13 Months (Week 58)

Crazy that I'm over the hump in time, haha. 

It's been a bit but I'll make it brief. Joy who was in my last area got baptized last Saturday so me and my previous companion got to drive back to Ewa Beach for her Baptism! It was awesome! 

Transfers also happened this past week. My old companion Elder Tipa, from American Samoa, got transferred here to Kaneohe to be with me! It's been awesome to be with him! I'm also covering the YSA Branch now and after the first week it's been so good! There's a Marine base here in the Stake so there's a lot of Marines in the YSA Branch, and they're all super cool. It's been awesome to work with them all, and we're teaching a Marine who is golden and is probably going to get baptized soon. 

The Lord continues to show forth His all powerful hand in the work and my life. Seek to let the Lord prevail in your life. In the Book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon the same teachings are taught over and over. It says something similar to this throughout the whole Book of Mormon -> Helaman 13:11: "But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not."

So doest thy best to heed the words of these ancient and modern prophets and continually repent and you'll be blessed!

-Elder Shackley

Another One (Week 54)

Good day my friends! Last week went really fast, lol. It was probably the busiest week of the mission so far. Lots of lessons and we had zone conference and interviews. 

The highlight of the week was the baptism of Alaka'i and Aukai. They had a baptism with their 2 cousins who came from different parts of the island so it was really cool to see all the different people there! 

Alaka'i is 11 and Aukai is 9; their family was less active and the missionaries started teaching them and the whole family (except for the dad) came to the baptism and then they all showed up on Sunday at church! It was so heartwarming to see all of the family at church and hopefully their dad will come next week! 

We had a lesson with a less active member and we read from the Book of Mormon with him and he was so happy and beaming as he told us that reading the Book of Mormon just made him feel so hype! (He said hype and he's like 65+ years old haha.) He was happy to talk with us and it goes to show the power of the Book of Mormon in our lives. As I've read it everyday for about the past 2 years I've grown closer to God and the influence of the Holy Ghost has grown stronger! The Book of Mormon is the word of God! Read it everyday! I promise you'll feel closer to Heavenly Father and you'll feel the power of Christ's Atonement as you do so and increased happiness  

- Elder Shoockley