Update December 15, 2014: Road to Bethlehem

Week 43

Aloha Everyone!

What a week! It went so fast! Elder Henderson and I are settling in nicely here in Wahiawa! It is such nice weather! Never too hot never to cool! Just right! But still no snow which means it’s not Christmas... nothing super crazy new this week. I forgot pad pics this week again but will make sure to get them for next week!

           

This week!

Monday- was a pretty good day! We had a pretty normal P-day which included Basketball and Dodge ball of Coarse! We then had a great dinner with our Bishop’s Family at a Chinese Restaurant and the highlight was we got Elder Henderson to drink a small bowl of Hot Mustard! PricelessJ Then the Quarnbergs had us over for board games and Elder Quarnberg told us stories of when he was

Bishop Ahkay and his family

Tuesday- was great we met a lot of great people and was busy in the evening with our appointments and then we helped the Mililani Elders cover a couple of theirs. We also had a great dinner with the Davis Family; they live on Schofield in a renovated Bungalow from the WW2 era which is really cool! I felt like I was in the 40s! It’s Kind of intimidating going over there though because Brother Davis is pretty high up there in the army… but it was really fun. They have all girls 5 in total the oldest is 17 and they youngest in 3 and they youngest one, Hazel and their 5 year old wanted me to get in this blow-up ball then with the help of their sisters the proceeded to roll we around. Then I almost got stuck trying to get out! It was a small ball…

Me in a the Ball...

Wednesday- was a great day we spent the whole day meeting people and learning the area. Pretty normal day

Thursday- was the same for the most part but I did learn how to weave Plates and Baskets out of Coconut Frons as we prepared for our ward Christmas Party on Saturday.

Friday-Was a busy day we had a Zone meeting in the morning which went really well! Then we practiced our musical number for the Christmas Devotional Sunday night! They asked the missionaries in the Whole Stake to sing O Little Town of Bethlehem. Then that evening we went with the Mililani Elders so that I could Interview their Investigator who is got baptized on Saturday! It was really cool that was my first Interview and it went well!! He is a great guy!

Saturday- we went to Keonie’s Baptism (the one I interviewed) and it was really cool! We then did some other stuff then spent some time making our costumes for the ward Christmas party that night it was soooo cool! It was called “Journey to Bethlehem” and so everyone dressed up like they did during the time of Christ’s Birth then we decorated the Chapel like Bethlehem and the Gym was the market where you “bought your food” it was really cool! Elder Lockwood was in charge of the Census and Elder Henderson and I were Tax Collectors! But we really just gave then their “Shekels” to buy with in the Market Place! It was a lot of fun!

Keonie's Baptism! (Elder Snell and Ili)

Sunday- was pretty normal then that night was the Stake Christmas Devotional and it was really really good. I LOVE Christmas time! And we didn’t sound half bad!

It has been a great week and I can’t believe Christmas is just 10 days away! I can’t wait! I hope everyone has a great week! I Miss you all and hope you are keeping warm ;)

Love,

Elder Shoaf

Update December 8, 2014: Wahiawa

Week 42

Aloha Everyone!

It has been a Crazy week! I wrapped up my time in Kalaeloa Ward and am now serving in the Wahiawa 1st ward! this is a very unique Ward because it covers Schofield Army Base which makes it interesting since we have to have our car searched and a background check each day we go on Base! it is SO Beautiful here! everything is Green! and the weather is between 65 degrees at night and 83 in the middle of the day! its perfect weather! but gets a bit cold at night… i know i know i'm complaining about 65 degrees but I've been hawaiianized!

Elder Henderson is great he's super funny and small kind crazy! imagine a Mormon version of Jack Black and that's Elder Henderson! he is from Star Valley, Wyoming and played football is high school. he loves Concerts especially classic Rock and knows how to bring fun to everything! he is doing well so far and is learning quick. you don't realize how different the culture and language is here until you get someone fresh off the plane!

This week!

Monday- was a P-day full of goodness! we played basketball for like 2 hours in the morning, hiked to the pill boxes, ate brunch, emailed and played more basketball! we then went to Boston Kine Pizza for dinner! thanks Mom! then visited a few families to say good bye.

Tuesday- i spent the whole morning Packing then an hour at the library finalizing paperwork then we had lunch with Brother Tilghman at Outback then spent the rest of the day saying good bye to as many people as i could! then stayed up till 1am finishing packing.

