TALOFA LAVA

Talofa family and friends!... In other words, hello in Samoan : ) 

Well, Sister Sekona and I were dead wrong in thinking we would be covering the Laie 5th Ward. Turns out we have been assigned into the Laie 9th Ward....aka: The Samoan ward!! It is pretty much amazing. I LOVE it. Sister Sekona and I are ordering a Samoan language book from the MTC so that we can learn the language. I never thought that I would be learning Samoan on my mission, but this is where the Lord needs us. It has only been a week in the area and we are already seeing how perfect this decision to put us in the area has been. Every single member we go to visit is so excited that there are Sisters in the ward, and have been giving us referrals like crazy!.....and food, haha. This is the first time Sister missionaries have ever been put in this area, covering down from Ha'ula up through Laie all the way to Kahuku. We went to church on Sunday, and I was so nervous because I don't know the language, but it was amazing how strong the spirit can be felt, even when your ears don't understand. I about started crying when the last speaker got up, obviously speaking Samoan, and then in his talk, all of the sudden he started speaking English!! He was mentioning how, there are about 55,000 missionaries serving all over the world right now, moving this gospel along, and how blessed they are for having two of those wonderful sister missionaries in their ward!! Bahhh, it was amazing!! 

My first Samoan phrases I have down is "O le Tua o lo tatau Tama Fa'alelagi" : God is our Heavenly Father! As well as, "Fa fe tai telle" : Thank you, and "O a mai oe" meaning, how are you? It is such a beautiful language!! It's pretty awesome. So let me tell you more about my area! We currently have an investigator, and he has committed to a baptismal date on September 15th! Then we found a 12 year old girl who's parents are less-active, so we are excited to commit her to baptism as well. One night we were in Kahuku and ended up at the Bishop's house, and of course they fed us even though it was about 8:00 at night, haha, but the Primary Presidency was having a meeting at their house, so we had asked if there were any unbaptized kids in the ward that we needed to know about. They didn't, but one of the counselors told us that she works at Foodland, and there is a lady who is a regular. Well, the member was walking down the street and the lady was at the bus stop so she said hello, and they started talking. She just moved in to Laie, and really wants a church for her kids to grow up in. Her kids are half Samoan, and so  the sister of course told her about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Samoan Ward! We committed her to invite the lady, with her kids, to church on Sunday!!! So, if you all could keep her and her family in your prayers, that would be so amazing!!

The mission is shooting for 130 baptisms for the month of September, and our zone has set a goal for 30! We're all so excited to see the miracles that we know can happen as we continue to have faith and work hard. The visitor's center has still been awesome, and we are continuing to meet people from all over the world interested in learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ!! There was a day when this couple came into the VC, and as soon as they came in I really felt like we should take them into God's Plan (the movie). Sister Sekona, being that she has seen it probably over 3,000 times since the beginning of her mission, doesn't exactly offer to see the movie---just because. It was amazing, though... I was talking to the husband, and she had been talking to the wife. I felt inspired to ask if he would like to see a 15 minute movie that shows the blessings in our families that come from the temple! He said that would be great! So we walk over to go see if his wife wants to watch it, and Sister Sekona was just asking if the wife wanted to watch the same thing! It was so cool to see how the spirit works. The couple did not self-refer, but they told us how grateful they were that we showed them the movie. It can be hard sometimes when you feel like someone is so prepared to hear the gospel, but just don't accept it, but one of our purposes in the visitor's center is to plant seeds. And I know that is what we were able to do.

I love the visitor's center!!! And I love getting to do the tram tours from the Polynesian Cultural Center. Hah, I know we're not supposed to play in the water, buttttttttt, haha yesterday it was pouring down rain the whole day, and we still had to give the tours :) Well, we have 20 minutes between each tour that we have to walk around and invite people to join the tram, and so we were just soaking wet! It was so fun, though. There was probably a good 3 inches of rain everywhere!! Yup! Welcome to Hawaii : )

I love this gospel more and more every day!! I'm definitely understanding why people say missions are so hard, but I wish I could explain how worth it it is. When you are able to see the transformation in someone's life when they have faith in God and are willing to do whatever it takes to follow him, the blessings just start pouring out. Our mission motto is, "We are grateful to be in the Hawaii Honolulu mission. The A.L.O.H.A mission. The A-tonement of Jesus Christ is our message, L-ove of God and others is our motivation, and O-bedience to the commandments and mission rules is our strength. By sharing the gospel with others we can give them the HA, the breath of life, even eternal life.ALohaaaa!" I love this because we get to share the message of eternal life; which when we truly understand what this means, we realize that nothing else really matters when we remember that we already have the promise of eternal happiness! I love it. Anyway, family and friends, you mean the world to me, and I know I could not do this without your prayers and support. 

