Sister Kamalani Kawaʻa: It All Starts With You!

Aloha my sweet family!!!

Where has this week gone???

My week has been just amazing. There are miracles happening all around. I am constantly reminded that the Lords timing is perfect time. Patience truly is a virtue. Good news, we have a few new referrals that we plan on seeing this up coming week & we also have a new investigator that came to church yesterday with her husband who's a member. She really wants to learn more about the gospel & is pretty much golden. She told us how she used to be really rude to the missionaries in the past. We asked her if it was Elders (boy missionaries) or Sisters (girl missionaries) & she said both. Thank goodness she changed & loves us. The ward just opened their arms & embraced them. Very proud of the member fellowship that they received. Keep them in y'all's prayers! Here are some fun things & great miracles from the week that we had. We go to see one of our investigators who is CRAZY!!!! His name is Chuck & he's such a hoot. He originally met with some Elders in the past & would go to church with them on a regular. The Sisters found him one day & have been teaching him ever since. All I ask is that y'all keep him in y'all's prayers. He has a hard time keeping commitments, but his desire is there. We see it every time the spirit touches him & when we testify. Please send an extra prayer his way!

Me and the comp!

The famous knife in Bowie!

Another wonderful soul that we get to love & help is Grace. She's the best. So sweet & very close to the Lord. It was cool! So I had the opportunity to spend part of my day with our mission President's wife. She came to Decatur so she could spend some time with me before I went home. How cute! Anyways, we got to see Grace & she had a hang up about Jospeh Smith & his role in being the one to restore the gospel back to this earth. Sister Whitney bore a powerful testimony of the life that our prophet lived. How he had only but a 3rd grade education, but through the power of the Lord, was blessed with the ability to translate ancient literature to English. The Spirit was so strong & Grace knew exactly what she needed to do. She told us that she's been slacking at reading from the Book of Mormon but that if she wants an answer that she needs to read the Book & pray about it. I just loving seeing the ball drop for people & for that light to come on when they feel the Spirit & when they know what to do without even having to be told. She's putting it to the test. We know she will receive an answer & we're excited to follow up with her on that this coming week.

Sister Whitney (Mission Presidentʻs wife) in the middle.

The Sister Training Leaders (STLs).

Sis. Baine and Micaela. We spend Pdays with the Baines!

Beautiful Micaela!

Fun stories:

We were having dinner at one of our members home who just recently moved into the ward & the ward they came from had boy missionaries (Elders). During our dinner conversation, the husband jumps up & says, "do you wanna see my guns?" & both Sister Casper & I are like, "YES!" He brings out about 8 including 4 from his pocket, he unloaded them all & tells us that we can take pictures with them as long as we face them away from everyone. His wife then said, "thats a first from the sisters. Usually just the Elders want to see his guns."

Our awesome Bishop asked us to try & see someone who just recently moved in to the ward. We put the address into our GPS & off we went. We ended up in the middle of no where, behind a hotel. As we were pulling up we see a high chain linked fence with the circle barb wire on the top. I straight look at my comp & say, "watch this be a correctional facility." & sure enough, as we pulled up we see a sign that said, "welcome to the MTC Bridge Correctional Center." Good one! Looks like we wont be seeing Donte anytime soon.

Talking to the "neighbors"! LOL!

Testimony:

Well family & friends, as my final full week in the mission field approaches, I am filled with mixed emotions. I was sweetly reminded that all is & that everything will be okay. It's truly just bitter sweet. One thing that I've just absolutely loved is being able to see the Savior not just change the lives of those around me, but most importantly, seeing my life change as I've been on my mission. I was reminded of something that I've been really pondering lately a simply line, "It's my mission too." The choices that I make & the risks that I take not just affect me, but also affect those round me. It all starts with me. The Lord said, "be ye perfect even as i am." He never said be perfect today or tomorrow or next week or month form now, he simply expects us to try. We are surrounded by people everyday. They see us & they notice the things we do. If we're trying & always putting our best foot forward, they will see that they too can make it. Remember that its your mission too. Your mission should be to be more like Christ, to follow his example & to fulfill our Heavenly Father's plan by doing the things necessary to be able to return to live with Him again some day. I love this gospel so much & I absolutely love my mission. It has truly been the best thing to prepare me for the rest of my life. I'm anxious to reunite with you all in just 10 precious days

Until then, I will be sprinting through to that finish line. Go out & change lives one person at a time. I LOVE EACH OF Y'ALL OH SO VERY MUCH!! Have a great week!! Until next week