Monday, October 28, 2013

Fruits of our labours.............

Area: Kekaha, Kaua'i
Companion: Elder Fowles

What up, what up!!!

Aww man I don't smell that good right now.  I just had to take out the trash, it was quite a laborious occasion. This week was pretty good! .........except for the part where Elder Fowles got jacked up! We were playing kickball with some young hooligans and Elder Fowles was running for the ball.   He was attempting to jump the fence, but there was a chicken hole right where his right foot landed.  He ended up rolling his ankle in dat darn chicken hole and then ran into the fence........there might be some ligament wreckage that occurred. So that kinda sucked, because now Elder Fowles isnt as mobile as he used to be, but luckily we had a doctor that looked at his ankle for us that was there.   He told us to go to the hospital.   We went to the Waimea hospital where they took some X-rays and gave him this thingy called an Aircast.   We go back to the hospital this Tuesday, but his time in Lihue.   But hes mostly ok.




The picture of the white house --- that is our pad. I did take a visual tour video of the pad, but it wont really let me send it.   We went out and had steak again.  I have a feeling that I'm going to have a lot of steak here!    Right after we had steak, we walked to the store next to the restaurant and they friggen dropped $300 bucks on grocerys for us, which was super duper nice. We were just walking down the isles and she was like throwing more and more stuff in.  She's like, "you guys like this?"  Then she just throws it in.   Afterwards she gave $300 dollars and we where like dang! man!  She insisted.  What were we to do?  They are so amazingly giving here.  So were gonna go buys some nice pillows today.

We have a trunk or treat at the Kekaha chapel on the 29th and I think for Halloween were going to Hanalei and we might be going to a corn maze. Kekaha ward is awesome, Bishop Akita is really cool. Elder Auna, the area Seventy for Hawaii, came to our ward this Sunday.  He's actually from Keaukaha ward so that was pretty cool.

We're still working on finding Elder Fowles wallet.

Ummmmmmm and maybe some stuff you could put in the box or maybe for Christmas or my birthday could be new set of scriptures, but I think I would like these ones to be smaller size so that I can carry them around easier.   New pants (I'm in need of new pants) and maybe some that are khaki, cool ties, maybe some new garments (I would like the corban kind), some Christmas music for the seasons, new slippers (flip flops) cuz my old ones actually are broken.  I'm probably good on office supplies like pens and such, you should send me my old sling too that might be nice, a new tooth brush.  I cant really think of anythings else at the time. ......except umm maybe pretzels.

We're still working with the "S" family, we think there might be some marital problems though, but where hoping for the best.  When we decided to stop by, he said "we stay busy!" "try call next time."  Then we talked with him as we were going to dinner last night with the Hillises' and he said we could come over this week, their just having some communication problems right now. We didn't do any tracting because Elder Fowles wasn't really able to do all that much, so we just visited people on the part member list. We found a Mom who said that she wanted her son to be baptized and where teaching him tomorrow, so that's always good.

I've been keeping in contact with Elder Griffiths and a kid that he and I tracted into is going to be baptized!!!!!!  Its nice to see the fruit of your labors even though you don't really get to take part in it. Also getting baptized is a girl we were teaching named Jane.  That really made my day.  There has actually been some hold backs with "T" (from the Big Island) lately.

Life is good though and I love it here in Kauai and living in Kekaha. Such a nice place. Cya guys

love ya!

Elder Shoemaker

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A trip to Oahu.......

Area: Kekaha, Kaua'i
Companion: Elder Fowles

Hey Mom and Dad and whose ever is listening........ this week was pretty good.   We went to Oahu on Wednesday and we were able to listen to Elder Schwitzer. It was pretty cool.


Crazy ride from the Tabernacle to the Honolulu airport.

 One of the funnest part was being able to see some the people that I came out with that I had actually haven't seen since I first came to Hawaii,  like Elder Dzieman my MTC companion.   and oh man he's gained so much weight man. You might have a picture of him from before you can compare if you want, but he's such a good guy.  Here's the picture is our MTC district while we were in Oahu.


Today we went on a hike up Koke'e.  The picture with Elder Fowles in all of the ferns can pretty much sum up what the hike was like.