Keeping sharing the gospel with others, because you never known what could happen : ) Have a great week, and I will report again on Thursday!!

ANOTHER TRANSFER AND A NEW COMPANION

Aloha!!

What a week!!!...or weekend. Alright, so transfers have begun, and this one threw us all for a loop! Like I mentioned a couple letters ago, the American Sisters get trained for two transfers and then they go online for two transfers to to do online chat for mormon.org (while still having shifts in the Visitor Center). Well, turns out Heavenly Father has a different plan for me! I have been assigned a different area in Laie, and cannot wait to get started. It is a walking area, but luckily Laie isn't tremendously huge. I will continue my shifts in the Visitor's Center and the PCC, anddddddd.....my new companion is the amazing Sister Sekona from the Kingdom of Tonga; some might refer to her as Queen of Tonga : ) Sadly this is her last transfer, but I feel so blessed to get to be her companion! Seriously, she is the sister that everyone prays they'll be companions with!! She has a heart of gold, has a big Tongan laugh, and thinks it's really funny punch me in the arm, haha. She is such an amazing missionary, though, and I have so much to learn from her!!! I'm pretty pumped. 

 On that note, Hermana Rodriguez and I had an amazing last couple of days together in the Visitor's Center. We saw a lot of miracles that I'm excited to share!!!

Miracle#1: As soon as Hermana and I got on shift, two girls come through the doors. We greeted them and got to know them for a little while. Sweetest girls/sisters ever! They were from Florida and here on vacation (of course) with their dad. After chatting with them,  we explained that we would love to teach them more about the temple and show them pictures of the rooms inside! They loved that idea. So we headed into temple corner, which was good, but Hermana and I both felt that there was something else we needed to teach. So I kind of stopped for a second and felt inspired to ask one of the sisters what she knew about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...? To my surprise she actually knew a lot! We were able to fill in a lot of gaps, as well as explain the Book of Mormon!! They loved it all, and both said they wanted to learn more!! One being in college and the other still in high school we were able to get their contact info, and cannot even wait to see the gospel in their lives!!!!

Miracle #2: So when we bring the Tram tours from the Polynesian Cultural Center, we bring them into the VC to watch a 5 minutes video about the history of Laie, connecting the temple with BYU-Hawaii and the PCC. When they walk out of the theatre, the sisters on shift at the VC hand out pamphlets that show beautiful pictures of what the temple looks like inside. So while passing those out, the last family came out and they were this cute Filipino family. The parents both said, "Ooh!! Yeah, I definitely want one of those!!" Then the Dad and I started talking about how beautiful the temple is! Then he explained that his friend is LDS and his getting married in the temple and was kinda bummed that he couldn't go inside. He then asked me why that was? That's always a hard question, because you never know how people are going to react....but I simply explained that the reason is because we want to be prepared for the promises and covenants you make inside. He said that that would make total sense!! Pheww!! That made me happy that he understood. Then I asked if he and his family would like to learn more about the blessings of the temple and how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could bless his family's life...? He said, definitely and gave us his contact info!!  And, they are from San Jose, which is where a friend of mine (Elder Naoto Suzuki) is serving!! 

Miracle #3 Okay, this one is kind of my favorite. A girl, her boyfriend, and his brother came into the Visitor's center and so we asked what brought them there today..? The Bf said that it was the girl's one year anniversary of being baptized into the church!!!!!! SOOOOO cool. We all sat down in front of the Christus statue, and I asked her what really hit home for her when learning about the church. She paused a long time, with tears falling from her face, then finally said that she loved that because of the temple, families can be together forever!! After hearing that, we had to show her the God's Plan for His Families movie!!...which is my favorite. I've seen it probably a kajillion times now, and we were all just bawling!! When we bore our testimonies she explained that she was the only member in her family, and that was really hard because none of them were supportive of it at all. We told her how much Heavenly Father loves her and how much we loved her just for her amazing example of strength!!! Seriously, what an amazing testimony that was to me of the truthfulness of this church. She said that even though it was hard, the blessings that came from joining the church made it totally worth it!! Amazing.

