Aloha Ohana!
Well, the coming week is the beginning of another transfer. Transfer #8 I think?? Crazy! Sister Morse and I already know we will being companions for another transfer (see later in the letter for how we know earlier than everyone else haha). It will be wonderful to serve with her for another 6 weeks! We're not sure if we'll be moving pads, but we'll probably stay in the same one since it's the pad with wi-fi and we are the "pioneers" with the laptops. We don't know when our pday will be, and I may or may not be able to send a heads up. It could be Tues, Wed, Thurs, or Sat again. I WILL have a pday during the coming week though😊
This past week was filled with lots of AWESOME training from Ben Metcalf! He works for the missionary department of the Church, and is specifically in charge of all online teaching centers. We had training meetings with him 9am-12pm Wed, Thurs, and Friday. I learned soooo much and am super excited to implement things and see miracles from doing so! One of the biggest focuses of his training was having empathy. Seems kind of funny to have one of the 3 hr training sessions on how to have empathy, right? But it was SO insightful! Jesus Christ is the master of showing empathy. Empathy is what shows people we are not robots or salespeople. Empathy is making vulnerable choices. It's avoiding saying "at least ___" when people have hard situations (aka sympathy...yelling at someone in a pit that you're sorry they're down there, instead of climbing a ladder down into the pit and being there with them for a time). Empathy is not necessarily trying to fix others' problems, but saying "that's hard. I don't know what to say, but I'm glad you told me." It can be as simple as that! This goes back to the realization I had last transfer about my call to serve a mission being a "call to LOVE."
We are to teach by the Spirit, according to others' needs. As missionaries we need to change our approach and invitations with people at varying interests levels. He talked quite a bit about adjusting to the needs and interests of others. I am helping gather scattered Israel, and it's so exciting!! There is likely no other missionary assignment that gets to gather scattered Israel as much as we do at the Hawaii VC. We likely reach every tribe. I am on the front lines of this gathering! The Lord has reserved you for this day, and He trusts you. Especially as a missionary who does online work, I am part of who Isaiah referred to as "swift messengers" in Isaiah 18:2. Just think--one moment I'm on the phone teaching someone about the restored gospel in Australia, and 5 minutes later I'm chatting with someone in Canada and inviting them to learn more about the unique message we share. That's pretty swift, from Australia to Canada within moments!
Through the training I also gathered so many creative ideas of how to better use technology to help the people we interact with draw closer to the Savior. I was also reminded to teach by the Spirit--Ben looked at that phrase with a new perspective that I appreciated. He said we need to teach by (as in beside) the Spirit, not behind or ahead of Him. It was great to be reminded that we are not simply "referral-sending missionaries," but we are teaching missionaries!! I'm excited to actively help people progress, even after I send their referral to local missionaries.
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| Diligently working online at 9-10 pm! |
Wow, sorry, that was suuuuper long haha, but here's some other things from the week!
-Chidinma is getting baptized today! She was a Book of Mormon request on mormon.org that I picked up a few months ago. I've been able to keep in touch with her throughout her conversion process, and I'm super excited for her to follow the Savior's example today and be baptized😊 I also talked to Les, a super cool guy from Texas with a sweet southern accent, on Monday. He had requested a Bible on mormon.org, but God really had prepared him to learn more from missionaries and be blessed by the restored gospel at this time. He'd never heard of the Book of Mormon before, but I felt I should invite him to meet with missionaries to learn more, and he was super open to doing so! The local missionaries were able to meet Les within about two days, and said he is so prepared. They set a baptismal date with him for is Aug 31, and Les is super excited for the local missionaries to come back and teach his whole family today! Miracles!
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| We sent this pic to Chidinma on Sunday💕 |
-It was Sister Morse's 20th birthday on Monday! We had a super fab day😀 Sister Morse felt so loved. I love serving with so many sweet, thoughtful sister missionaries! The Liews had us over for dinner (it's funny because they unknowingly had signed up to feed me on my birthday back in May, and then the same thing happened last week with Sister Morse's birthday haha. They are birthday dinner magnets!) They made some super good Korean food. The homemade kimchi was BOMB>>>😍 Seriously, it was so good--not too spicy, just the right mix of unique flavors. Apparently it takes them days to make. I love Asian food.
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| We had tram scouts on Sister Morse's bday so I bought us Peanut Butter Mochi after we finished😍 |
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| Birthday dinner with the Liewsx2! (Charity and Jun, plus Jun Liew's younger bro just got married and moved into our ward too! |
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| Fashionable toe socks from Sister Wong hahaha... remember when I had knee-high stripey toe socks when I was younger? I LOVED those 😂 |
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Sis Yamaji and her creation
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Sister Morse and I are going to a Luau at PCC for dinner tonight. We are super excited!! I'll send pics next week.
Well, keep smiling! Love the pace of life God has given you this week.
Love, Sister Flake
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| The District!! Transfer #7 DL is Elder Vete, he goes home next week. |
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| Dinner with Mocodompis's. We had "white curry," the colorful/white chip things above the curry are some sort of pork rhine or something? idk. The two plates have dumplings. YUM😋 |
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| Bro Mocodompis is behind me, then his wife, then brother Liew, then Timmy, Bro Mocodompis's brother, then Sis Morse |
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