Release the Kraken

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Yo Mom, Dad and Landon and everyone else who reads this thing. This week was pretty good, we lost the car and now are bikes are broken. Its was pretty funny -- we had a half a tank of gas left in the car and the car doesn't ship unless its at a quarter tank of gas. So we actually had to run the gas down to a quarter. We weren't joy riding --- we just had to get the tank down our else it wouldn't ship! ok! They would have been ticked if the car didn't ship.

I was with Elder Burk for exchanges on Friday. The peddle on the bike totally broke off, then we had to call the Bishop for ride home. So now the bikes are jacked and we don't have any means of transportation. It isn't good because we don't actually live in our area, which has always been a hassle anyways.

This is our pad in all of its glory.

View from behind our pad

Elder Niemann and I went on a hike through the jungle this morning. Its was pretty cool. We hiked through the jungle for 4 miles there and 4 miles back. At the end we found the lava fields and the Pu'u O'o vent were lava comes out. 

 

Me in a lava field. You can see smoke from the lava in the background.

I had to give a talk in sacrament on the Holy Ghost. It went pretty well and I didn't even prepare that well. Elder Holland came to Hawaii and I didn't get to see him. We were thinking about going to Kona Stake conference to hear him talk but I had to give a talk in sacrament, so yea.

 

Things are ultimately very good here. Its awesome in Hawaii and here on Big Island. We usually just call Uncle Tweety for rides now, hes like the Yoda of the ward. We have this joke because Uncle Tweety likes to go out with us and when we rub one of our fore arms with one hand and then the other forearm with the other hand that means that we "release the Kraken". That means that we ask Uncle Tweety a question and he'll talk for about like a half hour and hes super good relating what hes saying to the gospel which to me is amazing for how much he talks. 

 

Thank you guys for all that you do!

 

Love Elder Shoemaker

Nature calls.....

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Hello Madre how are you??  How's is everything?  That's awesome. Thanks for all of the support that you guys give me. Love you guys.

This week has been pretty awesome.  We went to Waimea for Zone Conference and that was sweet. I went on exchanges with Elder Niemann on Tuesday and it was pretty fun.   It's weird having my trainer as my Zone Leader.    The Zone Leaders live just down the road too....like not even a mile away.   We were teaching this lady at a halfway house and teaching the plan salvation to her and in the middle of the lesson, I had to go to the bathroom so bad!  So I was forced to stop in the middle of the lesson and ask if I could use their bathroom.   Elder Niemann thought it was pretty funny,  but ohhh man I had to go soooo bad.   I drank a little bit to much orange juice.

"T" the guy that were working with{the guy that jacked up his leg} got arrested in Kona. For driving without a license, without insurance and his windows were too tinted and his kids were not in seat belts.  So they got him out and made him walk on his broken leg without his crutches. He actually called us while he was in jail as he was getting in an argument with a girl officer and he called us so that we could teach the gospel to her and make her quite. Then we talked with "T" on Sunday and talked about how he almost died that morning because he was spitting up acid through his nose and his mouth. ........at least he said he was going to die.  A lot of stuff has happened to him lately. We just told him to keep on praying and reading the scriptures and that these bad things are happening because Satan is trying his best to get him not come to church and all that.   We're teaching a bunch of thugs right now, but "T's" a good guy, he's becoming more open with us.

Oh ya and Mom I need a side bag pretty quick here.   Thanks for the letter and stuff.

I would say that were getting to know the ward very well and I feel like they really like us a lot.  Griffiths and I taught Elders Quorum.  It was on leadership and why we are called to leadership positions and stuff like that.  I'm thankful that I get to be here in Hawaii and here in Keaukaha.   You can find both extremes on Sunday though, haha, because you go to church and get all sanctified and then we have to ride by the beach and see a bunch of girls in bikinis. I don't think I have gone a single day without seeing a girl in a bikini haha. I cant really think of much else that happened, but i love you guys I got to go!

