5k kinda

this week was good...our only really solid investigator wants to be baptized in mid september...please hold your applause!  not sure if i told you this but last month president dalton was inspired to have a goal of 125 baptisms...so that was our goal...for july...."just do it july"...well we just did it...128 last month...and for this month we made our goal 130...well...so far we have 128 that have either been baptized already this month or will be this weekend...we just need 2 miracles to reach our goal...we are trying to get 1,000 for this year and if we keep this up we will get it in 2 months!  isn't that crazy???   I think it is...

This week I ran a 5k...actually that's a lie..I participated in it...I only got through half of it...i'm getting fat but working out twice a day now so that's helpful...my new comp is Elder Orberg from Washington...no Utah comps yet...haha.  Kalani got baptized friday the 13th...i wasn't there obviously because of transfers but it's all good...Hope to be on big island when they go through the temple!  I saw a Kansas Mailbox sticker somewhere...I'd go take a picture of it but we saw it when we got lost in our area and I have absolutely no idea where it was...

 

speaking of getting lost we are white washing...we are both new to the area and have no idea where we are going...luckily we have a gps...we got up one morning to do morning exercises at the church with the rest of the zone...we type in the church and pick the "closest" one...we ended up in pearl city...which is out of zone...haha oh well...

 

This week was a blast...last pday we went on a hike along the ocean. it was basically awesome....I'll include some pics of it...but it was a blast...and of course I got a sunburn...junk!

 

So my last ward had 3 white families...and everyone said "that's the whitest ward you'll be in on your mission...when I got to the 5k I saw barely anyone that wasn't white...I didn't see the ocean...I just saw white people and mountains...I thought I was in Utah for a while...seriously...It was really weird...I'm really white so I fit in perfectly but I feel SO out of place...I miss all the Pidgin and all the different cultures and nationalities...oh well...I'm in whiteville for a reason :P

 

this week we had a mini-missionary.  Elder Chang...he's 17 years old...we had an excellent weekend planned and we were excited to show him what missionary work is like...well we did/didn't at the same time...we had an appointment on friday and 4 on saturday...the 4 on saturday were at 1, 2, 3, and 4.  VERY busy day...well guess what happened...every.  single. appointment. cancelled.  without a doubt the most depressing day so far...we were about to invite 2 to baptism and meet 2 part member families...I was pretty frustrated...on top of the 4 straight cancellations it was pouring ran....unlike it has ever before here!  (at least that's what all the locals were saying)

we rescheduled most of the appointments but we'll see if it happens...hope you have a good week!  Love you!  Aloha!

New Pictures

Staying in Honokaa

I know you love pictures but you don't want me to send you all the ones from this week...So I'll send you some...don't be mad that I'm not sending them all...you'll be thankful...the 1 I'm not sending is our ward mission leader, Troy Martinez gutting a pig. Pretty nasty stuff...so I sent it to father. and YES! I got the package, thank you so much...I saw it at the post office and thought "oh it's just my suit...insanity couldn't get here that fast...I opened it up 8 hours later on my bed and freaked out.

Anyhoozles, The baptism was a success...I never thought I'd see it...We stopped at Jodice's house my first day here and for about 2 weeks we weren't let in the house... Elder Hammond will be exchanged in 2 days and I'll stay here in HONOKAA SOOOO PUMPED!!!! I love these people here...we HAVE to come to the big island when I'm pau mission...pau means finished...I love hearing people speaking pidgin to each other...it's so funny! Anyway I have a couple more minutes here so I'll email the last person now...have a good week! ALOOOOOHA!

New companion and hot peppers

I did asylum Saturday. I woke up extra early (6:10 so not too early) I LOOOOOVE IT...My suit fits fantastically! After my email we went to da kine ocean...we went to a cliff and hit golf balls into the ocean. So sweet.  Here are some cool pictures!

My new companion is freaking awesome! I've had more fun in the last week than I've had in the first 3 months of my mission! So the young man we baptized blessed the sacrament this and last week! So awesome! So I did something bad...something very stupid...I ate a freaking hot pepper...Hawaiian chili pepper...holy hot...I ate it at the Soong's house...Then yesterday at lunch...I failed to wash my hands all the way...I wiped my nose...both nostrils were on fire! like someone holding a flame up to my nose...then as we were teaching DAN (that means taking a Daily Afternoon Nap...) I rubbed my eye....it was freaking ridiculous! I wanted to die..it was so horrible! But good stuff...Well..not sure what else happened...but I'm actually starting to enjoy my mission! Aloha!

