The Best Testimony we can Share with Others is our Actions

January 29, 2018

Last week Sister Kwak and I had some fun in the morning finishing a puzzle we got from the Bendixens the night before. 

Then we had fun shopping at a craft store and found some cute locally made things like jewelry. I ended up getting a sunrise shell necklace and a Moana ring. Sister Kwak and I got matching bracelets with a shell and a Tahitian looking pearl.

That night we had dinner with a member that hasn't been able to come to church in a while and I didn't really know. She is super nice and we had a good time. She is willing to come out and help us with lessons so that will be good.

Wednesday we were able to do service at Pearl Harbor again. It was really great. This time we helped with an event they are having so we cut out Navy helicopters and pieces of paper for the landing strip. I may or may not have cut a bunch of them wrong on accident but you live and you learn...

We got to see the information center where they have the location of other ships and planes and other equipment. They have blue lights on all the time which was interesting but helps with keeping everyone happy.

We had lunch afterward at the Naval Exchange because they have a good court. This guy ended up sitting next to us so we talked to him and he actually never met the missionaries. He was from Pennsylvania and was getting ready for deployment in a few days. It was fun talking to him. We gave him a little card and told him to visit mormon.org if he wanted to find more information and cool videos. I hope he looks it up!

The rest of that day was pretty great. We were able to visit a member the Elders were teaching, she is a super sweet elderly lady that wants to come to church but has a hard time. But she said she will call the handi-van to pick her up for this Sunday. We also met this girl that I've seen a lot and has been at another house of people we are teaching. Then we visited an investigator and asked if we could come in for a few minutes. Her granddaughter was there too. We got to know them more and shared information about the Book of Mormon from the pictures in the front. While we were sharing some more family sat in and asked questions so we ended up sharing part if the restoration. It was really great. They also helped us learn some Chuukese and we had a good time together. 

We had exchanges this week. I was able to go to another area that is over Pearl Harbor with Sister Jeffrey. She served where I am serving now for 7 1/2 months. It was fun to get to know her better and discuss the branch because we whitewashed in after she left. It was nice to get her advice on some things too. We had an interesting day... We ended up going to a funeral for a Chuukese investigator that passed away. We were able to see some family that I hadn't seen in a long time that we were trying to contact so that was great. The service was in Chuukese so I had close to no idea what was going on. But it was still good. I learned afterward that Sister Jeffrey learned quite a bit when she served there so she understood a little of what was being said. The saddest part was when they played some Chuukese music fairly loud and the people sang and Fenciana's sisters went up and cried hysterically over her. This went on for a while. It was so sad. And come to find out afterward from Sister Jeffrey they were talking about how they aren't sure if she's in heaven and whatnot. Super sad.

Then we did some major weeding service for a member in her small backyard. It was pretty satisfying and the weather wasn't too bad.

Then we attended a baptism that was really good. I always love hearing the testimony and story of those who were baptized.

Then we went to dinner with this cute military family. They were super fun and adore their 2 yr old daughter....we do too. She kind if reminded me of myself with her blonde hair. But she was super smart and had such a cute little attitude. It was an interesting but great exchange.

We had regional conference and we were excited when one of our families we are teaching came! There were very few Micronesians there...

That's about it for the week...my appreciation for the Plan of Salvation definitely grew. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that this life is not the end and that we will see our family again and be able to live with them. I know this is true and it has helped me when I need comfort but also when I need to focus. This plan has helped me remember my purpose in this life and how I need to be aware of my decisions. I want to do the best I can on earth so that I can be prepared to live with Heavenly Father.

 

I loved the story I read in Alma 24 during one of my studies this week. This chapter talks about the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's and how they decided to throw away their weapons of war. When the Lamanites came to battle they did not fight and the Lamanites realized that they weren't going to fight. So they stopped and were converted unto the Lord. We can show our testimony by our actions. This week we attended activities to support people and did lots of service and I think that is one of the best ways we can share our testimony!

Much love and Aloha,

Sister Heath

Pictures:

Sister Kwak and I finished the puzzle

The PCC puzzle we completed

 leaving Pearl Harbor...

Sister Kwak and I at Pearl Harbor in the information center in the blue light

Exchanges with Sister Jeffrey

Sister Kwak's last time so she got a cool hat!

Always look for the silver lining or in my case the colorful rainbow

January 22, 2018

Last p-day was jam packed with activity. Sister Sicotte and I hiked Diamond Head which wasn't as hard as we expected. But there were tons of people since it was a holiday. 

