December 2, 2015
Dear loving, tender, kind, gracious Friends and Family of mine,

Let me think where to begin.  Right now is the quiet time of language study.  I'm sitting on my mattress on the floor, white sheets all made, Hawaiian flag covering them. I'm criss cross-apple sauce in a dress I got for $4 at the Kailua Goodwill (where all the rich people live).  I think it's from Singapore?..(that's what the tag says).  It's long and cotton and EASY.  Like Sunday morning.  I only say that because that's the song that's coming in on the breeze from the construction worker's boom box across the street (bless that boom box!).  The usual sound of the bus stopping floats in too.  When the doors creek, the familiar voice says, "Aloha, welcome aboard the bus."  In a deep voice.  Birds are fighting over the papayas in the trees next to our window.  The pad is somewhat insane.  There is no easy way to keep everything in its place with 3 people and so little time to sort things out.  The wooden table we use as a counter is crowded with a microwave, a [sincerely loved / overused] rice cooker, a jumbo box of cereal from a member, a chocolate birthday cake that reads "ppy thday oria" and has 3 forks close by.  The banner you sent hangs above the cabinet (that we always bang our heads on).  It serves as a reminder to keep the peace and to do what we came here to do.
Our fridge, for the record, could have made it into a MLK Jr's speech, I'd say.  "I have a dream that one day the kim chee will sit next to the quinoa on the top shelf.  That lumpia and moonpies will reside in the crisper in harmony and that the seaweed soup will be served next to the shrimp & grits and none will discriminate."  Powerful stuff!  Sister Kim has brought the SPICE to our pad.  Koreans like their food HOT--like, drinking-tabasco-exit wound-make-your-nose-run spicy.  Our new favorite lunch special is bultakploogim meon, but we just call it spicy noodles.  The first time I ate it, I lost feeling in my lips for almost an hour!  It is a different kind of heat. ...drinking nail polish remover- kind of heat.  But tasty!  Eating here is always an Adventure!

The BEST Home cooked meal by the Yugawa's

I made shrimp & grits and it was a party and a half!  Somehow the Elders found out and before the grits were done, there were 4 Elders sitting on the steps outside our pad.  Of course, they can't come in. So we put 2 folding chairs on our porch (4x4ft).  It was gone! haha and they LOVED it.  Ever since, they keep popping up most days around noon.  We gave them some spicy noodles in an effort to scare them off, but to no avail.  Maybe we'll switch out the soy sauce for fish sauce.  That's enough to scare ANYONE away.  That stuff smells so gross...
The members are SO GREAT.  They think the VERY best of the missionaries and do any and every thing for us. Often their belief is entirely too optimistic. But they consider it an honor and a blessing to have us in their home. SO humble. We went hiking and Sister Kim felt sick, so we called Aunty early and asked if we could go over right then. Later Uncle Norman (her husband) finished the lunch with a spiritual thought and said that he had been laying in bed feeling sick next to Aunty when she got the call. When he found out that we were coming over, he turned to his wife and said "aren't we so blessed to have the servant's of the Lord in our home?" and got up! We don't deserve their devotion. He told us the story with tears in his eyes. I don't know what to do!


I am SO BLESSED!  God is GOOD & the church is true!

RANDOM FUN FACTS:
1. I met a woman from Athens last night!  She was wearing a UGA shirt and we had a great talk about Herschel Walker and manners!  
2. We tracted into a very nice Indian man named Vikram who invited us in and shared Tandoori with us...Swoon!
3. Brother Kanahele told me I was a yogurt covered raisin--white on the outside, brown on the inside.
4. We skype in a month!  No...23 days!  Forgive me if I ugly cry!

I Love you to the Sky!
xMLS

                                                       Sometimes it's Fun to push Sister K's buttons

                                  Fab Jammies and our felt Christmas tree (Thanks Mama!)

