By Small & Simple Things Are Great Things Brought to Pass!

Top of the morning to yah!  

Who says they have no allergies? Guess what, come to Texas & you'll get allergies real quick lol. Allergies have gotten the best of us last week but hey, even a little allergies isn't gonna slow us down or stop the work from progressing. Another week has come & gone. We spent it trying to get better & trying to find, find & find. We weren't able to see most of our investigators last week, but we're planning a "sneak attack" to get some appointments made & people taught. 🏽 

Sister Centinnial and Sister Joshua

Last Monday, we got to hangout with the Centennial/Joshua Sisters. We love them!!! After dinner, we drove over to Euless for exchanges. Sister Josephson came back to Mansfield with me, while Sister Eddington stayed in Euless with Sister Brohamer. 

Exchanges with the Euless sisters! Sister Brohammer and Sister Josephson!

 

Tuesday, was busy busy. We started off the day with exchanges with one of our wonderful Relief Society presidents. We did some service at the Wesley Mission Center. They're so cute. Went down to Venus to go & see our Sanchez family. Boy oh boy! They're just wonderful. We took a member with us & it was just wonderful. This member has a daughter that just got back from her mission & come to find out, she served in the same mission that Jason, (The Sanchez's son), is currently serving in now. Having someone that could speak Spanish to them was super awesome too. Sister Eddington & I both feel that the more members we expose them to, the better chance of them feeling comfortable & taking that big step & coming to church. Like I said last week, having members present during lessons are perfect. Do it as often as you can missionaries 

Thank you, Aunty Jody Africa for the care package!

Wednesday, we actually had a district meeting haha. With all the crazy big meetings lately, we hadn't had a chance to have a district meeting till last week. All y'all need to know is, the meeting was powerful, as they usually are. We counseled about the things that we have changed in our efforts to find & teach as changes have been made recently. We also talked about things we've learned along the way & things that have worked for us thus far. It was really awesome to hear testimonies being borne of conversion & how they've adjusted to some changes. I definitely was edified. It was great! 

Just for laughs!

Thursday & Friday I was stuffed up thanks to allergies.  I am beyond grateful for loving members who go out of their way to make sure that we're healthy & okay. It's nice to know someone cares. We are stocked up with meds for the rest of my mission haha. So thankful!  

Grateful for members who stocked us up with allergy meds!

Thursday night, we had yet again another awesome Preach My Gospel class with the youth. Dang, have I told y'all how much I love them? Sheesh, they're on fire & it's just amazing to see them grow in the gospel each week. It's been so fun to work closely with them. They definitely strengthen my testimony. Oh, we got to meet with Kenny again on Friday. We're asking for lots of prayers for him please. He's going through a difficult time right now & is thinking about pushing his baptism date back darn! Pray for him please. He's been really down in the dumps lately. We got to have a really good, spirit directed, meeting with him. He opened up to us about some of his personal concerns & were truly grateful for that. It's sad to see those we love struggle, but sometimes we need to go through the struggle so we can more fully appreciate the happy times. Keep him close in your prayers please. 

Our favorite Sophia!

My Tanner ʻohana!

Saturday evening, we got to spend time with some of the wonderful sisters in 2nd Ward. We had a special dinner with cake & ice cream, to celebrate the 185 years of womanhood & sisterhood in the church. It was so fun! Did y'all just love the women's conference or what? I know I sure did. The messages were simple & powerful. They were all wonderful reminders to me that Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ know each of us personally by name. Perfect reminder to spend time & get to know our Lord & Savior more personally. Notice how most of what they talked about, isn't so new to us. After all, the gospel is based on basic principles. We need to find time, actually we need to make time for the Lord. "Take time to be holy." Man, it was such an awesome meeting. Super stoked for Conference this weekend. Whoop whoop  

Saturday Womenʻs Conference and RS Birthday dinner!

