March 31, 2014 - AloooooHA!

Hi Family!!

Zach thanks for writing! To answer your questions.. So I went to ward council the first week, and then they changed our shift at the Visitors Center to be during our ward council meetings. So it's really bad but I haven't been since! We're trying to get it changed so that we can go. Sometimes it's a challenge trying to fit our ward's schedule into our VC schedule, since we are at the VC for at least 5 hours every day. We are really close with our ward! Well, I think. I guess I don't really have anything to compare it to since this is my first area. But since there are so many members here, really the only way to work is through members. I feel like I know a lot of people, but I still have so many more to meet! We work mostly with recent converts and less actives. Since there are so many members we only have a couple of investigators, and we work with them as often as they let us haha. :) There are miracles every day though!! Sometimes I feel like there isn't anyone to teach, but miraculously we still find more people. Sometimes it's through the ward, and sometimes it seems like people are randomly put in our path. Of course it's not random though. :)

We started teaching a less active member this week who's from Tonga. He's 14 years old and he's just learning English. He was baptized when he was 10, but he didn't really understand the church very much. So we get to teach him the discussions. I love it because even though his english isn't the best, the Spirit is so strong. He has such a pure spirit and he loves learning. And the VC has been going wonderfully this week as well!! I know I probably say this every week, but the Spirit is so strong here. The other day a lady walked in and as soon as she saw the Christus she just stopped. She was so touched, she started crying. We talked for a while, and I found out that she's living here with her daughter who's in the military. She's super religious, but she doesn't have a church to go to right now. So we gave her a Book of Mormon, which she was super excited to read, and she said she'd might come to church! I'll be able to keep in contact with her later, so we'll see how it goes!

And yes, still eating a lot of Tongan food. So we eat dinner with the members every night right? The majority of the time it includes a minimum of: rice, potato, pasta, bread and dessert. So yeah, carb night every day o my life. Don't tell Eric. :) (just kidding you can tell him. have you been going in to him lately? tell him hi for me!!!!!) The weather has been lovely. Lots of rain, which I lovvveee. And when it's not rainy it's just like paradise every day! I'm so blessed, it's ridiculous.

Mom, don't worry about not sending the package yet! I know you're super busy, all is well. And I was actually able to go online and print my driving record! So I'm cleared to drive now! Sorry about that! Thank you so much for doing that for me anyway!!  Sorry for any stress that caused you! (Oh if you haven't sent that package yet, could you put a light white sweater in it pretty please? if there's room. if not, no worries at all. it just gets cold in the VC haha).

So your lives sound spectacular!!! Boating, hiking, making sushi, hanging out with the awesome YW. I'm so glad to hear you are all doing well! Thank you so much for keeping me updated on your lives! I love you all soooooooo much! Keep being awesome!  Thank you for all you do! Love you!!!!

-Sister Sabey Baby

Mar. 23, 2014 - Dearest Family

Hello Family!!!

I miss Zach toooo!!! Tell him put that missing into action and email me! Maybe you should do it missionary style so he will understand. Teach him how to write an email, testify that it will work and that I will receive and appreciate his email, invite him to get on his email this week and write me, then promise many abundant blessings for emailing me. Oh and maybe you can touch on forgiveness somewhere in there, since I was the worst at writing him... :)

So I've officially been here for one transfer! We got transfer news last night. But nothing is changing for me, same housing, same companion, same area. Which I'm really happy about.

I have to tell you about the coolest experience we had this week!! Sister Kim and I were walking around the temple grounds and stopped to talk to this (LDS) lady sitting on a bench. We got to know her a for a while, and even though she's young she's had some pretty hard challenges and trials. She was really struggling to find direction in her life. We shared a few scriptures with her and bore our testimonies and invited her to read Alma 37 and pray. A little while later she came up to us and asked if we could go say a prayer together. So we went into the VC, and she actually got a blessing from one of the senior elders on shift. The Spirit in the room was so strong, and everyone was crying by the end. Then we just left her alone to pray for a while. Sister Kim and I had to leave after that, so we didn't get to see her again. But! Then two days later, she came back to the visitors center!! We were so happy to see her. She was super excited to fill us in on her life, so we went outside to talk. So, after the blessing she knelt down to pray. She felt like she needed to ask if she should serve a mission, even though that seemed pretty out of the question. After she prayed, she felt the Spirit telling her she should serve a mission!! And so that night she texted her Bishop and her doctor and dentist and set up appointments! And she's going on a mission!!!! I'm SO very happy for her!!! She has so much faith, to immediately act upon a prompting, even though it may be difficult for her to do.  I was so grateful to witness that experience! The Spirit is so powerful, and can tell us everything we need to do. I know that prayer works. If we ask our Heavenly Father, He will always answer us. He can give us comfort, peace, direction, understanding, anything we need. We just need to ask.

