Christmas Eve.

We had to finish all missionary work by 4:00 p. m. today. We decided to take a little trip along the beach and dip our toes in the water. It was an absolutely beautiful day as you can see. This is about 5:00 p.m. We watched the sun go down and then headed over to the Karratti's for a Christmas Eve dinner Hawaiian style with their family. We had lau-lau which is pork tied in banana leaves and steamed all day, shrimp, lobster, poi (yuk), Ahi tuna (raw), lomi salmon (raw and salsa like with onions and tomatoes),long noodles. It was quite yummy and we tried everything. We especially liked the coconut ice cream for dessert. The Karratti's are so kind to us and treat us like family we really enjoy visiting with them. They will be heading to Utah tomorrow with their family for a week. Their son Enoka and his wife Denise will be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple while they are there.

Meet Alicia.

This is Alicia. We met her through Elders Lawerence and Schmerse. We teach her on Thursdays. She is so sweet and would love to be baptized but her circumstances prevent her. She would love her whole family to join with her but that doesn't seem probable at this time. She and Audwin have 4 children. The oldest was born when Alicia was 15. Until 2 years ago Alicia was homeless living in her car in Honolulu. Her daughter asked her to come here and live with her. Next week she will start school to get her G E D. She is so excited.

Bonnie's Baptism.

This is Bonnie Handy. She was baptized today. It was a wonderful end to a very spiritual day. Bonnie was baptized by her dad. He and her mom came over from the mainland to do the honors. Elder Schmerse and Elder Lawrence taught her. They were the witnesses and I gave a talk on The Holy Ghost. It was well attended by ward members. We had a dinner at her home after. It was nice to visit with her parents who are ordinance workers in the Los Angeles Temple. We invited Shane Fernandez to come to see a baptism because he is being baptized on the 30th of December. He had a great experience and is very excited about his own baptism.

Waimea Christmas Light Parade.

Some ward members asked us to the Waimea Christmas Light Parade in the historic city of Waimea (part of our ward). It is held after dark and anything that has wheels and can be strung with lights is in it. Last year they had to limit big diesel trucks because they are too loud and honk too much. Golf carts, tow trucks, scooters, ambulances were all decked out. I'm sure the kids were all confused because EVERY "float" had a santa aboard. We laughed, cheered and had lots of fun. We also collected lots of candy that was thrown all along the way.

By the way there was a potluck dinner afterward at Wendy Russell's. ( Her parents are in SLC at the Family History Center on a mission) Hawaiian stew and lots of other goodies to enjoy.. Yumm. There goes all 40 pounds Wally lost before coming!

Ward Christmas Party.

We had a ward Christmas Party tonight. It was fun. All the tables were decorated by ward families then we had to guess the song the decoration was planned around. Our table with the blue snow flakes was supposed to be "Blue Christmas." The table behind you can see a little of the palm tree and other island things was taken from "Santa Island" a popular song over here.
It was a fun party with lots of food: Hawaiian Stew served with rice and lots of shrimp, seaweed, and other types of salads. The entertainment was a talent show. A few of the less actives we called and invited actually came. The ward was happy.

Uncle Andy.

We woud like to introduce you all to Uncle Andy. We meet with Uncle Andy every Thursday at 14:30 ( he's an old military man). That is 2:30 for all us regular people. Uncle Andy is pure Hawaiian. He is from Niihau. You have to be invited to the island of Niihau. Only "true Hawaiians can live there. We read the Book of Mormon in Hawaiian. He reads to us and we try to figure out where he is and then explain what he read and he tells us if we are right or not. The Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph F. Smith to Hawaiian many years ago. One verse in Hawaiian is about any where from 5 to 15 verses in the standard Book of Mormon. Uncle Andy loves to have us come. He says it makes him HAPPY! He is a fun guy to visit. He explains the islands, the sea and the Hawaiian way of life. Wally has learned some Hawaiian words he loves to use. He uses wiki wiki on me all the time. It means hurry! He also uses makau kau which means he is ready.

Our 1st Zone Conference.

This was our 1st Zone Conference with President and Sister Dalton coming to meet with the missionaries. We were really excited because we knew they were good friends with Mandy's mom and dad Lynn and Suze Kershaw. Kershaw's came to Kauai for a little R&R before Christmas. We asked them if they would come and surprize the Dalton's. They were good sports and showed up just about lunch time so we were able to have a good visit.

Were the Dalton's ever suprized!! We laughed, talked about old times back home and ate yummy food prepared by the Kapaa Ward. President Dalton asked us to drive him to the airport after the meeting. As we were waiting for our interview with him we hoped having Lynn and Suze there would give us brownie points. Just when he finished his last interview with an elder he said "ok, you guys, I will just talk to you on the way to the airport." It worked he loved our surprize and didn't even have to give us a talking to.