It's Like Riding a Bike

Aloha from the island of O'ahu!

Well this has been a fun first week in the new area. For those of you who don't know Makakilo is on the far west side of the island and is one of the driest places in the mission, it is sunny as heck to the point where I might actually have to invest in a pair of sunglasses, and it's about 90% hills. Throw in the fact that we are on bikes and you have the perfect recipe for a very long week. I guess I said I didn't want these last few months to crawl by so God delivered. Careful what you ask for folks!

In all seriousness though this is a pretty awesome area, there are lots of people we can talk to and many opportunities to help people daily. My new companion Elder Lambert has that greenie fire burning and we are excited to see what we can get done over here.

The week is all kinda a blur but we had some dope lessons. We met with the Newhouse ohana and taught them a lesson on the role of prophets in our lives. They had a solid understanding and totally agreed with what we said, I think all four of them have serious potential.

Another awesome lesson we had was with Sebastian Stanley, a 23 year old who has been investigating for awhile. He was super receptive to what we taught so we invited him to be baptized. He said he wanted to but he is moving to the mainland in a couple weeks and would prefer to do it then so his girlfriend can be there. Aside from that hiccup it was super solid and I don't doubt that he will get baptized soon.

The ward itself has some pretty awesome members that I am still trying to get straight, and everyone is making sure to let me know that I am almost done with my mission. Also they always ask what area I came from and when they hear Ka'u they act like I survived a war zone so it's pretty dang funny to see they're reaction (Pretty much did survive a war zone tbh). But so far my favorite person is AlohaLyn, a Filipino aunty who we live behind. She has already adopted me as one of her son's so this should be a fun time.

But time is running short and I still have like 4,000 things to do before the day is out, hope you all had a great week and continue to be awesome examples of Christians. Love you all, Aloha!

Elder Smith
Hawai'i Honolulu Mission

1500 S. Beretania St. ste. 416
Honolulu, HI 96826

1. Elder Lambert
2. Me, Owens, and Chau in the Hilo airport
3. Me, Elder Fanene and Elder Furner hanging out at Kaena Point on Pday, we have better pics I just don't have them yet

1 Week, 2 Apostles, 3 Ash Days, 4 Elders

You know I've been living on God's earth a little over two decades now but I don't think I have ever experienced a week that went by quite this slow. Buckle your seatbelts because this is probably the most unconventional missionary email you've read in awhile.

So Monday, a couple hours after sending last week's email, we get a call from our ZLs (Elders Collins and Fakahau) who say that President Bekker felt strongly that we needed to get out of Ka'u asap. We were in the middle of a hike to the Kawa black sand beach when it happened so we finished things up there and spent the rest of the day packing up everything we owned. That evening we took all of our stuff to the Kea'au Elder's (Elders Dorrough and Owens) pad and converted their place into a four man pad. We didn't know how long we would be there we just decided to roll with it.

Tuesday proves that the church is in fact true because that morning we found out that mere hours after leaving Ka'u a huge ash cloud hit Pahala (The northern most town in our area) and air quality was dropping like crazy. Vog and sulfur levels have only risen since then, it's still pretty bad.

Despite that we had an amazing opportunity to hear from two different apostles on Tuesday as well. Elder Holland and Bednar were in Laie giving a devotional to the students at BYU-H but wanted to do a special devotional for the missionaries. All the outer island missionaries were able to Skype in so we could hear too. Many great things were said but my favorite was Elder Holland talking about how serving a mission isn't just something we check off a list, it is what sets us on a trajectory for the rest of our lives. If nothing else the church can expect us each to have one convert, ourselves. It hit me pretty hard since I'm getting towards the end of the mission and gave me the kick in the pants I needed to finish strong.

