Michelle + Hawaii: August 2016

Trio!?

This is the beginning of a new transfer!

And no surprise to me, Sister Leng and I will staying as companions, and I'll be "killing" her because it's her last transfer on her mission. I'm excited to continue to work hard together and set new goals so we can become more effective missionaries! Last week was kind of a roller-coaster week of emotions and reflection, at least for me. One of our padmates needed to go home from this mission to sort our some medical issues (none of us know specifics, but no matter), and it was really really hard for all of us to see her go. She is a great missionary, and served with love for everyone, and worked diligently every day, and we all pray that she'll be able to come back to this mission when the time is right. What a blessing it was to serve with her and learn from her example. All of us were really sad, but we knew that God has a plan for her, and glad to see a picture that her dad welcomed her home with balloons and a really cute sign. :)

As I reflect after her departure, I thought of how much I love serving my mission, how much joy I've found in serving the Lord. And all the things that I need to improve on, and then I started comparing myself with other sisters, and then the thought came to my mind, "I promised myself I would never do that!" because we are NOT the same, and Heavenly Father will help us grow according to our needs. I began to count my blessings, recognizing both my strengths and weaknesses. I began to pray for more guidance and more strength to overcome these thoughts, and I've received so much love and peace in my heart that I knew was God reminding me of my purpose here. We are imperfect servants who God works through, and He will teach us "Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept" (2Nephi 28:30). His love is always there for us, if we open our hearts to Him in prayer and seek for personal revelation. I know that is true!

But besides that, we've been in a trio with Sister Lor since last Thursday, and it's been a lot of fun! Reminds me of last time I was in a trio, way back last year in December haha. Sister Lee trained her actually, and Sister Lor will be training a new sister this transfer! There's power in testifying two by two, but three by three is even more fun. :)

Updates in our area:

1) Still thinking of how we can help Ar Lon recognize the necessity of the gospel in his life, and doing our best to do our part to "invite" and help him understand. But he exercises his agency :)

2) Sister Miao (from Taiwan/California) will be coming back to the VC, and will be serving in Hua Yi's ward, so she'll continue to review the lessons with him! I need to take a picture with his family for my memories haha.

3) We visited a few girls on campus, and one returned missionary named Sunny made us really really happy. Why? Because she was doing her best to continue consistent and meaningful scripture study, and sticking to realistic goals that will help her. It definitely gives us all hope hahaha (because post-mission life is a struggle).

VC:

1) Last Sunday, a returned missionary named Matt came to the VC with a Chinese girl named Jingjing. He gave her a Chinese tour at Kualoa Ranch, and she wanted to hang out with more students from campus. Actually, she met Sister Ting and Sister O'Brien at the VC, and turns out she's from Hubei too, and wants to learn the gospel. She's currently working here, so that's pretty neat! I haven't met her yet, but hopefully I'll get to soon!

2) Sister Leng and I took a few chats online, and I feel like many people from 15-22 yrs old have been super interested in the gospel! Patience is from a Baptist background, and she always thought Mormons were really genuine and caring, and she's now meeting with the missionaries to learn more! Same with Kristina. Her co-worker shared about the Book of Mormon, and that really got her curious. We are all a part of missionary work, wh

3) On Saturday, I took a couple from Australia on a tour, and from the get-go, the lady said she doesn't believe in "what angels say" (referring to Angel Moroni directing Joseph Smith to the golden plates), and I was able to clarify her understanding of the restoration, and truly share how the Bible and Book of Mormon do both testify of Jesus Christ and work together. She was argumentative at all really, and I shared the First Vision to them both, and my testimony, and I knew that the Spirit was there. Nothing changed her mind, but at least I knew that she understands clearly what we believe, and how we came to know it's truthfulness. We can't change others' agency, but we can do our best to help them feel the Spirit and our conviction of the truth. :) At the end she said, "well thank you for your time, that was very interesting."

