Week 39 - Bar Lakwe

Aloha everyone!

Another solid week in Hawaii has come and gone. Had its' share of disappointments too though. We basically had to drop our two most solid investigators. Miko was the one closest to baptism. I think every single person except her and her little sister are less active members, so we've been working on teaching her and trying to reactivate the family, but they don't seem too interested in hearing what we have to say. We tried talking to the mom about Miko being baptized, but she won't even talk to us, so we'll keep trying, but for now we have to stop teaching her. Sucks when people abuse their agency.

The other investigator we had close was VinVin. He's pretty much the opposite story. We talked to his parents about him being baptized and even though they're all protestant, they're fine with it and even encouraged it. But he's not too stoked about it. He said that because church is so long it takes time away from his playing time on sunday. He just wants to play basketball and call of duty all day and doesn't really understand keeping the sabbath holy or putting God first in his life.

Now if only there was some way that we could combine them then we'd have the perfect baptism that could've happened a month ago.

Our main focus now has switched to Trevor and Trina. They're another part-member less active family. Their mom and older sister are both less active members, but we've been teaching them and they've been coming to church. We had a really good discussion this past week about baptism. We sat down with the mom and sister and asked if it was okay if Trevor and Trina were eventually baptized. Their mom actually shared her testimony about baptism and how it was a lifelong commitment. How once they're baptized they can't just go to another church, or dog out on responsibilities. Funny how she understands that but can't seem to live it herself.

I feel like for some reason in Hawaii there's a lot of people like that. And it might even be the same case all over the world. For some people it seems like they just don't have a strong enough foundation for their testimony to withstand when trials hit. With others it's that what the world has to offer seems more fun than living the gospel standards. Whatever it may be, the one common thing I've noticed with these people is that none of them seem to be that happy. Just more evidence that the world's happiness doesn't even come close to the Lord's happiness. Real happiness comes from God. The confidence that through him you can do all things, and through him you can be with those you love forever it what brings happiness that won't fade away. I know it's hard cause Satan's convincing and good at what he does. He's had thousands of years to master his trade, but God's had countless more than that. So all we have to do to find happiness is trust in God and if we do that He's promised us that we cannot fall.

Hope you all have a good week. Aloha and Iakwe!

Elder Merrill