Dear Friends and Fam,                                          November 9, 2015
Things in Hawaii are continuously crazy.  The only thing constant is inconsistency.  But it's a fun and dizzying dance we do between appointments, tracting and meetings.  Wednesday we went to Honolulu to pick up our new companion, Sister Kim.  I was channeling Grandpa O as we drove through Hon-west traffic with 2 goals;  1. to get to the Tabernacle on time  2. that my hair would look somewhat domesticated by the time I hugged Sister Warner (mish pres's wife).  ...at least we made it on time.
Y'all Sister Kim is Beautiful!  She is from South Korea, sweet, with thick dark hair and big eyes.  As we drove back to Kaneohe across the H3 and into the Ko'olaus (impromptu waterfalls after the rains) it was kind of strange being the one leading the "tour".  I was JUST coming through that tunnel and seeing these steep green mountains, I'm sure of it!
When we got to our pad, dropped Sis K's luggage, she looked around and said, "Hop Guyo!" which I've come to understand means something along the lines of "Heck Yeah"-haha.  Let the slumber party begin.  Our bedroom is too small to fit 3 beds in, so yesterday Sis Soriao and I drug all the mattresses into the living room and made our bedroom the study room.  Its cozy and a TOTAL estrogen fest most of the time.
Even though there is a language barrier, we have gotten each others jokes from day 1.  Our first language study was rough.  I wish y'all could have been there.  Sis S is taking the english proficiency test soon.  Today we pulled out the packet of practice questions and started at the beginning.  The first article was called "the Grunge Movement in America" and was a page and a half commentary on the switch from the glam rock scene of the 80's to the grunge groups of the 90's!  Haha!  I tried my best to keep it together as Sis S read aloud the differences in the "flashy and ostentatious wardrobes of hair metal groups such as White Snake, Poison and Bon Jovi" versus the "thought provoking lyrics combined with the distorted guitars of Mud Honey."  About this time Sister S asks me what snakes and rock music have to do with one another.  Sister K is scribbling down vocabulary words like "edgy" and "punk sound" in earnest.  And I am DEAD. haha!  This was too much!  Sadly, the other articles are more tame and discuss topics like airplane safety or a trip to Grandma's house.  But every now an then I slip Sister K a high five for using the word "Seattle based sound" when possible (by the way it's not really ever possible...which makes it HILARIOUS).
In the past few days, I've felt the importance of having a Sanctuary.  I imagine it like in the early part of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" when the kids make their little fort and set it aside as a place they feel safe.  I wouldn't say I feel in any kind of danger but after a very long day of work, it is important to have a place of true rest.  I think of how it feels to walk in to the door at home or to snuggle up under my THICK down comforter.  A place to recover and hide away for a moment.  I've learned how to open up my soul for a few moments to think and to commune with the Lord.  I'm rewiring myself to find that refuge not so much in a place or thing or experience, but in myself.  In the scriptures.  My safest and warmest place is in prayer.  I've made time to recover and learn and talk with Jesus Christ often.  And it can be whatever I need it to be.  But it's getting stronger all the time!  My favorite is at night, when I'm out of the shower and WORN OUT from the day.  I walk into the living room and jump onto my bed.  I have it figured out just right how to put my sheets over my head so my flash light can't be seen and read the scriptures.  I study them and ponder on them.  I talk with Heavenly Father about the day and what I need to work on.  I feel most truly at peace.

      "Although I have cast them afar off among the heathen, and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come."  Ezekiel 11:16

I think of you all often and send up a hundred tiny prayers for you.
I love you always!
xMLS (Kaneohe, HI, the living room, mattress #3)

Mailing Address:

Sister Macey Smith

45-345 Mealele St.

Kaneohe, HI 96744

This week has been a wild one! We have one investigator that is really progressing. He was the first person I gave a Book of Mormon to, we found him out walking, he said yes when we invited him to baptism, he has been coming to church. Really exciting things! This week we had a lesson with him and he was just not getting what we were saying. As we were teaching, I had to hold back tears because I knew that, even though he wanted to be baptized, he was not ready. The lesson ended and I felt confused and frustrated because everything seemed to have fallen into place and then, out of seemingly no where, it all fell apart.

