Fasting and mighty prayer brings about many miracles

April 30 , 2018

The work this week was a little crazy but good!

We stopped by this man's house named Don. Sister Nichalson and her companion went once before and he let them choose a Tahitian black pearl to make into a necklace. He texted us that it was ready so we headed over to pick it up. He was super nice. He invited us into his house and gave us a tour if his grown up tree house/bali mansion. He has outdoor rooms and a waterfall/pool right by the living space. He also has collections from his world travels. He also has an awesome collection of seashells and whatnot. We were able to talk to him and get to know his background. We shared the Prince of Peace Mormon message. And he really opened up to us. He used to go to church with his friends when he was young and he actually liked the Mormon church the best! He said recently he lost his way. So I hope we can help him. We also met his sister who is visiting from Idaho and was taught by the missionaries there before! So cool. He saw my sunrise shell necklace and wanted to give me another one. But I was like mine has a pineapple on it too to drop a hint that I don't really need another sunrise shell necklace. Then somehow I was talking about how I wear fake pearl studs always. Then he decided to let me choose 2 Tahitian black pearls to make earrings out of!!! I am excited to see if we can help him find his way.

On Wednesday we were having a lesson with our Chuukese investigator named Aky. Then his wife Ashley came out who is local but can speak Chuukese. She said something about him not understanding so she would join us. Aky was trying to tell us something in Chuukese and I couldn't put the sentence together. So I asked Ashlie if she could translate but Aky just shut down. Finally he just said it in English, So interesting. Then Ashlie went on about how last time he was supposed to tell us that he wants to stop taking the lessons. Then she told us about all their struggles they are going through and asked if we can help. We told her we can talk to our Bishop and see what he can do. We also talked about how when we teach them and they live the gospel, it will really bless their family. Through the course of the next few days we helped them do all of their laundry which was a lot because they have 5 kids. We also stopped by with our ward mission leader Brother Recca so he could see what he could do to help. He shared how we need to have faith and do our part. We came back the next day and dropped some laundry off. They asked if there is something they can study. So we gave them a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We came back the next day (sat) with Bishop so he could see what he could help with. And then after an hour of conversation I was expecting them to be done with us but Ashlie was like, so what about our lesson? So we ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation. It was a little crazy with the kids and they were cooking with their neighbors putting a potluck together. I also ended up teaching Aky on the side a little slower with he Chuukese pamphlet. Sister Nichalson taught Ashlie and her 11 year old daughter Shilyn. It went really well with Aky. He kept saying, okay I understand now, thank you. He asked good clarifying questions too. I told him about the Holy Ghost and praying to know if the plan is true and he said okay. We are excited for their family. Ashlie asked us if we have church and we said yes. And they wanted to come! So we told them the time and our member was able to take them! It was a crazy but good 3 hours of church! 

We had a great lesson with our investigator named Tess on Thursday. She invited us into her house and we taught the Restoration. It went really well. She was really interested and focused, especially during the first vision. She was so grateful for the new knowledge and thinks it is so cool that we have a prophet in these latter days who restored the church! We talked about the Book of Mormon and she was like I guess I need to start studying it more! We invited her to be baptized and she said yes. When we invited her for a specific date then I think she realized the weight of the question...she was like, wait, I am getting baptized again? She said she would think about it. We told her to pray about it too. 

I really saw the blessings from fasting last Sunday (we fasted as a zone for the missionary work). I know that when we make sacrifices and show our faith, the Lord will bless us.

Aloha, 

Sister Heath 

 

 Hawaiian grasshopper?

 cloudy Kaneohe 

Our investigator Ashlie and her son wearing his baby brothers clothes 

I'm counting my blessings this week despite mud, a dirty apartment, and mosquito bites

Devotional with the Prophet!

April 23, 2018

Last Monday we played Glow Putt with our district which was really fun. I love mini golf! Then we ate lunch together. I was able to go to my favorite place and get an Acai bowl (MJ cafe!)

Tuesday we moved out of our stinky pad and into where the Elders were living in Kaneohe 4th area (my first area!). They were able to move into their ward mission leader's place.

It was interesting packing with no boxes. We had quite a few bags so that was good. We also had to sort through all the junk that had accumulated. But we were able to find this ab worker machine which was cool!