Well I have to go, but I love you all so much! Remember to do some good solid missionary work! That means serving every single time you see an opportunity to, and always praying for more opportunities. You can make a huge difference by all the little things you do! By small and simple means are great things brought to pass!

I love you all so much!!! I miss you!! Good luck getting back to school (you can do it Levi!!) :)

<3 Love, Sister Sabey

Mar. 17, 2014 - Happy Green Day!

Family,

Happy Green Day!  Zach is home now!!?!?! I wish so badly I could be there and see him! But give him a few extra hugs for me!!! Thanks for sending those pictures!

How are you all doing? What kind of things are you up to? Thanks for being so awesome!! I love you all and I pray for you every night!!

This week has been simply smashing. Sometimes I feel like I didn't even leave Mesa. Not really.... but this week was crazy. Every single day I met someone (or several people) from Mesa! I ran into Sophie Collins at the PCC with her volleyball team, Steve Maready's sister and her family, Senora Clarkson's relatives, and a bunch of random families from Mesa. It was quite lovely to see them all!

So I don't have a ton of time today... But I'll just tell you what I've been thinking! I love all the people I've met here so. much.  Everyone is so wonderful. My ward is full of so many people who are super enthusiastic about doing missionary work. And here in Laie the sister missionaries are like celebrities. We go down the street and everyone (really, everyone) is honking their horn and waving to us. And everyone gives us lots and lots of food. So that's always fun. But besides all of that, the people here are just fantastic. I'm so impressed with how humble and happy they are. I've always known that having "things" isn't what makes us happy. But seems like everyone here understands that too. Which is pretty amazing, because it feels like most of the world tries to be happy with having nice things or getting the most stuff. But most of the people here don't have a lot of nice things, and they are so happy. (I mean, it's hard not to be happy when you live in paradise.. :) haha) We went to dinner with this family in our ward the other night. I was so impressed by them. They treated each other with so much love and kindness. The Spirit was so strong in their home. Even though they don't have a lot, they are a happy and strong family. I know they understand the scripture "before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God." It gives me so much peace knowing that we only need to search the gospel to find true lasting happiness and peace. I know that it truly doesn't matter what you have or don't have that makes the difference. It's all about what source you seek to find happiness. Everyone can be happy. There is so much joy in knowing Heavenly Father's plan for us. It's called the plan of happiness for a reason. It is THE way to happiness. I'm so grateful that I know this truth!

Have you been to the Mesa visitors center lately? You should go! And look at all the displays, and go through God's Plan (it's my faaaavorite one). Then you can have an idea of what half of my day is like every day. And more importantly because it's spiritually uplifting. :)

So, random questions! Who is our family in Canada? And are we related to a Richard Sabey in Utah? And what does Sabey mean and what is my nationality? I get these questions all the time haha.

Oh!! So we just got a call from the VC saying someone was there to see me.. it must have been Sister Reeb!! I"m so sad I missed her!!!!! I'll be working at the VC tomorrow from 2:30 to 8, then wednesday morning from 9-2:30, thursday on the trams at the PCC, friday morning 9-2:30, and saturday on the trams again from 3-7. :)

Thank you for emailing me and sending me packages and letters and such!! Oh and for visiting paradise #2, aka the DMV. I so appreciate it. I know you're super busy in your lives, but thank you for taking the time to do so much for me!! And no rush on anything. :)
I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Sister Sabey

March 10, 2014 - Pictures!

March 10, 2014 - Hey Hey Hey!

Family!!! 

Thank you for that spectacular package and letter!!!!!!!! It made my whole entire day. It was the best thing to come home to. Hm... I got it on Wednesday? Or maybe Thursday? One of those days for sure. But really.. I was laughing so hard when you told me the story about Levi and his blueberry jam. And then I cried a little bit when you told me Sam is 6'4". What?! How does he grow so fast??! Mom you're just an angel. Mahalo nui loa. I'm so so lucky to have such a wonderful mother! And I loooooveeeeee the stationary! Now I don't have an excuse not to write letters haha. :) And the lotion and scrub and lip gloss and chocolate (mmmm) and and everything! You are just perfect. :)

Hansen is going to London England?!?! Tell him to say hi to Elder Wolfgramm!! He's my friend from efy who was in the Olympics for bobsledding. And Natalie is going to Washington?! That's the same mission as our friend from high school is right now. Cool. And did you hear Kelsey got her call to (dad this is for you!!) LANCING, MICHIGAN?! You should tell her about how great it is serving there! All the best people go to that mission!!!  Thank you for telling me who's getting their calls! I love being updated on that!

