Home June 23

Auwe!  Now, it has been almost two months since we left all our Hawaiian ‘Ohana to return to our home in Idaho. 

This has been a very busy time for us with family activities, gardening, an ambitious upgrade to the floors in our house (tile and carpeting), and even a few rounds of golf.  We have been called to serve in the Boise Idaho Temple as Ordinance Workers on Wednesday mornings and we are volunteering in the Temple Office one day each week.  While it is wonderful to serve in the Boise Temple, we miss the more intimate setting of Kona.  The Boise Temple in contrast to the Kona Temple is more than four times larger with busy sessions every half-hour from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM Tuesday through Saturday.  We love the Boise Temple but it still doesn’t match the joy of serving in the “Second smallest Temple in the world, but the one with the Biggest Heart!”

It is Sunday afternoon, it’s a quiet time and we are listening to another of our favorite Hawaiian CD’s performed by Keola Beamer and Raiatea Helm.  Added to our view from our “Sun” room of all the green trees, shrubs and flowers in our back yard, there is a white flower pot with a green ‘stick’ placed carefully in its center.  It’s a White Plumeria cutting brought from Kona that we are coaxing along with high hopes for some blossoms and leaves sometime soon.  We watch the temperatures closely and carry it in the house when the overnight temperature is expected to be below 50 degrees and put it back out the next day to catch the morning and afternoon sunshine.  With the forecast for later this week, we may have to provide some shade!

 

It will grow to be another living reminder to us of our love for Hawaii and our friends living there.

We often find ourselves reflecting on and missing our loved ones in Hawaii.   Finally, this coming week will also mark the completion of the one final task we had to perform for the Kona Temple relating to the phone system. Soon, it will be time to begin planning for a two-week “vacation” to Kona in early 2014!  Until then, we hope to hear from you and will say “A hui hou!”

Much love and Aloha!

Home May 26

Auwe!  It has been almost a month now since we left all our Hawaiian ‘Ohana to return to our home in Idaho. 

This has been a very busy time for us as we hosted two family gatherings with our children and their families; spoke in two different Wards in our Stake; embarked upon an ambitious upgrade to the floors in our house (tile and carpeting); prepared a garden spot for planting; attended the High School and Seminary Graduation of a grandson; played golf (Rich); and generally tried to establish a ‘returned missionary’ lifestyle. 

In the few moments we have between tasks and activities, we find ourselves reflecting on and missing our loved ones in Hawaii.  We sorely miss the hugs and kisses of greeting and, in spite of our best efforts, we are making little progress in getting used to all the white faces and in changing the greeting habits of all these Na Haole around here!  On the positive side, we have been somewhat successful in soliciting an “Aloha” greeting from a few of the members in the Wards we have visited at the beginning of our talks.

It is Sunday afternoon, and we are together in our “Sun Room” listening to one of our favorite CD’s, “As Temples Fill the Earth” which reminds us of the blessings of serving in the Kona Hawaii Temple.  While we have a great view of all the green trees and shrubs in our back yard and the three colorful hanging baskets of Mother’s Day flowers, there is not a Palm Tree nor an Orchid in that view.  There is not, however, any VOG to cloud the beautiful clear mountain air we have enjoyed for the past few weeks.  During the first week we were home, we did get a small sample of the Boise summer heat when the daytime temperature rose to 96 degrees.

Friends and Ward members ask us how it feels to be home from our mission and we tentatively answer that “it’s good to see our family and friends again but we miss the spiritual focus and blessings of serving in the Temple every day.”  Often, we find ourselves reflecting upon the dedicated service of the Presidency, matrons, missionaries, volunteers, and workers in the Kona Temple.  We’re certain that everything is in good hands in the Kona Temple and that the work is progressing without interruption as Elder and Sister Cox have quickly settled into the ‘best Missionary experience in the world!” 

We especially miss the Mossman’s, Heinzen’s and Nihipali’s!  They set such a wonderful example of dedicated and loving service for us!  I even miss President Mossman’s greeting of “Elder Elwood!” which usually meant a new report to be prepared.  Perhaps we have been a little slow to complete the one final task we have to perform for the Kona Temple, relating to the phone system, because of the finality of completing that task, but, we have not forgotten!

This coming Tuesday, we have an appointment with the President of the Boise Idaho Temple and we are hopeful the call will come to once again serve in the Temple.  While we will be thrilled to return to temple service, we do not anticipate a repeat of the joy of serving in the “Second smallest Temple in the world, but the one with the Biggest Heart!”

