Thanksgiving

Well im just gonna crank this out pretty fast.
This week has been alright. Thanks giving was really fun we got to
watch a turkey bowl game which I enjoyed. I really wish we could've
played in it, but our mission president told us that we couldn't. We
then got to eat at Jerry's house which was fun. We actually got to go a
little bit black Friday shopping and we got matching brown suits which
is awesome. They were really cheap so that was sweet. I found out that
im getting transferred as well which is going to be a very interesting
experience. Im nervous for it but also excited. James baptism was this
week and it was really awesome. I got to do his confirmation which was
amazing. The spirit is so strong and it's an amazing experience to be
apart of. Love you all and hope you all have a great week! I'm so
grateful for all of you and hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving.
Much love,
Elder Taeoalii

A Baby Is Born

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great week! This week has been
pretty good, not very much going on. We had to drop quite a few people
this week which was a bummer but it happens!

The funniest/cool moment from this week happened yesterday. We were
suppose to baptize James yesterday and we were super excited for it.
We met with him everyday this week and he had his interview and was so
ready to be baptized. The only thing that could stand in the way of
the baptism was his wife being pregnant, and of course the day of the
baptism was the day the baby decided to come hahaha. We were sad about
that but super happy for them! After church we were able to go to the
hospital and meet baby Jeremiah. He was so cute and it was really
cool, where he was at only parents and grandparents were allowed in.
The only exceptions for that rule are preachers so we were able to go
back and see him. The spirit was so strong in there it was awesome. I'm
just so happy we've been able to teach James and be there in his
special moment! Its awesome to know that we've been able to help that
family into the gospel and that his kids will now grow up in the
church. It was so humbling and awesome. He's not quite there yet though
we are having his baptism this Saturday so i'm so stoked for that!

A spiritual experience this week was from our zone conference on
Friday. Our mission president and stake president talked and taught us
a really good lesson. They talked about Moses and how he wasn't ready
and didn't think he was qualified to lead he people out of Egypt. Its
the same thing with us not so drastic however. Many times as members
of the church the Lord will ask us to do hard things and as we rely on
Him and realize that alone we may not be able to do it, but with Him
we can do all things. When we realize this the Lord can do miracles
through us.

I hope everyone has a great week and i love you all! And hope everyone
has a great thanksgiving! Happy thanksgiving!

Much love,
Elder Taeoalii

Fun Times

This week was alright. We had a lot of people who decided they didn't
want to meet with us, and made all kind of excuses of why they
couldn't meet with us or go to church. Its super frustrating when
people are so close to just knowing the church is true, and their
right there then just turn from it.

While it wasn't the best week we still saw some great things happen!
That guy James that I've talked about well he is getting baptized on
Sunday! I'm so excited for him! He's awesome he has totally changed his
life around and was so prepared to meet us. He has been in and out of
jail for so long, and the last time he decided he wanted to change. He
said when he got out that he kept having this feeling that he needed
to turn his life over to God. It just so happens that when he started
having these feelings we met him. Its so amazing to see how the lord
prepares the people and places them in our path.

A funny story for this week was last night. We were teaching a less
active 84 year old lady. She is so crazy and never stops talking.
Anyways usually she would talk our ear off for hours if she could.
While she was talking she was like well i need to go take care of some
business and we were like uhh okay. We just started talking to her son
when we heard her in a back room having some explosive problems if you
know what I mean hahaha. Ya sorry that was gross but it was so funny i
had to share it!

We're working hard and helping people change their lives and it's
awesome to be apart of it. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and
the blessings that he gives us. Out here there are so many broken
families and people live in conditions that are just horrible. If
there's one thing I want everyone to take away from this email is to
be grateful for what you have, because there's a lot of people who
would do anything to trade places with you! Love all of you! Hope
everyone had a great week!
Much Love,
Elder Taeoalii

This is Kelly...I asked him to tell me about the pictures and he said this about the first one..."that guy was the first grand wizard of the KKK" and the other is just a truck they saw.  

Work

This week was awesome! Were having so many great things happen here! We have more people with baptismal dates then this area has had in years. Its so amazing to be able to see what happens when we follow the spirit. This is the lords work and when we follow the promptings of the spirit he can lead us to do great miracles. 

One great miracle that we've seen this week has been just the spirit in our lessons. We've really been receiving so many promptings its so cool. We are working harder then i ever have before. We've decided were really going to push past what we have been doing before. Not that we weren't working hard, but there was just small little things that we could do better. It's helping us out so much but its exhausting! Which is a good thing i love it. 

Life is an eternal progression and so is a mission. I've really been trying to better myself everyday so that i can be the best missionary i can be. Whom the lord calls he qualifies! While this may be true i think its more then just that. I like to think of it better that the lord qualifies us when we put everything we have into it. Its just like how the savior cant save us in our sin but from our sin its the same principle. The savior cant save us in our weakness but from our weakness. In order for us to qualify us we need to do our best ourselves just like how we need to repent. It requires action on our part before the lord will bless us. Sorry that was pretty deep i don't even know if it made sense but something i've been thinking about haha. We all need to work hard in everything in our life. It doesn't matter what it is, if you're going to do something do it with everything you got and the lord will bless you! There's some motivation for your week hahaha.

I have some sad stories from this week! The worst part about missionary work is when you do everything in your power to help someone and you know they feel the spirit but they choose to harden their hearts. Its so sad and frustrating haha. We've been teaching this less active lady pretty much the whole time I've been here. She's super old and claims she has health problems but she really doesn't. We felt really impressed to help her come to church. So in our lesson we bore our testimonies about church and promised her some powerful things. She just told me that i didn't understand at all what it was like to be sick and all this other stuff. It was super sad to see it's definitely the saddest part of being a missionary so far. 

The highlight of my week was by far my birthday! That video was so awesome i loved it so much! Thank you to everyone who was in it. It made me so happy to see all of you guys I really appreciate it! I love you all so much and I'm so grateful that i have such amazing people supporting me! Hope you all have a great week! Love you guys!

Much love,

Elder Taeoalii

A message from Kelly:

He didn't send any pictures this week, but Jerry has texted me a few:

Faith captioned this one..."Fast Sunday be like..."

Somebody is excited about his new winter boots that just arrived.  

xoxox