The Power Of One

Well we had an interesting week!! We finally found a new investigator. Her name is Lindsey!! She went to the temple and was interested so she wanted to learn more!! We stopped by and she told us that we could come right in and teach her! We shared with her the part of the restoration and set up a return appointment to teach the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. She is an extremely kind and extremely open-minded, so this will be an interesting process of teaching her, I think it's going to go very well!!!


Remember how last week I told you we came up with the power of one? President Dalton liked it so much he sent it to every zone in the mission and told them to apply it into their wards and areas. We have had a few calls from random missionaries telling us how cool it is. Ha, that was awesome to hear, cuz we spent so much time on it!! Our own Bishop in Ward Council talked about applying it into his ward. The basic gist, is having every member write down three names of people they want to work on this year. We collect those sheets and follow up throughout the year.


In sacrament meeting, since it was fast Sunday, bishop got up and bore his testimony on the power of member missionary work. It was awesome!! I followed shortly and talked about how their friends will only listen to them. I shared my experience of when I was back home during December and sharing the gospel with other friends. We got five referrals yesterday and the ward is pumped to do missionary work now. We are super stoked to see the outcome of this, cuz if every member in Kaneohe 3 (every active) invites one person, we'd baptize over 100 people in that ward alone. Solid!!We are going to the Laie temple on Thursday morning!! We are so stoked to go!! I miss the temple Soooo much. I miss going once a week and just being in the house of the Lord. I've been looking forward to this for the past 16 months!!!


I'm also stoked about General Conference this week!! I love sitting and listening to the words of our Prophet and Apostles and Seventies. They truly are inspired and have the counsel that we need to hear in this very day and time. I'm excited for Elder Holland's talk and what he will speak on!! I encourage all of you to go into conference with a question and I promise you will find it in one of those talks!!We also have transfer calls coming up Sunday!! This transfer is nearly over, and it's crazy. I only have six more transfers left and they get quicker every time. I have a feeling I'm either leaving or Elder Infanger is. We'll find out in a week!!! But it's been a fun, exhausting week, and time for more!!

Window Sticker

Elder Travis took a picture of this sticker on the window. Click on the picture twice so it enlarges so you can read it. It made me laugh!

Member Missionaries

The above picture is Elder Travis with Brother and Sister Freeman who work in the mission office. Sister Freeman was a wonderful help and emotional support to me when Travis was so sick and especially during his treatment for the blue centipede bite. She told me that she didn't want me to hear about it in an email or letter and have to wait a week to hear how he was doing! God bless her sweet soul for that!
Elder Travis' Mom


Alooha!!

Well, we had quite the interesting week. It was....interesting haha. We had a stake meeting we had to be to on Thursday, so we spent a lot of time getting those reports ready and a training ready!! Which brings about an interesting thought. President Dalton has decided to focus on the members this year. He has one important phrase...the power of one. One Referral. In Kaneohe, we talk to 26,000 people a year and introduce them to the gospel. Last year we baptized 4 people this way. Through the members, Kaneohe had 67 baptisms last year. Quite the difference. If every ACTIVE member in the state of Hawaii referred just ONE friend to the missionaries this year, Hawaii would baptize FIVE new stakes. Think of that for a second, that would require a new temple (on Maui this time), that would require probably a new mission in Hawaii, that would require more missionaries, that would require more leadership. All because of one referral from each individual member. Pretty amazing right? So me and my companion worked on a program to implement this into the zone in Kaneohe and we discussed it in Bishop's Council and hope to get it going before the month is over. It gives us missionaries names from members on who we can follow up with our members on and try and teach at least one of three names of people they want to work with this year. It's going to be sweet if they actually do it!! I must say, that was a day we received revelation, truly!


It was a long stressful week, but looks like a better week is coming!! We have good potential for this week and we'll see what we can do!!!

Elder Travis' Tsunami Details

Note from Elder Travis' mom: The picture above is not of the 2011 tsunami that hit Hawaii after an earthquake in Japan but another tsunami. I couldn't find a current picture.


Aloooha!!!
Well, my second tsunami.... As you know, not too much happened in Hawaii compared to Japan, but we had a little stir! I was in a coordination meeting when our Elders Quorum president told
us Japan was hit hard with an earthquake. Two seconds later he said Hawaii was on a watch for a tsunami. Thirty minutes later, the AP's called us telling us to evacuate and the tsunami was going to hit at 3 am. We went to the church as a zone and played basketball and had no communication with the outside world. We didn't hear anything till later in the day about Japan or what happened off the coast of Kona on Big Island.


