Sunday, September 27, 2015

Pictures September 21, 2105: Taro and Sunsets

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Picking to Plant!

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Finished Lo'i

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Took this Sunday Night. Never Gets Old!

Update September 21, 2015: Sunsets and Service

Week 81 & 82

Aloha everyone!

The weeks continue to pass faster than the last. So fast I didn’t even get a chance to write last week! Sorry! Lots of Pictures though. The weather has been nuts. In 5 weeks we had 4 Hurricane Warning and then on Thursday a Tsunami Watch! We have had to stay on our toes but all is well.  In the past 2 weeks Elder Willis and I have a combined 92 hours of service! (46 each) plus another 60 something form the other elders. We have been given so many opportunities to serve and it has been awesome!

            This past week!

Monday- was P-day and we went Golfing again and guess what!?!?! I’m still terrible! Haha but I am getting pretty good at maneuvering the Golf CartJ

            Tuesday- we had 3 service projects before Zone Meeting at 11! With all of this rain the grass is getting out of control so Elder Willis and I went with a few members of the weed wack and clean yard for 3 widows in the ward. We then Skyped in to Maui for our Zone Meeting which is always fun! We then had alittle bit more service in the afternoon.

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            Wednesday- more service up in Hoolehua.

            Thursday- was a love/hate relationship with food... we lifted in the morning then I made a HUGE breakfast for all of us then we went to help a family with their yard then they took us to Lunch AND ice cream. So at this point im about to explode. Then we helped an old uncle who isn’t a member with is yard and he fed us pizza…. Then dinner 3 hours later at 5…. I almost died of over eating! Haha

            Friday- was more service up in Hoolehua and a beautiful dinner up on the mountain in Kawela where I took this sunset.

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Sunset under the Rain

            Saturday- was Brother Wade’s Birthday. First we all went to the Molokai High School Football game which was awesome even If it’s only 8-man football! Then per Brother Wade’s Birthday Request Elder Willis and I went to a Taro Seminar put on by University of Hawaii every year. Learned how to prepare, plant, and take care of Taro then they have a large taro patch of over 40 different taro and we were allowed to go and harvest as much as we wanted! This is for Wade’s Garden! We then had an awesome dinner down at the beach park and they told me BYU lost… sad.. But still killing it!!!!! #BYUFOOTBALL #BleedBlue GOOO COOOUUGGGAAARRS!!!! Sorry I had too……

            Sunday- was pretty relaxed at church nothing crazy then we had dinner with Bishop Ha’o and his wife which was really nice. We also found out my new companion. Elder Kelly is my new companion he finishes his mission in 6 weeks so it will be a quick companionship! Elder Willis is going to Wahiawa! Lucky Duck!

            Today- Elder Willis and I dug a Lo’I (Taro Patch) and planted the taro! Wade was pretty pumped! In 6 months we will have a whole garden of Taro!

My Thoughts this week are about service the Scriptures say that “When you are in the service of your fellow men, you are only in the service of your god” it’s so true you feel so great after serving someone in need. No it’s not teaching but it is still part of our calling as a missionary. Heavenly Father has blessed us with several teaching opportunities due to the service we have done. It softens hearts and opens doors. The Pure love of Christ is Charity. Serving others is Charity. The first and great commandment of heaven is love god and love others. When we serve no matter the circumstance or reason if we serve others we grow to love them and to love god and in turn we feel the love of God pouring out upon us. I hope everyone has a great week. I love this opportunity I have to serve. I Love these people. I love all of you. And I Love my God.

Elder Shoaf

Pictures September 8, 2015: Dem Mountains Doe!

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Taking a break on the way up!

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Sunrise about 5:30am

Update September 8, 2015: Green Grass!

Week 80

Aloha everyone!

