05/18/09

Aloha

Right now I can't tell if I am a little sick, or just suffering from the vog (volcanic fog, nice poisonus, sulferus gasses). Either way, coughing has been a common thing this last week, but oh well. Proves that Hawaii isn't always the greatest place in the world.

This last week has been an intersting one. We had some ups, some downs, some "What the"s and some "Hmmm"s.

One of our biggest ups is that we got a referal from Provo (which they got from a member who just moved from our ward) for a guy in our area. He is a little skeptical of religions, but is willing to put it to the test. He seems like a great guy, and could definiatley use the gospel.

One down was that two of our investigators dropped us on Monday. Well, one is moving to O'ahu for the summer, but he does want missionaries coming there. One of our zone leaders thinks he may be headed to the ward he lives in, so that would be awesome. The other is Carey O'oka (yes, it can sound a little like Kareokee (sp?)). We called on Monday to try to set up an appointment with him, and he told us that he doesn't feel ready for the gospel yet. But, we found out yesterday that he is Bi-Polor, so that might be why. We asked the bishop to send someone a little more familiar over first though.

We have also realized this week that there seem to be a lot of interesting (and by intersting I mean absolutely crazy) people in Hilo, and we are teaching a couple. We are going to have our bishop meet them before we get too far along in teaching. Our mission president told me that "for lack of a better word, they become his problem after they are baptized". So yeah... our bishop is happy that we are doing that though.

We had zone conference on Friday, and that was a "hmmm" moment for my companion and I. It was a very good zone conference, but everything seemed to be focused on baptism. My companion and I came to the conclusion afterwards (and we pretty much had before Friday as well) that we are going to do everything we can to help people get to baptism, but we aren't going to force them. We both want solid converts who aren't going to fall away. Of course baptism is a goal, and what we would like, but we don't want to get baptism hungry, like a lot of missionaries seem to be. Call me rebelious, but I can't bring myself to force people.

We are looking forward to this week though. There is a lot of potential. If all goes as hoped, we should be able to help 7-8 people come to sacrament this sunday. Add others we hope to find this week, and our areas are starting to see some better activity. So, onward, forward we go.

We had a very interesting converstation with a member last night. He was talking about the research our most active non-member in our ward (thats a funny story) did. Basically, he talked about how stereotypes destroy everything in our life. Not just about races and cultures, but towards adults and children as well. We assume how people are going to react, and they assume how we are going to react. Let us rise above and follow how the gospel tells us we should respond. Our Savior asked us to live in the world, but not be a part of the world.

I love you all, and thank you for all of your support!

Elder Kidd