Love Elder Shoemaker

A dog's life...according to Elder Shoemaker

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Hey hows it going Mommy and Daddy?  Whats up?! Thanks for emailing me again this week that's nice of you!  Sorry for being kinda lame in my emailing. Sometimes I just have so much to think about and stuff I kinda don't know what to write. Things are doing good over here. Were lucky to have the car, which is nice because its been hot this last couple of fortnights. It's really nice over here in the morning and the afternoon because of the ocean breeze. I love just when those times the weather is perfect and the temperature at night is also perfect.   The ocean is good at controlling the temperature.

I went on exchanges with Elder Yamashita this week, he's from Japan and the son one of the seventy. I was in Pahoa with him and that place is so spread out. Pahoa is a hard area to work, because its actually a really dangerous place. It's like the wild west.  We had an air soft gun to protect ourselves haha. I was tracting with Elder Yamashita and we went up to a house and when your tracting one of the first things you look for is like the signs of a dog....like a dog house, or a chain, or a rope, and for some reason dogs like to hide underneath old run down cars.  But anyways, we walk up... I see the dog house, the dog charges me. But I'm lucky because this dog was on a chain and wasn't able to reach me. Then two other dogs come out of the wood-works one was chained so we thought the other one was as well, but it wasn't!  It started chasing us and it was right behind me, then I turned around to actually combat the dog because I wasn't standing for the dogs tyrannical advances anymore.   I was gonna kick it, but I think I actually scared the dog with my jacked body.

so that was one dog story......

I got chased by another dog as well but we got away.  Then I got spooked by another dog who charged me and I actually screamed like a little girl,  but we did talk with a girl named Bobby-Joe who said she would be fine with missionary's coming over.

The roads here are pretty crazy.  I was able to catch air on one of the roads in Pahoa.  Elder Griffiths and I talked to a crazy Hawaiian lady the other day and she was trying to Bible bash and stuff, but I don't really like to do that.  I knew that she wasn't going to listen if I tried to argue so I just stayed quite most of the time.  Let her vent kinda.

We taught "T" on Friday.  His leg is still jacked up, but we were able to teach a good lesson. We brought Uncle Tweety along.  He's just the best old man that you will ever meet.   He's like 86, he's had a stroke and some stuff like that.... has bad hearing and sight, but still drives to Kona every week to go to the temple.  He's come up to me multiple of times and this is what he says,  "can I be your friend?" .....uhh sure.  "You know why I wanna be your friend? Because I love you!"   He has said this to several people and I just think he is super funny, but once you get him talking he aint never gonna stop.  He is retired so he always wants to go out with the missionary's.  I'm pretty sure if we just asked him to move into our pad and just go out with us every day with us... he would.

I think Mattie is going to Japan.  {Cousin receiving her mission call soon!}

I'm getting pretty fat.

I like having the car, Elder Griffiths and I always break into rapping while we are driving.

So ya....this week was pretty good. 

{I (Elder Shoemaker's Mom) asked him something that he loves about his mission and something that he can improve upon....and these were his answers}  Something I love about Hawaii is just that Aloha Spirit.. haha... but I have never actually had a door slam in my face while tracting ever, so that's nice. Something I need to improve on is sometimes my desire. 

We have Zone conference this Friday in Waimea.  That place is beautiful!   Elder Holland I guess is going to visit our mission, but because I'm not on a Oahu I don't actually get to see him, so that kinda sucks.  

So whats Treavor been up to lately? 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the package, it ended my mail drought. 

we went to Mauna Akea again this morning for P-day it was pretty dang cold. It was fun though. I love you guys! Have a good week! Good Luck with your Marathons and junk. 

See you guys whenevers!

Love Elder Shoemaker

Teaching at the Beach

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Hey hows it going?! Things have been going pretty good here, we have the blessing of having the car yet another week. It should be leaving soon but hopefully not too soon. We have been trying to work as close as we possibly can with the ward lately. Because we haven't really been having a whole lot of success, so we have been really trying to use the ward because were kinda running out of ideas. We're working closely with Uncle J.J., Uncle Tweetie and Bishop Auna.

