Week 8- God Knows Us All Personally

Aloha Minasan,

This week was super long. I don't know if it was waiting for reassignments or if it was just the frustrations of the week. But time definitely slowed down. Which was a bummer because as we get closer to the MTC leave date I get more and more excited to get outta here.
This week definitely had a lot more frustrations than usual. So much so that I actually had an entire email written out midweek. It was nothing crazy, please don't be worried. There are just so many different people with different personalities, experiences, and beliefs. With constant interactions with so many different people, I will certainly find people that I will not get along with as easily, and this will definitely stay consistent throughout my life. But as I wrote the email and reflected on my frustrations I realized that I needed to take a step back and just relax. Shoutout to Elder Medeiros for helping with that the next day, we just talked about our struggles and were able to reflect with each other about our experiences here. It definitely helped to have another perspective on the sort of things I was frustrated with. 
But through that experience, I was able to finish my week with a different outlook. Which is why I wanted to talk about something I feel I was truly blessed with. After talking with Elder Medeiros that Friday We got our reassignments! I was ecstatic. After hearing about some friends who got New York reassignments I was really hoping I too would get New York. It was something that I thought would be so cool to experience. I promise though that I would have been fine anywhere that God needed me to go. After opening my call with my parents I found out that I would be going to Orem, Utah! I was so stoked. My dad, however, just laughed LOL. After a little thought and some messages from Mom, I found out that I had so many friends and family inside the mission borders. I also remembered my kid self talking about wanting to either serve in Japan or Utah. My family visited the Lifferths every summer throughout my tween and teenage years and from my experiences, I thought it would be perfect to serve in Utah and hopefully serve in their ward. Heavenly Father must have remembered that because I don’t think it was much of a coincidence that I got assigned to Orem which has Saratoga in the mission. Because not only does it have the Lifferths there but my loving cousins Kai, Mark, Rangi, & Hine! I was so stoked because I felt Heavenly Father's love through that calling. He listened not to my most recent desires, but the desires of a young kid who had unwavering faith and confidence that he would go on a mission. After remembering that and seeing how blessed I was, I couldn't help but cry a bit. A lot of people knock on reassignments but I have seen so many friends who have felt God’s hand come into play when it comes to where they serve. I believe with 100% of my heart that he knows us all perfectly. And this applies to every aspect of our life.
Heavenly Father gives us experiences and trials that he knows we can overcome. He gives us support systems and loved ones to help us through those trials. And he guides us and leads us to wherever we need to go. Since being on a mission I have felt his love and seen the blessings he has given me. I promise you all that Heavenly Father loves and knows each and every one of you personally. And if you have steadfast faith in him he will bless you. Count your many blessings each day, I promise you will see how much he loves you!

Highlights of the week:
-Rangi’s little message
-Red Bull gives you winnngsss
-Outside food

Rangi’s message:

There were not a lot of highlights this week other than the reassignment bahahaha but Rangi’s message definitely filled my heart with joy. Last Sunday I got a message from my mom about how my cousin Kai had happened to overhear a conversation that her son Rangi was having with his friend. "We have a neighbor kid over and I took Hine to the bathroom and I’m coming back to Rangi and his friend and I hear Rangi telling him that’s my uncle. He’s a missionary. You know like the missionaries? Like the ones that come to your house? And his friend is like oh yeah I know those guys and Rangi’s like yeah. That’s my uncle Pili. He’s a missionary. '' I was so touched when I read that, and that joy definitely helped me get through the week. I just wanted to take the time to thank Rangi for supporting and loving me so much. And all those who support me, email me, and pray for me. They all go a long way!

Rangi & Elder Ellis

Red Bull gives you winnngsss:
Yeah so I have some Red Bull now LOL. These Elders gave me some protein powder but without a shaker, I had no use for it. So I gave it to a good friend Elder Le who happened to run out of his protein powder. He thanked me for the energy drinks I so desperately needed. Apparently, his mom sent him a whole 24-pack, with only a week and a half of MTC left LOL. I was so glad even though I don't like Red Bull much, I like being able to stay awake more! I won't abuse it I swear bahahaha.

Outside food:
So our DL's mom offered to drop us some food. I was so hyped and it was so kind of them to do that for our district. I’m telling you, Subway has never HIT so hard. It was so good. It seems like such a little thing but it definitely brightened my day!

Japanese word of the week:
は=Teeth
いい= good (kinda depending on how you use it)
Why does Hawaii have no dentists?
Because は は いいいいい。(ha wa iiiiii.)

LOL that was just a dumb joke my teacher told me.

Shoots!
エリスちょうろう
#TheRisingSon