Making The Most Of What We Have

February 26, 2018

We were able to spend a little of our p-day with the Bendixens last week. They took us to a delicious breakfast at Liliha Bakery. Sister Kwak and I shared an omelet and some waffles with custard. It was really good! We also did some sight seeing with them. We went to the blow hole near Sandy beach and saw a few really good ones right as we were leaving. It was a beautiful day! We were hoping to see some whales but there weren't any... We also visited Punchbowl which was good...there is a great view from up there.

We had interviews with President and Sister Bekker which was good. And that meant we got to check all of the Elders Area book app and planner on their phone to see how they are doing. It was exhausting looking at phones for several hours and it's interesting because we are all still trying to figure out how we can best use our phones. 

We were able to stop by the Kisin ohana with Sister Lukas which was good. They are doing well. They don't speak very much English but they all know my name, hey Heath! :) So fun! I love their family!

We stopped by the Yawata ohana which we have been trying to teach but everyone isn't always home. So this week we taught the mom (Ornika) and then the son (Aiven) came in later. Aiven read 1 Nephi 2 as we asked but Ornika didn't read. He is super solid and understands well. He is going to help remind his mom to read. We love their family.

We were finally able to see March and Enson! Apparently they have been sick and that's why they couldn't meet with us.  We made sure they are still interested in learning and they said yes. So that's good. We are going to try and help them read more often.

We had a fun adventure on Thursday night trying to find out where the place for our dinner was. No one answered the number we were given and I had never been to the house. Also the ward information is not updated and we don't even have their records! Haha so after many calls we decided to go to an address in the records from a possible relative. There was no apartment number. So we went to a potential investigators house and asked if she knew the person and sure enough she did! Blessings! 

Saturday Raven got baptized! Sister Ogawa and I met him and started teaching him around November and then we were moved from Kahala.... I'm so happy for him. It was really great.

We also were asked last minute to help with an activity they had for the young women in preparation for camp. We did the spiritual activities so we shared about receiving answers and writing them down along with other spiritual experiences. We shared the video from the Youth theme last year, Ask of God. It is a great song and video! It went well. We had fun participating in some of the activities too like making hiking sticks out of bamboo... I didn't want a huge hiking stick so I sanded a little one...we will see if I end up keeping it but it's pretty cool. We also learned how to tie some knots...hopefully I can remember them for when I use rope!

We had a great lesson with Yuriana on Saturday night. She was able to read the Book of Mormon and we talked about questions she had from church and whatnot. AJ was able to read too. We hope we can continue to help them progress. 

Saturday night we got transfer news! I'm getting a new companion to help me with the Chuukese. Sister Eberhard! I went on exchanges with her. She is super awesome!

Sunday we had a great lesson with an investigator named Alexcia. She is really interested and understands well. She loved the Restoration. Especially that we have a prophet today and learning that the priesthood was taken away. We invited her to be baptized and she is going to pray about it this week. We hope she stays here long enough to get baptized because she is visiting from Colorado!

I know that this gospel is true and that it is so special that God loves us so much that we have a prophet today leading his church and us. I know that Russell M. Nelson is called of God and as we follow his counsel we will be blessed!

Aloha!

Sister Heath

with the Yawatas

The Book of Mormon, the keystone of our Religion

February 19, 2018

Last week we were able to see some humpback whales when we were driving along the coast of Hawaii Kai and hiked part of Makapuu. It was pretty cool! 

We were able to meet with some investigators and hear their experiences from reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. I love hearing others experiences and how the spirit works in their life. This gospel brings so many changes and blessings to our life! 

We were able to find some new investigators this week which was great. We tried focusing more on the Book of Mormon and helping others understand the importance of reading it a little bit every day. We know that was we read, we show our faith and we are blessed. We can also learn many lessons that we can apply to our life.

We had Zone Conference this Friday which was really good. It's always great to receive training from President and Sister Bekker. It helps to motivate me to want to be a better missionary. It was also a little scary because we had to help the Zone leaders give the training to our zone and we weren't that prepared. But it went really well and we have a great zone that participates well. 

Saturday we had the baptism for Geraldine Bossy. She was baptized when she was 11 in Chuuk but her records were lost. It was a great opportunity and goal for her to work towards. The spirit was really strong. I am excited for her especially now that she can prepare to go to the temple!

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it truly testifies of Jesus Christ and as we read it we can receive inspiration on how we can improve. We can also receives answers to our questions.

Aloha!

Sister Heath

With Geraldine after church on Sunday in my Chuukese dress

With Sister Tailleur at Zone Conference

Geraldine's baptism

Exchange with Sister Fitisemanu

Jises Epwe Anisuk- Jesus Will Help You

February 12, 2018

We didn't have much of a p-day last week because I accidentally scheduled appointments during the day. Sister Kwak thought I was just being a consecrated missionary and didn't say anything. Haha I spaced that it was p-day. 