Wow. I honestly don’t even know where the weeks go… it’s scary. Well we got plenty more rain this week due to the Hurricanes passing. The island Is incredibly beautiful. The island usually doesn’t get much rain especially in the dry season so it’s usually very very brown and dead but now the island is nothing but green! This is for sure paradise. Very hot but beautiful. I have been thinking a lot about how much I am going to freeze coming home we don’t have A/c so I’m use to sleeping in 85+ degree heat. If it drops below that I use a blanket…

Highlights from this week;

Monday- we chilled then played some pool at the only bar/resultant on the island.

Tuesday- we cleaned yard then headed out East end with Rusty to pick up a baby pig. Rusty’s sister Pakalana is a senior at Kamehameha and so this pig will be for her graduation party next June. It was an adventure trying to pull one of the babies away from the rest. They are about 50 lbs but there Vocal cords are fully developed. They squealed so loud that Rusty and I almost went deaf! But we got one and shes safe at home in the Chicken Coop. we named her Babe after the movie. According to my Mother that was my favorite movie as a kid. We also set Mia with a date! We are planning her baptism for September 19th!

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Willis showing some love to Babe.


Wednesday- President Warner came in for interviews. Elder Willis and I picked him up from the Airport at 7am then brought him back our pad and made breakfast Hawaiian style. Spam, eggs, rice, Portuguese sausage, pancakes, and fresh fruit. We just had interviews at our pad then showed president the island a bit before he flew to Maui at noon. It was really fun to have him with us for the morning!

Thursday- we helped a family from Kona on the Big island load up there stuff from the wharf and help them move in up in Kalae. We also had a couple of great lessons visiting families with Brother Zukeran

Friday- we had a pretty normal proselyting day. Pakalana and Their grandma flew in from Oahu for the long weekend so that was fun to have them with us!

Saturday- we went Holo holo (Hunting) with the pawns. No luck saw a few but nothing big enough to chase!. I love the mountains!

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Brusier our lead dog and I!
 
Sunday- was a pretty typical day lots of church and meetings!

I have been thinking a lot this past week about the atonement of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. I have been reading Jesus The Christ which is 700 pages about the life of Christ and I am in the middle of Christ being taken and sentenced and makes me so mad that people could be so evil and hateful but it is very humbling to know that Christ never fought back and loved them anyway. That he was submissive and knew it had to be done. That only through his sacrifice could we all be forgiven of our sins and shortcomings. I am so thankful for him and makes me think “how could I ever hate someone or hold a grudge If Christ loved the very people who crucified him.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Shoaf

Update August 31, 2015: Hurricane on the Horizon

Week 79

Aloha everyone!

It has been a great week here on the Friendly Island. Lots going on but not too much exciting to share. The big thing this week is I hit 4 months to go… everything flies by soo fast!

            Monday- was a lot of service and the library was closed so we were not able to email.  But that’s alright we didn’t really have time. We helped Brother wade as well as a few other people. The east end of the island had quite a bit of flooding from the down poar. The rivers run across the road so at times we were driving through 2-3 feet of water! Lucky we have a truck or we would have been stuck.
           
            Tuesday- we had a zone meeting so we Skyped in with Maui which is always fun. We get kinda lonely over here! Haha we also had a couple of great visits.

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Skype Selfie!


            Wednesday- we helped out a family in Kualapuu clean up their yard. We ended up taking 2 truckloads of scrap metal to the dump and then went back to do rubbish but it was pouring by then so postponed the rest.

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Chilling with a chicken. (sometimes they get out so we let them chill with us before we put them back.)
            Thursday we had 2 great lessons one with Mia who is getting ready to be baptized in a few weeks and another with Kawehi’s Kids who are all preparing to be baptized we just have to figure out a date!

            Friday- we went with Brother Kalani to clean up the yard a sister in our ward who is battling cancer so we clear rubbish and cut down the over growth.

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Elder Willis and Naholovaa Enjoying our beautiful view


            Saturday- we spent a good portion of the day cleaning up at our house and preparing for the back to back hurricanes headed our way. It looks like the first will miss but the second might still hit. We have had I think 5 tropical storms come close in the last month! We also had a great dinner with the Lee’s which went really well. They have come back to church and are doing really really well! So good to see!

