Week 79 - Birth for dayzzz

Aroha friends and fam!

We had a fan freaking tastic week here in Big Island. Definitely one of the best weeks on my mission as far as work goes. We taught an all-time high of lessons since I've been in Kona and set a whole family to a baptismal date! The family we set was the Chuukese family I talked about last week, the Welle family. We taught them the restoration and then committed the kids and the mom to a baptismal date and they accepted! Then all the kids showed up to church yesterday. The mom wouldn't come though, so we'll keep working with her and hopefully the Lord will soften her heart to baptism. The grandma told us that it was a huge step that she was letting her kids be baptized. We're excited for their date of March 8th and will continue to pray for all of them.

We also had a lesson with these former investigators in our area, their names are John and Jamboree. They're about our age and have two kids, which always trips us out b/c that could be us without the gospel. They're kind of stoners, but we try to catch them in the morning when they first wake up so they're in a state of mind to hear the gospel :) John seems to be pretty into the lessons and I think the spirit works on him when he listens to what we have to share. Jamboree on the other hand likes the lessons, but is kind of opposed to being baptized or coming to church. We enjoy teaching them though, really anyone that will hear our message.

I had probably one of the best birthdays of my life. Just another day of missionary work devoted to serving others. We saw several people, including a recent convert named Kekai. He's a 12 year old kid so we stopped by to teach him a lesson and invite him to church/scouts because he hasn't been in a while. He liked the lesson, but his dad who is a non-member sat in on the lesson and kind of discouraged him from coming to church. He likes the church, but thinks it's more important to study and spend time with his dad, than for him to go to church on sundays. At the end of the day we went to one of the senior couples' house and all the missionaries in the south district had a surprise birthday party for me. Pizza, cake, presents, the whole 9 yards. I'm so blessed to be where I am and with the missionaries I'm serving around. Thank you guys for all the birthday wishes and love!

Take care and aloha!

-Elder Merrill