9 Months (Week 40)

Time flies haha. 9 months already. Some crazy things have happened these past 2 weeks and there mainly just companions coming and joining us. 2 weeks ago, Elder Barnes and I added Elder Tipa from American Samoa to our companionship. He was serving in American Samoa for 5 months before he came here just 2 weeks ago, so he was literally serving where he lived. I could not do that haha. This past week we added another companion and we're in a quad for a week. Elder Nakamoto is from Hawaii and is serving in California but his original assignment is Japan so him, along with 3 others from Hawaii had to come back for a week to get their visa. So it's been very crazy recently haha. We've been dividing and conquering so it's been wild. 

Hope everyone has a grand week and have joy haha.

- Elder Alec Shockley 

Blink Twice (Week 38)

Dang, good stuff this last week. And it kind of just went by in a blink of an eye. 

We saw a cool miracle as Raynee, who has been struggling with a smoking addiction, decided to let us take her cigarettes. We had an amazing lesson with her and a member joined us who has had similar addictions and she bore her testimony on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it was so good. We taught about Fasting and how we'll fast on Sunday for her addiction to go away as we put our faith in Jesus Christ and she told us to take her cigarettes. So, we went home and burned them and her ash tray. Victory. 

We had Island Zone Conference and it was all about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was amazing and our Mission President talked about not only the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but also the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can become better and put off the natural man and become more Christlike. Christ’s Atonement literally gives us strength to become better; all we have to do is have the faith unto repentance (change).

Love you all!

-Elder Alec Shockley

 

General Conference (Week 37)

Aha. General Conference was so coolio, very inspiring. Jesus lives. 

Dang, sometimes it's hard, not going to lie. But that's the point when you just have to rise above all the other crap. Just flip your mindset right around and it's better; it's still hard but it gets better. 

The mission is nuts. Hawaii is weird. But there's still people who want the gospel and Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives. We just grinded poop town this last week and it was a good time, haha. Poop town is just a part of Waipahu that has street names of the following: Pupupuhi, Pupukahi, Pupuole, and Pupumomi. And it's a very humble place that has lots of potential, very dumpy and I'm very blessed for where I grew up.

Let's all build our Spiritual motivation like President Nelson said. Serve a mission if you're a young man, as the Lord said through His Prophet. 

-Elder Shockley