Serving with all your heart, might, mind, and strength

Dearest Whanua,

Let me just start by saying TREVOR STOP IT!!!! Don’t go there bro!!! Haha..jokes. I was actually pretty good friends with Lauren Cheney. She is a cutie. Good on ya mate. Keep me posted. :)

Also, Dad you really must start feeling old ending your letter with Love, Pops.

Collin, I'm glad you had a good attitude even though you lost regionals. I'm sure I would have been proud if I was there and it still sounds like you guys played pretty dang awesome! Are there any players on the Club Red 17s team that I know…and wait a second…is Jared back hitting again?

Aubrey, thank you so much for sending me an e-mail. I appreciate your letters so much. I did hear about that shooting poo…that stinks. However I did not hear about the note the kid had on him and the teacher that was a hero. I am excited for Christmas and that I get to call you soon. Which reminds me about calls….this year our mission president said that U.S. missionaries can call anytime Christmas or the day after which equals your Christmas Eve or your Christmas. I think I would prefer to call on my Christmas Day which is your Christmas Eve but the tricky part is knowing what time you will be home and would be most convenient for you. I wouldn't mind doing it night time, but I guess mommy and daddy should have the last say on that one. We will finalize things next week.

So this week I will start with some of the funny things that happened Sunday morning. While Elder Loffhagen was in the shower, I pulled out everything from our fridge (which isn't much) ;)…anyway Elder Loffhagen gets out of the shower at the same time everyday at 7:28 am. So I set a timer for that exact time and set up my camera recording the prank I was about to pull... Oh whoops, I forgot to mention our fridge is right next to the bathroom door. So yeah anyways, I just started by talking into the camera saying okay Elder Loffhagen is about to come out of the shower and I am going to scare the poo out of him. Then I set the camera down and slipped into the fridge and closed the door behind me. It turns out the fridge light really does turn off when the door closes!!! My alarm went off at 7:27 and sounds for a minute and boy did I time it perfectly he came out right when the buzzer stopped and right when he passed by I went RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! It was so funny and I'm glad I have a companion that can laugh about those kind of things, and I'm just glad he didn't drop his towel!

Hmmm but lets talk about something more spiritual. This week was great but I think one of the coolest things that happened was teaching a new investigator named Leona. Normally when we try a referral or something falls through we try to go knock on a few of the surrounding doors keeping in mind that maybe the Lord wanted us there for a reason. Well on one of these occasions we met a lady named Leona who we taught a little and asked her about her religious background. She explained she used to go to some church but it has been a looonnng time since she has been and that she has actually been talking about getting back into it. We asked her if she had anything she wanted us to ponder about to teach her when we came back for our appointment, and she just said nope but I will have heaps of questions.  Well, when we came this week, she sure did! She had a page with at least 15 deep questions. So we took a quick timeout and looked at all the questions and realized teaching the plan of salvation would be the best thing to answer most of her questions. I love teaching that lesson sooo much and helping people who might feel cheated or might feel that God isn't there because he lets people suffer.  It’s awesome to help them realize that he really didn't cheat us of anything. In fact, we should be doing everything in our power to show our thanks, love and respect for God for all the good he has given us, and has yet to give us. Romans 8:16-18 especially verse 18 really shows that we have nothing to be upset about. Anyways, that lesson was AWESOME….for sure in the top ten of my mission so far. We set her for baptism on January 5th.

The work in our area picked up this week and Elder Loffhagen really impressed me one morning during companion study when we were practicing street contacting and he did everything perfect…exactly how I taught him.  I felt the spirit super strong as we practiced simple role plays. I'm happy to be a missionary and to help serve the Lord in whatever way I can. I have been humbled time and time again as I realize that I have so many weaknesses that I need to overcome, but that's why missions are so great. I'm really starting to understand serving with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. It's easy to serve with all my might and strength, but sometimes it's hard to do it with heart and mind. Sometimes it’s hard to do some things and I withhold within my heart, but I've seen time and time again that as I forget my desires and try to focus on what Christ desires for me I find more happiness.

