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Monday, October 8, 2012
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Mission Field or Cassatt, SC
Jud and I took a family history trip through Kershaw County. Here's a sign we found as we left a church's cemetery.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Elder K's Letter
ok so i would tell you all that i am fine but, ... none of you would believe me dispite it being the truth. so: i am not fine. but seriously i am perfectly fine we were just walking around when the tremors passed thru the RD and didnt even notice them. so i dont know if we will have the chance to do any service related to the earthquake, because well 1st we are on the wrong side of the country and second because on our side oretty much nothing happened other than a lot of old people making a lot of fuss. so i would like to quote uncle bob in reference to those that have passed on , and simply state, good now the work can go forward. (amoung those who died, was the pres/ governor who wouldnt allow missionaries in.) but even if i was afforded the oppertunity to go i dont know if i would-- a week ago i would have been the 1st to volenteer not because i dont like the work but because i love to serve, and you guys know that. so what changed? =) my perspective. so we had two expierences that even The Best Two Years cant touch.
>
> 1st:
> we went to teach this guy that the stake relief soc pres gave us as a ref. we had taught him before and i think i might have written about him before as well. but so we went to teach him and his wife but we didnt know what lesson we were going to teach, we went thinking we were going to teach the 2nd lesson but were had preped to teach the 3rd. 2nd = plan of salv. 3rd = bapt +/- ok so we were going and it was after the prayer and we still werent sure which to teach and my comp and just finished being his testomony and i was being mine. i can remember while i was being my test. having the choice to push for the 2nd or to go for the 3rd. and as it says in 1 nefi 4:6 i went not knowing. as soon as i finished with my test i asked if he had read, 3 nefi 11. he said yeah and i was about to ask what was the 1st thing the savior did after the people knew who he was (is) but i had the thought "well, his wife probably hasnt had the chance to read" so we went and read 3 nefi 11 from verse 1. and when we got to the part where The Father introduces The Son we ahd them close their eyes and try to imagine being there. it was so amazing as we read and they listened the room was FILLED with the spirit, to the brim and then some i might add, we went on until we read about Christ giving the authority to bapt. and explaining about it. after which i went and bore my testomony with everything i had and a little bit i didnt, and at the end extended the bapt invite. he said no and i was crestfallen! but, my comp was paying attention to the spirit, he relizied in all our testomony and in all our reading we had forgotten to explain why we are bapt by one having the authority. so we went and , in brief, explained about the remission of sins, the joy we can revieve from it and the love we always feel when we are obident and clean. we didnt even get to extend the invite again. "ok, what do i need to do to be baptized?" if i had thought that i would ever have experiences as good as this one , perivious to this time, call me a liar. never had i imagined something as amazing as this was. so tonight we get to go and explain the "how" exactly. =) top that best 2 years!!!!
>
> 2nd:
> ok so there is a lady , se llama elly, and she was bapt.ed at about 15. that was over 10 years ago. her dad lives in georgia (if i know Dad he either knows him now or will meet him in the near future) and he came here with the mission to reactivate his children and baptize his grandchildren. so one of his grands , named ellyana-- daughter of elly, is getting baptized on the 30th, short of her leaving this earth. so when the missionaries had been teaching ellyana, her mom (elly) was, well we could say, playing the devils advocate. this was when they had been teaching the word of wisdom and chasity. so the 1st time i went over there we went to teach the daughter (she is ready and was but is waiting for the 30th so that noe one can question that she is getting baptized for the right reasons and not for her grndpa) but wound up teaching the mom. we asked elly why she had gotten baptized and she told us frankly that is was for her parents. now nither one of us (comp and i )are sure exactly how but some how she wound up bearing her testomony to us. ok so that was the 1st timei was there in a cita, we have had 2 others since then. the 2nd was also good but if there was something really important i wrote it already. so then yesterday...wow seems like a week and half ago... we got to see 2 absolutly amazing things the first was seeing a lost sheep find the herd again after 15 or more years. elly showed up with both of her daughters to church. (my comp looked like a little kid at christmas who just had 2 gallons of energy drink and was showen the presents) and the second was when we went to their house for another cita. we went there and again didnt really know what we needed to teach but knew that we needed to be there. so we and 1st asked what questions she had and answered them. we had talked before and had reached the conclusion that we wanted to help, as much as missionaries or any person can, with her WOW and other problems. but by the guidance of the spirit my comp asked 1st what we could do to help. (meaning 1st mopping and service and also spiritually) she got up and grabbed the manuel fomr the class and went and opened it to the chapter the talks about repentance. =) =) =) =) again arent words in english or spanish to describe how it was to see someone coming, back to their Savior. (oh wait there is D&C 18 10-16) but even in all this she didnt believe that she could revieve a remission because she had a knowledge of the right and had sinned against it. we when through the scriptures with her and showed that it is possible. it always is possible and to say other wise is to say that the Atonement isnt infinite and eternally perfect.
