Hawaii, Honolulu, Laie Temple, Spanish speaking Mission!: Week 50-Transfer 7

Alooooha!

9/24/13

Aloha familia!

Sounds like you have had a full week:) I'm super jealous you got to play laser tag in the woods! That sounds so fun! And that is so cool that Tyson was able to receive his Patriarchal Blessing as well! What a neat experience that must have been!

This week has been quite the exciting week for us! On Wednesday we all went to Pearl Harbor for service again. It was fun going with Sister Cavalcante for her first time. On Thursday, we had dinner with this family in our ward that went to choir tour with me 3 or so years ago! (I had been trying to figure out for so long now how I knew them!) Anyways, they ended up giving us a referral for a family in the ward who are converts of about 2 yrs or so and who have a non-member son. The best part about this is that they are Spanish speaking!!!!!! Brother Johanson (the family we were eating with) is in the bishopric in our ward and he mentioned how they were actually thinking of doing a small Sunday school class in Spanish for them and a few other members in the ward. He asked if we would be interested in going to it if they did that. WOULD WE BE INTERESTED!!!!?!?! Of course! I really hope things work out with that cause that would be so good for us in so many ways! Well we of course visited that referral right after dinner and ended up talking to the Non-member son. He couldn't talk much cause his mom was resting as she just got out of the hospital, but he said we could come back in a few days. He was really nice and excited that we could speak Spanish too:) Also, when we came back and told Sister Moyes and Sister Eaton (the sisters serving in our wards with us), they were so excited and Sister Moyes told us how her and Sister Eaton had been looking for more people to visit and they had been staring at the list and it was almost as if the Reyes family was invisible. That she knew we were supposed to meet with them! Well we went back yesterday and he said she was still recovering but he asked if he could give us his number and he wrote it down in my planner telling us to call before we came next time and we could get an appt. set up and even have some food too:) He was so cool and both times we walked away from there we felt so good and excited! We are so excited to see where this goes. If nothing else we will get some good Spanish practice in:).

Well, Saturday, the day us missionaries had been waiting so long for, did finally come:) Elder Holland came to speak to all the missionaries on Oahu!!!!!!!!!! Sister Warner had arranged a missionary choir to sing for him which involved all of us in Laie and a few in the surrounding zones. That was a powerful experience. I haven't been in a choir in a while so it was amazing on its own, but there is something powerful about singing with a bunch of missionaries:) We sang a powerful version of "Go Forth with Faith." Because we were in the choir, we had the first 4 rows reserved for us. I got to listen to Elder Holland pound the pulpit while sitting directly in front of him on the second row:) I also gave the opening prayer. I have never been so nervous to give a prayer in my life! It was really neat because before the meeting started he got up and said that even if it cut into the teaching time, they would not dare leave until they shook every one of our hands. He said he would not dare go back and report to President Monson that he had visited with us without shaking our hands! We then all lined up and one by one each of us shook his hand and he looked us strait into the eyes, pretty much into our souls. Later he told us that he made sure and looked into each of our eyes because that was a type of interview. He said from that he knew that most of us were doing really well. Some were struggling a bit, but nothing too bad. It amazes me how he can tell that from a sometimes half a second handshake. Before he spoke President and Sister Soares (from the presidency of the 70) spoke to us as well as Sister Holland. Then Elder Holland gave an hour or so talk on how we need to be more converted as missionaries and let our missions change us. I loved everything he said but something that really stuck to me was how he talked about how it doesn't matter really how many convert baptisms we get. He doesn't care if we get 8 or 800, but we should be guaranteed to get at least one convert. No matter what, the Lord needs us to come out of this with at least one convert, and that is ourselves. That we cannot go home and go back to who we were before! We are to be changed forever from this experience. It really was amazing to hear him speak so powerfully and in such a small gathering. (We didn't even need to open the overflow of the chapel). He said so much more that I thought you would like to hear so I am going to attach an email that President Warner sent all of us that include his detailed notes.

I love you all so much! I know that this church is true and that this is God's work! I am so grateful for your love and support. I love the people we are teaching and I love seeing how the gospel brings such joy into their eyes and lives. I also love seeing how much the gospel changes my own life. It is so true! It is real! There is no other explanation for the feelings and blessings that come from it! I am so grateful to be serving here as a missionary! I love you all so much and pray for you always! You are the best!

Les Quiero,

Hermana Rowley