Pictures November 16, 2015: Sunsets and Hunting!

Blessed to serve in such a beautiful place!

First deer of the day. A Small Doe. This was Elder Southwick's First hunting trip ever!

Born to be a pack mule #EmbraceIt

Update November 16, 2015: Baptisms are Awesome!

Week 89

Aloha Everyone! 

This has been a great week! The weather has continued to be perfect. I don’t know how I’m going to go home in the winter time… we have had a very busy week as it was our first full week covering both wards.

                Monday- We shipped the Corolla to Maui which means we are officially the only missionaries on the island for at least 5 or 6 months. Then we emailed all of you before an awesome lunch out east end with the Murray’s. She’s such a sweet heart! We then had an awesome Lesson with Hua and Eke. They are getting Baptized on Saturday so we got everything set for the Interview on Thursday and then the baptism!

                Tuesday- we helped the community on their project. They are building a pavilion at one of the beach parks that will also have a full kitchen and bathrooms. All of the labor is on volunteer basis so it was a good opportunity for us to serve in the community. We pours concrete and laid block.

                Wednesday- we had service around the house and up at Wade’s mom’s house in the morning and they told us their conversion story which is the best I’ve heard yet! You will have to ask me about it sometime! We then spent the rest of the day up in Hoolehua making visits.

                Thursday- Elder Vaenuku and Warnick flew in from Maui to do the Baptismal interview an elder who didn’t teach them has to do the interview so since we are the only two they had to fly in. most of the day we helped a retired couple wash their windows then had the Interview that afternoon. It was nuts since we only have one truck we were trying to be in 3 places at once. It was nuts but we got everything done! Drove about 100 miles though back and forth!

                Friday- morning President and Sister Warner flew in for interviews and they were catching the next plane back to Oahu so we didn’t even leave the airport! We just took turn in the truck while the other one of us sat with sister warner and talked with her. Fastest interviews ever! In my interview President told me I would return to Oahu for my last 2 weeks. That made the reality of going home even more real. I have 4 weeks left on Molokai then 2 weeks and pau… it goes so fast….

                Saturday- we went hunting early with a couple of guys from Hoolehua ward. They are planning a deer cook-off next week for the ward so we had to get the meat! We had to leave early to prepare for the baptism but they ended up getting 13! One buck, a few spikes, but mostly does. Plenty meat! The Baptism went super well and it was awesome to have their family there! I love seeing the Spirit touch people and see the joy that comes into their lives. We then cleaned yard and got the house ready for Wade to come home! Rusty has been in the MTC for 5 days now!

Before! (Dad, david, Hua, Eke, Me, Mom, Elder Southwick)

After! I Love these guys!

                Sunday- was really good Hua and Eke were confirmed and we went to both wards. We then had a great dinner with Bishop Hao and his wife and a great discussion about how the world is changing. Wade got home last night so it’s not as quite anymore! We have someone to talk to again!

                Well that’s about it for this week. Hope all is well!

Elder Shoaf

Update November 9, 2015: Teacher or Student?

Week 88

Aloha Everyone! 

     I hope everyone is loving in the best months of the year!:) it has been absolutely beautiful here! i actually have to cover up with a blanket at night! during the day its about 85 then at night drops down to the high 70s.

i love this weather! and in the blink of an eye it will be Thanksgiving then Christmas then im finished....

     This week has been a busy week of getting 3 missionaries and the Nakayamas ready to fly out then showing a new missionary the island. Wednesday morning Elder Gerber, Kelly and Teerlink flew out so i was with Wade and his family for the time being then i took them to the Airport, they are up in Utah to take Rusty to the MTC on Wednesday! so after i dropped them off i was on my own for an hour before Elder Southwick flew in from Maui but then i got a call that he missed his flight and wouldn't fly in till almost 7! 7 hours later than expected! it was really weird usually we are always with other missionaries no matter what but in this case that wasn't an option! i was on an island by myself! well i made good use of time by eating a late lunch then took a nap! since i cant do much by myself!

