Old Prayers Answered!

what a week :)

☆ gave my departing testimony at zone conference & had to say my last goodbyes to some people even though I still have a whole month left :( SAD !!

☆ I got strep throat starting Wednesday. Pretty sure someone switched our water bottles at zone conference lolol :(( but by Friday morning I had my medicine & now I'm feeling a little better woohoo ! we had to take the weekend off so I could sleep...it was BORING but much needed rest ngl !!

☆ I had more time to think than one would like because of ^^ strep ! and I couldn't help but think about how sometimes I am ungrateful to God of the answers He gives me to old prayers.

For an example, I remember praying everyday as I turned in my mission papers (February/March 2020) : "PLEASE let me learn my culture"

Fast forward to April 2021 & I am assigned to serve in the only 2 Polynesian wards in Orange County.

Something small like recognizing that we might be experiencing the answers to old prayers is a blessed and spirit filled moment 🤍 I know I have had many more old prayers answered but I sure am grateful for a God that knows His timing !!

sorry there's not much this week, but stay blessed :) ofa atu !!

sister fin <3

- an apple that grows red on the inside !! cooooollll.

- my first strawberry that I grew ! I have a new love for plants lol.

- me and some friends !

Comments

No more Lying!!!

hiiii ! it was a good week:) ☆ ward picnic for labor day, it was so much fun ! we went to Modjeska park for the whole day lol. ☆ park day with the faletoi/schuster fam ! ahzira is my bff (the one also w the crumbl box lolol!) ☆ this guys uncle is from the hawaii 5-0 show so he wanted to brag with his picture ! **below ☆ met the Tili family who asked if we could help their son, Ike, get baptized by October 2...yay ! ☆ met with Cilla & went over her baptism things for September 25 :) ☆ funny story . . . SO my soa & I (comp & I) were walking around temple grounds in Newport Beach which is covered by a different mission. (Yes we have permission to go there). We saw a lot of missionaries & we took our tags off because we didn't feel like talking with any of them (it was a ROUGH week for us to say the least) & yet somehow some elders managed to talk to my soa while I was looking at the temple. She walks away with them & I was like ?!...

I loved this week

This week was one for the books !! It was a crazy busy week & the days just flew by. I realized I don't share too much about my week or anything too spiritual lol but that can change !! So to start off, Monday night our entire mission got chastised by the president lol. Then Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday we had exchanges & Sunday we had a baptism with David !! It was a week of A LOT of self reflection & seeing the areas I can improve . . . plus a lot of fun !! This weeks exchanges I got to be with Sister Ratcliff, Sister Mattice, and Sister Ware !! I learned a lot from each sister & since it was a self reflecting week...I asked each sister & every return missionary member what they learned from their missions && believe it or not, every single one of them said they learned their identity as a daughter of God. It was tender to hear because I do forget my identity as Heavenly Fathers daughter, very often. Seeing the past experiences of my miss...

Absence

The clock strikes 12:47am. My companions rush hurriedly to the door. I make my way down the stairs, trying not to fall asleep. As I felt the cool air brush against my face, I pull my blanket to me, angrily mumbling. I stare at the asphalt covered in droplets of rain but when I eyes revert to whats ahead of me, I deeply longed to go back in time 20 seconds prior. My heart sunk deep in my stomach as if it was the titanic. I look to my phone and the word 'absence' appeared as my daily common word from the Word Web app. I chuckled at how ironic this vocabulary applied to my very situation in the moment. Our car was absent. We won't go into detail but we actually found our car hahah after like 20 mins, we are just dumb ! I actually laughed so hard when I saw the word absence though because I truly felt called out by my own phone haha. But it was a wild adventure... I got to spend the night at some sisters apartment on the hardwood floor. Got 3 hours of sleep with a 6 hour me...

Sister Leilani Kalona Finlayson