Maui Transfer and Trends

Aloha and good morning everybody! After a fantastic yet very short 6 weeks full of fun and laughter and hard work of course, they're splitting the best trio in the Hawaiian Islands apart! With me being in this area the longest, I definitely thought I was most likely to be transferred out of the 3 of us. President Walker really threw a curveball here though. Elder Tooke is heading back to Oahu in the Honolulu West stake/zone & Elder Torkornoo (only been out 6 weeks, bless his heart) is being sent to Oahu as well out in Waianae which is essentially the Compton of Hawaii. Elder Torkornoo has been super self conscious about gaining weight out here and ironically hes being sent to a Tongan branch! Elder Tooke and I were cracking up. Dude's definitely gonna gain weight over there. When we heard the news, we were devastated.

This transfer our zone will be getting 6 new faces! One of those new faces is my new companion Elder Del Rio! Elder Del Rio and I did our 2 week quarantine together back in Honolulu about 13 months ago! He's a great guy and I'm excited to be reunited. Ooo that rhymed, look at me go.

Some other highlights this past week: -On Tuesday I found out one of my favorite members of our ward here is closely related to Aleva Hifo and Sione Takitaki who both played football at BYU. Aleva plays for the Arizona Cardinals and Sione starts for the Cleveland Browns. -Wednesday I suffered the after effects of the 2nd dose of the vaccine. I was exhausted the whole day. It was frustrating bc I wanted to go out and preach the gospel but I just didn't have the strength. -Friday night we played pickleball at the church with some of the young men and Bishop and that was SUPER fun and competitive. Its every other Friday night and I'm already counting down the days. -Saturday night we had dinner w the Nitahara's and they're one of the coolest families in our ward. They have like 6 kids. The dads name is H so that's kind of unique. Just naming your kids a letter. Maybe I'll name my son T. Haha! -Sunday we had a wonderful dinner w several families in our ward. They brought lei's for Elder Tooke and Elder Torkornoo since they're leaving. We also sung happy birthday to Elder Torkornoo bc it was his birthday yesterday! We ate a lot of food and talked story. Doesn't get much better than that, my friends.

Last night on a mission wide zoom testimony meeting I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I recently completed reading the Book of Mormon in 65 days. That was probably the 6th time ish that I've read the Book of Mormon cover to cover in the past 2 years. Each time I read it I find something meaningful and relevant to my life on each page. The Book of Mormon is exactly what it claims to be: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon will bring the spirit of God into your life as well as feelings of peace and comfort. I invite you to read it no matter who you are. If you need a Book of Mormon, let me know and I'll get you one somehow. Aloha Malama Pono Elder Minty Prometheus Buckwalter