Update October 5, 2015: Aloha!

Week 84

Aloha Everyone.

Sorry dont have much time to write. busy as heck over here on Molokai! all is well. confrence was AMAZING!!!!! so many good messages shared and thing for me to apply and work on in my life. if you missed any of it Watch it!! it was awesome! and it was cool to see 3 new Apostles get sustained!!! anyway ill send some pics because thats what everyone wants anyway! haha love you all!

Elder Shoaf

Rusty Got his call!!!! He is going to the California Roseville mission!!!! he reports to the MTC on November 11th!!! he so pumped and im so proud of him!

Man i love the sunsets here!

Update September 28, 2015: Paddlers and Guava

Week 83

Aloha everyone!

This past week went faster than the last! Crazy I have less than 14 weeks left. Well the big news is Elder Willis is off to Wahiawa and Elder Kelly is here. He has Less than 6 weeks left! We are probably the oldest companionship in the mission! Crazy to think about. He Is from Colorado Springs, Colorado and is 5^th generation Army! We get along real well. Guns, knives, and anything outdoors. We are excited to work together here and to push our last couple weeks. Go out with a bang! That’s our motto! Heavenly Father has a purpose for us here and we are going to fulfill it whatever it may be!

This week

Monday- we spent most of the day chillin and cleaning our pad.

Tuesday- was Elder Willis’ Last full day so he packed and we had a service project then spent the rest of the day saying goodbye to people.

Wednesday- Elder Willis flew out at 1:30pm so we went out East end for lunch with Wade and Rusty then took him to the Airport. We picked up Elder Kelly and went straight to service! We are helping the Kalani’s put in a storm drain in their driveway and then spread some fresh gravel.

​Getting ready to Dig!

Thursday- we made a dump run in the morning then more at the Kalani’s. Thursday night was our Ward Chili Cook-off it was awesome! Elder Kelly, Rusty and I were the judges. It was super good and hard to choose the best!

Friday- we spent the morning at the house cleaning and mowing the yard and some other things. We then had a couple great appointments then went downtown for the Block party. The next couple weeks is the annual Canoe race from Molokai to Honolulu. There are paddlers from all over the Pacific here to compete! It was really cool!

Saturday- morning we went up hunting. Got nothing but did come home with a bunch of Strawberry Guava so Elder Kelly and I Made Strawberry Guava syrup for pancakes and drink mix! It worked out really well! We are going to head up there again today to pick some more!

​Preparing the Strawberry Guava

Sunday- was good as always and had a great lesson with a potiential investigator that night! All was good this week!

Blessed to be here. Blessed to have a  loving family. Blessed to serve my God and these people.

Love you all,

Elder Shoaf

Pictures September 21, 2105: Taro and Sunsets

Picking to Plant!

Finished Lo'i

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.

            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.

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!

Taking a break on the way up!

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 19^th!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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