I’m glad you guys are reading Luke like I challenged you. The Book of Mormon is awesome, but it's always good to remember just how awesome our Savior really was and is. In your next letter to me it would be great if everyone could share some thoughts on a story they heard or a miracle that was performed in Jesus Christ’s life that is significant to you. (It can be anywhere in the New Testament.) That would be a cool family home evening activity and I'm interested to hear your responses.

Love you guys with all my heart!!!

Elder Ward

 

Two Sweet Miracles

Dear family,

You so just reminded me of that week where Elder Fale and I were just having a really really hard time... It was twisted ankles, wasted P-days, nobody to teach, and getting pretty dang sick... We would just laugh and say, “It's just not our week.” J It definitely sounds like it is just not your week. HAHA Collin sounds exactly like me, putting ridiculous amounts of ice cream in the freezer against Mom’s wishes and locking the keys in the car with it running... Everything you just wrote are my favorite things to do... EVERY DAY! Sorry Collin. It's just not your week. Just be glad I know how you feel.

Dearest Ava Sister, I have got somethin’ to say to you!!! Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear AVA!!! Happy Birthday to YYYYYYOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!! Whooooo hoooo!! You did it!!! I just wanted to make this little section especially for my baby sister!!! I hope you had a good birthday and I think you’re so lucky that you got to play Candyland and stuff. Also, I thought I would let you know that I keep a picture of you on my desk to help remind me to be sweet and nice to people just like my sister Ava is. I also think you’re so lucky that everyone loves you so much in our family. Especially Mom taking you out to Olive Garden and Trevor taking you to Chick Fil A. I hope you got heaps of cool presents and I am so proud of you all the time. Also, I miss you a ton and can’t wait to come give you a big hug when I get home. Also, I want to talk to you first on CHRISTMAS!!!

So let’s see … stories for this week... OH YES!!! We had two sweet miracles this week. One was with Elder Toani, a new missionary in my district. He came on a trade off with me. He has only been learning English for eight weeks but his testimony was POWERFUL! We were able to set a lady named Kaa for baptism and I got to see the gift of tongues in action. During the lesson, the English was still a little bit shaky but it was so much better and the spirit was felt so strong! Also, we are teaching a younger girl named Monique and I think I already mentioned her but she didn't believe in God and only invited us back so she could pray, not get an answer, and then call us liars. We have been talking about baptism and trying to get her to tell us how she feels when she prays... if she has received an answer, anything... and we seriously cannot get anything out of her. Anyway, this week we dropped by to give her a copy of “The Testaments” and we had just previously done weekly planning where we wrote in our planners a week ahead having Monique’s baptism service at 1:00 pm, really just as an act of faith. When we dropped off the video and we were talking and then the thought popped in my head that I would bring that up to her. So I just said, “Okay, Monique, tonight watch the video, then Sunday you need to come to church and then next Saturday we have your baptism at one... IS that all good?” Then she said, “Yup.” ... Elder Loffhagen and I just looked at each other a little bewildered. Something definitely changed in her though. We went through the baptism interview questions and it was so sweet to hear her answer “YES” to the first question: “#1 Do you believe that God is our Eternal Father, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world?”

Those are two sweet miracles that happened this week. So the work is picking up again! I love how in my mission everything works out great for a time, we have people to teach and miracles are happening, and then sometimes we get really humbled with nothing happening and we have very few people to teach and we spend a lot of time praying for ANYTHING to happen. Missions have so many highs and so many lows... Heck, I cried both tears of joy and tears of sadness this week. I'm just so grateful for my mission and what it is doing for me and especially the impact it has on others. Life is good.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for the packages, and yes, Mom, I will try to think of stuff.

Love you all!!!
Elder Ward

True Happiness

Dearest Whanua,

It is so good to be able to hear from all of you... I'm sorry Dad. I've repented and put your name on [to receive my email] this week as well. Also, you’re right. I don’t think you will ever win that battle for Ava's love. You need a mother’s touch. ;) haha But no matter how much I make fun of you and glorify Mom just always know I couldn't have asked for a better dad. Actually, I couldn't have asked for a better family. I love all you guys so much.

