Amy and her companion with President Warner, the new
Mission President, and his wife.

Hello Everyone.

 Thanks for all of the birthday stuff. It has been tempting me all week. (Her mom marked them all "Do not open until July 16th.  This letter was written on the 15th.) I only opened up 2 letters, that is it. 

She is done with the first 12 weeks, so she is no longer
a Greenie!

Well to say the least, things are CRAZY! We woke up this morning and learned that our Landlord "Grandpa" died this morning at 4. It was really sad, and we got some good crying in. He was such a lovely sweet man. And last night as we were saying our prayers, we got a voice-mail about transfers, and they were listing off the people who will be leaving the Honolulu Zone.  After a few, they said "Sister Hoskins" I was pretty much completely shocked! I am excited, but I really love the people of the Kahala Ward. And I think there might be one or two investigators who might have a hard time. They will be OK though, they all got to know Sister Rowley. I have no idea where I am going, and that is killing me. I know that I am staying on Oahu, though. We thought that for sure if anyone was leaving, it was going to be Sister Rowley. So yes, we are under a lot of stress, and I have to pack everything, and I am not really looking forward to that. I really hope I like my next companion. I really like Sister Rowley, and now I just have to start over with someone else. 

Amy, her companion, and Marie at the
July 4th picnic

Anyway, we made some progress with investigators this week. Marie is meeting with us and coming to church, and when we talked to her we were not looking for her, she was a complete stranger to us. She loves us too, and she doesn't really get the missionary rules because she wants us to go to the beach and go paddle boarding with her. I love her. She is so sweet. We didn't have the heart to tell her that one of us could be gone by the next appointment. I hope she gets baptized before Sister Rowley leaves. She really seems to depend on us. We had an amazing lesson with Bill. I think that he is really starting to understand, and Keoni too. He really wants to make the steps towards baptism. Even though I will not be there to see them be baptized, I really genuinely want them to be baptized. I never really got the whole crying thing at transfer meeting, but now I do. You get really attached to the other missionaries and the people in your area. I really will miss all of them. I am happy, too, that we didn't find out until last night that I was leaving, because I could not have handled Aloha 'Oy.

This week we also had a 'Mini Missionary' which is the coolest thing ever, and Colorado Springs needs to do it. So this girl came out with us for three days. Her name was Sister Feolaki and she is Tongan. We had a lot of fun with her, and she is probably going to turn in her papers at the end of this year. 

Now to answer Questions: the food at the 4th of July picnic was good.  There was the normal 4th of July BBQ, nothing really Hawiian except fresh mango.  It is mango season, and we are getting a lot of mango.  We cannot eat them fast enough, but I don't mind, they are soooo good! And just like in Colorado, there was a dessert table as big as the normal table. One of our investigators almost went into diabetic shock. It has not been too tempting to swim, but it was at that party, awesome waves and people having tons of fun, but it was weird seeing members in their swimsuits. You only really see them in their church stuff. And it is hard to get used to bikinis, especially at a church function. But It was a ton of fun. 

Elders Fire Dancing after the fireworks

We also got another investigator this week. Our Super Member missionary (Auntie Fine) took us to this guy's house, and he has been so prepared to receive the gospel! He just got out of the hospital from having a heart attack. So because of that,he can no longer drink and smoke, and he said that he would do anything for his family now, now that he almost was separated from them. What a great place for him to be now! He can be with his family forever, and we don't have to worry about the Word of Wisdom! I really hope he and his family get baptized. 

 I love you all. Thanks so much for the Birthday stuff-you're the best! And you now only have one teenager. I am excited to not be in the teens anymore. I will just stop growing up at 20. Love you miss you! 

Sister Amy Hoskins