Happy Sunday,
The temple will be closed for cleaning and other improvements over the next 7 weeks. Each time that I
go to the temple I look at the walls, the carpet, the baseboards, the floors and I smile in amazement. Everything is so clean, beautiful and in good repair. It surprises me that the temple would need to be closed for such a long time when I can’t see any problems that need fixing.
Last October my family officially moved all of our belongings from Kauai to Oahu. It was an emotional move for me. Over two decades of my life got indiscriminately packed, shipped to Oahu, and thrown immediately into a storage POD in my yard to be ignored for as long as possible. Ten months of not being able to find things, and adequately frustrated enough to be willing to take action, I finally cracked open the POD and tackled years of memories, mementoes, and mess. I've been exhausted, overwhelmed, frustrated and ready to toss a match to it all on several occasions, but I can see the light, and a clean space, at the end of the tunnel and I trust all of my effort will be worth it.
I share this story with you because I realized that every day we collect ideas, foster belief systems and start habits that, like my “POD of stuff”, should be reevaluated, sorted though and possibly tossed out of our lives. According to Marie Kondo, a star of the Netflix show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”, decluttering your environment can transform homes into spaces of serenity and inspiration. If a temple is a house of God and it closes several weeks a year in order to be deep-cleaned, repaired or upgraded then maybe we should consider applying these same principles to ourselves, as our bodies are also considered temples. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (Corinthians 6:19)
President Ezra Taft Benson said in a 1995 General Conferemce address, “ The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." He is the only way to have total serenity and inspiration in every aspect of our lives, but in order to do so we need to be willing to face our varying degrees of mess- both seen and unseen. It may take weeks, months or even longer, but cleaning up, and clearing out, those things that no longer serve us, or our ability to serve Heavenly Father, is well worth the peace, clarity of mind, inspiration and eternal blessings that will come by deep cleaning our lives from the inside out.
Happy cleaning!
Sister Ka’iulani Lau
Sacrament Meeting Schedule & Program
Sep 1, Sunday 2 PM - Sacrament Meeting Program: CLICK HERE
Zoom Link for Sacrament Meeting available upon request. Contact Bishop Tano or Bro. Hirokawa.
Announcements
Temple Recommend Adjustments:
SEPT 1 - No Temple Interviews
SEPT 8, 10-Noon - Waikalua & Keolu Hills Chapel
SEPT 15, 10-Noon - Waimanalo Chapel
SEPT 22, 10-Noon - Kailua Chapel
Missionary Meals: August Calendar needs attention please. Elder Santiago & Elder Stone need meals and visits! Please sign up to meet with the Elders using this MEAL CALENDAR, or call them at (808) 379-8012.
Sign up to get free church magazines delivered to your home: CLICK HERE
Sept 5, Thursday 6:30 pm - Youth Night @ Waikalua Chapel
Sept 5, Thursday 6:30 pm - Primary Activities @ Waikalua Chapel
Sept 8, Sunday 2 pm - Sacrament Meeting @ Waikalua Chapel
Sept 12, Thursday 6:30 pm - Youth Night @ Waikalua Chapel
Sept 18, Thursday 6:30 pm - Youth Music Night @ Waikalua Chapel
Missionary Corner
I hope you all have had a great Sabbath day and past week. Like my subject says, we had transfers. My companion Elder Randall was transferred out of KK to Kuching. It was sad to see him go, but he will do great things over in his new area. My new companion is Elder Hurd. He is from Utah and has been serving for about 1 year now. He is awesome. I'm excited for this transfer.
Here are a few lights:
1) We had a very powerful lesson with our friend Jacqueline and Rosthia. They are both so awesome and have such a strong desire to learn. We focused a lot on Baptism and the many blessings. It was a very spiritual experience for sure.
2) We got to meet a new family of 6. We have been teaching them a lot of the Plan of Salvation. Please pray for them that they will continue to progress!
3) We had an awesome member lesson and meal with the Gaadong family. They have two sons who are currently serving in this mission. It was such a cool lesson. We focused a lot on the many blessings of temple because they are planning on joining the KK branches temple trip later in October. But yes this week was amazing! I love being a missionary. It's kinda sad thinking I have less than 3 months left before I'll be back home. It's a bittersweet things you know?
Love you all so much and we talk again next week!
Shoots,
Elder Kekaula
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