>
> so yeah. less than 6 months and had those 2 in just this transfer, not to mention the others in the 1st transfer. oh and the natural disaster. but to answer the question i asked preiviously: now i recognize that while temporal service is indeed serving God, the happyness and joy one feels are indeed great but are almost litterally nothing compared to the overwhelming--all encompassing joy we recive when we get to help in His work and Glory.
>
> so i love you guys, alot alot alot, and pray for you everyday. know that you are watched over, and that you are loved.
>
> Elder Kekoolani
>
> 1st:
> we went to teach this guy that the stake relief soc pres gave us as a ref. we had taught him before and i think i might have written about him before as well. but so we went to teach him and his wife but we didnt know what lesson we were going to teach, we went thinking we were going to teach the 2nd lesson but were had preped to teach the 3rd. 2nd = plan of salv. 3rd = bapt +/- ok so we were going and it was after the prayer and we still werent sure which to teach and my comp and just finished being his testomony and i was being mine. i can remember while i was being my test. having the choice to push for the 2nd or to go for the 3rd. and as it says in 1 nefi 4:6 i went not knowing. as soon as i finished with my test i asked if he had read, 3 nefi 11. he said yeah and i was about to ask what was the 1st thing the savior did after the people knew who he was (is) but i had the thought "well, his wife probably hasnt had the chance to read" so we went and read 3 nefi 11 from verse 1. and when we got to the part where The Father introduces The Son we ahd them close their eyes and try to imagine being there. it was so amazing as we read and they listened the room was FILLED with the spirit, to the brim and then some i might add, we went on until we read about Christ giving the authority to bapt. and explaining about it. after which i went and bore my testomony with everything i had and a little bit i didnt, and at the end extended the bapt invite. he said no and i was crestfallen! but, my comp was paying attention to the spirit, he relizied in all our testomony and in all our reading we had forgotten to explain why we are bapt by one having the authority. so we went and , in brief, explained about the remission of sins, the joy we can revieve from it and the love we always feel when we are obident and clean. we didnt even get to extend the invite again. "ok, what do i need to do to be baptized?" if i had thought that i would ever have experiences as good as this one , perivious to this time, call me a liar. never had i imagined something as amazing as this was. so tonight we get to go and explain the "how" exactly. =) top that best 2 years!!!!
>
> 2nd:
> ok so there is a lady , se llama elly, and she was bapt.ed at about 15. that was over 10 years ago. her dad lives in georgia (if i know Dad he either knows him now or will meet him in the near future) and he came here with the mission to reactivate his children and baptize his grandchildren. so one of his grands , named ellyana-- daughter of elly, is getting baptized on the 30th, short of her leaving this earth. so when the missionaries had been teaching ellyana, her mom (elly) was, well we could say, playing the devils advocate. this was when they had been teaching the word of wisdom and chasity. so the 1st time i went over there we went to teach the daughter (she is ready and was but is waiting for the 30th so that noe one can question that she is getting baptized for the right reasons and not for her grndpa) but wound up teaching the mom. we asked elly why she had gotten baptized and she told us frankly that is was for her parents. now nither one of us (comp and i )are sure exactly how but some how she wound up bearing her testomony to us. ok so that was the 1st timei was there in a cita, we have had 2 others since then. the 2nd was also good but if there was something really important i wrote it already. so then yesterday...wow seems like a week and half ago... we got to see 2 absolutly amazing things the first was seeing a lost sheep find the herd again after 15 or more years. elly showed up with both of her daughters to church. (my comp looked like a little kid at christmas who just had 2 gallons of energy drink and was showen the presents) and the second was when we went to their house for another cita. we went there and again didnt really know what we needed to teach but knew that we needed to be there. so we and 1st asked what questions she had and answered them. we had talked before and had reached the conclusion that we wanted to help, as much as missionaries or any person can, with her WOW and other problems. but by the guidance of the spirit my comp asked 1st what we could do to help. (meaning 1st mopping and service and also spiritually) she got up and grabbed the manuel fomr the class and went and opened it to the chapter the talks about repentance. =) =) =) =) again arent words in english or spanish to describe how it was to see someone coming, back to their Savior. (oh wait there is D&C 18 10-16) but even in all this she didnt believe that she could revieve a remission because she had a knowledge of the right and had sinned against it. we when through the scriptures with her and showed that it is possible. it always is possible and to say other wise is to say that the Atonement isnt infinite and eternally perfect.