After hiking we went to the tabernacle where a bunch of the Elders were in the gym ready to play some soccer. I had a great time playing for a few hours! The Bendixens also brought us root beer floats...so good!

This week has been interesting implementing new things...we use to plan everything on paper and would write reminders down but I've tried to use my phone so it's a little different and I'm still figuring it all out. We are also inputting all of our teaching records and whatnot online which is time consuming. But it will be worth it.

My new companion is Sister Kwak and she is super fun. She is from South Korea. There is a never dull moment with her. She is super awesome saying hi to everyone! 

We didn't have as much success as last week but it was still good and we were able to teach a few people and talk to everyone we walked by. 

I hit my 9 month mark on Friday and it was crazy to think how time has flown! It's been wonderful so far and these next 9 months are going to be even better!

Much love and Aloha,

Sister Heath

Sister Sicotte and I at the top of Diamond head

Lots of stairs at Diamond head

Always finding interesting things everywhere we go

Rainbow

 Another Rainbow

 Celebrating 9 months!

For in His strength I can do all things

January 15, 2018

Alma 26:12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I read this scripture this week during my studies and it really hit me. This scripture really seems to be the theme for me during these past few transfers in this area.  We see so many miracles as we strive to do the Lord's will. It's not always easy for me to talk to every single person we see, but I have definitely seen the blessings when I try my best. This last week we set a goal of 6 new investigators and that was blown out of the water! With seeking the guidance of the Spirit we were able to find 12 pretty solid new investigators!

The first miracle happened on Monday night. We went to go visit a family that used to be taught. Long story short, they tidied up really quick and invited us in. We've never met or heard of this lady but she invites us right in...mind you it's like 8pm. Anyway she's super nice, we teach the restoration and it went pretty well except for the fact that she was exhausted... We ended up teaching her daughter and her cousin as well. They were very receptive and wanted us to come back to teach more!

On Tuesday as we talked tried to talk to everyone we were able to meet some really nice people and share a message with them. There were many people we planned to see but none of them were home but throughout the day we talked to the people around those areas and found 5 new investigators. The Lord works in mysterious ways! It was a great day!

The same thing happened on Wednesday. One of the people we went to visit, we met a lady named Aullani trying to contact a referral. It was the wrong address but we asked her if we could come back and share a message, she said we could. So we stopped by to see her. This guy came out. It turned out to be her husband JT. We thought he came out to leave but he came out to talk to us. We had a really good visit with him. He is a pastor but said we could come back, he is super nice and open. It really amazes me how open the Chuukese are to hearing a message from us. I don't know if an American pastor would even talk to us! haha

Friday night the Assistants to the President asked us to give the missionary moment at their baptism. So we told them we would sing I am a Child of God accompanied by the Ukulele so we practiced because I hadn't played in a while and Sister Sicotte was nervous to sing...we were laughing because we are both mediocre musicians performing a musical number, but that's what I like to do. It's something fun and different.

Saturday morning the baptism was at 9:30 am.  As we were preparing for the day we got a call from the Bendixen's that there was a ballistic bomb threat and that they were going to the tabernacle to wait for further instruction, however there wasn't much on the news so they weren't sure if it was legitimate. So we left for the tabernacle and saw the Bendixen's the floor above us and they said to stay put. They think it was a fake. So we ended up just going back to our pad and finished getting ready. President said to stay put in our pads unless we had a baptism to go to. But it was finalized not too long after that it was a fake. So all was well! Definitely a wake up call!

The baptism was wonderful. It was in the University Branch and there were quite a few people there for support! Before the baptism the Zone Leaders heard that we were doing the missionary moment and asked us if we could do it at their baptism tonight as well. We said you can see how badly it goes and if you really want us to do it...haha The Spirit was really strong during the baptism. The musical number went well after lots of praying. :) We were able to hear the testimony of Brandon, the guy who was baptized. It was amazing to hear his story of searching and whatnot. He has such a strong testimony and is such a kind person! 

Later we had a really great lesson with Kasto, he has insightful questions. We talked about the Plan of salvation again and he said he would be good going to the terrestrial kingdom so we tried to explain why that should not be the case. We will see if he will change his mind.

That night we attended the baptism for the Zone Leaders. It was for Kahala Ward, which I was in for 6 weeks...it was great to see everyone again. Our investigator Raven was there and he is going to be baptized on the 27th! Such a miracle!

