ELDER MATUA OFFICIALLY HITS THE ONE-YEAR MARK TODAY!!!! WOW! WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

Sorry folks no email this week. But Elder Matua has assured us that he will send one next week. He sends his love and thanks for all the support you have given him. One year already???!!! For us the time has just flown by and we've seen the blessings evident in our lives every day because of his service in the field. Sincere thanks to all of you for your prayers and support!!!! GOD BLESS and here's to another great year for Elder Matua!!!!

Hello Family AND Friends!

This has been one crazy week for me and my two companions (Elder Lolohea and my new Companion, Elder Burns) I was emergency shifted to Papatoetoe! I wasn't expecting to be companions with the son of an old friend of my mother's. The Lord works in mysterious ways! I love him to death! He knows how to work! Really helps me to focus on what the Lord wants us to do! Elder Lolohea is still in Henderson. I pray that the Lord will continually bless him to be able to speak English and that his area will continue to have prepared souls for them to meet and teach! I know that the Lord needed me to be here for some reason. I'm only three days into the new transfer so I hope that we both as a companionship will be able to the best we can. And to figure out what the Lord is needing us to do here:)

Happy Birthday Bella! I love you so much!

I hope you all have a great week and I pray that the Lord will bless you all!:)

Sorry everyone, I was in Vegas last week and totally forgot to post Elder Matua's email from Sept. 7. so here goes.

 Hello Everyone and Good Afternoon or whenever you are Reading this:) But I hope you all had a great week because I did:)

Monday was yet again another day at Piha! One of the most beautiful places in the world. We spent the whole day there. It was great but it was raining the whole time we were there but it was nice to get away from the city:) I had to say a prayer and the joy that followed was definite! Heavenly Father is there! All that I know is that I could feel the Savior's love for me!

Tuesday- District meeting and the spirit was so strong. The district meeting topic was companionship unity. Each of the members of our district expressed love for one another and how much we enjoyed being with one another. Following district meeting we had to go shopping for food. It was a light shopping because we didn't have much cash on hand (thank goodness the members like to feed us) being on foot was a the biggest problem for us but we were still able to contact those we needed to see.

Wednesday- Well the plan was to contact a less-actives and members with disabilities that are bound to there home. It didn't go as planned in the beginning while visiting less-actives. But visiting with the members with disabilities was amazing. We met Joe. He had been stabbed in his bladder and is unable to do a whole bunch. He asked us if we could help him with some things and we did. It felt good to do service for those in need:)

Thursday- Same thing happened today nothing...just sore feet haha No one was out on the roads and it was raining all day...Shucks! We met up with some Aiono Family in Lincoln Ward They know Earline, my aunt. But nothing happened yet again:/

Friday- Trade off with the district leader and Elder Hall....I went with Elder Hall....It was so boring. We did nothing we walked and talked to no one...Terrible:(

Saturday-Nothing, spent another day on split with Elder Hall.

Sunday-Mel and Diamond were confirmed members. Finally:)

Taking a little break

This week has had it's ups and downs. I've needed to do some changing around of attitude, expectations and yes like always repenting of mistakes and moving forward. I've had a lot of priority changes and what I need to do is clear. The time just seems to be quickening and the days seem to get shorter and shorter. Guess that means I'm doing something right?? It's a funny conundrum to say "The harder you work the faster time goes but the less you work the slower the time goes" I don't know where exactly to start but all that I do know is that, I have felt the Savior's love more abundantly this week than any other.

Monday-  I'm grateful to say that I was very happy that today was P-day I needed to left off some steam. volleyball was the key component added to this equation of release.

Tuesday- The morning came with a headache caused by the heat from the space heater. Personal study ended early and we headed to District Meeting; upon arrival the gate appeared to be locked, turned out it was. We called the District Leader and found out the meeting was cancelled. I was looking forward to the meeting but we went home and got ready to meet with President Balli. I told him that I was struggling with some things cause we weren't seeing much success. President simply said, "You need to stop being so hard on yourself." I went away from this meeting with a weight lifted on my shoulders.

My comp, Elder Lolohea and...the MACHETE!!!

The rest of the week was spent walking. Our bikes seem to lack the ability of staying in one piece. This made for a somewhat unproductive week with not much success. I was quite sure it was another week of testing to see if we would be able to endure. We must have done something right because of the miracle baptism of Mel and Diamond Toloa on Sunday. The days that came before the actual baptism were the days of growth in Myself. I saw myself change rather quickly in a week and a time to move forward!

I LOVE the LORD, I LOVE my FAMILY and I LOVE MY MISSION!! Love you all and have a great week!

Baptism Day for Mel and Diamond Toloa