June 30, 2014 - Another Photo!

Serving in Pearl City with Companions

June 24, 2014 - Alooooohaaaa!

Family!

Wow, what a week.... I love being full field!!!! It's been wonderful! So I'll fill you in on all the deets. :) 

I'm in Pearl City and Aiea, right by Waipahu. Apparently it's a small area, but it feels huge to me, since I'm used to four streets where I know every single household. On the first day in the area, I was just amazed getting there and seeing streets and streets of non-members! Which means there's lots of work to do!! I was so excited. There were quite a few baptisms in the area within the past year, meaning right now we're in the finding stage. So we get to go tracting a lot! Wooo! I've always wanted to go fo real tracting in a place that actually has non-members. If you can't tell that's still kind of a novel idea to me. Our area is a giant hill  (and we live at the very top) that goes all the way down to the ocean. Sidenote, we don't really see the ocean, except for when we're on the very top of our hill. So I'll miss that... but not too much because I know I'll be going right back to it haha.

My companions are Sister Curtis and Sister Mottl. I LOVE them!!! Both of them are dying (going home) at the end of this transfer. And fun fact, they're sister trainers! Which means I'm a sister trainer too..? I don't really know how that happened. It's cool though. :) I was worried about being in a tripan, but it's been SO fun. Nothing to worry about. :) The more the merrier right?! And they're super great missionaries, so I am learning a lot from them! Also, there's this super spectacular couch in our pad, and we sit on it and talk story and bond all the time. And when I say all the time I really mean lunch time and after we plan at night haha.

Other fun things that have happened this week...

-SUSHI. So. Much. Sushi. Sometimes I forget that I'm not in Japan haha. It's been so great though! Our ward loves us, and loves to take us out. The best one so far has been Genki... it's this Japanese place that has a giant circular conveyer belt going around the restaurant, with different dishes on it that you just grab when you feel like eating it. It's pretty fantastic. Good thing I got over my phobia of raw fish.

-We have bunk beds! We had to set them up ourselves. It was an adventure. I don't know why that's a significant fact... but it was fun at the time.

-On P-day we went to PCC! Haha, right back to Laie, same place I go every Monday! But it was so fun. And it had only been half a week since I had seen all the VC sisters... but I missed them already.. so it was good to show up and surprise them. :)

-We had stake conference this weekend, and it was SO good. On Saturday, four recent converts shared their conversion story. And guess what?! For three of them, the very beginning of their conversion began in the Visitors Center! They all decided that the gospel was something they wanted while in the VC. And they're all solid members now. How cool is that?! It made me feel a lot better about the efforts we put in at the VC.... really no effort is wasted.

-We spent ALL day today at the stake center checking planners and area books for interviews with president! It was looooong, but really fun to get to know all the other missionaries in our zone.  

Well family, I am out of time! Sorry I didn't get more pictures today, I'll send you a flash drive with copious amounts of pictures sometime in the near future! And mom, thank you for the package! I haven't gotten it yet because it got sent to Laie, but I'll be able to get it from some siters on Monday at MLC (missionary leadership training). Oh, and because of that I won't be able to email you on Monday! Actually it might be like Thursday before I email you because we will be on exchanges.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

<3 Sister Sabey

My Tripanionship!  Sister Mottl, Sister Sabey and Sister Curtis

June 16 - Hola!

Aloha ohana!

So this week has been pretty lovely!! Just some highlights...

-Tons of our less-active families are coming to church now every week!!! It's amazing. I know I already told you that last week, but even more are starting to come back! Every week more and more come. Even our non-members are beginning to be fully active in the church haha. This ward is just rocking. 

-In the past month, four of our non-members have moved away. Do you know what that leaves us with? No one to teach except less actives.... and considering my last bullet..... not tons of work for us to do. I'm happy everyone is doing so well though. That also must mean Heavenly Father is preparing something wonderful in store for this area right?! 

-We got to go to the temple on Friday!!! Ah, I'm so lucky to be serving where there's a temple close by. It's the biggest blessing. 

Anyway let's get down to business... We have transfers this Wednesday, and guess what?!? I'm getting transferred out of Laie!!!!! I'M GOING FULL FIELD!!!!  To Waipahu! Yahoo! It's on Oahu, on the opposite side of the island compared to where I am now. I'm pretty excited!! But wait there's more! I'm going to be in a tripanionship. (I'm a little bit freaking out about that because I've heard how hard tri-pans are.... but apparently Heavenly Father thinks I can handle it or something.) But I'm super excited!!! I only get this for two transfers of my whole mission, so I'm ready to live it up!!! 

OH, and cool thing about Waipahu. One time at the VC this AWESOME Colombian family came on tram tour. It was probably my favorite tour ever. While they were here they absolutely loved it... I've never seen someone react so positively to the church before. It was amazing. And they filled out their information and started meeting with the missionaries!! I have been teaching and keeping in contact with them through the phone and all that jazz.  The best part about it is that they live in Pearl City, which is part of the Waipahu zone, so I might get to teach them!!!!!! 

Anyway, this will be an adventure! I haven't been anywhere new on my mission yet, so I'm excited and nervous! It's good to shake things up though. :) I'll don't really know what to expect so I guess I'll just have to tell you all about it next week!   

I LOVE you all!!!!!!! 

<3, Sister Sabey

Pictures...   

1. transfer news! (Sister Jenkins (my MTC comp!) is going to Maui!!

2. my district in Laie.

3. cute little centipede. gotta love em. 

4. sunset. :)

June 11, 2014 - Photo!!! :)

Sister Sabey and the Jenkin's Family from AZ!

June 9, 2014 - Alooooha!

Hi everyone!

