ALOHA!

ALOHA!

   So.. A lot of changes have happened. Well, kind of.. this week is transfers. Sister Jolley and I get to stay together, which is SO awesome! We will, however, only be covering Waianae ward. It will be good, because we will be able to focus on one area, and hopefully get a lot more work done, but it is also hard, because we love Makaha ward. There are going to be two new sisters in the Makaha ward. These two sisters will also be living with Sister Jolley and me. That means no more giant house, just the two of us. It is going to be a lot of fun. I know one of the sisters. Her name is Sister Smith. She came out with Sister Blackner, and she was trained by DUH DUH DUH... Sister Soriao! So, yeah. That will be kind of cool. We can share all of our crazy stories about our crazy Pilipina trainer. 😉 Sister Jolley are excited and nervous for the changes, but we are mostly excited, because at least we will be together for the changes. 

  This week we are going to be meeting Elder Holland! I am so nervous... he wants to shake hands with every missionary. Sister Jolley and I are STLs still, so we will be shaking hands with him twice.. The last time he came, he shook everyone's hand, got up to the pulpit, and then said, "When I shook each of your hands, I looked into you very souls." 😶 ... My soul is going to be looked into twice by Elder Holland... I really am excited though. I'm sure that he will have plenty suggestions for us missionaries. I feel so blessed that we will be able to receive instruction from Elder Holland on what we can improve.

   As far as some people that we met this week: there is a super cute family that we have been meeting with. The mom just had another baby, and then a 3 year old and the dad. The dad is super interested and he keeps his commitments. Last time we met with him, we invited him to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon. When we came on Saturday, he had read the introduction, the testimonies, and the first chapter of 1 Nephi. So awesome!! Then, while we were with them, they kept talking about how everything we were teaching just made sense. Here is the down side...: they mom and dad are not married to each other. The mom is actually married to someone else. We just found this out at our last appointment with them. It's kind of a sticky situation, so it is really sad. We gave them a copy of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." They understand that they cannot be baptized without being married to each other, but it is just weird too, because she is married to someone else.. We love them so much, but it is hard to really know what to do at this point. 

   There are so many challenges in missionary work that I did not expect to face, but I am grateful for every one of them. It just testifies to me more and more of how important this gospel is. I am so grateful for the principles that it teaches, and I am especially grateful for the atonement. How incredible the love of our Heavenly Father is!!

I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week!!

Love, Sister B

 I kind of had an epiphany this week about something that you told me in the past. I remember you always telling me about how a mission will help me to gain confidence and be a stronger woman in the future. Before my mission, I thought that that was because of the life skills I would learn and how I would be able to live on my own. While I still believe that that is part of it... I have discovered that the most confidence and strength that I will receive for the future, by serving a mission, is from the growing understanding that I have of the atonement. I have never used the atonement in my life as much as I have as a missionary. As I have studied about and used the atonement, I have gained confidence and strength, because it helps me to understand my worth. It helps me to feel closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, which helps me to see myself a little bit more how they see me. It is an incredible feeling to know who I am. Keep encouraging the girls to go on missions. It will help them too see who they are faster than any other way. I love you!!

Love, Sister B