I'm sorry to cut this short, but we've got a lot of cleaning and moving sisters out and in, etc. to do =/ But this week has been so good, and I am in love with this gospel!!! Just getting to see the transformation in these people's lives has been so miraculous and makes it "totally worth it"!! This gospel is true, and I know that with all of my heart, and I love getting to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to people all over the world (and Hawaii of course) every day!!! How great is my calling?? 

Okay Ohana, I love you all, and can't wait to write next week!! 

Mahalo for all of your prayers!!!

PS 

Thursdays - New P-day!! PLEASE write - new address posted on 'WRITE ME'

NO MORE A GREENIE : )

Alohhhhhaa beautiful friends and family :) 

. . .and did I mention the bugs?

This week, just like many others has been so awesome and so much fun. My favorite quote from our Zone Leaders, "If you're not having fun on the mission, you're doing something wrong." It's so true! I don't even know where to begin (as always). I just love Hawaii. I cannot get over how amazing the people here are.

Anyway, some stories from this week: 

Alright, there is a family who is very very inactive, pretty much done with the church, refuses to let home teachers or anyone come by to visit them. Hermana Rodriguez and I did not know those details until last night, though! Well, two weeks ago, we were walking through our area, and the husband of that family was outside with his daughter getting ready for a barbecue, and we started walking up the driveway and we said 'Hello!' He was hesitant, but walked towards us, and we explained to him that we are new to the area and just getting to know the members some more. He explained that he didn't go to church anymore, so that's probably why we had never met him. We kind of brushed it aside and just got to know him, and asked him more about his life and his family. He shared so much with us!! It was so good. Well, President Dalton has asked us to use the "prayer" approach, in that we ask the family if we can say a prayer with him and his family and then ask for a return appointment. After talking for a really long time, and after he willingly told us of all of the non-members that lived around him, we asked if we could say a prayer with him. Without hesitation, he said Sure! So we did, then asked when would be a good time we could come back to share a 5-7 minute message with him and his family. Sadly, he said that he didn't think his wife would want that, but said thanks anyway.....come to find out, when we were over for dinner with our ward mission leader, they told us that no one from the ward had spoken with him in years, and that it truly was a miracle that he let us even talk to him, let alone say a prayer with him! Made my day! BUT there is more! So, when he was telling us about the non-members that lived around him, he mentioned a family from South Africa that had moved in!.....

WelllllL, we were having dinner with the Kontoes, when the husband mentioned he served in South Africa! I immediately asked if he had met the South African family down the street!! He said he had bumped into them once before, but that was about it. So, of course, Hermana Rodriguez and I committed them to reach out to them and share the gospel with them in one way or another (family home evening, dinner, church activities, etc.)! They accepted, and told us that they were actually really excited to talk to them about the gospel. We have been praying for the Kontoes all week for an opportunity to share the gospel with them, and cannot wait to see what seed has been planted!

So, Hermana Rodriguez and I are really bummed out that this is our last P-day as companions. We have seen so many miracles together! One of which is that we are still alive :) Hahah, last night we were walking home from dinner, and we thought we should maybe see if a certain family was home. We had never been to their house before, but it was down this long driveway...and it was about 8:00 pm. So we start heading down the driveway, and all of the sudden a cat jumps in front of us, and this dog starts barking SOOOO loud at us!! We both just screamed and ran! Hahah. Come to find from Sister Sekona that that particular dog has a tendency to bite people! Wish we knew that sooner, hah. 

There have been so many tours in the Visitor's Center and every time we pray for a certain number of self-referrals we always end up with that exact amount on that day !! Heavenly Father loves working through his servants! And I am so blessed to be one. I love Hawaii, I love the people, and I love learning more about sharing the gospel every day!! This gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and I love proclaiming that every day. I have never felt happier in my life. Well, next time you hear from me, I will be on my third transfer, and will no longer be, for lack of a better word, a greenie! 

Love you all, and love the support and prayers I feel every day!!!! 

Maholo!!!

BEST MISSION EVER

Aloha everyone!

So, I know how every missionary comes home claiming to have gone to the best mission in the world...but I don't know. I seriously cannot even express how blessed I am to be serving here. Well, this week has been pretty exciting. Everyone is starting to get nervous, because next week is the last week before transfers, and so we never know what is going to happen with that. Then, last night President Dalton (mission president) and his wife, took the whole entire zone and the assistants, to the prime dining and the night show at the Polynesian Cultural Center as a gift for doubling our high water mark for baptisms. Lots of food + most amazing cultural entertainment of your life= amazing. 