Much Love and Aloha!

Home April 29 - May 5

Forever Beautiful Orchids

Aloha dear family, friends, and our Aloha ‘Ohana!

Well, we have now been home for almost a week; been formally released from our Mission; reported to the High Council; and attended our Home Ward this morning.

 

                                                                               The Last Sunset

A wistful last evening

 

Monday had been a long trying day of travel from our beloved Big Island through Seattle and on to our beloved home in Boise.  The flight was bumpy nearly half way across the Pacific and was crowded all the way to Seattle.  We are thinking we will find a bigger aircraft for the return trip to Hawaii within a year.

It has been a very busy week for us, beginning with a wonderful Boise airport welcome by our family at midnight Monday evening.  Thanks to SKYPE, the shock of being away from home for a full year wasn’t as big a surprise as it would have been otherwise as we hugged, laughed and enjoyed the homecoming! 

 

The GXP

I had an extra surprise as we all walked into the parking facility and there in the front row all polished and black sat my GXP, full of power and anxious to be driven by the Kupuna again…Mahalo Brady!

 

Welcome Home Bouquet

Arriving at home began another round of emotions for us.  When we entered the house, everything looked great and seemed to be exactly the way we left it.  We are grateful to our youngest daughter and her family for staying in our home while we were away and taking care of things…Mahalo Aly!  Our oldest daughter had made the effort to make up our bed so that it looked so natural and welcoming we felt we were truly home…Mahalo Jennifer! 

After family greetings and homecoming, we were finally left to begin the unpacking and resettling into our home again.  By 3:00 am we were exhausted and turned in for the night…our old bed really felt great!

This week has been full of unpacking and resettling!  Maybe we will get everything back to normal in a week or so!  It also seemed like a good time to get started on some planned upgrades to the house!  A new washer and dryer have been ordered while the planned new carpeting in the “sun” room appears to be leading to also installing tile in the kitchen, entry foyer, and part of the dining area.  We think we’re back!

Boise Temple Tulips

 

It has also been of week of some happy reunions with friends and ward members.  We took advantage of an invitation on Friday to come to the Boise Temple (closed for cleaning and maintenance) for a ‘tour’ of the spectacularly beautiful changes made during the renovation.  It is so beautiful inside and out, even with lots of cleaning going on while we visited.  Although it’s more than four times larger than our beautiful Kona Temple, they are equal in our eyes for we love serving in them both so much.  We hope they have a spot for us and we mentioned to our Bishop today that we would like to have paper work started for serving once again in the Boise Temple.

 

 

                                                                Sweet Sisters

Today has been a time of reflection over the past year of serving in the Kona Hawaii Temple.  We grew to love the Presidency and Matrons so much and will forever keep them in our hearts and prayers.  Relationships such as these will last for all time.  We also miss the wonderful saints we served with in the Temple and their Aloha spirit.  It has been firmly established in our minds that some of the choicest of Heavenly Father’s children are those who faithfully serve in the Kona Temple.  If kindness, love and charity are key attributes of the ‘elect of God’, we have been blessed to serve with and come to love them all.

Our hearts are full with gratitude and deep appreciation to our Heavenly Father for the wonderful blessing of being called to serve in the Kona Hawaii Temple for this past year.  While we anticipated a joyful experience before we began our service, it has far exceeded all expectations.  In this light we offer our testimonies of the truthfulness and glory of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Happiness. The Temples represent the crowning summit of this Plan through His Son Jesus Christ, so that every one of God’s children, through their faithfulness, can attain their presence for all eternity.  We express our love to each of you for your love and support. We bear this solemn witness in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen!

E na Pomaika’i  i pili mau ke Akua  ia ‘oe!

                                        A time to go!  We love you, we miss you!

Kona April 22 - 28

Kona April 22 – 28

White Hawaiian Splendor

Aloha!

Today is a day of tender emotions and the joy of anticipation!  This was our last day in our ward before we leave for our home tomorrow morning.  In keeping with Hawaiian tradition, the ward members stood and sang the Hawaiian song of farewell, Aloha ‘Oe, while we stood on the rostrum with na maka wai (tears) in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts.  Towards the end of the song, members lined up to offer greetings of Aloha while many included a lei or other gift of remembrance.