Sunday was an awesome Sunday. All the talks & testimonies given were very touching & powerful. It seemed like every talk or testimony given, was an answer to not just my prayer but those around me. That's usually the case, but being able to recognize it gives it a whole different meaning. We got to meet a wonderful man who decided to come & attend our services, because he really wanted a Christian, Christ centered, Sunday. He unfortunately, does not live in our area, but his example left a big impact on me. He had a desire, was willing & acted. Something so simple yet hard to do at times. Lately I've been trying to change up my prayers, instead of asking for help or faith to get through something, I've been asking for help to act on the faith that I've been given. Let me just say, asking for faith to act instead of just asking for faith, has been really cool. I've noticed that I've been more sensitive to the Spirit & I've learned, that if we don't have the courage to act, then we truly aren't exercising our faith either. After all, faith without works is dead. It's amazing to take the time to recognize we're we've fallen short & taking that small step forward to try & get back up. In the Book of Mormon, we read in Alma 37:6, "by small and simple things, are great things brought to pass." No, it's not an easy thing to do but it's very worth it. In the end, all is required of us is that we try. Man, I love this gospel so much. My testimony is growing everyday & that's because I'm doing the little things. The little things really do make the biggest difference in our lives. I hope we all can be better at doing the little things. I pray that we each will make time for the Lord & the little things that he has asked of us. I know that as we do so, we each will become more converted & better disciples of him, in helping him carry out his work here on earth. I love each of y'all!!! Mahalo for all the loves, prayers, support & strength that you each give to me. Have a beautiful week friends & fam. Love y'all so very much. Until next week.....

Hurrah for Israel!! 

P.S. HAPPY HAPPY belated 20th birthday to my hoahānau, Kaleohano. I love you & miss you so much!!! Hope Utah is treating you well & I hope you're still working hard to play ball. Update me please!!! Haha. & HAPPY HAPPY belated 85th birthday to my sweet great grandma, Granny. I love you & miss you so much as well. I'm sure the ʻohana took you out & spoiled you. I hope you had a great day! 

Me ke aloha,

Sister Kawa'a 🤙🏽

Does the Testimony of Jesus Christ Still Burn in Your Hearts?

My sistahs!

Aloooohaaaa!! 🤙🏽

      This week has been yet again, another busy & fast one. Where did week 65 even go? I have no idea. Last week Monday, we did the normal pday stuff. Clean, shop & prepare for the week. We spent most of the evening with the Hamilton family. Had an awesome dinner & got to continue teaching youth lessons to one of the youth. Tuesday, we had an amazing zone Conference. Guess what? Yah girl & her cool comp gave a training at zone Conference. Talk about nervous!!!  nevertheless, the Spirit was so very strong, thanks to those who gave training before us. A lot of what we talked about had to do with conversion & self reflection. Definitely felt edified & rejuvenated  We had dinner with the sweet Brinkerhoff family & guess who showed up? Mr. Wayne. One of our eternigators, I mean investigators  We had a really good talk with him about his concerns. We came to a conclusion that we can not help him unless he truly wants the help. We're gonna continue to wait patiently & pray even more fervently for him. After dinner, we went on exchanged with one of our ward mission leaders. We got to visit a less active sister who is so sweet & is slowly working on coming back. We felt like she was thankful for our visit & even more thankful for the priesthood blessing that she received. It was so awesome & we're hoping to start working with her & helping her get back on track. 

Some of our favorite youth!

      Wednesday, we had an awesome day. Went & taught one of the youth again. We did some service at the Wesley Mission Center. They are the cutest! They're so loving & are also so happy to see us. We got to have dinner with the Evan family & we had s'mores!!  our plans canceled for the rest of the evening to we spent it trying to contact. 

