Laie! (Week 70)

Well I'm in the Hawaii Laie Mission now, and I love it, haha. 

I love serving here in Laie and the north shore. My companion is awesome! His name is Elder Carter and he's from Pingree, Idaho and he was a rancher before the mission so we talked about the different types of beef and the best cut and way to eat it, haha. This area is definitely a lot slower and we're not teaching anyone right now but that'll change. Everyday for 2 hours I get to go and walk around the temple grounds and visitor center's grounds (because they're both connected) and talk to visitors. I get to memorize a script that talks about the temple and the history of it. It's so cool! It's the most beautiful place. The Sunset Branch is full of a ton of surfer bros, even all of the members haha. There's a lot of rich people as well. In the Samoan Ward we get to sing hymns in Samoan; it's the best. We did service pretty much everyday this past week, and we found a potential family to teach so that's exciting. It's so beautiful up here.

   

President Russell M. Nelson said this in his talk titled "Joy and Spiritual Survival" when he was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "When the focus of our lives is on Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives."

This is true. We can always feel joy because God sent His Only Begotten Son to the earth to overcome physical and spiritual death for us. All we have to do is accept and follow Him and He will do the rest!

-Elder Shockley

Goodbye Kanehoe (Week 69)

It's been a good couple of weeks! 

The highlight of it all was 2 weeks ago on Saturday we got to go do baptisms for the dead at the Laie temple with Ethan Castro, our good US Marine friend who got baptized about 2 months ago now. 

Alec, Ethan and Elder Tipa

It was the coolest thing and the presence of the Holy Ghost was so powerful! Ethan got to baptize me and my companion for some souls who have passed on. 

The next week on Tuesday we went back to the temple and we got to do an endowment session. I've learned so much about the temple and the covenants we make there and just covenants over all. 

Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ these promises really empower us to rise above the world and put off the natural man. 

 The last piece of info is that I'm being transferred to the Hawaii Laie Mission! I'll be in the Laie North Stake in the Sunset Beach Ward and the Laie 9th Samoan Ward. My companion will be Elder Carter! I'm super pumped. Kaneohe was awesome but it's on to the next one. 

Hurrah for Israel!

-Elder Shockley

"I Saw a Pillar of Light" (Week 67)

Great couple of weeks haha. Really fast stuff. Nothing crazy big happened but the daily miracles are always crazy big for me and it's evidence that this truly is the Lord's work and He guides us, His members, in doing His work. 

I had 2 really cool experiences with teaching people and reciting Joseph Smith's first vision of seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ. One was with a guy who told us "It doesn't make sense why the Lord would have all these different churches and tell people to worship differently. I just want to know which one is true." We then shared Joseph Smith's experience and after we asked how he felt and he said "I almost started crying." We testified to him that, that was the Holy Ghost. 

The other day I was on exchanges and after talking to this sweet lady the Holy Ghost confirmed to me that she would listen to our message, so we jumped right into the first vision and after we recited Joseph Smith's experience she said "Chicken skin." It was awesome. We taught the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught her about the Book of Mormon and she was very receptive to it and accepted a Book of Mormon! It was awesome. I testify Joseph Smith truly saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and was Their prophet.

We had Stake Conference yesterday and our Mission President talked in it and he said something similar to this "We need to stop doing missionary work, yes you heard me right. We just need to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and by doing so we will share the gospel of Jesus Christ and our actions will interest others as they see the way we live." It was really profound and very true. We don't have to get into a different mindset to share the gospel, we just need to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and it will come naturally. Also, my MP said "When you come unto Christ all problems are solved."

-Elder Shockley