>
> so yeah. less than 6 months and had those 2 in just this transfer, not to mention the others in the 1st transfer. oh and the natural disaster. but to answer the question i asked preiviously: now i recognize that while temporal service is indeed serving God, the happyness and joy one feels are indeed great but are almost litterally nothing compared to the overwhelming--all encompassing joy we recive when we get to help in His work and Glory.
>
> so i love you guys, alot alot alot, and pray for you everyday. know that you are watched over, and that you are loved.
>
> Elder Kekoolani
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Small and simple thins....
> hey guys (mom),
>
> so yeah i got a new comp and new area. now i am in alma rosa, lots and lots of apartments... unfortunantly this is one of the more "upscale" parts (IE: people with money that dont want to change) but the good news is that there is still a lot of walking, and now i have an american comp. this is his 4th transfer so its cool because he is super humble and doesnt mind when i make suggestions... for that matter niether did my last comp, what am i going to do when i finally get a bad one? (or should i just hope that i dont get one of those because "there is no such thing as a bad elder, just one who has forgotten why he is here"...yeah...right)but so yeah still in a 4 man house that isnt in my area so more walking there. so the big hill was solid ice huh... did joey at least go and slide down it? tell Patrick "hey" for me and give him another hug. and tell him 50 pnts for the correction. and thanks. i would say i cant believe that what happened with the churches happened, but well yeah its the story of our family. and well-- have compassion for bro carter, hes young and naieve in the ways of the real world. granted i know i am not much better off but i would like to think i am better off. and well obviously he doesnt know pres jones or know why we do scouting. ........hehehe... but he will learn.... to adapt a well used quote "we will have a smart scout leader. either he can choose to teach himself, or he can be taught. either way he will learn." so yeah hope he has a good experience or at least learns from it.
>
> so expericence for this week:
> so we went with the stake Ref. soc. pres. to a reference. when we got there we met this ANCIENT lady , who has pictures dating back to 1938 ... yeah ANCIENT, and we met her son. he has some problem and has resulted from an accident he had a while ago. so we were with the R pres and talking to the old lady about her son and the R pres talked a little about preisthood blessings. and so we gave one to the guy, i did the annointing of course =), we taught him a little and taught how faith is a principle of action and then made a return cita. so we went to the return cita and when we got there his "esposa" ,not legally married of course (casi ningun person aqui es) , of 12 years. when we entered she was smoking and drinking coffe. needless to say niether one of us was exactly thrilled to see this. but as it says in alma "by small and simple thins doth the Lord confound the wise." ; we taught and to our surprise she listened, and was intrested. he is WAY smart too. for example we taught the 1st lesson and when we were teaching about prayer and to "ask in faith , nothing doubting" and how we "show [our] faith BY [our] works"we used the example of moving mountains by faith. my comp went and told him that while we dont have a mountain with us i do have this bible, so using your faith move the bible from one hand to the other. it was so amazlinglysweet to see him look for a second and then with a grin on his face reach over and pick up the bible and move it to the other hand. he understands. and then when we were getting ready to leave we gave the invitation to attend chruch. or rather we were about to give it when the "wife" told us that "i think i am going to to your church on sunday, and if not this sunday then defenantly the next." and then every cita after that was anything but what we expected. in particualar we went to one with a hard-core less active mom and a daughter of hers that is going to be baptized on the 30th. before the elders were never able to say longer than 15 mins and that was fairly lenghty for that household. ours lasted the better part of 2hrs and 15 mins. during which she bore us her testimony. awesome day needless to say.
>
> so tell rene to FINISH YOUR STINKING APP!! or i get the right to say : told ya so. either way i am ok with it but i dont think she will like it all that much. tell aunt kathy hi, and jud too. love you guys and pray for you.
