This week was super good! Me and Elder Barnes have been able to see the Lord's hand in the work so much this week! Yesterday we had a cool experience of not really knowing where to go because our lesson fell through and back up did also! We decided to pray and that led us to 4th street in our area! We went by a potential that we talked with a couple days back that lived on that street... he didn't answer but then we got a text message on my phone and it was a referral from the other elders.  The referral was on 4th street like 1 min away from where we were! It showed us that we needed to be exactly at this spot and that the promptings that we were feeling were no joke... Even crazier when we were going down to the referral this lady that is a inactive member stopped us and asked us to give her a blessing... Even crazier the AP's were walking down that same street and gave her friend a blessing too! But that's not it, once we finally got to the referral's apartment it was the apartment of someone we were already teaching, Darwin, and the referals was Darwin's brother and sister in law and they are all so interested! It was sweet! Then after that contact since we were on 4th street already we decided to go to another potential that we have been trying for the past couple of days and we got let right in and taught her and her mom the restoration! It was amazing! After all that me and Elder Barnes looked at each other and said, " We need to pray more about where we need to go!" It just showed me that if we really ask Heavenly Father where we need to go, he will tell us every time.  But we have to be humble enough to follow those promptings! It was a super strong testimony builder! We are just instruments in this work, but we need to work hard and be humble to be able to be fine tuned instruments! There is a difference! 

Speaking of 4th street something crazy that happened on Wed was a guy busted out of window! Haha so 4th street has all these ghetto apartments that I love to go tract and a less active member lives there. We were going by and as we were leaving his house, we see this homie bust out of the window head first and scorpions right on the ground! Haha he gets up and runs to his car and then yells to us, "call the cops she's crazy!" Then this girl walks out of the apartment and tells us, "dont call the cops, nothing happened." Lol and then he skrrts out! Funny thing is that the AP's were waiting for us to give us our bikes(finally...) but they were right in front of the window that the guy busted out! lol We talked with the lady for a little and then we all left confused out of our minds of what we just saw. Then 30 min later me and Elder Barnes are passing the apartment complex again and see her outside still. So we make sure she's OK and then bang! 5 cop cars come pulling in. We had to tell the cops what we saw and everything! lol I guess she threatened the guy with a shard of glass but her story she told us was totally different! It was a crazy night , but kind of a normal in this area! I swear if I don't hear a cop siren every 30 min it's weird! Anyways we shared a scripture with her and actually gave her a Book of Mormon too! So hopefully that's helping her right now! 

This week was awesome with Easter and being able to see everyone get excited about Jesus Christ! We actually got to sing in Sacrament yesterday and it was awesome! Overall such a good week! We were able to find so many people that are prepared to hear this message! I love you all and hope you all have a good week!

Con Amor,

Elder Ka'ili

MY NEW HOME YAKIMA!

This week has been wild! I have made it to my new area! The holy land of Yakima! Man I already love it here! I low key thought being doubled into an area and opening it was going to be super stressful but it actually has been so sick! The first day here me and my trainee, Elder Barnes, were able to put a kid on date named Eddie Hueyotlipa! He is pumped and loves Joseph smith! And then a couple days later we were able to put his brother Ivan on date as well! Then we got Ivan to come to church this Sunday and he loved it! Man the start of this transfer has been the best start we could've asked for! Being District Leader is super fun too! It was a little stressful at the beginning combined with training but after the first couple days its seriously so fun now!

Something crazy that happened this week happened on Friday! So our house is about a 40 min walk away from our area and so the Zone Leaders that we live with usually will pick us up when we are done working at night. Well Friday night we were in a lesson until about 8:45pm and when we got out we had a missed call and voicemail from the Zone Leaders. It basically said they got stuck in a meeting so we would have to walk home.... Let me tell you the area I'm in right now is known for the crazies, gangs, and homeless people especially on this street called S. Naches and that was exactly where we were! Haha so we just started walking home and I kid you not it straight up felt like I was walking around in the Purge! On the street it was just homeless people throwing hands, homeless people messed up on drugs and then me and Elder Barnes! I'm not going to lie I was a little scared but I knew we had the Lord with us so I wasn't tripping too much lol! A member came to the rescue though after we already walked about 3/4 the way but it was an answer to a prayer!