Aloha 'Oe

 

We have often participated in this most wonderful tradition over the years of visiting the Islands and once, we, along with other visitors, were even invited to join a family that was moving from Kaua’i.  That first taste only slightly prepared us for today’s moving experience! There was a visiting couple from Sugar City Idaho who were so moved by this tradition that they joined in the line of well-wishers to experience firsthand the joy and happy tears of the occasion.

President and Sister Mossman

 

Saturday was our last day of service in the Kona Hawaii Temple!  We walked out of the Temple with President and Sister Mossman and the door locked behind us for the last time.  Not wanting to say Aloha quite yet, the four of us visited as we slowly walked down the beautiful “Orchid Aisle” for the last time as Temple Missionaries.  We have grown to love and appreciate the temple Presidency and Matrons so much over this past year.  They will be forever in our hearts and prayers!

Our replacements have served for a week now and we have tried to teach them everything they will need to know to serve in the temple.  Elder and Sister Cox have quickly become beloved friends and we are sure they will quickly fill the full measure of serving every day in the House of the Lord.

This week, we have also been hosted for lunch and dinner by members of the presidency and others we have grown to love through their service in the temple.  Our favorite restaurant in Kona is Sam Choy’s and after three visits this week, we are even recognized by the waiter!  Have you ever tried Ahi (tuna) Bellys? Well, we did and they are onolicious!

There is so much more to tell you about these last days of our Mission that we will post a final chapter next week.  For those of you in our dear family, you will just have to experience the 1000+ pictures we have taken since we arrived.  For the rest of you dear friends, we will share more next week.

Our hearts are full of gratitude for this special opportunity to serve a full-time mission in the Kona Hawaii Temple.  The blessings are legion and will stay with us forever.  We send you our love and Aloha from Paradise. For the family in Boise…see you tomorrow!

Aloha ‘Oe!

Pau...It is finished!

Kona April 15 - 21

Kona April 15 – 21

Newest Orchid

 

Aloha ‘Auinala  Kakou!

It is sobering to be keying the next to the last entry on our Mission Aloha Blog!  We met our replacement Missionary couple on Friday and after a few hours introducing them to the Kona Hawaii Temple; we took them to our apartment and welcomed them to their new home.  This last week of the maintenance closing of the temple gave us a little time to finish cleaning and packing the apartment in preparation for our move to our timeshare condo in Kailua.

Elder and Sister Cox were great to meet and to get to know. We’re sure they will fit right into the spirit and joy of temple service.  Monday morning will begin their week of training for the best Mission in the church.  We all say that but it’s true!

The very first thing we missed from the apartment was the cooler temperatures we have enjoyed for the last year.  We are now within a couple of hundred yards of the ocean and the temperature is well into the upper 80’s.  I’m sure will acclimate to the heat by the time we leave for home a week from tomorrow then we will start the process back to much cooler temperatures.  Oh well, it’s all good!

Monday, we were invited to a genuine luau in Hawi hosted by a former Temple President and his dear wife.  They have been hosting luaus for nearly 37 years for tourists, friends, corporate sponsored events on the Islands and on the mainland… nearly 650 luaus in total! Joining us were two Sister Missionaries serving in their Ward, the missionary couple serving in the temple with us, and another couple from Ogden who attend their ward and who live on the Big Island for three or four months each year.

Nani Missionary

 

As I mentioned last week, this was a ‘hands on’ luau which, as we found out, meant we participated in nearly everything associated with an authentic Hawaiian Luau from food preparation, loading the Imu (underground oven), husking coconuts, sampling the inside parts, making leis, learning the Hula, being taught the Conch shell ceremony, given the traditional Hawaiian welcome chant (‘Oli) in fluent Hawaiian, and of course, the eating part.  The menu was excellent with pork roast (not the whole pig), ginger chicken, purple sweet potatoes, and a Polynesian dish called Lua??? (consisting of spinach, onions, corned beef and coconut milk) all baked in the Imu.  Added to this were dishes of Lomi Lomi (raw Ahi tuna with finely chopped tomatoes, onions, salt all “cooked” in coconut milk overnight in the refrigerator), sticky rice, and fruit salad (pineapple, papaya, banana and mangos with scoops of vanilla ice cream melted into the fruit).  Oh, did I mention the Pineapple Upside-down for dessert!