We taught a girl named "J" at the the beach the other day. I like teaching at the beach it has a nice ambiance. We committed her to baptism but the thing is we are not really sure if she needs to be baptized? ..... because shes not entirely there if you know what I mean. So we asked the bishop to go talk to her.

There's been a lot of thugs riding their motorcycles around lately. I think their all just tourists here for the Labor Day week end.

We also committed "T" to be baptized, but because of his broken foot and leg he cant actually go in the water for 6 months. So that's a little bit of a bummer, but there is a time and a season for everything.
We talked with some crazy preacher guy, for like an hour, so that was pretty fun.

Transfers happened this last Wednesday, so a bunch of people left and a bunch new people came in. It's pretty cool!!

It sucks that the Corolla is no more, but it was probably her time.

Elder Griffiths, Elder Seitz and I went to a girls 16th birthday party on transfer night. She invited us and we didn't know it was going to be a big deal, but it was a pretty big birthday party. It was pretty fun.

I'm really at a loss of thoughts to say right now, but I sure love you guys. cya later! Elder Shoemaker

True Luvvvv of a missionary companion!

Staying on the Big Island

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Howdy everyone hows everyone doing? awesome! This week was pretty ok.  Not a whole lot happened. Transfers are here and a lot of people are leaving.  Elder Hall is going to Lana'i again. Things are gonna change but I'm gonna stay in Keaukaha. We got a car and it's been nice being able to use it. Were trying hard to have success but right now we are kinda lost.  Elder Griffiths got sick and he also had to talk in sacrament. We flipped a coin to see who had to talk. I won. I put a lot of pictures so hopefully you wont get mad for me not writing that long of an email?

Love Elder Shoemaker

Elder Hall, Elder Wilson, me and Elder Griffiths

Elder Griffiths layin' one back

Where the lava fields meet the ocean

Waipio valley

Elder Uaisele enjoying the majesty

Kona Temple with Griffiths

Me and Elder Hall

Right after we got wrecked from a wave

South Point Cliff

Getting mauled by a bunch of puppies while tracting (quite frankly this is adorable!)

Elder Palmer, Elder Hall, Elder Uaisele, and Elder Griffiths at the lava fields

Me and Elder Uaisele just got KO'd

Elder Griffiths poking lava, pretty dang hot

Keaukaha Beach

The Lava Flow of Missionary Life

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

Aloha family hows it going!? Things have been going pretty good, except for the part where my bike continues to get jacked up. Elder Griffiths back got a flat tire one of these days. Then I got a flat tire after him. I was trying to  fix it when the tire exploded as I was filling up the tire I had just fixed. Then I had to wait for the zone leaders to come pick us up because we do not have a car.   We get to Walmart, got home, then realized we had the wrong size for the tube. ................so I had to wait for the zone leaders to come again to give us a ride to get another new tube.  Then we figured out that it was actually the tire or maybe it was the spokes or something cuz before me and "G Money" (my nickname for Elder Griffiths) were kinda goofing around and he ran straight into the problem.   So I try to salvage some parts from a rusty bike that was behind our pad.  Then I get it to work, thank goodness, because we had to be some where at 4 PM.    So we start cruising along get to the house, teach the family, then in the middle of the lesson I hear this psssssssshhhhhhhhhh PaKow!   Elder Griffiths and I look at each other and just smile.  After we walk over to Bishops house and he calls a member and we throw our piece of crap bikes in the back and just cruise on home. I lost faith in fixing my bike kinda after that.  I think I'm just gonna take it to the bike shop and have a professional bike guy fix it.   But it sucks because its not even my bike, because the bike will stay here after I'm gone.  We can't take the bikes from island to island.  We've been relying on other people lately to give us rides and take us places and all that junk. Basically every lesson we had for this week cancelled as well so this week could have definitely been better!