>
> love,
> Elder Kekoolani
>
> hey dad just wanted you to know even though i am way away still think about you =)
>
>
> so yeah i got a new comp and new area. now i am in alma rosa, lots and lots of apartments... unfortunantly this is one of the more "upscale" parts (IE: people with money that dont want to change) but the good news is that there is still a lot of walking, and now i have an american comp. this is his 4th transfer so its cool because he is super humble and doesnt mind when i make suggestions... for that matter niether did my last comp, what am i going to do when i finally get a bad one? (or should i just hope that i dont get one of those because "there is no such thing as a bad elder, just one who has forgotten why he is here"...yeah...right)but so yeah still in a 4 man house that isnt in my area so more walking there. so the big hill was solid ice huh... did joey at least go and slide down it? tell Patrick "hey" for me and give him another hug. and tell him 50 pnts for the correction. and thanks. i would say i cant believe that what happened with the churches happened, but well yeah its the story of our family. and well-- have compassion for bro carter, hes young and naieve in the ways of the real world. granted i know i am not much better off but i would like to think i am better off. and well obviously he doesnt know pres jones or know why we do scouting. ........hehehe... but he will learn.... to adapt a well used quote "we will have a smart scout leader. either he can choose to teach himself, or he can be taught. either way he will learn." so yeah hope he has a good experience or at least learns from it.
>
> so expericence for this week:
> so we went with the stake Ref. soc. pres. to a reference. when we got there we met this ANCIENT lady , who has pictures dating back to 1938 ... yeah ANCIENT, and we met her son. he has some problem and has resulted from an accident he had a while ago. so we were with the R pres and talking to the old lady about her son and the R pres talked a little about preisthood blessings. and so we gave one to the guy, i did the annointing of course =), we taught him a little and taught how faith is a principle of action and then made a return cita. so we went to the return cita and when we got there his "esposa" ,not legally married of course (casi ningun person aqui es) , of 12 years. when we entered she was smoking and drinking coffe. needless to say niether one of us was exactly thrilled to see this. but as it says in alma "by small and simple thins doth the Lord confound the wise." ; we taught and to our surprise she listened, and was intrested. he is WAY smart too. for example we taught the 1st lesson and when we were teaching about prayer and to "ask in faith , nothing doubting" and how we "show [our] faith BY [our] works"we used the example of moving mountains by faith. my comp went and told him that while we dont have a mountain with us i do have this bible, so using your faith move the bible from one hand to the other. it was so amazlinglysweet to see him look for a second and then with a grin on his face reach over and pick up the bible and move it to the other hand. he understands. and then when we were getting ready to leave we gave the invitation to attend chruch. or rather we were about to give it when the "wife" told us that "i think i am going to to your church on sunday, and if not this sunday then defenantly the next." and then every cita after that was anything but what we expected. in particualar we went to one with a hard-core less active mom and a daughter of hers that is going to be baptized on the 30th. before the elders were never able to say longer than 15 mins and that was fairly lenghty for that household. ours lasted the better part of 2hrs and 15 mins. during which she bore us her testimony. awesome day needless to say.
>
> so tell rene to FINISH YOUR STINKING APP!! or i get the right to say : told ya so. either way i am ok with it but i dont think she will like it all that much. tell aunt kathy hi, and jud too. love you guys and pray for you.
>
> love,
> Elder Kekoolani
>
> hey dad just wanted you to know even though i am way away still think about you =)
>
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Earthquake
Hey fam and friends, we do not yet have a letter from Elder Henry most likely due to the earthquake in Haiti (7.0). The mission president did send the following quick note to Jenne and Hank.
Dear Parents!
This note is just to inform you that an hour ago an earthquake hit Haiti and also affected Dominican Republic a little.
We have contacted the leadership of the mission and we are glad to informe you that all our missionaries are safe and working happily. Most of them did not even realized an earthquake affected DR.
Best regards,
President Antivilo
DR East Mission
I checked online and so far it appears that the DR is alright but its neighbor Haiti was hit very hard. They're both very poor nations and so they need a lot of prayers right now and I'm sure Henry would appreciate some as well.
Dear Parents!
This note is just to inform you that an hour ago an earthquake hit Haiti and also affected Dominican Republic a little.
We have contacted the leadership of the mission and we are glad to informe you that all our missionaries are safe and working happily. Most of them did not even realized an earthquake affected DR.
Best regards,
President Antivilo
DR East Mission
I checked online and so far it appears that the DR is alright but its neighbor Haiti was hit very hard. They're both very poor nations and so they need a lot of prayers right now and I'm sure Henry would appreciate some as well.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Getting Transfered? It sounds like
So I have found that it isn't that hard to get the people here to say my name. As soon as i tell them that all the letters have the same sound, they can say the name.
