hey family!!!

fa whats up you black maoris??? espero que esten bien..was an awesom letter ae...thank you guys so much....my greatest source of strength for the week so thank you all for all that you do. Thanks for all the updates you guys sound so good..i miss yous heaps ae...hahaha idk why but its only for this hour when I get to write you where i really get homesick but other than that I’m good as...lol too much other things and people to think and worry about you know what i mean. but its always good. im good as actually...i didn’t want to say anything but i think i might need some new shoes....=( sorry family but the shoes we bought were crap...hahaha just not made to walk in all day and every day and ive gone through all of them already....the shoes that we actually bought died within two weeks but I’ve been using the ones that uncle martin bought me from the missionary mall place and there the winners bra....I’ve been using them this whole time and there the ones that are dying too...when we bought them they came with a two year warrantee so i tried writing uncle martin to see if he could get me a new pair but he never wrote me back.bahahahaha scared ae me but these shoes really are the winners for missionary work so i could really careless..but if you could idk see if he can buy me another one??? bahhahaha na or just get a new one on the warrantee you know...might as well use it right...lol but yeah other than that family im good as...still havnt got my package but i should get it tomorrow. pretty sure. but yeah me and elder snider have had another long but rewarding week....we baptized brenda yesterday and it was a good as experience...there’s nothing better ae than seeing a person enter into the waters of baptism and knowing that you were able to help them get there you know..obviously everything is from the lord but to go through the learning process with these people and see them learn live and apply the gospel than receive the blessings that are promised them is the greatest experience for a missionary... so yeah we are pretty much on top of the world... but yeah we should have another baptism this week we´ll see...we’re teaching this other boy brain and he should be ready for this week...but this week i had a pretty touching experience ae...wasn’t anything really big but it was just something that reminded me of why I’m here as a missionary and the reality of the gospel in which we have...but it happened a few days a go and im just going to re write what i wrote in my journal k...

Thursday September 16th 2010 10:41pm

hey family so today was one of those days on the mission that makes you realize the magnitude of not only the gospel in which we share but the reality of it. the bishop called us today to tell us that hermanos soto´s wife is dying and that´ll be good if we could go by and share something to comfort them, so as soon as we could we made our way over to hermano sotos house. on the way i had no idea in what to expect. i thought to myself im only 20 yrs old, what is there that i can do that will help these people. i was sure that they´ve already had a million visits by a million different people who had said everything and anything to comfort this brother, what more could we have done?? so many things were running through my mind. i had no idea in what to do, ive never dealed with this kind of situation before. Nervous more than anything, we yelled hermanos sotos name as we arrived at his door. not that much longer he had greeted us in with his usual warm welcoming presence. im not going to lie, it puzzled me. i was confused. we went in and there was his wife all wired up thru the nose, on her arms with a breathing mask on, and oxygen bottles all over the place. it killed me to see this sister like this. didn’t really know her but it ate me up to see her bed ridden ready to go any minute. Before anything was said hermano soto asked us if we could give his wife, himself, and his daughter blessings. We took a few minutes doing so and felt the spirit as we had the opportunity to let the lord use us as his mouth pieces. as a natural reaction i had asked hermano soto how he was doing, and it was his response that i´ll never forget. he said, " bien mi hijo, las cosas son dificiles pero dios nos ayudara." translation..."good my son, its hard, but god will help us" not anything really deep but the conviction in which it was said. with his wife dying there was no sight of discouragement. i saw in this man someone who really understood the plan of salvation, someone who knows of the reality of the atonement of Christ. i saw in this moment the magnitude of what we share. The importance of helping everyone receive this same strength. Elder snider having gone thru the same thing said something that hit me....he said...."what helped me when my dad died, was the basics. The things that i knew. the plan of salvation. without this knowledge i would have been lost." hit home for me ae...Jesus lives, the gospel is real. Thanks to hermano soto and my comp i was able to be reminded of its reality in a form undeniable. I’m so grateful to be a missionary and to share this great news daily. its true know it is with every morsal of my soul. i love you guys peace...

so this is what i wrote in my journal this day...just was one of those experiences that you have that remind you of the magnitude of what we do...missionary is my life a family.. i love it. im learning so much and im so grateful to be here serving our lord and savior Jesus Christ. This is his church and we can be together forever as we live its principals. i love you guys so much... mum and dad...thank you guys for all that you do for me to be here...im going hard trying to better myself each day....keep going hard in all that you do...george...sole if anything the thing that ive learnt here in the mission is to love my brother....you got a big heart and there’s a lot of love in there bro...Find ways to always share it with everyone bro even if they’re idiots to you okay my brother...i hope everything’s all g with you bro. watch over the kiddies ae and love them.... i hope your working on your typing hahaha going to need it bro...but keep hanging with the right people and you´ll be good bro. i love you heaps dog...ash sole donde aprendiste tu espanol compadre??? ah ah sorry bout it hahahaha but i hope everything is going good with you my brother...keep working hard in football bro....you can be the best...just always strive to be humble and learn as much as you can.... i love you heaps bro...Take care of your little sister for me ogay muchacho....que este bien causita. peace bro...lia!!!! How you doing my beautiful swan??? i love u so much lia...the other day there was a stake activity that we went to a there were chicks trying to dance tahitian...it was horrible!!!! i´ll try send a video if i can...but be a good girl lia and always remember who you are k...listen to mum dad and your bros okayl.... i love you so much lia....okay family i have to go... I am doing good dont worry about me... i love you all so much send my love to grms k...love you guys.

Elder kaka kanahele