Wow it sounds like you're all so busy! How are the YW? Mom you sold your business?! Solid! You're awesome! And send me pics of the repaved patio! Haha I knew that money would eventually be going to some renovation of our house :)

Well this week has been pretty lovely as usual! I love being here at the Visitors Center because we get to meet people from alllll over the world. It's the most diverse place I've ever gotten to live in and I love it. :) I talked to the sweetest girl from Turkey the other day. She came to Hawaii for an English class, a member she's staying with brought her to the VC. She's Muslim, but she seemed super interested in the church. She left all her information so I can keep in touch with her, and she'll be going to church with her friend who's a member. Even though most of the people who come here don't show a ton of interest, there are an elect few who are so ready to hear the gospel! And talking to them is the best part of being here. You can feel their desire to know more. I feel so blessed to get to interact with them so often.

So for P-day today a bunch of missionaries from our zone went to Kualoa Ranch which is the site where all the famous movies were made.  We went on this bus tour through the place where they filmed Lost, Jurassic Park, 50 First Dates, Godzilla, and a whole bunch of other movies I can't remember. It was so fun :) It was super weird though... I wore my skinny jeans (yes they still fit:) for the first time since I left... and I'm going to be honest, after wearing dresses all the time I never want to wear pants again. True fact haha. :) Anyway, I'll send some pictures from that!

Oh, and do you remember when we came here a few years ago? When we were driving along and saw this guy's backyard that backed up to the beach, and he was selling his art? And we went in and looked around for a while and I took a zillion pictures? Guess what? That guy is my next door neighbor!!!! There's a giant leafy hedge between us, but our driveways are right next to each other. Who knew! Crazy, yeah?!

Thank you for being so loving and supportive! I really love my mission, I have learned so much. Every single day I feel like I can't possibly learn more, and then I do. I've also learned that Heavenly Father doesn't like it when we get too comfortable. Just when we do, He changes something and makes us stretch a little bit more. And I'm so grateful that He does! I realize more and more every day how much I can change and improve. I'm so thankful that He allows us to change.

Well, sorry this email is all over the place. I have to go, but thanks for writing!! Love you choke! :)

Sister Sage Sabey

March 3, 2014 - My Favorite Humans!

Greetings! 

Five of my favorite humans came to our home after I left for my mission!? Ah, I'm so sad I missed them! But it sounds like you had tons of fun and good food! So how was the Gilbert Temple dedication?? I'm sure it was an amazing experience! I can't believe Levi broke his toe!!! How did that happen? Poor guy! Give him lots of big hugs for me! Is he done reading HP yet? :) And SAM! Email me!! I want your email address... but I can't remember which one you use... So just email me so I can reply. Cause I miss you. <3

Can you believe Zach gets home in two weeks from today?!?! He'll fly right over me. I wish so badly that he would have a super long layover here. So dad is getting a new job? I hope that goes well, I'll be praying for that! Is Jim still living with you? Mom, how is being the YW president? Is that still going good? I tell Sister Kim about you all the time. She reminds me of you sometimes, which is funny because she's my mission mom. I really miss you all! ... I'm still focused and everything... I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate each one of you! 

So this week has been so good! Lots has happened. Definitely a highlight was this last Sunday. It was fast and testimony meeting, and it was amazingggggg. So many miracles!! During the testimony meeting, four super less-active members bore their testimonies, one awesome recent convert bore her testimony, and one of our non-member investigators bore her testimony. Ah, it was amazing. The non-member's name is Beth, and she's been meeting with missionaries for years and years. Her son is a super strong member, and he received the Melchizedek Preisthood on Sunday. He is such a good example to her. He lives his life with exact obedience, and he always puts the church and the Lord first. It's so inspiring, because he has so much faith in . I know that someday Beth will accept the gospel because of her son's great example! And I just want you to know how much of an impact your example is on people!! It may not seem like it, but people are watching you. They notice you. They notice the way you live your life. It is never worth it to do something contrary to what the Lord would have you do. Because it could not only damage your own relationship with Christ, but it could have a negative impact on others. I know that by by being exactly obedient, we will receive so many blessings, as well as being able to bless others lives! 

I also had a cool experience talking to this sweet lady from England. She didn't know anything about the Church, but she was really interested in learning more. I only had about 20 minutes to talk to her, but she was so receptive to everything. She wanted a Book of Mormon, and she was so excited to read it. She said "I am thirsty for this knowledge." I loved that. She had truly been prepared by the Lord to hear about the gospel! It strengthened my testimony that the Lord is preparing people to come here. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father is sending those who have been prepared to us. I get to interact with people and help them come unto Christ. What a blessing that He would involve me in working with those He has prepared! 

 Here's a scripture for you. D&C 121:7-8. Our challenges will be "but a small moment." I think it can be hard to remember that this life is just a tiny fraction of eternity. Even though life is hard and we have trials and afflictions, they will be gone soon. We just need to endure them well... and we will have eternal happiness. Remember that. Remember who you are, and what you have the potential to become. I love you!!!

Love,

Sister Sabey

March 1, 2014 - Picture!

This picture was sent to us by a visitor at the Laie Temple Visitor Center, of Sage and her companion.