TRANSFER NEWS/ & FA SOIFUA

Just a Note Written Yesterday---

Sooo, we just got transfer news, and I am very sad to say that I will be leaving the Moanalua 2nd ward, and heading back to serve my last four transfer in the Visitors Center ....BUUUTTT....that being said...you can take the missionary out of the Moanalua 2nd Samoan Ward, but you can't take the Samoan out of the missionary! Looks my new companion is a Sister who just finished getting trained, so I will be her follow-up trainer...and we will be serving in....THE SAMOAN LAIE 9TH WARD!!!! CHEEEEEE-HOOO!! If I have to leave full-field, at least I get to stay in a Samoan Ward..and back to a ward I had previously served in, where the Bishop is actually my current Bishops' brother! My new companion is Samoan as well, her name is Sister Toleafoa! I have not met her, so it will be way exciting. 
Because Sister Saena and I will be busy with appointments today (yes on P-day) we will be sending a real e-mail tomorrow! But you can put this one on the blog if you want ;) 
Alright, family, I love you all SO much, thank you for your prayers!!

Fa Soifua

Family and Friends, Talofa!!!

Well, as I'm sure you've already seen, I am being transferred out of the Moanalua 2nd

Ward, and leaving my baby, all grown up now =/ It has definitely been a bittersweet past couple of days saying goodbye to the members whom we have drawn very close with; especially with Losa and her family. It warmed my heart when saying goodbye to them last night, they asked where I was going to be staying whenever I came back to visit. I told them I had no idea, and their mom then responded by saying, "I hope you will stay with us, then." I could not be happier knowing that I will get to continue serving the Lord in the Samoan Ward of Laie, as well as in the Visitors' Center. I know that the calling I have to serve in the Visitors Center is a special one, and one that the Lord needs me to fulfill. I know that many say that serving a mission is a "sacrifice," but I don't think I could ever look at it like that. Serving as a missionary is probably one of the greatest blessings I have received in my life. There is no greater joy than seeing the miracles we have every single day.

Miracle #1 

We hadn't been able to meet with Pauline for over a week, so we decided we needed to drop by.  She is actually living in the same house as our ward mission leader and his family, so it makes it really easy to make sure there is always a member at our lessons. Well, this week when we got there, we asked Pauline if Kanana was home (WML's niece).

She is really close with Pauline, and has been going to appointments with us to prepare for her mission in California. She willingly came and joined us as we taught about the Restoration. It was the best having her there!! We asked her if she would bare her testimony of how she knew that the gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored. She then, for the first time in her life, bore her testimony. We were all in tears. Kanana lives her testimony, but has never expressed or wanted to express it in words. When Pauline had first started investigating the church, she said that she would be baptized the day that Kanana shared her testimony. She was more confident than ever in the date that she had set for her baptism.

Miracle #2 
I mentioned a referral that we had met whose name is Alema (meaning Alma in English). For the past two weeks we have been knocking on his door at the times that he said he was home. No answer. OR, even sometimes, we would hear the TV or even music turn off the second we started knocking on the door, haha. We would wait to see if the music would ever turn back on, but we were pretty sure that they could see that we were still there. Finally, last week, we knock on his door again. And again. And, finally before knocking a third time, a woman (a friend) answers the door. We ask if Alema is home. She invites us in to sit down and then goes down the hall to get him.

Finally, he comes out, seeming as happy as can be to see us!! After talking story we started our lesson on the Book of Mormon. He admitted he had not read our assignment from last time, so we decided to read it with him (Alma 36). We went through and talked about it, but then the Spirit took over. Sister Saena and I  both shared our testimonies about this gospel and how it can bless our lives. I then received the strongest prompting to invite him to baptism! Bah, I was nervous, I don't know why. So I did, for the date of May 25th, and he said...he was scared. We asked why, and he said that he didn't want to be baptized and then go back to his old ways. We reassured him that as we meet with him and as he keeps the commitments we extend to him, that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ he would be ready for this day.

He then opens up and tells us how he had a best friend growing up, and how they would always give their friends rides to church and then go smoke, drink, do drugs, etc. He said that when they grew up, this friend met a girl who is LDS. He took all the lessons and was baptized, and has now changed his life around. He said he now always looks to him as an example. He sees how good his life has become, and wanted that for himself. We testified to him how much God loves him, and wants him to be happy, and that through baptism, he too would be able to have a joyous life and eternity. We then invited him again to baptism, and he said YES!! We asked him how he was feeling, and he said he felt weird...good, and happy! After pausing he then looked at us and exclaimed, "Can you feel that!?"  

Hah, we just smiled at him and told him that he was feeling the spirit testifying to him that these things are true! It was soooo cool. We asked him if he would like to say the closing prayer, after teaching him how to pray, and he did. It was such a beautiful prayer full of sincerity and humility. As we were about to leave, setting up our next appointment, he asked if we could meet 3 times as weekk! We just smiled again, and told him that of course we could. I don't know if that has ever happened to me on my mission!! Then as we step out the door, he expressed how grateful he was to meet us. He said that we will forever be his missionaries who changed his life, and that he will never pretend to not be home again, haha.

It was so hard because it was just an hour before that I had found out that I would no longer be serving in the ward. But, I know that I came to do what the Lord needed me to do.

I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and the chance He has given me to serve His children in Hawaii. I know that God lives, and I know that if we only taste of the fruit for ourselves we will be able to know of it's goodness. I have seen that for myself, and I have seen it in others. It's been really hard to leave this area, just as my area in Maui,

but I cannot wait to see the Miracles that are in store in Laie. I love you all SO much, and I am so grateful for your loving support! Have wonderful week.

Fa Soifua (Farewell),

Sister Moyes