Six hours and 37 mins later we landed in Honolulu. It was incredible. We circled around Maui on approach and came in over Pearl Harbor and the air force base. It was so cool! A large portion of the US navy fleet was docked there and there were bombers and fighter jets on the runway! I loved it! After landing we were greeted by our mission president and his wife, President and Sister Warner. They are great! They took over in July and have made the mission a little bit more strict but they are great! So loving and caring! We had the opportunity to attend a baptism that night before headed back to the mission home on the east side of Honolulu.
We slept there and I woke up early and showered and studied before everyone got up at 6:30. While they got ready I helped Sister Warner prepare breakfast and lunches for those who were being assigned to other islands and would be taking off that afternoon. I have been assigned to the Kaimuki ward in the Honolulu Zone which is just east of Waikiki. It's so beautiful! Our apartment is 10 blocks from the coast and we have a beautiful view of the ocean. My first companion is Elder Miller. He will also be training me for the next 12 weeks. He is from Kaysville, Utah and is awesome! He has been out 6 months and has served that whole time on Maui! We get along great. Our area has been what is called "white-washed" which means we are both new to the area, so we don't know anyone and have no contacts. We have spent most of the week getting our feet under us and figuring out the area and who is who in our ward. We have a great bishop here in the Kaimuki ward. He is awesome! Our Elder's quorum president is also awesome. His name is Tony Suafoa and he is a convert of about 6 years. I love that guy already.
There are actually another set of elders assigned to our area. Elder Boudousqiue from Idaho and Elder Saunders from Oregon. They have been out for 15 months and 3 months respectively. They live outside our actual area so they have the car and we are on bikes. :( it sucks!!! The hills are huge and since it's 80, sunny, and humid. We sweat like crazy! haha. The food is great! The members are so generous and loving! We have dinner appointments almost every evening and the food is so great! I had Spam for the first time this morning and loved it! I will hit 300 lbs easily! My goal is to do it in muscle though! We work out or run every morning along the coast and play basketball all the time! We have had great games and will be playing again today! I love it here already and am excited to get to work.
But it hasn't been all fun and games. Wednesday morning it really hit me. Homesickness. I was at such a low. All I could think about was home and being away from it for two years and not being able to see anyone. I was at the point I wanted to call President and be sent home. But then Elder Miller and I talked and I felt much better. I know it's going to be hard but I'm excited to see where the next two years take me! I know the church is true and I was sent here by God to bring his children to Christ.
I take that back about having too many snacks. :) I couldn't bring any with me to Hawaii so I could use some more! I would also love to hear from everyone! And send pictures! Please send everything to the mission office address then they will forward it to wherever I am. Then there is of course email! The mission office address is:
Elder Thomas Shoaf
Hawaii Honolulu Mission
1500 S. Beretania St. Suite. 416
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
I love and miss you all! Please write me!
P.S. I will be sending home more detailed daily updates that my family will type up every week and post on my blog. Feel free to follow that as well! It will also have all my pictures!
Mahalo!
Love,
Elder Shoaf
No comments:
Post a Comment