Kona June 18 - 24

Kona June 18 – 24

Aloha from another week in Paradise!  I’m referring to the Temple as well as this beautiful Island.  Lapule, (Prayer day), has been what we refer to as a Kona Day, meaning the weather has been clear and warm.  As we drove down the mountain to church, we could see the deep indigo blues and turquoise of the ocean along the Kona coast with the white surf of the waves crashing on the black lava beaches creating a stark contrasting border between ka aina a ke kai (the land and the sea)! This spectacular view was deeply appreciated without the veil of VOG that has become a daily insult to the beauty of God’s creation.  While the VOG, or the sulfur dioxide from the two active vents on Kilauea flanks mixed with water vapor, is part of the natural process of creating new land, we come to appreciate our Kona days as reminders of the Island’s clear beauty of the early 80’s when we first come to love this land.

This has been another learning experience in the temple for us. We had the pleasure of meeting and serving with the saints from three of the Maui Wards in long days in the temple.  Their dedication and love for temple service is humbling, yet spiritually uplifting.  While we don’t share ordinance statistics outside the temple,  I will say that record numbers of ordinances were performed!  Along with the Presidency, we labored with love for up to sixteen hours a day alongside our brothers and sisters in the Gospel! Starting this Tuesday morning at 6:00 AM we will have the opportunity to welcome one of the Maui Tongan wards to the temple for another week of spiritual fellowship and service.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day and we were invited to join Bishop Nakamoto’s family at their farm for pot luck.  Our contribution was a decadent carmel, apple, macadamia nut cake with a sugar butter glaze. Where’s that scale!

We can now add a couple of more dishes to our list of traditional Hawaiian foods we have tried.  Lau Lau is Salt Butterfish, pork, chicken and rice (or combinations of them all and anything else that’s fresh) wrapped in layers of taro leaves and ti leaves and then steamed for several hours. The filling was good but the inner layer of leaves reminded me of cooked spinach.  Probably an acquired taste.  Carolyn tries everything!  This last week she’s tried breadfruit, baked bananas, and lychee.

Today, Carolyn was asked to teach Relief Society and she spent a good deal of time this past week getting prepared. I understand she did her usual great job of teaching!  I’m sure it was not just the Mints she passed out to the sisters at the end of the lesson to illustrate the principle she was teaching.

We met a couple from Shelly Idaho in the temple this week.  I asked them if they knew my cousin who has lived in Shelly for many years and, of course, he had been their Bishop.  Today in church, we met some visitors from Mesa Arizona and we asked if they knew the Reed family and, of course, they were in their ward and Brother Baker was the stake patriarch.  Well, it is a small world!

Some “So’s” and “OK’s:”

So, gas at Costco has dropped from $4.89/gal when we arrived to $3.24 last week!  Still $.50 - $.70 cheaper than in Kona town. Mahalo nui loa Costco!

So, we are serenaded to sleep every night by a chorus of Koki frogs which make a sound like “Bob-White” or “Bo Peep”,  just like a bird.  Check it out on YouTube, look for Koki Frog sound! We thought we were in the jungle the first night we arrived with all the sounds of the forest and the softly falling rain.

OK, we really don’t just eat and go to ‘Pot Luck” all the time, in fact, we often only eat two meals a day due to our schedule.  That’s probably a really good thing because Hawaiian’s have a saying “E komo mai e ai”, Welcome, let’s eat!  It is said the Tongans have a saying…in English…”eat until you die!”

OK, Carolyn has been adopted into Malama Pono (take care, be right) by some of the more senior Relief Society sisters…this is a great honor to be a part of these very special sisters!  See an earlier post about “Malama Pono.”

We are enjoying serving all of Heavenly Father’s children that come to the temple.  Their love, dedication and spirituality is contagious and if we feast, it is in the joy and light of Jesus Christ in whose House we are privileged to serve every day.

E ka Aloha pumehana!

Kona June 10 - 17

Kona June 10-17

Hau’oli La Makuakane, Happy Father’s Day, to all you Father’s on this special day honoring fathers.  I am reminded that of all the titles our Heavenly Father could have chosen He chose the title of “Father.”

