Aloha Familia!

Life is great as a missionary.  There is so much going on and I wish I could tell you all everything!

This week has been really great!  The conference with Elder Hamula could not have come at a better time.  With the emphasis we've had on faith lately, we felt impressed to talk about it to Brother Johnson (his first name is Randy, by the way).  The lesson we prepared for him ended up being entirely the Spirit's lesson.  We planned before hand that we were going to invite him to be baptized no matter what we thought his answer might be.  Every time in the past he has said no and that's what happened when we asked him at first.  Then we continued on reading in the Book of Mormon and talking about faith.  We asked him again and he didn't say no this time!  He's still not committed, but he is SO CLOSE!  We know he felt the Spirit, even if he won't say that he knows he has.  This experience has shown me how a lesson should really be taught by the Spirit.  We plan, pray, and prepare as much as we can, and then when we get into the lesson, He takes over based off of what we have prepared.  I have been thinking a lot this week about the D&C verse "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants it is the same" and how, as missionaries, we are His servants.  I thought, but how do I know if I'm right and what I'm saying is really what God would say?  Then during that lesson, at one part I was speaking, but I really wasn't thinking.  At all.  It was entirely God speaking directly through me to His son whom we were teaching.  And that has changed my view of missionary work entirely.  I felt a small portion of what Heavenly Father feels for our investigator--and for all of His children.  I'll even say it's changed my life.

One thing that Brother Johnson discovered during the lesson was that maybe he just needs hope.  He doesn't know what he hopes for.  Later that night I remembered the song in the "From Cummorah's Hill" program called "The Power of God".  It's written about the part of the Book of Mormon that we were reading from.  It says, "The power of God is plain to see, there are wonders on every hand, to those who will see through eyes of faith beyond the mind of man.  For how could we hope to see His face, who never could see His hand?"  Maybe that's why Randy doesn't know what he hopes for--because he doesn't acknowledge miracles in his life.  We hope we can help him with that in the next few lessons.

One funny part about that lesson:  we were talking about Korihor the Anti-Christ and how he doesn't believe in God, because some of Randy's questions were very similar to what Korihor was preaching.  For example, Korihor said that "it is the effect of a frenzied mind" and Bro. Johnson has said that he doesn't want to brainwash himself into thinking there is a God.  As we were reading with him in Alma 30, he said, "I'm pretty sure if you look up Korihor in the back of the book, in the definition it'll say Randy."  It was pretty funny.

Oh!  You can tell Brother Pullman that I used "Jenga" for a lesson with the Lemkes.  I think it was a really good hands-on visual for them and it helped them stay focused a little bit more.  We talked before that about keeping the Sabbath day holy.  It ended up being really good. :)

Well, I hope y'all are doing fantastic!  I love you!

-- ~Love, Sister Davis