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!