What ʻs YOUR talents?

What's up home skillets 

      Shout out to all y'all who read my emails & email me back. Y'all are amazing for remembering me haha. This week was fast! Flew on by real quick. Lots of good & funny things happened. We had a nerf gun war for pday. That was fun! My poor companion got a bloody nose from playing chair soccer  ouch! We spent the rest of the evening trying to find some awesome peeps. We got to introduce ourselves to such a sweet less activity Sisters. Story behind her is no one has been able to get in to her home & we got welcomed in on the first try. It definitely was Spirit directed & even clicked with her daughter who's not a member. It was such a sweet visit & we're excited to start working with her. Tuesday, we got to see Mr. Don. We taught him & his daughter Rachel a review lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, as missionaries & as members of Christ church, we are told to "feast upon the words of Christ" & to "open our mouths" & in return, we are promised to have "all things come to our remembrance." Both Don & Rachel have been really trying to both listen & read the Book or Mormon & they had a question about a story of one of the families. It was amazing because, as I do my daily feasting (studying), the story was brought to my remembrance & I was able to help them understand what they were reading. It was super cool. If had the opportunity to have lots of experiences like these & it just goes to show that the Lord is so amazing. He will not leave us & he will help us as we help him fulfill his marvelous plan. 

      Wednesday, we started some weekly planning & then had an awesome lesson with Jomeo & Josephine, & our ward mission leader came with us. The lesson was all about obedience, keeping the sabbath day holy, church, praying & reading the scriptures. It was awesome because, both Jomeo & Josephine are strong believers that Sunday is the Lords day. Josephine told us about when they were living in Jamaica, she had a little business store & every Sunday they would close the store & go to church. She did that because when she was growing up, every store in Jamaica was closed on Sundays. What a great example of honoring the Lord & worshiping him on his holy day. Thursday, was our District Meeting. Just love my Sisters & Elders!!!  We got to finally meet with a new investigator name Steve. He's the best!!! Our relief society President came with us & we were able to teach him about the restoration of our church. Boy oh boy! He told us about the trials that he is going through, with being a single parent to a 4 year old, & he just really wants to know that he isn't alone. As we bore testimony & testified of the truth that was manifested to us, the Spirit was so strong & you could just feel that this man is truly searching. His face lit up as we could feel the love that Christ has for him. It was awesome!!! 

      Friday, we had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. That was good! We got to visit a less active brother. Probably one of my favorites cause he's such a hoot, or in other words, he's crazy in a funny way (if that makes any sense) haha. Anyways, as we pulled up to see him, unko was smoking & when he sees us he comes out & he comes out & couldn't even walk straight. So what do we do? We reviewed the word of wisdom with him & told him to give us his pack of cigarettes & beer, but unko done drinked it up & smoked it up.....aiyaaa! It's okay though because, we had such a spiritual lesson (believe it or not) & during the lesson, he turned to us & genuinely asked us to help him quite smoking & drinking. We bore testimony & told him that we would do everything that we can to help. We told him that we are here to help him & you could just tell that he really appreciated it & the love of the Lord filled his heart instantly. He even came to church yesterday & found a ride all by himself. Look at him growing making changes! 🏽 His desire is there & the Lord will bless him for putting in the work & effort. Later that night, we got to finally visit with another one of our investigators, the Johnson family. Man, I LOVE MY POPOLO PEOPLE!!!!  we got welcomed in & that was the first time that we got the mom to open up & talk to us. My first time ever meeting with them & it was so great. They too are searching & have a desire to be like Christ. It's awesome to be able to assist them as they draw closer to Christ. After the lesson, I was told that missionaries can never get her to talk, but I am grateful that we were able to hit it off real quick & that I could use my talents of making friends quickly. Funny story, one of her little daughters looks at me & says, "wait, you not black?" Then turns to her mom & says, "mama she ain't black but she act black."  We all started cracking up. Then one of the other daughters walked up to her sister & straight up pulled her weave out of her hair. I lost it!!!  Mind you, she's been praying & asking God to grow her hair. Oh my gosh!!! I love them SO much!!!! 

