Having a great time with my uncles and aunties of Hoolehua

Aloha Family,

 

How all my buddahs and sistahs stayin? How about you Mom and Dad? Sounds like it was a pretty good week. Things went nicely here. We had lots of service. I would bet we probably did close to 15 hours of service this week. We also had an 8 year old baptism yesterday which was nice. His less active dad came which was cool. He seemed to enjoy the service. Glad to hear the Jazz got into the playoffs. Also good to hear everyone made it home back to Utah. For Mothers day 12:30 works great for me. We have church until 12 as well. I'll probably call  sometime Sunday morning to confirm but that should work.

 

big puddle left by the rain storms

Last Monday after emailing we went down to Mo'omomi beach and just hung out on the rocks. We found a few good looking shells and pieces of coral, but the wind  and rain came making the waves crazy so we didn't stay too long.

 

Mo'omomi beach

Tuesday we had our meeting and then went out to work. we met with lots of part member families and shared messages with them. The best on of the night was dinner. We had planned on sharing 17 miracles with Ben and his family. Elder Robbins had just received a copy from home and we thought it would be a good movie to share. however when Elder Robbins opened the case we found that the dvd had a huge crack in it. We were kinda shocked and were scrambling a little for a movie to share, when we both felt the prompting to watch the new Joseph Smith movie. It went perfect. It really touched him, and it brought the spirit so strong into their home. We had a good discussion on the restoration and trials and went home feeling awesome. It really builds my testimony that if we have a plan A Heavenly Father will provide plan B.

 

we live in the basement of this house, that is the view from our street with Lanai in the background

Wednesday we visited some less actives and then went tracting. We tracted into a guy in his young 30's who has lived here for about 2 weeks. He told us he met with the missionaries often back in Arizona and they helped him move. We taught him about the plan of salvation especially about the blessing it was for Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. He is a very knowledgeable guy and knows the bible really well, but is very open so hopefully when we go by tomorrow we will see more miracles.

 

hot bread with president

Thursday we did service for lots of the day. We spent a while hanging up dry wall and doing dump runs for The people we live with. Brother Wade was dedicated this week to finishing the project before his wife came home Saturday. We didn't quite get it all done, but all that is really left to do is lay the tile so we made good progress. We did that until about 4. We made a few visits and then went to a campfire dinner of hot dogs and Smores with the cub scouts of the ward.

 

Elder Maughan and me on the Kalaupapa trail

Friday we did a little more work on the Bathroom and then got out and about doing some dump runs for the widows in the ward. They do so much for us, we felt we needed to serve them some way, and since there aren't any garbage trucks on the Island everyone has to take their own trash so we felt they could use our service that way. It always feels good to serve people. We had dinner and then headed down to the Church to play Volleyball with the YSA for the rest of the night.

 

our bird we caught and helped get healthy

Saturday Morning we had a helping hands project at Molokai Middle School. Elder Robbins and I had the job of clearing out all the dirt and leaves from the rain gutters. There were about 100 people there so we made quick work of that. Around 10 there was a big wrestling tournament for all the non High School kids. Kade Apuna was wrestling and a few of our investigators kids so we stopped in for a while there. I was pretty clueless as to how you score points, but Elder Robbins wrestled in High School so he could explain some things to me. Kade did pretty well. He won his 1st match which was awesome so that was exciting. After lunch we had a missionary meeting with our ward mission leader and then visited a few recent converts. Debra gave me some nice Jordan and Nike shoes. I guess her son had been in town and left a few pairs of shoes he said he didn't want and to give them away. They were my size and fit great so I didn't pass up that opportunity. It was a blessing for sure.

 

kalaupapa lookout

Yesterday we didn't do much as we had to sit and fill up the font after Church and then we had dinner right after the baptism. Apuna's and her parents fed us again this week. It is always a blast over there with them. It is always lots of fun to talk story with them. They do so much for us as well. It was a great cap to a good week. Thanks for the CD Natalie! "Tripp's Tunes" is a hit. Elder Robbins and I haven't taken it out of the Cd player since we got it Monday afternoon. Thanks so much for the cookies too. :)

 

I heard from Dylan Colson today that he is doing well in Oregon and having a good time. He told me Eli got his mission call to Madagascar so that is awesome. That makes 4 of us out on missions. Can't wait until we can all talk about them like the sons of Mosiah later. Pictures this week are from Elder Robbins camera some different shots of different things. Love you all Lets me know if I can do anything for you guys!                      Love, Elder Tripp