Week 47-Transfer 7

Aloooooha!

9/3/13

I'm so glad everything worked out with Tonya and the baby and everything! Baby Sadie is sooo cute! I guess I won't be using that name for one of my kids as I had hoped:) How did you get that bow on her? She hardly has any hair! Haha, she is adorable though:) Can't wait to meet her! 

So I am back at the Visitor Center with my new mission baby:) Sister Cavalcante (Kav-al-kan-chee) is her name. She is 19, was born and raised in Brazil but lived in Provo for the last 5 or 6 years and called Spanish speaking! She has a fun personality and a strong desire to be a great missionary. She asks lots of questions and bears a powerful testimony:) She is great and I am so excited for this transfer. She has been doing really well in the tours and everything and was even able to give a tour all by herself in Portugese! We were pretty excited about that:) Since Portuguese is so close to Spanish, she understands everything and speaks better than I do so I am excited to learn! 

Coming back has been kind of difficult because so much has changed in Laie as far as the areas go. And it doesn't help that I came back to 11 new sisters who came out while I was gone so I didn't know any of them. It was a shock to walk back in the VC and I only knew 1 sister in there! I am getting to know all of them now and just love them! They have brought in so much personality and culture. We now have sisters from Russia, Samoa, Mexico (Hermana Flores is also called Spanish but never spoke it growing up cause she grew up in the states. But she does make delicious authentic Mexican food!!!!), Korea, Japan, Micronesia, Philippines, Ukraine, Brazil, China, Canada, and all over the United States! (If you caught that, there are now 3 Spanish speaking sisters here who don't speak Spanish. Haha! That is super rare but kinda fun now that we can practice together:) One cool thing though is that with all the different languages here they finally decided that I could have a Spanish flag to go on my mumu, so guess which one I chose, Guatemala! I figured that since my first name comes from there and also since my trainer was from there, that would be a good country to represent. So now people will actually know that i'm Spanish speaking!:) 

So as far as areas go, there are now two companionships of sisters covering one area which consists of two different wards. We are on opposite shifts at the Visitor Center so now I guess we can have both wards covered pretty much all day. I don't know if that makes sense, but it is super different and confusing and has a lot of kinks to work out but I think it will all be good in the end:) Sister Cavalcante and I are in the same area, and same pad as Sister Moyes and Sister Eaton (one of the sisters I didn't know, who is Russian:) We have a lot to work out but things are beginning to settle into place now. 

It is clear to me that Heavenly Father still has so much to teach me. I know that it will for sure take a lifetime to get it right, but I am slowly learning to put my trust in Him. I know that prayer works! I know that He is always listening and that more than anything, I need to talk to Him, cause I need His Atonement! The Savior lives and is so patient, so loving, and so merciful and long-suffering! I read a quote recently that Elder Holland said, "God cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other." That is so true! Knowing that makes me so grateful for the Atonement and so much more patient with mine and others shortcomings. We are all trying to be like Jesus:) 

Speaking of Elder Holland, come September 21, the Island of Oahu is going to have a special missionary conference for all the missionaries on Oahu and guess who is going to be the speaker?!... Elder Holland! And guess who is singing in a choir for him and also giving the opening prayer?! Yep! Yours truly:)! Everyone here is pretty excited about that. There is also excitement about how Elder Nelson is going to be here for the CES fireside at BUYH. Hopefully we can get some investigators to go to that one:) 

One exciting thing about being back is that I get to see people in my old wards such as Brandon:) He just got back from New Jersey and I can tell how much his testimony has been growing. As I talked with him, I asked him about serving a mission and he said he wanted to but probably after he finishes school. I told him he would never regret going as soon and possible and made sure he knew to pray about it. Well a few days later he saw me again and said that he had received an undeniable prompting and he was going to fill out his mission papers ASAP.  I am so excited for him! A mission will be so good for him and he will be able to touch so many lives! 

Well, I am so happy to be on a mission here in Hawaii. I love it here and I love the gospel so much! Thank you as always for being such an amazing example for me. I am so grateful for your love and support and testimonies. I love you and I pray for you always. 

Les Quiero mucho!

Hermana Rowley