As we got home, I went straight to my bed and laid face down and (maybe for the first time ever?) cried. 

Like a good, long, ugly cry. 

And Sister Soriao was there trying her best to comfort me. I say "trying her best" because she seemed relatively unfazed. Obviously upset that this investigator was not ready but accepting of it all. I asked her how she was so seemingly.... okay. She laughed and shrugged and said she trusted in the Lord's timing. 

Just then one of our District Leaders called and Sister Soriao explained the current state of things (I imagine something like "Oh, Sister Smith? Yes, she's unavailable right now. Emotionally and physically.... yeah... some kind of mid life crisis, I guess."). The Elder on the phone, once he heard me explain that things had gone horribly and terribly wrong, said that until your mission, you don't know true pain. Your depth of sorrow is nothing like it will become as you serve the Lord. The lows are much lower because the consequences are eternal. It's a different kind of sadness as you see people changing, being influenced by both the Spirit and the natural man. That struggle within people sometimes ends badly. And that's sad. 

Then he said "but guess what? you never know true happiness either." And in the moment, it seemed pretty cheesy. But I thought about it. That misery that I felt was because I had seen some one who was closer to salvation than he had ever been decide to  turn away from it for the praise of the world. He had it all right in his hands, but chose differently. Ugh, it was so heartbreaking and it took me awhile to get back to myself. To refocus on what my purpose was. 

The next morning in personal study, I found a scripture in Psalms 30. At the heading of the chapter- scrawled in blue ink from a borrowed pen- were the words "Flying to Hawaii 8/10/15" and the underlined scripture was:

"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness." 

That was a powerful moment. I can't deny that that scripture was meant for me, exactly on that day and in that hour of need. I thought back to a few weeks ago when I was anticipating all of this, sitting in my seat on the plane and finding this verse. What it meant for me then and the depth of meaning it has already taken on... It is hard to explain. 

The joy this season has brought me cannot be compared to the happiness I thought I had. And it has all come through giving my heart more and more to Jesus Christ. I don't always do it as well as I should, but it has given me fresh eyes and a more generous heart. I don't have room enough to receive it. 

This work can break your heart. But that greater depth of feeling that makes the lows lower, also makes the highs higher. 

Last night we had a musical fireside where recent converts shared their stories and then the choir (and other groups from the ward) performed. It was so special! One of the recent converts who spoke is Aunty Kealoha. She is in her 70s and in a wheel chair. She is really like a grandmother to me. She is so thoughtful and kind and I look forward to the after-baptism lesson we have with her every week because she deeply considers the doctrine of the gospel. She always has great thoughts to share and uplifting words. To have a front row seat for the beginning of her conversion has been an amazing blessing! She practiced the talk she shared and told us how nervous and excited she was.

She shared her story. About how long the missionaries taught her, what baptism was like, and how the gospel has made her more than she was before. I looked at her son, who was baptized years before her. The way he looked at his mother was moving. You could see how proud he was and how happy the gospel made them. Just to be invited into that, to feel a part of that process that was so beyond me... it filled me up. It restored me. To see her long, tan, wrinkled hands leading the choir and to hear her share her testimony gave me a new found hope. It turned my mourning into dancing. 

The sadness that I feel has been overcome by joy through the Lord. As I turned to him with my broken heart, he filled me with hope. He gave direction to a confused and discouraged heart. Time and time again, He has lifted me up and put me back together. I am so grateful to know that He is on my side. That there is nothing that could happen to me to keep me from His love. I know that that peace is offered to everyone. He can make more of us than we can imagine! 

I love you all so much! Keep going!

Sister Smith

Mailing Address:

Sister Macey Smith

45-345 Mealele St.

Kaneohe, HI 96744

Aloha All,

This week has been good to me. Some funny and awkward moments: trying to dodge aloha kisses from these yummy people, “sorry Brother, I’m like super consecrated!  Just shake my hand!” Or laughing at myself, in my PJ’s, on the grass mat attempting “Ab Ripper X from Insanity” – the only exercise dvd we have in the apartment.  Also lots of moments to ponder and read as it has been POURING here. We just got new elders in the zone and it's fun to meet them. We have been tracting a lot this week and are getting prepared for General Conference (seriously SO excited) and the ward is a blessing! 