Sadly the kick in the pants needed to wait a little longer because early Thursday morning we had another volcanic eruption only this one was slightly more explosive than the previous ones. LOTS of sulfur got kicked up from that one and President told the whole Hilo Zone to stay indoors for the day and to use best judgment from then on. The air in Kea'au was pretty bad so while the others were able to start working again after a day the four of us got stuck inside for three straight days. We messaged investigators, updates records, and cleaned everything we could think of and still had time to spare. We played every board game and card game imaginable but cabin fever started to hit us pretty hard. It's a good thing the four of us like each other or else we might have just gone crazy.

So Saturday eventually rolled around and transfer news came in. I got word that I am transferring back to the island of O'ahu and will now be serving in the Makakilo Ward on the west side of the island. My companion will be Elder Lambert who is only three months out and just so happens to be my grandson (he was trained by my "son" Elder Hayes). I am pretty excited to be going back to the rock and am looking forward to seeing what adventures my last area has in store for me.

We journeyed back Ka'u on Sunday so I could say goodbye to the ward. The volcano has really affected the air down there in the last week, it was pretty ugly. I am really going to miss this place though, I have really come to love the people here and see just how the spirit works on individuals. The ward is very loving and while they will probably all have forgotten my name in a matter of months I know that I made a difference here and that they have all changed my life.

Well that's the basic rundown of our rather odd week. Grateful for the experience but excited to get back to actual missionary work this next week. Adventure is out there!

Elder Smith
Hawai'i Honolulu Mission

1500 S. Beretania St. ste. 416
Honolulu, HI 96826

Me and the Makuakanes (One of my favorite families)


Me and Moki Simmons (EQ President)



Me and Ferrin with Ethan Kobzi, a hilarious kid we are teaching


This went on for 3 hours


When the air quality is junk but you still need a haircut

Me and Mandy (super fun investigator)

Me with Josh Viernes, our recent convert who is just an amazing person


Me with Gary and Candice Kaawa, a family we are teaching that I absolutely love


Me and the Sherlines

Hold Your Breath

Aloha friends and family.

This is probably going to be a shorter email since there isn't a whole lot to report on aside from the weather. So last week I made the comment that mother nature couldn't stop the work, buuut I did find this week that she can slow it down.

So for those that haven't been following the news this week Kilauea's eruptions near Pahoa are ongoing. We had a couple quiet days but a few more small quakes opened up a couple more lava vents. We are pretty far (about 40 miles) from where the lava is but because of the way the wind is blowing we are getting the vog and ash worse than anyone. Some days are worse than others but it made it really hard for us to find anyone since people just barricaded themselves indoors. Also almost everyone we teach has allergies of some kind so they were all getting sick from the air. President Bekker told us to stay put unless things get worse so all week has been a bit of a waiting game.

The media is saying that if the lava continues to drop in the main vent that it will eventually hit the water table which will cause a decent size eruption. The surrounding area has already been evacuated but IF that happens Ka'u would get hit by a good size ash cloud and we would all need to evacuate. That being said this probably just the media blowing things out of proportion so only time will tell.

Sadly not a lot of missionary work to report on, mostly just checking in with our investigators and making sure they are all good. We did exchange one day this week and I went into the Kea'au ward with Elder Owens. Let me tell you, I don't know if there was something in the water up there but everyone we talked to was in a bad mood. I've met plenty of rude people in the last 21 months but I'd never been given death threats before. I got three that day so look at me go. (One guy told us he was a mercenary named Diablo so we didn't spend a whole lot of time on his property).

Anywho that's all I can really report on this week. Transfer news is rolling in next week and odds are I will be moving to my last area. Hoping that my last week in Ka'u picks up but regardless I am happy with the chance I have had to live the country life for a few months. Love you all and keep the faith 🤙

Elder Smith
Hawai'i Honolulu Mission

1500 S. Beretania St. ste. 416
Honolulu, HI 96826


Only pic I took this week. Sent this in to the mission office with our mileage report. It's a basic summary of what my Big Island experience has been like over the last 6 months

Pompeii

Well we made it through the week despite Pele's best efforts. Just a quick rundown of the week and just so you know not a whole lot of actual missionary work got done sadly. Still a very memorable week regardless.

