Elder Tyler Nielsen- Hawaii Honolulu Mission: September 2022

Aloha!

Great week this week! We've started working on a video and had some interesting developments with the people we're teaching. Me and Elder Jones started planning out our first video! We're taking scriptures and acting out scenarios that for those scriptures in a funny/relatable way. It's been fun shooting it in times of the day when we can't really contact anybody.

The funniest part of that so far was when we filmed by the ocean. There's a part where Elder Jones is standing by the sea and gets "splashed" by the water. And by that I mean I splash him with a bucket of water. Except I missed and only got his pants. And then the large waves did the rest. Now that's production value!

We had an awesome lesson with Marsha on Wednesday, FINALLY, and told her sincerely that the rest of the ward misses her. We asked her to attend Come Follow Me study tonight with the rest of the ward. She was able to go and have a great time! Then apparently she said to call her Monday, but I only remember her saying that we would talk later about when to follow up on our next lesson. On Wednesday, we invited her to earnestly pray about the Book of Mormon and we promised that she would feel the Holy Ghost. Now obviously it's kinda crucial to follow up on that commitment, so we tried stopping by her house. She apparently wasn't in a good mood. She told us we were being kinda pushy and some other things. I apologized if she had said Monday, but we said we'd give her time. We later apologizes through text and now we're hoping she'll still want to be taught. But we we're not super disappointed. She's been taught for a while and maybe she just needs a little break.

We got to see one of the new friends we made named Namu! He's a really cool Hawaiian guy who goes to a Hawaiian church. We taught him about eternal families and temples. He told us that he's been going through some family problems and that talking about loving his family helped him. He said he wasn't ready for temples yet but he said he felt inspired from what we shared. Such an awesome guy!

On Thursday, we played basketball with a guy we're teaching names Gilbert Castro. We didn't end up starting a game with him, but we played with his son and some others kids. I got murdered!!! These kids are really good! And Elder Jones was on the other team so he dunked on me a few times. On one instance, one guy with the ball thought I was open and tossed it at my head. I saw stars for a brief moment and fell to the ground. Everyone laughed especially me. I got major blisters but it was worth it!
We're gonna a have our first lesson with Gilbert soon. An putting him on date for baptism!!!

We had a lesson with a boy named Chance. He has tried to get baptized before but that was back in 2020. During the lesson, we told him that all missionaries do is to show Christ's love for other people. Then we just took half an hour to get to know him. He's a really good kid. We asked him point blank if he (for himself) wanted to get baptized. And he said yes! Haven't put a date down yet, but we're teaching him again on Saturday. We're stoked!

We had dinner with Josh Parraga and Shannon! They made this fried fish dish called batwings (because they actually look like batwings) and they tasted good. Elder Jones ate a tiny octopus and almost gagged. I ate like 7 of em . We're glad they are still our close friends despite the obstacles of coming to church and progressing. They said they might be able to come to church but weren't able to. Please pray for them if you can.

On Sunday, we met up with our friend Ambrose Kanahele. We briefly talked about what he learned at his Hawaiian church and he shared some awesome Bible verses with us. He's a pretty old man and can't do too much on his own. So we asked if we could get some wasp nests down from his outside walls and ceiling. So we're coming back for some service! Woohoo!

All of Monday morning was going around and filming scenes for the video. Them Elder Jones tried to go get an Ukulele but the store was closed! Again! Dang labor day.

Someone asked me about the best way to try to teach people or to have any kind if progression with people you've met. I basically told them; persistence. Preservering is critical to missionary work. When you get a golden opportunity to get something done, rarely is it ever a one-and-done deal. It's something that take persevering and to keep trying.

In 1 Nephi chapters 3&4, it doesn't just take one attempt for Nephi and his brothers to get the plates from Laban. It's on the third time that Nephi is able to obtain them. The time we have is time the Lord has given us to improve and learn. Don't get impatient with Him because his timing is everything!