The Evans

Thursday, this girl right here got sick  again! Thank goodness I felt better later & we went on exchanges with one of our Sweet Ward missionaries. One of our appointments canceled but, we totally got to visit a less active family that is so sweet. We got to talk with them & share a Mormon message called "come what may & love it." It's mainly about our attitude & how we choose to be happy no matter what life throws at us. It was really good. After that, we went & got to see the Sanchez family. We had another great lesson with them & read from 2 Nephi 32. Where it's talking about what we like to call, our spiritual CPR. Which is, Church attendance, Praying & Reading the scriptures. We helped them understand the importance of each one & why it's necessary for our spiritual survival. It was a really good lesson! After that, we got to have a powerful lesson with the youth. We talked about the doctrine of Christ & basically regiving our training. This time around, we made it more applicable to them & where their at in life. At one point one of the youth gave a powerful comment about how they have the responsibility to open their months & share what they know with those around them. At that moment, I got just a small glimpse of how powerful this youth will be as a missionary in the gospel. It was so awesome!!!! 

The Squad

      Friday, we finished up our weekly planning & did more service later. That was fun, fun, fun  we had a super good lesson with Kenny later that evening. We taught him about CPR (church, pray & read) & it was so helpful to have the Jacob family there as well to bare testimony & add their own personal experiences. Member present lessons are so awesome!!! I suggested to all my missionary friends that you do it as much as possible  Saturday, oh boy! Saturday morning was the best!! We had the wonderful privilege of having Elder Rasband (from the quorum of the 12), Elder Hallstrom (presidency of the seventy), Bishop Causee (the presiding bishop), & Elder Willis (from the seventh). It was such a scared experience for me. We talked about so many amazing things. The main thing that I got out from the meeting was the importance of our personal commitment & conversion to the Lord. We talked about why it's important & how we can continue to build it & grow. A few other things that stood out to me was the fact that we as missionaries, hold the salvation of people in our hands. We have a big job & play a huge role in the conversion of those we come in contact with. We are prayed over more then anyone else in the church besides the prophet. We hold the keys & authority, through the 12, to make sacred promises to those we teach. We touched up on the atonement & Elder Hallstrom (who's from Hawaii), said that we will feel things that we did not hear, if we are willing to change. That was powerful. Elder Rasband talked about how we can better become more acquainted with or Savior Jesus Christ & Heavenly Father. One simple way is by asking them humbling, "Heavenly Father, what am I to learn from this experience?" That hit me in a different way. It helped me personally understand that yes, we fall short, but we also need to be changing & improving to truly become what we are meant to become. I could go on & on! Just know that it was edifying, powerful & uplifting for sure. 

Lunch with Sister Donovan

     Sunday was a great day! Sun was shining & the weather was nice ️ We had a great 6 hours of feeling the Spirit. Really cool because, most of the talks & lessons given were about personal commitments, desires & our conversion to the Lord & his gospel. Not a coincidence for sure. After church, we took some time to try & contact a few people then we headed to dinner. Guess what??? Yah girl ate some snail  & let me just say, it was DELICIOUS!!!!!  Tasted like pipipi or ʻopihi. Oh man!! Made me miss the island food for sure haha. I will admit, I was kind of nervous but like I said, buggah was action haha (yes, the pidigon hasn't left me ). 

ESCARGOT!!!

Well my dear family, I really do miss you all & I can't believe that my time is drawing near. Okay not really but kind of. I really want each of y'all to remember & know how special each of you are, not just to me but especially to our Savior, Jesus Christ & our Father in Heaven, who created us & who hold us so close to their hearts. Please don't ever forget the sacred experiences that you have had in your life or even on your missions. Yes, life gets hard & Satan is becoming ever more real, but guess what? We have access to divine help from on high. They don't want us on their side, but they need us on their side. Heavenly Father needs us to be his hands & needs us to help our brothers & sisters make it back to him. Here's a thought that we can all ponder, "does the testimony of Jesus Christ still burn in your bosom as it did when you were a young child, young missionary or even first converted?" Why did you join the church? Why are you still active in the church? What is your motivation to remain faithful? In the words of Elder Rasband, "if you need wood for your fire of your testimony, here it is, the more you know him, the more you will love him & the more you will be honored to serve him." Study his life. As you do so, it will come as an automatic. It will come naturally. We can all do it, we have a desire in us. Faith requires action. Let's put in the work so we can become more converted the the Lord & his gospel. I love each of y'all so much!!!! 114 days left to serve the Lord.....until next week my beauties!! 

