8-11-14

Time is zipping by.  Going so fast I hope we can get everything done.  I hate to clean yet because the air is so full of salt and humidity that it just feels thick.  You should see the windows and the car.  I actually brushed salt crystals out of the window sills.  We escaped the hurricane and I was actually a little disappointed that is wasn't more exciting.  I will tell you more later on in blog.

This week is work, take tickets, and work.  Needed to get some birthday cards off and take care of licensing and insurance for our vehicles when we get home.  Made changes for our medicines that we get in the mail and changed some banking over here. 

I took out my rubber tubing that we use once in a while to exercise.  Fatai had never seen one and was using it.  She is our boss.

Thursday there were all kinds of warnings about the hurricane that was coming.  We had heard about it all week.  Monday morning I stopped at the store to get a case of water knowing that I had 3 bottles left.  I was not going to replenish it because of leaving.  I haven't stocked up on a lot of things just for that reason.  Anyway we went Tuesday night over to Schofield to get some things in case of emergency.  We took Tomomi and one of her little Japanese friends with us to get some things.  Her name was Marina.  She was as happy as Tomomi is sad.  ( I hope they stay friends.  She even made Tomomi laugh)  Anyway the store was foodless.  The shelves were pretty empty.  No water at all, the soup was gone and so was the whole aisle of cereal.  We then went to Walmart and it was just as bad.  No water, no flashlights, no duct tape, no propane tanks, etc.  I can really see what the parable of the Ten Virgins is all about.  One Hawaiian told me that people stock up like that and if they don't use it they return it to the store.  We all live on the edge.  I have never been so low on emergency supplies as I was here.  The neighbors borrowed us a flashlight.   

Everything was closed up for Friday.  The winds started to blow and the rain came down through the night and into the next day being Friday.  By noon the rain had stopped but the wind blew pretty much all day.  The power went off about 4 times but came right back on.  The ocean was very brown and lots of tall waves.  We went for a ride about 1 o'clock and I could not believe the people out surfing and playing in the water.  The roads were lined up with cars from people wanting to see the waves.  A few of the homes had boarded up their windows but not too many did.  The stores had put plywood up in front of their windows.  

Today we are all back to normal.  The beaches are full of drift wood and junk from the ocean but that doesn't stop the people from going to the beach.  The other hurricane has gone north so the effects won't bother us.  Maybe make the waves bigger and be windy but that is all.  I have dumped all of the garbage cans that were full of water and decided we are safe.  

Debris on the beaches

Waves in ocean.   Look between the bush and tree and you will see a dot.  That is a person swimming.  No fear of ocean.

Church was on as usual.  Really hot and muggy here today.  Not hardly any winds.  I gave my last lesson today.  One year ago in May we started teaching Sunday School for just a few weeks and we have done it all this time.  I have really enjoyed it.  The kids are so smart, ask questions that make us think and we have had to learn the kids' names.  We started out with about 8 kids and now we are up to about 30.  It varies from week to week.

  This week I have fixed a wedding dress that was strapless.  The girl had bought it and wanted me to make it temple worthy.  Oh boy!  She was going to the mainland so she looked for lace that would match the rest of the dress.  She found some so we were in luck.  Brooke has lived in Maui for 6 years with her family.  She came here to go to school and met a boy from Fiji.  They both were in our ward.  She has graduated and he has 3 years left.  She has never met his family or been to Fiji.  I hope things work out because of their differences.  They had a reception that was from 4 to 8 o'clock.  Started 1 1/2 hrs. late.  We had a whole meal of the foods that they like over here.  Same thing!  They had a program and a dance after the meal.  I am sure her parents helped finance it because it was fancier that the normal little receptions are over here with the students.  We enjoyed the evening.  3 couple missionaries had been invited as well as people from our ward so we knew a few. 

Sign in at the reception. 

Bride and groom.  He is in our pictures with our grandkids and Brady.  Kynlee sat on his knee & was a little scared of him.  Kind of dark!

Brooke and Siti Kinykiny

We have 8 more working days and then we will have 1/2 week to clean and pack and get ready to come home.  I am sure I will be sad to leave but we have lots of good memories.

This is a coconut  pod.  What you see on the bottom hangs in the top of a tree.  When it opens it has all of these seeds in it that turn into coconuts.  Very interesting to look at.

  We have missed the last 2 birthdays of our grandkids, Bridger and Kyla.  The kids all helped Brady move to his new home in Preston on Saturday.  Sad that we were not there to help but they got along fine without us.  We are replaceable even if we don't want to be.  Have a good week and be good.  Do some service for someone every day.  (Sunday School lesson)  

Love, Sherleen