We were able to get the essentials done though. It was nice too because we were able to help one of our investigators receive a blessing. The Marshallese Elders and the Bendixens came. It was a party because the whole family was there. I always love being there for special blessings. I just hope investigators understand how special it is and the blessing depends on their faith. We were able to have a good lesson with the family and read the Book of Mormon together. We explained what we read and tried to help them apply the message to their life.

That night we had dinner with Linsel. She is a really sweet recent convert. It was her son's birthday so she made a bunch of food. It was fun to be there. We were able to talk to her non-member husband and his nephew that we haven't been able to see in a while. 

We were on exchanges on Wednesday which was fun. I was with Sister Fitisemanu who just came out. I love getting to know the other sisters that serve here. In the morning we were able to help Eimy do some cleaning around her house which was good.

I was excited for some appointments we had that day but most of them weren't home or cancelled :(

Luckily we had one appointment with the Answer family we are preparing to be baptized. We taught the Plan of Salvation which was good and it was good practice for Sister Fitisemanu. I felt bad because I couldn't remember what it felt like when I first came out but I tried to give her some advice on things that helped me. I was thinking to myself, I'm glad I'm not a trainer because I can't remember what it was like and I feel like it would be super stressful! 

It was a good day though and we talked to everyone we walked by even some weird guys that were obviously not interested in the gospel as much as talking to us...ha! But it was good practice testifying and whatnot.

We were finally able to see Geraldine this week when we decided to stop by her house. She was the only one home too. It was great to catch up and see how she is doing. She recently started a job and is pretty busy now. She still wants to get baptized so we are hoping for this Saturday! 

We were finally able to meet with an investigator we met with once and set with a baptism date. Her name is Antonia.  She is related to a member in our branch(Sister Rachulap) and they live in the same apartment complex. We also met her husband who was excited to meet us and he was super nice. Sadly he was busy cooking a feast for us the whole time that we weren't able to teach him. But we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon with Antonia and Sister Rachulap's daughter Morina who also isn't baptized. Before we left we talked a little to Antonio's husband Chris and he said that he watched the restoration video on YouTube which is super awesome. We are excited for our next lesson with them.

Yesterday we were able to meet with Alexia who is really curious and it is great. She is actually related to Geraldine. We told her to read the Book of Mormon but she read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet which is super awesome. So we were able to teach her more about that after reading the Book of Mormon together. She said she felt so happy learning about the Plan that Heavenly Father has for us. She said she feels so good whenever we meet with her! She is super awesome and we are excited to see what happens even though she is only going to be here for a short time.

Aloha!

Sister Heath

Dinner with Linsel complete with the blue party rice!

After our lesson with the Answer family

Diligence=Miracles

February 6, 2018

Last week we were able to go to Laie so Sister Kwak could take the Michigan English Proficiency Test before going home. It was really weird to be back on campus...so many memories and it made me want to come back and finish school there!

It was fun waiting for Sister Kwak to finish her test. I was trying to write in my journal but found myself looking up every time someone walked by to see if I knew them...haha

I was able to see some people I remember and I even saw some of my good friends that have returned from their missions. It was a great time. We had lunch at the Seasider and one of my friends was so nice and bought us sandwiches, they were really good. Then we went to Angels Ice cream and got Shave Ice...so good...I love that place!

This week was busy with exchanges and with the work as we tried our best to be diligent. We definitely saw the miracles! There are quite a few people we talked to who were praying for certain things to happen and they shared how they received an answer to their prayer and some of them we were a part of that answer. I love being a part of this wonderful work!

I love having the opportunity to learn from the Sisters when we go on exchanges as well.

Church was amazing, in Sunday school we had a ton of people show up to church, people that have never been, haven't been in a long time, and others. I wanted to take a picture of the classroom, it was packed! We even had a bunch of the return missionaries from BYUH come that served in Chuuk! We hope they will all keep coming! 

Yesterday we had Missionary Leadership Council. It was great to be part of the council and hear directly from the leaders and the input of others. It was great to see all the missionary from all over the islands and people that I haven't seen in a while. It is an exciting time especially with the new use of technology! We are excited to push forward the wonderful work! Don't be afraid to share what you know online! We heard some amazing experiences from the Visitor's Center Sisters where several people's friends saw on their friends profile and a link to mormon.org and they have so many people that chat with them and want to learn more!

Keep being a good example and share what you know. We aren't perfect and we aren't expected to be, we are just expected to do our best and rely on the Lord.

Love, 

Sister Heath

 Breanna (my BFF from BYUH)

Becca (my friend from BYUH)

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