Working Hard

We had a decent week!! Got my new companion, Elder Branden Infanger from Salmon Idaho. He goes home in May, the same time as my trainer. So that'll be very interesting to see what happens there!! If I stay with him another transfer, I'll be in Kaneohe for quite a while. We'll find out in five weeks!!
We had the baptism of Taylor K***. She has been taught for four years, and wasn't able to be baptized because her parents didn't want to sign the form. She turned 18 on Friday, and was baptized Saturday. It was a very special event and something really cool to see. Elder Wise and Barraza tracted into her and started teaching her for the few weeks before I came in, and then we led her to her baptism this past Saturday.


We met with my favorite family in the ward, the Jackola's. We are still working on Taylor to get her with a baptismal date. We are mainly focusing on becoming good friends and helping her see that we truly do care about her. The family is awesome, they are considered part of my family. I love Brother Jackola and Sister Jackola, and Jagyr and Taylor like my own family. They are tremendous and it's so fun to be around them and than share more about the gospel with them. They are making a huge impact in my life in my short time in Kaneohe.


We are struggling in finding solid investigators but we are working hard. We are talking to everyone and knocking on a lot of doors. Despite how sometimes we may be shut away, yelled at, cursed at, chased off the property sometimes, we know the great blessings that come from living the gospel and want to give it to everyone, not just the nice ones.


We did start teaching a lady named Julia. She lives with Dawn and Carmen who were just baptized. She is praying about being baptized at the end of March, so that'll be really cool to see if that happens!!


Well, I miss Elder Barraza, but the work moves forth. My new companion is awesome, and we are working hard!!


Thanks for all you do and I keep all of you in my prayers!!

Another Amazing Week

Aloooha!!!


We had another awesome week!!! We had another baptism on Sunday!!! Jagyr ***. It was so awesome, his family was so excited to see him get baptized. Our baptism on Saturday didn't happen because she got super sick all week, so we'll re-set the date with her this week :). It was fun though!!


We were soo blessed this week to hear the words of Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy. He is an impressive speaker, and it was such a blessing to hear from him!! He spoke to all of us missionaries and was pretty bold. He told us that some of us in the room would be excommunicated, and we had to make sure it wasn't going to be yourself. That was crazy to hear, but the way of the world is crazy. I already know some RM's from the mission who
fell off the path. We got the tremendous blessing of having him speak at our Sacrament Meeting. It was a loaded meeting as we had Elder Clayton and his wife, President Dalton, Elder Scott Whiting of the area Seventy, and President Kaluhiokalani, the Stake President. They all spoke, and it was a solid 90 minutes of spiritual enlightenment. Afterwards, the ward was able to shake hands with him, and Taylor (Jagyr's sister) told him that she wasn't baptized yet. He spoke to her for a while, and we hope to set a date with her tonight!! We are excited because we feel
she is ready. After that, the ward sang Aloha Oe to Elder Clayton, and Elder Barraza. It was a very moving moment to see my companion, who was such a hard working missionary, and taught me so much, bid farewell to the ward that we have labored so hard in. We had five baptisms in six weeks, and saw a lot of miracles.


My new companion is Elder Infanger from Idaho, and he goes home in May with my trainer, Elder Major. So I might help him finish his mission as well!! We'll find out!!


I love all of you and thanks for your support!!!

An Excellent Week!

We had an excellent week. "Slower" in teaching, we didn't teach 30, but we did hit 20 haha. We got caught up in the two baptisms we had.


On Saturday was Tino M***'s baptism. He's been investigating the church for four years, and was finally baptized. It was awesome, the ward didn't expect him to be baptized, but he was!!! We were so stoked!!


Also, on Sunday, we had a baptism for Lamaya. That was really exciting and very spiritual. Her mother is a less active, but was definitely touched by the spirit at the baptism. We have potentially two this week with Kianna Kamahoahoa, and than Jagyr. Kianna is just depending on her dad's approval, and Jagyr is all set for Sunday!!It's an awesome way to end the mission for my companion!! We are definitely seeing miracles. Now we are running into the problem of "What next?" Since all of our investigators are being baptized. I'm sure we'll find some more, but we don't have them right now haha. It's a good problem though.


Other than that, we tried to do the hike Stairway to Heaven (Google it!!!) but we got turned around by the guard. We have a plan to scare him off in a gorilla suit next week...we'll see what happens haha.

Kaneohe

Aloha!!
Sounds like the internet is freaking out or something, cuz emails are weird this week!! I'm sure everyone noticed they got shorter emails too. ZLC was moved at last minute and threw off our whole PDay. I should be on with more time next week!


We had a terrific week again!! We taught 29 lessons, and had a baptism with Dawn ***. It was so awesome!! She was looking forward to it so much and was so excited on Saturday. We have a baptism again on Saturday with Tino ***. He is a Samoan and has been taught for a few years. We are praying he will get to Saturday and be baptized. He seems solid to us though, so we are excited. Than we have two next week, and two the following week, and than one to finish off February.
We are super super busy here in Kaneohe. The harvest truly is white and ready to harvest. We hope to continue to see this type of success, and I'm happy that Elder Barraza is seeing this to finish off his mission!
We had a meeting with Elder Whiting of the area Seventy on Sunday. He is a spiritual giant!! He said something that made me think. He said that our priorities should be the same as the prophets, because that's the Lord's priorities as well. I thought that was interesting. He was a super amazing man to meet with. We met with him and the stake presidency.