4) Another miracle (not really, just a tiny thing) was last week, as we were waiting for the next tram to arrive, a couple walked past and said "Hey Sister Wu! You gave us a tour last time we were here!" I didn't remember them (it was back in May), but they were from California, and I think it's a miracle that they came back to visit the temple grounds! I'd like to think it's because of the Spirit that they felt here (because it's not cheap to visit Hawaii).

I already have a ton of thoughts on what more we can do this transfer to progress missionary work, but really how we can better be a servant of the Lord. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming, but grateful for my companion and her example to me haha.

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 32:9

"But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ,that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

Pictures:

Sister Lor and Sister Leng and I!

Temple trip last week :)

Lauren, us, and Michelle (they're sisters); Michelle gave me a haircut last week! Haha just a trim. (5 inches). So weird to say my own name, since I never use it.

Sister Yeung put these on our door, she's so sweet. Sister Lor's picture is fuuuunny!

Here's to another great transfer!!!

Love,
Sister Wu

8:06:00 PM
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The End of Summer~

This will be the last week of summer pretty much! It's starting to cool down here, we're seeing more rain daily. And the fall and winter will be cooler. Thank gooodness. Haha.

Last week, our weekly commitment at the VC was to testify of Jesus Christ in every teaching moment and to study about Him in our personal study. Sometimes when we're at the visitors center, there are many things we could testify about, whether it's God's love, Jesus Christ, the restoration, blessings of the temple, but it's so powerful when we testify of Jesus Christ, and why He is the message of the gospel. Sister Leng and I have wanted to teach more together as we give tours, and looks like our prayers were answered haha. We took several tours together where the guests were really open, and some from the island, some were visiting Hawaii.

Updates in the area:

1) On Saturday, we went to campus to visit some of th girls in our wards, and only met a few, but it was really cool getting to know converts, and as they shared their experience with learning the gospel, it definitely strengthened my conversion as well. Especially because one girl was the only member in her family, and served a mission in the London England Mission, and has been back for a few years now. Another girl we met was a returned missionary, and she's kind of falling away spiritually, despite attending church and praying regularly. It was really sad for Sister Leng and I to hear that she no longer puts a temple marriage in her priorities, and how difficult it is to overcome temptations of the world, especially back home. Satan works especially hard on members who were at some point, really strong in their faith, especially returned missionaries. But honestly, the only way to be continually strengthened is to be consistently centering our lives on Christ. The moment we stop, eventually, anything can be excused as "no big deal," and we lose sight of the eternal plan our Heavenly Father prepared for us.

2) Yesterday at church, one of the speakers, reminded us all that God's love is NOT unconditional. We hear this phrase thrown everywhere, whether you're religious or not, and we even believe it. But when we think about it, His love IS conditional, upon our obedience and faith. But we are all worthy to receive that love, and we are all within reach ot it.

At the VC:

1) I met a young man named Jeremiah, who was on the tram tour with his family. His story is super neat. He was dating a girl who was a member of our church, and for some reason, he asked the elders to give him a priesthood blessing. And during that experience, he felt the Spirit and authority of God, and for the first time in his life, he believed that God was real. He used to be skeptical about it all, and grew up in a Catholic household. And since that blessing, he's tried to live with better morals, and wanted to come closer to God. It was so cool for me to share my testimony of how much happier he could be, if he had the constant companionship of that Spirit with him, and it comes through experimenting on God's word and commandments. Anyway, he left his information and wanted to meet the local missionaries. And! He took a copy of the Book of Mormon (I barely talked about it). Lives are touched, and I bet those elders don't even know their influence on him, just by exercising their priesthood worthily.

2) Lately, I've been meeting people visiting from Toronto, but they really look for factual information rather than anything spiritual. Sometimes I wonder how I could give more converting tours so they could feel something different here, the Spirit, but it's the easiest when I share my testimony with them, and ask them questions to they really consider religion in general. A Chinese woman from Richmond Hill was telling me how it's too late for her to have a belief in God because her brain was trained in China to be logical about everything. At least I was able to share how this gospel has blessed my life, and I promised it could bless her life too, if she was willing to learn more.