      Saturday, we got to have a fun time meeting with one of Sister Johnson's former investigators from one of her last areas, who drove the 3 hour drive to take us out to breakfast. Isn't that so awesome!!!! She definitely made an impact on them if they drove 3 hours just to see her. It was such a beautiful morning!! We had heaps of fun with them. We spent the afternoon doing a finding activity with our district. We went chalking at a park & got to talk to a man who really needed to hear the word of God. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Ask me about the guy & I'll be more then happy to tell you the story . Talk about getting black while my poor companion got so burnt haha. Sunday was a good Sunday, we had an awesome time at church (as we usually do) & we got to spend some time with a sweet less active Sister. Funny story, it started pouring rain, with lots of lighting & thunder & we were talking with her on her big porch. At one point, the thunder got so loud that it scared the crap out of me & I jumped. My companion & the less active sister busted out laughing. Hey, anything to get a smile I guess. Then as I was grabbing a Book of Mormon from the car to give to her, I also whacked my head on her big plant that was hanging from her porch. Epps!! It was a nice evening of laughter & as we left she thanked us for the laughs & for coming to see her. I love that lady! 

      I love being a missionary! This week has been a week of seeing the good. Remembering that everyone is different & everyone is unique & special in their own little ways. If God made us all the same then life would be boring & plain. I love being able to connect & relate to people. Some people are good at drawing & some are good at stick figures. Some are good at singing & some are good at humming. We are different but together, we can become something great. I want to invite y'all to pray & ask Heavenly Father to help y'all recognize that hidden talents that y'all have. Everyone is gifted with some kind of talent, what's yours? Let's recognize the talents that we are blessed with & use it for the benefits of others. It will not only bless your life, but it will also bless someone else's life. You could be the answer to someone else's prayer without even knowing it. Find your talents & use it!!!! Like the parable of the talents, let's strengthen our talents so the Lord can multiply them & give us more beautiful talents. Y'all are amazing & I'm blessed to have so much love & support while on my mission. Remember that I love each of y'all SO much, but more importantly, Jesus Christ loves you more. Let's be more optimistic & more positive. The world needs that light! Reach out & reach up! Have a blessed week my loves! Until next week ️

Hurrah for Israel! 

With love, 

Sister Kawa'a 🤙🏽

Hauʻoli Lā Makuahine!

Aloha kakahiaka e kuʻu ʻohana. Ke aloha nui iā ʻoukou pakahi āpau. Pehea mai nei ʻoukou? How are y'all? Special thanks to those who took the time to answer the question from my email last week. I enjoyed reading all the responses. I hope everyone is having a beautiful day so far. Week 73 was an awesome one. We've been doing lots of finding so we can continue to grow our teaching pool. So just a little update on Don. He is doing so good. We went to see him twice this week & the first time we saw him, we asked how he's been doing with trying to live the Word of Wisdom. Uncle started looking at us & then he looked at his daughter in law & said, "oops." Then he told us that he's been smoking again, cuz he gets bored & lonely. So what does Sister Kawa'a do? I made him give me his pack of cigarettes. He was shocked, but willingly gave them to me & we helped him to come up with a plan to keep him busy throughout the week. He really wants to keep the commandments but he says that's it's hard. Yes it's hard! But it's worth it. He's growing in the gospel very slowly. After teaching him about the Law of Chastity, we asked him if he would live it & he said yes. Then we asked him why he would live it & his answer was simple. He said, "I'll live it cause I want to go to Heaven." That was a reassurance that he knows that keeping the Lords commandments will allow him to one day return to live with God again. He's getting it & the Spirit is helping him continue to recognize truths. His scheduled baptism date is July 1st so please keep him in y'all's prayers. 

