Dear Family,
Wow you know how you have a plan and things seem super solid, but then 30 min before you are about to put your plan into action everything changes? Well that's what happened to us the early part of this week ha ha. It was crazy. So the boat was going to leave at 4:30 and at 3:30 we realized we needed to pay for the ferry and wondered if any money had been put on our cards. well it hadn't so we called the office, and it turns out that the money wasn't going to be put on until early Tuesday morning. So we ended up going to the sea cliffs of Molokai and taking some good pictures. We sat and watched the whales jump for a bit and then went to dinner at a Tongan guys birthday party in Kaunakakai. Food was excellent. We called it a night pretty early Monday in anticipation for getting up at 3:30 to get ready to catch the ferry.
Tuesday morning came early. We got up at 3:30 to catch the ferry by 5 we made it with about 10 min to spare, and then we didn't get away until 5:15. The ride was pretty smooth for the most part. We were the only people sitting up on top. Pretty soon into the ride we could see a dolphin swimming right next to the boat so that was kinda cool. About the time the sun started to come up we were between Maui and Lanai the whales started to jump. It was so cool. I wish I could have gotten pictures of them. No need a whale watching boat I guess. ha ha Anyway we made it into Lahaina around 7 and weren't really sure of what we were supposed to do. about 7:30 the sisters came (There are 4 sisters in Lahaina) they dropped us off a car and we headed about an hour to Kahului where the stake center was. It is a pretty nice drive along the shore. We passed the only Carl's Jr in Hawaii and Elder Pincock wanted to stop, but we all voted on MacDonald's instead. We made it to the Stake center about 9 and met all the Maui guys before conference started. I knew about 10 of the 20 elders from serving around them in Hilo. It was also nice to reconnect with Elder Brinkerhoff who I came out with. He is on Lanai.
Conference was solid. It was the best I have had so far. The spirit was really strong about what we needed to do to take our mission to the next level. The assistants gave good training on better planning, and using time wisely. The zone leaders trained on leaving better commitments, and seeking referrals. I thought all the trainings and talks by President and Sister Dalton were inspired. Anyway zone conference went a couple hours longer than planned. We got done about 5:10 and our ferry was set to leave at 6:00. We said some quick goodbyes and then hurried back to Lahaina. It was just like you see in the movies. We were cruising so fast finally found a parking spot and ran to the ferry just to find that the boat had just cast off. Man it was so crazy. We were now stuck in Lahaina, with no car, and no plan. haha We eventually got a hold of the zone leaders and explained what was up. They had apparently already planned for us not to make it so they had beds ready at their pad, except the only problem was they had some meetings with stake leaders, and all the other elders had lessons until late so we just had to hang out on front street until they could come. It was pretty cool and there were tons of members on vacation that took us to dinner at bubba gumps and then others took us to ice cream and chatted for a bit. It was so weird being back on an island where there are actually tourists and lots of people. ha ha Cold stone really hit the spot! Eventually our rescue party showed up. So we headed back into Kahului once more. what a day!
Wednesday morning we were up early once again Lanai's ferry left at 6:30 and ours at 7:15 I don't know if that is how you are planning to get Lanai Geo, but I would advise setting a reservation. There seemed to be a lot of people wanting to go. Eventually our ferry showed up and we were joined by Brother Wade, who we live with, and his 2 little grandkids who were coming over for a week. We ended up crashing in the basement of the ferry and sleeping. The ride must have been pretty smooth because I didn't wake up or anything. We made it home around 9 and picked up mail. The toothbrushes came and they are great! Thanks mom. Right as we got to our pad the phone rang and apparently a member had 2 people she wanted us to teach in an hour. Miracle! ha ha They are solid investigators, and they have seen lots of blessings from having their children receive blessing when they were in bad shape. One accepted baptism immediately, but the sister wanted to learn a little bit more about the church before she committed. Regardless it was a super solid lesson. After that we had a lesson with Debra she is so excited to be baptized on Saturday. It is going to be awesome. The rest of the day was normal. It was so nice to sleep a full 8 hours that night.
Friday night we had a Valentines social which was pretty fun. Activities are always awesome on Molokai especially because everyone brings their non member friends too. The members are so awesome. We sat with Apuna's and the other elders. Lots of fun. Saturday we had basketball which also brought a big turn out so we had some good missionary activities that carried over into Sunday.
Sunday we had lots of less actives out. It was awesome! definitely a great cap to a wild week. The Kona temple President and his wife were the speakers which was also good. Somehow Elder Mafi and I got asked to sing with a member between the talks. We sang I love to see the temple. Not quite sure how it went. Nobody said we did bad, but I'm sure it wasn't the voice of angels. lol
That's what is new here sorry I am kind of short on time. Thanks for all your emails I love hearing from all of you. Next week I may not get to email until Wednesday. We got a special opportunity to head down to Kalaupapa and clean up the chapel down there. So we are heading down Monday night and coming back up Tuesday night, anyway our P day is going to be Tuesday and I am not sure when we will Email so If it doesn't come Monday or Tuesday that is why. Anyway things are great. Sorry things were so crazy I didn't get to print a picture cd. Anyway I'll have to make one here next week. I love you all! The Church is true! ! Aloha!
Love, Elder Tripp
No comments:
Post a Comment