We had some Elders come help us and Elder Williams of course with his truck. We packed everyone's cars with stuff and drove down. We took 2 trips. We thanked everyone for helping us. We wanted to put things away but didn't want to put it away where it was dirty so we had to clean first. We did the fridge and freezer for all the food. Then we had to take a brake for dinner and then went back to work putting our bedrooms together. It took a few days to get everything cleaned and put away. But we are grateful to be here. It is like twice as big as our apartment before...and it's a house to ourselves! (the 4 of us)

We were able to stop by a potential investigator's house Thursday night. She was home and came out to talk with us. She is really sweet and super open. We were able to share a video that briefly overviews the Plan of Salvation. It's called Our Eternal Life. Then we touched on the Atonement and repentance. It was great talking to her but I was constantly trying to sweep my legs so I wouldn't get bit by mosquitos. That technique didn't work very well...I got eaten alive. But the sacrifice was worth it! We are excited to keep meeting with her. Her name is Tess.

We had a great lesson with a girl named Abcdeon Saturday morning. She is 9. Sadly she moved to Kailua and isn't in our area anymore so we are working with the Elders to get her transitioned. But she is very smart. We didn't have to teach her much about the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity because she knew most of it. Props to Sunday School class! She is the only one in her family that wants to be baptized but is very committed. 

We had a fun ward activity on Saturday night. They had dinner and everyone participated in live music. There were guitars, ukuleles, drums, a stand up bass, spoons, and maracas. We also saw one of our recent converts dance the hula. It was a great way to bring everyone together.

Sunday we had the privilege of driving up to Laie to hear from our Beloved Prophet. The spirit was very strong and I still am like, Did that really happen? It was great to hear from him, Elder Holland, and their wives. They are all so Christlike. I felt the spirit so strong when we sang "We Thank Thee Oh God For Our Prophet" and couldn't hold back the tears. 

I know that Russell M. Nelson is the Prophet that leads and guides our church today and that he is truly called of God. 

Aloha,

Sister Heath

Glow Putt (I was so happy thay my dress glowed!)

Glow Putt as a district

Going through all the junk and found a cute ornament

After the Devotional

One for the books...

April 16, 2018

This week was crazy to say the least. I went to Waimanalo with Sister Nichalson on Tuesday. 

Our first visit was with an 8 yr old girl named Dania. She is super sweet. She was raised here in Hawaii but she is Chuukese! So funny... I thought I would never see any Chuukese again but my first lesson here was with one! She is super cute and wants to be baptized. We are just waiting for her Grandma's approval.

Afterward, we went to visit an investigator and met his friend. He claimed to be agnostic and I asked him how he came to that belief and he said he couldn't explain it which I thought was kind of funny. But I guess that's what agnostic means...maybe we can help him know and decide.

Later we visited a less-active member. He has a young family. We ended up sharing the Prince of Peace video after getting to know him. Him and his daughters watched. They really liked it. We talked a little about the Book of Mormon and testified of it. The girls were excited to read and he said they would read it that night!

Our zone got to help make some health and safety videos for missionaries that will come out in about a year. They will watch these videos that are made before they come out to help them be more healthy and safe. We demonstrated how to be safe when doing service. It was a cool experience. 

That night we were going to visit someone for a lesson and it started pouring rain. She ended up not being home but her grandpa was with his 2 biker friends. We actually ended up talking to them and they invited us into the garage. We had a good conversation about religion. The rain kept pouring so much that it was coming into the garage so they shut the door. They had some other friends over and were making some food. We ended up sharing the restoration and they all listened intently. It was really cool even though they might not have been all there. We hope we can share more with them. We were able to give them a copy of the Book of Mormon. They all seem to be open too... especially the grandpa, he said he is at the age now where he just wants to gain more knowledge. They offered us some food which was good. The grandpa went to the back to get all the water out of the back because it was flooding, he used a hose. One of the other guys went too to make sure his house was okay. After a while we decided to head home too before it got worse. As we were driving home there was so much water on the road! Cars were making waves! We also drove past a river type thing and it was splashing over onto the road! Then we get to our street and the water keeps getting deeper. Pretty soon we get to this group of guys standing out in the water saying we aren't going to make it. The water was super deep I could see it just below the window! We also saw a truck driving through and it was up to the doors! So we went around another way that is perpendicular to our road but it was still pretty deep from that direction. We ended up waiting a while because we didn't want to get caught in the current... Our street was literally a river of water. We even saw a garbage can float down. Eventually it went down so we decided to drive to our house. We made it but then the garage door wouldn't open so we had no way to get into our house! We were going to try and get in through our windows but there was no way to get to the doors because both sides of the house were a few inches of mud.

