Cancel, cancel, cancel

Zone conference

This week was pretty rough!

Every single appointment that we had set up the week before got cancelled and rescheduled so that was pretty rough for us. But the Lord always provides a way to get things done and we were able to see some people who we haven't been able to meet in the last two weeks.

One family that we had scheduled to go see was a part-member family. When we got there it was pretty normal, but we could tell that something was up. When we asked what we could do to help their family the mom stopped and told us she'd be right back. She came out with her husband (who is not a member) and asked if we could give him blessing. It was a great

Having fun at Zone Conference

opportunity to serve this family and plant some seeds. The husband excused himself right after, but with every blessing we know that the spirit is present and that he felt it.

That is just another example of how the Lord puts us where He needs us and when He needs us. We had a few experiences like that even though all of our lessons fell through. There is always work to do.

Yesterday was a great day of stake conference. Elder Costa came to speak. There were some great talks and a lot of topics were covered. We also had zone conference on Thursday, again lots of training and lots learned.

All is well, all is well!


Love you all!
Elder Kingston Matua

Another great week

Cooking up some fried rice

Ohhhh time is flying! Can't believe I'm coming up on seven months here soon. So crazy.

This week was pretty interesting. Monday my companion and I just cooked up some fried rice. You could say I could run my very own 5 star restaurant back in NYC. ....NOT. It was fun though!

On Tuesday during district meeting, our zone leaders showed up! They told us they were coming down to our area for a double exchange. So they spent the night down in Good ole Long tan. I was working with Elder Miller, my companion was working with Elder Nasman from Sweden, both awesome, HILARIOUS missionaries. My testimony has grown immensely in the leadership of the Lord's work.

My awesome English language class

Wednesday we had yet another awesome English class! we found new two investigators that we finally got set up through the class. Great guys! We're planning on meeting with one tonight. We're just praying we can help him progress.

With Elder Gong,
1st quorum of the Seventy

Thursday we had to wake up at 4:30 am to make it to Taoyuan by 7:30. I was so tired. But it was so worth it! Elder Gong of the 70 came and gave us some great training. He talked about many different things, but one of the biggest things that hit me is my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I remembered the time we all went out to Nauvoo and we visited Carthage and Liberty jails. How Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ changed this world through that man. One of my favorite things to do is share Joseph Smith's first vision. It is so simple, but it brings the spirit SO strong. I'm so thankful for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Saturday and Sunday we had two sessions of Stake Conference. I didn't understand 100% of it, but it was good to sit and soak in the spirit! Saturday night, we had zero time to make it all the way home, so they made some arrangements for us to stay in the appartment of other elders in our zone. SO I spent the night with Elder Liston! and his companion Elder Huntsman. Two of my greatest friends out here.

Yes this week was good. Made a lot of really good friends, shared the gospel with many, and had TONS of ice cream! Life is good.

I love you all and hope you have such a blessed week!


Love,
Elder Chase Matua

Makawao, Maui

Week two in Makawao was pretty good. Not too many opportunities to teach but we were able to contact a good amount of people, set some appointments for this upcoming week, and get some of our records in order.

We have met almost all of the investigators in the area. There are just a few more that we haven't been able to contact. We got to do some service on Saturday with the ward. We helped clean up a truck full of trash from a members yard and take it to the dump.

While we were unloading at the dump, the guy next to us had a trailer that was twice the size of ours, three times as full, and he was unloading and sorting through it was an old tennis racket. While my comp and brother Adams finished off our load, I was able to hop on the other guys trailer with him and with some pitchforks we knocked out his trailer in about 15 minutes. He would have been there all day.

He asked me where we were from and and we told him a bit about the church we're serving in. It was just a great example of how Heavenly Father puts us exactly where he needs us to make a difference in the world. I guess this guy had just volunteered to take this truck load for a family in need but had no clue what he was getting himself into. I was grateful for the chance to be there and help.

Lesson for the week, always be in a position to help your fellow man.


Love you all!
Elder Kingston Matua

Week 29 ... I think

After a long day of finding

I hit my 200th day as a missionary on Saturday though which is pretty crazy to me.
Interesting week this one was.

Our investigator pool is still quite dry. My companion even mentioned to me, his whole time he's been in Taiwan, he has never been rejected this bad this often. It's seriously discouraging at times, but there's not much we can do but put our shoulders to the wheel and move along.

Lots and lots of finding this week. I'm actually calling it "looking" now, it seems a bit more applicable haha. Jokes! I love missionary work.

On Monday we went to a little ecology park up in Ba De. It was pretty cool. tons of fish, ducks, turtles, geese. Neat place.