Soooo what happened cool this week... Well, I didn't lock my keys in the car. That was cool. I first need to tell a little of my experience on Sunday (the day you’re experiencing right now). You know those Sundays where the spirit is so thick you can cut it with a knife? That happened for me yesterday! I was so happy to be fasting for new investigators and to find a greater love for the people in this area. The day started great with a MCM meeting and visiting investigators before church. We also visited Kanahana’s daughter because it was her birthday and she was turning ten! I gave her a Christmas “Joy to the World” DVD, a couple funny pictures of me, an American dollar and change, and my mission T shirt (which was a little too small for me). Her eyes lit up so big and she gave me a big hug and that just gave the warm fuzzies all day! Then we went to go pick up our investigators. They weren't home and my heart kinda dropped... SO we went to church and at like 2:27—three minutes before the meeting started—I felt like we needed to go back. We did a quick split and I went with Brother Aupori (the ward mission leader) to go pick them up! Monique is her name and, surprisingly enough, she was able to get her mom to come along as well! That was cool! Then I was just so happy to see heaps of our recent converts; Cheveir in his nice suit and tie passing the sacrament, the Lemalus on the bench behind us, Shanil and his dad on the right of me, Kanahana and Miami with Cindy and her family, Micaella, who has just gotten her Patriarchal Blessing came up to me with eyes really wide saying, "I'm definitely going on a mission." I was so happy. I had to go share my testimony, of course, on TRUE HAPPINESS. I talked about allowing ourselves to be happy and following Nephi’s example in 1 Nephi 11:17 where we might not understand everything or why certain things may seem unfair or difficult to bear, but if we can just understand REALLY how much God loves us and what that means there is nothing to be upset about. Man, all of Sunday was the best! Also, I got to participate in giving AJ Houia the Melchizedek Priesthood. Trevor is right. Even though sometimes there will be some away-from-home pangs, I need to live this up because I don’t think I will be able to experience anything close to this ever again.

So this week was transfer week, even though it didn't really feel like it at all. It's funny. I had a pretty good "feeling" I would be staying another 6 weeks and I AM! In fact, my whole district is staying the same. At first I was a little bummed out because I was starting to feel a little bit stuck in this area like I've talked to everyone and been to all the places I need to go to, but I know for sure there is a reason for me staying and heaps more lives I need to bless before I leave. So yeah, I'm happy to be here. Also, it's good that I will have some kind of family for when Christmas rolls around. Speaking of which I am not sure on when the call is or what the procedure is going to be but I'm pretty sure we will not be allowed to Skype... Bummer. That was cool last time.

I'm trying to think of other cool experiences this week and oops, I just thought of one! In the morning, after studies, we went out on a quest to find some people to teach! So we were driving, jumping out of the car, doing everything we could to talk to everyone passing by on the street. Anyway, on our way home I felt like I needed to turn down this street which was kind of out of the way. So, with a little groan I made a quick turn and Elder Loffhagen asked, “What?” I just said, “1st Nephi 4:6,” and we pulled up to a house and Elder Loffhagen knocked on the door... Long story short, we bore testimony on how the message we have to share will bring her family closer together and that she could live with them forever. We are going back tomorrow. That was a sweet new investigator that we found this week.

This week we have also been reading the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). I would highly suggest going over those as a family sometime and discussing some of the parables and things Jesus Christ taught. In fact, I will challenge you to finish Luke by the end of this year. Let me know how that goes! And I'm sorry. I know it will put a pause on the Book of Mormon reading, but make sure you study the BOM extra in your personal studies!

So on the lighter side, I will try and send you some pictures of the district and me and other stuff. Also, NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! My friends are already getting married?! What the Hannah??? Ha. Trevor better go hurry up and steal some of my friends before they all get taken away. J It probably feels like a big game of musical chairs for Trevor. Now that the "music" has stopped he is on the verge of an anxiety attack trying to find a "chair" before they all get taken away and he is left standing awkwardly by himself... I always hated that game, and I don’t look forward to playing it with those kind of stakes. Haha Oh and I just laughed at the thought of Collin trying to find his chair. I pictured one of those small nursery-sized chairs because he is going to have to take one of Aubrey's friends. J Haha. Sorry bros. Love you.

Anyway, enough Babylon. The Church is true!