     Well Elder Southwick made it in and is settling in nicely, well as nicely as a City bot from West Jordan, Utah on Molokai can! with the loss of 2 Missionaries once again we will have to cover the Whole island so we took some time to get to know the Hoolehua ward and try to figure out where to pick up where Elders Gerber and Teerlink had left off. 

     This week i had another Missionary serving on Maui call me for advice and support. they just took over their area after their Trainer left and is beyond overwhelmed. i tried and tried to tell them that they were fine but nothing helped. so i related some similar experiences i had had then gave them a Challenge. 1. Pray to Heavenly Father and give it all to him. 2. Fast for Heavenly Father to bless them with strength and direction and to lead them. 3. Change their attitude. 4. get a good nights rest. 5. ask heavenly father first thing in the morning for strength and guidance. 6. go out and serve in faith that he will answer their pray. after we ended that phone call i texted them the same challenge just to have visually. and as i typed "Change your Attitude" it hit me like a bus and i stared at the phone for a good couple minutes. i realized i needed to change my attitude. 

     Halloween night we found out about transfers and i was not happy to be losing all 3 other missionaries and taking over the Island solo with a city boy from Utah. i was not happy and i was not looking forward to this transfer. but i pushed the thoughts aside and moved forward. then Saturday night i realized that i need to change my Attitude. that the very counsel i was giving this missionary was for myself as well. Heavenly Father Works in Mysterious ways. i then took upon myself that same challenge and follow the very step i told this other missionary to do. We both learned a valuable lesson that night and we both changed our attitudes. they are doing much better and understand that they must rely on the lord. we are imperfect but Heavenly Father places us where we are to be, where we are needed, where we can make a difference because of who we are.it is up to us on weather we are going to act on it. it is up to us to have a positive attitude. and in some cases we may be both the teacher and the student. Our Father in Heavenly knows us each by name and the situations we are in. he is always there if we will turn to him for guidance. I love my Father in Heaven and i Love this Gospel.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Elder Shoaf

Update November 2, 2015: Happy Halloween!

Week 86 & 87

Aloha everyone! 

Ok. I swear I’m not trying to go every other week but it just keeps happening! Wow less than 2 months. Craziness. Well I’m sure you want to hear about all of the fun stuff we have been doing and people we are teaching but first Transfer news! 

So Wednesday is transfers and it’s not pretty. Elder Kelly is done so he Is going home. We knew that. But what we didn’t know is that Elder Gerber and Teerlink are leaving as well. I will be getting a new companion, Elder Southwick and we will cover the Whole Island. Yup. Back to just two of us. I’m not the happiest about it but it is what it is and we will do all that we can! Wade and his family also leave on Wednesday to take Rusty to the MTC so it will be very quiet around the house! 

So the days go so fast that I can’t hardly remember what I had for breakfast, Halloween candy and a granola bar I think, so ill do the best I can to hit the highlights of the last 2 weeks. The big Highlight was our second Kalaupapa trip. Our Mission President, His wife, and 2 couples from Salt Lake flew in Early Wednesday morning. We first took them up to the lookout then we hiked down. We had Breakfast then did 2 service projects. One we did some over growth control. Cleared all the over growth in the yard,, cut the bushes way down and trimmed the trees away from the house. Se second her yard was probably 3 foot high and the thickest grass I’ve ever seen. It took for every to cut and then we cleaned up the rubbish and trimmed the bushes. It went really well. We then had lunch with the lions club down there, they were doing a fundraiser. Then we took some time to relax and get cleaned up then the 2 couples decided they didn’t want to stay overnight so they hiked out and the Warners and us went on a tour then had a million dollar sunset dinner at the Gazebo on the shoreline. President Warner and his wife then called it a night and we rode around with Lester and chilled till we were tired then called it a night. We slept in the Cultural hall at the church and one of the members hosted the Warners. 

The next morning Elder Kelly had his going home interview with president then we hiked out. We took the Warners sightseeing small kine then to our pad where they met up with their friends and spent the rest of the afternoon with them before they flew back to Oahu. It was an awesome Experience to have so much time to spend with President Warner and to be able to serve in Kalaupapa it is a very special place. 

