Why hello!

So... What to say about this week... Well I suppose I'll start with the big news. With transfers, I was really hoping to go to the rainy side of the island, or to go off island. My true hope was to go to Hilo side of the big island, but that, to put it lightly, did not happen. I don't like being on the dry side of the island at all, but it looks like that's where most of my mission is going to take place. I'm moving to Palehua, which isn't even in a different zone. I'm still in Makakilo Zone, the most dry and desert-like part of all of Oahu, which is home to nasty pit bulls and dogs of every kind, all of which constantly seem to want to kill us. In fact, I still meet in the same building as I did before, just in a different ward with a new companion, or should I say companions, because now I'm in a trio with Elder Taka and Elder Durrant. The other notable difference is that Palehua covers two wards, which means that from now on I get to go to church twice per week! One of those two wards is a Tongan ward. Which means that my mission language has now officially changed from English to Tongan. I have no idea how to speak Tongan, but I suppose I ought to try and forget about Japanese for now, because now I'm required to speak Tongan.

Oh how joyous an occasion this is.

Definitely not what I was hoping for, but oh well. It's what I was given, so I'll do my duty with a smile I suppose.

Yesterday was spent saying goodbye to the families in this ward that I'm going to miss, but as I still meet in the same building, they're all not too worried about it, because I'll still see them often, I just don't go to church with them anymore. The military academy kids were hard to say goodbye to though. After teaching them so much and seeing how engaged and ready to learn they all were, it was hard to tell them I'd be leaving. I'm still in the same area kind of so it's possible for me to go back for lessons sometimes, but not as often as I wish I could.

I'm still in the same district in fact! How crazy is that?! When everybody found out in both my ward and district they all burst into laughter. I was just really confused. I suppose the Lord needs me to learn and preach in the Tongan language now, so that's definitely a change. But it's all good.

Also, on Saturday for a finding activity I got to draw the plan of salvation with sidewalk chalk in the park. It was a fun project, though it was much harder work than I had thought it would be. We were able to find a lot of new people to teach that way, but I suppose that I'll have new people to teach anyway, because I'm, you know, moving to a different area within the same district and all. It's not even a mile away. I can walk to my new area. This is super weird and totally not what I was expecting, but you know. It's a new adventure.

Until next week everyone!

Well hello!

First and foremost a little business, this Saturday is transfer news, and yeah, it feels like time is just soaring by. Just in case I get transferred, I'm going to ask that from today until I know for sure whether I will be staying or going, please do not send any physical letters or packages, just in case I do end up going someplace else.

So, how about this week huh? I went on back to back exchanges, and I also began working on Dead End again in my free time. The idea is that I draw it out on paper, and that way I can have the comic already done after the mission, at which point I'll digitally enhance it using the iPad pro and apple pencil combo. I'm not letting any of this get in the way of my studies or missionary work though, just so you know.

In fact, this week I've been working extra hard on being the best missionary I can be! And you know what? A lot of stuff happened! Let's start with the exchanges. First off, I went on Zone Leader exchanges with Elder Wood, and he's a pretty good guy. He was very hardworking, and even though we had a car, we decided it best to walk from place to place because the area is kind of small and we felt it would be more productive. We ended up walking a little over four miles that day! And it paid off! We now have a with-date for the ZL's. Not really for me and Elder Maxwell, but the work progresses I suppose. The very next night I did service with Elder Taka from Tonga. He's a super cool dude, and it was a lot of fun.

Finally, and to end things off, Elder Maxwell and I went to a military academy again to teach the kids again. This week we taught them the plan of salvation, and it went amazingly well. The plan of salvation is my favorite thing to teach, because of the amazing questions that it answers, and seeing these kids light up when they understood what we were teaching them is a great thing to behold! It was pretty intimidating last week when I wasn't really super used to the program, not to mention it feels like you're walking into a prison when you go there, but honestly speaking it's the most spiritual experience ever.

Thanks for the Valentine's box by the way! I loved the creative valentines for anime and Pokémon and stuff. "It's not like I like you or anything... Baka" I laughed so hard, and so did Elder Durrant when he saw it. He's into anime, speaks Japanese, and has ADHD just like me, so we get along so well it's almost kind of scary.

As for Sydney, no updates yet, but keep her in your prayers. Thanks guys!

In the mean time, my study chair broke, and so I used flex tape to fix it. Surprisingly, it holds my weight and has been holding my weight for three days now with no problem. Phil Swift would be proud.

Until next week!

The Great Goatsby!

HI! IT'S ME!