Last Monday was a fun Pday, we traveled around with the Kea'au and Keaukaha elders and hit up a lot of shops around Hilo. Had to grab some Big Island specific tourist-like things while I'm here.

That night we exchanged with Kea'au so I went back to the Ka'u area with Elder Owens, only to have to turn BACK around and go to Kea'au again because Elder Owens accidentally brought his car keys with him. So by the time that round trip was done the day was half gone and we were only able to see a couple people. We did make French toast with the YW though so that was pretty dope.

Wednesday we went up to Hilo for interviews with President Bekker and that was another awesome experience. We talked through the ways Ka'u has improved and what needs to happen to really help it spring forward (basically whether this area should still have Elders or not). I gave him my two cents (that it should) but we will see what happens when transfers roll around in a couple weeks.

Thursday me and Elder Ferrin started week planning and felt a couple small earthquakes through out the day, nothing to worry about through. That evening however we went up to Kea'au again to help those elders be in two places at once only to find out right after we got there that Kilauea (Big Island's volcano) just erupted in Pahoa and that Leilani Estates was being evacuated because of it. We being the geniuses that we are of course went straight to Pahoa to see if there was anything we could do to help. The situation was pretty much under control but lots of people are having to live in shelters right now. Pretty sad, though no one was hurt. Not much you can do about a volcano except let it run its course and get out of the way.

Friday we carpooled with the Kea'au elders up to Waimea for the Big Island Zone Conference. The theme of the conference was building your personal testimony. Halfway through the conference during a special musical number we were hit by a 5.4 earthquake that shook the building pretty good. After confirming that the rest of the island was still there we went on with the program. About an hour later while having lunch we were hit by another quake that was a bit more violent (6.9) but ultimately we were all fine and nobody got hurt. We were pretty far from the epicenter so I guess having the conference so far north was inspired (Usually the conference is in Hilo which is where the quake was worst). We kept on going though and finished out the conference. I was called on to give a talk so I shared a bit on overcoming doubts and improving our personal conversion, it was a fun time.

With all that behind us we started calling our members and investigators to see if they were ok. Everyone came out alright however there was a bit of a scare since Punalu'u was showing signs of tsunami, but it passed without an incident (Punalu'u is about a 10 minute drive from where I live). All in all hectic day but not one that will be forgotten.

Saturday and Sunday were really our only days to proselyte and they were pretty slow. Given the craziness of the rest of the week I was kinda ok with that. Saturday we went to a Coffee festival in Pahala and mingled with a bunch of different people. Sunday we once again taught most of Elders Quorum and did our usual visits. One of our investigators Gary Kaawa is down with a bad infection on his foot so we taught him about priesthood blessings and gave him one. It was an awesome and super spiritual experience. Good way to close out the week.

Sorry this email was so long, just figured you all wanted to know about everything that went down. We are all safe and still waiting to see what the church wants us to do to aid the relief efforts. The missionaries serving in Pahoa and Waikahe have been temporarily moved to another pad but they are still proselyting in their areas. Also Elder Ferrin's eyes are not liking all the vog and sulfur in the air right now so prayers for him. And as a closing note the glow from the volcano at night legit looks like Hell, sketchy but cool at the same time. Anywho have a great week and know that not even the forces of nature can stop this work from progressing.

Lava you guys!

Elder Smith

Hawai'i Honolulu Mission
1500 S Beretania St. ste 416
Honolulu HI 96826

1. May 1st was Lei Day. No idea what's it's celebrating and I don't think anyone else does either I just used it as an excuse to wear my Kukui nut lei
2. While on exchanges a member gave me and Elder Owens a huge spider decoration so naturally I put it in Elder Ferrin's bed. He wasn't a fan, I had a good time though.
3. Cain Spider, the second most annoying venomous pest in Ka'u
4. Didn't know you could make clothes that broke the word of wisdom. Science man.
5. The Pahala festival had Krispy Kreme donuts so naturally we grabbed some.
6. I was very excited to eat a donut
7. Hilo Zone

Another Week Bites the Dust

Remember how last week I said time actually felt like it was slowing down? Yeah well this week made up for it and it felt about 5 minutes long. Here's the rundown.