Love,
Elder Ward

 

 

Hunua Falls

Cool Rash Thingy

 

 

District at the Beach

Elder Ward and Elder Toani

Sunset

 

Da Elders

 

 

 

 

 

Pray Until Something Happens

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH MAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN... OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH MMMMMMMAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN! haha I think I already told you the story behind that one. J It's always good for me to treat home sickness (trunkyness) as a joke. I couldn't help but let out one of those “awh mans” when I remembered the savory sweet goodness of turkey taquitos... I had to turn it off by picturing Collin shoveling a mountain of guacamole onto his. I'm glad that you sent me a list of things you’re grateful for. I figure the more grateful you are the easier life is for you. I learned it's a lot easier to be grateful that you’re on a mission rather than wanting to be thanked for serving a mission. Notice how Jesus Christ was always grateful to go about doing his Father’s work like when he raised Lazarus from the dead he said, "Father I thank thee." I think it's notable too how much the general authorities talk about being grateful for everything. So I really did appreciate that.

Also DANG!!! Heaps of mission calls! I will have to shoot Seth a short letter of encouragement. He is the man though and I reckon he will make one awesome missionary! The volleyball sounded sweet. Collin and Trevor probably would have beaten Robert and Parker. I hope they got along well as they played with each other. Trevor was probably humbled as he recognized just how good Collin has gotten over the time he has been gone and the fact that he is probably one of the best players in the family. Enough about that though, let’s talk mission stuff!

I will give you a little day-by-day again. I figure those are easier to talk about.

Monday after I emailed you guys I picked up the sisters and we drove and gathered the whole district together to go to the beach!!! It was cool. I was surprised that we’re even allowed to go to the beach on Pday but we spent some time playing on the black sand beach. That was pretty fun. Then we took a small hike through these rocks into a cool waterfall like place and took some sweet district pictures there. That was a fun Pday. Then we had a sweet FHE with some of our recent converts at one of our member’s houses it was a huge success and that day was just awesome.

Tuesday (district meeting day), we planned a trade off with the zone leaders and I put clothes, pillow, blanket, scriptures, back pack, all my notes for the district meeting... pretty much everything, in the trunk of our car. In a little bit of a hurry I closed the trunk and right in the middle of closing it I realized I put the key down in the trunk as well as I was unloading all my stuff... haha That was so funny I just laughed... Really though, I started to get upset because I felt so naked without everything. Anyway, long story short, we had to bike down to the chapel and It was really cool because on the way over I found a 20 dollar bill flying away in the street! I almost crashed slamming on my brakes to get it but that was a sweet tender mercy! Anyway, the district was all doing pretty stink "numbers wise" and I was having a hard time myself without all my notes for the meeting. So pretty much after the accountability for how the district was doing even though I was as encouraging as possible the spirit was just GONE. I tried teaching everything I had prepared, but I had forgotten some of the scripture references I was going to use. IT WAS A MESS! Nobody had a smile on their face and it stunk... So I just stopped everything and said okay, this can't happen, lets all kneel down and say a prayer. A prayer was offered and the spirit flooded the room!!! It was awesome! Smiles came back and I even remembered all the scriptures I wanted to share! Then afterward, I had a sweet trade off with Elder Bills! HE is the man! I learned heaps from him and we set two people for baptism and had six AWESOME LESSONS!

Wednesday... We are struggling to find people to teach so we did a small P.U.S.H. (pray until something happens). We prayed everywhere we went, probably offered 20 prayers all day. Nothing spectacular happened, but I felt a whole lot better putting things into the Lord's hands and relying on him.

Thursday, we did another trade off with the Zone Leaders just because of car driving issues with them and the other trade off they were doing, its complicated... Anyway, I went with Elder Fernandez who is also the MAN!!! Except that day we ran into a Jehovah’s Witness who we spent a little too long with and he just wanted to bother and argue with us. Elder Fernandez got angry at himself for letting it happen and we lost the spirit a little. We tried to go teach a lesson to the same guy we taught and set for baptism on Tuesday, but it was HARD!!! The lesson went okay, but there was a very distinct difference between the two. I learned that the spirit is the thing that turns these 18 to 25 year old "boys" or “children,” as Elder Holland would say, into fishers of MEN!!! The rest of the day turned out better as we asked for forgiveness and prayed to have the spirit back.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all good average days! We found some sweet people to teach. One is a Tongan family that moved from Mesa, Arizona just three months ago. So that was cool. But hey fams, I think I'm running out of time. I just want you to know that I love all of you guys so much and am so grateful for all the letters of support and encouragement that you give me. You guys are da bomb!!! Enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving and make sure you eat heaps of turkey and taquitos and mashed tatoes and stuff like that. Oh and don’t forget to take a sweet five-hour nap after that. As for me I still got some work to do before I can do those things.