We were up till about 4 am and slept till noon, cuz all of us were worried about the tsunami in a way. We are in Kaneohe, and the bay that is here is a huge protection to tsunami's, but we were worried about the people in Japan, as well as our other missionaries. We were happy to hear not much happened here, except a house being taken into the ocean. No casualties in Hawaii, which is a true blessing again. It was a long night, but we lasted through it, and we are alive now. Hopefully no more happens from here on out!!


I bought a newspaper from the Honolulu's newspaper place, to scrapbook this memory. I sent it home today in a package, but the pictures of Japan are devastating. I'm glad to be a member of the church, and know we are some of the first on the scene!! We are truly a blessed people!!


Other than that, the work was kinda slow this week! Jagyr was ordained by his father as a deacon, and I ordained Ric to Priest yesterday. Both were very special experiences, and awesome to see how the Lord truly works!!!


Elder Travis' mom here: This was another email I received when I asked about the two Japanese Elders that he knew who were serving in Hawaii.
The Japanese Elders, Elder Katanuma, his family is in Utah, his grandma was in range of the tsunami though, so he called his family to see if they knew anything and they didn't and couldn't get a hold of his grandma. so that's....disheartening. The other Elder I know of, Elder Yamazaki, I'm not too sure. His family is all outside of Tokyo, and I'm not sure how hard Tokyo was hit. so I'm not sure. But ya we were very concerned for him when we heard.

His Second Tsunami Of The Mission

I copied the following news story from CNN's web site and pasted it here.

Honolulu (CNN) -- As the first light of dawn broke Friday in Hawaii, officials reported no significant damage from a series of tsunami waves that struck the islands after Japan's deadly earthquake.

The tsunami brought waves of about 6 feet to a harbor in Maui, authorities said, but other areas reported lower levels, including Honolulu at 2.2 feet and Hilo at 4.3.

The U.S. mainland, meanwhile, was bracing for waves to come onshore, from Washington to California.

No significant damage had been reported in Hawaii almost three hours after the first waves arrived, but officials said they would know more after sunrise and then make a decision on whether evacuees could return to their homes.

Tsunami waves strike Japan

Buildings, windows damaged in Japan

Witness deals with quake terror

Quake causes ceiling to collapse

Sensors on the southern side of the island of Hawaii, sometimes called the "Big Island," were wet, indicating ocean water had come at least 100 feet ashore, officials said.

CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now broadcast images of fish that washed up by the tsunami on Maui.

Kerry Gershaneck of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard told Hawaii News Now that the operation planned to open once officials gave the "all clear."

Businessman Charlie Leonard, who lives on the 19th floor of a condo on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, said Hawaiians took this tsunami more seriously than they did last year following an earthquake in Chile.

"You could hear a pin drop in Waikiki," Leonard said.

"It came home to people," he said, referring to the devastation in Japan. "I think everybody's grateful" that damage does not appear to be major.

Honolulu is about 6,859 miles (11,038 kilometers) from the location of the February 2010 Chile earthquake. Sendai, Japan -- located near the epicenter of Friday's quake -- is 3,782 miles (6,086 kilometers) away.

Leonard and a business partner operate a waste and recycling business and had to move about 50 trucks late Thursday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center predicted the waves, which came in about every 15 minutes, "are not going to be a major damaging event" for Hawaii, but will cause scattered damage, particularly to harbors and coastal facilities.

It appeared the state's residents had heeded calls to move away from the coast. Honolulu officials told residents to "be aware that inundation effects could continue for several hours."

"We called this one right," center geophysicist Gerard Fryer said. "This evacuation was necessary."

Waves of between 6 and 7 feet were reported at Kahului harbor in Maui, Fryer said, adding that it was difficult to tell what would happen on all the islands. "We have significant energy bouncing around the Hawaiian Islands."

Fryer said the waves are rolling in about 15 minutes apart. Forecasters said some areas may see waves of up to 9 feet.

A tsunami warning was still in effect after 8 a.m. (11 a.m. ET).

Communities along much of the U.S. West Coast were under tsunami warnings, too.

The National Weather Service said the waves would hit Oregon and California.

