6 Months! (Week 27)

I hit my 6 months lol. Time is funny. We got transfer news and after being on the big island of Hawaii for 4 transfers or 6 months, I'm being shipped off to the island of Oahu and I'll be in the Waipahu Zone/Stake in the Honouliuli Ward! It's exciting stuff, haha. Changes are good, especially for my sanity but it doesn't matter where I serve. I'm happy to serve anywhere haha, nevertheless change is good.

Lots of good missionary work this week. The grind is real. 

We saw our friend, Melanie, enter into the waters of baptism so that was awesome! It is such a tender mercy from the Lord for Him to allow me to be a part of her journey! I'm so excited for her and the miracles that will happen in her family because of her example! She is the absolute best!

My friends and family the gospel is simple.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ constitutes the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Gospel is made up of 5 simple steps that stem from Christ's Atonement, which are: 1) Faith in Jesus Christ 2) Repentance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ 3) Baptism 4) Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and 5) Enduring to the End by living and repeating the gospel of Christ in an upward spiral throughput our life.

This is something that I would have liked to have known before the mission, so I could explain the gospel of Jesus Christ to others and live it.

Love you all! Keep living the gospel and great lives!

-Elder Alec Shockley 

The Days of COVID (Week 26)

This week was something I thought was past me and my time as a missionary, but on Sunday me and my companion both woke up feeling kind of sick and then Monday my companion was worse than I was, and the next day wasn't any better so the mission doctor told us to stay home until we didn't have any symptoms. So we stayed home until Saturday. So we did some zoom lessons that actually worked out pretty good and some Sister missionaries in our zone found an old area book in their house and gave it to us.  We called a ton of old investigators in there and we saw some cool miracles from that. Another exciting thing is that I'm learning Chuukese! There's a need for it and my Mission President has seen a need for as well, so I told him I am willing to learn it. So, for 30 minutes a day, I get to study it; however the only resource I have for learning Chuukese is the Chuukese Book of Mormon so I go back and forth between the English and Chuukese Book of Mormon. It's fun haha. But I asked a guy "Fiti ewe nenien Jises Kraist iwe wor papatais." Which is "Follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized." And the guy understood so that was awesome, haha.

My companion and I have seen some awesome miracles from being bold and it's exciting stuff! I hit my 6 months on Wednesday so that's nuts. Also I just love teaching families and thinking about them one day in the sealing room of the Temple and it's just the greatest feeling!

How blessed we are to have the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which allows us to return to our Heavenly Father's presence one day and live with Him and our Savior, Jesus Christ, forever, becoming like Them! It's the most exciting thought!

Love you all!

- Elder Alec Shockley

Practicality (Week 25)

Hello my friends! Another fast week on the mish! Time flies and I hit 5 months in Hawaii! It's nuts haha. And my brother Hayden has 5 months until he goes home, that's the weirdest thing. Anyway good stuff this week. 

We have a friend, Melanie, who is so awesome! She's so ready to be baptized and she's loving everything! She asked us the other day how she can pay tithes because she wants to start giving if she's going to be a member anyway! She's literally so golden and I may have already mentioned this but she drove past a Book of Mormon on the side of the road in Idaho a couple of years ago and she turned around and picked it up. It was no coincidence at all! My companion said the other day, "Her story is the one that you hear about from other missionaries." And he's so right! 

We attended the baptism of a kid that I taught my first 2 transfers and as amazing as it was and as strong as the spirit was, there was a little bit of a funny part. Herman (the kid) still had his mask on in the font and the font wasn't filled very high in the first place, so when he went under he kind of just put his hand on his mask (to plug his nose I guess?), but also his feet kicked up and the water was so low that the Elder baptizing like laid him in the water and then had to pull him up, haha. So they did it again and this time he took off his mask and they made sure that he went under all the way. And the story gets even better... I was supposed to confirm him on Sunday but we got a text on Sunday from the Elders in his Ward and they said that he wasn't going to make it to church! Baptism without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is half a baptism and is good for nothing. So this next Sunday when Herman is confirmed, the gates of the Celestial Kingdom will be unlocked and he can start his journey back to his Heavenly Father!

Herman

Love you all! Enjoy life, even when it sucks, just do your best to laugh about things. Read the Book of Mormon and know that your Redeemer, Jesus Christ lives!

-Elder Alec Shockley

Happy Christmas! (Week 24)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! It's been a bit since my last p-day was Christmas so I didn't send an email but just a quick update...

I hit 5 months as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so that's wild! The week of Christmas was the craziest week of my life and long story short, devils were cast out and the Priesthood Power is real and true and it has all power over the devil. Satan cringes and can't bear the name and power of Jesus Christ! How lucky we are to have the Priesthood Power restored to the Earth and have it in our lives!

Christmas Eve was wild but we had dinner with a couple families in the Honomu Ward and it was nice! Had some good prime rib and it was nice to be around some happy families! On Christmas day we just ultimately chilled. It was nice, and we had a zone lunch and gift exchange/ white elephant so that was fun haha. It was nice to experience Christmas on the mission to truly remember what it's all about. 

One of the Green Apartments burned down. Some kids were playing with perfume and matches.

New Years eve was insane, only because I woke up at midnight to the loudest fireworks all around me haha! I couldn't go back to sleep until they had stopped which felt like forever but probably wasn't lol.

Good stuff though and never forget that our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ love us all so much and are so proud of the progress that we are making! Even when it just feels like the progress is little but that's ok because THAT'S how it's supposed to be. Here a little and there a little.

Love,

Elder Alec Shockley