Week 6- White Washing is Hard!

Dear Family and Friends,

     This week has been good but hard. It is hard to white wash and neither of us know anyone so we are meeting so many people. There weren't really any people that the missionaries before us were really teaching so we are having to find our own. I have come to know how important referrals are. It is so much easier when friends introduce you to the church. People are much more receptive that way instead of knocking on doors and talking to people that may be interested. We have done lots of knocking and have met a lot of really good people and maybe a few will become investigators. Most of our time currently is spent tracting and I wish that we had more people to teach because that is why I am here but I know that the Lord has a plan in mind for me and for the people here on Lanai. I know that the miracles won't come until after the trial of my faith, so I know that I have to keep working and trying my very best and then I will be able to see miracles whether they are in myself or see how the gospel can bring so much happiness into another life. 

     Last Monday, was our P-day (preparation day) and the Kawasakis took us to the Shipwreck part of the island. After World War II these ships were just left because they didn't need them anymore. So apparently there are about 13 of these concrete boats that are sunk out near the beaches of Lanai. One is still above water and so we got to see that. The only bad part was it was super windy but on the other hand it made the waves look so cool when they crashed into the boat and sent the water flying! Then we eat with the Kawasakis for dinner as well and then play Scrabble. Might I say that despite my spelling inadequacies I have not won nor come in last out of 4 people yet. Haha. I am constantly looking up words in the dictionary so you never know, maybe I'll come home with an advanced vocabulary ;) 

 

      Amazing People that I have met: The first is Pete: He is Filipino and remembers a lot of Mormon boys when they would come to Lanai and help harvest the pineapple back in the day. He said they gave him a Book of Mormon but he wasn't sure where he had put it. We were able to give him another one and he said he would read it and pray about it. He said that we could come back and "talk story" with him and teach him. He understands that we have to learn for ourselves and recognizes Jesus Christ as the best example we can follow. The second is Wesley: I think I talked about him last week but I cant remember. But he is great! Though we have invited him to church the past 2 weeks and he hasn't come, he has started reading the Book of Mormon and believes it to be the word of God. When he said that my heart leapt! He would be so great and he already has so much faith in the power of prayer! We are meeting with him on Wednesday! The third is Magdelina: a little old Filipino lady. She was a former investigator and we just stopped by her house to see if she was there and she was and we were able to talk with her and she said she we could come back and teach her. We invited her to church this Sunday and she came! Fourth person is Alberta: she is the one that we farm with every Friday. Well last week she had a lot of questions about church- when it was, what we did at church and stuff like that. She wasn't able to come last week to church. Then this past Friday she had questions about the temple and how we believe that in the temple we can be sealed to our families for time and all of eternity. Ah she is great and then she came to church on Sunday for sacrament and loved it. Sister Duke and I spoke and I think she felt the Spirit! I was able to talk to her afterward and I asked if she would come again and she smiled and said, "I think you will be able to convince me of that." Ah she is perfect, I just love it when people are willing to listen to the gospel with an open heart. I think people misunderstand what missionaries do. We teach and invite. We do not force people to do anything. Yes we want them to pray, read the scirptures, go to church, and get baptized because we know how much happiness this restored gospel has to offer but we do not force anyone to join. It has to be their decision and they have to do it for themselves and for their God. Fifth person is Flora: I talked about her a little last week, she is an older Hawaiian lady that has been coming to church for 20+ years but has not been baptized. I love her so much and I see that she is not happy with her life. She is holding on to so much pain from her past and I know that if she would committ to baptism she would be able to let all of her pain go and she would be able to feel the Saviors healing power change her. We talked about baptism with her this week but she still will not take the step of faith. I just continue to pray for her to have the strength to come to truly know her Savior, Jesus Christ. 

      Miracles of the week: The other week we had received a referal in the mail for a lady who wanted the Book of Mormon. The referal had her phone number and then a P.O. box number. We tried the phone number but the line had been disconnected (we see that a lot here) so we wrote her a note and gave her our number and told her when and where church was. Well... this week I saw someone in the congregation that I didn't recognize so I went up and introduced myself and then she said who she was and at first I didn't connect the dots but then it came that she was our referal. She had gotten our note and had come to church! Come to find out she is a member but has been inactive most of her life. Maybe it is her time to come back! 