3) Yesterday afternoon, in the hustle of some big Chinese tours who came in, Sister Leng pulled me aside and said these three guys (from BYUH) wanted a tour. They're all soccer players, two returned missionaries (one served in Toronto), and one non-member from London. They attend one of the wards we serve in, and Dwayne (not sure if that's spelt correctly) had some questions about what they learned at church. It was so fun to take them through the walk through video, God's Plan for His Family, and to help him understand what we believe about the plan of happiness. His two friends were great at expanding and bearing their testimonies. Dwayne is Methodist, but I was pretty impressed by his willingness to really follow Jesus Christ. The elders on campus already met him, but he wants to read the Book of Mormon before meeting with the missionaries. And for the record, this was Sister Leng and mine's first time taking a tour through God's Plan this whole transfer! Haha

Scripture of the week: D&C 82:10

"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

Talk of the week: (tomorrow when we have VC Training, Elder and Sister Swinton will be disecting the topic "pride", so we read this in preparation, it's super good!)

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng&query=ezra+taft+benson

Pictures:

I always wanted to take a picture like this one, maybe next time we'll do funny poses haha. This is what the tram looks like! We sit up in the front on those two seats :)

Relief Society Cooking Activity in the married student ward, we learned how to make these tequitos, they are soooo yummy. I ate four. Fresh salsa!

Jowenalyn, from Waipahu. She was so sweet and is in the process of looking for the right church for her. She agreed to learn more from missionaries, and took a Book of Mormon with her too! I'm starting to carry my camera around for instances where I need to remember the wonderful people I meet.

Flash was on, but Seven Brothers is one of our favorite places to eat around here, consistenly good quality burgers and fries and salads. A senior missionary couple took us out for dinner, so we ate here. :)

Panoramic shot from Elder Egbert's camera. From the hike we went on last time!

Love,

Sister Wu

7:26:00 PM
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Are you all in?!

I'm pretty sure I say this almost every week, but this past week just fly by. The last few days, we've been super busy but thankfully today is a day we can just rest, even if its just for a few hours. :)

Last week was a great week at the VC because we beat our record of the number of people that came to visit the temple! Even more people are able to feel the sweet Spirit here on the grounds and have a chance to learn more about the gospel :)

In our area:

1) Ar Lon is starting to realize what we all have to do in order to gain answers to our prayers. Our fellowshipper Jared is doing great at helping him understand the true meaning of certain scriptures we share. We're meeting them again today and it's really fun to help Lon recognize that we don't get results or answers from God if we just half-heartedly pray or read the scriptures. Our desire has to be fully there, our intent, shown through our actions and willingness to experiment upon those promises.

2) We had a super great meeting with one of our ward mission leaders, Stetson, last Saturday. There's a few new girls that we want to meet, and even before he was called to be ward mission leader, somehow he already met them and got to know them! Haha. Sister Leng and I will try to get to know more of the girls in our wards, so we can help them prepare for missions, or help them learn the gospel if they're not members of the church. Two are twins from Denmark! So cool! We are still figuring out how to be effective missionaries in YSA wards... it's so hard to know who to get to know, and who we can help out. But we're getting there!

3) We had ward council yesterday morning, and found out a few girls want to prepare for their missions! So we might start doing a once a week or twice a month mission prep session for them :) So fun.

VC:

1) I received a referral from a man named James, who served a mission years ago, and now inactive, and he wanted to receive a priesthood blessing from the missionaries. He told me that they are visiting him and helping him stop his addiction (not sure from what) by using the 12 steps recovery program, and that he's even coming to church every Sunday now. He shared his testimony about how he can feel the Spirit more in his life, and how grateful he is for the missionaries. I felt so grateful to be an instrument to help Heavenly Father reach out to all His children, especially those who have left the gospel but want to come back.

2) Willy, the man from New Zealand, has met with the elders and will continue to learn from them! Bethany, our recent convert, is preparing to receive her temple recommend, and continues to share her testimony with her friends. I think our greatest joy is to see others find happiness in this gospel. And everyone can, if we allow our faith to overcome our doubts, and seek answers from God, rather than from man.

