Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Have You Found Joy in the Journey?

Where my beautiful people at doe?? Hey hey family!!! Holy smocks, I just realized that it's been a whole year since I've been home. That's so weird!! Haha. Anyways, another week has flown on by. My days as a missionary are going by faster & faster. Time needs to slow down just a little bit. I feel like it was just Monday yesterday (not complaining at all haha). This week was a little harder than usual. Between the 3 of us, we each had some kind of doctor appointments or sickness that happened this week. It's all good though. We aren't giving up. This week was filled with more & more tender mercies from the Lord. On Monday night, we met with our new investigator named Kenny. Oh my gosh! He is golden. He is a boyfriend of one of our members daughters. Long story short, he was raised Christian but always felt like something was missing. Then he met Lindsey (his girlfriend), & things started to change. When we met with him, he already had a Book of Mormon & he has already been reading everyday. We committed him to pray & ask God if the Book of Mormon is the word of God & he said, "Well, I already know it's true." He then went on to say that when he starts the day by reading the scriptures, he feels better & his day goes great, but when he doesn't read, his day doesn't go as good as he had hoped for. He said that when he reads, its like Heavenly Father is preparing him for whatever will come his way that day. It was really powerful to see the impact & the change that the Book of mormon is already making on this guy. He said that once he has learned all that he needs to & once he gets Sundays off, he wants to get baptized. I ask that y'all would please keep Kenny in y'all's prayers. 
New Yearʻs Eve fun!
On Tuesday, we got to meet with our investigators who is a solid family. Long story short, their son Jason is a convert & is now on a mission. Ever since he's been on his mission, the Lord has been blessing his family & they have been more open to learn more about the gospel. When we met with them that night, his father, Jose told us that they initially wanted to find out what made Jason so happy. We started reading the Book of Mormon with them & it was awesome. Please keep them in your prayers! They still have a few concernd cuz everything church is totally new to them, but we know that the Lord is slowly preparing them & the sacrifice that their son is making to serve a mission is blessing their lives tremendously. I love it! On Friday, we went out with one of our ward mission leaders & we decided to go & contact one of the bible referrals that we had. Oh my goodness, it couldn't have been any more perfect. His name is Doug & Sister Chisholm & her previous companion had found him cuz he was a previous potential investigator. We got to meet with him & his wife for a few minutes & he said, "It's ironic that y'all stopped by today." He knew & we knew that the Lords timing was so perfect. We got to talking a little bit & he agreed to have us come back & teach them more about the gospel. It was so awesome!!! Please keep them in your prayers. We got to meet with our other investigator, Alex again. It was so awesome. Alex is a man of few words but he has a strong testimony & his Spirit is amazing. We went over the baptism interview questions with him & it was so powerful to hear his testimony of why he wants to be baptized. The Gospel truly does change lives & helps people if theyʻre willing to change. It continues to put a huge smile on my face to see one of my Spirit brothers & sisters make commitments & changes to become better & to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. I love missionary work! 
The sweet Marx family!
Hāna in Texas!
Last night, we met with another one of our investigators named Brandon. He is another solid & golden investigator. Funny story, one day back in October, he asked his friend if he could go to church with them & he's been going ever since. The Sister missionaries thought that he was a member until one day they found out that he wants to be baptized. Meeting with him was awesome! We taught him the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ & with the help of the Bishop & his family, we helped him understand the importance of prophets & why the gospel has been restored. It was so powerful. At the end of the lesson, we asked him if he had any question & he was said, "how does one get baptized?" When he said that, the three of us looked at each other & the Spirit filled the room. He then went on to say that his goal is to be baptized before he goes of to collage. We each had impressions to set a date with him & we asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized on January 21st. He said yes & we set up a return appointment to teach him lesson 2 tonight. The Spirit was so strong. Please keep Brandon in your prayers! M sweet family & friends, I want y'all to know that I have a strong testimony & I know that the Lord is working with me on my mission. He is preparing the hearts of the people here in Mansfield to receive the goodness of his gospel. I am so grateful that I get to be apart of such sacred work. Obedience is key! Don't forget that. Yes, times will be hard & yes, Satan will try his best to bring us down, but we have the power to not let him win. Like I always say, it all starts with the little things. I love y'all so so so much!!! As this new year enters in, let's continue to strive to be better then we were yesterday. Let's not forget who it is that we trust & who it is that trust us. 
Cute fireworks stand.

I wanna leave y'all with this scripture that continues to stick with me & it's found in Doctrine and Covenants section 18 verses 15 & 16 & it says, "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto his people, and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the Kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you bring many souls unto me!" I feel this joy everyday & As I meet people who are prepared & who are willing to learn more & come back to Christ. It is so awesome & humbling!!! Aloha au iā ʻoukou pakahi a pau. E holomua a mai hāʻawi pio. Paio mau!!!! I kēia pule aʻe.....Until mext week! Ke Akua Pū ❤ 
The closest Iʻve gotten to the Cowboyʻs stadium!
Hurrah for Israel! 

With Love,
Sister Kawa'a 💙

2 comments:

  1. I love reading your blog about the wonderful people you are working with. As always you're in my b prayers love n hugs

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love reading your blog about the wonderful people you are working with. As always you're in my b prayers love n hugs

    ReplyDelete