So thankfully the ladies from upstairs came to help us. One of them climbed on a garbage can and through a window into the garage so we could open it...we had to do it manually and a bunch of water came out from the garage. Once we got into the house we noticed our kitchen had flooded. We kind of checked the rooms and they didn't seem wet so we just focused on trying to get the water out. The fun part is what to use? Plus there wasn't any electricity. We don't have much as missionaries. So I found a mop in the garage and tried using that. We tried sweeping the water into a our small kitchen garbage but you could only get so much in until it comes back out. Let's just say it was a long process and took the sacrifice of some towels. Once the other sisters came home from their dinner appointment we realized water had gotten into the edges of the rooms too! The other sisters were super tired and went to bed. I cleaned a little more and put stuff back and showered off. 

The next morning we went to see the damage and some other houses got it pretty bad and there was mud everywhere. We found out it happened because some trees fell and blocked the drainage right above our street so that's what caused it. We helped a non-member who got flooded pretty bad for a while. The worst thing about the mud is the only way you can really clear it well is with more water... So we spent a few hours helping her. Then we cleaned a little at our house. It was a long weekend to say the least. When we got back the house stunk! Mud had even come up a little on the carpet where the rooms flooded. Definitely grateful that we had a tile kitchen though...it would've wrecked wood. So I was exhausted all Sunday. But it was really fun to get to know the ward and see some familiar faces from stake activities when I was in Kaneohe. It was exciting too because our Bishop is super missionary minded so much that he wants the members to find people for us to teach so we don't have to proselyte! 

This week started off so well. I had some greenie fire I guess or I have just grown a lot since I was in Kaneohe. I was excited to talk to everyone and share a message with them. We met some great people and I am excited to see what happens! I love this area already!

Aloha, 

Sister Heath

Our street we were waiting to drive on

Our kitchen

super mud how high the water got +

interesting tree in Honolulu

Bye to Sister Eberhard 

ister Tailleur and I (I gave her a gift since shes my mission mom and going home next transfer)

Sisters cleaning up the mess!

Dinner with Aunti Momi and Helen

goodbye to the Anser family

Time for the next adventure!

April 9, 2018

Last week we had MLC again. It is always uplifting and motivating to hear training from our mission President and his wife and how we can do better and help the missionaries in this mission do better. 

Something that we focused on was personal testimony and also personal conversion which I thought was interesting because that seemed to be highlighted in conference as well. President Nelson said the greatest gift we've been given is personal revelation. In which we can have our own testimony and conversion. I know that this is so important because we can't rely on each other for our testimony. When we stand in front of God to be judged He will wonder what we did to have our own strength and testimony. That is why the Book of Mormon is such a wonderful thing. We each can read it and pray to know if it's true to gain our own testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true and wait for the spirit to tell you in your mind and heart if it is. 

Tuesday we had P-day. We had a cool experience when we were shopping at Wal-Mart. We always seem to see Chuukese people but as we were walking down an aisle this family walked passed us and saw Jises Kraist on our nametag and started talking to us. They asked where our church is and what time it started. We were able to get their address. It was really awesome. [Sadly they didn't come to church this week and they moved from the address they gave us. But there is hope for the future! ]

Wednesday we had interviews and we checked the Elders phones to make sure they are planning and updating their area books. It went well. 

We were able to teach one of investigators named Mercy. She is such a sweet lady. We taught the restoration and invited her to be baptized. She said she already was baptized so we figured she doesn't completely understand priesthood authority. But she is willing to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I'm sure there is a little bit of a language barrier. It is pretty cute sometimes she will speak in Chuukese and I will recognize a few words and be able to figure out what she is saying but other times I don't know what she's saying... 

We had a cool experience on Thursday as we were walking around trying to contact a few people here in town. I decided to say hi to this guy that was walking by and started a conversation. He was willing to talk to us as we walked. It was really cool. He was super nice and open. He met missionaries a long time ago and said he even took a guy in a white shirt and tie to Laie and fed him lunch but doesn't remember more than that. We shared a little about the temple and the importance of the Book of Mormon. Hopefully he will want to learn from the missionaries again sometime soon. 

