We Baptized The Parents!

Brother and Sister Vazquez baptism.

October 31, 2017

WEEK 52

Dear mi familia,

Yep, I’m hitting the year mark in a few days! Where did the time go???

This week was a GREAT week. We are really finding the blessings from Heavenly Father. When we first arrived in this area, we were struggling but now we are seeing it was all worth it. And we are still struggling, but… now we get to see some blessings as well.

Well, we baptized the parents of the Vazquez family (Erick’s family)… Like I mentioned before, Brother Vazquez had a major problem with drinking. A HUGE problem but we got him to commit to stop drinking little by little. He hasn’t now had one drink for two weeks. He wanted to get baptized. And Sister Vazquez… well, she wanted to get baptized but has a huge fear of water. On the day of her baptism, she actually backed out but we were able to talk with her and we all said a prayer. We also gave her a blessing. We did everything step by step. Me and her got into the water and we had a conversation for about twenty minutes. During that time, I said the prayer and then, well, she got baptized. It was awesome!

This month has been great and we’ve received a lot of blessings!  I love you guys so much!!

ELDER PUKAHI

Erick with Mom and Dad.

We Had Three Baptisms Saturday!

Norm and son Irvin with little boy Diego

October 24, 2017

WEEK 51

Dear mi familia,

WOW, wonderful to hear that you’ve been up to great things again this week—this time helping Grandma and Grandpa Weaver. And glad to hear that you are thinking about family history because I’ve been really interested in all of that since I started the mission. It’s lame how I didn’t put much time in that kind of thing before the mission. Now I really regret that but well, there’s still whole lot of life to live.

I’m doing awesome. We had three baptisms Saturday. Norma, Irvin and a boy named Diego! I am sooooo happy. NORMA is awesome! Just her whole story and everything has been awesome. At first, she really didn’t want to get baptized but slowly she knew that she wanted it. We baptized her and her son Irvin. Her other son, Angel, didn’t want to yet, but we played soccer with him this morning and we will be going over later to watch the Restoration movie so we’ll see if a miracle happens.

Changes [transfers] are coming up and I’m sort of worried so I hope nothing happens. I don’t want to leave this area, and Elder Salazar and I want to stay together, but we’ll see what happens.

We should be baptizing this weekend as well... But sorry, family. I haven’t really talked a lot of about this family but remember Erick?  The baptism that happened two weeks before. Well, his parents should be getting baptized this weekend but we’ve been working with his father in trying to quit drinking, and his mom has a fear of water. So, let’s see what the adversary puts in our way this week…

But I’m doing really well!  I love the mission. Every day is getting better and better!

That’s awesome about Aunty Mavis and Uncle Bob’s mission call to Mexico! We just received a missionary that is from Monterrey and lives about 20 minutes from the temple, go figure! When do they go start serving the Lord? I think I have a friend serving in the same mission. I’ll ask them!

Love you,

ELDER PUKAHI

This Week Was Really Good

We had the Primary Program

October 17, 2016

WEEK 50

Dear Mi Familia,

Wow! Sounds like you’ve been up to many things!  I’m glad to hear that everything is fine with Jamison—now I’m happy!

Glad to hear Grandma and Grandpa are visiting there in Utah. Tell them that I love them and MISS THEIR FOOD! I miss Hawaiian food and DONG YANG’S but mi Mexican amigos here sure know how to cook but nothing like mi abuelos!

This week was really good! WE WORKED A LOT! We are finding a lot of success now. I’ve learned A LOT of patience. A whole lot! I’m very thankful to God for the lessons I have learned in this area and I still got much to learn!

Norma is doing awesome. Her and her son are going to get baptized this weekend if all goes well. But we’ll see because Sunday was interesting.... We just finished a spiritual lesson and everything when she said, "I can’t wait to get baptized" and then her friend came over...

Her friend is a Jehova Witness and well, we were being very nice and getting to know her and everything, but then she started saying a lot of bad words and started saying "John Smith.” She even asked me if my name was "John Smith"... It got to the point where she started making fun of my Spanish and once she started doing that, well, my companion, Elder Salazar, couldn’t take it anymore. He told her, "As this nametag says, we are representatives of Jesus Christ. We represent our family but more importantly Christ himself, so please will you be more respectful." We looked at Norma after that and she was very happy. We left her with a chapter to read and then asked her to pray. She said the prayer with so much Spirit like that situation didn’t even happen. And then we left. We’ll find out tomorrow what happened after we left and what she says but I have faith everything will be great!

I was going to ask about the cousins! How are they?! How’s Nunu? and Carlton? Well...Cody will be getting married...that’s crazy! People shouldn’t be getting married right now. I’m chilling here in the mission, but it’s all good! Life keeps going. BUT JESSICA CAN’T GET MARRIED! Just saying.... you know me... JUST JEREMY!

I love you guys so much!

- Elder Pukahi

Me and my homie Geraldo

When Elder Paredes went home we had a party.

We Had A Baptism

Elder Pukahi, Erick, Hermano Santiago and Elder Salazar

October 10, 2016

WEEK 49

Aloha mi familia y amigos,

Norma is doing awesome! She went to church with her sons and they are progressing really well. She’s been reading the Book of Mormon and loves our visits. Right now, she might have found a job so we’ll see what happens.

Last week we had some changes. I’m still with Elder Salazar and still in the same area but everyone around us has changed... Our zone is bigger and life is good!

Well, WE HAD A BAPTISM! His name is Erick. There’s a huge story about him and I don’t really have a lot of time to explain but about a month ago his Dad contacted us. He wanted to quit drinking. It was when I was in the other area but then I got transferred to where he lives. The other missionaries were helping him quit drinking but he still had some troubles. But then the other missionaries got transferred, so we got to start teaching him and his family! We just baptized his son and we’ll be trying to help him quit!!

I LOVE THE MISSION and I LOVE EVERYTHING!

- Elder Pukahi

Elder Pukahi, Erick’s family, Hermano Santiago and Elder Salazar

Picture of me watching conference...with a coke...

October 3, 2016

WEEK 48

Dear Family & Friends,

So CONFERENCE, AM I RIGHT??! Conference was the BOMB!! I can’t believe how good it was.  Okay, well, I will talk about conference in a little bit…

This week was something very interesting but special. We found a woman named Norma. We started out with a prayer and left our place with the feeling to go to a certain colony. We found this guy who really didn’t want anything to do with the gospel but we got him talking enough that he gave us the direction of a woman who needed help, who was Norma.

We went to her house and knocked. It looked like nobody was home, but then a lady comes out. She first starts telling us that she’s Catholic and well... doesn’t really want anything, but as we looked into her eyes, we felt something. We told her, "We may not understand all the problems that are passing through your life at these moments but we have been sent from God to share a message of Joy that can help you and bless you. Will you allow us to come in and share it with you?" We then shared the Book of Mormon. I don’t know how to describe it but as we bore testimony of this Book, this fear or whatever was in her eyes was there no more. The Spirit was strong!

Speaking of feeling the Spirit strongly… CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING! I hadn’t felt so much revelation flow through my brain for a while. The power and authority these men bring. I could go on forever and ever about conference!!  But what I learned is the importance of repentance. We need to repent every day. We can’t live with our Heavenly Father again unless we REPENT! Sick, right?!?!

I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I LOVE THE WORK!

- Elder Pukahi

Pictures of me and the ZONE