We Baptized An Angel

Elder Depeel and I Enjoying A Burger

December 12, 2016

WEEK 58

HI, FAMILY!

Oh, mommy! You make me laugh with all your craziness!  I know me and my companion will be happy with the package. I won’t tell him. It’ll be a surprise.  #santaspresent

About sending cash… American money, well, it works. Because I am in Reynosa, they use the dollar here. Right now, it’s 20 pesos to the dollar, so I'm rich right now. lol jk. Because the mission only deposits the same amount of money each month, I am trying to be money smart and never use my debit card. So cash is great!

Happy that you got a Christmas tree. I think we are going to try and find one... or maybe make one. We’ll see if we actually want to become crafty this December. Lately I have been thinking and remembering some of our great memories we’ve had as a family with past Christmases. Elder Depeel and I are trying to plan out the holiday and everything. We’ll see what happens.

Elder Depeel is great. He has 21 months on the mission, He’s got blonde hair and I think blue eyes. He’s a little bit taller than me. I’ve grown a little here so you guys will have to try and imagine him. We get along really well. We are somewhat alike. Just picture me normal and quieter and you have Elder Depeel, so hopefully you understand who he is now.

Angel Baptism

We had a baptism this weekend. His name is Angel, he’s super awesome! I got to teach him a couple of times before we baptized him. He is a singer, so I am going to have him sing me a song. I want to try and film it. I will attach the picture of his baptism.

Well, a lot of things happened and I have no idea on where to start… Well, do you remember Manuel from my first area? He was the guy in the wheelchair. Well... he passed away two days ago. I attended his burial today in the morning with Elder Rodriguez, my former companion. It was a little sad. I wasn’t sad that my good dear friend passed away. What made me sad were the people or rather his family members that cried and mourned. They truly didn’t understand the Plan of Salvation. I felt sad but I am happy to know this gospel is true.

Convert Paloma

So all the investigators that I mentioned last week… Well, they should be getting baptized this weekend. So that’s awesome!

I love you guys so much! Thank you for always supporting me.

- Elder Pukahi

San Juana & Family Visiting

Spring Break - This Week Was Awesome!

Me and Elder Adams

April 11, 2016

WEEK 23

Dear Family & Friends,

I’m glad you got some things accomplished during Spring Break. I can just picture everything that you guys did this week like it was yesterday. And Jess, I know you’ll do great this summer in whatever internship you get. You always do! 

I can’t believe to hear some of your news. Emily Peay is GETTING MARRIED—that’s just so weird! And Maddie Brousseau… is GOING ON A MISSION! I’m sooo happy. Jealous ‘cause it’s the Scotland/Ireland mission but so happy for her. I can’t express how awesome it is to see my friends go on missions! It’s one of the best things in the world. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TANIA and ADRIAN!

Okay... sadly we still have no idea about which Apostle will come. I will tell you, though, when I get the info! I think it will be when my mission president leaves or right before. OH, YEAH…. Sorry, my mission president leaves in July so I will be getting a new one. Wooah! This will be fun!

Manuel is doing a lot better. Everything went back to normal. The doctor said he had a small weird stroke or something that made it so his circulation of the blood in his body was bad. His wife is still an interesting bugger, the Lord will soften her heart eventually. 

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME. It was a very good week. We had lessons after lessons after lessons. So yeah... it was pretty good. We have a lot of investigators that are progressing so I will keep you updated on what happens. We just have to divorce and marry some people…LOL… so I will let you know how that goes.

But this last month I’ve been thinking A LOT. How can we have success? I was thinking a lot about working smarter, not harder. The first couple months in the area we worked and worked and worked and didn’t really have the success we wanted. And so I was thinking on what we needed to change in order to have success. What can we do smarter to better our results? 

This week I did just that. What I’m going to relay to you is just one of the things I changed. This one was more individual but we found success by doing it. It was CHARITY.