This past week has been an extraordinary blurring of time, service and spirituality!  We have been blessed to have members of the Pi’ilani Ward from Maui in the temple this past week.  Their dedication to temple service is inspiring! Beginning very early in the morning until early evening they faithfully serve in all areas of the temple and bring their own Family File cards to do their work.  Most of their sessions are in Tongan and we have had several interesting experiences with this language as we had the opportunity to serve as Ordinance Workers for some sessions.  Needless to say, my limited knowledge of Hawaiian did not particularly translate into Tongan.

One other observation, you do not want to confront a group of Tongans or physically provoke them.  I was particularly impressed by the High Priest Group Leader of the ward that I worked with to meet their scheduling needs.  This giant, humble man, who could have crushed me like a grape, gave me a hug and said, “I love you Elder Elwood and thanks for your assistance!” This brother was as physically powerful as he was powerful in spirit.  We felt like vertically and horizontally challenged little white people as we mingled with these beautiful Saints!

On Saturday, we were invited to a 90th Birthday Celebration for Auntie Dorothy, one of the sweet sisters in our Ward.  She is so spry and happy, she made us welcome the very first time we met her and we have come to love her and her spirit of Aloha! Her family provided a great feast of rice, potato-mac salad, green salad, teriyaki beef, Kahlua pork, chicken, barbeque pork, watermelon and of course, birthday cake.  They insisted we take home bags of food and we now have enough to make several big meals.  We bought a scale so we can monitor our weight!

Today at Sacrament meeting we heard from the Second Counselor in the Temple Presidency and his wife.  Her talk was very inspiring about her genealogy experiences and being Chinese, she has traced some lines back 25 generations! His talk was one of the funniest deliveries we have ever heard in church but through his words,  great principles were taught.  We’re sure his delivery kept the attention of everyone, including youth, and the principles he taught will remain with us all.  As usual, the clock is only a suggestion in Hawaii (Hawaiian Time) and the meeting ran over time by half an hour!

After church, we met the Juetts, who are closely related to three of our nephews and niece on the mainland. They were delightful to talk to and learn more about them.  She is a member of the Tabernacle Choir and he is an educator.  We gave them directions to some great beaches and places to visit here on Ka Mokupuni Nui, the Big Island, and look forward to seeing them in the Temple this week. 

Also at church, we met President Dalton, President of the Honolulu Hawaii Mission.  Our service is within the Honolulu Hawaii Mission but our Mission President is our Temple President, President Mossman.  It was good to put a face with the name as the temple occasionally has dealings with the Mission office.

This evening we have been invited to the Nakamoto family’s farm for a potluck. Carolyn is making a Carmel, apple, macadamia nut, decadent cake with butter sugar glaze as our contribution.  Like I said about the scale!!!!

We express our love and Aloha to all and invite you all to come to Paradise for a visit. We even have a spare bedroom and bath!!

Kona June 4 - 9

Oloha 'Oe by Relief Society sisters for the Horton's at Nakamoto Farm led by Auntie Faith

                                              Hibiscus hedge in front of the apartment!

Kona June 4 – 9

Our fifth Sunday in Kona…how time flies!

This week we saw the Horton’s leave for their home in Bountiful completing their very successful mission.  We miss their loving service and, now that they are gone, we really miss them!  I talked to Brother Horton on Friday to ask a question and he said ‘they, or at least he, were ready to get on the plane and head back to Kona.’  We can relate to them missing this beautiful island, the wonderful members, and especially, serving in the Kona Temple!

With the Horton’s leaving and the replacement missionary couple for the Engineering side of service, Carolyn and I are serving long hours, particularly since the Saints from Maui filled the temple last week from sunup to sunset.  This gave us the opportunity to enjoy even more of our ‘vacation’ by serving nearly 60 hours in the temple.  This IS NOT a complaint but rather a testimony that serving in the temple as full time missionaries is a joy and a blessing that we will never forget!

Last Monday evening, we joined the ward members at the Bishop’s home further up the mountain for a Ward Family Home Evening and Aloha ‘Oe for Elder and Sister Horton.  When I say further, I mean they live on a huge farm perched on the side of the volcano and the road to get there had the old Buick huffing and puffing.  I really miss four-wheel drive but everyone made the trip safely in spite of a few spinouts.

