Aloha my dear sweet family!!!!
How are y'all doing today??? It's another beautiful day here in Texas. Sun is out & the weather is cool 
This WEEK seriously went by quick. We've been super busy with contacting & finding people to teach. This email is going to be a little different. I'm gonna go through everyday like I normally do so bare with me. This week I've been really pondering the Atonement, obedience & recognizing the hand of the Lord is all things. Let me just say one thing, obedience brings blessings & exact obedience brings miracles. My mission has been a mission of both blessings & miracles. Being on a mission is not an easy thing to do but, it is worth it.
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| Pday with the Spanish speaking Elders! |
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| Us with Sarah Blackburn |
I wanna share a really cool miracle that happened this week. On Thursday, Sister Willey & I had a lesson with Lynn who is one of our "eternigators" basically a forever investigator. After the lesson, we really were pondering & praying about the decision on wether or not we should drop him. He really isn't progressing or keeping commitments. We were sad cuz in all reality, what missionary wants to drop someone who they have so much hope for? We were also worried cuz we wouldn't have anyone to teach on Thursdays anymore. As we were discussing this with one of our members, our phone rang & it was the Zone Leaders. They called to tell us that they had a solid referral for us, that just so happens to be living with a member that just moved in to our area. They also said that Thursdays are the best days for them to meet & this new investigator really wants to be baptized. Heavenly Father is so mindful of each of us. Man, it was such a testimony builder for me because, if we really put all of our effort & be obedient to all of his commandments, we will not only be blessed, but we will see miracles. I know without a doubt that the Lord of the vineyard labors with his servants.
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The Growalds! We love them!
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| The Chauhans |
For Zone Council this past week (when a bunch of us missionaries get together & Council about how we can be better), we focused a lot on the Atonement of Jesus Christ & on his gospel. We listened to this really cool talk from Elder Holland & something that really stood out to me was when he said this, "Sometimes we as missionaries tend to ask the question, "why do they reject us?" Or "Why does it have to be so hard?" Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. If we are true disciples of Jesus Christ, we must be prepared to walk somewhat of the path that he walked, feel something he felt, shed one of the tears of sorrow that he shed. If we want to come to know the atonement or Jesus Christ, we must go through what he went through. We aren't the first ones to question, "why is this not easy?" We must come to love & appreciate the Atonement & it will carry us through anything. When we struggle, when we are cast out, when we are rejected, we have every reason to stand tall & be grateful for Jesus Christ & what he did for us."
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| The Squad |
I just want to add my testimony to his. I have a testimony of the Atonement. As I've come to truly understand it, I've seen how it can change & bless both our lives & the lives of those around us. We had a lesson last night on "love one another" & so we sat in a circle & went around the room & said 2 nice things about the person sitting next to us. The mother of the home had to say nice things about me & it was really interesting. She said, "I love the fact that you are very relatable. You can relate to anyone & I love how you express yourself." I pondered this for a while & was kind of amazed cuz before my mission, I kind of struggled with finding a sense of belonging. My companion is constantly telling me, "they all love you!" I think most of the time, my mind gets so caught up with the numbers that I tended to forget that we really can make an impact on someone. 2 examples, a non member who never really was interested in learning more about the gospel, made us some of his famous sopapia cheesecake (I think I spelled that righ). His wife was super shocked & she said, "I don't know what you're doing, but it's working." Another example, a non member who lives with a reactivated family used to hate missionaries. It was very terrible cuz he actually got missionaries sent home a few years ago, for participating in things that they weren't supposed to. Well, he loves us now & even wants to take us out to dinner. His wife was super shocked also.
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| The Sistahz! |
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| The Edlerz |
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| My Matson! :) |
Moral of the story is, we truly are called to a specific place, to a specific time, to teach specific people, for a specific reason. Of course the work will be hard & yes we will get discouraged from time to time but through the Atonement, we can have hope & joy & the wonderful knowledge that we are entitled to Heavenly help. Whatever you're going through, whatever the circumstances, whatever the situation, don't give up! Reach out & look up! Man, I could go on & on about this but I think y'all get the point. I love y'all so so much!!! I wanna challenge y'all to take some time to really ponder & study the Atonement. I know that you will grow even that much more closer to our Heavenly Father & Savior, Jesus Christ. Have a fantabulous week my loves!!!! Until next week!!
Hurrah for Israel!
Love,
Sister Kamalani Kawa'a
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