Wednesday- started about 5 am to shower load the car and sit in traffic for 2 hours trying to get to the Tabernacle. i was able to say goodbye to Elders Boudousquie and Shalvis and Sister Fonua who are all going home:( Then I met Elder Henderson! we found all his luggage and loaded his and mine into our new car the Wahiawa 1st Ward has a 2013 White Corolla! its super nice! Elder Lockwood is also in our Companionship. he has been serving in Wahiawa for the past 3 months and will be going home in 2 weeks so he will be with us till them showing us the area before he leaves. He took us to our pad and we spent some time unloading and unpacking. our pad is a small cottage right behind another cottage where a missionary senior couple live they work with Military Relations and stuff like that so that we can focus on teaching and that stuff. they are really Cool! Elder and Sister Quarnberg are from Utah and Elder Quarnberg is a Retired Submarine Captain! Sister Quarnberg loves to cook so she makes us cookies or candy almost daily! we also had dinner with the Perez Family who live on base and during dinner Sister Perez said “I know some Shoafs!” do you know heather? and i was shocked to learn that they know my Cousin Mark and his wife Heather when they were stationed in Texas! small world!

Lifetime Supply of MREs!

Thursday-  we organized the pad, made a few visits and learned the area we also made a Costco run and got some more things for the pad. more of a get settled day than anything!

Friday- we had Zone meeting and got to know the Zone then worked on a new area map and made a few visits.

Saturday- we had a huge service Project in Haleiwa on the North Shore which is soooo beautiful! We helped clear all kinds of overgrowth, weeds, coconuts, an old shed and a TON of junk to haul off to the Landfill! it was super fun and the guys who were there to trim the coconut trees husked and cracked a coconut for everyone there to drink as a cool down! i love coconut water!  then that night we went to the Wahiawa 2nd ward’s Christmas Party which was really good! lots of great food!

Fresh from the Tree Coconut Milk!

Sunday- was a great day i have church at the same time as Kalaeloa so not much change there. Sunday night we had Mission Tour which is where all the missionaries from the island met at the Mililani Stake Center and then President Warner and Elder Johnson of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us and trained us on teaching skills as well as how to better work with the members of our Ward! it was really good and i learned alot! it was also fun to have a 180 missionaries in one building!

Elder Lockwood, Elder Henderson, Myself

Overall a Great week and i cant wait for the week to come and to learn and grow more! i look forward to what  is to come. i know i am here for a reason and the Lord is guiding me every step of the way!

I hope everyone is doing well and i love and miss you all!

Elder Shoaf

Pictures December 2, 2014

Command Center of the USS Missouri! yup. I'm the Captain!

Jack and Sherl on Thanksgiving! and Seriah Gomes

Climbing Palm Trees

Ko Olina

we are almost done with the service project for Brother Tilghman!

Update December 1, 2014: A Week of Thanksgiving and Change

Week 41

Aloha everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great week! We have had a break in the weather and we have broken out the sweat shirts! Highs in the low 80s and lows of high 60s! Ha-ha and I’m freezing... ha-ha I’ve been hawaianized. Christmas trees and lights are now dotting the area. That’s weird. I saw a family with all of their yard stuff out fixing their sprinklers so they could water their yard… that’s not normal...

I also got BIG news Thursday Morning! IM A DAD!!!!! Well in the mission…J I am being transferred and will be training a new missionary as well as serving as a District leader! I don’t know much about my son yet expect I think his name is Elder Henderson and he is from Wyoming and Plays football! And is 5’11” 240 lbs.! A BIG kid! I am super excited but nervous. I will be serving in the Wahiawa 1^st ward and the district I will be watching over is my comp and 6 other Elders in the area. What I have heard about the area is it is colder and covers half of Schofield Army Base.

In Other News I am slowly progressing on the Ukulele and getting surprisingly good at a couple songs and starting to learn to read music as well.

This week!

Monday- normal P-day Basketball, hike, sleep, dinner, shop, sleep. The usual.

Tuesday- was a pretty good day. We had our district meeting at the Kapolei elder’s pad since the sister weren’t coming I much prefer learning on a couch! They we all went to Little Caesars for lunch a caught part of Frozen on the TV there I never saw it before I left and now I regret that… we then made a lot of visits and Brother Gomes even went out with us for a while. Then we exchanged with Kapolei elders for the evening to cover some of their appointments so Elder Kelly and I got a chance to work together.

Wednesday- we had Pearl Harbor Service most of the day it was AWESOME as always! We swept the upper decks of the USS Missouri and explored in the meantime. It’s super cool to do service there because we get to go where no one else does! Then at the end they took us on a tour of the bridge, Fire control/combat area! It was super cool! We then visited a referral we got and met Gabrielle who is a Super cool lady from Albany Georgia and BOY is she Southern! She was super fun to talk to! Then we had a great dinner appointment with the Latimers and some unexpected surprises along the way! Ha-ha you will have to ask me about that at another timeJ

Thursday- was Thanksgiving! We had Choke places to eat. I felt so fat by the end of the day! We started out the morning by trying to do a service project that fell through then we went to a family’s house for a HUGE Emu 105 turkeys and hams! It was crazy! We had breakfast there. We then explored Ko Olina a bit and walked down along the coast line and the lagoons enjoying the weather,view and climbing Palm Trees! and boy oh boy did it smell like Tourists! Lots of Sunscreen and White or Lobster skin depending on how long they had been there! We then showered and headed out to the Iokia’s for lunch and had Lau Lau! Which Is BY FAR my favorite local food.J Then Brother Iokia who is a LomiLomi masseuse. (Old Hawaiian massage) Worked on me for about an hour and my neck and back feel so much better but sore. It’s really cool because before he did anything on my shoulders he worked on my core and realigned all of my ribs which releases all of the other muscles and joints in the body it’s really cool but a dying art.