Love,
Elder Ward

P.S. For the college bowl picks throw me in and put all my answers for the team who would come first in the dictionary. Send my top prize winning candy in the mail please. J

 

Preaching the Gospel...In My Sleep

Dear family,

Today, I am, once again, believe it or not, in a mad rush for time to do a thousand and one things. So, first off I will start by letting dad know that his email is perfect. It's kinda like chapter 11 in PMG under bearing testimony. It is hard to question a testimony. I think that was inspired. It's awesome how parents are entitled to receive revelation for their families. Good job. And Mom, it sounds like you need another vacation. Going to jail [aka traffic school], finding shoes, doing animal projects, trying to keep everyone happy, and being called upon again right when you get a couple of seconds of peace. haha You should start getting paid for that kinda work. I guess though, in a way you do. It just might not be in the way you would think. For example you could be getting paid with a greater capacity to love. Just something to ponder on.

So I just remembered I need to respond to others individually so this letter might be a little short. Something really funny happened this week while I did a trade off with Elder Galt. He said that at 12:30 at night he woke up because he heard me talking. Apparently I was teaching the principle of Repentance (from lesson 3) and that it was actually pretty well done. I used some kind of analogy about Heavenly Father’s house being clean and how we need to be clean and he was starting to wonder if I was awake and just playing a joke on him... He realized I was actually asleep when I ended with "and all of this is possible because of … (BIG SNORING SOUNDS)" He explained what happened to me in the morning and I couldn't help but smile. Also, Elder Loffhagen told me I was trying to get someone to pray in my sleep as well.

We have a sweet investigator named Monique. I think I might have mentioned her last week as the girl who would just laugh at us every time we went over... It's so cool watching her countenance change as she prays seeking truth from Heavenly Father. She also came to church this week and actually enjoyed it and stayed for 3 hours. That was a shock. Something I'm starting to realize though is people who grow up in the Church might sometimes take for granted really how much the spirit can touch their hearts during all three of those meetings. The work is a little tough right now as far as our teaching pool goes. Things will turn around soon though. Sorry I have to cut things short to email OObers and Coolin (Aubrey & Collin).

Love,
Elder Ward

P.S. Tell the priest quorum I love them all and appreciate everything they have done for me, and that I wish them well on the best 2 years of their lives.

 

 

 

A Miracle Happened This Week

Dear family,

I have heaps of thoughts and letters to respond to that I probably won’t be able to get finished in the short time that I have, but I will do my best to type fast! So, to be honest, I can’t think of anything really... for Christmas or my birthday. I’m pretty content... I don’t really need much. I guess come strawberry orange banana Crystal Light packets would be great and some Sponge Bob macaroni and cheese. That would be cool too. (It's pretty sad that’s all I can think of.) I don’t need much, but feel free to surprise me.

This week a miracle happened!!! WEEE GOT A CAR!!!! A tender mercy indeed, especially for Elder Loffhagen! We had a great day where we were able to teach a girl named Hinerangi and set her to be baptized on the 1st of December. We just knocked on her door and offered to teach her on her front lawn. Then, not even 10 minutes after, we got a call from the AP’s (Elder Barney) letting us know that we were going to get a car tomorrow. I was so happy. I said, "This would be such a sick joke if you were just kidding! Are you for serious?!" So yup, anyway, long story short, the Samoan elders in our zone crashed the car so now we get to drive it around everywhere! I was just starting to enjoy biking too, but I think I will be all right. J

