Last 6 Week in Decatur!

 

Aloha kakahiaka e kuʻu ʻohana!!!!! 

      Hey y'all hey!!!!! How y'all doing on this fine Monday morning? Dang, my last transfer here starts this week. Ahhhhh!!!! Crazy how time just goes on by. I'm totally stoked to see what the good Lord has in store for me as I continue to do my best to serve him. Dang man so, transfer calls came in this morning & I'll be spending my last 6 weeks up north in Decatur. I'm excited! Week 74 here in Temple has been solid. Ima share with y'all all the wonderful times where we've made a difference in someone's life & vise versa. This week I've been really trying to focus on recognizing the good, so bare with me as I share with y'all all the good that has happened. Last week Monday, we had a good pday with the rest of the missionaries. Played some good volleyball & scatter ball. Thank goodness no one got a bloody nose this time haha. Body was hurting bad the next few days though haha. Good times!! After dinner, we got to visit a sweet less active sister who's daughter, expressed a want of coming back to church. It was a nice visit. We talked about the importance of church with them & they expressed a want of come back. It's hard to come back after being a way for so long, but isn't God just amazing. He gives us multiple chances to change our ways & come back to him. Such a wonderful blessing given to us by him. Tuesday, we had our district meeting. It was so powerful. Something that really hit home for me was when we talked about recognizing the good the we do everyday as missionaries. We were asked the question, "how much good to do you think you do in your area?" That really hit home for me because, I've been really trying to focus on it this week. It's easy & it's natural for us (me) to focus on the negative, but when we take a step back, we realize that we do so much more good then we often think. "Most often, the things that we can not count, are the things to count."  It was a perfect reminder for me that we are doing a lot better then we think we're doing. Reminded me of a quote that I just love, can't remember where I heard it but it says, "When you are on the Lords errand, you can not fail." I am grateful for that promised blessing. 

Sister Madore is "dying" this week (going home). 

      We got to teach Don & Rachel. We taught them about the Ten Commandments, tithing & fasting. Please pray for Don!!! He ended up getting really sick when we went to teach him on Saturday  Keep Rachel in y'all's prayers too!! Can y'all believe that she's already in Helaman & she's only started reading the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago?! Man, she's so awesome!! We just need to help her understand & recognize the importance of attending church. Please pray for us as we try & do the best we can to help her. We got to also see Jomeo & Josephine on Tuesday & Friday. We read the Book of Mormon with them & that was cool. They love it & you can just see the light in their eyes as they feast upon the words of Christ. It's so fun to watch them grow in the gospel. Pray that they'll come to church please!!! Jomeo wants to make it more of a priority so please keep them in y'all's prayers. Wednesday, we spent most the day finding. Got to see a few less actives & a new move in. Cool story, so we went to put gas at a 7/11 near or church, & as we were in the store waiting to get a receipt, the owner of the store greeted us & told us to follow him. Then he said, "in appreciation for what you do, please make a slurpy (as he grabs the biggest one) no charge! I really appreciate what you do!" That melted my heart. People do recognize us & we do make a difference in their lives. That was awesome & so sweet. We ended up dropping one of our newer investigators because he really just wasn't ready to listen & just wanted to bash at us. That was sad, but before we left, he prayed for us & thanked the Lord & us for coming & spreading the word. We sure made a difference in his life. We may not be ale to force him to believe us & to listen to us, but you could tell that he definitely felt something. The Lord will know when he's ready. 

My Filipino family made me rice and lil smokies! Salamat!

      Thursday, we spent most of the day doing our weekly planning (which takes forever haha). It's good fun though when you got a solid teaching pool. We had such a blast at dinner. Never a dull moment with Sister Hammel. I'll tell y'all how we made a difference in her life, Sister Johnson & I are one of a kind & we had her laughing so hard. Funny story, I was explaining to her how my family wants to come to Texas to visit & see my mission & her response was, "why would they wanna come here? There's nothing here! I'm a Maui wanna be!" Okay it was a lot funnier when it happened cause her face was so funny  Let's just say everyone in the restaurant thought there was something wrong with us since we laughed so much. Good times!!! Friday we did service at Feed My Sheep. It's always so fun!!! We definitely made a difference in a lot of people's lives that morning. We got to see one of my favorite less active Uncles after we did service. Same Uncle that I talked about last week that was drunk haha. He wasn't drunk this time & we had a good lesson about changing our lives for the better. At one point, he got teary eyed & he shared a story of a famous Sargent who changed his life & turned it over to the Lord. It was so touching! Before we left, he asked me something about what I did for work & I told him about how my brothers & I have a band & we sing & stuff. He asked me what kind of songs we sing & I said all kinds. Next thing I know, he & I started singing the old school song "oh Donna". Oh man! He's my favorite. I love that Uncle so much. Oh & cool story, he told us at church yesterday, that right after he told us the story about that Sargent, he turned on his tv & a movie about this Sargent was playing. Not a coincidence!! Super cool. 

Finding activity using sidewalk chalk.

     Saturday, we did a finding activity with our district. We went chalking at a park again & this time we actually got to talk to people cause the park was full of people. It was so fun!!!! One of the Sisters brought an investigator with them & he ended up buying us ice cream from the ice cream trunk. Mahalo Terry!!!  We spent the rest of the day getting meds for Don since he's sick & finding more people. We had dinner with the Wiedmeire family who's got little boys who love to play turf gun wars with us. We played & I ended up getting shot in my lip & that sucker started bleeding. The mom felt so bad & I couldn't stop laughing. That little kid has suck good aim haha. Sunday was a good Sunday it was such a good day. We had an awesome time at church. None of investigators came though...that was a bummer. After church, we went & visited with a less active man who's super awesome!!! We got to meet his cute little puppy that his dog just gave birth too. Ohh man!!! So adorable. We also got to meet his daughter & her other half for the first time. That was sweet. Cool story, they showed us their rats & mice that they have. That was cool. Then they said they had a snake & of course I said, "wait what? I wanna see this snake." The two of them looked at each other & said, "she's cool. We like her." Haha. I guess we made a good impression on them. That was fun! After dinner, a big storm came & as we pulled in to the church to do numbers. We found the rest of our district outside playing football in the rain. Yes we joined them & we had a blast!!! It was so fun!!! Never forget the good that you do every day. It may not be big things. It can be little things. We all do so much good in the world & we often never realize it. This week, I want y'all to take the time to recognize those moments where you've made a difference in someone else's life. Write it down & never forget the good that you do everyday! Look around! As you do so, you're appreciation & love for the Savior will grow. You're gonna want to serve more & you're life will be filled with love & joy. Let's strive to be more positive! 

Playing in the rain!

Ke aloha nui iā ʻoukou pakahi a pau e kuʻu ʻohana!!! Mahalo nui for the love, prayers & support. Love to Temple & all the friends that have turned into family. Thanks for loving us!!! Each of y'all help me to be motivated to do the things that I do here. Please know that I love each of y'all so much!!!! You are all in my prayers always. Talk to y'all soon!!! Until next week peeps. Ofa lahi atu!!!! Alofa atu!!! 

Hurrah for Israel! 

With love, 

Sister Kawa'a 🤙🏽