Kona July 9 - 15

Kona July 9-15

Aloha from the Orchid Isle!

I’ve been meaning to take some pictures from the Temple’s “Orchid Aisle” to show you the beautiful walkway leading to the temple.  It’s called the “Orchid Aisle” due to all the beautiful varieties of Orchids that are planted alongside the walkway.  The maintenance of these Orchids is done by local members who tend them and replace them when their blooming period ends.  This is one of the most often photographed places on the temple grounds.

The Temple Presidency recently began offering Youth Service Projects for wards attending the temple for youth baptisms.  These projects include the cleaning and repainting of the concrete decorative walls surrounding the temple and the benches that are placed around the walkways.  Youth participating in Temple Service Projects gain a more personal relationship and ownership with the temple and is proving to be a faith-building experience for these young men and women.

We have reached a milestone, of sorts, in our temple service.  This past week marked the end of the Ward Temple Appointments from the Maui saints.  As I have mentioned before, when these wards come to Kona, they serve all day long.  Our regular schedule includes four sessions per day except for Wednesday, when there are only two.  This provides a break of a couple of hours during the day when we can return home to eat and rest.  Since the other missionary couple assigned to the Kona Temple will not be here until the first week of August, we have been serving double shifts on our regular temple schedule and often up to 17 hours straight during these ward appointments. Members of the Presidency have served right there with us and sometimes even longer.  The Second Counselor and his wife were there 19 straight hours last week.  No one complains and we are sustained by the spirit of the work and the association with our brothers and sisters in the Gospel.  Serving as full-time Missionaries in the Kona Hawaii Temple a vacation…not a chance…it is so much more rewarding!

I’m now beginning the process or rescheduling a new round of Temple Appointment for the Maui Stake that will begin in late September through the end of the year.  This time though, there will be two missionary couples to share in the blessings!

Another milestone was achieved today!  Carolyn and I were asked to speak in our Ward’s Sacrament meeting.  The topics…Temple Service and Senior Couple Missionaries!  As these were nearly the same topics we were assigned for our home Ward “Farewell” the preparation for my subject about senior couple missionaries was built upon my earlier remarks.  Carolyn had to start from scratch because, for some reason, we could not find her talk from April on the computer.  Oh well, that’s behind us now so we should be able to relax for a while.  Although, we have been invited by one of the Counselors to accompany them to one of the Waimea Wards in the northern part of the island next Sunday, so perhaps our relaxation might be short-lived!

 Ancient Hawaiians had many sayings that reflected their spiritual beliefs and attitude towards life.  I found one that I thought would, perhaps, bring a smile –

“‘A’a  i ka hula, waiho ka hilahila i ka hale.” “When one wants to dance the hula, bashfulness should be left at home.”  I’ll leave the interpretation of that up to you!

Na ‘ala hele a pau I ka Hala La’a!  All roads lead to the temple!

Much love and aloha to all!

                                                            A perfect end to P-Day!

Kona July 2 - 8

Kona July 2-8

Aloha!

Late today because we had a wonderful one hour SKYPE call with half our family! I can remember when video calls were in the realm of science fiction, but now,  thanks to technology developed as a result of our now abandoned space program, this is a common practice.  We can even SKYPE from the beach with our new Droid Razrs!

This has been a quiet week at the temple.  I guess that is a bit misleading because it’s always quiet in the temple but we returned to our normal temple schedule without a week-long visit from the saints in Maui.  We were able to serve both shifts this week, morning and evening, with a couple of hours break in between.  Even though we are there 12 – 13 hours each day, that mid-day break makes it much less taxing physically.  Spiritually, a temple mission is unsurpassed!

The temple was open for two sessions on the Fourth of July, which seemed a little unusual because in Boise, the temple was always closed on the Fourth.  There was a local parade but parking was a nightmare so we went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner.  New owners’ and the food was not as good as it used to be so maybe off the list!

Our Stake Center is next door to the temple and they have been constructing a pavilion on the back of the property.  The contractor had poured a concrete pad with columns to support the roof.  While constructing something in Hawaii seems to take forever (not much has happened on this project since we arrived in May) the location seemed a perfect place to watch the firework display over Kailua Bay.  We enjoyed the peace of the temple grounds while we waited for dark.

 About a half hour before the start time, a number of cars began filtering into the stake center parking lot.  Our Bishop and a large number of his family arrived and set up a table for food and brought chairs out from the church to watch the fireworks.  We joined them with our beach chairs and were treated to a great Fourth of July celebration with our perfect view.  For a perspective, if the site of the pavilion were a home building site, it would easily sell for the high six-figures.  The view is spectacular.

This year marks our fiftieth anniversary of viewing fireworks together!  It was considerably more spectacular than our first one together outside the ball park in Idaho Falls sitting on the trunk of my ’56 Chevy!  What a beautiful life we have had together!!

Hawaiian culture often requires naming children with a first name and one, two or even three, middle names.  We had a young man come to the temple this week for his first time.  Carolyn had an interesting time entering his second middle name.  It was 34 characters long…Kekaunamakakaho’omaupopopikeolamauloa…which literally means “The discerning eyes ever fixed on Eternal Life.”  This is a beautiful tradition and these names are very important to the family.  Our children are perhaps fortunate that we didn’t serve this mission before they were born.