Another wonderful baptism. His name is Shea and he's only been taught for a few weeks. He bore his testimony and it was amazing to hear the wonderful changes in his life and how he became more happy because of the gospel! We had a few people thank us for our musical number so I guess that means it went well!

We got transfer news!

Sister Sicotte is going back to the Visitors Center for her last transfer. I was called to be a Sister Training leader with Sister Kwak here in Honolulu. It will be an exciting adventure. I was in the same zone as Sister Kwak in Kaneohe. She is super awesome and funny! She is from Korea.

Church was great! We got a call in the morning from one of our investigators Eimy that she wanted to come to church. So we were able to walk her to church...it made our day! The Lukas' also brought their friend that we met at dinner the night before. It was great!

I am excited what this transfer will bring!

Love,

Sister Heath 

Always Fun in Hawaii

January 8, 2018

Last week for P-day we joined the Elders and Tevin (the awesome member we've gone on hikes with before) for an awesome hike to the Pali Lookout. It was super intense with some rock climbing but it was really fun. We enjoyed ourselves and truly got a full body workout! Not to mention some awesome pictures!

Since it was New Years we had a party at the mission office which was really fun. We had a great dinner provided by the Senior couples and we were able to watch Moana which was really fun especially for the missionaries who haven't seen it yet! 

On Tuesday we were able to meet up with the Elders to introduced someone we found that is from another Micronesian island called Kosrai.  We are only over

Chuukese and they are over everyone else. While we were waiting for them to arrive we decided to find some people to talk to. I saw this guy by his car and I was like, hey! Where are you from? ...I was expecting him to say Chuuk but when he said Tonga I was like no way! We can give a referral to the Tongan Elders! We talked to him and he was really nice and said the Elders could stop by. I'm always stoked when we find someone that we can give as a referral...I had to laugh afterwards at my approach..hey where you from? Haha that seems to be the conversation starter lately...

We were able to do some service at Pearl Harbor on Wednesday which is always great. This time was pretty fun. We actually felt like we were helping. We helped move some decking up. We cleaned tables and chairs and then we made some sweet bookmarks out of the teak from the ship! 

Later that day we decided to stop by a couples home that used to be taught. We hadn't visited them because their mom in our branch said they moved or something. We decided to go there anyway and we were able to meet the girlfriend. We had a really good visit and the she wants to get baptized. There are some changes that need to happen in her life but we are excited that she wants to make that step!

We were able to attend the Chinese Book of Mormon class and it was great to see the turnout. 

We had another good lesson with March and Enson about some commandments that go along with the law of chastity. We always love lessons with them because they are super open and ask questions. No one else we teach really asks questions and we aren't sure if they are understanding. And they fed us lunch which is so sweet of them! My first time having corned beef and it was really good!

We were able to have dinner with the Bendixens and discussed our plans to hold an English class after church for our branch. That was fun to be with them and talk. I am excited to teach and had some flashbacks of teaching English in Ukraine.

It was nice on Friday we went to visit some new investigators and they weren't really expecting us but they were totally willing to hear our message...so that was really nice to have their attention and share a message. We could tell that they really wanted to listen.

We also met this relative of Sister Rachulup in our branch. Her name is Antonia. Her cousin was there too and she is a member and helped translate thankfully. After teaching the restoration we found out that Antonia's mom was taught and baptized so she already knew the lesson we taught...haha but we were able to set her with a date to be baptized which is exciting!

We had a lesson with Eimy. We planned to review the Restoration and share the Word of Wisdom. But we realized she didn't remember much from the first time we taught. We ended up reading the Chuukese pamphlet because she doesn't understand English as well as I thought she did. I'm grateful that I am able to read in Chuukese! It seemed to help her understand more. She is so cute. She prays in English and says thank you and sorry a lot...she is precious. She wanted us to eat with her after too. So sweet!

On Sunday we attended a meeting for the Makiki ward. They have a goal to successfully transition the Chinese group into a branch so we attended by request from Bishop. It took a few hours so we missed two of our meetings. But it's awesome to see how motivated everyone is in the Makiki ward! 

We were excited to see the Chuukese represent in Relief Society! There were only a few others... Also, we had 4 investigators come to church which we were surprised by both of these things because our church is at 9am which is super early for the Micronesians! So awesome! 