So let’s see—for your district meeting tonight, I actually do have something to throw in. I talked about this a lot in the last district meeting that I did. I will do my best to sum it up but I talked about Elder Bednar’s talk on personal conversion and focused on his analogy of our lamps and conversion oil (regarding the ten virgins). As missionaries everything we teach is to help people make and keep commitments and the biggest three are of course reading scriptures, praying, and going to church. Every day we BEG investigators to do those three things, because without those three things they cannot be truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Doing those three things can lighten the heaviest loads, bring hope to those in despair, and help brighten dark times. The thing is though, in order to help other people we first need to help ourselves! So a question you could ask everyone there is how much conversion oil do they put in their lamps? How often do they read their scriptures, how much work do they put into their prayers? and just how serious do they take the sacrament? (I mentioned that talk about the man who was "sleeping" when the water came his way). Anyway, without the spirit we can do NOTHING. This week I kinda experienced it. We had a baptism on Saturday—a boy named Shanil Kumar. It was a great program but it started at nine in the morning. So in a mad rush to make everything perfect we had to skip personal study. We still came back and did companion study and 12-week program training, but the whole day I could not tell what was wrong with me. I was super impatient in lessons, I had anxiety issues, and I was just angry throughout the day over nothing. That night I got in, planned, called the district, and then when we were reporting to the zone leaders Elder Bills asked me how my day was so I told him that it wasn't that great and what I had been feeling throughout the day. So he just asked why do you think that happened? Right away it hit me I DIDN'T READ!!!!! When you’re a missionary your conversion lamp gets a whole lot bigger and needs a whole lot more oil to power it. D&C 82:3 I strongly advise everyone to deepen their personal conversion including all the Priests and Laurels that are planning to go serve a mission, and ESPECIALLY any who are having second thoughts! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

So yeah, some other cool things happened this week. I mentioned Shanil’s baptism a little already but I should tell you a little bit more. Baptisms are crazy. SOMETHING ALWAYS goes wrong. This time I was determined to get everything right. So the morning of we woke up at 5 in the morning to go fill and heat the font. Then we went to go run and exercise with Aj Houia who is starting to get a little fat and lazy. J We got back at six thirty and we started to get ready. We got to the chapel at 8:15 and started to set up chairs and everything else. Then at 8:30 Shanil arrived with his dad so we went to go change into our whites. That's when I realized I forgot extra clothes.... so everything that gets wet stays wet which includes white shirt and top and bottom garments. So I [improvised]. Then everyone started coming in, including members and the Assistants and zone leaders. The spirit filled the room but I could tell Shanil was nervous!!! We said a prayer with him and did our best to help him feel better, but when we got in the water I realized that it was not heated! AT ALL!!! Whoops. It was a good program and even though Shanil was clinging onto my arm for dear life and kicked his feet like a mad man he felt a lot better after and I felt the spirit really strong!

Sorry. I would love to write more but I need to take the sisters home! I will respond to all ya’lls next week. Love you guys heaps. Be good and don’t forget to fill your lamps.

Love,
Elder Ward

 

 

Working Smart Trumps Working Hard

Dearest family,

This week was excellent and once again full of many adventures! First off, before I forget, Mom I have no idea what I want... OH yeah another ball and pump would be nice. I left the pump in Missouri and my ball was popped by intense Tongan vs. Samoan volleyball. Also, that blue hair stuff would be cool and some deodorant because it's expensive here and I stink. Other than that I’m not sure what I need really. I guess just surprise me. It would be cool if you could send me an In-n-out burger, but I don’t think that’s possible. :) Anyways I do have some great news…I back to normal! No, I did not buy 6 bags of oranges. I only bought 4 which was quite a lot actually, and I ate about 3 and a half of the bags….probably in total 25 oranges. I have some good pictures I will try to send.

So WHOA the family sounds good! Trevor the sales champion!!!  I think my total average working at Moxie was probably like 4 bucks a hour. :) I’m still glad I did it. Brycecream did it again?! By 80 points?! hahahaha The 2nd place guy could have done another 2 dives and still not win. That kid is nuts!  As for Collin, way to go! Lindsay Wade…dude…that’s cool! She has the coolest family in the whole world. Be good to her and maybe offer to go play her in racquetball sometime. Tell her I said Hi. Aubrey I have nothing to say….you LIED!!! Jokes…I miss you sis and I bet you made a good Minnie Mouse for Halloween. Ava keep being cool and help dad scare away those pigeons before he shoots them in the face.