Ah, this week has been fantastic! So many happy things, I can't even say them all. 

So there's this mission rule for the VC sisters that we're not allowed to play instruments except for on P-day, unless we're preparing for a musical number. And let me tell you, that rule tests me every day when I see my beautiful ukulele just sitting there. So last week Elder Priday announced a that we're having a musical fireside where some sisters would perform. Of course I volunteered myself and all of my padmates to do a number! Totally disregarded the fact that none of us really have musical talent. I just couldn't help myself, I wanted to play my uke! And they all bought their ukes about two weeks ago at the PCC. Anyway. So every night this week we've been practicing! It was a struggle sometimes. But it was super fun. It was out of everyone's comfort zone, and sometimes they were like "why the heck did you sign me up for this?!" haha. But the fireside was last night and it went so well!! I think everyone liked it. :) We sang and played Did You Think To Pray. The moral of the story: doing things that are out of your comfort zone are FUN and never as bad as you think. :) 

The work in our area is doing so well!! Even though we don't really have any investigators, this ward is progressing so much. We mostly work with less-actives, and I know all of them in our ward super well since I've been here for four months. There have been so many miracles with them. Especially looking back from when I first got here, there have been some huge changes with the people! One young family we've been working with is about to go through the temple and be sealed with their little five-year-old girl! They read their scriptures and pray and go to church and are just so strong spiritually. When I first got here they were struggling a lot, and seeing where they are now makes me SO happy!! It really does bring so much joy seeing people turn to Christ and change their lives. (That rhymed, unintentional). And one older lady hasn't come to church in a looooooooong time, and just this past month she's returned fully and hasn't missed one week! She even brings her 98 year old less-active mom, which is a miracle in itself I think. There are just so many people returning to full activity. The Spirit has been touching their hearts, and it's amazing to see the difference it makes! I have learned to never give up on anyone, no matter what. It's really easy to just say "oh they'll never change." But that is what Satan wants us to think!! The Celestial Kingdom has enough room for everyone. There is no such thing as being too far off the path to come back. 

My lovely friend Ellen just sent this scripture to me, and it's perfect! Pretty much sums up  exactly how I have been feeling. 

"And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me." -Alma 29:10

So! How is your missionary work going? How is your personal conversion going? Missionary work really starts with yourself. I just want to invite you to honestly evaluate yourself spiritually, and then make any changes that may be necessary to be where you want to be! I know that you can become exactly who you want to become, you just have to decide to start. Heavenly Father will help you as you do those little things every day that bring us closer to Christ. 

Thank you all for being wonderful!! I pray for you every day and I love you so much! 

Pictures:

1: us playing our ukes at the fireside last night!

2: me and my wonderful companion sister richardson!!

3: our members just got some adorable kittens. #kittenlove #sowhatimacatperson

:)  love you!

Sister Sabey

June 2, 2014 #HIlife

Alooooooha my wonderful humans!!

This week has been awesome. On Friday we had Zone Conference, which is the BEST. Well, it's second best to general conference. The Laie Zone is the biggest zone, probably because of all the VC sisters. But that makes it super fun when everyone comes together for training! And President Warner is awesome. We had training the whole day on using the Book of Mormon in teaching. The Book of Mormon really is such a powerful tool we've been given. It truly has the fullness of the gospel in it! One thing that was mentioned that really stuck to me was how much sacrifice was made for the Book of Mormon. Think about how much blood was spilled for that Book, Joseph Smith's and others. Just for us, so that we can know the full gospel. It really is a testimony that it is the word of God! And that it was preserved for our generation! It's our responsibility to not only use that gift but also to share it with everyone we can!! 

On Saturday we had exchanges with the sister trainers! I got to go with Sister Knudsen( who is now companions with Sister Kim). Sister Knudsen is one of my favorite humans!!! She's my doppelganger. But really, we are basically the same person. She's from Arizona, she's going to BYU-I, her major is Biology with an emphasis on human development, but she wants to get into the nursing program, she's Danish, she's the second oldest child... tons of random things we have in common. And besides all that she's just a spectacular person! I learned so much from her during our exchange. It was super fun, because I have never gotten to experience another area on my mission! They cover YSA and married student wards. And ah, I just realized how much I love being busy. They have a lot of work to do in their area! That day they had a service project we got to go to. It was seriously one of the coolest things I've gotten to do! We went to BYU-H's Hawaiian Studies Garden. It's a giant garden that takes up half the mountain, and it's 100% native Hawaiian plants. The people who take care of it are majoring in Hawaiian studies, so they are all super local. Before the project they began with doing a Hawaiian song/chant/dance thing and it was SO COOL. So cultural. THEN I got to use a machete to try to make a clearing in a jungle area! It was just super awesome. Mostly because I got to use a machete. Then we went to a married student ward barbeque and meet lots of people!! It was fun because a lot of them I already knew because they come into the VC a lot. And quite a few non-members too! So that was good. Haha oh and one of the Elders who is in "The District" was there. That was kind of weird because he has a super cute wife and babies now haha. :)

Other than that... missionary work in our area has been really good! They are trying an experiment in our stake with missionary work that's starting this week. So we have to give a copy of our hourly schedule for every day of the week to every member in ward council. And then it's their job to fill in every single hole we have with appointments! And they just return it to us and we go and do it! Sounds like heaven to me!!!  Our schedule currently has 12 hours of open space for the week, and it would be the biggest miracle if they could fill it! So I'm super excited to see how it goes. A lot of the members are getting more and more into doing missionary work, which is such a blessing for us! We really need members to do work effectively. So I'll let you know how that goes this week! :)

Anyway, I love you all so much!!! Don't forget to read the Book of Mormon every day!!!

<3,

Sister Sabey