On Friday we went to a house with a lot of people that we have met at different times. We met this lady named Vanilla that I have seen but not talked to very much. She really opened up to us. I didn't realize she met with missionaries in Chuuk and has heard about the Book of Mormon. She said that her and her brother and her niece read it together sometimes which is super awesome. We shared Alma 7:11-12 in Chuukese and I guess she liked it so much she wanted us to read it again. We are excited to see her again this week!

Saturday we had the opportunity to attend a baptism in Laie from someone in our district if we could find an investigator to go. So we spend a few hours visiting and calling people to see if they could go but sadly no on could. So we weren't able to go. But the good news is that we were able to see a lot of people!

Saturday night we awaited the transfer news call. Sister Eberhard is staying and will be with my MTC companion, Sister Bowen. I will be going to Kaneohe in the Olomana ward with Sister Nickelson. I did not expect to be going back to Kaneohe. I thought I might go off island but the good news is I will be on island for when President Nelson comes and Elder Holland! I don't think it will hit me that I'm leaving the Chuukese until I'm in Olomana. It's going to be an adjustment! But im excited for the new adventure in store and what the Lord has in store for me there. And for the people I am supposed to meet.

Sunday we had a few investigators show up to church. They were late but we were glad they came. We were excited to see Steve, the Lukas' grandson who we haven't been able to see in a while. So we asked him if he wanted to take the sacrament from another ward and he said okay. We just barely missed the doors closing so we had to wait through a brutal Sacrament hymn of 4 verses because the doors were locked. But it was still good. We talked to him about what the bread and water meant. It was really good.

We were able to briefly meet The Lukas' daughter who just got back from her mission in Chicago last week. She is super awesome. 

I said a few goodbyes.

We had dinner with the Bendixens which was great.

All in all, I would say it was a pretty good last week here in the Honolulu 2nd Branch! 

Aloha and Kenenom (goodbye) Honolulu, 

Sister Heath

with our investigator Mercy at church

With Geraldine and the skirt she gave me

Excited for what is to come...

April 3, 2018

Last week we went on a hike called Manoa Falls. It was a little muddy but a good adventure to a little waterfall.

I also finally got a haircut (I've been meaning to because of my split ends) I don't remember the last time I got it cut.

Sister Eberhard and I had our first lesson using technology. We Facebook called one of our investigators and had a lesson. It went really well.

We met with a family we found that we had a referral for the grandpa. He wasn't there but the daughter and others were. We got to know them and share a message. It was really good. 

We had one last exchange for the transfer. I stayed here in town with Sister Ngatuvai who is from Utah but she is Tongan. She is so much fun! We had a good time singing and playing the uke.

We had a great day. We had an appointment with Samery that went really well. Sister Ngatuvai is really good at focusing on the spirit to understand others. We read the Book of Mormon together and talked about how we can apply it. We also taught her how to pray in English an it was really good because she was willing to pray with us. She was afraid it wasn't good but it was a really good prayer and the spirit was there.

As we tried to visit another family they weren't home but we were able to talk to some other guys a long the way. One of them was super nice and told us how he met the Elders last week in town but wouldn't give them his address. We asked where he lived (assuming it might be in town) but he was like no I live here and gave us his address...so funny. We invited him to watch conference and didn't expect much out of it. He found me on Facebook later that day which is convenient so we can keep in contact. 

We had some other great appointments with some other new investigators. I hope we can help them progress!

Friday we had zone conference which was super awesome just like always! 

We also had general conference this weekend which was also wonderful. We had some exciting things happen. 

It was wonderful to hear the messages that were prepared. Some of the things that stuck out to me were the importance of a prophet today, listening to the Holy Ghost, and having a strong personal testimony. 

I know that these messages were prepared for us so we need to listen to them. We can watch the talks on lds.org.

Aloha,

Sister Heath

getting my haircut

Short Hair

Technology!

Chicken!

Elder Klassen, Elder Owens from MTC, Sister Bowen from MTC, me, and Sister Eberhard

  

 Manoa falls

white cockroach  

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He is Risen (Easter Sunday)