missionaries & stuff. After lunch, we went & tried more former potentials & less actives. Then we went & helped Christy Blackburn make get well cards for her friend's baby. Sister Cotton came on exchanges with us & they seemed to have hit it off. It was a great visit! After dinner, we met with the Twendele family & the Fort Worth elders who over see the French & Swahili speaking people, came along with us. We taught them the plan of salvation & it was so awesome!!! They kept saying, "We know the book is true. We know this is true." We were gonna set a baptism date with them but totally ran out of time. Please pray for them that they will be able to commit to a date to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ & be baptized & that they will be able to make it to church. Sunday was another good Sunday. We had meeting after meeting which was good too. Then we had dinner with the Merriefields 💞 after that, we went to our first mission president fireside with President & Sister Whitney. It was definitely the highlight of the week. Not only was I able to feel the Spirit so strong but I was also able to recognize the fruits of my labors. I got to see people who are so dear to my heart. Got to see my sweet Ashlee & Ally (my converts & sisters). Got to also see sweet Sister Sanborn whom I missed so much. It was so wonderful to see familiar faces & feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for each of his children.

The beautiful Sister Sanborn!

Reunited with my MTC Comp (Sister Black) and my "daughter" (Sister Slade).

The beautiful Ashlee, my sister in Christ!

Being a missionary has truly blessed me in so many different ways. I can't believe that it will already be 8 months on the Lords Errands. Every day, here in Texas has been so sacred. Even when it's not as successful as I may want it to be, I know that I am right where I need to be. I can't express how happy I am to be able to have this privilege to share the joys & happiness that the gospel brings. Don't get me wrong, I still fall short & I am far from perfect but I've learned to take everyday, be grateful & strive to be better. I've often found myself repeating the scripture found in Joshua 1:9, "Be strong & of a good courage." Yes it gets hard but the secret is to never give up. Never forget that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. I know that Jesus Christ lives & that he is the head of this church. I know that Thomas S. Monson is truly a man called of God & that through him, we can be guided safely home to live with our father in heaven. This work is sacred work & it can be done without a badge. I challenge y'all to take the opportunity to pray & find ways to share the gospel with those around you. It will not only bless your life, but it will bless the lives of those around you as well. Mahalo nui for all the love & support that I feel each day from all of y'all. Thanks for all the updates too haha. I hope y'all have a fabulous week filled with opportunities to be more like Christ. Until next week!!!! Hurrah for Israel!
Love,
Sister Kamalani Kawa'a 😘