We saw a lot of great things this last and know we will continue to see those things happen this week as well!! We are so excited to see even more happen!! We are truly working hard and we don't stop our day until we know it's over!!


Love all of you and thanks for your support!!!

"It's So Awesome To Be A Missionary"

Aloha!!!

We had such an amazing week!! We taught 29 lessons, and had a baptism on Sunday. We have a baptism every weekend of February. We have a couple extras too...overall we should have about six baptisms this month for Kaneohe 3rd ward. We are very excited to see this all happen. I'm so happy that Elder Barraza is ending his mission this
way!!Ric's baptism was so amazing. It was so spiritual and so awesome!! He brought his friend's family who had a son who passed away, and at the end they were completely in tears. This was such an awesome experience to be a part of, and now we are excited to see him progress towards the temple and do the work for his friend!!


We tracted into this guy who told us we could come back the next day and teach him!! So we went back the following day and he was kind of surprised to see us. We started the "get to know you" part of the lesson, and he told us he looked online about our church, and read how we "believe" in physical intimacy of God and Mary, and how we can become God's. He couldn't process through his head, no matter how straight forward we told him, that we don't believe in that relationship between God and Mary, and all we knew about the conception of Jesus, was what was in the Bible. We tried to teach him part of the restoration, but he was convinced we believed that. We kinda laughed and told him that if he wants to learn more about the church to go to mormon.org and talk to the people themselves on what they believe, and not to someone else who doesn't know what we believe. He was an interesting guy!


Anyways, we should have Dawn's baptism this Saturday, and we are super excited for her as well. She came to church because of her friend who was just baptized a few months ago, and she just hit the ground running. She is all set for Saturday, and this will be another very spiritual experience!!


But we are seeing true miracles out here, and everyday is the question, "What miracles will we see today?" It is so awesome to be a missionary, and I'm loving it!!

Sunday Baptism

EDIT: The pictures are all of Laie in this post. I don't have any from his current area yet.
Aloha!!
Another week down in Kaneohe!! We saw so many miracles again this week!!! We taught 25 lessons, mostly to investigators, and we are being led to the elect. We have a baptism on Sunday, which is for R***. He moved it back a day so he could get his family there! He told me that he "thought it was weird he wasn't a member, but really wanted to serve a mission." Solid!! I told him, and promised him that when he went through the temple for the first time, I'll be there. I'm so excited for this kid, he is just awesome. He was so prepared to receive this gospel!! We also saw D*** a few times. She is still set for Feb. 5th on baptism, and she really wants to see that day as well. She is solid and already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and prophets.
Other than that, we are hoping for a miracle baptism to happen here soon. The name is K***. She has been to church every week for a few years and just isn't baptized. So we are going to ask her and try to set that day Wednesday. The keiki who was going to get baptized on Saturday, L***, was pushed to Feb. 13. Her grandmother feels she needs to learn more and really know what she's getting into! Which I agree with, we had a few more lessons to teach her, so moving it was a smart idea!Anyways, we are seeing great miracles here in Kaneohe. It is amazing to see the blessings that the Lord has brought into Elder Barraza's and my life as we work hard. We are constantly out trying to teach, and if we're not teaching, we're finding. I love this gospel and everything about it, and I will never doubt that it's true!

More Signs From The Mission

Elder Travis sent home his memory card and once again it's full of fun signs and things from the mission! As you enter the valley this sign is on the back of an old drive-in movie theater and it was a welcome site to Travis when he came home on his "intermission" to have his surgery.
I was with him when he took this picture. He said, "only in Utah would you see this sign," and you know what? He's probably right!
This was one of Elder Travis' dreams for his mission...seeing the Laie Temple. He was fortunate to do so the day after he arrived back in Oahu after his surgery.
Sometimes on hikes he sees signs like this. It's so sad and it makes you stop and wonder what happened to them. We're so lucky to know that there is a life after this mortal existence is over.
I'm not sure about this sign but I'm posting it bz he took the picture.
I love this license plate and the fact that the holder is from the "Munky Wurks" garage! Sounds like a fun place.
Self-explanatory.
Self-explanatory again. I think I need one of these on my yard for the neighbors dogs (and cats).
The things people think of to put on license plates, lol!
Last but not least a street named for our famous Utah capitol city! I can hardly wait to see what signs are on the next memory card!

Busy Teaching The Gospel And Loving It

Aloha!!!

