Honolulu

ALOHA!

    

It has definitely been interesting serving so close to the mission office and president. I'll have to admit that I was kind of disappointed at first to be serving in town. I am not too crazy about the city, and I was hoping to go off island, but just like always, the people have made it all worth it. I love the Chuukese and the people in Kahala ward are so so sweet. I'm not doing any office work. They have the Senior couples take care of all of the work in the office. We are pretty busy with the Chuukese anyways. We do get to see the senior couples a lot though, so that is really nice. 

I am glad that temple work is doing really well back home. That, to me, is just as rewarding as lots of baptisms sometimes. I love it when you see a family or individual making the next step towards eternal progression. So awesome. 

This week has been pretty miraculous. We have been meeting mainly with two Chuukese families: The Narian family and the Nowe family. Both were referrals and have become very solid investigators. We started out just teaching a few in both families, but we are now teaching both of the families completely. The hardest thing is trying to catch them when they are all home. They are all willing to listen, and even set appointments when they should all be home, but it rarely works out. Also, we aren't even close to being fluent in Chuukese, so we try to get a Chuukese-speaking member out with us as much as we can. It is good when we can get a member out with us, but it can make it hard some times when we can't get a member out with us, or if we are meeting the family for the first time. The language barrier is a struggle. So, Sister Whipple and I are trying to make sure that we have an hour every day to do language study. The only problem with that, is that we don't have anyone to help us with pronunciation. It can get frustrating at times, but I know that Heavenly Father will help us with all of our righteous desires. As long as we continue to try our best, and work as hard as we can, He will help us to help these people. 

   There is also a girl in Kahala ward who we are teaching. Her name is Darian. She wants to be baptized so bad, and she is so ready, but her parents are not supportive. We have an appointment set to meet with her parents, so we can answer some of their questions. I just feel bad, because Darian is going to have to push back her date, so that we can meet with her parents first. It will work out though. I can feel it.

   There is a boy named Richard that we are also teaching right now. He is kind of skeptical when it comes to religion, so it is a bit of a challenge sometimes. He has had all of the lessons, and we just finished teaching them to him again, when I came. I feel though that there is potential in him. We talked about the Book of Mormon this past week and, in the beginning, he didn't seem to sure about how to be sincere while reading. I talked with him about how it is easier to be sincere while reading, when you are sincerely searching for answers to our questions. He wasn't sure what questions he even wanted to ask, so we read Moroni 10 with him. After we read, Sister Whipple asked him what he thought of the verses that he read. He said that it meant that the church is true if you know what you read is true. I then explained that that can be his first sincere question: "Is the church true?" It seemed to make more sense to him after that.

    It is amazing how God speaks to his children so differently. We may not always recognize the answer at first, but He ALWAYS answers.

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

Love, Sister B