I Stand All Amazed at the Last 16 Months!

Alohaaaaaaaaaa 

      

      Howdy y'all! How y'all doing on this fine Monday mornin? I hope that everyone had a beautiful Easter cuz I know that I sure did. I'll explain more in a sec. First, can y'all believe that I've been out for 16 months now  Holy smokes!!! Time sure flies on by, when your having fun. The past 16 months have been nothing but a roller coaster. You've got the highs & you've got the lows but hey, all I can say is everything sure is worth it in the end. Bitter sweet moments. So, this week was a fast & busy one. We got lots of people to teach & find, find & teach. Ima just give y'all the run down & update y'all on all the beautiful souls that we're working with. Our newest investigators who are 9, little Chase & little Brandon. (I'm horrible & I think I may have forgotten his name but we'll call him Brandon). Anyways, both of their stories are kind of similar. Both come from pretty active families & both have expressed a desire to be baptized. A decision made all on their own. Our appointment with Brandon got rescheduled for this upcoming week, but we did get to meet with Chase. He's an awesome kiddo & I'm just in awe of his little desire to want to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. His little example has touched my heart & I'm so grateful for him. Super excited & looking forward to continuing to work with both kiddos. The Tyler girls are doing well. We got to teach them & with the help of one of our ward missionaries, we were able to help them to stay focused & understand what we were teaching. One of them had lots of wonderful questions & you can just see the fire in her eyes when she understands the basics. It's definitely a faith builder for me. 

The famous Mama Francom pose!

The boys with Alex!

      We got to teach our sweet Sanchez family & they came to church again & stayed for class  They're doing so great. Maria (the mom), had lots of great questions for us & thank goodness our member fellowship speaks Spanish. It was really good. Also Jose (the father), said that we're definitely steering the pot for them. Things that they are learning are finally sinking in for them & to see them slowly grow is powerful. I just continue to be in awe of them. We're still planning on setting a date with them, all on the Lords time though. We taught good ol Alex. He's definitely feeling the Spirit. We had an awesome lesson with him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was super pumped & at the end of the lesson, we asked him if he would follow the example of our Savior & be baptized & he with a big huge smile on his face, he happily & eagerly said yes.  Such a happy moment for sure. He was surrounded by young men who love him & support him in his journey back to our Heavenly Father. We got to see Kenny! He didn't get baptized on Saturday but he isn't giving up & we aren't giving up on him. Good news, he still wants to be baptized & he is thinking of a new date so that's wonderful. We know that the Lord is definitely preparing him. 

Matching Lula Roe fun!

      Well, it's transfers again! Oh & I've got some news, Sister Eddington will be staying here in Mansfield & I will be transferred down south to Temple, Texas. I will be honest, I am both torn & excited all at once. In the words of one of our recent converts, "It's a sad but happy day. Temple will be getting a great Sister missionary & we will be losing one." It makes no sense but I need to remember that this is the Lords work & not mine. I am reminded that there is no comfort in the growth zone & no growth in the comfort zone & let me just say, I am very uncomfortable. Change is good. It's a time for us to grow & truly become who our Father intends us to become. There is so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for the precious 4 months that I was able to be here in Mansfield. I've truly met strangers who've become family. I'm still not good at this whole "goodbye" thing, so I'll say A Hui Hou instead, which means "until we meet again." This past week was truly a time of reflection as I took time to ponder the Saviors final days here in mortality. I truly do stand all amazed at the love that he has offered me. I can't help but be eternally grateful for his sacrifice. In Alma 7:11-12, we read that he took upon himself all of the pains & sins of the world so that he would know "according to the flesh, how to succor his people." I am amazed at the strength, faith & obedience that he had. There's nothing that I can do to repay him. All I can do is follow him, trust him, believe in him & allow him to help me through every step of this life. It's never easy to accept our Fathers will, but Christ reminds us that it is possible. After all, he was always about his fathers business. 