The new Branch that I am in is called Englewood and it's so tight! We ate with some members named the Estradas and I swear they were trying to kill me! Lol Hermana Estrada just kept the tacos coming! I straight up ate 12 tacos yesterday but it was fun and they're such a cool family!

The Lord has been putting so many people in me and Elder Barnes way though and its been so awesome! In the past couple days I have seen the Lord's hand in the work so much as He directs us to exactly where we need to be at the time we need to be there! As we walk we have had people just yell at us to come over and talk with them! It's crazy! I think the Lord knows that we need help opening a new area lol!

This week has been awesome! Thank you all for the emails and love! Have a good week!


Con Amor,
Elder Ka'ili

This week was soooo good! To start it off me and Elder Englestead last Monday decided to take the bikes out after P day to go and visit Jannely our friend preparing for baptism! When we decided to go out on the bikes it was about 7:30 PM, the sun was down and everyone in the barrio was telling us not to go out after dark because it's dangerous... but here's the thing, I forgot the keys to our car in the other elders car soooo it was the only way haha! So me and Elder Englestead got our weapons (BOM's) and went out. Man the wind was so bad but we just went with it.. We needed to talk to Jannely about church. So we kept going and when we got there, we could feel light rain drops. We both looked at each other and were like oh crap... The worst part about this is when we got to Jannely's house, she wasn't even there. Then I kid you not, right as we started getting back on our bikes the rain came tumbling down lol. The wind plus the rain made it super fun to bike in, I'm not going to lie, but we finally made it home and we were soaked! The thing is Jannely's mom felt bad for us that we came by and no one answered and that we got soaked and told us we could come on Tuesday to have a lesson. Lol,so moral of the story.... even though we had to suffer through that, the Lord knows our efforts and blessed us with a confirmed lesson! It was perfect!

This past Wednesday we got to attend The Colombia River Temple! It was so nice and I also got to see some old members from Mattawa, so that was tight as well! Words cannot describe the peace that you feel in the Temple! I am jealous of those missionaries that have temples in their missions cause they go all the time... we go twice a year... But it was something definitely needed and I feel like only going twice a year really makes me cherish the moments I have in the house of the Lord! After the mish if you trynna find me.. I'll be in the temple haha!

Yesterday we had a missionary fireside called "Why I Believe". It something that Sister Jackman wanted us missionaries to hold for all those that we are teaching! We have converts to the church, recent converts, long time converts share their conversion story and why they believe in the church! Yesterday me and 5 other missionaries sang "Peace in Christ" and with 15 min of practice we still killed it haha! But man oh man, the Spirit was so strong there yesterday! We had a brother named Brother Simmons talk. He talked about joining the church because of an experience he had with a priesthood blessing! His testimony was so strong of the Book of Mormon. The faith that he had to put in that book as he was joining the church! His family is all strong Baptist members and to this day they still don't discuss his faith because they hate our church so bad. But he said that once you read and pray about that book, that feeling you get YOU CANNOT DENY IT! Earlier yesterday we ate our fast breaking dinner with him and he made us tons of steak! Best dinner I had on the mission! But throughout that dinner as well he was telling us about his conversion story and man I have so much respect for him.

It really seems that this past week at all our our member visits members have been talking to us about the safety and peace in the Book of Mormon and the realness of this gospel. I was talking to this older member, he was the stake patriarch for a while, but we were talking about the Lamanites and the duty we have to bring them back into the fold, because they will one day come back! He shared with me that I have an in with them because I am one of their brothers and told me that I am supposed to be here right now. He told me that I have a different spirit that has people want to know me. He joked and said I wish I had that gift! The feeling that you get as you walk into our church, the feeling you get as you listen to the prophet, the feeling you get as you listen to the missionaries, those feeling are the Holy Ghost telling you that this is the true church! I have noticed on my mission that when I feel the Holy Ghost, I cry! Hahah it kind of sucks.... But that really made me think, and has helped me look at exactly why I am serving my brothers the Lamanites!! What's even crazier is that later that night my dad sent me a talk about that exact topic! It really has helped me change my whole perspective of my mission and has made me want to work even harder, and talk Spanish even more!

This week was seriously awesome! Thank you all for your support and love I feel every day! I hope you all have a good week and hope you all can get to the temple ASAP! Read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I promise you that by doing those 2 small actions, that book will change your life! I love you all! Lets get PUMPED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!

Con amor,
Elder Ka'ili