Took away Donʻs cigarettes! 

      This past week, we got to have a mission conference with Elder Lawrence of the seventy. He & his wife came & talked to us missionaries about our special calling to help gather in Israel. It was such an awesome mission conference. I'll share some of the things that stood out to me. We first talked about Jesus Christ & his mission here on Earth. He was specifically called by his Father, to teach the Israelites. He was serious about his calling & he knew his purpose. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi's favorite word to use for the Savior, was Holy one of Israel. He was a literal descendant of Israel which made his mission even that much more special. When Sister Lawrence was explaining Christ's mission, she likened it to us & our own mission. As missionaries, we have each been called of God to a specific place, because of our special & unique Spirits. We've each been called to help him gather Israel. How great is our calling? I know that we each have divine calls in helping the Lord gather Israel. We each play a special role in his marvelous plan. My eternal perspective on this has helped me to continue to remember that each person we meet, each person we teach is a literal son or daughter of God. As I've come to understand this, my capacity to love has grown. It's unbelievable. I think that's one of the most important things that I've learned on my mission. I've never thought I could feel so much love for someone who I don't even know, or never met before. It's just reassurance that Gods plan is real & that we are literally his children. 

Beautiful Sister Pasikala!

Our 6 hour car ride!

Good night Elder Saluone!

      We had a beautiful Mother's Day yesterday. Church was wonderful & we had a luncheon for the Relief Society sisters & all the mothers in the ward. The Spirit was present & the love in the room was so beautiful. Everyone got to fellowship with each other & hear wonderful talks about how we as mothers, daughters, aunts, nieces & sisters have such a sacred & import role here on Earth. Choosing to love someone is an act of faith. Being a mother can be both so heartbreaking & also so very rewarding. One speaker talked about mothers from the scriptures & their wonderful examples. What really touched me was the example & experience of Mary the mother of Jesus. The faith that she had when the angel Gabriel appeared to her & told her that she would conceive & bare a son who would save the world. She was faced with trial & opposition, but she endured it because she knew the greater plan. She knew what she was called to do. Her divine call was sacred & so powerful. Think of Emma Smith. She was the wife of a prophet & she too was forced to leave all that she knew to be that comfort & support that her husband needed. We each have special & divine calls as children of God. The greatest example is my own mother & all the women in my life. Thanks mom for loving me unconditionally & for supporting me in EVERYTHING. Your love is so inspirational & your sacrifice has blessed my life in so many ways. I hope to one day follow your example & love my kids the way that you love me & my brothers & even your hanai children & of course little Ceralena. Ke aloha nui iā ʻoe e kuʻu makuahine!!!! ️

Face time with the family!

Some of my favorite pics with my mommy!

      We'll gang, it's been another great week here in Temple. The gospel is so amazing & my mission just keeps getting better & better. The Lord is so wonderful & I am so blessed & grateful to have this precious time to prepare for the rest of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I know y'all are just counting down the days  haha. I love y'all so very much!!! I, on the other hand, am continuing to be in the "now". My focus is Temple & I'm excited to finish my mission out in such a unique area. I want you all to know that Christ has changed my life in so many different ways. He has reminded me that he knows me better then I know myself. My faith has grown so much & I can stand with Nephi & say that I know in whom I trust. I have full confidence & faith in Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ. They love me & I know that they love each of you!!!! They know you by name & they know what you are capable of. Don't give up y'all! The gospel is good news. Let's continue to share that good news with everyone around us. Keep shining your light cause people do see it & they do recognize it. Sorry if my email seems a little scatter brain. I just have so much to say & not a lot of time haha. I love each of y'all so much!!!! Thanks for loving me & supporting me on my mission. You each have been a huge blessing in my life & have touched my life one way or another. Go forth with faith & trust & know that God is there!!! Eia koʻu leo pule haʻahaʻa. E holomua kākou a paio mau no ka pono. Nā ke Akua e pāhola mai i kona aloha a me kona mau pōmaikaʻi ma luna o mākou. I lā maikaʻi!!! Until next week y'all 

Hurrah for Israel! 

