Our Home Volcano...Hualalai
Kona March 18 – 24
Aloha Auinala…Good afternoon!
It’s been a very interesting and long Sabbath day, as we
have attended three Sacrament meetings in three different wards, speaking in
two of them. Today, we nearly concluded
our Big Island speaking tour with only our ‘Home’ ward remaining, scheduled for
April 21st. We have enjoyed
the opportunity to visit the other wards and branches under the assignment from
the Temple President. It is great seeing friends and acquaintances from the
temple as well meeting new saints and making new friends.
Kona winds blew a piece of Palm Tree just missing our Kela Uhane!
As we mentioned last week, this was to have been a very busy week in the Temple with three Wards from Maui and Moloka’i visiting. Well, it truly lived up to the forecast because a great number (for the Kona Temple) of faithful saints gathered at the temple beginning each morning before 5:00 am. For good measure, we even had a group from the Lana’i Branch come to join in the joy of temple service.
Getting up at 3:30 am for three days in a row proves telling
on the energy level, even when serving in the temple. On Saturday, we received a reprieve and slept
in until 4:30!
Inviting campfire
Last evening, we were invited to join the First Counselor and his wife at their little ‘home’ on the slopes of Hualalai, the volcano we live on, for a barbeque. This is our second visit to their ‘home away from home’ for an outdoor barbeque over an open fire. The menu included Dutch oven baked bread, wonderful steaks, baked potatoes and beans followed by Carolyn’s coconut cream pie sprinkled with chopped Macadamia nuts. (See our previous post from our visit to the Hilo side of the Island when we stayed with the Heinzen’s at their permanent home in Kea’au.) A brief rain shower followed by some quality time around the fire with a light mist, only enhanced the evening. We’re glad we brought light wind breakers with us to Hawai’i!
Toasting feet around the fire
This week, we also received a special box in the mail from
home! We waited until we completed our
day of service in the temple and got back to the apartment before we could thoroughly
investigate this surprise. Inside, we
found a dozen plastic eggs numbered 1 through 12, some mints, candy, a puzzle
and a note of instructions. All this was
a gift from the Young Women in our ward.
We were instructed to open one of the plastic eggs each day before
Easter. Inside was something to remind
us of the last days of our Savior (so far) leading up to the Atonement, death
and Resurrection.
Easter Puzzle from YW
Still no travel orders from the Temple Department so maybe
we’ll be here forever! OK, we know they
haven’t forgotten us and we are looking forward to greeting our replacements on
April 18th. Goodness, that’s
only 25 days!
Love and Aloha from Paradise.
Mountain Apple Blossoms
Mountain Apples
What do those apples taste like?? How fun!
ReplyDeleteThe flesh of these larger examples is very white, a little tart and the consistency of a ripe pear. The smaller, more common variety is very sweet. They are only edible for a short time before birds eat them or the fruit flies attack. Local lore says they are the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden! Juice from the skin makes a pretty potent red dye.
ReplyDeleteThe flesh of these larger examples is very white, a little tart and the consistency of a ripe pear. The smaller, more common variety is very sweet. They are only edible for a short time before birds eat them or the fruit flies attack. Local lore says they are the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden! Juice from the skin makes a pretty potent red dye.
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