We made Palms for Palm Sunday!

      Well, this email is a short one. I'm kind of still in a shock mode but I know that everything happens for a reason. I'm reminded of one of the most powerful priesthood blessings, that I've received here in Texas. "You will cry more tears going home, then you did coming here." In the moment, I kind of chuckled & thought to myself, "yeah right", but that blessing becomes more real to me as I leave each sacred area that I've been assigned to labor in. The goodbyes get even harder & harder. To my Mansfield family, I love all of y'all SO much!!!!! It's a sad goodbye but I know I'll be back one way or another. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting back in the country. I'm assuming it's country in Temple.....we'll find out 🤠 Time to buckle up & enjoy these last 12 weeks here in Texas. Ima leave y'all with this quote that I've been pondering lately. "When you're involved in the work of the Lord, the power behind you is always greater than the obstacles before you." -Elder Dallon H. Oaks. We may never know the why to a situation, but let's not forget who's work this truly is. This is our Lords work & only he knows what's best for his children. Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me! Well family & friends, I hope y'all have a good week. Remember that the Lord loves you & that I love you ️ E holomua a paio mau no ka pono. Until next week family!!!! 

 Hurrah for Israel! 

Francom kiddos and Brandon!

With love, 

Sister Kawa'a

Never Underestimate the Lordʻs Love for You! 💙

Ke Aloha nui iā 'oukou pākahi a pau!!!

What's up y'all? How's everyone's week been? I hope everyone is alive & well. I know y'all are busy but shoot a girl an email sometime  haha. I really do wanna hear from each of you lovely people. Before I start to worry y'all with the picture you'll see, I guess I should probably explain  Well, this week has been tough health wise. As most of you know, I've had stomach issues my entire life. The last 2 weeks have gotten really bad. None of the over the counter meds were working & my pain level was high. Well, our lovely mission nurse told us to go to an urgent care & as we were making our way over, she called back & said, "you know what? They're going to send you to the ER so, just go directly to the ER instead." Well, as obedient missionaries as we are, or strive to be, Sister Eddington & I made our way over to the ER. We informed both of our bishops & ward mission leaders. Long story short, all of the test that they ran came out great. I am perfectly healthy & they just couldn't seem to find out what is causing the pain. We ended up being there from about 1pm till about 8:30pm. At this point, I was so frustrated, tired & to be honest, all I really wanted was my mom & my dad, but that's not allowed on the mission. I said a silent prayer & not long after, one of our sweet Relief Society Presidents came walking in to the room. The first thing she says is, "why didn't you guys call me?" & we responded with, "we didn't wanna worry you?" Fact of the matter is, she stepped in to be the "mom" that I needed at that moment. We also received lots of love & support & a little worry, from our loving bishops & Ward mission leaders who stepped in to be the "fathers" that I needed. Never ever underestimate the Lords love for you. I have a personal witness that he is very much aware of each of his children. Don't ever doubt that! I'll come back to this at the end of my email. 

"Smile", she said

Cool lesson we did at the park!

I also have a testimony, that God knows the needs of those we teach as missionaries. I can testify to that by the many difference experiences that I've had, where the Spirit has directed me to help my lost brother or sister come back to him. Here's a great example for you. We got to meet with the sweet Sanchez family this past week. As my companion & I were preparing to teach them, I had a thought come into my head that the lesson we needed to teach had to be about faith. The reading assignment we left with them was Jacob chapter 1. At first I thought to myself, "how are we going to tie faith into this chapter?" Nevertheless, we did as we were told & prepared to teach them about faith. After we opened the lesson with a prayer, Jose (the father), explained to us that he had gone on to LDS.org & downloaded the Book of Mormon app. Then he thought, "well, I have it downloaded, I should do the reading assignment." Mind you, this guy doesn't read. He never liked reading & so, he never was going to do it on his own. Guess what? He ended up reading the scriptures  such a huge miracle in itself. He also said that he's been listening to the "Christian" radio in the mornings, side note, he thinks it could be an lds station, anyways, while he was listing to the radio that morning, the radio guy was talking about faith. Particularly, the faith that Abraham had when he was commanded by God, to sacrifice his only son, whom he longed to have for such a long time. Jose went on to explain that having that faith in God is so important. He said that if we act on the faith or desire that we have, God will help us. Just like how he saved Issac from death & knew that Abraham was willing to do whatever the Lord commanded. It was such a powerful, Spirit driven lesson. Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ really does know the desires of our hearts. They know what we need & they also know how we can help those around up. If we are willing & if we ask, they will lead us & guides to those that we can help. Isn't that so awesome or what?  miracles are happening all around.