3) I met a family from France and used the little French I knew to communicate with them haha. I mostly spoke in English though, but I wish I knew more French...the dad took a Book of Mormon in French and we told him to go to the open house for the Paris France Temple when it is done! (hopefully this year or 2017)

4) Lately I haven't talked to many people prepared to learn about the gospel, but I've just been so happy to share my testimony with them and help them feel the Spirit on these temple grounds. I still have a lot to work on, but Sister Leng is such a good example of being bold in sharing her testimony and experiences. The work that we do isn't to convert people, but to plant seeds in sharing and inviting them to find out for themselves. I met a less-active sister from Waipahu (on this island), and as I was getting to know her, she expressed that she wanted her children to know of the gospel, and her husband as well. I invited her to have the missionaries visit so she could feel the Spirit she feels every time she comes here (they come once a month or something) in her home. I don't meet many less-active members who are open, but I know that the Spirit touched her heart and she knows what the blessings of the gospel can do for her family.

Other:

Sister Leng and I prepared training this morning for the VC, and it was all about remembering our purpose, as missionaries, and as disciples of Jesus Christ. We can recite our purpose so many times, but we have to act in a way so others can easily recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ. Being a sober missionary means we can still have fun, and be reverent, and focused on the work, and find true joy. There's things I need to improve on as well, but I'm grateful for all that I learn here, especially from the sisters we serve with. :)

Scripture of the week: Alma 5:14

"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

Pictures:

Bethany at her baptism! This was at the end of July, but such a happy day!

Crouching Lion hike last week! Short hike and soooo beautiful.

Sister Leng and I!

Our little group :) It was 2 pm, so so hot, but so so rewarding with the huge breeze at the top!

Yesterday, we unintentionally matched, so we took a picture. We had dinner with the Usuis (Japanese couple) and they invited the Li couple (in the picture), and we love serving among the married students! They are so funny, but we also learn from their experiences haha.

This is a picture from last transfer, but you can see our mission president and his wife in the middle. President and Sister Bekker :)

Love,

Sister Wu

5:42:00 PM
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Online converts!

Aloha everyone!

This last week was full of miracles (there are always miracles, but sometimes I just don't notice)! So for about two weeks, I wasn't able to make calls online to anyone, but had to have Sister Leng add me to her calls, so it was really hard for me to reach people. But the MTC Support were working on it and on Saturday, it was fixed! So grateful for them. Prayers work! Haha. Oh and other news, last week I caught a pretty bad cold, and my voice is still recovering. The Sunday before last week, we biked with a poncho on to church, but the AC is always strong at church, so I think that's how I got it... so I was congested but also had a sore throat. As a missionary, especially here in the VC, we talk so much every single day, and I felt so horrible because I sounded like a frog, and sometimes I had to talk louder so people could hear me. So my congestion cleared up, and I've been drinking lots of water to help with my voice, so hopefully tomorrow it will sound like normal once again!

YSA area:

1) We had a lesson with Ar Lon, and bumped into Jared, a returned missionary who served in Taiwan, outside the building. We invited him to our lesson, and he really helped Ar Lon to recognize the role of the Spirit. We planned to teach him something else, but focused on how he can receive answers to His prayers, and recognizing how he truly feels. It was like divine intervention, because Dixon couldn't make it that night (the friend that usually comes).

VC:

1) Number one miracle is that I survived the week, with about 30% voice capacity to speak, and gave Chinese tours, and other tours, and my voice didn't give out! I'm so grateful for my companion Sister Leng, for being so understanding and patient, as well as other Chinese speaking sisters who helped me out on shift because I literally couldn't talk for that long very loudly. Such a blessing to serve with all of them :)

2) I had two online converts this week! BJ met with the missionaries since the end of May, and I've been keeping in touch with him since then, but haven't heard from him in a month or so, but he got baptized in the end of July! Bethany is more around my age, and she wanted to learn more because she saw something really happy about YouTubers who were Mormon, and she has so much faith and such a strong testimony of this restored gospel, despite having parents and even a best friend who didn't support her decision. It's not easy to make decisions that family or friends don't support, but the moment we know for ourselves that this restored gospel is the truth, and that God has a plan for us to return to live with Him, then we know what to do. It is so fun to be a part of the process and truly helping others to strengthen their conversion, and to see their happiness. They have both expressed just how happy they are. And that is our joy. :)

3) We had a taco party last week because we reached all our VC goals, but we're having another party this week because we did it again! Haha :) The Swintons (VC Director) have their son and his family visiting too, and they have one adopted little two year old boy from Hubei (where I'm from in China). Soooo cute.

