It Was Soooo Nice To Being Able To See You On Christmas.

December 28, 2015

Hey, Fam!! & Friends,

It was soooo nice to being able to see you on CHRISTMAS. You looked so well. I couldn’t have been more happy, seeing all your faces just makes me want to work harder.

Man, Christmas was so nice!  The hard part with the holidays is we can’t really work. Every day people have family over, doing activities and don’t want to stop what they are doing and hear this awesome message that we have that could change their lives. But it’s okay because there will come a time when they will be able to. So Christmas Eve and Christmas we couldn’t work as hard, but it was nice visiting all the members!

Even though we couldn’t really work for two days, we have three awesome investigators that actually are progressing. That’s one of the reasons I’m emailing so late in the day is that we were playing with one of our investigators and his friend…SOCCCER! YES, SOCCER! I got to play some soccer and some basketball. But I got to play some soccer, which was very fun and very needed. The investigator we are teaching him English and he has invited two friends over, so we are trying to get all them wanting to come to church and hopefully get baptized! (crossing my fingers) It’s funny that I am teaching someone English when I have no idea how to speak Spanish…lol. But somehow I’m doing it and it’s been awesome.

So, guess what?? Yesterday I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting. That was… fun but it went well. AND THEY COULD UNDERSTAND ME! I was just praying and praying for God’s help, so that I could feel the Spirit and that the members could feel the Spirit and understand me. AND GOD ANSWERED MY PRAYER. So yeah—this gospel is pretty cool.

Man, I am sorry but I don’t have a lot to write today. AND we did just talk three days ago so I don’t feel so bad. Sorry it’s so late but there was a lot to do today and very little time.

Oh wait...so today for lunch, guess what we ate? HOT DOGS AND BROWNIES! My companions told me that they’ve never had brownies ever on the mission and I got it on my second P-day. So life’s good. Real good.

AND tell Adrian… Congratulations!!! Tell her I love her and that I am so happy for her…. It’s so weird and awesome!

I love you guys with all my heart. I know this gospel is true and missionary work is pretty cool.

Talk to you next Monday.

Nos vemos. Les amo!

-Elder Pukahi

P.S.  We are eating 6 times on New Year’s Eve. PRAY FOR MY STOMACH!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!

and who said I wasn't a photographer.

November 26, 2015

Hi, FAMILY & FRIENDS,

THEY FED US TURKEY, MASHPOTATOES, AND PIE!!!!!!!!  It’s literally the best day ever. I mean the CCM food is usually good, but there is nothing like a good ‘ole AMERICAN meal. Love, love, love, love, love!

My LATINO AMIGOS! I love them so much! they left this last Monday to the field but after our missions were are all going to Chill!

Man, I have so much to say…. Okay, so my Zone had one of the district's leave to the field. It was sad but happy and exciting times. I mean they get to go share this wonderful gospel with so many people. They are going to do so well! This district has helped us all A LOT, as we have been bearing testimony to each other the whole time. ALSO, most of them are from Utah and actually lived sooo close to us. One of the Hermanas, Hermana Hollingshead, I went to school with her in 9th grade. She went to Timp...(shaking my head) but it’s all good. Love her still. I didn’t realize how much I was gonna love each Elder and Hermana. Everyone has such a sweet spirit here and everybody is here for a reason. IT’S AWESOME!!

OKAYYYY… so this week, I learned a whole lot. In one of the lessons from Hermano Candiani, we talked about Christlike attributes, and how we need to become like Him. It was about "what we do" vs "what we are". Just because we help one person doesn’t mean we can classify ourselves as a helpful person. It’s like this... If you want to be good at soccer, you have to practice every day until being good at soccer is a part of who you are. Then we can classify ourselves as being good at soccer or whatever. This is exactly how we can become like Christ. If we try and try to do things like Christ EVERY SINGLE DAY, then one day, just maybe one day, we could become as perfect as he was.

​Adrian’s brother... I FOUND HIM!

THEN after we got asked the question, "Who do you want to become?” That got me thinking... Who DO I want to become? Do I want to become a good missionary, a good person, a good (hopefully) husband? But you can wake up one morning and suddenly you’re good. You have to work on it. So I’m going to work on being better and becoming the person I want to become and what God wants me to become.

And here's the pic of them 

having Thanksgiving dinner.

OKAY—next story... So I realized today that this is the first Thanksgiving without Josh and I was getting really, really sad. But, of course, God is always on our side because in Tuesday’s night Devotional, it was what I needed. The devotional was awesome! It was from an Elder from the Seventy that, unfortunately, I can’t remember his name right now, but Hermana Bigley later talked about how the Elder bore his testimony of how Jesus Christ was his best companion in the mission field. AND STILL IS. When she said that, it reminded me of the bands we got for Josh’s cancer-- the "NO ONE FIGHTS ALONE!"  And for a long time I always thought that they applied just for Josh and his cancer. But it’s not. It’s for all of us. Those words are a clear reminder for me that I AM NEVER ALONE. If I’m struggling or the person next to you is struggling, we are not alone. We are never alone. Even through our trials, Jesus Christ is right beside us, wishing for us to understand the better plan. Just remember that we have people on the other side cheering for us to make it through. So I know it’s hard not having Josh here, but he´s with grandmas and grandpas, and they are all cheering for us to get through this earthly life and return to them. So if I ever get down or if you guys ever get down, remind me and remind each other that we have people, who love us so much, beside us, cheering us on!

From left to right--Elder Lindsay (such a sick kid), 

Elder Henrie (love this kid) Elder Gunnell, 

Hermana Reynoso (lol I always called her Hermana Reynosa!) 

Hermana Hollingshead (my buddy from school), 

Elder Donkin (my rapper buddy) Elder Orrock (this kid kills me)

and Elder Gonzalez (such a sweet kid)

I love you guys so much! Thank you for being my family. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for supporting me. I’m very thankful for a lot of things, but I’m very thankful to be able to call you guys my FAMILY! I love you with all mi corazon.

-Elder Pukahi

(your favorite child)