The Sweet Sanchez Familia!

Hector and I

A special visit from the Ahaus - they were on Maui and met up with my Mommy!

Another tender mercy, was the fact that we finally got a text back from both Rocky's mom & also the Tyler girls parents. We finally were able to get in contact with them at set up appointments for this coming week. That was a blessing. Guess what? We also have 2 new investigators. Both come from part member families. Not only do I have a testimony of the fact that God knows & loves his children, but I also can testify that everything happens on his time & in his own unique way. One example comes from the Blaine family. They have been really sick lately, the flu has been going around their home & it seemed impossible to set up a good time & day for us to come over. We finally got to see Sister Blaine, (the mother), at church yesterday & so we asked her if she still would like us to teach her 9 year old son. She then said, "oh yes. Recently, he's been telling me, 'mom, I need to do my baptism, but not on my birthday'. He's been talking a lot about his baptism lately & so y'all need to come over." The faith & desire that this little boy has strengthened my testimony. Perfect example that God knows & loves his children & his timing is perfect timing. Reminds me of a quote from President Eyring, (one of the brethren from our church), which says, "although his time is not always our time, we can be sure that Lord keeps his promises." Also reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures found in the Book of Mormon, in 1 Nephi chapter 3 verse 7, when Nephi testifies that he knows that, "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Aren't we grateful for that promised blessing. The Lord will always provide a way for his work to be fulfilled. We may not know & we probably can't tell how or when he'll have us do something, but the question is, will we be ready? Will we be ready to do whatever he commands whenever he commands it? Definitely something I consider worth pondering  

We love our youth!

This week has yet again been a week full of miracles & bumpy rides. I need to share this cool analogy that my mom shared with me, this is a good one, especially for all y'all hula people. Like the scriptures say, this life is a time to prepare to meet God. We also know that their must be opposition in all things. Some may question this & say, "well why do I have to struggle?" Or "why do bad things happen to good people?" Well, I'll tell y'all something, I'm not perfect & I too have asked myself these exact questions. My mom helped me understand this by telling me this, "Opposition, challenges and difficulties help us rebuild our lives and become even better." (You think I would know that by now. Nope, still learning lol) anyways, she goes on to say, "Makes me think of 'ili'ili." For you none hula people, 'ili'ili are little rocks that the hula dancer use as an instrument to dance with. She continues by saying, "They (the 'ili'ili) start off as just regular pōhaku (rock), but as the waves hit and beat upon them they begin to change. With each wave the 'ili'ili becomes smoother, shinier and more and more beautiful. Until eventually, one day, the 'ōlapa (hula dancer) comes and is attracted by its Beauty, she picks it up and names it and makes it her hula instrument. The 'ili'ili comes alive and has a purpose. The beautiful Kani (sound) that makes the hula (dance) so attractive could only come because of the waves that reshaped and refined it. And such it is with life and with each of us. Let your trials reshape and refine you." Don't I have an awesome mom or what?  talk about inspired. This is so true! As we let our trials reshape & refine us, we will grow to have an even deeper conviction of the love that our Heavenly Father & Savior, Jesus Christ has for each of us. Like I said, never underestimate the Lords love for you. I testify that he does care & because he cares, you also matter. Yes, YOU matter to him! He has his arms stretched out & he's ready to help us. We just need to ask for it. "Ask & ye shall receive, knock & it shall be open unto you." I love you each of y'all so much!!!!! I invite each of us to take time this week, to remember the final moments of our Saviors life here on earth. Be grateful for the free gift & sacrifice that enables & allows ALL to return & live with him again. Ponder it, read it, study it. "As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase. You will feel, as Lehi did, the “great … importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth” (2 Nephi 2:8)." Have a great week fam  Until next week! 

