Aloha! I love you all so much and I miss you all so much! Family and friends are the most important thing we have! I am reminded of that all the time here as I see so many happy families come into the VC together and as we share God's plan for them to be together forever!

I would just like to tell you a little about how things work around here. First off I must say this mission feels like it was made for me. (haha) I just couldn't have asked for anything better. I know that Heavenly Father takes care of us when we put our trust in Him and act on faith. All the silly things I was concerned about don't really worry me here at all. For instance remember how I was so concerned about gaining weight because of dinner appointments? Well I don't really think that will be a problem because we have shifts at the VC lots of nights, so most of the time we pack our own food or members from the ward drop off food for us. It is so nice of them! And when we aren't on shift lots of times we still have the members just drop off food and then we share a message with them here at the VC because we are serving in student wards so it's hard to eat at the apartments because we can't go in the guys dorms and they are college students anyways so it's not like they have a lot to feed us you know. (haha) That’s the other thing that is so cool too-we are working with people our own age. This mission truly is so unique! We work a lot with less actives and guys that we are trying to get to put in their mission papers. There are a lot of less actives here though, so there is a lot of work to do. But it is just so cool to see these 20 year olds wanting to make changes in their lives and being willing to meet with us. They are really showing their desire to want to improve their lives and to grow in their understanding of the gospel! I love meeting with them because they are all just so awesome and it's so fun to get to teach.

I love the VC though too because the spirit is so strong here and I feel so blessed to serve on temple grounds! Usually how it works is we have shifts in the VC or on tram every day for a couple hours and then we also have an hour of RC time and then a couple hours to study and teach or find new investigators. In the VC we get to wear those adorable blue muumuus haha and we get to keep them so that will be sweet! But what we do is we just take people around and do tours and I really like doing this because it gives us the opportunity to teach, testify, invite them to make commitments, and then promise blessings to so many people in just a short amount of time. It is also so nice to teach in the VC because we have wonderful resources to use. It makes it a lot easier to teach too their needs because if they are standing by the Book of Mormon display you can teach them about that or if they are at the prophets corner you can teach about that and so on. But I just really like that! It's so neat too because the one thing I was sad about leaving the MTC for was not having all that personal study time, but here when it's slow and there aren't any people we are able to just study and ready the scriptures. I just love that! I just feel like Heavenly Father has heard all my prayers and blessed me with the best mission ever!

Now I just want to tell you about a miracle we had this week! Ok, but first I must start with the bad news. The bad news and the cause of a lot of stress this week all started with me being really dumb and losing the car keys... I know! I feel so horrible about it and so stupid too because it was all my fault I was just carrying in the groceries from the trunk and I put the keys on the counter with all the groceries and then when we finally cleared everything they weren't anywhere to be found! The worst part is we have been looking for them for days and it is going to cost my $200 if I can't find them! Plus my Pres. and everyone probably think I'm irresponsible and scatterbrained, which to tell you the truth is how I feel right now. I feel like a chicken running around with her head cut off because there is so much to do and to know and to memorize and I don't know anything. But to make matters worse I lose the keys and it has been stressing me out all week, not to mention we have had crazy rain storms and flooding everywhere so perfect time to walk around everywhere right? haha I feel so bad for my companion because I have actually liked walking around because even when it rains it's still warm and I get to see more of Hawaii but she is probably not liking it. But, I know why Heavenly Father wanted me to lose the keys!! This is where the miracle comes in! K we have been praying so hard for a new investigator because it's so hard to find nonmembers in a BYU student ward-right-but there has to be some living in our YSA ward area so we have been praying, praying, praying and finally one morning we were walking (of course, because we have no car thanks to my stupidity) to the VC and lo and behold we see this 21 year old guy sitting at the bus stop so we start talking to him and we eventually ask to meet with him and teach him more and he actually agrees!!! And the best part is he actually lives in our area. MIRACULE! So we were way stoked! But then we tried getting a hold of him and we couldn't reach him so we started to wonder if he was just going to blow us off. But then yesterday I called him and he kept apologizing for missing us and said he has just been so busy but that he wants to meet with us this Wed!! So pray really, really hard that we will be able to touch his heart on Wed and that he will continue to meet with us! My companion and I set a goal to have two baptisms this month and we already have the investigatory I mentioned last week getting baptized on March 24 so we have to invite him to be baptized! I know that the Lord can soften his heart and help him to know that what we are teaching him is true!

Speaking of our investigator, please keep her in your prayers too because this week she is going to tell her mom that she is getting baptized and she is really scared to do that. Her family is Catholic and she doesn’t think her mom will be very happy about her decision. Also I must tell you about a very humbling experience that I had teaching her. So here we were having a lesson with her, her boyfriend, the zone leaders, and the stake president's wife and I share this really stupid analogy that made sense when I heard it but when I tried to tell it, it just blew up in my face! I'm sure I just confused her and I bet everyone was thinking why is she telling this story instead of just sticking to the doctrine taught in Preach My Gospel! I was so embarrassed and I just felt like I lost all their confidence in my teaching skills. And now who knows if they will want to refer anyone to us because they won't want me teaching weird stuff: (man oh man let’s just say I have made so many mistakes in just my first week here but I am really hoping that once I start to get the hang of how things work around here maybe I will feel a little better.) It has definitely been a humbling week though. I feel bad for my trainer too because I am probably slowing down the work because she has to spend so much time trying to teach me instead of teaching others. Anyways I don't mean to complain or sound negative I'm sorry if that’s how I sound. Just know that I am learning a lot and I'm sure I will be able to do better this week. I'll try really hard to be a better missionary this week and hopefully not let so many people down. I think I just need more practice but once I have taught more and once I learn all the stuff I'm supposed to say in the tours I should be of more help.

I love the Lord and I love you! Mahalo for all that you have done and do for me! You all mean so much to me and it really helps me to know that there are people who love me and are praying for me! I need all the prayers I can get haha.

You can now write me at:

55-600 Naniloa Loop

Laie Hawaii 96762
I would love to hear from all of you.

 

Sure love ya! Sister C.

PS Tell Calene Happy late Birthday and congrats on the baby shower! And if Rafe gets home this week tell him welcome home for me k! And Logan good luck on the call! I can't wait to hear where you are serving!!!! I really am so, so, so excited for you!