We then had dinner with the St. Johns then spent the rest of the evening at the Gomes playing Ukulele and cruising enjoying company! A Great Thanksgiving!

Friday- was my 20^th Birthday- Weird. But it was pretty good a pretty normal day we went to breakfast with a couple others then Finshed the deck at Brother Tilghman's it is soo cool!  then had a pretty normal day of work, visiting members and investigators.

Saturday- was a busy day we cleaned our pad for inspections then cleaned yard at the sister’s pad it hadn’t been cut in a while. We then met Jack and Sherl for a Birthday Brunch a day late then had a normal day of visits then a great dinner with one of the Part-member families in our ward!

Sunday- was a busy day of church then saying goodbyes to a lot of people I’ve gotten close to in this area then had a great mainland dinner of Pork Chops and mash potatoes!

Overall a Great week and I am stoked to go to Wahiawa but will miss it here! I am Nervous to Train a new missionary and to serve as a district leader but I know that the lord will guide me every step of the way if I follow his teachings and remain close to Christ each and every day. I know I can get though anything this life has to throw at me if I rely on the lord and listen to the Holy Ghost. Another super busy week of change ahead!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and in closing I challenge you to remember the reason for the season! We are so blessed every day and don’t show enough gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all he had given us. Also the church has Produced a beautiful short message about Christ titled #HeistheGift please if you have not seen it watch it, it is only a few minutes then share it with someone else!

The address is;

Christmas.mormon.org

I hope everyone has a fantastic week! And remembers that it is the Spirit of “CHIRST”mas

Miss you all,

Elder Shoaf

P.S. i will send Pictures tomorrow i forgot my Camera..

Pictures November 24, 2014: Mahaka Towers

Update November 24, 2014: The Big 20

Week 40

Aloha everyone!

Another week has FLOWN by!! It’s crazy! I guess it’s probably because it’s still in the high 80s! It’s crazy to think Thanksgiving is on Thursday and I turn 20 on Friday! Time is flying so fast! But I’m so ready for the holidays! Even if it won’t be a winter wonderland…

This week;

            Monday- on Monday after we emailed we headed out to Makaha to hike the rock outcrop again this time we took our cameras! I will include many :)

            Tuesday- we had a great district meeting then made a run to Honolulu to pick some things up from the mission office. Including a Birthday present from my parents! An Ukulele! For dinner we went to Panda Express with Bishop Kaawa. We always go there with him! I love that place! Then we had a couple good visits!

 

            Wednesday- was a long day Elder Speakman was getting over a cold and I was in the beginning phases… lots of tissues and Dayquil! But we made it! Haha we had service at Brother Tilghman’s as well.

Thursday-we did a lot of paper work in the morning then had a service project at a member’s house. They are an older couple and can’t weed wack the hill on the back of their property so jack went with us and we did it for them! I love weed wacking! And my skin feels great! I hit a patch of aloe… I mean a big one... So I was covered in aloe but the end of it!

Friday- was a pretty good day I was hit pretty hard by the cold but I sweated most of it out at service at Brother Tilghman’s we are getting close to being done with the deck!

Getting close!

Saturday- we cleaned our pad most for the morning. It was much needed! We then made some great visits with Brother Gomes and then went to a Baptism in the Kapolei ward. It was super great! Then met Jack and Sheryl for dinner! we also found a 4 inch centipede in our pad.. actually under Elder Speakman's desk about a foot from his foot!

we like our centipedes "well-done"

Sunday- was another good day of Church, visits, a grind of dinner then Family Home evening with the Gomes then we rocked out on the Ukuleles!

Overall a great week! I love the holiday season and what it stands for. Find the Thanks in Thanksgiving and Christ in Christmas. Because isn’t that what it is really, truly about?

I challenge everyone to find someone to thank, someone to serve, and someone who needs a friend. I can promise you this will bring you more happiness than any turkey or Black Friday deal can bring you.

I hope everyone has a Fantastic Thanksgiving weekend and don’t go too crazy on Black Friday! Love and miss you all!

Elder Shoaf

Pictures November 17, 2014: Fun in Primary!

Fun in Primary! (Joesph Smith, Noah, Stripling Warrior, Lehi and Sariah)