Monday was a solid Pday, just relaxed in Hilo and played some board games with the Kea'au and Keaukaha Elders. After we went back to Ka'u and had dinner with the Kobzi's. It was a fun time and Ethan has been reading more of the Book of Mormon, now it's just a matter of getting him to church.

Not much happened on Tuesday but Wednesday we did some service at the Ocean View community center and had a super intense lesson with Myciah. She has been coming to church forever but is facing some opposition from family. We basically put all the cards on the table, we were super honest but loving and I think the message got through to her. Whatever happens from here is up to her.

We went to the infinite Kaawa house and met a less active named Candice Grimes who had a lot of questions for us. We answered them and told her that the best answers are in the Book of Mormon, she was excited to hear that and said she would read this week. We will be seeing her again this week. We saw Trineice as well this week and while we were teaching her mother also started asking questions so we started teaching her about the need for continuous revelation and why we have a prophet.

We also taught a quick lesson to Anne and Kurt Fraas (the couple whose cats tried to kill me a few transfers back) about the Book of Mormon and they were intrigued by the idea.

My Ka'u experiences this week were eating the meat off a fish (can't remember which kind) that still had all its bones while only almost choking twice, having to deal with a swarm of termites getting into our pad, and helping the Kaawa's move the guts and meat of a cow they just slaughtered. All in all fun stuff. My dear companion is a fantastic missionary but not the most comfortable with the above things so I think I was having a little more fun than him. Oh well.

Church was once again a party and we taught the youth Sunday school as well as a quick lesson to the primary in which I compared the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a Cheeseburger (you had to be there). After that we drove up to Hilo and participated in a stake musical fireside where all the missionaries in the stake sang I'm Trying to be Like Jesus. Super cool fireside in general with lots of cool musical numbers. Spirit was strong!

So yeah that's a summary of another week in Ka'u. Things are moving and I drafted up a 5 step plan last night for how we can be more involved with the ward. We will run it by Brother Galapir (the WML) tomorrow and see how it goes. Hope you are all finding ways to help the missionaries in your area, dinners are great but referrals are better!

Love you all!
Elder Smith

Hawai'i Honolulu Mission
1500 S Beretania St. ste. 416
Honolulu HI 96826

1. Me after eating aforementioned fish (not sure how it was prepared but I dug it)
2. YW got a hold of my phone mid lesson
3. A few of the termites
4. Me and my main man King Kamehameha
5. Any service that requires machetes is a good service
6. Me and Ferrin
7. Digital District Meeting

Come Hear a Prophet's Voice

Aloha!

This felt like a really long week for some reason, at this point in my mission it's nice to not feel like time is flying from time to time.

After Pday last week we had a lesson with the Kabzi Obama which was pretty fun. We are trying to get Ethan (10 year old) to read the book of Mormon so we had to fund a way to get him interested. Elder Ferrin ended up telling him the story of Ammon which got him pretty pumped. Who doesn't want to hear about a missionary cutting off the arms of wicked men? We have him the chapters of the story and found out later that he had read them and others. Awesome moment!

Tuesday we ended up getting stuck in Hilo again because Firestone broke one of our bolts when we went last week. So we took the car up again and got it fixed, took most of the day so that was a bust.

Wednesday we went on exchanges with Kea'au and I went to their area with Elder Dorrough. It was a fun time and I found out their area is just about as backwoods and sketchy as ours. Also the water in their pad went out so they stayed the night at our place. We celebrated by having a pancake breakfast the next morning so it was fun.