     The other miracle of this week is I spoke in church. Our topic was on the Power of Faith in Jesus Christ. I had prepared as best I could with the little time that I had. I was so nervous because when it comes to writting I am a perfectionist and when it comes to speaking in front of people I get so nervous and hate it! Well this talk I had prepared but not once had been able to practice it and lets just say I was a nervous wreck. I am so grateful for prayer and the ability it has to at least keep my nerves at bay because I was able to give my talk and it was the right amount of time and the places that I had just jotted down the Lord loosed my tounge and I think I was able to give a good talk. I don't remember all of what I said but either people were being nice when they said I did well or the Lord has the amazing ability to override wrong words with the Spirit. (Both might me true).

     Words of the week: talk story = chit chat/ catch up, puka = hole, keiki=child, tita= sister, and ohana= family

Aloha ovau ia oe! (I love you!)

Love Always, 

     Sister Cassidy Jean Lang

Week 5- Lessons from Lanai

Dear Family and Friends,

    So I realized that I didn't tell you about Lanai. It is one of the smallest islands. The whole town, where all 3,000 people live, is right in the middle of the island. There are 2 hotels Manele on one end of the island and Koele on the other side of the island. Then the town is super small and in the middle. This island used to be a pineapple plantation but when the hotels came in they had to choose whether to use the water for the pineapples or for the golf courses at the hotels... The hotels won. Now the fields that used to be covered with pineapples (one lady described it when she came to the island and the plane was landing she didn't even see the runway she thought they were just landing in pineapple fields... so they were everywhere) are left barren. My companion and I live at the church in a little tiny apartment that is connected to it. There is a little kitchen, bathroom and then our bedroom. It is cozy but small, but I like it and it has come to be home. 

 

    Story from Lanai: Last week we went to Sweetheart Rock down at the beach. The story goes: There once lived a working man on Lanai who fell in love with a beautiful girl. He worked hard so one day he could marry her. His hard work paid off and the two were married. But the man was so protective of his beautiful wife and he didn't want any one else to behold her beauty so he placed her in a cave where they would live and then he would be the only one that could see her beauty. One day, he was on the island hunting and had left his beautiful wife in the cave and when the high tide came up she drowned. When the man returned to find his beautiful wife dead he couldn't see her left to the ocean. So, he swam to the cave rescued her body and taking all the strength he had, he climbed to the top of the rock where he buried her. After he had made the greatest burial he could manage he realized he could not live life without her and ran and jumped off the rock to his death. The legend is that he was turned into a shark that guards Sweetheart Rock and his beautiful wife to this day. 

 

    We went and saw Sweetheart Rock last week and saw our baptismal font in the ocean!  But don't worry the gospel is being shared too! We have had so many great moments here this week. First, we ate dinner with the Oshimas (a super cute and old Japanese couple who are members) and they had a nonmember, Flora with them. (Flora has come to church for 20 years now but has never been baptized.) It was amazing to talk with her. We shared a video about the Restoration and we all bore testimony of the gospel and the Restoration and then we asked what she was thinking or if she felt anything. She opened up to us and said that she didn't understand us when we said we know. How can we know? Then she doesn't know how the Holy Ghost talks to her personally. We shared experiences of how we feel the Holy Ghost but it is different for everyone but I know she has felt it she just does not recognize that those feelings are the Holy Ghost. We asked her if she would like to be baptized and she said she didn't know. At times she wants to but then she just doesn't know. She has a hard time understanding why her husband was not healed and why that prayer was not answered. It was a really good start and I am excited to be able to get to know her better. It is hard to understand why bad things sometimes happen; but, I do know that God has a better perspective than we do and he only wants what is best for us even if that means we have to suffer a little bit first. Then, I know that if we follow this gospel we have the opportunity to be with our families forever, not until death but forever. 

 

    Second, we met a guy named Wesley, and we went over for a return appointment and we were able to talk about the Restoration through Joseph Smith. After we had talked about it he was really excited and was like, "That is so cool. It makes a lot more sense now!" I think he is feeling the Spirit and he has started to read a little bit from the Book of Mormon. We invited him to come to church but he didn't come yesterday, but we will keep trying. 