And no i am not hacking the system... 1- there is not reason to and 2- there is a lack of a central mainframe. But mostly the 1st. I already got to help the missionary training center pres with his laptop and projector (thank you Bro Embry).
And while i don't think i would necessarily like being an office elder, i wouldn't have a problem with it, and here is why. When i came in i told the mission pres. that in the words of Pres Jones 'We aren't here to do what is easy. We are here to do what all the others can't: what's hard." He just smiled at that. But i wouldn't have a problem with having to be the office elder because that means that i would enable other missionaries who have more experience than me to teach our Father's children and bring them the opportunity to return to Him, in a more effective way than i could. And i have kinda consigned myself to being there eventually-- what with the stuff i know how to do because of dad and the fiscal skills you have taught me. But like i said, if my having less exito (success) means the mission as a whole gets more, i can deal with that. And because i know I CAN deal with it and others can't, i almost want it....almost but not quite=)
Yeah Joey and Stephen-- get used to it. Sorry, you guys were blessed with the gift of leadership. Could be worse--you COULD be Cole Anderson... scary thought.
10 pnts to Kathy's man for scarcasm. And if i might remind you: i didn't have mine (applications for college) in until Feb 15, the last day it was accepted...Granted we sent everything in and it was only the part that the councilors didn't turn in that was missing that late, but still. Yea! procrastion-1 promptness-0.... but making up for that now. nigh zero procrastination.
(Grandma you did promise me cookies and a visit... but you did not mention when, come visit after i get home and before i get released and we are good.)
Don't worry i am not homesick, and have no reason to be so. i know why i came and what i came to accomplish. i do have this thought though: while i have no doubt that he (one of the elders assigned to our ward) is getting it tough, at least he didnt have to give up using: his language, his scriptures he has had for 11 years, his use of sarcasm (that almost made me kill someone in the CCM, dumbest rule i ever heard and "self imposed" by my district) And tell Elder Tuinei thanks cause now i know that there is an Elder that i can trust to help out the ones that are going to be Elders when i get back. we have agency in all things and we will be blessed for how we use it. love you guys lots and lots and now i got to go and tomorrow i get to go to my new area!
> love ,
> Elder Kekoolani
And no i am not hacking the system... 1- there is not reason to and 2- there is a lack of a central mainframe. But mostly the 1st. I already got to help the missionary training center pres with his laptop and projector (thank you Bro Embry).
And while i don't think i would necessarily like being an office elder, i wouldn't have a problem with it, and here is why. When i came in i told the mission pres. that in the words of Pres Jones 'We aren't here to do what is easy. We are here to do what all the others can't: what's hard." He just smiled at that. But i wouldn't have a problem with having to be the office elder because that means that i would enable other missionaries who have more experience than me to teach our Father's children and bring them the opportunity to return to Him, in a more effective way than i could. And i have kinda consigned myself to being there eventually-- what with the stuff i know how to do because of dad and the fiscal skills you have taught me. But like i said, if my having less exito (success) means the mission as a whole gets more, i can deal with that. And because i know I CAN deal with it and others can't, i almost want it....almost but not quite=)
Yeah Joey and Stephen-- get used to it. Sorry, you guys were blessed with the gift of leadership. Could be worse--you COULD be Cole Anderson... scary thought.
10 pnts to Kathy's man for scarcasm. And if i might remind you: i didn't have mine (applications for college) in until Feb 15, the last day it was accepted...Granted we sent everything in and it was only the part that the councilors didn't turn in that was missing that late, but still. Yea! procrastion-1 promptness-0.... but making up for that now. nigh zero procrastination.
(Grandma you did promise me cookies and a visit... but you did not mention when, come visit after i get home and before i get released and we are good.)
Don't worry i am not homesick, and have no reason to be so. i know why i came and what i came to accomplish. i do have this thought though: while i have no doubt that he (one of the elders assigned to our ward) is getting it tough, at least he didnt have to give up using: his language, his scriptures he has had for 11 years, his use of sarcasm (that almost made me kill someone in the CCM, dumbest rule i ever heard and "self imposed" by my district) And tell Elder Tuinei thanks cause now i know that there is an Elder that i can trust to help out the ones that are going to be Elders when i get back. we have agency in all things and we will be blessed for how we use it. love you guys lots and lots and now i got to go and tomorrow i get to go to my new area!
> love ,
> Elder Kekoolani
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