I read a great talk from last conference called "The Music of the Gospel" and it talks about how we all know the dance steps of church, but do we hear the music of the gospel? Do we have a reason to dance? and if not, let us. (I hear “lets dance” In Kevin Bacon's voice. hehe).  Let us do everything to hear that music in our lives. Because that is the reason we started dancing in the first place.

Man, teaching brings out the best and worst in me.  This week we were teaching an 11 year old girl in a part member family (3 generations live together).  As we stated to teach about the Plan of Salvation, several of the adults (6) started asking about all kinds of fringe topics; women in the priesthood, the law of consecration and why the church is so Eurocentric (centered on Europe and Europeans).  It was heavy and seemed like we were being attacked from every side.   Sister Soriao had a lot of grace.  I was silently praying that we could figure out how to bring the Spirit and calm the room.  After an hour and a half of HOT MESS, the girls grandfather spoke these simple works, "have a little faith.  You don't need to know everything, you need to know enough."  Things settled, and though our lesson was simple, I feel that it was strong.

Sometimes, some days it’s hard to represent the Church.  Gods ways are unchanging and the world is just the opposite.  But to bear the name of Jesus Christ is teaching me so much.  I want to be as steadfast and unchanging as the Lord needs me to be.  Being a missionary is allowing me to stare my doubts and fears down and decide what I will do to conquer them.

    

Our Mission President gave us a talk by Jeffery R. Holland called "The Atonement and missionary work" and he said:

      "Presidents, if the missionaries can come to love and appreciate it, the Atonement will carry them perhaps even more importantly than it will carry their investigators.  You let them know that when they struggle, when they are rejected, when they are spit upon, and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, they are standing shoulder to shoulder with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect missionary that ever lived.  They have every reason to stand tall and to be grateful that the Savior and Redeemer of the world knows all about their sorrows and their afflictions and that for a moment or two in their lives they will understand what He went through for them.  Welcome to the journey of the disciples of Christ."

I have seriously SO much to learn.  The natural man is the worst but I'm starting to exercise my testimony.  Exciting times!

I LOVE THIS WORK. I LOVE THIS PLACE. THESE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING AND TEACH ME SO MUCH.

Love,
Sister Smith 

Mailing Address:

Sister Macey Smith

45-345 Mealele St.

Kaneohe, HI 96744

This week has been amazing!

We took one of our investigators to the Visitors Center and the temple! He cried. It's such a great opportunity to see someone gaining and growing a testimony. The Lord reaches us on our own levels. He is planning on being baptized on October 10th! He's stopped drinking coffee. We are so proud and excited! 

We also did service around all these beautiful ginger flower, weeding and mowing. It's other worldly over here. Especially when you get out to the country. I love the red ginger flowers and the family who owns the garden made us lunch and sent us off with a bunch of flowers like last time! 

The district will loose Elder Jipus, which is a BIG loss. He is so dang funny and can eat a coconut faster than you'd believe. I'm going to miss trying to speak Tagalog with him! We will be getting a new elder in our district, so we're jazzed about that. A few changes in the zone (one of the Elders is going to Kihei!) and I guess the change is good. It's just weird to think that I won't serve with these people forever, but honestly they are like brothers! It's a really unifying experience and I think being able to relate to one another and push each other on is so helpful. At least to me!

Kaneohe is just like heaven. The sweetest and funniest family had us over for dinner last night and made Dinuguan (which is a Filipino dish. It's beef cooked in pork blood with vinegar. SO good.), Pinach Beet, and Ponset ****please check the spelling on these..... shootin in the dark**** and then jambalaya and pulled pork sandwiches for us! Can you believe that?! Just for us. So sweet. Sundays are like eating marathons.... I am trying to figure out how to pace myself. Being a missionary is this weird dance between "we are poor and have nothing but tuna fish and rice" for the first two meals of the day and then "wow. what a glorious feast." for the second half of the day... So still trying to figure that out.

