The Lord is Protecting His Servants!

Aloha my fam bam!! 

      How's everyone doing this week?? Oh, SHOUT OUT to my Brudder Budda!!! Happy (belated) 19th birthday boy!!!  I hope you had a fun & safe one. I know Mum & Dad probably did the usual cake & ice cream & "Kawa'a style" happy birthday screaming I mean singing haha. Gosh, stop growing up!!! Making me feel old haha. I love you sooooo much!!!  Well, another week has come & gone. Week 61 was filled with miracles as each week is. I will warn y'all. This is a long one so please be patient. I promise it's worth reading  haha. Last week Monday, Sister Eddington & I got to hangout with the other Sisters in our district. They live in the country side & they live with members who basically have a farm. We got to go on a little "hike" which was more of a walk lol. We played with pigs & caught chickens  haha. It was so much fun!!!! 

My favorite little piggy

Chicken!

After pday ended, we got to see the sweet Sanchez family. Oh my gosh!!! Thanks to your prayers, they are progressing so well. Still don't have a baptism date but they are coming along so good. We ended up watching the 20 minute video of the restoration with them & they loved it so much. During the video, the phone started ringing right when the most important part of the video was being shown. Sister Eddington & I both looked at each other with the thought that someone would get up, miss the scene & answer the phone. To our amazement, no one even moved & the Spirit was just so strong. As we talked with them about the video & all that they've learned so far, they opened us to us & said, "when y'all don't come, we feel this void. We're constantly thinking about y'all & wanting y'all to come back & teach us more. It's like we're craving to learn more." For Sister Eddington & I, that was something so very powerful. We could feel the Spirit so strong & their desire to continue to feast upon the words of Christ & learn is so there. Slowly but surely, their lives are continuing to be touched because they have a desire. They have an open heart & an open mind. Such a simple yet powerful example of the blessings that come when we open up our hearts & minds to the Lord. 

Cool treehouse on the farm!

      Tuesday, we had such a wonderful Zone Council about how powerful & instrumental the youth & young adults of today are, in building up the kingdom of God. We watched a really amazing training & got to see a couple new converts who are now serving missions & we got to hear their amazing conversion stories. There is lots of potential when we as missionaries work close with the young people & the youth of today. It's funny because all of my converts, expect for two, are all between the ages of  18-9 & their all very strong in the gospel still. The rising generation is such a powerful generation. Love them & their strong spirits. Okay, so here's where things get chaotic but miracles come. As we were driving home, we decided to take the back roads (which put us in the middle of nowhere) but we loved it because we saved lots of miles. Well, we took a turn on a narrow road & ended up a little bit off the road & then we heard "POP". We pulled over to see that our tire went flat lame! It was super cold that day & so I was not about to change the tire. We immediately tried calling our zone leaders, then the vehicle elders but no one was answering. So we did what knew best, we got in the car & said a little prayer & not even a minute later, a nice man name Arnold came out of nowhere, asking us if we needed help. He said, "y'all get in the car. It's cold out here. I'll fix it for you!" It sure was a blessing in disguise. Thanks to Arnold, we were able to make it safely to firestone. Thank goodness we're friends with some of the workers there so they knew who we were & they got us all taken cared of. Miracle! The Lord is protecting his servants in his vineyard. I have no doubt about that! 

Our flat tire

Thanks, Arnold!

      Wednesday, we were supposed to have a lesson with Rokcy but they rescheduled last minute so, we went to mutual & had a wonderful & fun night with the youth. Michael had his baptism interview that night as well & now he's officially ready for his special day this Saturday!!! We're so excited for him & his family. Earlier in the morning, his parents will be going to the temple for the first time for their endowment. It will be a very special day! Okay so, here's where things get a little chaotic again but miracles still come. So, we were trying really hard to be obedient missionaries & the interview went a little later then we thought. Well, we hoped in our car & drove home hoping to be home on time. Right went we pulled in to our apartment complex, a cop pulls up behind us & turns his lights on. For those of you who know me, I've never gotten pulled over before so yeah, I was small kine freaking out. Panic attack real quick. Anyways, this nice officer comes & asks for my license & registration & so I give it to him, shaking & all. He sees that I'm from Hawaii & asks me why I'm here in Texas (small talk). Then he tells me about how he was stationed in Kaneohe & how everyone calls him "hapa haole" (while I'm still having a panic attack). Then he asks for our insurance, well, guess what? It was no where in the car. We turned the car upside down looking for it & it was no where. At this point, mind you, I'm at the point where my frustration is turning into tears & that's not pretty at all. We immediately started calling our vehicle elder, like 20 million times, & no answer. Thank goodness our zone leaders didn't go to far & came to help us try & find the insurance card. Poor officer could see & feel my panic & in the end, he even tried helping us find the card. Well, the card was no where to be found & so he started taking down my info. In my head I was being dramatic & thinking of all the worst things possible when he finally looked at me & said, "you know what? I see the sad face. You live here right? I'm gonna erase your information & let you just go home. It's late. Just make sure you have that insurance card in your car okay?!" MIRACLE!!!!! So we go home & about 20 minutes later there's a knock at the door & we here "Mansfield police." So we're thinking, "what now?!" Then I open the door & the nice officer hands me my license. He apologized for taking so long & he explained how he erased my info. How did find our exact apartment? Who knows. All I know is that the Lord watches over those who labors on his vineyard. 