Man oh man, we had a terrific week!! I am in the Kaneohe 3rd, and Kaneohe 6th YSA ward. It is awesome!! I love the people here so much, and we have a lot of work to do!! I feel like I'm back in Kaua'i with all we have to do now haha.We have two baptisms next week!! An 8 year old girl, L****, and than R***.R*** went through the open house and was interested in the idea of baptisms for the dead, so he came to church. His friend recently passed away, so he wants to do his baptism for him in the temple. He is awesome!! We actually had a lesson with him this morning (taught him about three times). We shared the first vision with him and he loved it. The spirit was so strong and he told us he knew it was true with all of his heart. His eyes filled with tears as he talked about how he felt the Holy Ghost and a hand on his shoulder as he heard of Joseph Smith's experience. I get terrified when I, personally, have to share the first vision..because it's such a sacred experience I want to make it sound perfect. But through lots of prayer throughout the lesson, I was able to help him feel the spirit, and the conversion of it. It was a blessed moment.
We also have two more baptisms coming up in February with a lady named D***, and a guy named T***. D*** recently gave birth and started coming to church with her friend. She was interested, took the lessons and is now ready to be baptized!! T***'s wife gave birth and he's ready for it as well.


Needless to say, we are seeing so many miracles happen out here. I love being able to see the change others are ready to make!!


The Zone Leader responsibilities are heavy and we have to be a set example. So I try to be that example the Lord expects of me, and I hope I can fulfill that promise. But we are working hard, and seeing so many great things happen!

Transfer News

Aloha from the beloved mission of Hawaii Honolulu. Must I say that it is getting cold here. It reached 65 the other night, and I really had to bundle up! I kid you not, I was freezing!! Locals say it's cold cold here too!! I guess I adjusted too much. Oh well, haha it'll be warm soon! Just cold now. I had to wear a long sleeve shirt yesterday!

But that's Hawaii weather!!

We got transfer information for those who care!! I was called last night by President Dalton, and he informed me that I would be moving back to....Kaneohe!! Yes...that's right. I'm going to my old zone. But, I am not going back to my old ward/area, I'm covering the wards that the Zone Leaders cover. Did you catch that? I hope you did. They called me as a zone leader, and so the whole perspective I have on missionary work is about to change as I have more responsibility and look to serve the Lord better than I have previously! I am excited, but nervous as well, and it'll be really interesting to see!! My companion will be Elder Barzza, who is from Utah. He has been out 23 months, so I will "kill" him in his last six weeks of his mission. (EDIT from Elder Travis' mom - "killing" him means that he'll see him through to the end of his mission and nothing more sinister than that). He trained Elder Jaramillo, so we have a small connection with each other now. I'm very excited but very nervous. The Zone Leaders usually have good companions and good areas, so I will like that part!

Other than that, Kaimuki is a good place to serve and I had fun here the past two weeks with Elder Solomon. Whoever comes into here will see great miracles the next six weeks!!

A Crazy But Very Happy Month 12

Elder Travis had a pretty unique month 12 of his mission. He left behind the beautiful sites of Honolulu to come home and have surgery. He marked his one year anniversary here at home recovering. There were other things that happened before he flew home though and I'm going to recap the month for him.
It was a month of more creatures that live in Hawaii. I've never seen such a small Gecko as this one! They like geckos since they eat the blue centipedes.
He left his companionship with Elder Davis and his mom and dad became his new companions with his mission president being our stake president while he was home.
They were able to see some sea turtles while standing on a rocky ridge above the ocean (picture is zoomed in). I'm so happy that sea turtles became part of his mission and I'll share why with you at a later date.
There were more funny signs that he said could only be found in Utah! He's probably right about that too.
There were wonderful gifts from new friends.
There were many times he had to say hello.....
and many hugs he needed to give.
There were new family members to meet (who by the way adored him!)....
and a quick trip to temple square.
There were family pictures to be taken before church too. He also had the rare opportunity for a Hawaiian missionary to shovel snow! He didn't like that so much though.
There were improvisations to be made when there was no room in his closet to hang his clothes.
There was the traditional Christmas Eve party....
and the joy of watching his nieces open their gifts. Savannah fell in love with Uncle Travie too!
He taught his family how to properly cut a pineapple.....
and posed for the traditional picture by the tree in his new Christmas pajamas.
This year I bought him a white T-shirt to go under his Jazz jersey. Usually he gets a graphic T but none seemed appropriate this year.
There was time spent helping his father....
and calling and making his reports to the Zone Leaders and APs since he's a District Leader. Too bad he's wearing that horrid pink tie! Okay,okay, his mom isn't a fan of men in pink. He also kept pulling weird faces every time I tried to get a picture!
He pitched in and did service helping to get dinner going.....

and all too soon it was time to pack up and head back to his full-time mission duties in Hawaii.
The ride was too short....
but it was time and Elder Travis was anxious to go.
A passerby at the airport offered to take a picture of all three of us. We met kind people everywhere during his time home and we're grateful for the rare opportunity to spend time with him while he was set apart as a full-time missionary. Most families only get the chance to be around their missionaries after they're set apart until the next morning when they send them to the MTC and when they arrive home for a couple of hours until their stake president releases them. It was a choice experience I wish every family of a full-time missionary could have and for this experience we all know that we were extremely blessed by our Heavenly Father.