Sunday, April 26, 2015

Update March 2, 2015: Aloha, Malo lei lei, and Talofa!

Week 54

Aloha Everyone!

I mean Malo lei lei.. I mean Talofa!.....

It has been a FANTASTIC week here in the beautiful Islands of Hawaii! I am now serving in Hauula 2nd, 5th (Samoan), and 6th (Tongan). It I s a joy and a blessing to serve with such loving people and 3 wards! It is amazing over here on the Windward side. Even though we don’t have all the commodities of the other areas of the islands like Wal-Mart and Costco we do have an amazing view of the mountains and the main road, Kamehameha Hwy. Follows the waterfront! We love 50 yards from the water! It is wonderful! It has been exciting serving in 3 different cultures and picking up the language. My Tongan is far better than my Samoan thanks to Elder Uaisele who I served with in Honolulu, which is funny because Hauula 6th is his home ward and will finish his mission and return here in 5 weeks! I’m pretty pumped to see him and I also got to meet the family he lives with!

Sundays are a bit of a nightmare though. The three wards start at 8am10am, and 12pm and our meetings start at 6am! We got there at 5:30am yesterday and didn’t leave till 3:30pm! It’s a bit of dozy but so much fun! And to sing in 3 different languages is a blessing! The Polynesian people love to sing and sing very well!

Coordination the work in three wards is going to be a bit of a struggle but we are excited to serve here. The people are so loving and ready to help others find joy in their lives! Oh and my new companion Is Elder Faitau. He was just released as Assistant to the president and will finish his mission here with me. He has 5 weeks left. It is really fun because he’s ¼ Hawaiian, ¼ Samoan, ¼ Tongan, and ¼ Palangi (White) so he has family in both language wards!

Anyway a quick rundown of this week!

Monday- was P-day spent the day emailing then saying goodbye to families. it is so hard to just pack up and leave!

Tuesday- Elder Ili and I went to Base to checkout the exchange one more time and they were also doing in-field training so it was a war zone on base! Soldiers everywhere! Then we spent the rest of the day saying goodbye to as many families as I could then I got done packing about 2:30am….

Wednesday- we woke up at 4:30 to get everything loaded and get Elder Ili and Henderson to the airport to fly to Maui then Henderson took a Ferry to Molokai. Then Elder Snell and I Drove to Honolulu and chilled till transfer meeting and then it was mass chaos for about 2 hours getting everything done. Then we loaded all of Elder Faitau’s Stuff into the Silverado and took all of the Departing Missionaries luggage to the Mission home then we had lunch with a bunch of Elders at the Harris’s house they are a Tongan family in Honolulu that loves missionaries so it was a bunch of us there from lunch. Then the Honolulu Zone leaders took us up to Hauula and dropped us off at our humble little pad. 25 ft. square but its nice and cozy and close to the waterJ we have a 2014 Chevy Cruze! Finally done with corollas! Which I’m excited from the Cruzes are a little bit bigger. We dropped our stuff and starting trying to figure out what is going on!  Then we played basketball with the Tongan ward. Then slept really well!

Thursday- we spent the morning cleaning our pad, throwing away junk, and unpacking. We got all settled in then went out and starting meeting everyone and figuring out what we are doing. Its really hard when both elders are new we call it “White wash” so neither of us have any idea about anything! But its good!

Friday- more of the same settling in. we did a lot of reorganizing and more visits to meet people.

Saturday- we went to then Tongan ward’s baptism. Suli got baptized she just turned 8 she’s the oldest girl of the Davis family which Is Uaisele’s adopted family! Then we did our studies then had a big lunchen at the beach park with the Tongan ward.

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Elder Faitau and I
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at Suli's Baptism! I love this family already!!!

Sunday was church allllllll day. Then a few visits! Then Tongan ward has us for dinner this month so I’m pretty pumped!


Overall a great week. And a fresh start. I am so blessed to serve in such a beautiful place with people that care so much. I am blessed to be apart of this gospel and to see the joy it brings to so many people.


Have a great week everyone. Try not to freeze too much!
            Ofa lahi atu!

            Elder Shoaf

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