Scrape 'da Coconut

 

After we were appropriately ‘stuffed’ with good food, we were all assembled into the living room for two beautiful songs from our hosts accompanied by the ‘ukulele!  After 7 hours of festivities including great food, hula, music and much aloha, we decided we loved these wonderful people and island traditions even more.

Tuesday was our turn to feed the full-time Elders serving in our ward area.  Our friend and former neighbor Mary Lou, joined us accompanied by her ever-present standard red poodle.  We noted that our first guests in our apartment were also the full-time Elders as well as the last.  A good beginning and end!

Thursday, we were invited to dinner at Auntie Dorothy’s home along with our dear friend Auntie Gracie and another young couple from our ward that were moving to Maui.  More great food covered the table, coconut shrimp, rice, teriyaki beef,  shrimp, vegetables (Brussels sprouts and mixed vegetables), a baked chicken dish, and noodles. Oh, did I mention the sweet sticky rice with fresh mangoes topped with a sweet coconut sauce!

We know what you’re thinking and you’re right!  Auwe!

Today, we spoke in our ‘home’ ward as the last of our assigned speaking tour on our mission.  Sister Elwood offered her uplifting talk based upon the Primary hymn, “I Love to See the Temple.  With a Youth speaker and a song by the older Primary girls, I was left with about 7 minutes to give a 20 minute talk.  Nothing unusual about that and not a problem (aole pilikia) since it’s usually easier to cut than to add.

Monday begins our final week of serving in the Kona Hawaii Temple!  This has been such a wonderful blessing in our lives. We will never forget the special spirit that we have enjoyed serving in the House of the Lord for the last year and for all of the very beautiful Saints we have met.  It is hardly possible that we are leaving for home so soon.  Seems like we just arrived!

Much love and Aloha from Paradise.

Ti Leaf Leis

Kona April 8 - 14

Kona April 8 – 14

The Apartment

 

This is the last Sabbath Day Post from the Kona Coffee Villas (KCV), our home for the last 11+ months.  There is much we will miss about living here, mostly the cooler weather!  It has been a nice apartment to live in, with everything we have needed to be comfortable and safe.  There have been noisy times and a few times when the police had to break up domestic disturbances in the complex late at night but we have been safe and secure.  I suppose it comes with living in a complex with about 120+ units built on the side of Hualalai volcano but we won’t miss the traffic noise and the steep driveways that kill the knees while walking.  We are just listening to one of our favorite Hawaiian albums by Keola Beamer and Raiatea Helm while keying this post and Keola just sang “Our Time for Letting Go.” I guess he’s right!

We have missed serving every day in the Temple this week.  As we noted earlier, this week and next week the Temple is closed for cleaning and maintenance. Our assigned week begins Monday but we had the opportunity to substitute for the other Missionary couple last Wednesday so they could take some visiting friends to Hilo to catch their flight.  It was good to be back in the Temple and dressed in white again even though the Temple was not as orderly as it usually is. 

Our expected duties were to answer phones and schedule appointments but things turned out to be more exciting than we anticipated.  Shortly after we arrived, the First Counselor in the Presidency asked me to assist him with a problem with the AV system.  Apparently on Tuesday, there was an upgrade performed remotely from Salt Lake to the system.  A problem arose after the update was completed and Salt Lake had lost the ability to communicate with the system. Between the two of us, we were able to diagnose the problems and with their assistance, restore the system.  Just another technology adventure to be solved with the help of the spirit!  I do have a greater appreciation for the skills of those folks on my former professional staff (in my working days) who routinely fixed networks, computers and complex communications problems without my limited knowledge or assistance.

Last Monday, we received a phone call from some of our friends in Boise who were visiting in Kona for the week.  They had been here last October and when they left, they gave us their beach chairs and umbrella due to the cost of shipping them back to the mainland.  They asked if we still had them and if they could borrow them for a few days while they were visiting.  We met them at our favorite beach, Honokohau with the chairs and had a nice visit.  They returned the chairs today at church and are heading back to Boise this evening.  It was great to see friends from our home stake again.

Last Car Wash

Monday begins the last two weeks of our mission.  We’ve been invited to a “hands on” Luau at a former Temple President’s home Monday afternoon.  On Tuesday, we have the two full-time missionaries into our home for dinner.  Thursday, we have been invited up to Auntie Dorothy’s for dinner and another dinner invitation for Friday at Auntie Arlene’s.  At this rate we will have to buy a new wardrobe before we leave for home.