We have been tracting more this week, as we are trying to focus on finding new people to teach. That's actually become one of my favorite things. Which I NEVER could have imagined. But it's kind of... fun. Yes, fun! Like "who's behind that door?!" (in a tv announcer voice) because you honestly NEVER know. Some lady in the 4th ward asked the Elders to give her cat (Scrapper) a priesthood blessing. Another lady invited us in thinking we were the Jehova's Witnesses and we got about half way through a lesson before she promptly asked us out! I am saving all the crazy stories but it's a great opportunity to be invited into these people's lives. When will I ever have that chance again? 

Most of all, I have been trying my best to become more and more lost in this work. It's not easy! But it is so worth it. I feel so good when I am doing exactly what I know I should and in the best way I know how. There is no replacement for that kind of work. The blessings that come from it can come from no other source. Every blessing is predicated on obedience. At a baptism this week, we sang "I Feel My Savior's Love" and I was so touched by the fourth verse. I am trying to offer Him my heart. My WHOLE heart and mind. And I know He will bless me. "In giving, I receive." 

I love you all SO much. I am so glad to hear from you. Keep it coming! Keep the work moving! Read the Book of Mormon every day.

Mahalo!

Sister Smith 

Mailing Address:

Sister Macey Smith

45-345 Mealele St.

Kaneohe, HI 96744

Aloha!

 

People actually say that here. It's not cheesy when they say it either! This week has been a roller coaster and I'm grateful for it!

 

We spoke in church yesterday (Sister Soriao and I) and it was great to sit up on the stand and see all the people! We get fed a lot.... a ton. They weren't kidding about the whole "they call it the 40 pound mission" thing. There may be a whole lot more of me to love when I get back... So... be kind hahaha.

 

We have a few really promising investigators right now and are continuing to get to know every one here! I am trying to get the hang of teaching by the Spirit and Sister Soriao is patiently and wisely guiding me always. She is incredible and I will be eternally grateful for her example to me.

 

At the beginning of the week, we got a lot of rejection. It seemed like no one was interested. You know it's funny to see the look some people get in their eyes when they open the door to us! And it was weighing on my heart. It made me sad to see so many people shrug off the single most important thing in my life. I was praying for compassion and guidance as I tried to navigate how to react to the passivity we had seen. Then I thought of what Rob Christensen said in sacrament at the YSA Branch right before I left. 

 

He talked about the amazing pictures that had just come from a satellite on Pluto, I think. He said that like Pluto, we need to be patient and humble and just keep doing what we know we should. Sometimes the world will stop and acknowledge your steadfastness, your vast beauty and other times they will debate your credibility or your value. But just keep going. Because no matter what they recognize or hypothesize, you ARE what you know you are.

 

How powerful is that message?! I am focusing on what I know I am and what I know I want to become. I love the people here and am turning my heart to them as I teach and testify. This work is the most worthwhile thing I can do and it is my prayer that I can be true to myself throughout these 18 months, that I can solidify who I am, and build upon it. God is so good.

 

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you!

 

Love, Sister Smith

August 17, 2015

An excerpt from a letter MLS wrote to our family.  Hope it brings smiles to you as it did us:

I woke up this morning in the Mission Presidents house w/ 3 other sisters from the M.T.C.   We slept in "the GA room", because it's where all the General Authorities stay when they come to visit.  APARENTLY Russel M. Nelson is kind of a beach bum...just try to get that mental picture!  President Warner is a great man.  He and his wife have it together.  Strong eyebrows, soft hearts.  It was a lot like vacation staying there.
When I first got off the plane I was weak in the knees!  The palm trees!  Everything is so green.  The people are so beautiful.  Mama you were right about the smell, heaven!  P. Warner gave us kukui nuts to wear around our necks and we headed to Tantalis.  Its a lookout point where you can see all of Honolulu.

This place is unREAL.  Flowers grow everywhere.  So exotic.  I swung from a banyan tree!