4) After my voice was better, I called a few people, and explained to a woman some misconceptions she heard about our church haha. I think it's just so cool people can be comfortable to submit their information on mormon.org to learn more or to receive a free Book of Mormon, and we can help them to truly understand and prepare to meet with local missionaries. Not everyone will be open, but at least with our contact, they can know from someone who is a member.

5) On Wednesday, I had a mini exchange at the VC with Sister Dabney. It was probably the day I overused my voice a ton, because it started dying on Tuesday night, but I didn't want to cancel the exchange. So we had lots of fun practicing together the tram script and role-playing, and she's doing super great at learning! Literally a miracle my voice lasted throughout that day, couldn't have done it without the help of Heavenly Father haha.

Other:

It's been raining a lot this past week actually, on and off, but yesterday a loooot, and last night. Trying to keep myself dry but hydrated. Thank goodness for rain ponchos. I lost my umbrella so I need a new one :(

I looove serving here, and Sister Leng and I are trying to do more tours together or online teaching (throughout our shift, especially because of Chinese tours, we split, and evening time when it's super busy). She's so good at being bold and clear in her teaching, and we have lots of fun together (despite me being sick, she's still really funny to be around). I can't believe all the miracles that happened this week despite the fact I was sick with a sore throat; reminds me of how God works with us imperfect servants, to do His work, and to help others come closer to Christ. What a blessing :) Funny how it's only when we lose something, we realize how important it is. Like my voice. Haha

Scripture of the week: D&C 68:6

"Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come."

Pictures:

Sister Leng, me, Sister Swinton, their son Dr. Swinton (marriage therapist), and Elder Swinton. Dr. Swinton gave us training this morning on how to love our companions and have healthy communication. I learned soo much. The root of all problems in a relationship is selfishness and when we listen to each other, it must be for the intent of understanding, and not proving one is more right than the other.

Candid photo, Sister Leng writing in her journal, our window has a great view of the temple so she loves sitting here :)

With Sister Dabney and Sister Allen!

We had a service project cleaning up one of the apartments the sisters live in (really deep cleaning). And with the help of ten or so sisters, we got it done! Yay!

Sister Meyer (the Relief Society President from my ward in Kaneohe), treated for lunch on Friday. Sister Lee and Sister Nielsen in the back, and Sister Lor and Sister Lee taking our picture. This was right after cleaning, so we're dressed in service clothes haha. And we're wearing our matching Zone tees.

Love,

Sister Wu

5:51:00 PM
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The Purpose of Religion

Recently, I've had several tours where the people don't necessarily believe in God or deny the possibility of a higher power. Honestly, it's a little of a mind-boggling then to know where to begin for an answer. And they may have had pushy religious friends, or seen the conflict that religion causes in the world, but it was really neat for me to share my testimony, and personal experiences that have helped me to know of the truthfulness of the gospel. Religion, in my humble opinion, isn't supposed to be a reliance on a higher power just because it "makes us feel good" or "gives us comfort," we seek to know and understand who God is, what His plan is, and what Jesus Christ's ministry means to us, because we want to find the truth. Unfortunately, there are people that may not live in a way that reflect teachings of Jesus Christ, but we can't blame that on the religion, but truly on our agency and how we choose to live our lives. I love just being to share that this church and its teachings, the fullness of the gospel, has helped to refine my character and who I can become, so I can see the eternal perspective of life. God intends us to be happy and has provided every tool for us to achieve happiness and peace no matter what we face in life, but we have to use those tools wisely. We can't afford to be foolish and not act on what we know to be true. We are just denying ourselves of all the blessings He has in store in that sense. Because we know that He loves us, and He has sent His Son to atone for us, we want to follow Jesus Christ's example, and we want to live in a way worthy of having the Spirit be with us, and one day, live in God's presence again, hopefully with our family and friends.