With love, 

Sister Kawa'a

The Elders bringing my bike home!

Read the Email and Answer the Question

Howdy my weekly subscribers 

      What's good in the neighbor hood? How's y'all doing? I hope everyone's staying healthy & sick free. Shout out to all y'all who send me updates & little emails each week. Thanks for doing that. I really to feel all the loves & prayers that are headed my way. All I can say is MAHALO NUI!! I really do appreciate each of y'all who take the time to think of me in their busy lives  Week 72!!!!! It was another fast one. My weeks feel fast while my days feel long. Okay sometimes haha but you get the point. I love the people that we are working with. They're all so awesome & we just need to get them all baptized & the world would be such a wonderful place haha. This past week, we had interviews with President Whitney & a "special" meeting with the Zone. We were trained on the importance of asking someone to be baptized & totally following the Spirit when doing so. It was really good! We watched a video of missionaries asking their investigator to be baptized & when the missionaries did this, the investigator responded with, "you know, I was waiting for someone to tell me something like that my whole life." That really hit me. We as missionaries have such a sacred & special calling. We get to invite people to come unto Christ. We get to help people who've been literally waiting their entire life's & don't realize it until they are asked, until they are invited to act. How great is our calling? Doesn't it make you feel motivated? I know for me, it definitely helped me to keep in mind the eternal perspective. 

Our crazy zone!

      We got to teach Payton this week. We reviewed the Law of Chastity & Word of Wisdom with her. It was really cool because, she knows that our bodies are temples & that if we think about temples, we want to keep them beautiful & pure so we have to do the same thing with our body's. Maintaining good health & putting in good things into our bodies. She basically was teaching us. We also got to teach Jomeo & Jospehine the same lesson. It's amazing because, all 3 of them, along with the rest of our investigators, have a desire to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ & that desire is so inspiring to me. That will have to be one of my favorite things about missionary, seeing the desire that our investigators have & the willingness that they have to act on the things that they feel as they're being taught. It's motivating & it strengthens my own testimony for sure. Oh good news, Jomeo & Josephine made it to church this week!!!  That was literally their only obstacle & when we asked them how they liked it they simply said, "it was amazing!" We are so happy to see them progress in the gospel. Their doing so great. Another investigator that we have is Ronnie. He is a character. We taught him about Heavenly Fathers wonderful plan, The Plan of Salvation (learn more on Mormon.org). When we first met with him, it felt a little awkward & I was kind of hesitant. Let me remind y'all, Heavenly Father knows his children. He knows when they're ready & when they're not. As soon as we started teaching him, that hesitation left & was replaced with peace from the Spirit. No one could deny the feelings that were felt as we shared this wonderful plan of happiness. It was awesome!!!! 

Payton!

Sister Whitney!

      Shout out to all you people who bend over backwards to fulfill your church callings. For those of you who aren't familiar with LDS services, all of our callings in the church including going on a mission, are all voluntary work. No one gets paid for the service they give in the church. Most of us have full time jobs or have to set it aside for a time, & choose to still have to fulfill our duty to the Lord. This week was just wonderful. Some of our ward members literally bend over backwards to go on exchanges with us & to make sure that we are taken cared of here on our missions. I will be honest, let me remind y'all, change is scary for me, as it is for most of us. Being taken from my comfort zone & being thrown into my uncomfortable zone is not fun for me. That's why I try to live by the saying, "there is no comfort in the growth zone & no growth in the comfort zone."  Something that I've really been trying to study lately is obedience, sacrifice & trust. With the help from scriptures, praying & guidance from my 'ohana, I came to a realization that, sometimes, we don't understand why things happen & that's because we can not see the bigger picture. Our view gets blocked by the day to day struggles & tasks. Heavenly Father always sees the bigger picture. His view is eternal. Sometimes when we feel like we don't understand the "why", that's when we need to trust him the most! It seems impossible to do, but once we put our trust in him, the most greatest blessing will come. I see this happening in this transfer so far. I did not understand why the Lord was sending me down to an unknown area, with only 12 weeks left in my mission. I didn't understand why he was throwing me in the unknown. I didn't want to understand. I just let the natural man take over cause I wanted to do what I was comfortable with. I've really tried to humbled myself & plead with the Lord for understanding. I think I was expecting to receive this big answer to the why, but instead I got a simple sense of peace that came over me. I simply heard the words, "trust me." As I've trusted him, I have seen why the Lord needs me here at this very moment & at this very point in my mission. 