My favorite twins!

      Thursday, we went to Fort Worth & that was fun. Then later that night, we had an awesome Preach My Gospel lesson with the youth. We talked about the Book of Mormon & how it can help us answer the questions of the soul. We did a role play on sharing the Book of Mormon with a friend & that was a powerful sight to see. All these youth bore testimony & explained to their friend why the Book of Mormon is so important to them. After the role play, we had then use their social media & post or text a favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon. Our recent convert Brandon, was so pumped & told everyone, "Ima tweet mine. I'll retweet yours if you'll retweet mine. Let's all tweet it!" He's the best kid ever. He is such a good example to me & so many. Love that kiddo!!! Friday, we had a powerful lesson with Kenny. It was very helpful to have a recent convert sit in & share her testimony as well. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom & as we committed him to live it, he willingly accepted to live it & he just had this big smile on his face. We watched the children's bible video about baptism & he loved it. We set a date with him for April 15th. We even went & showed him the font & his face just lit up. It was so humbling to witness & see his whole countenance change. He's very eager & is progressing so well. Thanks fam for keeping him in y'all's prayers. We love him & we love y'all!! Saturday, we got to do service for the Mansfield community. We helped set up for their auction/party fundraiser thing. I forgot what the exact name of it was but nonetheless, it was fun!  we ended the night on such a spiritual note. We went & stopped in at the Waldmann home. This home is one of the many homes where we feel safe & where it feels like home for us. I think that it's so important for missionaries to have that safe, "home a way from home" feel. I'm glad that my home was just that to the missionaries & still is. Anyways, we had a wonderful time with them. As apart of the lesson, we as a family, sang "love one another" then we each went around the room & said one thing that we love about the person sitting next to us. Such a simple but powerful lesson. The Spirit was so strong & as we were leaving, Sister Waldmann's husband, (who's basically a dry Mormon), opened up & said "our home is always open to y'all at anytime. Come over anytime!"  That was humbling & so touching to see & feel the Spirit so strongly.

      Sunday was amazing! Like I say all the time, I love covering 2 wards. Mansfield is such an awesome area with lots of potential. In both wards, the speakers spoke about missionary work & mainly how it's each & everyone of our responsibility to open our mouths, push a little harder & invite. Be a good example & share. It was so powerful. I love Sundays because it gives me a chance to reflect on the week & no mater how chaotic or hectic or crazy life gets, Heavenly Father never fails at helping me remember the little things. After all, it's all about the little things. Let's take the time to be a little bit more aware of those around us. We never know what someone else is going through & we'll never understand their exact pain, but we all know of someone who understands perfectly, & that is our brother, our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. Take the time to get to know him a little better. Like I've said before, spend time with, cause he wants to spend time with you. I testify that as we do, our hearts will change. We will become even that much more closer to him & we'll be that much more sensitive, to the promptings of the spirit. We'll also be that much more willing & ready to act on whatever promptings we receive. I continue to see this not just in my life but also in the lives of who we come in contact with each day here in Texas. Family, don't forgot that I love each & everyone of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love, support, prayers, emails, letters, care packages, etc. I'm humbled every time I receive a sweet email or a kind letter. I love each of you so much!!!! More importantly, our Savior & our Father loves each of you even more. I hope y'all have a wonderful week full of lots of miracles. Until next week my ʻohana! 

Hurrah for Israel! 

With Love,

Sister Kawa'a