My companions name is Sister Soriao (pronounced "Sorry-O") and she is from the Phillipines! Or as she says "Pilli-pines."  She is humble and...just Solid.  She grew up near Manilla, is one of ten kids and the only member in her family.  She is 23 and - if we're being optimistic - reaches my name tag.  Though she be but little, she's FIERCE.  It's the first day, but she's orchestrated this hot mess beautifully.  With the coordination of a plate spinner.  Maybe a cup stacker.

All of us MTC friends hugged or shook hands and parted ways.  Which was weird b/c they were all I knew!  We met up with some sisters who knew how to get to Kane'ohe (Khan-knee-oh-hey) We drove 25 minutes to get here.  The mountains are covered by clouds.  I kind of hope the Celestial Kingdom has at least a corner that looks like Kane'ohe...if it has corners!

We live above a member, Auntie K, and when we came up the the pad, she was in here + in a tizzy!  and rightfully so.  The place was T.R.A.S.H.E.D.  We're talking Christmas tree in the kitchen, laundry in the bathroom sink, random papers everywhere.  TOE UP.  And Auntie K was ticked.   Frankly, I was overwhelmed.  I had no idea what I was coming into.  But, I looked Auntie in the eye, apologized, shook her hand, and got to work just like the other sisters.  We all worked for awhile until the general crap was out of the pad.  By then we were hungry so we went to McDonald's. 

As we walked in, a sister paid for our lunch b/c she recognized us.  She gave us all Aloha kisses before she left.  Lunch was Good!  It was food, so it was good!  All we have in the apartment is soy sauce and 2 pop tarts so free lunch was a tender mercy 4 sure!  After lunch the other sisters left.

They call it "white wash" when you start an area with 2 new missionaries.  The only info we could find was the old ward mission leader.  We called him and went right over.  Our place doesn't have AC or fans, so I was rockin' a frizzy, Farrah Fawcett Fro kind of situation.  Brother Kanahele said I was greener than Uncle Someone likes his bananas ;) (Apparently he's Tongan + digs plantains). 

Next we headed to the only house Sister S remembered from doing splits here long ago.  We pulled up to a little blue and brick house with an open carport and laundry hanging on the line (10 t-shirts, a bra and some big tighty whities, haha).  We said a prayer and went in.  Grandpa (all seniors are "grandpa, grandma, auntie, uncle") opened the door and invited us in.  Their home was ornamented with trinkets and tchotchkes on every surface.  A sweet layer of thimbles, salt and pepper shakers and state spoons layering everything.  Grandpa pauses his game of online poker and invites us to sit.  He goes to get his wife and as I felt the shag carpet under my feet and the air, so heavy around me, I thought, "this is what I'm here for.  These people.  And I'm supposed to be RIGHT HERE."

Then, in walks Grandma from the back room.  No kidding, she reached my belly button.  Okay, maybe 2 more inches.  She is a Japanese woman, 80 years old, with penciled in eyebrows and she sort of sauntered in with her arms all the way up in the air.  To Sister S she says, "Sister!  Aloha.  I thought we'd never see you!"  And she sounds a LOT like the grandma from Mulan, no lie.  She comes in for a hug (presumably gets grand canyon'd by my chest;) and gives me an aloha kiss!  a loud one, right in my ear! and says, "oh sister! So tall and fair.  I remember when rear end was that round and my hair was that long.  Of course, I feel fortunate to be alive at 80, but I did have a nice bum!" ...y'all I am NOT making this up!  I died laughing!

