Count Your Many Blessings

Good morning and Aloha family and friends!! This week has yet again been truly amazing. The baptism couldn't have been more perfect, and we had some really amazing experiences with our visitors in the VC this week.

First though, there is something that has been kind of on my mind that I just want to get out there: for those who read this, I hope you don't define the truthfulness of the gospel through my shortcomings or the mistakes I have made or might make in the wording of my 
e-mails...yeah, haha. 

Anyway! So this week was sooooooo cool for many reasons:

#1 We have had 5, count em, FIVE people from Indiana come in to the VC in the past week and half! And three of those families self-referred (gave us their info so missionaries can come teach them). Oh, and did I mention two of those families, aside from the couple last week, are from Carmel??? Yup, true story. I love it.

#2 This story was pretty much the highlight of my week. So, we had a HUGE group of men come in from a Rehab center in Honolulu. At first it was kind of intimidating. You could see in their faces that they had been through a lot in their lives, and so I felt insignificant in what I could do to help. Then I kind of pinched myself, remembering that I have the knowledge that Jesus Christ is our Savior and He loves ALL of His children, and that through Him, we can start over and be made clean again. So this was the testimony I shared with them after playing the narration of the Christus for them. Hermana and I asked them how they felt, and I was just in awe in the humility of these men. One said that he felt very mellow, and very at peace. Another one said that He was really grateful that He could repent. I seriously just fell in love with these men. Afterwards, we lead them into one of our theatres and they watched the Joseph:Prophet of the Restoration movie. They LOVEDDDD it!! Oh man. They came out of that theatre just glowing! I went and talked to a guy who was probably in his mid 50's and asked him how he was enjoying his experience here. He just looked at me and asked, "Have you been inside the temple? It looks really nice." I told him that I had, and that it was like nothing I had ever experience in my life. I told him of the peace and clarity of my purpose I am able to feel when I'm in the temple. I then told him that if he wanted to follow me, just across the room we have a section with pictures of inside the temple if we wanted to see inside! Well, that caught the attention of two others as well, and they all excitedly asked if they could come look too! So we walked over to what is called our "temple corner," and we spent most of our time looking at the pictures of the sealing room, and the celestial room. Those were their favorites :) After we talked about how the Celestial room was a place where we can just go to pray and ponder and feel the Spirit, one of them looked at me and said, "Thank you so much. I sincerely pray that I never forget how I felt today. I have never felt so happy in my life." Bah, I just wanted to cry. Then the third man with us asked if he could have a copy of the Book of Mormon to read! Then the other two immediately asked for one as well. It was such a testament to me. I think sometimes we can forget how blessed we are to always have the spirit with us. So don't forget to share your light with others, because I know that it is through the power of the Holy Ghost that we can truly be converted.

#3 So I had a surprise visitor this week!! Guess who came in Mom and Dad!?!? The Steenbliks (I don't know if I spelled that right) !!!!! So cool, yeah?? It was pretty much amazing getting to talk with them.

#4 Cesar's Baptism. The baptism was so beautiful, and couldn't have been more perfect. Cesar in from the Philippines, and speaks very little English, so we have had the Elders Quorum President from the ward, who served in the Philippines, come to all of our lessons to help us translate. He also spoke at the Baptism in Tagalog for Cesar, and then my pad-mates, Sister Gamba, Sister Christensen, and Sister Patlingrao, being from the Philippines, sang a song in Tagalog. IT was amazingggg!! Hermana and I are so excited and ready to go find another investigator in our area!!

So this week is Fourth of July!! At the Visitor's Center we gave a fireside in celebration of it. It was pretty sweeet. Hah, and two little 12-year-old boys presented the colors. It was so cute. The VC is closing early, so we're having a big barbecue with the zone on the fourth, and then going up to Laie point to watch the fireworks going on at Turtle Bay. So, it should be really good! 

I actually just got back from what is called Sisters Conference, where all the Sister missionaries on this island come to the VC and we are privileged to have a guest speaker. Sister Clayton, whose husband is in the presidency of the seventy spoke to us. She was exactly what I needed right now. She talked a lot about how we are always representatives of the Lord...on the mission or off, and helped us see how we can simply share this gospel in the way we live our lives. I loved that. 

This week has truly been such a blessing. Eight of our ten in-actives/less actives that we've been working with came to church this Sunday. I could not have been more happy. It has been so cool to see the transformation as we meet with them and teach them to apply the basic principles of the gospel in our lives. I have to go, but I love you all, and you all are always in my prayers. 

Thank you for prayers and your love! Mahalo!