My Aunty Evette and cousin Layson were baptized back home!

Hurrah for Israel! 

P.S. Go & watch the new Easter initiative found on Mormon.org. It's super awesome!!!! #PrinceOfPeace 🏽

With love, 

Sister Kawa'a 🤙🏽

If we are faithful to the Lord, he will be faithful in blessing us ❤

Little Skarlet

Hi family!!!! 

How's everyone doing this week? I hope everyone is feeling edified & rejuvenated, after feeling the Spirit & rejoicing together this weekend. Wasn't General Conference amazing?  I hope we each were able to feel the love from our Savior & our Father in Heaven. I know I sure did. Well, another week has flown on by. Week 67 was filled with miracles & crazy weather. Let's talk about the crazy weather first. So, early Wednesday morning, at about 2am, I woke up cause of power outage (no a/c), & to big flashes of lightning, followed with thunder & lots & lots of rain. Sounded like craziness outside. I will admit, I got a little scared & so I woke my companion up, not very gently or quietly haha. Thank goodness I have such a loving & patient companion who woke up & stayed up with me. She's awesome!!!!  Our power ended up not coming back on till about9:30am. When we finally went outside to go on exchanges, we found out that all the schools were closed & saw lots of random damage from the storm. Some neighborhoods were untouched, while others had roof damage & fences broken because of big trees that fell on them. It's was crazy. I'll tell you one thing, the maintenance workers (yard work crew) had plenty of work, that's for sure. I'm just grateful that despite the storm & minor damages, we were safe! The Lords servants are always protected while on his errand. I can surely testify of that.  What a great blessing of peace & comfort to be able to know of this, first hand. Very grateful! 

When your comp doesnʻt want to take a selfie but you do! LOL!

Fun with our favorite Francoms!

Okay, on to the more spiritual parts of the week. We got to see the sweet Sanchez family. They are doing so well. We brought a member with us, (Valerie), who just got back from serving her mission, in the same mission where Jason (their son) is serving. Santiago, Chile. She was so perfect. They were very excited & happy to finally meet her, after hearing so much about her. She was able to connect with them very quickly & the fact that she speaks Spanish, was a huge blessing as well. We talked more about the role of the Holy Ghost & how to recognize it. It ended being a very powerful & Spirit driven lesson. We read Alma 32 with them and it struck a deep cord about needing to act and make changes when the seed is good. They are eager to change and draw nearer to the spirit, & they understand they are on the right track now. We committed them to watching Conference with us & guess what? Our Bishop & his sweet family, invited them over & they came. We were so happy that they finally acted on the feelings & promptings that they have felt. Later in the evening, we received a sweet text from them expressing how much fun they had with us, while watching Conference. They're slowly getting it & it's such a privilege to watch them grow in the gospel. They're countenance just shines & radiates Christ light & love. Keep praying for them please. 

The sweet Sanchez family watching conference at Bishop Sweetʻs house!

