Saturday, September 4, 2010

Week 96 The Work Moves Forward

Well this week was pretty good. We did lots of traveling and did a little bit of flying as well. So I will just try and sumarize the best that I can the last weeks events and once again tell you if anything funny happened.

Tuesday 24th - So we were supposed to go to waipahu to do interviews with president, but we had a lesson set up with one of our investigators so we go to the house and we ask if they are there. The guy comes out and we sit down with him and start to talk with him. He is supposed to get baptised in like a week and a half. So we go over the baptism questions with him and everything is good. We got him all set up for next week Thursday. His name is James by the way. So we taught him and then we headed out to waipahu. We were out there doing interviews and stuff and they all seemed to go pretty well. Then that night we went on splits with our ward. It was really a good night with them as well. We started with a few visits and then we ended at one of the members of the bishopric's house and we taught his nephew who is not a member. It was a really good lesson. I couldn't understand everything that was going on but I did my best. The spirit was really strong and the members were bearing some really solid testimonies. It was good this kids name is Afele. He had been coming to church for a really long time and had been taught before but just had never been baptised. We asked him why he wanted to get baptised and he said because he knew that his family needed the blessing and because he needed to share the gospel with his wife back in Tonga. So it was really good and he got baptised on Saturday.

Wednesday 25th- We had to get up super early because we had to fly to the island of Hawaii. I love going there. I really like it there, but I really like it in a small town called Waimea right at the top of the island. Anyway we got there and had interviews with the missionaries there. We had to drive all of the way around the island that way we didn't waste as much time for the elders. Elder Doane and I took turns driving because there was just so much driving. We didn't mind though because President got a rental car and it was a dodge charger so it was kind of sweet to drive. Anyway we drove all around and caught a late flight back. We didn't get back home until like 9:30 So it was a really long day. It was really funny though president was running really behind schedule so we had to skip lucnh. Elder Doane and I were soooooo hungry so we took the rental car at like 5, we told president we went to put gas in the car but we made a quick stop and got some food because we were just starving. It was pretty funny though because president had no idea that we had even gone to get food.

Thursday 26th- So we were supposed to have another appointment with our investigator James, but when we tried to call and confirm the appointment the phone was disconnected so we were like that is weird? So we decide just to drive over there for our appointment and we get there and find out that our investigator and his wife Moni had been in a huge fight. She is a member by the way. So they got in a huge fight, moni kicked him out of the house and got a restraining order against him and they were going to like get a divorce. We were like holy cow what is happeneing . So we sit down and talk with her and come to find out he had ben lieing to us. He said he had been reading and stuff when he really hadn't been. She was so ashamed and embarrased. We sat down and talked with her and she just broke down. She has kind of been less active for a while so we started teaching her. It was really good she really opened up to us and told us that she wanted to get more active in the church again and she knew what she needed to do. So it was a really good thing that we stopped by. It is just amazing how the spirit works. You think you are meant to go to a place for one person when really you are going there to help another person. So we had interviews the rest of the day. Then that night we went to ur ward because we were having the baptism interview for our investigator. It was really good and he passed so we were really happy about that.

Friday 27th- So friday was a pretty crazy day. We had to go do interviews on maui, but we got word that the missionaries apartment on molokai had caught fire and that one of the missionaries things had all burned. They were coming to maui for interviews so president put us on special assignment to go and help him get all new stuff. President gave us some money to go and get it all with. So we spent like 4 hours shopping getting this elder everything that he needed. Man I just felt so bad for him. All of his clothing was gone. Everything else was ok just his clothes. They contained the fire to just one room so that was good. It was a pretty long day helping him with all of that. It was also really good to see Elder Medeiros. Man I love that kid. We spent some time together talking and reminiscing about the past and how much we missed each other. He will be one of my friends for life just like some of my other companions. But it was really good to talk to him and to spend time with him again. I am excited for you to meet him. Then we flew back home and had to get to our ward house again. Our ward was putting on a volleyball night and they had all of the youth invite their nonmember friends. It was really good and it was a good oportunity for us to get to know all of their friends better. There was a really great turn out. I wish that we would have been able to play a little bit more but they already had the teams set up. It was ok though we had a great chance to sit down with the bishop and talk to him about the missionariy work in the ward.

Saturday 28th- So we had our baptism this morning and it was really good. The baptism was super spiritual. Elder Doane had to give a talk on the holy ghost but they asked him to do the whole thing in Tongan. He did a really great job and I was really proud of him. The ward really loves him and so do I. He is a great companion and I learn so much from him. The ward was so impressed by his skills to speak the language. He is really goood which really helps me. Then the rest of the saturday we spent going to baptisms and other things like that. Nothing to terribly exciting happened.

Sunday 29th- We went to church and had our investigator get confirmed. It was really good. You could tell that he was really happy and that he was a changed man. We taught our gospel principles class like normal and it went well. Then after church we were able to sit down and meet with our investigator Erin. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well. She could feel the spirit super strong just like all of the rest of us. We were able to invite her to be baptised on the 25 of September and she said yes so we were super stoked about that. She is just so solid and sees the need to change and how the gospel and the church just help to make you a better person. She was telling us about how things that she used to do she now realizes that they are not ok and that she needs to change. So it is really neat to see the change in her. Then later that night we went up to the Freeman's house and had dinner with them. They are such amazing people. They are just so happy and so full of life. They do so much to help us out in the office. I really don't know what we would do without them. Anyway they fixed us a really nice dinner and stuff. We were so grateful to them.

So anyway that is pretty much my week. Sorry I always try to make them shorter but it never seems to happen. This is kind of like my journal though since I don't have a whole lot of time to write in my journal. Anyway. I love you all so much. Have a great week.

Ofa Atu

Elder Hatch

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