Tuesday, Elder Wayment and I went on exchanges. I spent the night up in Ba De and had some good times with him. We did a lot of finding up there. We ran into a lot of interesting people. This world is full of a lot of interesting people. I love it.

On Wednesday we met with Martin again. He's still doing awesome. Hasn't yet received permission from his parents to be baptized, but
his brother actually showed up while we were meeting with Martin at the family-mart. We talked to him for a bit, and we hope it plays a positive role in getting permission from his parents (and maybe even meeting with the whole family!)

Sunrise in Long Tan

We had one of my favorite English classes so far on Wednesday night. During English class, we teach about an hour of English and then have 30 minutes for a spiritual share. The students were super into the English portion of the class, and as soon as we started our spiritual share, I've never seen them so interested before! I shared a video on how Families can be together Forever. It was a bunch of pictures of families with a little kid singing the song in the background. There were also some clips of President Eyring sharing the importance of families. The spirit was SO strong. I shared a picture of our family and they were all so amazed at our family. Whenever I show our family picture to people, they always say "Wow, 5 boys. all handsome. Your mother is beautiful." And I just say "Yes, yes she is." They also think it's pretty crazy how big our family is. But yeah, English class was great.

Xue hua bing - Snow flower ice...Yum!

On Thursday, we went up to Taipei for Elder McClellan's training. He's our new district leader. While he was in his meeting, I was talking with other missionaries outside. Got to catch up with some great friends I made in the MTC. I also had the chance to meet some great missionaries. We had 18 missionaries get their visa's and they all arrived last week, so I got to talk to some of the new ones. Sister Day saw me and said, "Elder Matua! There's another Samoan kid that just came on island!" Then she ran away... Then I heard her yell, "Elder Matua, In here, he's here!" hahaha It was so funny. But I met Elder Aiono, he's from Las Vegas and yes, he's afakasi! Super great! He's actually being trained by an Elder from PG that knew John Raass and Dallin Pili and those goofballs. They all live in a six-man apartment with, you guessed it, Elder Willes and Elder Tan. And another companionship. One of my favorite parts of my mission so far has been meeting so many great people. People on the street, but also brothers and sisters in the same cause of inviting others to come unto Christ. It's great, and I've made a lot of great friends.

On Saturday we did a lot more street contacting and door knocking. About seven or so hours. Quite unsuccessful for most of the day. After dinner, we knocked doors until we had to turn around and go home. We were being rejected a lot so I told my companion to follow me. We hopped on our bikes and started pedaling. I said a small prayer in my heart that the spirit would lead me to a person who would be willing to even listen to our message. We rode for about 5 minutes until I felt prompted to

There are wild dogs everywhere here

stop. Couldn't really explain why, but I felt prompted to stop at a home. We knocked and a very kind humble man opened and generously welcomed us in! It made me SO happy! We taught him some of the points in the first lesson. Explained what prayer was. He was really attentive and respectful to our message. We invited him to say the closing prayer for us at the close of our lesson. He prayed, and it was awesome! Unfortunately, He was hesitant to set up a return appointment. BUT he told us that we can come over whenever! so we're praying and hoping for some success for him!

Sunday was good, always is good. Just did a lot of finding. Talked to some great people, not too interested, but it was nice being able to talk to people who didn't treat us like we didn't even exist.

I'm absolutely loving my mission experience. Sure it gets  tough at times. That's how it's supposed to be right? I'm still struggling with the language. After six whole months, I'm still trying to adjust to the life of a missionary, but it's all about progression. I feel the Lord in the details of my life, and it's great. Sometimes I feel unworthy for His love. Sometimes I feel like there's no possible way He's watching over me right now. Sometimes, I even feel like giving up! I know He's there. He's my loving Father in Heaven. His love is always there for me, and for you. No matter what. And he's helping me every step of the way. Failing is NOT a part of the plan.
I love you all. Have a blessed week!

Love
Elder Chase Matua

Transfer week - In the Valley Isle

I have been transferred to the beautiful Valley Isle of Maui! Everything about Maui is just cherry. My new companion is Elder Mitchell. He has been out for a little over twelve weeks now and just finished his training. He is from Ohio and is a very solid missionary.

The area is on fire! All of our members are doing so much to help the work and everyone has a missionary mind.

This week was a little rough with seeing people. We didn't have too much luck. But I got to meet most of the investigators in the area. We are working with a couple of families, couples and a whole lot of less actives. We had a very interesting discussion with a JW the other day. He kinda snuck up on us. But Elder Mitchell handled it very well.

So far so good here in Makawao. We cover a pretty big area of up country. It is very country.

With Love and Aloha,
Elder Kingston Matua