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

Kona March 25 - 31

Newest Orchids for Easter

Kona March 25 – 31

Hau’oli La i ala hou ai ka Haku!  Happy Easter!

We awoke this morning to an absolutely beautiful clear day here in Paradise.  It was truly an Easter morning to remember!  Perhaps it had something to do with being able to sleep in about four hours longer than we had for the past four days.  In the last four days, we, like the faithful Tongan saints from the Pi’ilani Ward on Maui, have risen very early to come to the Temple to serve in the House of the Lord.

"Oh How Lovely Was the Morning"

 

Shortly after 5:00 am each morning, they would come streaming into the parking lot in their rental cars; warmly greet each other then quietly gather near the front door of the Temple for a song and prayer before coming into the Temple for a long day of service.  Early Friday morning, they were gathered at their usual place and just as the sky was lightening with the glow of sunrise, they offered the Hymn “Oh How Lovely Was the Morning” in the Tongan language. Such a reverent and joyful spirit they bring to the Temple.

This was the last time we will have the opportunity to serve with the Pi’ilani Ward in the Temple.  As they were leaving Saturday morning to return to Maui, Brother He (his Tongan name is much longer and not easy to pronounce) came into the office to thank us for our service.   He is the Temple coordinator for their ward and we have worked together when scheduling their visits.  Brother He is a tall and very powerful Tongan and when he gave me an embrace of farewell, I felt humbled by his physical and spiritual strength and by his expression of love for us.  We will truly miss all our wonderful Temple friends!

On Tuesday, President and sister Mossman invited us to join them on a trip to Waimea that evening to attend a concert by the Kamehameha School Children’s Chorus.  The Chorus is from the Kamehameha Schools on Oahu and was touring and performing on the Big Island. Past performance venues include Disneyland.  The Mossman’s granddaughter had been a past member of this Chorus along with some of the children of President and Sister Nihipali.  

Kamehameha School Children's Chorus

 

It is difficult to describe in words how very good these Fourth, Fifth and Sixth graders perform!  There are 85 in the choir and all have some Hawaiian ancestry to qualify for enrolling in the Kamehameha Schools.  Their musical director was so enthusiastic and animated; it was clear the kids loved her and followed her direction perfectly.  We have attended many excellent choir performances as our children were growing up but we have never before witnessed the performance level of the Children’s Chorus.  We purchased a CD from one of their performances which we will share when we get home.

After this uplifting and joyful performance, we were greeted by a full moon rising through the wispy clouds over Mauna Kea as we rode back to Kona.  Altogether, an excellent evening!

We noted last week that we had received a surprise gift from the Young Women of the Meridian 4^th Ward.  Before we left for church this morning, we opened the last egg of the Twelve days of Easter.  We then went back to the first plastic egg and reopened them in sequence, reading the scripture in each that lead us back through the last days of the Savior’s life, His Atonement, crucifixion and Resurrection.  That last egg contained only the scripture from Matthew 28:6, “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.”

The scriptures and the tiny reminders we found in each egg were very much appreciated and were a special reminder of whom we worship and of His suffering on our behalf along the path leading to Eternal Life that He opened for us.  We are grateful for the opportunity we have been given to serve in His house and feel of His love for each of us.

Much love and aloha from Paradise!

Jungle by the beach at Honokohau

Kona March 18 - 24

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 21^st.  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

 

It took us a while but we were able to complete the puzzle (do the intricacy of how it was cut out)  which turned out to be hand written greetings and wishes from the young women and their leaders.  It was a great and welcome greeting from home and we say Mahalo Nui Loa to everyone involved!  We look forward to opening the remaining ‘eggs.’

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 18^th.  Goodness, that’s only 25 days!

Love and Aloha from Paradise.

Mountain Apple Blossoms

Mountain Apples

Kona March 11 - 17

Cool day for the old Blogger!

Kona March 11 – 17

A cool Aloha from the Pacific!

Another Sabbath day has arrived and it seems like we just got back home from our Hilo trip.  But, that was a week ago. 

We have been so engaged in making preparations for one of the busiest weeks we will experience in the Temple that the days passed even more quickly than usual.  It will all begin early Tuesday morning with the Temple filled to overflowing with the Saints from Moloka’i and Maui.  On next week’s post, we will provide more details but suffice it to say, that by 1:00 pm Tuesday afternoon, we will have witnessed about the same number of living ordinances equal to an average three to four month period in the Kona Temple.

Today, we were given an unexpected blessing at church.  When we arrived at our ward this morning, we saw the Second counselor in the Temple Presidency and his wife in the Chapel so we sat down next to them.  They asked if we had heard that a special choir from Laie was on the Big Island and they had sung the intermediate hymn in Hawaiian during the Sacrament meeting in the ward that meets just before our ward.  We were not aware of this choir and that they performed their hymns in the Hawaiian language so we were disappointed we had missed hearing them sing.

Well, all was not lost because President and Sister Nihipali told us that the Laie Hawaiian Choir was also singing during the Sacrament meeting of the ward that follows our ward.  So today, we attended two Sacrament meetings for the second week in a row, in order to hear the choir (there also were two excellent talks). 

The first hymn the choir performed was Secret Prayer (Pule Malulia).  It was wonderful to hear this beautiful hymn sung in the Hawaiian language which is a very musical sounding language when spoken by a native speaker, not by me!  For the intermediate hymn, they chose a medley of short hymns about the Savior.  It brought a little maka wai to hear these hymns sung in Hawaiian.

In addition to a very busy week coming up in the Temple, we will be speaking in two more wards next Sunday.  These two wards will mark the end of our Mission’s speaking tour.  We will speak in our ‘home’ ward on April 21^st, just a week before we leave for home.

Much love and Aloha from Paradise!