I kinda don’t even know where to start. Oh, just a reminder with Seth Bloomfield and all them boys when they get their mission calls….PLEASE let me know! Give me their addresses too and I will do my best to send them a letter before they go. So something cool that happened this week was INTERVIEWS with President Lekias. This is without a doubt the hardest I've worked on my mission, and we are struggling to find new investigators and help them progress. STRUGGLING! Anyways, President asked if Elder Loffhagen has been able to invite anyone to be baptized, and I said, “Well president, that's something I wanted to talk to you about... WERE STRUGGLING”. Ha…right away he asked have you been visiting the members... No.... and within 3 minutes he made a plan for us to help fix our problems. He let me know that working smart trumps working hard. He really helped me heaps and things are starting to progress again! Also we are baptizing Shanil Kumar this weekend! WHOO! I have been really humbled this week and realized just how much more I need to learn to be an effective servant.

Also this week, don’t worry this is with Elder Loffhagen’s permission, Elder Loffhagen does not like bikes... he has crashed too many times to count! One particular day I felt pretty bad for him. He crashed within the first 20 seconds of leaving the flat (apartment)  hurting his arm and his head, crashed again crossing the street, and then at night time going down a big steep hill. I told him not to brake and he didn't see the sidewalk on the dark hill so he ran over that and it threw him off his bike. I feel bad for him and I hope things will start getting better for him soon. We get along great haha. In our free time we play this geek card game called Magblast where you shoot each other’s ships and you have to make the sound affects. We also play this weird game that’s like a form of rock, paper, scissors, but it's dragon ball z style where you can either power up, reflect, shoot instant transmission, or spirit bomb. ( I have no idea why I’m telling you this.)

This week I had a cool experience going along with mom talking about her lesson on prayer... yeah I feel the same way sometimes too. I read a talk in the Ensign where a teacher had the people chant pots, pots, pots, pots, pots, and then he quickly asked, “What do you do at a green light?”… STOP!!! No you GO!  He talked about how sometimes we just mindlessly chant stuff out in our prayers and that we might not take the time to stop and think about what we are really saying. Then he gave important steps to affective prayer. I think they were 1. Pick a place 2. Pray out loud 3. Pray for others 4. Be grateful and 5. I forget but it was really cool. He used examples from the BOM and then he read Jesus Christ's prayer with the Nephites and he did all the steps. You should find it!!! It should be in either the October or September Ensign.

Anyway one night this week we went over to do some family scripture reading with the Houia/King family, and I don’t know what it was but everyone was just ANGRY! AJ was being cheeky, Pita started playing music because he wanted to read in Alma (not 2^nd Nephi), and then mom got mad because she was feeling the spirit and it was just getting ruined. Towards the end I was just ANGRY myself because I loved this family. We had just read 2nd Nephi 32 and 33 which are some of the sweetest chapters in the BOM and the spirit was just gone. I was so close to just freaking out and letting everyone know how retarded they were acting... I’m so glad I didn't! Anyway, nobody wanted to say the prayer so they started to pick on each other and put it to a vote (yes they argued about that too). I just sat quietly in the corner and when they asked me for my vote I stopped, didn't answer, and just knelt down and waited for everyone else to follow. The spirit then came in and with tears coming down my face I apologized for what had just happened (all the contention) and asked to let the family see how much we loved them and how much the gospel had blessed them in their lives. It felt as if I were literally talking to Heavenly Father and it is a prayer I won’t soon forget.

Anyway, I’m taking too long. I gotta go soon, but one last experience. This Sunday Kanahana surprised me and bore her testimony! She thanked me and all the members and she explained that the first day she came to church she was wondering why everyone was so happy, and she wanted that for herself. She said she finally understands why everyone is the way the are and that she experienced it ALL last week. She was just super grateful and you could tell how much of an impact the spirit had on her. That was priceless. Keep doing good things family and know that I love you guys to death.

Love,
Elder Ward

Heaps of Oranges