Another transfer complete, and a new one to come. I can't believe how fast it's gone!

Sister Evans will be with Sister Nunez for her last three weeks (she's living mid-transfer so she can be home for Christmas), and my new companion will be Sister Allen! She's from Provo, Utah, and she served for half her mission in the Japan Sendai Mission, and was re-assigned to the VC after she had a surgery. She's a really sober and consecrated missionary so I'm excited to be sister training leaders together with her!

Creating the new transfer schedule for the visitors center, and creating transfers news, requires more thought processing than I'm ever used to haha. Here at the Visitors Center, to reveal new companionships, areas, and callings, we make it fun for the sisters somehow. I am so not creative in that area, so thankfully we had 4 brains to brainstorm! Usually in any other mission, you would just get a call/text to inform you of the news. This time we played a game :) Every sister will have a new companion this transfer, and I'm so excited for 5 new sisters to come! Sister Lin is from Mainland China, is a convert and helped her parents join the church, Sister Elden is a convert of a year and a half, Sister Langner is a German sister who's been waiting for her visa, Sister Belmonte is a Filipina from Alberta, and Sister Au is from Hong Kong. Today we sang Aloha Oe to Sister Walker, who has been such an example to all of us, and has server her mission well. 

Area:

1) Recently for our dinner appointments, we've been sharing the message of the restoration with the married couples, and I love their insights, and one brother commented how different we, as faithful members, are from your average person ages 20-28. "we willingly go to church every Sunday, for three whole hours, participate in sunday school classes, willing to take on a calling (a volunteer responsibility), read scriptures daily, etc - most 20-28 yrs olds are focused on other things." While I'm serving a mission, I tend to forget that our choices clearly differentiate us from many people in the world, but our choices relating to discipleship always lead to eternal rewards. So awesome.

2) On Sunday, in the YSA wards, the students spoke about gratitude. I just wanted to share Jerry's story because it was hilarious but meaningful too. Jerry is a convert of a few years from Taiwan, and just got here to BYU Hawaii two weeks ago. The past week, he's had to bus down to Honolulu at least 3 times because he had to get a social security card, but he went on a holiday (which he didn't know), it was so frustrating for him, and a kind girl actually paid a taxi ride for him (he was lost, and she paid through her phone, unbeknownst to him). When the bishop asked him to speak on gratitude, he thought, "It's a little hard to be grateful when I had such a rough week." But he recognized that despite those circumstances, Heavenly Father showed His love still! He never felt like he was alone, although he's never been to downtown, he finally was able to get what he needed, and he's gone to Costco because of a kind couple reached out to him. Although the holiday of Thanksgiving is this week, we can live in thanksgiving daily, and count our blessings. I know that no matter what happens, our Heavenly Father loves us enough to have a perfect plan for us.

VC:

1) It's been slowing down in the afternoon sometimes at the VC, but online work is pretty steady flowing! Min Zhu, who came here to the VC, had two lessons already with the local missionaries in Vancouver! He even went to church :) So exciting!

2) I met a man named Jay from Seoul, Korea, and he asked me some really great questions, like how I've seen God answer me, and I was able to share a meaningful experience I've had with prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. He actually lived in Toronto about 20 years ago, and his English was fluent. I loved testifying to him just how real God is, and how the fullness of Jesus Christ's gospel has been restored, and God can answer us through the Book of Mormon. I know that He felt the Spirit and was touched, because I could feel the Spirit too. He ended up taking a Book of Mormon and has a desire to know more about God himself. He also commented how my English has a familiar tone, since Canadian English is different from American English (sometimes haha).

3) I'm so excited for the Christmas season! Decorating Christmas trees and even setting them up (all 15 or so trees) is so tiring! Trees are heavy. And there is an art to decorating, but it'll be worth it!

The church came out with a new Christmas initiative! It's called "Light The World," and you can see the video they've launched after November 25th on mormon.org/christmas 

The focus is "25 ways in 25 days" to be a light, or to serve others, as a way to follow Jesus Christ's example. So if you haven't already, I invite you to think of ways you can be a light this Christmas season, and every day!

If you want to know why the Laie Hawaii Visitors Center , this article was recently published on Meridian Magazine:

http://ldsmag.com/the-sweeping-missionary-power-of-laie-hawaii/

Scripture of the week: D&C 78:17-19

"7 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

 18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

 19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."

We didn't get any pictures last time after the temple, so we took some today haha.

We began to set up the Christmas decorations, and trees and it was hard work! But really fun.

​We made homemade sushi and it was yummmmy! 

Amelia's baptism in Florida! (excuse the quality, it's a picture she sent me). She is literally one of the kindest people I've met.

Lunch at Kahuku Farms Cafe! One of my favorite places to eat, with everything locally grown, fresh, and so delicious.