We had a couple slow days that followed but finished strong during the weekend. Awhile back President Bekker felt prompted that we needed to check in on our recent converts who weren't coming to church. We only have one who isn't (Trineice) but after meeting with her this week she ended up coming to church and bringing her non member sister Nyssa. Hopefully we can start teaching her this week, pays to listen to an inspired man.

Sunday was super long because me and Elder Ferrin spoke in sacrament meeting, then we taught our gospel principles class, then we taught primary. We were darn near wiped by the end of church but we were still able to have a meeting with our investigator Candice Kaawa, it was a solid lesson. After we had the amazing pleasure to hear President Nelson and Elder Holland address the saints of Hawai'i from Laie. I was sad to not be able to be there in person but you could still feel the power of the spirit through these inspired men and their wives. They got very personal while talking about the role of a prophet and they covered a whole lot of topics: temples, fore-ordination, missionary work, ancestry, and more. The part that hit me the hardest was Elder Holland's talk on loneliness and how we are never truly alone. That hit me because sometimes it feels like we are in the middle of nowhere and have nothing going for us here, but I can't complain, I'm serving the Lord in a beautiful place and I know he is with me. Just gotta keep moving forward.

Anyway this email is probably way too long, so hope you all have an amazing week. Love you all!

Elder Smith
Hawai'i Honolulu Mission

1. I made a friend
2. We ain't sayin' we fat buuuut
3. Pancakes
4. A small kitten
5. Me and Ferrin cruisin'
6. Have a nice day
7. I see this every day

Moses Leads the Way

Aloha!

Well this has been a pretty exciting week. It started off pretty slow sadly with us only being able to see one or two people in a day. Planning on Friday was kinda depressing because we had legit nothing on our schedule so me and Elder Ferrin said a special prayer that despite this we could meet people while we were out and about. We went to visit Moses Simmons, the new Elders Quorum President, and he decided to take us around Ocean View and introduce us to a ton of less active and non members. If you don't remember, Ocean View has tons of people in it but it's super sketchy and people are not very happy to have Elders knocking on their door. So brother Simmons took us to all these people that gave us the stink eye until they saw him, once they did they were super chill with us because that's how things work in Hawaii. In the end we met about 10 less active we had previously been unable to locate, taught two people the restoration, and helped set up for a community event while also volunteering to come by weekly for other service opportunities. It was probably the most productive day I have had in this area and it was on a day where we had nothing going for us. Moral here is never give up regardless of how bleak things may be and members are the best way for missionary work to get done.

Saturday was a boring day, we had to go all the way to Hilo to get our car services and while we thought it would probably take a good chunk of the day it ended up taking 6 hours. The Shawshank Redemption played twice in the waiting room while we were there. Plus side was we talked to people in the waiting room and ended up teaching one guy about the Book of Mormon but aside from that we started going nuts towards the end. Plus they accidentally broke one of the bolts on our tire in the process so we have to go back to Hilo tomorrow to have that fixed. Yay for drive time.

Sunday was also fun, it dumped rain the first half of the day so we had a whopping 20 people at church. Naturally we had to cover some classes so me and Pinoy (one of the YSA) taught the Young Women while Elder Ferrin taught gospel principles class. My lesson was on teaching pure doctrine and I used that picture version of telephone to represent apostacy and restoration. It was pretty fun considering two of the Young women are our investigators, two birds one stone. After that me and Ferrin taught Elders Quorum the principles of missionary work and focused it on the acronym Aloha: Atonement, Love, Obedience, and HA (The Breath of life). The lesson went well and we were actually able to get some participation. All in all dope Sunday.

Pday today has been fun, the Elders from Kea'au and Keaukaha came down and so did the sisters from Kilauea. We took them all to south point and the Punalu'u bakery, everyone had a good time.

So as a wrap up we had a solid week and things might start turning around here. Looking forward to the future. Love you all!

Elder Smith

Hawai'i Honolulu Mission

1500 S Beretania St ste 416
Honolulu HI 96826

Pics: Nametag pic, Hour 5 of Firestone , Love the aina (land), Selfie while walkin'