Oh and thanks Grandma Shoemaker for the package that you sent.... all of the candy and all of that stuff!!  Thanks for the quarters for the laundry place too, but I actually have my own laundry machine and stuff so that's pretty nice.  I'll save the quarters just in case though, I may need them later.

Oh man and I can't believe that Josh is home now, that feels really weird. It will be a while until I get to see him.

We worked pretty hard this week, but to tell you the truth we didn't find a whole lot of success. O and this week we actually got into a police investigation, because Elder Fowles had lost his wallet.   We didn't even really mean to go all the way, but some one had spent some money on his card so we were able to trace it to the place where the money was spent.   The guy actually used his card online so we found the where he spent the money.   It was a guy in a house in Kekaha,  which it happened to be the assistant police chief for the Kaua'i police department so now we have like our own detective on the case for us..... its pretty tight.

It was the primary program for church this Sunday.   It's always cute with all of the kids doing that. I like the kids in the ward too.   All the little kids are always like trying to climb on me and stuff and hang on my arms...I like little kids.

Kekaha is a nice place, away from most of the tourists, but we are far away from any other missionaries. We only see them on district meeting day and p-day.  Had dinner with the Karatti's last night their a really nice family. We had dinner with the Nakaahiki's the other night and we had some really good steak.

Well I'm actually getting kinda tired and its been a long day so I'm gonna go to bed k! love you guys! cya later...

Love Elder Shoemaker

Monday, October 14, 2013

I think someone loves me.....

Area: Kekaha, Kaua'i
Companion: Elder Fowles

Hey whats up?? Whats up Mom! My address is PO box 719, Kekaha HI 96752. Hows everyone doing today? That's great! OK well I just went through my first week here in Kauai. Its pretty sick over here. The Island of Kauai is one zone. There are 5 wards and 1 branch here....... there is Kepa'a 1, Kepa'a 2, Lihue Kolaheo, Hanalei Branch and Kekaha. That's my ward.  There are 4 sets of Elders and 2 sets of Sisters here.   I am a District Leader still, us and Kolaheo. Ok, first of Kauai is very very beautiful!!!

We went up over Waimea canyon today and to Koke'e. Thats me right there.



But actually the place we stay in Kekaha is the dry side of the island.  Kekaha is probably the smallest town on the entire island of Kauai. Its pretty hot and dry and a little dusty. Chickens run rampant and I saw kids whipping each other in the streets after church just this Sunday.   Our area covers the town of Waimea and up the valley and Kekaha.

It was pretty funny we didn't realize it but we were driving and we didn't know it but we were actually out of gas. The car said that we couldn't go any more miles, but we actually made it into the only gas station in town before it died.  We were watched over.

The ward here is super cool. Keaukaha (last area) was mostly all Hawaiian homelands. Kekaha has a lot Hawaiian homelands as well. Everyone in our ward is Hawaiian except for like 2 people. Our pad is super nice and it has two AC units and we sleep in queen sized beds.  We never have to buy food because the members give us all the food that we need.

Elder Shoemaker and Elder Fowles
 My companions name is Elder Fowles. He's a baller man -- you dont want to get in the way of this kid when he's playing basketball, he'll wreck you. He's from Arizona and he has been out for 3 months. This is still his greenie area. He's a good missionary, good with people. The people here are a little layed back perhaps little too layed back, so got to watch out for that.  Most everyone in the ward is related just like in Keaukaha.

You can see Niihau  (inhabited Hawaiian Island by Kauai) which is pretty cool.

We went to this Queens celebration thing with some of our investigators.  It was pretty cool.... saw some hula dancing. Then after we went to their house and we set a date for both of them to be baptized next month which is pretty cool. Then on Sunday, some members realized that there was some non-members that where at church so actually thought them right after sacrament meeting. They said that they wanted to be baptized but they need to talk about it first. So its was a pretty good lesson, the spirit was really strong there.

I cant get over how cool the ward is here, they idolized the missionaries and they friggin' love us.

We're going to Oahu on Wednesdsay for a mission tour with a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.  That should take up all day Wednesday, I think.   I had President interviews yesterday and it was good. I told him that I sometimes have a hard time having good studies so he told me some things that could help. Then the AP's stayed here and stayed for p-day with us. We have good APs.

