Many Miracles From God This Week!

The baptism group Claudia, Jesus, Karla and Jose

August 15, 2016

WEEK 41

Hola, mi familia y amigos,

This week was awesome! We definitely have had many miracles from God this week!

We found a lot of people to teach, but I want to tell you about Claudia and Jesus who got baptized yesterday. On Friday, Claudia told us they were going to get baptized and then on Saturday, the whole day, we could not find them, so we were really worried. Then she called us and told us that they were not getting baptized. We were disappointed and got even more worried and everything.

So that night, I told Elder Cox that we needed to pray and figure out what was up with her, and so we prayed…for a long time...and we asked God what she needed so that she could get baptized. After the prayer, Elder Cox thought of a scripture. And we decided that we NEEDED to talk to her but we didn’t know how. The reason is because we teach her at her work and SHE LIVES IN NARNIA!! [For those of you unfamiliar with the “Chronicles of Narnia”, he means really far away] so we just left it in the Lord’s hands.

We woke up the next day, prayed for guidance, and then left the house. I thought that we should go and invite our other investigators to go to church and everything. So we went on our way, and as we walked, we passed by the work of Claudia. She wasn’t there, so we just kept on going to visit with our other investigators. We talked with them for a while and then we headed for the chapel. We started walking and then I felt prompted to pass by one more time to Claudia’s work, and SHE WAS THERE!

We started talking, and we really just sat her down and talked. She opened up and told us all of her problems and EVERYTHING! And then she said something and a thought came into my head. I knew God was with us. I started talking and used the scripture that my companion thought of last night. Everything just seemed to mend together, and well.... SHE GOT BAPTIZED! We answered all of her doubts and she trusted in the Lord and took the step of baptism with her son!

THIS STORY IS JUST ONE OF THE MANY MIRACLES that happened this week. This week we baptized FOUR people and each one has a story!

Also, the Mission President called us and congratulated us for the success we had and for the success we are having in our zone. We beat the record for the most baptisms in a week for a zone, which was 20!!! God has been blessing us a lot this week.

I LOVE THE MISSION! I’m seeing more and more of God’s hands in my life!

- Elder Pukahi

Claudia & Jesus (mother & son) baptized

Jose baptized

Karla baptized

We Had Three Baptisms!!!

January 18, 2016

Week 11

Hola, mi familia & friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM – I forgot to say that in my last email because here in the mission you sort of forget about time and the days—only the work.

Guess what?  GOD IS REAL. I found my wallet!!

[NOTE: We didn’t post on the blog a separate email from Jeremy last week that he had lost his wallet with everything in it. He’s learned his lesson not to carry important cards with him.]

Well... I didn’t find it, and I don’t really have it yet. BUT a bishop from another stake has it. I have no idea HOW, or how it’s possible but IT IS POSSIBLE. He has it and all my cards are in it. It’s crazy! So I lost my wallet Tuesday night, and I prayed and prayed and prayed and checked every area I had been in and couldn’t find it. So I prayed all day for my wallet, but Wednesday I decided, I would stop praying for my wallet and just focus on the work. I prayed that I would find it and just trusted. I had faith that no matter what was going to happen that everything was going to work out. AND IT DID. God is there. He is always waiting for you to talk with him. He is there to comfort you when you are nervous, help you in your time of need but FIRST you have to do your part. "FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD” – It’s truth and I testify of it.

And guess what?  That’s not even the best news!  WE HAD THREE BAPTISMS!

Elder Rodriquez, Karla and Elder Pukahi

The first one is Karla. She is from my current area, and the day when I arrived, we actually taught her that night her second lesson. She’s awesome but says my Spanish is horrible…lol but it’s all good!

Maria, Elder Pukahi and Jose (Maria son)

The second one is Maria! She’s the hermaña who had the dreams. She’s from my old area but she chose me to come and baptize her so that was awesome that I was able to have the privilege. She is literally the next Relief Society President. She is almost perfect. It’s crazy!

Okay, so I didn’t baptize Karla but I confirmed her yesterday in Sacrament meeting and let me tell you...THAT WAS NERVE WRACKING! But I did it. Again, with God anything is possible. The Gift of Tongues is REAL!

The third one is Jose. He is the son of Maria.

Elder Robertshaw, Elder Pukahi, Maria, Jose and Elder Mullins

So yeah, it was an awesome week. This week I truly learned paciente and working with faith.

THANK YOU ALL FOR EVERYTHING! Sorry I put some stress on you guys this week!

Oh, wow! That story you gave about Aji on his mission is crazy. Gave me chills. That’s so awesome. I know Josh is doing some good work. I never know if I can feel him directly or not. I just know it’s the Spirit. It’s actually been a little hard because this month is a little tender for us but in my house, one of the Elders has some talks on his iPod. And we play it throughout the house in the morning. And one of the talks is from the last General Conference I think. But it’s a woman, and she is talking about her family motto. "It will all work out".  And she talks about her daughter passing over to the spirit world and everything. And their family was always telling each other that "it would all work out". And it reminded me of our motto, “It is what it is.” During this week, when times were hard, I would hear mom’s voice saying, "It is what it is" whenever something went wrong. Our appointment fell through, so I would think "it is what it is"—I can’t change it at this moment but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be that way forever.

Our lives have changed so much this last year. And most of the time, things were out of our hands and we couldn’t do anything about it. But it didn’t mean we gave up, we stopped trying. We kept on going and if things were tough, again "it is what it is" but we never stopped working. We never stopped doing the things which we needed to do.

I’ve learned a lot out here on the mission the small time that I have been out here and I have so much more to learn.

I love you guys much! CON TODO MI CORAZON!                                    

- Elder Pukahi