Also, Hermana Rodriguez and I had some awesome tours this week and have a pretty cool story for our area!

So, this was probably my favorite experience of the week. This little girl, who lives down the street, is in the Samoan Ward, comes into the visitor's center asking if she can watch this video presentation we have that is called God's Plan...it's my favorite. Anyway, we take her in, she's probably about 11 years old, and after the presentation, you end up in this large room, where we get to talk to the guests about their thoughts and feelings about the presentation. So we talked to her and after talking about the video, asked her what brought her to the VC today? She said that she was at the park with her "friends," and that they all thought it would be funny to sneak off and leave her. So she looks up from reading her book, and they're all gone. So the sweet little girl told us that she knew that she could come to the temple grounds into the VC and feel okay, because she knew that God loved her. Bah, at this point I'm just crying! We told her that she was exactly right, that God loves her SO much, and that he will NEVER ever leave her. I felt impressed to ask if she wanted us to say a prayer with her, and she said she would love that. So the three of us knelt down in prayer, as she asked if I would offer it. You could truly feel God's love for her while we were praying, it was indescribable. 

An experience that happened while we were doing the tram tours... I had talked to this guy before he got on the bus with his son, a college student. Then while at the Visitor's Center another Sister was talking to him, so I went over to join the conversation. He asked some really awesome questions, and I told him that he should definitely have the missionaries over and teach him! We handed him a referral card, and said that he might fill out on the bus...I was pretty bummed, because usually that means they don't want to. The other sister left, and the tram had come, so the three of us walked outside to get on the tram bus to head back to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Well, we got talking more and more about why I was on a mission, and he asked if it was hard being a missionary. I told him that it can be, but that I had my testimony, and that when it comes down to it, that is all that matters. He totally agreed, and said how awesome that was, and told me to never let go of that, because no one can ever take it away from me. He was so stinkin nice. Then he kind of looked at me (at this point the bus is full, and we're driving back), and said, you know, I bet they feel so lucky to have a missionary as energetic and happy as you are. I thanked him, but told him that that happiness comes through the gospel, and told him he really needed to fill out that card so the missionaries could come teach him how he can have that happiness, too. I reassured him that I would be in contact with him and his son the whole time, if they felt uncomfortable at first, and told them that I would be there to answer any questions along the way. He said he would really like that, took out the card and filled it out. I felt so happy for him and his son and can't wait to see what happens!!

Alright, then a couple of days ago we were at Subway, and I sat down with my food waiting for the other Sisters that came, and this lady asked me if I was going to eat my whole entire foot-long! Haha, I told her that the whole thing would definitely be gone before I left. She laughed and thought that was awesome! So then I kept talking to her, then she saw my name tag and asked if I was a nun. Hah, typical question around here. I told her I was not, explained I was missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 18 months! She thought that was so cool. After getting her name, she continued to talk to me, and tell me that life was really hard right now, but loved our faith in God. We told her that He can help get through any hardship she is experiencing right now, then asked if I could get her name and number (she doesn't have permanent address) so that we could teach her more! She loved that, and said absolutely!!

I wish I had time to tell more of the miracles that happened this week. Seriously, it was ridiculous how many  we were able to see. I know that none of it would be possible without Heavenly Father. I love knowing I can pray to Him, and I love that we have the Book of Mormon that shares words of guidance and hope, as well as the promises of eternal happiness as we endure to the end. I love the Book of Mormon so much, and love how the spirit is able to work through that book to touch the hearts of those we teach. I love that I get to preach this gospel every day, and love seeing the gospel change lives!! This next week is my last week in my area and then I will be made an "online sister" for two transfers. There, Sister Millett and I will be teaching people through Mormon.org chat, for majority of the day, the exception being our VC shifts. So, I'm kind of nervous/excited for that, but it'll be good!! Well, family and friends I love you all so much, and would love to keep hearing from you =) Don't forget you can e-mail me whenever you want at: anne.moyes@myldsmail.net , haha. 
Have an awesome week!!! 
Mahalo!!

MONEY IN THE BANK

ALOHAAAAAA!! 

