Bunch of pics of JUNE in Honoka 'a: saying goodbye!

MAUI: no ka 'oi

What's up my people?! On Saturday evening, we had 2 people we've been teaching enter the waters of baptism and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. One was Kawika, a 39 year old horse trainer, who has been taught by the missionaries for 9 months. The other one was Auriana, an 11 yr old girl with various health issues including a brain tumor I believe. I was fortunate enough to be the one that actually baptized Kawika. It was a neat experience. Some COVID restrictions have loosened up so we were able to open up the baptisms to anyone who wanted to come. A decent amount of members from the ward came and loaded up Kawika and Auri with lei's and all sorts of other gifts which is typically at baptisms here. I will definitely include some pictures!

The other exciting news is that I'm heading to Wailuku Maui! The subject of my email actually means "Maui is the best" in Hawaiian. After 5.5 months in Honokaa, I'm definitely sad to leave but I know that getting transferred is just part of being a missionary. Yesterday was my last time at church and the whole ward sang Aloha 'Oe to me and came up and loaded ME up with lei's. It was a neat experience. I definitely felt the Spirit and it was amazing to hug some of my favorite people. As missionaries we're not supposed to hug people but in Hawaii that's kind of hard - haha. 

Honoka'a holds a special place in my heart and I definitely intend to come back. There's a part member family that I've worked with here and even taught and baptized 3 of their daughters. I told them I want to come back in 1 year when they hopefully get sealed in the temple. I also have to come back for Kawika's dog. Kawika said I can have her. For those of you who are on Facebook, it's the dog in my new profile picture. 

I could write a lot more but those 2 things are pretty much the highlights. I know that Jesus Christ forgives our sins when we accept Him, repent, and obey His commandments. Through Jesus Christ’s Atonement (suffering for our sins, dying on the cross, and being resurrected after 3 days) and living the gospel we can enter the presence of our Heavenly Father permanently. That is something I am tremendously grateful for. I also want to include a link to something else I am really grateful for: The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is the link:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/the-restoration-of-the-fulness-of-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ/a-bicentennial-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng

I challenge every one of you to read this. I know it will bless your life. If you have questions, ask me or your local missionaries. They would be happy to help. Through the Restoration, the priesthood authority given to Jesus Christ's original Apostles was given back to us in these modern days. This priesthood authority allows us to do things in Christ's name such as baptism or sealing families together for all time and eternity. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His Church and Gospel to the earth today, Love you all. Pics below!! Shoutout to the boys: Bren, Drew, Jay, P, Tay, JWoods, TPug, etc.,

Elder Minty Buckwalter

just sent me (his mom) his suit pants for a second time to have the waist let out...this pic is an exaggeration for sure... but is BIG sign that he's eating often and WELL!

happy birthday, mom!

After my mom begged me to write an email today, here I am. Since its your birthday today mom, I guess I'll write an email this week - haha! Happy Birthday to my manz T Pug, tho last Sunday. Hopefully he sees this. It has been a while tho. 3 weeks ago I got a new companion named Elder Burningham from Alpine Utah. Friday marked my 15 month mark as a missionary which is absolutely bonkers. I remember when I had 15 months left like it was yesterday. Now I only have 9 months left which is crazy. 

Today we went thru the temple again and that was amazing. It's awesome to know that we can help others that have already passed away make covenants with God. 

My mom's old college friend (Chari Jensen Bennett) came from Utah and found me and brought me new pants (hooray) and a bunch of Costco food platters!

Our district at the Kona Temple

Last night we watched the Chosen with a family in our ward. It's a series on the life of Jesus Christ and I'm really excited to start watching it with the Kylers. We have 4 people on date for baptism and I'm excited for them all. 3 are young women and the other is Kawika who has been taught since September. He told me a couple of days ago that I could have his dog which I'm really excited about because I love his dog. Imma come back after my mission and grab it. 

Saturday we went to a wedding reception for 3 hours and it was incredible. Amazing food and a live band playing Hawaiian music. It was vibes. We ate so much food tho b/c everyone there kept telling us to eat more. Anyways...this past Tuesday we were looking for this church member's house and kinda had to go off-roading to get to it. I was worried our car wasn't gonna make it, but we did. So we're on our way to their house and I'm just chillin and Elder Burningham sees a bull (which I saw too and wasn't worried about) so he decides to hop the fence because he's scared its gonna charge even tho its a good 20-30 feet away. He ends up getting shocked because it's an electric fence and he rips his 150 dollar pants on the barbed wire. I was in hysterics, but also frustrated as to why he did that. So he's stuck on the other side of the fence now panicking and I helped him find a spot where he could hop back over. We finally make it to the families house and there's nobody home - lol. all that for nothing. I, as well as the members, have been patronizing Elder Burningham for this incident and it's been pretty funny. Thursday we helped Uncle Ainslie Loo make poi again and that was fun. Long process even with a machine. I couldn't imagine just having to pound it out like they did in the old days. 

Not sure what else to write. Definitely been up to a lot, just can't remember. There's this member named brotha todd and he's pretty much Mr. Glass or Melman from Madagascar but he's always broken and hurt. We gave him a priesthood blessing though and he later told us he was completely and entirely pain free for about 24 hours and he was shocked. I'm really glad he told us that because that's actually really cool. The power of the priesthood is real for sure! We texted our Bishop if we could come over for dinner on June 20th not realizing that was Father's Day and he said, "yeah that's fine, y'all are my sons, too."

So that tells you the typa relationship we have with our Bishop. He's awesome. I love that man. Umm yeah imma call this email pau (done in Pidgin) because idk what else to write, but I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing and it strengthens us in our lives. Not only that but it is also the only way we can achieve the highest state of happiness and peace in the life after this. The Book of Mormon will bless your life if you read even a page of it. It talks about Christ and His teachings. Jesus Christ suffered for our sins and died for us on the cross. He was resurrected and because of that, we will be too. God loves you and so does Jesus Christ. Sorry this email is kind of a mess. Small kine multi tasking right now and also have a lot on my mind. But would love to hear from you guys. feel free to email me!!

Attachments area