Made some dinner for us!

How I feel when no one answer the door!

Literally how I feel at the end of every day!

      I wanna leave y'all with my simple testimony that sacrifice really does bring forth the blessings of Heaven & so does obedience. As we sacrifice what we want to do & do what the Lord wants us to do, blessings from Heaven do come. No it's not easy, but it is worth it! Remember that! We have such a loving Father in Heaven who allowed his only begotten son, Jesus Christ to come down to earth & be that ultimate sacrifice who would save all mankind. Do you think it was easy for God to allow this to happen? Do you think it was easy for Jesus to accept such a big responsibility? It was easy because he understood the eternal perspective. He was tempted, but he gave no heed to it. He paid no attention to temptation. There was & there is no other man like him. He truly was no ordinary man. He is helping us fight the good fight. He is guiding us & he set that perfect example for us. I love that word strive which means, to make great efforts to achieve or maintain something. Let us make great efforts to successfully bring out our Heavenly Fathers plan for us. After all, his whole plan is to bring to pass the immortality & eternally life of man. Let's help him accomplish his plan by being more willing to align our will with his, by being more obedient. It's a lot easier to follow his commands. They bring us so much joy & not just temporary joy, but eternal joy. How awesome is that? I don't know about y'all, but I sure would love to be happy for a period that lasted forever. Wouldn't that be amazing? I know that we can all receive this. Let us humble our selves & strive to be a little better then we were yesterday. Let's be more willing to act & more bold to trust in our Heavenly Father, even when we don't always fully understand the why to things. He knows the bigger picture & only he knows what's best. Man, I love this gospel so very much. It's the very core of who I am & who I want to become. Let the gospel change your life. Love y'all so much family!!!! If you have the time & if you read my emails, answer this question for me, I want to know this, how has Jesus Christ changed your life? I would love to read your answers to this. Please know that I appreciate each of y'all. I hope y'all have a great week ahead. Choose the right! Until next week 

Our lovely district!

Beautiful Temple, Texas sunset!

Hurrah for Israel! 

Shout out to my Hoewa'a 'ohana!! One more family was made eternal this weekend 

With love, 

Sister Kawa'a 

Gladly Bringing Souls to Christ

Howdy y'all!!! 🤠

      Another week has gone on by here in Temple, Texas. What can I say? It's different here, that's for sure. Week 71 was busy & busy is good! Ima give y'all a little run down on each beautiful soul that we were able to visit, teach & love on this week. First lets talk about Yoshi & his two daughters, Ada (8 yrs) & Chloe (6yrs). Yoshi has lived in Utah & has had his experience with Mormons. He loves Mormons & loves what we teach. He really wants his kids to have an open mind about religion & his kiddos really LOVE learning about Jesus Christ. It's been fun trying to find ways to teach them, like turning our lessons into games to get their attention, since they only have such a short attention span. Please pray for them & for us, as we discern our thoughts & needs to their thoughts & needs. I know that they are the Lords elect, because as we are reminded, "mine elect hear my voice." Please pray for us that we'll know how to best help them come closer to Christ. Next on the list is Don & his daughter in law, Rachel. Oh my gosh! They just amaze me. They love learning about the things we teach them & they both have a sincere desire to act on the things that are being taught. Don has been a lot more open with us & he's been a lot more happier & is now cracking jokes & interacting with us a lot more. We had a small memorial service for his wife & it was really good for him & his family because, they were able to receive the closure that was very much so needed. The more we spend time with them, the more open he gets. He's growing so much & the Spirit truly is touching his heart. Please keep praying for him! 