Where to begin???? So, it is now officially August, and I cannot even believe how fast the time is going by. I don't like it =(. But, having said that, our totals for the month of July (DRUM ROLL PLEASE)....28 Baptisms for the Zone, AND 128 Baptisms for the whole entire mission!!!! The Hawaii Honolulu mission has never EVER had more than 115 baptisms!!! Hah, President Dalton told us that he is really disappointed in us, and that we are terrible missionaries, and that we need to do better =/ haha. Then he told us how proud he is to be our Mission President. A lot of us went to the baptisms on Saturday, and I cannot even describe the light that I saw in each and every person as they came out of the waters of Baptism. I'm so excited for the blessings that will continue to come their way .So thank you to all of you kept these investigators in your prayers. I know that we have been able to feel their power and strength. As for August, our goal is to reach 20 Baptisms, or 20 miracles. So our new theme is Money in the Bank!...$20. We already have 6 with a baptismal date set, and cannot wait to find more! 

ALright, so this week!! A lot has happened. I got to give my first talk as a missionary! That was pretty cool. I'm pretty sure I wrote the talk about 4 times, but I think it turned out okay. Later that night Hermana and I also got to speak in a fireside for our BYUH student ward. The theme was member missionary work. It was pretty funny because I used this analogy about chocolate chip cookies. I said, alright, how many of us love chocolate chip cookies? Everyone of course raised their hands with smiles on their faces. Then I said, now, what if someone had a bunch of chocolate chip cookies, and they were the best chocolate chip cookies in the world? You would be pretty sad that the person wasn't sharing them with you, right?? They all got a laugh out of it, haha. So then I said, well, the gospel is better than a chocolate chip cookie. The gospel can bring us more than temporal happiness, but ETERNAL happiness, and I don't know about you, but I would be pretty sad if in the end if I found out my friend had this knowledge of eternal happiness the whole time and didn't share it. Yes, I know I'm the next Shakespeare... Hah, anyway, so it was kind of ridiculous when they pulled out the refreshments after the fireside and it was chocolate chip cookies, haha. Good stuff.

As for miracles, Hermana Rodriguez and I prayed to know which families we needed to visit, made lessons for them, and went forward with faith. At first we were kind of sad because our potential investigator wasn't home, but then we thought we would go visit a family in the ward that lives next to her. The parents were on their way out, but their daughter was still home. She was having a really hard time with knowing what to do with her life, and felt like everything was too much right now. So we shared my new favorite scripture with her ( I encourage you all to read it :) Doctrine and Covenants section 78: 14-15. She told us that the scripture was an answer to her prayers! It was so neat! Ahhh, Heavenly Father loves his children so much!!! 

Another miracle, we have been trying to stop by at a family's house who is in our ward, who are not sealed (married in the temple for time and eternity), so that we can help them set a date and hopefully prepare them to do so. It was 8:30pm, we had just gotten done at another member's house, and Hermana Rodriguez suggested we go see them! So we did. Oh man, I have never felt like such a celebrity. Little 8 year-old Vallerie opened the door and just started jumping up and down that, "THE MISSIONARIES ARE HERE, THE MISSIONARIES ARE HERE!!!!" So then  the second oldest who is turning 12 just comes and runs up to us giving us hugs, and then their mom came to the door welcoming us in! I have never laughed so hard in my life. These kids (4 of them...oldest being 14) are so full of love and laughter with eachother. I loved it so much....except for when they all started speaking spanish because they thought it was so funny that I could hardly understand them! Haha. Vallerie looks at me and says, "Sister Moyes, you are really white!" I pretended to cry and told her how hard I am working on my tan. Awh man, I love that family. Anyway, so they definitely invited us to come back and help them prepare! 

It's been amazing here. I just love getting to teach the gospel every day. There is seriously nothing like it. Especially getting to be with these amazing families. They are such an example to me every day when I see how the only thing that is important to them is their families. It doesn't matter what their living conditions are, or their status in the world or what clothes they wear....all that matters is that they have their family and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I strive to be more like these humble Hawaiians every day....hah, which is why I am learning to play the Ukulele (which apparently is pronounced....oo-kay-lay-lay). Yup =) Well, it's about that time. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know that as we read the Book of Mormon, we can not only gain a testimony, but have our testimonies strengthened of Jesus Christ, and God's plan of Happiness!!! I love you all so much!!....oh and sorry for the lack of pictures! 

Mahalo!