SUNSET NORTH

Hello Mommy!

Well dad, I am in the opposite of sunrise, i am in Sunset North area, in the City of Miami, in the suburb of Kendall, in the Homestead Zone.  I am with Elder Flores as my comp.  He is from Honduras.  Finally a native companion, now my Spanish is going to have a kick in the butt haaha.. it is a bilingual area, the WARD is in Spanish and English.  Translation obviously.  I miss Miami Beach tho... mostly just thePeople but oh well,, mostly Cecilia and Eduardo.. Eduardo means a lot to me, he changed not only my mission but my life entirely.  this next week we will have 6-ish baptisms by the way... awesome right? ya its awesome! oh and chechi is just Cecilia's nickname... and we are in a 4-man apartment and it is so much fun!!! and Elder Flores goes home at the end of the transfer, so i will have to step up my skills and pull the area through the eye of the needle.. but i am excited.. Elder Flores has already taught me sooo much...and i thought the branch in Miami Beach fed me well, its a ward here, so i eat more! lol.. this past week i met one of the investigators Mayi, and she will be baptisized on the this next Sunday.. along with her daughter and Connie, Eliszabeth, Luisa and Demi.  we have ben working really hard lol... oh and i think i have found another mission mom besides Sister Anderson and Cecilia, her name is Karol Rodriguez, returned missionary who we see every night.  Elizabeth, luisa and demi and Mayi were all referrals from her..


Teiler whats up bro? 
Dude i am in a huge area, and CSI Miami is filmed in the area i am in! its awesome, i actually saw the filming crew the other day doing the famous, Hummer-driving-on-road shot. i live right off that road and can see it from my apartment, btw dad i live in a townhouse so there is no address and if there is i don't know it yet lol.. so ya ... ok now to the Stirling 1st Ward.  I love you all so much.


Yours Always Elder Maki 


Dear Stirling 1st Ward 


If there is anything i am more thankful for than my mission itself, and to my Father in Heaven, is to all of you who have taught me so much. You all have helped me to realize my potential and to always Choose The Right.  You have all taken care of my family and I.  You have always had the "eye single to the glory of God" and have always helped others. I quote Jeffery R. Holland's MTC address when i say that no body else's mission has had such an astonishing effect on ones soul as my mission has had on mine. My Mission means everything to me.  and I thank you for helping me get out here.. The strength of the Church in Stirling is amazing to see, I truly consider it Zion.  But, everywhere we look there are the lost sheep waiting to be found, let us all together find them and bring them to Christs Fold,  for he said,  "other sheep have I that are not of this Fold, and them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one sheppard."  Thank you for everything... Until we meet again, God be with all of you my brothers and sisters. 


Yours Truly,


Elder Kodi Maki

TRANSFERS

Hello mommy!

This week was another difficult one.  and the information is.............it is my turn to leave. ....... but oh well.. 7 and a half months in Miami Beach, is a lot, so i am excited to leave and grow in a new area!!!! Elder fisher and i have got along really well this past week... at the start of the week, last p-day we got into a car accident that was my fault :( wasn't too bad but still... no one got hurt except the car. its still drivable tho...  so the camera worked perfectly, and then when i turned it on, it turned off, and would keep doing that,,, turn on and then turn off... and now wont even work...so this week i will send it back.. oki doki so this next transfer is going to be great... new area, new companion, new start.  oh and i only got letters from Leon and Jodi, and Ken and Geneva, and Bly's..no one else. and the end of this next transfer i will have been on my mission for a year! crazy how fast it goes by!!! at first it was slow, but now each transfer feels like a week, and i have too much stuff haha... i started packing last night. and then tomorrow we are off to plantation for the transfer meeting where i will find our where we go... and who my companion will be... I am going to miss the people in Miami beach, mostly Hermana Chechi (Cecilia)  i call her chechi.  i called her last night  and she started bawling on the phone , then i started crying, it was sad.. she said, "why you? why do i have to love you so much!? you are like my son! oh and i will get home 4 days before Jaden's birthday, doesn't he turn 12 this April?  i wont be home this April but April 18 2013 yes. well i have to go pack my junk. and email Teiler.  cant wait till next weeks letter!!!


Yours Always


Elder Maki

Hello Mommy!

Another disappointing week.. only 2 out of 12 gators at church, and 1
out of 7 previously set dates out the door.. :( very sad but oh
well.... yes i did get the package and the camera is broken!!! it
doesnt turn on. it turned on maybe 4 times and i took some pics but
now nope. i can look at pictures but i cant take pics so i need a new
one. so i will wait to send everything untill next p-day when you tell
me waht to do with it.

 when i slide  the slider oped to turn on the
camera, it does the opening beep beep beep, and then shuts off. both
batteries charged, and stuff like that.  so we taught only a few
lessons, this week which is sad, we are usually getting anywhere
between 15 and 30 lessons a week.. this week we got ........6 YAY!!!
its beter than 0. but we are doing everything we can, i have some
anger going through me right now at the Zone Leaders, because they
were rebuking us for not getting anything done. so i said to them,
"Look we are doing everything we can to do what we need to do to get
people to the waters of baptism, i dont need you to tell me what we
are not doing, we know what we are doing and we will change what we
need to change." i was pretty harsh but i got them to understand.  the
clothes fit fine, and the garments too.. nothing really interesting
happened this week so i do not have much to say.. But thank you for
everything in the package.


Yours Always

Elder Maki

NO LONGER A TEENAGER!

Hello everyone! especially mom.

First to Teiler.  I love you Bro!!! ya remember the 20 year old fart that is over 5000 km away from you still loves you!

hello mommy, 

that is the first activity since christmas. yesterday we

rebuked the branch for doing nothing, and the branch pres. asked us for forgiveness and stood up in front in ward council and told the branch that the missionaries have been running the show.  and that they need to step up and do their job. we were sitting down rejoicing that finally they realize it, it took 7 freaking years!!! hahaha. oh well,,, we had a pretty good week, we added 4 investigators, and 4 dates, and one of the gators, Mirta, cubana, is super solid! awesome!!!  she is 62 depressed and looking for reconciliation.  a relief and we gave it to her. she came to church yesterday and it was amazing... 

Dang i am sooo happy thAT james' papers are in to the bishop.  I cant wait to figure out where he goes!  hopefully spanish speaking!!!!! hopefull to the great FFLM!!!!! i could be his trainer!:) haha that would be awesome! dang i am 20 years old, i wont be able to make that excuse anymore, "hey i am still a teenager." dangit,haha, transfers are on the 22nd and i think i am staying and Fisher is leaving.. yesterday when we asisted church and participated of the sacrament i felt that i was staying and that Fisher is needed somewhere else... oh well we will see what happens lol... well i need to do some ordering of some stuff on lds.org but other than that, oh the card that was corrupted by the camera still works i found the pics, it was just the camera.  so those precious mtc pics are still there!lol.... how is everybody doing? this past week elder fisher and i both got sore throats and lost our voices, haha that was interesting going out and teaching lol. i love you all soooooo much. 
Yours Always. "HA IM STILL A TEE........ oh dangit"


Elder Maki