Tomorrow is our Preparation Day and we will probably visit our favorite beach to enjoy the opportunity to sit under a palm tree to read with the gentle ocean winds, soft warm sand and a good book. 

Rejuvenated, we will return to the temple to be blessed with a visit from the Pukalani Ward in Maui.  Another exciting week of service in the most beautiful, spiritual and greatest mission on earth! E maka’ala mai I ka hana no ke Akua I ka Hale La’a! (Be vigilant in the work of God in the Temple)

Me ka Aloha pumehana ‘Ohana a na Hoaloha! Love and Aloha to all!

Kona June 25 - July 1

Kona June 25 – July 1

Aloha!

It’s July already!  How the time has flown by.  We were just discussing on the way home from the temple yesterday that entering the MTC two months ago seems like years, but only two months! Auwe!

We completed another busy week of service in the House of the Lord. Some days over sixteen hours long with members of the Presidency serving right there with us.  In fact, June was the busiest month in the history of our beautiful temple.

This last week, we had the opportunity to meet and serve with another Tongan Ward from Maui, the last until October.  I feel the need to learn a little Tongan but I’m having a little trouble getting the cadence of the language through my mind to my mouth.  One of the counselors in the Presidency gave me a book about how to learn Tongan and I copied a couple of phrases.  My computer lacks a proper type font for Hawaiian as well as Tongan so some of the Diacritical marks don’t print correctly but a few comparisons will give you the point…

                English                                  Hawaiian                              Tongan

                Hello                                      Aloha                                    Malo e lelei

                How are you?                    Pehea ‘oe?                         Fefe Hake?
                Thanks very much!          Mahalo nui loa!                 Malo ‘aupito!

Well, you get the picture!

I must tell you about one Brother who I worked with to schedule his Ward’s appointment. He doesn’t use Email so it was more difficult to schedule all their sessions than usual.  I first received a FAX from him via his brother outlining their schedule needs.  After reviewing and determining we could meet most of their needs, I tried to call to confirm the few changes.  No answer, so I left a voice mail. After a couple of weeks, I received another FAX with changes to his original schedule.  Called him back and finally got him on the phone…from his voice, I painted a picture of the man that later proved to be fairly accurate when I met him in person.

He was a little shorter than I expected for a Tongan but was still several inches taller than me.  He had a neck size that I would judge to be in excess of 20 inches and his hands dwarfed my own. He was large but powerful and when he spoke, everyone listened. 

Okay, the voice!  I finally characterized it this way…if a giant Alaskan Kodiak bear with a cold could talk…you’ve heard this wonderful brother speak!

A couple of weeks ago, one of the Counselors asked me to meet with him and a couple from our ward in the President’s office.  I was able to provide some procedural counsel to an issue and was able to assure them about their concerns.  That next weekend, this brother sat next to me in Choir practice and I was amazed at his beautiful baritone voice.  I later complimented him on his voice and asked if he had received professional training.  He said no and that he could not read music either.  I was shocked! 

Today I sat next to him and while I was having trouble finding the right pitch for a couple of hymns we are practicing, this brother had the melody pegged and was fully capable of drowning out the rest of the men in the choir.  Okay, there are only four of us but he has a beautiful voice.

Later when the meeting was turned over for testimonies, this brother was the first to the podium to bear his testimony. Another word picture is in order…mid-thirties, long curly hair, goatee, sun glasses on top of his head!  He bore one of the most beautiful and heartfelt testimonies I ever been privileged to hear.

When the mail came to the temple last Tuesday, we received a package from a couple who used to live on the Hilo side of the Island. Inside, were five Book of Mormon in Hawaiian and a note stating that they had moved to the mainland and had discovered these books when unpacking.  They asked that we use them in the Temple or provide a good home for them. Since they are not bound in white we could not place them in the Temple but we put a copy in the President’s office and I have one on my desk.

Saturday, I helped serve at the recommend desk so the brother serving there could take a break.  He is a very kindly Hawaiian whose name means “Good.”  When he returned, he asked me how I was progressing with reading the Book of Mormon in Hawaiian. I replied that I had completed it once and was nearing the end of 2 Nephi on my second reading.  He said he didn’t know there was a Hawaiian translation before he heard about me reading it.  He said he had a Hawaiian Bible that he had read before.  A few minutes later he came to the office and asked me to order a couple of copies of the Book of Mormon in Hawaiian for him.  I explained where he could order from the church website and gave him the URL address.  My bride later suggested I give him one of the books we had received earlier.  I followed her excellent counsel and gave him a copy.  He was so touched about how these folks on the mainland had sent these to the temple; he had tears in his eyes and promised to read it.  I promised to give him the name of the couple and their address so he could write and thank them.

 Spiritual experiences like these abound in the Temple all the time and we are so blessed to be able to share a few of them with you.  We love the blessings of temple service and look forward to many more in the months to come.  Love and Aloha from Paradise!

                                Why groceries are expensive in Kona...View from parkilng lot at KTA Store!

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”