Sister Danielle 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