Hurrah for Israel! 

Me ke aloha,

Sister Kawa'a 🤙🏽

Are You About Your Fatherʻs Business?

Our weekly Sunday picture!

Hey y'all hey!  Ke aloha nui iā ʻoukou pakahi a pau. Aloha mai e kuʻu ʻohana i aloha nui ʻia. Pehea mai nei ʻoukou? Manaʻolana au, ke ola mau nei ʻoukou? Ua makemake au e hoʻomaka i kēia lekauila me ka ʻŌlelo hawaii. Ma mua o kaʻu hele ʻana ma ka mikiona, ua hele a pūʻiwa au no ka mea, ua manaʻo au, e poʻina paha ʻana au i ka ʻŌlelo makuahine. 'akā, me ke aloha o ka Haku, mau no ka ʻŌlelo hawaii me aʻu. For those of you who don't speak Hawaiian, I wanted to start off this week's email off with a little bit of Hawaiian. Before my mission, I was scared & thought that I was going to forget how to speak Hawaiian, but with the love of God, I didn't forget. Thankfully, I brought my Hawaiian Book of Mormon with me & it has strengthened both my Hawaiian language & also my knowledge of the gospel. It's just amazing! So, week 64 has been another great one. We are busier then ever in the Mansfield area. We are currently teaching 9 wonderful investigators & we have 2 possible new investigators & that we'll start teaching after Spring Break. It has been so fun & our days go by way too fast! "Working hard or hardly working?"  okay so, last week Monday, we had Zone pday at the Gallinis home & celebrated Elder Ainis birthday. That was fun! Later that evening, we got to meet with Rocky! Funny story, Sister Ellet, Rocky's mom, canceled the lesson about a hour before hand. We were at dinner & forget to tell our exchange (the bishops wife), that the lesson was canceled. Meanwhile, we finished dinner & saw that we got a text from Sister Ellet that says, "Never mind. Y'all can still come over tonight. Sorry about the confusion." So, we headed to their place & to our surprise, we saw our Bishops wife there, helping Rocky with his home work. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, she works at Rocky's school as a teacher. Anyways, the Lord made us forget to tell our exchange that the lesson was canceled cause he knows the desire of Rockys heart. We started the lesson by trying to see how much he was taught & guess what? This kiddo ended up teaching us not just the first lesson but the 2nd & 3rd lesson as well. That was a huge miracle. The Lord sure works in mysterious ways.     

Yes, I am a poser! LOL!

On Tuesday, we got to meet with the Sanchez family. We taught them lesson 3, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was really great because, we got to help them understand way attending church is so important. Let me remind y'all, the whole idea of church is VERY new to them. They told us that they feel weird & out of place but they also just love the members & the feeling that he feel during sacrament. It's just a little odd & scary for them. We got them to committed to "maybe" attending church. That was better then a straight up no. Funny cuz, when I asked them, I told them to be honest & Maria (the mom) said no! Then she said something else in Spanish & the told us that she won't be here. Then she looks at her husband & her daughter & says, "you guys can still go." The desire is there! We just need to help them act on the desires that they have. We love them & we know that things will work out only on the Lords time. Thursday, was a busy one. We got to meet with a sweet lady name Melissa. She is the mother of a sweet girl who just left to go on her mission. Long story short, her daughter was introduced to the church by a friend & started taking the discussions & not long after, her little sisters joined the church as well. Last month, she left on her mission & she is currently serving in LA at the visitors center. Now her mom Melissa, told us that she wants to know what her girls know. She wants what her girls want. She also wants to do scripture study once a week. We were so happy when she reached out to us and it's great cuz, she lives in the apartment complex next to us. She is so sweet and we're excited to start teaching her more often. Later that evening, we met with another part member family. We started teaching these sweet sisters, Addison & McKayla. It was wonderful & their excited to be taught. They already know so much. 

