May 25 - Kia Kaha :)

This week's phrase comes from my lovely companion Sister Penales... it's "Kia Kaha," which means "stay strong" in Maori. #kiwi 

It's also my current life goal... considering it's my last transfer (ah! what?!). But don't worry! I will stay strong and work hard up through the last minute of my mission! 

This week has been awesome. I love love my companion Sister Penales! She is still a "greenie" but I feel like she is training me! She came out on her mission so prepared, so we are ready to give this work our all. It's nice to have all our proselyting time (1-2 hours a day!) to give to one ward. Even though I miss 5th ward, that one felt like family! But all is well because I know Heavenly Father is keeping me in this one for a reason! 

Anyway...... just a quick thought..... this week we had a lesson with one of our less active members. We have been working with him for a long time and have been struggling to know what he really needs. He is an RM but hasn't been active for a long time. In our lesson we talked about prayer. He finally opened up and said he's never really had a testimony that God answers prayers. That was a really sad thing to hear. Knife to the heart. It made me realize how many truths are contingent upon prayer..... God is our Heavenly Father, He loves us, He wants to hear from us, we can receive personal revelation from Him, prophets can receive revelation from Him....the list could go on. It also made me think about my own testimony of prayer. I didn't have an experience like Joseph Smith, but I didn't have to. I have said so many small and simple prayers, sometimes with just a squeak of faith... and they were answered. Lovingly and mercifully. Not always in the way I thought, or in the way I wanted. But they have always been answered. Sometimes I don't recognize the answer until way later. But I have absolutely no doubts that God loves us and He listens to and answers our prayers. If you don't have a strong testimony of prayer, the best way to gain one is to pray! Pray with faith that Someone is listening and that He cares. He will answer the smallest prayers. He will show you that He is listening in some way. Look for Him in your day! There is evidence of Him everywhere. 

Anyway... I love you all sooo much!!! Aloha!!!

<3<3<3<3<3,

Sister Sabey 

pictures:

1- Sister Penales and I! (before we knew we would be companions haha)

2- Family history, I am doing it! 

3- Back to "12 weeks".. which means back to role playing! This is the piece of wood our genealogy is written on the back of. Haha I have no idea where it came from! But it makes for great role plays! 

May 19, 2015 - This is my favorite thing to do... EVERY DAY :)

AlooooooooooHA! 

Well my lovely humans, it has been another spectacular week! First things first...... transfer news! Yeah! So right now I'm currently serving in Laie 2nd and 5th wards with Sister Buday.... and they're splitting the two wards and putting me in 2nd and her in 5th! We are both getting cute Filipina companions! My new companion is Sister Penales... she just came one transfer ago, so she is still in training! I get to half train her, which makes me kind of a "step-mom." She is literally the cutest. She's the shortest sister in the VC, 4-foot-something. Aaand I'm the tallest. haha. I am so excited to be companions with her! She's originally from the Philippines, but has been living in New Zealand for the past several years. It's going to be a miracle filled transfer! 

In other exciting news........ so guess what! Family, do you remember our vacation to Hawaii like five years ago? And we were driving down the highway and saw this really cool, artistic yard so we pulled over to check it out? And the guy living there (Michael) was the artist and spent a good hour or so showing us around his yard and talking? Well! Good news, he's in my area! So I actually stopped by a few months ago, and talked to his wife Lela. I didn't tell her that I knew Michael, and she definitely did not want to talk to missionaries. But we stopped by again this week, and Lela answered the door again. This time I explained how I knew Michael and how I loved all his art, and then it opened up to actually talking with us! We were able to slyly have a quality gospel conversation without her even knowing it. She isn't quite ready to be a new investigator... YET. But she is probably coming to the Visitors' Center soon, so we shall see what happens! It was just so cool how that all worked out. Heavenly Father's hand was definitely in that whole visit.

Well, missionary work is the best!!! Literally the happiest thing. Mostly because of all the opportunities to see and feel how much Heavenly Father loves each of His children. It is a lot of love. I love you all sooo much! Thank you for being wonderful examples and friends! :)

<3<3<3, 

Sister Sabey

Pictures:

1-Temple trip this morning! #laielove 

2- Took care of this lovely little creature who we found in our pad... 

May 12, 2015 Aloha :)

Aloha family! 

Well.... sorry I don't have too much time today! But my highlight of the week was today! This morning we got to go to the BYU-H devotional, where Elder Neilson and Oaks spoke. They just announced they are changing the university president, that's why they were both here. Anyway, they both gave awesome talks about going forth with faith. Faith is definitely something I have to come to understand better on my mission... especially through seeing the faithful examples of others. The first thing that comes to mind is all those married students going to BYUH who I have come to know and love! Most of them are from foreign countries... and they leave their homes and families to come to get an education here, and then of course they get married, and then have kids, all while still in school and far from home with pretty much no money. Even though I haven't been through that, I have definitely felt how faith carries me... "The gospel is not weight, it is wings." :) 

I know this is the true church of God, and the doctrines of it are truly from Christ! It is what carries us and allows us to become something greater than we could on our own. 

Sorry that's all I have time for... but I LOVE you all lots!!!

<3Aloha,

Sister SAbey

pictures-

-Fish flags they fly as a Japanese tradition for "Boy's day" (on May 5th)

-On the way to service at pearl harbor!! 

May 5, 2015 #miraclemay

May 5, 2015  #miraclemay

Aloha my lovelies!!!

Thank you all for being so wonderful, sometimes I wonder why Heavenly Father saved all the most amazing people to surround me with! I feel so blessed, and I am grateful for each of you <3 

It is Miracle May!! Our mission is doing this thing for #miraclemay to seek the Lord's help in hitting our goals for this month. As missionaries, we can't hit our goal alone... we need the help of members and especially the Lord. Because one of the best ways to petition for the Lord's help is through fasting, we are doing a huge fast in the month of May. On each day of May, one person (or family) from each ward will choose a day to fast, along with one missionary companionship from the Zone. So for each day of May, there will be at least 12 people or families in Laie fasting for missionary opportunities within the Zone. We have already started to see so many miracles! When we went to introduce the idea to the bishops in our wards, they were so excited. After we introduced it to our wards on Sunday, they were so eager to fast with us! That in and of itself was a small and simple miracle. So many people expressed their faith in the power of fasting for missionary opportunities and shared experiences during their testimonies in Sacrament meeting. By the end of church both calendars were full!! Of course miracle May isn't about fasting, it's about helping God's children come unto Christ. But I know that the Lord listens to our prayers, and He is the one who softens hearts. Already I have felt a softening of hearts among our investigators.

Well, I'm out of time but I love you all soooo much!! Happy Mother's day mom, talk to you soon! :)

<3<3, with much ALOHA,

Sistah Sabey

pictures:

1-Our district "Chen and Friends"!! (Our DL is the Chinese one, Elder Chen of course:)

2-May day! Aka. Lei day! It's kind of a big deal here in Laie haha :)

3- "the mission ends where the sand begins." Good thing the view from the grass is just as beautiful!!