In Moroni 7:46-48 it explains charity really well. It speaks how we need to ask for it from the Lord with all our heart. And if we do so... we will receive something great. So this last week, I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed, asking God to give just a sliver of this great LOVE that our Savior has for us. I don’t know... most of my life I’ve always wanted to show Love instead of Hate. I have never ever wanted someone to think that I hated them. I still don’t want it, but that change that I felt for my investigators even the people I didn’t even know was crazy. I cannot even explain it. It was like the love that I would feel if I could see Josh again. If I could just hug him. It was that kind of love. In the mission, we are helping people change but I’m learning before we can help someone else, WE first have to change. And this week God has allowed me to change, just a tad bit better. 

I hope I can keep this love. This is love for my investigators, for the drunk guys on the street, and most of all for you guys!  I love you so much, you have not even a single idea.

Stay safe!  Talk to you next week!

LOVE!

- Elder Pukahi

WEEK 21 Pictures

March 28, 2016

WEEK 21

Dear mi familia,

That’s awesome to hear about Aunty Jody and Cavin being there and the whole family getting together for Easter and playing games and all that. So happy for you all!

That Easter video that you emailed me, made me wish that we had ipads. I envy the missionaries that have ipads because they really don’t know how good they got it. To show someone this video, it immediately invites the Spirit in the room. It’s crazy. The message that this video brings is so good. What is amazing to me is that I bring this message to people every day—EVERY DAY. I just pray that I can bring it in the way that the people need it.

BUT GUESS WHAT?

We have SEVEN people in the house now! We got a newbie so that was fun. His name is Elder Barrera. He’s fresh from the CCM [Mexico MTC]. He’s the son of the Zone Leaders (Elder Baker and Elder Turner). I’m pretty sure I’ve told you all about the other Elders in the house. But MOM! Thank you for teaching me how to clean up after myself and other things like that. Some mothers did not teach the kids who I live with. I LOVE THEM WITH ALL MY HEART, but they kill me sometimes.

[Okay, up above when Jeremy says that the newbie is the “son” of the Zone leaders, this is mission talk for he is being trained by them. Whoever trains you on the mission is your dad or your mom, like with the sister missionaries. And the relationship continues, like when the trainer’s trainee trains someone, that is now his/her grandson. Or the other missionaries your trainer trains are now your brothers or sisters. Other mission lingo includes when you are close to going home, you are about to “die” and whoever is your last companion “kills” you.]

So this week. It was GRAND. We had a lot of success this week so that was a YES! With a fist pump in the air kind of JOY! But what I truly learned was humility and that God answers prayers. So... humility. I realized how much God is merciful. He has given me everything.

The reason is because Manuel is not doing so well in the health department. So we went over to give him a blessing and everything. And when I held his arm, it felt exactly like the arm of Josh’s when it was in the BAD DAYS. And with just the touch of the arm, every feeling that I have felt for Josh came rushing back…so what I learned is how loving our Father in Heaven is. He has blessed me with life every day, even though I do not deserve it, while greater people than I who deserve to live and grow, do not.

This experience helped this week because yesterday, we went to go with our investigators to church. We went to their house to catch a ride with them to the chapel, but when we got there, their car wouldn’t start. How Satan is so clever! So we called all the members who could have helped us but they were all in a different city. We then decided that we would go and take a taxi but as missionaries WE HAD NO MONEY!  So yeah... we were pretty much stranded with investigators that wanted to go to church with no ride. And so we walked, and as we walked I said a prayer, and what I said in my prayer was this --"Father, you told me when I needed something, I needed to ask. And by your will, you will grant it. Father, I am here with your children who want to come to you, and we have no ride. What I ask of thee is that someone...anyone to pass in front of us that can help us." I kept walking, not knowing what was going to happen. But two minutes later, a family of members pass in front of us, asking if we need a ride. The weird part is that they lived in the opposite direction of where we were. They felt impressed to drive this way instead of the other. So yes, this Gospel is True!

I love you guys and know that the other side is not far! Stay safe and keep smiling!

- Elder Pukahi

Pics:

Elder Adams, Elder Barrera (our newbie), and me.

Here's us, just dorking around...lol.