Visit from the 70

Mahalo for sending all that da kine (da kine can mean anything you want it to...seriously...anything...just fyi).  Much appreciated!  I had quite an interesting week...Elder Wilson of the 70 came for mission tour!  He spoke to us in the MTC and he had such good trainings...He was the one that spoke in conference, the funny one when he said he can tell his wife what to do since he has the priesthood haha...

While on exchanges with Elder Duck we did Insanity for morning exercises!  It was awesome!  Later on we visited with a less active member...he told us to sit down and he stood for the lesson...randomly, in the middle of the lesson, he just starts practicing Kempo Karate, kicking backwards, kneeing the air and throwing punches...it was so funny!  Then he starts losing his balance and falls over and grabs my leg for balance.  Awkward.  After that lesson Elder Duck told me I should've stood up and read 1 Nephi 17:48 to him.  (I think that's the right verse)  read it right now...another one that applies to it is Mosiah 13:3 that I read last night.  

While tracting the other day we knocked on this guys door. He said he wasn't interested in talking to us...after a minute or 2 he started opening up.  He said he was a convert, "fell in love with the elders who taught him".  He was offended at Sacrament meeting once and never came back.  He told us part of one scripture...that we need to "become Christ..."  We said "oh yeah, Christlike?" he said "no, Jesus taught everyone to become him, which is what I did...I'm Jesus Christ"...didn't even take 3 months for find a false Christ...That was a pretty crazy 30 minute lesson haha...

Mahalo for the birthday letter and everything you do for me!  I greatly appreciate it...tell everyone mahalo that sent me something...not sure if i'll have time to write them today...Pday's on the big island are hard for me to write letters since I'm driving everywhere...if I don't write anyone back it's cuz we're busy...we haven't even been shopping for 2 weeks...that's how busy it is... I don't have any time to write...Pday lasts only 8 hours...which I'm not sure why it's called pday...it's from 10-6...and we try to do activities during those few hours...which leaves us no time to write anything...but I try my best...I hope to see my Asylum get here before transfers!!  they're next week!  These 6 weeks flew by!  I hope I stay in Honoka'a!  This place is amazing!  1 baptism coming up...but after that we have nothing...we really don't have any solid investigators...it's small kine depressing....anyway enjoy that picture of the Big Island missionaries with President and Sister Dalton and Elder Wilson and his wife!  bye

Hope you have a good week!  Aloha!  

Baptism on Cinco de Mayo

Here's some cool stuff that happened...umm...1 more baptized!  so 1 each month I've been out!  Ha'o in March, Denn in April, and Anna Aurello May 5th!  Cinco De Mayo!  We all wore fake mustaches and ponchos...but not really! Aloha!

Read the last chapter in Alma.  About the isles of the sea, also read 2 Nephi 10:20 Is that Hawaii or what?  And also read 2 Nephi 12:10.  So awesome...if you look carefully it spells "UTAH" vertically with a few words, starting with "mountains".  I almost flipped when I saw it.  We did helping hands Saturday, but ironically enough it didn't help my hands.  We pulled elephant grass...you might wonder why it's called that...here's the answer, it's huge.  It is as thick as the face of a quarter and grows to about 15 feet...I cut up my hands so good...I couldn't stop bleeding in the first 5 minutes under my middle finger nail...I felt so lazy standing around holding my finger watching everyone else work...we did service at the elementary school clearing out a "shady" area.

The jumping picture is of me and Elder Rokete.  He's the funniest Elder I've ever met.  I've had lots of good times with him!  I have some videos of him and I singing songs in the car.  I'll try to send them but they're too big to fit in the email...I'll figure out a way don't worry...no...I'm with the same companion...I have 3 weeks left with him.  I did get the package...or present as they call it in pidgin...thank you so much!  I now have 2 resistance bands and probably shouldn't gain any more weight!  I'm back down to 153!