Each person has their agency to believe what they want, but religion isn't a way of life or just things we do, but helps us know how to become our true potential. We are all children of God, we are all imperfect, we will rise and fall, but that's why the Atonement should mean something to us, so we can overcome weaknesses, be cleansed, receive strength. Whether someone truly believes it or not, it doesn't change the fact that I know this restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true, it is real, and it does impact our lives. And I have felt it in my life, and seen it change the lives of others. We don't preach our beliefs just to help others understand (although that is helpful), we do it so they can know for themselves if this is the truth! So they can feel the Spirit testify to them when we're not around. Anyways, that was my little spiel :) Don't be complacent with your testimony, continue to build it up, to deepen your conversion. That's the only way we grow, after all!

YSA/MS(Young Single Adults/Married Student Wards):

1) This past week, nothing new happened in our area. We won't be seeing Ar Lon until this Wednesday, and all the new students recently just moved on campus for the beginning of the new semester. Yesterday church was packed! With students and some of their families haha.

2) We probably won't get a chance to really know the students until they all have their church records moved in, and receive callings at church. There are a few non-member girls but we don't just want to show up unexpected like "heeeeey!" so awkward haha. So...we have to figure out how to meet them without being so random...

VC/Online:

1) I got this member referral in the beginning of July online, and sent the missionaries, and silly me, totally forgot to call Corey, until last week. And he had a super amazing experience as he read the Book of Mormon and got baptized onJuly 10! (less than 2 weeks since missionaries contacted him). This was my first baptism from online! Not everyone experiences that confirmation the same way, but God answers prayers :) I love seeing how happy people after they're baptized.

2) Miracle! Ilya, who wanted a free Bible a while back, actually returned my phone call after like a month. I dropped him as a contact because I assumed he wasn't interested...He read the BOM before about 7 months ago, stopped for a while, and wants to feel that warmth again when he reads the scriptures(the missionaries dropped it off when he wasn't home so he didn't really get to learn). I just think it's a miracle he had that desire and actually called back, he had a back surgery so that's what caused the delay, but still! Such a struggle at first because I wasn't sure who he was...

3) Kailey is an investigator in Windsor, and she loves studying the Book of Mormon! She's probably the only person that ever asked me to explain what the chapters are talking about, but she is excited to go to church this Sunday :)

4) On a side note, my phone calling doesn't work...so it's been kind of lame only being able to text or email, but Sister Leng has kindly called for me and added me to the conversation #strugglesofonlinework

VCT(visitors center trainer) stuff:

We're going to be having mini exchanges at the VC and doing tram tour evaluations for all the companionships so we can improve the quality of our tram tours :) So fun! This morning for VCTM, Sister Leng and I introduced a little review game to make sure everyone knew where to be for the 6:20 and 6:40 tram tours (it gets a little crazy then because so many people are there)

We are trying to use "Preach My Gospel" more in our missionary work, and as we were discussing all the principles that could help us to be a more effective vessel for the Spirit to work with us, I realized that I want to promise people blessings more often. It's sooo easy to just give an educational tour, but that isn't our focus at all. I've gotten stuck kind of doing that with the Chinese tours that come in, answering questions, introducing our beliefs, but I often forget to tell them that they can have the same blessings too!

Scripture of the week: Mosiah 2:41

"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

Quote of the week:

"The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets. The more we rely on the Savior’s grace, the more we will feel that we are on the track our Father in Heaven has intended for us."

-- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Of Regrets and Resolutions"

Pictures:

Last pday, we went to North Shore Tacos for lunch, and this sweet Brother and his daughter treated all of us! We are so spoiled all the time....but so grateful. She goes to one of the YSA wards we cover! :)