Astonished Beyond All Measure

Ran Allim Dad!!

Wolfcreek sounds great and Im glad everybody still likes the golfballs 😊🤙I cant believe the car died like that, that must have been so stressful, glad its fixed and glad all those kids werent stranded hahaha. 

Also so glad to hear Jordan misses me haha, Im going to be home so soon...

But I want to jump right into 3 major miracles that happened this week. Tender Mercies happen everyday, every hour even, but the miracles we experienced this week were unbelievable.

Tuesday night Sister Paletasala and I were trying to visit one more person before going home at a huge house complex called KPT. It's full of Chuukese and Samoans and it takes about 15 minutes to get to the top of the building in the elevator because there are so many people constantly getting on and off. While we were waiting at the ground level for the elevator with 10+ other people, the elevator arrived and out pored at least 10 more people. It was hectic and as we were pushing through to get in, Sister Paletasala steps right in front of an older Aunty in the mids of all these people. She spoke to her in Samoan for a moments then Aunty looked at her name tag and they grabbed eachother in the biggest hug imaginable. I didnt know what was happening because I dont speak Samoan but it seemed kindof important so I took a picture (See Below). Turns out it was her grandmas sister! She hasent seen her since she was a baby! Sister Paletasala had asked if she knew her grandma because she said they look exactly alike. They talked for a few minutes in Samoan and then we set up a lunch appointment for Sunday and left "astonished beyond all measure." There is NO WAY that was just a conscience. The buildings are MASSIVE, theres 2 of them, I couldnt even find my own companion amids all the chaos let alone someone that looks like me grandma. From day 1 Sister Paletasala has been looking for her family here, and miraculously they were found. 😊 Their entire family is very strong Catholic and we were pretty nervous when we went for lunch Sunday afternoon. The first greeting we got when we walked up to the house was a dirty look from a younger Samoan lady and her husband, along with rolled eyes when we asked if Aunty was home. Everyone was much morr cordial once they found out she was family but they all left before we could share a message. One of the ladies (standing in the picture with us) opened up after our quick message on the plan of salvation. She told us the elders use to come around and teach all the little kids in the neighborhood where she grew up but stopped coming one day and she really missed them. She gave us her number (we didnt even have to ask her for it) and she told us they would be back from vacation on Aug. 8th and she wanted us to come back. DOUBLE MIRACLE. It was such an amazing experience. Im so grateful that Sister Paletasala was so in tune lwith the spirit that prompted her to ask Aunty if she knew her grandma. :)

Miracle 2 this week is WE SET ANOTHER PERSON WITH A BAPTISMAL DATE! The work here is amazing, we currently have 6 people with baptism dates, but this individual was particularly special. About 3 months ago I was on exchanges with one of the Honolulu West Zone sisters and we stopped by Clairences (The Uncle who loves his pamphlets) house to have a lesson with him. A 25-30 year old girl answered and said he wasnt home but she would love to learn from us. We sat right down and shared one of the most powerful Restoration lessons of my mission. She loved what we shared and even more loved the Kosrae Book of Mormon we gave her. After that lesson we never saw her again, until last Saturday! We were shocked to have her answer the door but she had us come right in and she went on and on about how thr Book of Mormon helps her when she is sad and how much her kids want to learn more from us too and how excited she was that the church was right down the street and she could walk. It was awesome! We talked about what the Book of Mormon is again with her and extended the baptismal date. She happily accepted. :)

Third miracle of the week begins with the story of two sad, broke sister missionaries. We were at the store Trying to figure out how we were going to buy everything we needed for this last week until we get money on our cards again, and a couple stopped us and introduced themselves as members from Kauai. They talked with us for a while about how they were on Oahu because their daughter was in the hospital. About 10 minutes after we had parted ways, they found us and gave us $30! We told them we couldnt take it, but they insisted. We couldnt believe it, that couple was heaven sent. Keep them in your prayers because they were an answer to ours.

Miracle 4 (1 extra because there were so many this week). Elder Wills use to serve in this branch and he is now serving in the Honolulu West Zone. There is also a family we have been trying to contact for MONTHS because Elder Wills said they were almost baptized, and he saw them at the store! He asked them when we could stop by and introduce ourselves and he set up an appointment for us. We visited her and she is amazing! She was happy to see us and its a miracle Elder Wills was the one to see her at the store because he is the only one who knows what she looks like. The Lord is so involved with this work it amazes me, Im so grateful to have experiences like these everyday.

Another lesson we had this week while on exchanges had me laughing for days. We are currently teaching a 9 year old boy named Sibo, hes an only child and very lonely, but loves when we teach him in a little play area by his apartment. Everytime we go he has a new little friend with him to learn and its always so funny to try to have a productive lesson with two 9 year olds. This last one Sibo starts by yelling across the park "See Curtis over there hes my best friend RIGHT WERE BEST FRIENDS??" and "Curtis go ask your mom if you can learn (*Curtis turns around and starts running home*) WAIT NO COME BACK THAT WILL TAKE TOO LONG." Then he scared us pretty bad when he tried to impress us by saying "I taught Curtis how to pray and we pray to Joseph Smith together." Of course we quickly cleared that up and then very simply retaught prophets.

We also had a great time at Pearl Harbor this week. 😁 

I love teaching the Chuukese people because they are so humble and willing to listen. I am also so grateful to experience so many miracles.

Have a good week I love you❤

Sister Bowen