The new Temple missionaries arrive Thursday evening and we will welcome them into the apartment on Friday when we move into our Time-share for the last 10 days.  It’s good that we will be busy moving, training, and saying Aloha to dear friends because it will help the time pass quickly and ease the sorrow of leaving this most beautiful Mission.

Today, the Ward sang Aloha ‘Oe to a family leaving the ward and it was even hard to join in this beautiful song of farewell.  While we will be speaking in our ward next Sunday, we hope they will wait for the following Sabbath to offer this honor to us.  We will be a basket case of Na Maka Wai, (tears)!

Love and Aloha from Paradise.

Packing for the First Move

Kona April 1 - 7

Kona Hawaii Temple - Second Smallest...Biggest Heart

Kona April 1 – 7

Aloha on this Conference Sunday!

I’m sitting here at our desk looking out at a passing rain shower.  Some of the Coffee trees are in bloom and I can see a Papaya tree loaded with green fruit on the hill side behind our apartment.  It is hard to realize that we will only be in this apartment for one more Sunday before we move down to our time-share on the edge of the ocean for the last 10 days of our Mission.

We have been experiencing a bunch of pending ‘lasts’  recently and the time keeps marching right along. For instance, Friday was the last day we will serve by ourselves in the Temple office.  Our replacements will arrive on April 18^th to begin their service in the Kona Hawaii Temple.  The temple is now closed for the next two weeks for the semi-annual cleaning and maintenance and when we reopen on the 23^rd, the new Missionaries will be joining us in the office as we will have the opportunity of teaching them everything we know over the next five days.

We also received our travel itinerary this last week and the reality of our leaving ranked pretty high on the emotional scale.  We are amazed by the mixture of emotions we are feeling…we’re looking forward to seeing all our family and friends at home and at the same time, sad to be leaving the temple and people we have grown to love so much.

Last Tuesday, we were invited to lunch by one of the temple Sealers, one of our Ordinance Workers, two of our wonderful office volunteers and some dear sisters from our ward.  We had a great time over lunch as we had the opportunity to learn more about each other, reminisce and to enjoy each other’s company. 

We will share a little story about our host, Brother D. (our policy of privacy).  Brother D is a Sealer in the Kona Temple, serving on the Tuesday morning shift.  When we first got to know him, we noticed that whenever we would provide materials for him, he would always respond with a “Thank you very much!”

Sister Elwood and one of the office volunteers soon decided that when he said “Thank you very much!” he sounded just like Elvis Presley, who had made that phrase of appreciation famous.  It soon became a big deal after they commented to him about how much he sounded just like Elvis.  From then on, everybody looked forward to the light comic relief whenever he came to the office and gave his best impression of the King of Rock ‘n Roll!  We got him to do that impression at the luncheon and we recorded it for posterity!

A Fond Rembrance from the Heinzen's

The President and Second Counselor are now off Island during the shutdown and the First Counselor remains in charge of the maintenance and cleaning for the next two weeks.  They will be leaving for the mainland to visit family during the last week of our mission so we will not see them when we reopen.  They surprised us with a parting homemade gifts of a plaque, noting our length of service in the Kona Temple and two ‘treasure’ bowls made from coconut halves mounted on Koa wood bases…one marked “Rich’s Stuff” and the other marked “Carolyn’s Stuff.” We will truly treasure their love, friendship, and the gifts.  They insisted we keep the key to their home in Hilo in case we ever needed a place to stay.  Auwe, the Aloha Spirit is real!

General Coference was uplifting and, as always, rewarding to be led by such men and women chosen by the Lord to lead His Church.  Viewing Conference live here means setting the alarm for 5:45 am, putting the laptop computer in the middle of the bed, and watching the proceedings in our pajamas.  Now we know what you’re thinking…we stayed awake for all of the Saturday morning sessions but we do seem to have missed a couple of speakers from the first session this morning.  Oh well, there is the Internet!

Speaking of the Internet, last October we both watched the Priesthood session live on the computer.  Expecting the same opportunity for the April Conference, we turned on the computer a few minutes before 2:00 pm (6:00 pm MDT) and were disappointed by a message that it was not being streamed live this time.  Guess we will spend some quality time later this evening attending Conference again.

Much love and Aloha from Paradise!

Plumeria...first comes the blossoms then come the leaves