GOOD STUFF!  you get to call me on Mother's day/my birthday!  Okay, so I'm having Father call at 1...so you both get 20 minutes...I hope that's okay.  So if you would...call me at 1 p.m. HAWAII time!  not your time, I'll be worshiping at church...probably teaching a class...no need interrupt that...so 1 p.m. hawaii time...not your time...get it got it? good!  haha.  Well next 2 saturdays are filled with 2 more baptisms...hopefully...1 is tentative...we're working on making it a permanent date!  Have a  good week!  Love you!  Miss you!  7 minutes to email 7 people...oh jeeez........K BYE!!!!

New Pictures

Stop It!

A Beautiful Cupcake

Well we had another baptism! That's 2 so far. 2 more in the next 3 weeks! At the baptism the bishops wife gave the talk on baptism...it was hilarious to me...nobody else...but she said that the gospel is like this box of cake mix she was holding. And if we apply the gospel in our lives we use the cake mix to make something better. If you apply the gospel in your life you can become a beautiful cupcake...I'm sure that is everyone's goal, to become exalted...and become a beautiful cupcake haha.

Well I only got 1 letter this week, and that's from grandma...very exciting life I lead with many great number of friends supporting me, yeah? no...but oh well...I'm glad to hear you invited the missionaries over for dinner...make sure to have them over every month. I heard they don't get fed by members very often...and working with members is SO important in this work...knocking doors all day is not effective...here are some statistics.... 0.1% of the doors we knock the people get baptized...60-80% of the people who meet with the members and missionaries for lessons are baptized...which one looks better to you? So do all you can to invite your friends, neighbors and everyone to take the missionary lessons at home. Invite people over for dinner with the missionaries so they, too, can become beautiful cupcakes. Dang that'd be great to put in a talk someday!

Continue to spiritually CPR...church, pray, read! It's good stuff! Well, I'm getting fatter...well...my pants are getting tight...but just the most important ones...the ones that match my suit...the ONLY ones that match my suit are almost too small...dern it...I'm planning on buying a jump rope and a couple resistance bands to aid me in my exercise time. Well I miss you and love you. Aloha.

Called to Serve

To the Kids

Hey Jaxon, Noah, and Tenley! I was planning on writing you 3 a letter today but I don't have much time since it is the last week of the transfer! I've been here almost 6 weeks, can you believe it? I heard KU lost Tuesday when we were in Hilo training to become better missionaries with our mission president! I was sad but at least they made it there! That's so cool about your Easter egg hunt! Sounds like you had fun! Thanks for praying for me, I pray for everyone back home every morning and night! Noah can have my popcorn if he wants. But don't share with Tenley, because I don't think she can have any yet. You're lucky you can chew gum, as a missionary, we cannot. It's one of the rules, and I'm trying very hard to follow them all, because rules are there for a reason. How is Tenley doing? Does she remember me? I'm 1/12 done with my mission...not that I'm counting down, I just realized it the other day. Going by fast! I hope you have a great week and learn a lot more about the solar system! Love you and miss you! Aloha!

No Regrets

Here are some pictures!  baptism is Ha'o, Kana, his friend baptized him, the temple, in front of the mission home in Honolulu, and something else that I can't remember...I think it's me in front of the Laie Temple..but i don't remember...haha. The Loo's who I live next door to have a son who is out about the same time as me.  I had dinner at Brother Kapu's house last night.  Their family is awesome.  We taught them the restoration and he was impressed with my teaching skills.  Didn't know I was that good...I'll only get better.  One thing brother Kapu said about his mission was basically his companion was known as a baptizer.  He baptized like crazy on his mission, but he was disobedient.  He said, and this will be part of my personal mission motto, "Think of how many souls you could have saved if you had been obedient"  the last part of my motto is "No Regrets".

OHH!  I saw someone from the MTC I met at gym!  he was in the last shot of the elders.  Pretty cool.  IDK if I ever talked to him but I saw him several times a week!   Read Alma 56:47. You raised me right.  If you closely paid attention to conference I guarantee you missed something crazy that happened because I almost missed it as well!  Our stake president, President Auna, is now a 70!!!!!  That's why we have a special stake conference Sunday!