 

     Lessons God taught me: prayer softens hearts. With the Prayer Approach and asking people if we can pray with and for them to leave the Savior's blessings of peace and comfort, I have seen the Spirit soften people's hearts. One example, we knocked on Primo's door and he was like, "No, sorry I am watching the news." Then I told him that it wouldn't take long so he said ok. We prayed and after he started asking us questions and told us to come back when his wife was home. Primo went from someone that did not want to pray with us to wanting us to come back to talk more with him! The second thing God has taught me is that when we try our best He will provide. Every day we set goals and try our best to achieve that goal. One day we had a goal of 3 people we could pray with. We had knocked on doors for an hour and a half and no one had been willing to pray with us. There were about 5 houses left on the block and I was discouraged to say the least. Within those 5 houses we were able to pray with exactly 3. I know that when we set goals and try our very best to achieve them through our own works and fall short, that is when the Lord will step in and help us. He never wants to see us fail but that doesn't mean He will give us success if we do not first work for it. 

 

     Well I think that is it for this past week! I love this gospel, I know that it is true. I love the Lord and Jesus Christ. I love this work! And I love the people of Lanai! I hope and pray that all is well in your lives back home

Love Always, 

     Sister Cassidy Jean Lang

Week 4- Never Would Have Guessed This!

Dear Family and Friends,

     My first place to serve is on the island of Lanai. The 3rd smallest island with 3 thousand people that live here and about 80 members in our branch with 30 active. There is work to be done here and I am so excited to start. Lanai used to be a pineapple plantation, most of the people here are Filipino (Rachel, I need some Tagalog church words :)) My companion is Sister Duke and she has been out for about a year. We are the first sisters here since the 1970s and we are the only missionaries on the island. I do not know why I have been sent here because I am just fresh but if the Lord has faith in me that I can do this, then I must be here for a reason. I know already that I have so much that I can learn from Sister Duke. She is awesome at the work, she talks to people so easily and always has great questions to ask people. I am trying to follow her lead and learn all of her strengths and incorporate them in to how I am teaching. We are white-washing the area, which means that both of us are new here and so we are in a sense starting from scratch with a few helpful notes from the previous missionaries that were here. 

 

      In this mission we use what they call the Prayer Approach. We go and knock on doors and ask if we can leave the Savior's blessing with them and ask to pray with individuals or families. We have had a lot of success with this because most people think that another prayer won't hurt them. Then after we ask them about what they felt or if prayer has played a role in their lives or other inspired questions that help them recognize the Holy Ghost in their lives. Then if we can we ask them if they will follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. At first I thought that was super quick but that is why we are here: to simply invite others to come unto Christ through baptism. It is still up to them to choose but this way they know exactly why we are here. We have met some amazing people this way. One is Alex, who is a single mom with 2 kids and was baptized into the Catholic church but has never really thought about it for her kids so she said that she would like to look into it for her kids but she has to talk to their father. We are going to meet with her again this week! 

 

      Then there is Wesley, he is so nice and funny! He was at his sister's house in the garage and when we knocked on the door he said, "No one is home" but then told us to come to the garage and we chatted with him and found out that his brother-in-law was in the hospital so things weren't too great in his family life at the moment. We were able to pray for him and his family and then we asked if he minded if we could come back and teach him more about the gospel and he said yes so we are meeting with him on Wednesday! 

 

     Then there is a family that are members with 5 kids, Brooklyn, Breta, Brit, Brynlee, and Briel and they are great! They are so fun and live down the street from us and come running to us yelling, "Sisters sisters!!" whenever we walk by their house. They are so welcoming and just fun. The oldest one is 12 and then the youngest is 3. They always ask if we have food to eat and if we are warm enough. We are always welcome with them and they just adopt the missionaries as part of their family which is so great because sometimes I feel that people think missionaries aren't real people but we like to have fun, laugh, and play silly games still. Yes we are here doing the Lord's work but since when does that mean that we can't have fun at the same time. 

 

    Well, that is about it for my few days that I have been here. I am excited for the week to come! Love you all and am praying for you.

 

Love Always,

     Sister Cassidy Jean Lang