We had a wonderful time at mutual. We got to help the young women with personal progress. It was really cool because, we got to get Addison, (one of our investigators), started on her personal progress. It was really fun & she just loves young women & the youth are so loving & kind to her & to each other. Once again, her eagerness & willingness to learn & grow is so amazing to see. Please continue to keep her & her sister in your prayers. Update on Kenny. He is doing much better. We got to watch a session of General Conference with him & he was a lot more happier & more of himself. The Spirit touches people in ways that we can't. I am grateful that I am worthy to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. As we've learned, specially from this weekend, the Holy Ghost is a gift, given to help us, teach us & guide us. The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, testifies of truth & warns us of danger. I am so grateful that the Holy Ghost has been present, in lots of different occasions in my life. I'm especially grateful that the Spirit was able to touch Kenny & testify to him, that what he is being taught is true. Please continue to pray for him. We're going to start the lessons over with him from the beginning, to make sure he has a better understanding of the simple truths of the gospel. I thank you for your prayers on his behalf, because I know he feels them & I know they're being heard & answered. Thanks y'all!! 

We did some service in between conference!

Good news, we have a new investigator  after all, nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach. Ain't that a true statement! Our new investigators name is Alex. He is a friend of one of the youth in our ward. Alex is GOLDEN!!! Golden means that he is very much prepared. Long story short, he is agnostic, which basically means that he just has no religious background at all. We asked him why he wanted to meet with us & what his expectations are when meeting with us, & he began to tell us that he just had this urge & strong desire one day, to learn more about God or this "being" & he felt drawn to the Mormon religion. He later asked one of his friends at school (who was reading a Book of Mormon), if it was a good read, which later lead him to asking another friend, if he could to go to church with him & then he asked for a Book of Mormon. He's been coming to church ever since & loves reading the Book of Mormon. This kid is solid. As we taught him & with the help of the Spirit & his wonderful friend (who's a member, mind you), he was able to understand & feel something different. Before teaching him, he explained how he was attending another Christian church to study more about the Bible & he's attending our church to study the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson & because we used references from the Bible, he said, "you know what? After this week, because there is no church, next week, I'm coming to this church." I know that the only reason why he said that, was because he felt the Spirit testify truths to his heart. He had an open mind & a willing heart to hear the words of God & to feast upon it. It's just amazing. He also watched Conference & told us that he loved being able to hear & see the prophets. He's so great!!!!!! Keep him in your prayers too please 

Oh, you know, just holding a snake!

I love horses!

Well family, sorry for such a long email. So many good things are happening & thanks be to God for it. I want to leave you with my testimony, that Christ truly is at the head & in the center of this church. He has commanded us to follow him & be as he once was & is. He sees & knows our potential so let's work at it & strive to fulfill all that is required of us. No, we are not perfect & I sure am far from perfect, but hey, let's strive to be perfect in trying. We had such a blessed & wonderful opportunity to hear & have living prophets & apostles today. Chosen servants & special witnesses of Christ. Witnesses of his authority, his priesthood & his mission. What a blessing it is to be able to hear from them twice a year & to see the examples that they set for us. I testify that this church is true. I don't say it to just say words. I say it with conviction because I have gained a personal witness that the truths taught in this church are sacred & were restored by Jospeh Smith. He was & is the prophet of the restoration. He, through the love, grace & power of God, did what no other human being could do. He was persecuted & rejected by many who wouldn't believe & guess what? So was Christ. I know that God the father & his son Jesus Christ live. I have grown to love the gospel so much & I want all who are willing to partake to come & learn of the great blessings & eternal joys that this gospel brings. I am overwhelmed with gratitude, love & joy for my Savior, Jesus Christ, for my Father in Heaven & for all those who have been & continue to be such great examples to me. Both past & present brothers & sisters. Family & friends, today is the day that we get up, get out & continue to fight the good fight. Let us not forget, yes, there must be opposition in all things, but the powers of Heaven are much more rewarding & a lot more fulfilling. As reminded my our dear prophet, "Let us ever choose the harder right, then the easier wrong." I leave you my witness & of these things, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Love you families!!!  See y'all in 100 days  

Hurrah for Israel!! 

Yes, we still sleep with Teddy Bears!

Me ke aloha,

Sister Kawa'a