She invited us to sit down at her kitchen table where Grandpa was setting up the drinks.  Square Micky Mouse glasses from the 60's, a block of ice the size of a bar of soap and pink straws.  He pulls out my chair and returns to his, where he cracks open a can of Arizona strawberry kiwi lemonade.  Grandma gets a fancy bowl she stacks Chips Ahoy cookies in and we all sit down.  Grandpa, when he can fit a word in, tells us of his baptism in April.  He goes to church every sunday along with Grandma who was baptized at 8.  Their kids are not members, but Grandma says she'll let them decide.  Just as her parents were Buddhist, she is LDS.  They will find their way.  She point to a small shrine with a statue of Buddha and says its to honor her heritage.  The lady is a Spark Plug!  She repeats things about every 5 minutes, so its lucky she's so funny!  She has jade and copper bangles up both arms, a light pink button up on.  They have lots of records and she tells us how she used to be a dancer at a hotel in Honolulu.  We vow to sit close to her on Sunday and we leave with a sleeve of Chips Ahoy and FULL HEARTS.

After picking up cleaning supplies, and heading back to our pad, I felt a lot of peace.  A lot more than I think I should have.  I just felt seeringly confident that this was, so strangely, but so clearly, MY place.  

We cleaned until time for dinner with the Kanacale's, where the women ate separate from the men.  Uncle played ukulele while we finished and did the dishes.  He is the assistant ward mission leader and really pointed us in a good direction.  We shared a message and headed home where the zone leaders had dropped off a fan (PRAISE!).  We live on a corner by both the school bus and city bus stop.   With the windows open its kind of loud.  The houses are close and our neighbors like reggae;)  I laid in bed thinking about the day.  It was so great.  The work we have to do is MIGHTY and I know we could, by no other means, bring it about.

Today we knocked doors.  Along with personal study, companion study, weekly planning and language study for sister S and sort of me too?  "Basa ang Anklat ne Mormon!" (read the Book of Mormon, y'all) and ukulele!  Im learning "Abide with me" and it's kinda coming along.  Sister S has the most entrancing voice.  It's kind of other worldly.  She also replaces most words that start with f's with p's [see also: pish, pocus, Heavenly Pather] and she is Perfect!  Oh and lunch of rice and canned fish?! and clementines.  (seasoned sprinkles optional;)  We tracked for about 4 hours.  One guy answered the door with a doobie in his hand.  Another lady, Auntie Claire, said she believed every single thing the Mormons believed.  We asked her why she hadn't been baptized.  She said she was Buddhist and they accept ALL truth.  And she has a gambling problem she can't kick! Haha!  We then went and visited a Marshallese family.  The mom and 4 of her sons have been baptized. They live in the back of a shared house with their 14 kids!  About 1/2 of their adult children have at lease one child of their own and all live there.   We walked through an alley of houses to get there.  There were 2 HUGE Sandlot dogs behind a sketchy chain link fence--kind of scary.  The dad, Season, was outside working on a boat motor.  As soon as the little kids saw us, they crowded around the door.  6 tan faces with big brown eyes;) We shook Seasons hand and then all the kids (the oldest was 4)stuck out their tiny, sticky hands to shake.  The smallest Lei's hand was the size of a tic tac container.  I almost died right there!  The oldest, CheChe, pulled on my skirt and asked, "sista, are com from de mane lan?!"  Be still my SOUL!  Lei has straight across bangs and never stops staring at us.  We have an appointment with them Monday.

We met the Bishop tonight.  Sister Kanahele asked if we had any dinner appointments this week.  She organized dinners for us until Sunday.  Before we left she found my thank you note, yelled "IOWE!" and ran to the door to give me the tightest hug EVA!  She's an absolute Angel!  Anyway, the Bishop is a doctor, a urologist and male reproductive...  He's very Richard O. Lloyd.  The least Hawaiian Hawaiian I've come across, I think.  Very quiet, very reserved, very tired, but quite helpful.  And somehow he cried during our dinner message! Shout out to the Holy Spirit! Or maybe he was so un-enthused he began to weep...either way, the work is sweet!

I miss you all a ton!  I say little prayers for you all day long! 

All of my Love,

MLS  

I KNOW HOW TO BE ABASED, 

AND I KNOW HOW TO ABOUND:

EVERY WHERE AND IN ALL 

THING I AM INSTRUCTED 

BOTH TO BE FULL AND TO BE HUNGRY:

BOTH TO ABOUND AND TO SUFFER NEED. 

I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST.

Philippians 4:12