We had a great dinner with the Lukas' and they shared their stories with us. We found out that Brother Lukas was the first Chuukese to be baptized in Saipan! Super cool. I think it was in 1977. They are an awesome family!

I love serving in this area!

I know that as we reach out to others we can help build the kingdom of God. In Alma 6:6 We are commanded to gather often and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who know not God. Once we know the truth we need to share it with others. I've realized especially today with thinking about these language groups how they started small and grow and it's because if the people and what they are willing to do.... it's not about us...its about helping others become converted and strengthening them. I've seen so many people sacrifice to help these langauge groups and branches become possible. We can help our own wards and we reach out to just one person! The lord will help you...this is his work!

Much Aloha,

Sister Heath

 Our Hike from last week...it was a little windy...

The view 

Some of the climbing we did

Bishop museum

       Pearl Harbor!

Not a bad way to end the year...

January 1. 2018

This week was awesome! 

To finish our Christmas off we had a party at the mission office. The Senior couples provided a wonderful Christmas dinner. There was even a fireplace playing on the TV. After dinner we learned more about the history of Christ at the time of his birth. Then we were able to watch Ephraim's rescue. It was a really touching movie during the time of the pioneers. It definitely made me more grateful for all the things I am blessed with!

On Tuesday we had the privilege of going to the temple. It was absolutely wonderful! I always love the peace I feel in the temple...you can't feel it like that anywhere else. We stopped by the visitors center afterward and Sister Sicotte was able to see some of the VC sisters. It was kind of hard for her but good.

 

We talked to some awesome people this week:

Eimy: Preparing for baptism in February. Super happy..you can always count on her smiling. She loves our visits and never ceases to say sorry and thank you. Hasn't been to church yet but we are walking her next week!

Annalore: Super nice lady Sister Ogawa and I met a while ago when we were eating outside Wal-Mart. She knows English super well and she is up to speed with the American culture it seems like. We stopped by her house on the day it was pouring rain outside. We got to know her more. She loves the bible and wants to learn more. She is hard working and super kind.

Merisa: Local girl we saw when we were visiting some Chuukese. She was very upbeat and super nice. We decided to talk to her and it turns out she just moved from Wainae and was involved with the church over there and loved it. So we told her where ours is. It was a great meeting. Also her son is 2 years old and could easily pass for 4 years old...mind blown...ask Sister Sicotte...I wouldn't stop taking about for a good 5 minutes! 

Kasto: We taught him the plan of salvation last week and he read the pamphlet and had really good questions. We had a great lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was really strong. He seems very sincere. He tried to pray for the first time at the end of the lesson. He said it was hard but he tried for a good few minutes. We are excited to see him progress. He has a Catholic background but really wonders if God is there. We are just encouraging him to pray right now. 

Nlornca: a super sweet lady we met when we were trying to find a referral in this huge housing area. We ended up setting a return appointment after asking for her help. We stopped by and she invited us in even though they were having dinner. She made us some raw fish and I told her kindly I will eat the rice but I don't really eat raw fish...there was a big pan of cooked fish ion the table. I did try the raw fish though and I chewed it for a while. I did not take another bite... I don't know how they eat raw fish...not for me. Sister Sicotte did a great job and ate a bunch. Anyway after that fun experience we were able to have a great lesson. She really wants to learn to help her family. 

We were pleasantly surprised to have 6 investigators at Church. And one of them is Fenciana who used to come a lot but we haven't been able to contact her in weeks. So it was awesome! 

We also got to attend the Sunday school of the Chinese group in the other ward. That was fun. The Chinese Elder translated for his companion so I could hear a bit. They are awesome and have a goal to become a branch! 

Many blessings this week. I am so grateful to be a missionary right now and I love this area and these people. I know we are put in certain places for a reason. Reach out to those around you and you can help them feel the love of Our Savior.

It's pretty interesting having a smartphone...its pretty nice especially when the library is closed to email...so I will send more pictures next week from my camera...

Aloha and Happy New Year!

Sister Heath

Pictures: 

Hike from last week!, we found some more fun art in the street, family we had a message with on Christmas eve, playing songs for people on Christmas eve,playing songs for people on Christmas eve, temple!, caroling at our investigators house...her name is March, and then Eimy, picture in front of the museum 

caroling at our investigators house...her name is March and then Eimy

Geraldine and her family after church

playing songs for people on Christmas eve

family we had a message with on Christmas eve

we found some more fun art in the street

Hike from last week!

temple!

picture in front of the museum