Yes we are having a white Christmas! No there will be no snow! The
white will be from the 3 baptisms we have set for Christmas Eve.
Moloka'i is awesome! I love Ka'u, but Moloka'i is such a special island.
If heaven is a place on Earth, than it must be this beautiful Island.
Everything about it is special. The people are so welcoming and made me
feel right at home. The people of Ka'u are just as great, and I am
going to miss them so much, but I love the people here so much it has
been a smooth transition. My companion is Elder Mafi, from the island on
Tonga. Man I love him to death. He is so obedient and fun to hang
around with. He comes from such a humble place and the spirit just
radiates from him. He has been here for 3 months already so I am hoping
he gets to stay with me for 3. He is for sure in my top 5 fav elders
that I have met, although I love lots of elders. The members are so
excited about missionary work that It makes it extra fun to be here with
the Fab 4 on Moloka'i. I have kinda given myself a nickname of
"Ho'olehua Haole" as I feel like I may be the only white boy in the ward
ha ha which makes it kinda extra fun. Anyway I'll try to give a quick
recap of what has happened this week. We are at the library so time may
be a bit limited.
Monday we got up super early and headed to go hike to the lava flow
in the Volcano park. I forgot my camera so I'll try to snag a few pics
from other elders. It was about 6 miles to it if walk in a straight
line, but it is a fairly hard hike with lots of cracks and stuff to
climb over so it was a fairly tough hike probably not worth it as it
took lots of the day, but it was a fun experience. After we showered
emailed and did some shopping. I ran out of time to print a photo cd so
I'll work on getting you some pictures from here. It sounds like there
is just one place to print out pictures, but maybe I can find a member
or something to put out a cd. Regardless I'll get pictures home soon. I
also picked up a few gifts for you guys that didn't fit in the box once I
put my blanket in so I'll get that done. Anyway Sister Fujikawa made my
last day in Kea'au special I am going to miss her so much. She made me
feel right at home and just like a mother to me, although no one can
quite replace you mom! She gave me a UH shirt and hat which was super
generous and thoughtful of her. I need to come back and visit.
Tuesday was a regular morning: got up and studied for an hour, and then took an hour to pack. I had already been packing my stuff since the Wednesday before in an attempt to Jinx myself and have to stay ha ha. Didn't work! Anyway around 10 we headed down to the post office to mail out a couple things and as we were walking down we noticed a lady taking our picture which was a little odd. Anyway we made it to her and she explained who she was and that she also had a missionary in Tahiti. Glad the picture got their fine and looked ok. Anyway we said goodbye to some people in town and then headed up to say goodbye to Ocean View. Sister Naboa gave me a UH hat which was awesome and a nice gift. I'm going to miss them as well. We took a few pictures and some with Shawna's parents that I want to send to her once I get them printed. After we headed to a few members, and then last of all we headed to Pule. Man that was so hard we traded gifts. He gave me a Samoan T-shirt which is freakin' awesome, and I gave him a tie that zips like the other one I gave him. I learned to love the Samoan Culture so much through him, and I really want to go back and visit him once I am "Pau missionary" as he would say. I hope he is still around. We had dinner with a member at L&L and Jerome Tayamen came and found me there to say goodbye since he wasn't home from work. He told me I was welcome anytime at his house. After we headed to Hilo one final time. I got a little choked up driving away from Ka'u but I knew what I had to do. Toafa and the Phillips family were on vacation in Hilo with the President of Doterra. You know the peppermint oil mom uses. Phillips are really high up in the company and have slightly convinced me with the help of Bishop and Kalu, that they really work. So anyway I called them and said goodbye. They also told me to call if I ever needed anything. Needless to say the members all made me feel super special and that I made a difference in Ka'u and Kea'au. I know we will be friends for ever and can't wait to write them and keep in touch.
Wednesday morning came super early. I didn't sleep too much and we had to get up at 5 to get to the airport in time for my 6:20 flight to O'ahu. 4 elders from Hilo including me were on the flight and I ended up sitting next to someone who was a co worker of Sister Fujikawa so that was cool. I got to share a little about what I was doing in Hawaii as a missionary, who knows maybe a seed got planted. Anyway I said good bye to the 2 elders who were staying on Oahu and went and sat with the elder going to Maui til his plane left at 8. After I ran into more elders headed to Kona side, but it was no one I knew so I said hi and headed to my terminal. The plane I took was a prop plane so I had to be escorted across the tar mack to the other side of the airport so I didn't have to go through security again. It was nice as I had planned to have to go re check in with Island air, but it turned out Hawaiian Airlines owns it and could just check me in at Hilo. Anyway I took a video of me in the waiting room thing where I was the only one. Anyway sorry I am kinda jumping around but When it was about to begin boarding I found out my flight would be delayed an hour which was a bummer, but turned to be a sweet tender mercy. About 30 min later I went to go check the board to see if there was anymore news on my plane right as Elder Brinkerhoff and his new companion walked through security. He is opening Lanai which is awesome and it was so cool to get to see him and chat about how our last 3 months training had been. He is now in my district, but there is about 10 miles of water in between us but at least we can call and chat over skype for district meeting. Anyway I finally made it here and loved it from the minute we touched down.
Friday we were teaching a part member family and the mom decided the kids could finally be baptized. It sounded like she was waiting for her husband to become a member and baptize them but she decided maybe seeing her kids get baptized would help him so that was exciting. Also there was already a lady ready to be baptized on Saturday so it should be exciting.
Yesterday we had a fireside with the other ward on Moloka'i and got permission from President to watch 17 miracles so that was fun. The wards are really close with each other and seem to have lots of joint activities which makes it fun. It was put on by the Hao family whose daughter Kalu is Bishop Oyama's (Ka'u) wife so they were extra welcoming as well.
Anyway that is what is new here. The people are amazing although I am struggling a little with name as they are all long Hawaiian ha ha, but I'll get the hang of it. I am planning on calling around 1 our time 4 your time does that work. If not when I call then we can hopefully set up a better time. Hope all is well and I am so excited to call on Sunday. Thanks for the packages! Anyway the Slippahs came Friday which was nice. They are great hope they weren't too much. Much love and ALOHA!
Love, Elder Tripp
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