Draw Near Unto Me and I Will Draw Near Unto You

Hey y'all!!!!

How's everyone doin? Hope y'all had a good first week back to school & what not. Send me an email & let me know how y'all are doing 😊 don't worry, I got time! I can read my emails, throughout the week, just can't response till Monday comes around but I WILL RESPOND! Anyways, this week was a good week. Went by quick. Nothing too crazy happened. Last week Monday was the usual fun Pday stuff. Tuesday we went to the food pantry with the Zone Leaders again. 

We worked hard! I definitely enjoyed it. Wednesday we had district meeting. It was super fun. We did a "get to know you" game since we have a new set of missionaries in our district. We also had a training on consecration & how we can have more effective nightly planning. It was good! After that, we tried to go & visit a whole bunch of people & no one was home. It ended up happening again Thursday, after we did our weekly planning. We went out & tried about 20 different people & literally, no one was home. It was disappointing for sure but hey, the main thing is we tried! Like Elder Uchtdorf said, "the Lord gives us credit for trying!" I just love that. Friday we went to the food pantry again & it was awesome. We got to have yet again another little lesson with one of the workers there. He was amazed at the strength we had, as young adults, to leave all we've ever known & go out to a whole different place. It may sound crazy at times when you really think about it, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world. It's hard work but it's definitely worth it.

Saturday was a good day. We went & contacted a referral that we got. His name is Devonte & I think he's about 17 years old. Long story short, he had been staying with his mum for summer break & he somehow got involved with our church. His grandma has custody of him so now that school is back in session, he's back living with her & he is determined to attend church next week. It was a super sweet visit. We're even hoping that his grandma will want to learn more with him. Please pray for both him & his family. Sunday was a super awesome Sunday!!! 

Earlier that morning, while Sister Brohamer & I were saying our companionship prayer, she specifically asked God to bless those who haven't been to church in a while, to have a desire to come & when we got to church, it was amazing. So many people who we've visited in the past couple weeks were in church. The greatest part was seeing our sweet Twendele family walk in. It was such a surprise 😁 Made me even more nervous cuz I had to give a talk but it went wonderful. It truly was a great Sunday. Something cool happened, so, before relief society started, Sister Brohamer & I walked down the hall way to get wifi to download the relief society manual in French for Sister Twendele to follow along. Well, as relief society started, we realized that we downloaded everything, except the lesson which was based off of President Uchtdorf's talk that he gave at general conference. Well, Sister Brohamer just so happened to have general conference downloaded in French. It was literally a miracle. It was super awesome to recognize the Lord prepared us to help Sister Twendele learn about the gospel. It was super cool.

My collection of pics that remind me of home and my ʻohana!

The Lord sure works in mysterious ways. He is there to help each of his children. Some of us may feel unworthy of his love & I encourage you that if you feel this way, remember, it is not from our Heavenly Father. Like President Uchtdorf said, "reach out & call upon our Savior, Jesus Christ & he will place you on his shoulders & carry you home." I have felt him do that with me through my life. He extends his loving hand to each of us. I want y'all to know how important this gospel is to me. It is the very core of who I am & who I want to become. I love each of you so so so much!!! Thank you for all the prayers that are said on my behalf & on behalf of missionaries around the world. I know that they can feel your love & support just like how I feel it each & everyday. Especially when things get hard. Have a fabulous week folks!!!!! Ofa lahi atu!!!! Aloha au iā ʻoukou pakahi a pau. I lā maikaʻi! Ke Akua pū! Until next week!!!!!  Hurrah for Israel!!!

Love,
Sister Kamalani Kawa'a 😘