A hui hou Elder Newey!

Friday was great! We had our Zone Training Meeting. That's the new name of our Zone Councils. Anyways, that was another awesome & fun one. We talked about planning. The blessings & the struggles, especially with the new change in our schedule. It was really good & we received super good insight & revelation. Oh & side note, when we did a role play, our Zone Leaders asked us to role play 4 of the 13 points that we need to go over during studies. Sister Eddington & I finished before everyone else & so our new Zone Leader, Elder Taylor goes, "If y'all finish all 13 before everyone else, I'll buy ice cream." Let's just say we got Braums after the meeting  thanks Elder Jefferies!! Haha. Oh yeah, his companion ended up paying for it. Good times!! Later that evening, we started Michaels new member lessons & taught Kenny another lesson. He is doing so wonderful and is on track for baptism on April 15th. We're super stoked for him. Saturday we spent the day trying to do some contacting. Then we had dinner with the Mills!! We've missed them so much  Sunday was an awesome Sunday. The Sanchez family didn't make it to church though...bummer. That's okay! We had an awesome lesson about the life of Jesus Christ. Love that topic! Later that evening, the Schmeisser fam brought Kenny to our mission presidents fireside. Oh man! Kenny loved it so much. When it finished, I asked him what he thought & he said, "that was short! I want more!" Oh man!! I love this guy oh & his birthday is on August 8th, 2 days before mine. Even more of a reason why we needed to be friends haha. Some of the missionaries there last night just went up to Kenny, introduced themselves & made Kenny feel so welcomed & loved. He was making friends with everyone! It was so great. Oh & shout to my Watauga & Azle peeps that I got to see last night. I LOVE ALL OF Y'ALL! That was so nice & so fun. 

Happy that the Elders are buying us ice cream!

Where are the Elders???

Okay so, cool story, Elder Rasband will be coming to our mission on Saturday so that will be wonderful. I'll tell y'all all about it next week!!! In my studies I've been really trying to understand more about Jesus Christ & Heavenly Father. I've been really trying to study what our Saviors mission was & what our Fathers plan means to me. Forgive me for the long insight that I am going to share, practice patients y'all haha. Anyways, here it goes. We already know that Christ taught by example. He expects us to do as he did & be as he once was & is. Jesus was always about his fathers business. We should like Jesus, always be about our Heavenly Fathers business. Wait, what is our Heavenly Fathers business? Let's not forget that his work & his glory is to bring to pass the immortality & eternal life of man. He wants all of his children to return to him some day. What can we do to make it back to our Father? It all goes back to the basics. The gospel is based on simple & basic teachings. Remember, it's the little things that will make the biggest difference or the biggest change. We can do it! We can all fulfill our fathers business & return & live with him again. We have a perfect example. Christ set the path for us to be able to return to our Father. I am reminded of the scripture that talks about how there are many who draw near unto him with there lips but are far from him. I don't know about you, but I wanna make sure that I not only draw near unto him with my lips, but that I draw near unto him with my heart. We can accomplish this through our actions. The way we treat people, the way we live, the way we love, the way we give. We can make! We are enough & we have access to divine, unconditional love & guidance. Christ said, "what kind of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." Don't get caught up in the ways of the world. Instead, get lost in the gospel. Get lost in service. Get lost in the scriptures. I wanna challenge y'all to make it more of a priority & realign our will, with the will of our Father. After all, he is the one who created us. He knows who we are & what we can become. We can always be about our fathers business. Don't give up!! Keep going!! & always, always, remember that Heaven is cheering you on. Today, tomorrow & forever! I love each of y'all so very much. Have a wonderful week!! Mahalo nui for the loves & prayers. Until next week fam! 

Alex made us haupia sweet potato pie!

Hurrah for Israel! 

P.S. Happy belated birthday to my Tūtū!! I love you so much!!! I know the family probably spoiled you & took you out. I hope you had the best day ever!!! 

With Love,

Sister Kawa'a