11/10/2008

Aloha from Kauai
Yes, I am now on the Western-Most Island. And it is absolutely beautiful. I am checking my email at a library that is about 100 feet from the ocean. If I wasn't on a mission I would probably get a book and go read on the beach. Well, I'll just have to do that on vacation sometime.
Just for clarification, the term "Off island" means off Oahu as Oahu has the most people on it, thus also having the most missionaries, being very rushed, and very city like. Yes they are all island, but apparently Oahu is "the island" maybe because that is where most everything is.
I am in a little town called Kapaa. The island is pronounced ka-why-ie. There are only ten elders on the entire island. It covers a fair amount of area, but everything is more spread out. There is a lot of country, and almost no city at all. There is a costco down the road in another town, along with a wal-mart. Oh, I love it. Finally I am out of the rush of the city. The only problem is that
everyone goes to the beach regularily.... and we can't go : ( But it is pretty to look at : ).
My companion is Elder York. He is from Alpine, so we have two Utah boys again. Some of the first words out of his mouth were that we were going to work hard and have fun. He is obedient but not overly strict. You really can't be too hard-core on this island and get any success. If you are willing to just sit back, relax, and talk to people, they are willing to listen.
The work here is going fairly well. Elder York just got out of a three-some when I got here because his last companion had to go home for back surgery. Thus, there were three elders covering three wards, and this ward got a little neglected. Thus, we have spent a bit of time introducing me to the ward and letting them know that they have two elders devoted to their ward alone. We have also been making a lot of effort to visit the less-active members in our ward as well.
We live in a little apartment connected to our church. It is very nice, and they just bought all new furniture for us. We have either full or queen sized beds, a new dresser, and new desks. I feel very spoiled. We also have a washer and dryer inside of the apartment for our use. It is just the two of us that live there. We also have a car.
One very interesting thing in our ward is the ward missionary. He is a reformed gay, and is still very effeminant (sp?). He is very outgoing and outspoken though, so he gets a lot of people for us to teach. We hadn't been at our pad long before he showed up in his truck to take the old furniture away, so we went with him to drop it off at the dump. On the way back we stopped and got one of his relatives, and had a lesson with her right by the beach. We had a lesson with her the next day at the church, and Keola (the ward missionary) says she is getting baptised next month. Our only concern is if he is forcing her to or not. We want her to want to, so we are just trying to help her know the truth.
The next night we also had a interesting experience with the first councilor in the bishoprich. He said he wanted to go out with us, so we went to his house, and he drove us to a lady's house whose daughter commited suicide not too long ago. She has turned to the Lord at this hard time, and she knows some other people whose kids have committed suicide recently as well (it has been a big problem recently here apparently). We just need to let the spirit teach her that not all religions are the same. We have another lesson with her on wednesday. So, things are great on Kauai. I am hoping to spend a bit of time here. I don't want to pack again. I hope everyone is doing well. I am going shore fishing today at about 12:30 with a recent convert and his non-member brother. It should be a lot of fun. Good luck with the snow, I am thinking of you all with the palm trees, beaches, and seventy degree weather. I love you all, and am so grateful
for your support.
Elder Kidd