Selfies!

      On to our Jamaican family, Jomeo & Josephine. We got to teach Jomeo this week & he just absolutely loves learning about the church. The only obstacle that we have with them is helping them see the importance of attending church. I know that the Lord truly is preparing them, because I see the way the Spirit touches their hearts whenever we teach them. They hear the masters voice & only want more. It's so fun to see them slowly growing & progressing in the gospel. We got to teach a new investigator, his name is Ronnie & he is a character. We taught him about the restoration of the gospel & he thought it was really cool & he just soaked it all in. It was funny because, we just showed up at his house, knocked on the door & he came out & was like already prepared to hear what we got. It was pretty cool to see how the Lord truly prepares people. We got to stop in to visit a potential investigator name George. He too has been prepared by the Lord. He really likes religion & learning about what we teach. The first time I met him, we showed up to just drop by & he welcomed us in & was excited to see us. I know that he is ready to hear our message because if he wasn't, he wouldn't have been so excited & eager to welcome us in. 

When your water bottle opens in your bag and you have to dry things out!

      Teaching the gospel & having this opportunity to be a full time missionary, has helped me to understand that there are people all around us. We just never know! We never know if the person next to us is struggling or if they just need to find happiness. Our job is to be the Lords hands. Be his instruments in helping our brothers & sisters come back to happiness. Find that lasting peace that they so long to have. The eternal joy. It continues to amaze me when I see the Spirit touch someone else's heart. Wether it be a member, non member or less active that we come in contact with. If they are his elect, if they are ready & prepared & if they are willing, they will hear his voice & they will recognize what they're missing. Another cool thing happen, we've been doing lots of "area book cleaning", which is basically going back into our records & making contact with former investigators (people who've been taught before by missionaries),  to see if they're still interested. We got to finally make contact & set up appointments with 2 awesome guys that the sisters have been trying to meet with. Please pray that our appointments won't cancel...it usually does with them. We know that they too are the masters elect & that Satan is working extra hard to have them not meet with us. I love the Lord so much. He's got special plans & specific plans for each of his children. 

Selfies in the mirror!

      Well family & friends, mahalo nui for all the love, support, prayers, emails, letters & little packages that y'all send. I really to appreciate all the things that y'all do. Each of you have strengthened me & encouraged to keep on keeping on. I want y'all to never forget the love that our Heavenly Father & Savior, Jesus Christ has for us. They love each of us so much! I know it because I see it & I feel it. I see if every time I talk to someone about the gospel. Wether it be through a pass a long card or by giving out a Book of Mormon or if someone asks me about my name tag. There are all kinds of ways that we can recognize & helps those around us recognize that eternal love & joy. As found in D&C 29:7, "And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts;." How awesome is that. I have a testimony that there are so many people around us who truly do hear his voice. The master is preparing people for us to teach, love, guide & help. Let's be bold & loving in striving to reach out to those around us. Don't be afraid to stand as a representative of Jesus Christ at all times. After all, that is one of the promises that we make as members of this great church. Let's be more courageous & more faith driven instead of fear driven. Yes, it won't be easy but it will be worth it. Try it! I love y'all soooo much. Y'all make me so happy! I know y'all are doing the count down thing haha. Y'all are the best!!! I hope y'all have the best miracle filled week ever. Go out & change lives. Until next week beautiful people 

Hurrah for Israel! 

With love, 

Sister Kawa'a 🤙🏽