Aloha and transfers....
Six weeks have gone by since Elder Higley joined my life, and it is transfers again. We found out this morning that....(drumroll please...) I am staying in Kapa'a 1st ward, and he is transfering on the island somewhere. We all pretty much decided that means that he is going to Kekaha (an area they recently closed to move Elders to North Shore area). It is a walking/bike area, so he is rather happy about that. It will be sad to see him go, but I am sure he will do well. Now I am just wondering who in the world I am going to be with.
This last week brought about some interesting events. First of all, Sandy wants to get baptised, and understands the right reasons for it now. The biggest problem is that she is living with Jack, and they aren't about to get married. She has to have been living somewhere else for three weeks prior to her baptism. We hope she is making progress, but there is so much drama in that house, that I will tell you more about later.
I did get to see Brenda at FHE though, and she is doing well. She is reading, has questions, and promised me that she is not avoiding us, but is really busy, which I can believe. She wasn't able to come to church yesterday because she ran into a lady from the church she used to be part of, who wants to leave her husband because of the church. That religion is scarey, and is creating a lot of fun things for us. Brenda is watching out for that lady because she is terrified, so we could understand her not coming. We half hoped she would bring her to church, but I'm sure religion right now is not a fond thing in her mind. But, there is much potenial! Choke potential bra.
But, back to Jack and Sandy and that household since we are working so much with them. Wednesday we actually went over to do some service. Well, everyone was gone or leaving, so we let ourselves inside the house and proceeded to clean all the floors in the front room. They have two dogs that live inside, and are not the cleanest family, but fortunately it is all tile flooring. It still took us a good 2-3 hours though, but it looked great, and Jack is very grateful.
We also managed to get Jack, Sandy, and Rich (Jack's tenant who lives downstairs) to church yesterday. Rich is a fantastic kid and has a girlfriend that he wants to marry. Well, we thought she would come with him as well, but apparently she canceled last minute, which really bummed him out. He had a good talk with our bishop though, and got a priesthood blessing. He has so much potential right now.
Yet the drama continues with Jack and Sandy. Jack's son, Tylor, and Sandy's son, Keahi, don't get along. In fact, Keahi has a bad habit of stealing things from most people in the house, smoking, drugs, etc. and Sandy continues to turn a blind eye. Keahi is the reason that Jack came to church with bloody knuckles one week (they got in an argument, and Jack took out his frustrations on a DVD player...). So, Tylor came home from his mom's house last night and told Jack he needed a break from the house and he was going to live with his mom for a bit. Jack was really sad, but he understood why. He decided to go to an AA meeting, and Sandy started accusing him of things, so he got a bit upset. All we heard at first was that Tylor didn't want to live there anymore, and Jack was upset and said he was going to a meeting, so we rushed over to the house and called the other elders as well. Well, Jack went to the meeting, he was calm, but seriously mad at Sandy. He keeps saying he is trying to be loving like Christ, but Elder Higley and I felt prompted to remind him that Christ cleared the temple. We will see what happens, but hopefully Sandy will be moving out very soon, for both of their sakes. When that happens, I think both will do a lot better.
We did get Jack to finally accept that the Book of Mormon might be true yesterday though. We went over after church to see him, and read with him the story of Ammon. While we were reading, he told us he kept thinking that there was no way Joseph Smith could have made all of this up. He must have translated it. So, serious step forward. It is marvelous how reading the Book of Mormon really does change peoples lives, and their minds.
On a funny note, to commemorate my 6 month mark (and my district leader commemoration his 18 month mark) we both played pyro over Jack's nasty pool last friday. I burned my a tie that Elder York gave me (it really was hideous) and Elder Kaiser burned some pants we found in our pad that were really beat up. I used a lot of WD40, and he used some spray glue stuff. Well, mine was under control and fun, his turned into a fireball almost 10 feet high, and he dropped
the burning pants in the pool (where they continued to burn for a little bit). Then we went inside and watched the family slide show with Jack. The slide show was great! It was so fun to look back and remember and see what pictures made it in. I was just wishing at the end Tyler could have put a picture from Hawaii as the last frame with IZ singing somewhere over the rainbow. Jack really liked it, and noticed a lot of how the gospel has blessed our family. He was also
wondering if he could get the music from it on a cd... Tyler... please?
Thank you everyone for your support, prayers, more prayers, and more support. Remember the line part from Cast Away where we reflect on how we just keep living each day, and see what the tide brings in. Some times there are storms that bring nothing but sticks, logs, and other junk on the shore, but perhaps one day we may find a clam with a pearl inside, or a sail to help us sail through our current trials. The Lord uses what He uses to give us what we need. He knows us and loves us, and does what He can for us, but as Jack and Sandy show, He will not force happiness on us. We must make the effort to grab it and do everything we can for it, and then He will bless us. "Prove me herewith if I will not open up the windows of heaven and poor you out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it." It isn't just for tithing. He promises us that for every trial we go through. What a great Lord and Father we have.
I love you all. Remember the Lord in all you do, and thank you for all you do.
Elder Kidd
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