As always, a Hawaiian Family Home Evening is unlike anything you will experience on the mainland.  A big potluck dinner, singing, dancing and a spiritual presence that leaves you filled physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Can you imagine how dark it is on the side of a volcano far away from city lights and pollution?  It was a little cloudy but the full moon broke through just as we were leaving to help light the way down the mountain!

Today’s Sacrament meeting was very spiritual beginning with an opening prayer from an elderly member that was one of the most humble and spiritual prayers we have ever been blessed to hear.  Our ward youth had participated in the second “TREK” held by the Kona Stake.  The Bishop invited four of the youth and two of the “Ma’s” to briefly share their most spiritual experience and their testimonies with us. All the reports were touching and lifted our testimonies of the strength of the youth here in Kona and of the leaders who shared their time and energy on a four day, four mile trek up the mountain.  You would not believe the difficulty of the trail.  The next Trek is planned for 2016!

We again testify of the great blessings of the temple and in serving as full time missionaries of the Church.  We express our love and Me ka Aloha Pumehana to you all!

Kona May 28-June 3

                                                   A gorgeous 9" inch Hibiscus

                                                                     Nearly Sunset

                                                                      A Kona Sunset

Kona May 28 – June 3

Aloha on another beautiful Sabbath day!  This morning, as we traveled down the mountain to church, we enjoyed the clearest day we’ve had since we arrived.  We could see the spectacular Kona coast line and the blues and aqua colors of the ocean down below us without the haze of the nearly ever present VOG from the volcano.  This beautiful scene reminded us of the beauty of this land that we visited thirty years ago and provided a perfect start to a spiritual and loving Fast Sunday at church.

Today was the last Sunday for Elder and Sister Horton who are leaving for home early Tuesday morning having successfully completing their Mission to the Kona Temple.  We will miss their Aloha spirit and the generous time and patience they showed while they trained us to take over their duties in the temple.  This past week has been very busy adapting to the new Temple Scheduling Program and all the new experiences with the office and engineering tasks.

Next week begins life in the office on our own, without Elder and Sister Horton, but with the Lord’s help and with the Temple Presidency’s loving support, we will do what is needed and will love the opportunity.  Next week also marks the coming to the temple of the Saints from Maui.  They come in force to serve all day long in the temple and we will do all we can to make sure their experience in the temple is fulfilling and happy. We will have to get used to getting up before four in the morning and working both shifts for the next three weeks. While we may be physically tired, I am certain we will be spiritually happy for the opportunity to serve in the House of the Lord.

The replacement missionaries for the engineering side will not be here in Kona until mid-August so we will be serving in both capacities until then.  Our temple Presidency serves almost every day and it is inspiring to see their dedication in doing almost every task needed to perform the work of the temple.

Last evening was a farewell to the Horton’s sponsored by the Presidency and Matrons.  There were several key office volunteers invited also and, as usual, this potluck turned into a feast of wonderful dishes, music, singing and dancing.  Sister Mossman brought her guitar and led the singing joined by everyone in attendance.  Some of the sisters, including Carolyn, danced the Hula and we even got President Mossman to join Sister Mossman in singing a duet of a fun song composed by President Mossman’s mother.  The songs ranged from fun Hawaiian tunes to hymns, including “I Am a Child of God” and “In the Garden” which has special meaning to Carolyn because her mother loved it so much and it was sung at her funeral.  I know what you’re thinking…”no we don’t have parties all the time!”  It’s just that the culture here in the church is to love life, family and the Lord so it’s easy for our “O’hana to celebrate all three at once.

My Hawaiian language training continues with Sister Mossman as my primary teacher (Ko’u Kumu).  It has been very helpful to hear the language spoken by a few of the members and they love to test me.  In closing, I want to include the translation of a hymn that Sister Mossman gave to me.  You will have to figure out for yourself the name of this very famous LDS hymn. I will tell you next time.

Much love and Aloha from Paradise!

“He Kama’iki au He keiki na ke Akua

Mai ia ia mai Ku’u home nei

Me na Makua Aloha

Alaka’I a hele pu I loa’a ke ‘ala

A’o I na mea e pono ai

E ‘ola mau loa no”