O ya and this ward is big on hugging.... you kinda just have to do it. Well I cant really think of anything else to say other then I think that I'm gonna like it here.   I think someone loves me cuz I got pretty lucky to go from Maui to the Big Island an then Kauai.  Each Island has its own feel....they each have like a different aura about them. So cya guys Love ya!

Love Elder Shoemaker

This is what Kekaha and Waimea look like - more dry


This is what a lot of Kauai looks like
 Kekaha
Some families from my last area in Keaukaha



Monday, October 7, 2013

Transfer to "The Garden Isle" -- Kaua'i

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Hey Momma and Dadda. Things are going just great here, thanks for the package that you sent Grandma and the side bag that you sent Mom, works just great. Conference was good, I really enjoyed it...even though my rear-end was trying to fall asleep the entire time. We just watched it at the stake center which is right next to our house. I really liked the Priesthood Session, Randy D Funk. If I remember right he gave a talk that was kinda directed towards missionary work. He said we must be broken before we can be made whole. ....and I always like it when Henry B Eyring talks. Its was just all around a wholesome experience, except when we had wake up at like 5:30 am to watch conference because of the time difference.

This week we had the opportunity  to teach "T" twice. The first time he talked about how he actually levitated while he was working on one of his customers cars.  Elder Griffiths and I didn't really know how to react to what he said, but it was pretty cool. Then he was talking about how his daughter needed a back pack and she said that her God friend was going to help her and then Uncle Tweetie stopped by later that day and droped off a back pack for her. It was pretty cool.

O yea and the other day a homeless guy came by and he was pretty high. He asked if we had any WD40 and we said we didn't. But oh man......he asked us to through away a used doobie. So we had some Pakalolo in our garbage for a little while, smells kinda like a skunk.

O yea its a transfer week as well! So that means I'm getting TRANSFERRED!!  So...... goodbye Keaukaha and Hello Kekaha! I'm going to Kaua'i! I got freaking lucky! I'll be off island (O'ahu) for an entire year maybe even more. Which is really lucky. Kaua'i is the smallest zone in the mission.  I'm next to the ocean again.  I'm leaving Elder Griffiths and getting a companion called Elder Fowels or something like that.

Thank you for all that you guys do! O yea I get a car! I love you guys! cya later!

Love, Elder Tanner Shoemaker

ps.  My camera broke!


Saturday, October 5, 2013

A "hang loose" companionship

September 30, 2013

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Elder Shoemaker sent a few pictures and surprised us with some audio recordings this week.  Really wonderful hearing his voice and seeing how well Elder Shoe and Elder Griffiths are getting along.

Preston and Tinoa with Elder Shoemaker

Elder Shoe, Brother Tuati and Elder Griffiths

The infamous Uncle Tweetie


Recordings for Sept 30, 2013
What a great companionship these two Elder's are blessed to enjoy.

Just click on each link to listen -- the Elders have to send the recordings on smaller files like this so that it will make it through email.  

Recording #1
http://mfi.re/listen/oy7xz5mgb8028z1/One_9-30-13_Recording_Elder_Shoe_&_Griffiths.MP3
Recording #2
http://mfi.re/listen/c1gtf79qq18qd3c/Two_9-30-13_Elder_Shoe_&_Grittiths.MP3
Recording #3
http://mfi.re/listen/9tr6r91slw9dyll/Three_9-30-13_Elder_Shoe_&_Griffiths.MP3
Recording #4
http://mfi.re/listen/r8komovqqwjah2b/Four_9-30-13_Elder_Shoe_&_Griffiths.MP3
Recording #5
http://mfi.re/listen/3pcla1ce4u88ysa/Five_9-30-13_Elder_Shoe_&_Griffiths.MP3
Recording #6 
http://mfi.re/listen/6aj4p4r1h0d0z2a/Six_9-30-13_Elder_Shoe_&_Griffiths.MP3
Recording #7
http://mfi.re/listen/3k8rozv2eey9cqi/Seven_9-30-13_Elder_Shoe_&_Griffith.MP3