Thursday Baptism Lesson.

I know this is a picture of the ocean but I don't have another picture that I want to use with this post so the ocean will have to do. Hope you like it. It was beautiful today. The wind was blowing and the sea mist was beautiful. The best part of the day though was teaching Shelbrie her baptism lesson. She is a sweet little girl and really enjoyed our games and lesson helping her to understand the principle of baptism. She wants to be baptized and has enjoyed starting to go to primary. We know her family is headed in the right direction by becoming active in the church. We had such a great evening together. We enjoyed dinner after the lesson and Palani told us he wants to work toward baptism himself. He enjoys our lessons especially that we review what we have taught during our previous lesson first. He is beginning to understand more and it makes sense to him. The times we spend just in casual friendship really helps who we teach have trust in us and makes us not so scary. First, being hauoli's and then missionaries is sometimes a touchy thing. We have found that being patient and not pushy and letting those we teach make all the choices on their own and in their own time frame really makes a difference. We can see peace, joy and happiness come into their lives.

Big Surprises!

We had a full day today and two wonderful surprises!! We went to Kalaheo to teach Elizabeth, Vince's mom. She has finished reading all the standard works and all the pamphlets we have given her. She is so happy to see us and loves the lessons. She also got her hands on the Beginning Reader version of the Book of Mormon and she just loves that. She is so cute. I wonder if we will be able to baptize her before we go home? I worry about her health. In the afternoon we went to sit by the ocean. The surf was high and the surfers were out in record numbers on our beach. It was so much fun to watch them. Wish I could get a really good picture of one of them riding the wave. In the evening we went over to Vince and Lois' for dinner. We gave a review using our Art Book again and read 2 Nephi 31 about the importance of baptism. When we finished and were talking Lois said "We are getting married March 3rd and I want to be baptized before that so that on our year anniversary we can go to the temple to be sealed." " Can we do that?" Wow, what a wonderful surprise. We were all shocked. Even Vince was surprised. You could just see how happy he was. He couldn't stop grinning. He has wanted this so for her but wanted her to decide when so it was her choice. They have decided they will be married on the morning of the 3rd and then she will be baptized in the afternoon. Won't that be a day to remember all their lives?

Dying Testimony and Brrr It's Chilly!

Today we had to be in Lihue at 8:30 a.m. It was Zone Conference and it started at 9:00 and our ZL's wanted everyone to be there on time. We were late! We left Kekaha at 7:30 and of course, there was a traffic jam and road side work of all days. It rained here in Kekaha all night and is quite cool this morning. Shock. It always rains other places on the island but not here. We knew it would be cool in Lihue but were surprised about it here. The Kona winds have been blowing too and they are the cool winds. We gave our "dying testimonies" today because there won't be another Zone Conf. before we leave. We didn't realize we would have that opportunity. Wally told the elders it wasn't nice at our age to say we were giving our dying testimonies. Pres. said think about me I am 2 years older than you are. Could we call it something else? The elders got a chuckle over that. It was a good meeting. We got to see Elder Menlove again because he is Assistant to the President. We sure do like him. Feel a bond with him because he is Jana's cousin I guess. We finished our meeting and by the time we got home it was 4:30. Wow, we were exhausted. All we did was sit all day and do a few role plays but meetings that are long like that seem to wear us out. After dinner we sat down to watch the news and we had to put a blanket over our legs because it was so cool. I can't believe that is the first time since we have been here that we have been that cool. It wasn't freezing or anything just cool for what we are used to. Are we acclimatizing to Kauai?

Love our Sunday School Class!

We had a great Sunday today. First of all, Fast and Testimony was so wonderful. The spirit was so strong it really started the day off right. Then we had a full Sunday School class again. We have a sweet young less active sister who has started coming back and wants her daughter to be baptized. She and her fiance have asked us over to give a baptism lesson on Thursday. The great thing about that is he will be there for the lesson and we hope it will touch his heart. They have already told us they are trying to live Sundays as a family. They come to church then have dinner together then do a family activity. It really makes us happy they are putting into practice the things we are sharing is class. We gave a review today using our Gospel Art picture book and it really did make a great review. I had forgotten we brought it. As I was going through some things and cleaning up this week I found it. Everyone in the class loved it. It seems as time gets closer for us to come home more people are wanting to become active again and have the gospel back in their lives. We love teaching together and we are being so blessed for being patient.

Finally We Have Seen Some Whales!

We have been at the Waiohi today for lunch. We were going to go to Keoki's for cashew chicken stir fry but decided last minute we wanted to sit by the ocean to eat. What better place than the Marriott Grill for a Marriott Burger and drink? It was quite breezy but still beautiful today and not many people were out so we had our choice of tables. We sat right under a tree as near as we could get to the ocean. The old Monk Seal was in his usual place taking up good beach front sand. As we sat there all of a sudden the whales decided to play. It was fantastic. I have mentioned before we haven't see any this year. Last year was so wonderful we knew we would have great luck this year. But nothing. Anyway, they were out in full force breeching, slapping their flukes and just having a good time. It was amazing! We asked Alicia our server if we could stay and just watch because it wasn't too busy and she said of course we could. We stayed for a while and really enjoyed the show. On the way home we saw several more from the road jumping way out of the water. When we got to Kekaha we just went straight past our street and over to Mc Carther Park to sit on the rocks to see if anything was going on there. We were pressing our luck but thought we would try. All of a sudden the whales started putting on a show down here. One whale went around in a circle again and again slapping his fluke on the water. We counted 35 times. WOW. This I will miss for sure.

Wally and Bro. C Give Blessings.

I snapped this picture as we were driving by this beautiful Tulip Tree. It is that time that all of them are coming into bloom. They are vibrant red orange and just beautiful. This one I love because it has taken over the the telephone and electrical wires right next to it. It has just kind of crept its way along covering them. I wish I could have gotten a better picture but there is no pull out and there were cars behind us. We were on our way home from Lihue doing our weekly shopping when I snapped it. Wall and Bro. C have become the men who give blessings at the hospital for those who are in need. They were called a short while ago by a man from Anahola on the other side of the island because a man who worked for him had his wife in the hospital. Wall and Bro. C. didn't know them but went and offered their services. I guess they did such a good job they were called upon again today. The fellow they blessed isn't a member of the church but needed a blessing and Wally explained to him what it was and told him it would do some good and couldn't hurt him anyway. I am continually amazed by the simple, sweet faith of these people.

Busy Day and Kona Crab Fest

We were so busy today! We prepared and taught 2 baptism lessons, I went visiting teaching, Wally did visits with the Bishop. Then we were invited with a group from the ward to the Bishop's house for a crab fest. Bishops son is a fisherman and he went out and caught 80 lbs of Kona crab and gave Bishop a 5 gallon bucket full and sold the rest to Food Land. Crab fishermen get $4.50 a pound for their crabs and we pay $6.50 a pound. Lucky for us we got all we could eat for just going to dinner.

Here we are shelling our crab and picking out the meat. Boy, it is a lot of work for just a little bit of meat. Lots of pulling off legs, gills, prying shells apart and then sucking out the meat on these particular type of crab. They have little clear pieces of shell all through the meat so you just kind of have to pick it apart and suck it out. It is so delicious though with garlic butter. Yummm Oh and you just leave all you mess in front of you on the table and when you're finished you just roll up the newspaper and throw it out.

All these crab have to be measured before the fishermen can keep them. They must be at least 4 inches up and down. Here is the Bishop showing us the measuring tool. It can cause serious trouble for anyone who takes any crab that are too small!