Kona February 18 - 24

Temple dawn

Kona February 18 – 24

Aloha Dear Family and Friends,

Another Sunday has come and we continued our ‘speaking tour’ of wards on the Big Island.  Four Wards down and five more to go!

Ke'ei Chapel

Today we had the opportunity of speaking at the Ke’ei Ward just a few miles south of our apartment.  Each ward has its own personality and Ke’ei  is no exception.  The building is 50-60 years old, small and situated just above the highway.  The view from the front of the chapel is spectacular, overlooking the coast south of Kealakekua Bay from about the 1300 foot elevation.  Two unique features of this building…first it is quite small and appears to have been built in phases.  Second, it has an outdoor baptismal font.

Beyond the architecture and setting, the most memorable feature of the Ward is the members!  We felt very much at home, greeting many familiar faces from their service in the Kona Temple.  The Bishop greeted us when we arrived and in appearance,he looks like a seventeen year-old kid.  He told us that when he accompanies the youth to the temple for baptisms, he is often “mistaken for one of the youth!”  We don’t know his age but we’re sure he is spiritually much older than his physical appearance.

The two full-time missionaries assigned to the ward spoke as ‘youth speakers’ before Sister Elwood gave her wonderful address.  As sometimes happens, even with cancelling of the ‘rest’ hymn, I had about seven minutes to speak.  I’m grateful for the promptings I received while preparing my notes on Saturday because the two major changes to my ‘stump’ speech were all I needed to use to fill the time. After closing with a few phrases in Hawaiian relating to establishing the temple as a priority in our lives, I gave my testimony and closed, only a minute overtime.  Later, I received a great comment from one of the brothers in the ward when he told me I was a “Kama’aina” which means literally a “person of the land or local born Hawaiian.”  I asked him if that also meant I could get the Kama’aina discount on green fees!

This week in Hawai’i, the big news has been the weather and there has been plenty of it to go around.  A strong weather system rolled down the island chain dumping an incredible amount of rain across the islands.  On Kauai, the rain caused streams to rise quickly and in one case, rising water flow washed a hiker from New York out into the ocean causing her death and stranding more than 50 hikers for a cold, wet, night on the beach.  In the morning, the water flow dropped enough to allow them to safely re-cross the stream.  We remember hiking the same trail years ago.

On Oahu, Maui, and Moloka’i, flash floods roared through streets, yards and homes creating a lot of damage.  On the Big Island, it rained for most of the week on the Hilo-side of the island changing normally gentle waterfalls into raging torrents.  Here in Kona, for most of the week, we have enjoyed beautiful, mostly clear weather with a few light showers…until Saturday evening.  The whole Island was under a flash flood warning and threat of thunderstorms.  Saturday evening it was our turn, we received our first major thunderstorm and about an inch of rain, all in fifteen minutes!

The rest of the big weather news revolved around Winter Storm warnings for 6 – 12 inches of snow accompanied by blizzard/white-out conditions.  Temperatures last night were in the mid-twenties plus high winds.  Okay, that was for Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the two great mountains on the Big Island.  For perspective, Mauna Kea is 90 feet higher the Grand Teton peak in Wyoming.  Hawai’i is great!

Rain equals beautiful mossy walls

Our beautiful temple was relatively quiet this week, being blessed with our usual mix of visitors and local members.  While we are not to be concerned about the ‘numbers’, we have noticed that attendance for the first two months of the year is significantly higher than last year which was a very good year.  Our computer network has stabilized allowing us to take care of the scheduling, recording and reporting that is a key part of our responsibilities. 

We also encountered an unusual circumstance when scheduling a family for their first visit to the temple.  As the Assistant Recorder, I get many questions about procedures and policies.  While working on another project, I felt prompted to ask Sister Elwood to read a section of the Handbook in order to familiarize her with some of the issues that Bishops deal with.  Keep in mind that I have been in this position for more than five years, so, when a specific policy question was raised, I gave my answer only to be corrected by my beautiful companion as she cited a paragraph from the Handbook that I had overlooked.  I’m so proud of her and all she has learned while serving in the Recorder’s office.

This coming week, we get to experience a new version of the Temple Scheduling Program and begin our preparations for another visit by our beloved brothers and sisters from the Pi’ilani Ward on Maui in early March.   This week we will also celebrate Sister Elwood’s’ birthday at the end of February.  Time continues to speed along!

Much love and Aloha from Paradise!

Sunset February 23