            Sunday- was a great Sabbath day church went well. We had a great meeting with the young men and women after church. Then we had dinner with Wade and his family upstairs. We have the best landlord and hanai family!

            I’m so grateful for my many blessings. Wade’s Son Naholovaa just put in his mission papers and is now waiting for his call. So he has been hanging with us quite a bit and asking us a lot of questions and it has been making me reflect on my mission and how much I have learned and grown. It has truly changed my life. I couldn’t imagine where I would be without these experiences. It has made me a better man of god.

I hope you all have a great week and continue to see the blessings our heavenly father pours upon on us every day.

Love,
Elder Shoaf

Pictures August 26, 2015: Imu!

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Lighting it!

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Putting in the Pig!

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Opening it up 12 hours later.

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Getting ready to pull it apart!

Update August 26, 2015: Pig, Chicken, and Rabbit

Week 78

Aloha everyone!

This week has gone crazy fast! I swear at this rate ill be home before I blink again. This week marks 4 months till I will be home! It has been a great week here. I don’t have very much time at all so I will keep it short and send some pictures to compensate.

Big news it rain hard Sunday night. Which is big news. Elder Willis has been here 6 months and he’s never seen it even rain! So our area was pretty saturated. And since it doesn’t rain very often the rivers on our side of the island just run across the road so out east end we drive through 5 rivers. Highest was 4 feet. Good thing we have a truck!

The rest of the week was a lot of service and our ward camp Thursday through Saturday! We made an Imu to roast the pig, slaughter rabbits for Rabbit Curry and then Elder Willis and I Showed the Young Men how to kill and prepare chickens. We made Chicken Papaya. So much good times and lots of fun!

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Chickens!
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Rabbits!


The work is different here. Lots of service, which brings respect then respect, gives us opportunity to teach. Everyone looks out for each other. I love it here. I love the gospel and the opportunity to serve these people and see the joy it brings to them.  Sorry I don’t have time to write more!

Love,
Elder Shoaf

Update August 17, 2015: Pig Hunting and Wide-Eyed Greenies

Weeks 76 & 77

Aloha Everyone!

Sorry I didn't Write last week. It has been kinda crazy over here the last 2 weeks. I don’t remember too much of what was what day and all that but I will do my best!

            First off Molokai is probably been my Hottest area. With Temperatures in the 90s every day and it never rains! But since we are never more than 4 miles from the ocean it’s always super humid! It is going to be so weird going home to the Cold and having to use blankets again. Very few of the Missionary pads have an A/C unit so It has been over a year since I’ve slept with a blanket!

            Anyway back to more important things. Wednesday was Transfers and due to our request, President sent 2 more elders to serve here on Molokai. We picked up Elders Gerber and Teerlink from the airport on Wednesday and boy oh boy they look young! Elder Gerber is from Bountiful, Utah and has been out a little over a year and Elder Teerlink just came from the MTC! He is from Salt Lake City and just barley graduated High school. They were pretty Wided-eyed. Haha Molokai is going to be a reality Shock for them! They will take over Hoolehua ward and Elder Willis and I will continue serving in Kaunakakai ward. It is really nice to have 4 elders to cover the island. It was difficult being on opposite sides of the island at the same time it felt like.

            The Work is going really well. Respect is crucial in getting anywhere on an island like Molokai and a small one like this. Service is the Key. We do a lot and use our truck daily hauling green waste, rubbish, moving people, working in the garden. Whatever needs done. We have a few families we are working with towards baptism and they are coming along really well and its so fun to see them embrace the gospel. We also have a few families that are less-active we are working with to help them come back to Church. One of which is the Pawn’s we got to spent some good time with them on Saturday we went Hunting again at 4am and got a small sow about 50lbs. that was my first! Not a huge boar but better than nothing! It was my first pig ive caught but it didn’t come easy. We hiked around 10 miles over 8 hours through the brush and mountains.  I will send pictures next week. I misplaced my Camera this morning… sad day.

I am out of time but will write more next week. I love and miss you all!

Elder Shoaf

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Tracking the Dogs!


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50lbs Sow