Sister Jessica Pukahi: LAST WEEK!!!! IM HEADED TO ARGENTINA!!!

June 28, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

All right family this is my last email from the States!!! I will soon be in ARGENTINA!!! ahhhhhh!!! We, We, We so excited. We so excited!! (Jerm that's for you)

Well, a lot of great things happened this week. Sunday we got to listen to Sister Janice Kapp Perry. Yes, THE super famous lady in the LDS world, who wrote all those awesome primary songs! She is so awesome!! This devotional was the best devotional I have ever gone to. Well... besides the ones with the apostles...cuz those rocked! But let me tell you how this devotional started out really well. She started telling us the story of how her and her husband met. This is how it went: She had been noticing this blonde RM who had been in several of her classes. He hadn't noticed her, so she decided she wasn't interested. Well...one day she was sitting in her clarinet class, getting ready for a music final. She was busy softening her reed with her lips when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around, noticed it was the RM, and said, "What do you want?" He looks at her, smiles, and says, "Those lips look like they can be used for so much more." Hahahahaha!! And then, listen to this. Her husband now in the devotional room, goes up to her while she's talking to us, and gives her a HUGE smack on her lips right in front of all of us missionaries!! Then he brings his fist into the air, and everyone cheers. It was the funniest thing ever!! hahaha!! Everyone surely paid attention after that.

BUT, that honestly wasn't the best part of the devotional. First, was when she said this, "There will come a time on you mission [or in life] where you will feel like you can't breathe. Turn to Christ. Turn to Heavenly Father. He is listening." And then we started singing, A Child's Prayer. Oh, my goodness--what a special feeling! We continued to sing the other primary songs that she wrote like: I Love to See the Temple, and Love is Spoken Here. It was a wonderful experience to be singing these songs that I had grown up with. These songs helped me during some hard times in my life. And I was at this moment, singing these beautiful songs with the writer, and with 500 other missionaries!! Holy Cow! BUT WAIT, the most perfect and best part was when we stood up and all the Sisters sang the new version of As Sisters in Zion. (The version where she wrote it to suit missionaries) And then all the Elders sang We are as the Army of Helaman. Words can't describe the beautiful feeling I had. I just stood there, singing at the top of my lungs, arm and arm with my companion, tears streaming down my face. Oh, Wowwie, so AWESOME!! It was truly a precious night.

And then Tuesday came along, and we got to see SIX apostles!!! (Oaks, Bednar, Andersen, Ballard, Nielsen, and Christofferson) It was Christofferson that talked to us, and I wish I could write more of what he talked to us about. But what stuck out to me the most was the number of times he said the word CHANGE. As a missionary, we change a lot. We have that ability to change. And I was thinking what a blessing that is. I have the ability to repent every day. I know I can change every day. Through Jesus Christ, I can become like Him. "You are nothing in this work without Christ."

This week went by super, super, super fast, and I can't believe the time has already come for Argentina, Babbyy! I have learned so much from each person that has crossed my path here at the MTC. I love my companion, and I am SO SAD that I have to say goodbye to her. I love my District and my new Zone. What a blessing to have met these wonderful people. The CCM--I gotta say, it surely wasn't easy here. BUT this means I am learning and growing. I'm so excited for more hard things to come and more learning experiences to happen!! I know I surely can't get through them without my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is my Rock and my foundation. He is my Best Friend and Brother. (Helaman 5:12)

I know this church is true with all my heart. I'm so excited for my mission in Argentina to officially commence. This is real life. What a blessing it is to be called as a missionary for My loving Heavenly Father. I know I am a daughter of God. I love Him, and I know He loves me.

Much Mahalos for everything Family!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you!!!!

Hermana Pukahi