Other Big news is we were able to finish the Shed I Designed and helped Wade build! It was must needed and looks good! 

Finished besides touch up paint!

On Saturday we Went Hunting for Elder Kelly’s last week and got our first deer! A pretty good sized spike. Dallin Tanecayo shot it about 4:30am we had just barely got into the Mountain from about 150 yards and made a beautiful shot! Nothing the rest of the trip but that was fine we were happy with the spike! 

I will send pictures of course! 

#packmule

The crew! (Dallin, Kelly, Me)

Anyway, it has been a wonderful week over here and I am excited to get my final companion and finish with a bang! I Love this gospel and I Love this work. It will be hard to go home. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Shoaf

Pictures October 19, 2015: Jerky, More Coconut Adventures, and Beautiful Views

Oh you know just making deer jerky:)

proof! haha

our haul!

Molokai North Shore

Kahalui Maui!

Update October 19, 2015: Kalaupapa, Small planes, and fast food!

Week 84 & 85

Aloha everyone!

So yeah…. I swear it was just Monday… but I guess its been 14 days… and wow those 14 days have been busy!!!! Probably over 100 hours of service, a Trip to Kalaupapa, 2 day trip to Maui, 2 Sundays, and a bunch of teaching sprinkled in the mix. Oh and did I mention we are going back down to Kalaupapa for 2 days this week? Yeah. Its kind of nuts over here right now! And so I know its kind of overwhelming so I will try and stick to the highlights of our trips and I have over 200 pictures from these past 2 weeks so ill try and summarize and after my mission you can ask me to see them all because some of them are million dollar views.

            Ok so Kalaupapa. The quick story of the place is it is a leper colony on the back of Molokai where all the lepers were sent during the King Kamehameha reign until the cure was found for leprosy. It is on the north shore of Molokai separated from the rest of the island by a 2000 foot cliff… yeah that’s big! And the only way in is either hike down or by plane. The water is too rough fro boats except in June. So anyway a catholic priest and a Mormon boy went down there to help and most of the patients were then Mormon or Catholic. Well there are no longer any patients living that are LDS but there are still 9 lepers and then the support staff of 100 federal and state workers that take care of them and the peninsula. 

#Conquered

Down there the church has a chapel, mission home, and cultural hall. And in past members of the church would hike down to administer services to the patients and the workers that stay down there full time. But when the last patient died they stopped (about 8 years ago) but lately they have decided to restart having services down there so we went down with a ward from Maui to clean the grounds and prepare the chapel for the first services. The hike is 3.5 miles of 26 switchbacks of stairs… Stairway to you knows where… it took us 45 mins to get down and 1.5 hours out. Most people it take 2 hours plus to get out. It was an amazing experience to be there and to feel of the sacredness of the place. It is a very peaceful place and the resting place for all those who were out cast from their families to be exiled there. We are going to go down on Wednesday with President Warner to do another serviced project and to do whatever we can to help the community. We will stay the night and hike out on Thursday.

Our other trip was to Maui for Doctor’s appointments and Zone conference. We flew over Wednesday morning then came home Thursday night. Our flight was on Mokulele Airlines, which flies between the islands in little 9 seater cessnas! It was awesome! It was a brisk 25 min flight along Molokai’s North shore. And I can honestly say it is the most beautiful view I have ever seen and probably will be forever. We flew at about 3,00 Ft. about a mile off the coast and it was incredible. Pictures don’t do it justice.  Anyway it was like heaven having fast foot and real stores!!!!!! We went to Panda Express first of coarse. Then went to Walmart!!! It was awesome! We had Tacobell for dinner then Krispy Kreme for breakfast! The only one in Hawaii! Our Zone Conference was great and we got a lot of great instruction!

Our Taxi to Maui!

Anyway! Im about out of time and I don’t want to keep you too long! Im grateful for the opportunities and experiences I am blessed to have here. I will try and include some pictures and blow your mind! Haha I Love you all and cant believe I soon will finish my time here and return home.

I love you all!

Elder Shoaf