In California, tsunami wave heights could reach 7 feet at Port San Luis Harbor and 4 feet in Morro Bay. Santa Monica could see 2.8 feet.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee says he feels "confident we will not be hurt by this."

He expected the city to get waves 1 to 2 feet higher than normal. Extra precautions have been taken in case the situation worsens, but he said he has not had reason to call for evacuations.

"I ask the public to remain calm," Lee said.

He said he will be calling Japan's consul-general in San Francisco to offer any assistance to that country.

The first impact in Hawaii was felt shortly after 3:07 a.m. (8:07 a.m. ET), according to Hawaii State Civil Defense, which issued a tsunami warning.

Tidal gauge readings on the southern side of the Hawaiian island of Kauai were "somewhat encouraging," CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano said.

Hawaii Public Radio news director Bill Dorman told CNN some roads were closed as a precaution.

Hawaiian emergency officials reminded residents that tsunami evacuation maps can be found in front of their telephone directories.

Chief Petty Officer Kurt Fredrickson in Honolulu told CNN the U.S. Coast Guard has been working with local port authorities and harbor masters to get the word to all mariners to get out to sea.

The Coast Guard prepared for the worst-case scenario, Frederickson said. "We are moving our assets out to sea. We are moving our aircraft to more suitable locations."

The threat of a tsunami prompted the U.S. National Weather Service to issue a warning for at least 50 countries or territories around the Pacific after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan on Friday. The warning for Guam was later lifted.

Warnings also were in effect for coastal areas of California and Oregon from Point Concepcion, California, to the Oregon-Washington border, according to the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. An advisory was in effect for Washington.

A warning also was in effect for Alaska, from Amchitka Pass to Attu, and in Canada's British Columbia.

President Barack Obama said he instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be prepared to help Hawaii and other U.S. regions "that could be affected" by the disaster.

CNN iReporter Ken Papagno, who lives on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, recorded sirens that sounded throughout the island.

Hawaii had a tsunami scare in February 2010 after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Chile. A warning cancellation occurred nearly two hours after the first waves came ashore. Coast Guard crews said they had found no significant damage to ports or waterways as a result of the tsunami, ending a significant evacuation to higher ground.

A Pretty Decent Week

Note from Elder Travis' mom: The above picture was found on a Facebook page by Trav's sister Brianna. It's a typical goofy Trav face so I decided to post it here!

We had a pretty decent week in Kaneohe!! We went to start knocking doors on Wednesday, and the very first door we knocked, a bigger Hawaiian guy opened the door. He welcomed us right in to teach him. It's nice, cuz that never happens. We usually get "another day" or "get out of here". We taught him about Prophets and the need of prophets, and than re-scheduled an appointment to teach about Joseph Smith. He's a super friendly guy, and I think he has great potential. He lives right by the church too, so he's not too far away!! haha.


Our branch mission leader in the YSA branch, had a friend here from California. We taught her at a dinner and she seemed interested so we went back! We taught her twice and she just flew back to Hollywood. But it was cool to teach her, cuz she had a lot of questions about religion, about the Plan of Salvation, and she said that, "She has a lot of questions she thinks we can't answer." We answered every single one of them and hopefully cleared her understanding. She was nice and sincere and we planted a seed. Hopefully she'll nourish it with other missionaries. We invited her to keep meeting with missionaries in California!


We saw the J***'s again. Jagyr was sustained as a Deacon and will be ordained soon. His father *** will be ordaining him. That is something special to see, we are excited and he is too. Jagyr unfortunately had surgery to correct something in his leg. He has some disease, and his one leg is off by a few CM and it has been throwing his hips and back out. Poor kid...but we got him a get well raccoon (I found one in Walgreen's!!) and talked to Taylor about baptism!! We are having her pray about being baptized on the 26 of March. So we'll see what happens there :)


Anyways, it was a great week, with more to come. We have Zone Conference this week, and I am excited to see that happen!!!


Much love and Aloha and thanks for your support!!!

Signs In Kaneohe

These Burger King signs always make me laugh....

and wish....
that we saw signs like these in Utah!

I guess since missionaries get referrals all the time...that he thought these were funny. Note: We don't pay people money for referrals though so this is why I think he must have thought it was funny.

His brother-in-law just signed up for active duty so I know this bumper sticker has meaning for him. God bless our servicemen and women in whatever branch they serve.