So, a metric ton of stuff happened this week, and I'll do my best to get through it all. First off, it was a week of exchanges. I went on two exchanges this week. The first was with Elder Durant of Palehua ward. Elder Durant is fluent in Japanese and loves anime, just like I do. We get along really well, and we worked wonders together! In fact, on the day we were on exchanges, we got 3 new investigators! It was pretty cool, but that was in his area, not ours, so... On our end nothing is happening still, despite our efforts, and our only real investigator, Sydney, is currently unable to be taught. So in terms of, you know, actual work, it's still exactly the same as when I got here, which would be really frustrating, but we're doing our best, so I'm OK with knowing that we're doing our very best. It's no Wahiawa, and there's not much work to be found it seems, but we're doing the best that we can, and we'll keep on working hard until we get somebody to teach!

So, I'm sure you're all super curious about Sydney, well turns out her dad came home from deployment early due to medical issues, so for now at least, we can't really go over to teach the family anymore. It isn't so much that he doesn't like us though, it's more that he needs their attention and its making life a bit hectic for them, which is understandable. Please continue to pray for them, it must be a very stressful time for them. So that's the update there.

In other news, I also went on exchanges with Elder Payne this week. He's pretty cool, and we worked really hard, but we weren't able to find anybody to teach until the very end of the day, because that's when we found Josh. Josh had the most massive truck I've seen since that time we went to the Monster Jam all those years ago... That was fun. Anyway, Josh was washing his huge truck, and we started talking to him and asking about the truck and stuff. Then we related the truck to the atonement of Jesus Christ, and how just like the truck, some times in life we make mistakes and get muddy. But, just like the truck, we can wash away the mud and make it look good as new. Josh really liked that, and he invited us back to teach him the next night at 7:00. I was super excited to teach an actual lesson again, especially after the whole deal with Sydney, so I went all out to plan the lesson for him. We even invited one of our members to come with us to the lesson! But then guess what? When we showed up at 7:00 for the lesson, Josh wasn't home! Yup! That was pretty awkward actually. But it's a good thing we still have yesterday to talk about!

So, how many of you have seen the movie Holes? Well, just like that, we went to a facility for troublesome kids this week. You know, to teach them the gospel. It was really cool, and all of those kids chose to be there, so they were all genuine about learning. It was really fun to teach them, but I was totally nervous in there. I wouldn't be able to survive a military academy you guys. I'm too wimpy.

Anyway.

That's all for now. Picture time!

Elder Payne and I with the Great Goatsby

Elder Durant's cupboard. (Apparently the sister missionaries punched a hole in it.)

Service at Pearl Harbor

Outlast

So, whaaaaaat a week it's been this week. I've had more weird stories for the journal this week than you can imagine! I'm gonna be honest I don't even think I can fit it all in this email, but I'll do my best to cram some in here.

We went on a boatload of splits this week, with bishop, and our ward mission leader, and one was with one of my favorite people ever! His name is Bro. Lauaki and he's Tongan. We killed the pig with him a while back, if you recall.

Also, currently we're working with a lot of new investigators, but my favorite is this girl named Sydney. She's super solid! We visited her with bishop on Wednesday and taught the plan of salvation! It went super well, and she's way intersted! She used to meet with the missionaries a while back, and she actually took notes from the lessons! Isn't that awesome? Her entire family wants to be baptized, but the main issue is her dad. He despises the church and wants nothing to do with it. He doesn't want his family involved either, although they all want to be baptized. Right now he's deployed, so we're teaching them while he's away. I've been praying and fasting that his heart will soften while deployed, because Sydney really wants to be sealed to her whole family, him included. Please keep the family in your prayers if you could.

Anyway, the title of this email is "Outlast". Why is that, you ask? Well, friends, that would be because, just like the game this email is named after, this week, Elder Maxwell and I explored an abandoned facility that still had people in it. It was like an abandoned insane asylum. I wish I was joking about that. It's called Waianae Community Outreach in Kapolei, feel free to look it up. No staff, but full of people. We thought it was just low income housing, but... well.... it was not just low income housing. While there, we blessed a Book of Mormon, saw a buck naked man slowly walking in circles in his room, and talked to a drunk and high man who claimed to have the priesthood. That was a trip let me tell you. The rest of the details are too much for the group email. It was disgusting. I was appalled at the fact that these people were just left to rot there with no care takers at all. It's sad.

This Sunday, Sydney and her family showed up to church! I was so excited to see them and they all felt right at home in sacrament meeting! It was great!

So, enjoy your week all, pray for Syd and family, they're facing an uphill battle to follow Christ, and it's inspiring.

Until next week! (the pictures are of the facility, I didn't want to take any of the people)