We think that we might finally have an investigator that could go some where. His name is "T". He has been in and out of jail and prison his entire life, until recently he wants to change his life. Like a week ago we visited him and his leg was in a cast and he was using crutches. He told us that he broke his leg while he was surfing and that the pain was pretty bad. We didn't want to push him so we told him to get some rest and we would come around again. We came the other day and he let us teach him and our ward missionary came with us -- Uncle J.J.  We taught him in his garage (which is basically an outside living room to everyone here). It was pretty cool and he is a really good guy.  He has a bunch of cars around his house that people pay him to fix.  One thing about Hawaii is that there can be like 6 cars in front of a persons home and there will still be no one there.   The dogs think they own Keaukaha.  If your driving down the road and there is a a dog sitting in the road, the dog wont move. You have to drive off the road to get around them. But anyways!  I kinda got off on a tangent.   After the lesson with "T" we gave him a blessing, it was a really cool experience and now just got to get him to church.

When we were out tracting we found this navy seal guy that let us talk with him and he said that he had killed like countless people. He said the only reason why he was so close to God was because of all the bad that he had done. It helped him to become closer to God as he saw how bad it can be and how good it can be with the gospel. Really cool guy, likes talking "story," but wasn't interested in learning more about our church because he had already taken the missionary lessons before.

This morning for P-day we woke up at 2:30am and were treated to a tour that had been paid for by a member of the Kilauea ward. We got to go see some lava flow baby!!!  It was pretty sweet.   The lava is so hot and there is so much lava rock that you have to walk on it to get there.   Lava rock is of the devil!  But its cool cuz you can poke the lava with a stick and the stick like explodes with flames. Then after we got to see where the ocean and the lava flow meet.  Its a pretty good view. It was a nice refreshing walk.  Lava rock is unstable though.... its so brittle.

We made a bet with the Kilauea sisters that they couldn't handle bikes for a week.  So all of Tuesday we had a car...........it was pretty funny as the sisters couldn't hack it. Transfers are coming up pretty soon, but I don't think I will be transferred because I'm training Griffiths still.   However, there will be change in the Zone, I just learned that my trainer Elder Niemann will be coming here. He's taking Elder Halls place as Zone leader and will be in the ward. So that should be cool seeing him again!  Our numbers were not that good this week, but you know.... its ok.

I'm able to write a lot today because Elder Griffiths brought this keyboard thing that you can type and just upload it to your email, so I'm trying that out. I cant really think of anything else that happen this week , so thank you guys for everything that you do! Love you guys!

Elder Tanner Shoemaker

Elder Shoe and "G Money" or Elder Griffiths

Poi -- I Like It!

Area: Hilo, Keaukaha Area
Companion: Elder Griffiths

What up Mommy and Daddy --  hows life in good old Cache Valley? Things are still good in Hilo, everyone here is just so chill and laid back.  Everything goes so much slower over here.

My son, Elder Griffiths is awesome.  I think he completes me.

This week has been pretty good, except for the fact that our numbers were'nt really all that hot.  Yesterday for p-day we went to Waipio Valley. That place is freaking off the chain dog. A member of the Ainaola ward took us there and we had to ride in the back off his truck because its pretty steep. Its beautiful down there and really green. We got to work in a guys Taro patch! It was so much fun, just stomping around in the mud. Taro is like the life blood of the old-in-day Hawaiians and when you pound it you get Poi! The purple looking goopy stuff and I'm not gonna lie I do like it.

Everyone got burned pretty bad from last p-day when we went to south point, but it was worth it. We helped a family pack their stuff from the Ainaola Ward the Naehu's who are moving to Utah.  There is one of the families that loves the missionaries and always has them over. The missionaries tracted into them like a year ago.  The husband was less active but the rest of the family were not members. Over a period of time they where all baptized.   It's cool because the wife had a dream that she was living in Utah and it felt so real, they decided to leave everything and move. All they had was some cash and they just left.   Didnt even know where they were going to live or where they were going to work, just moved. Its awesome.

O crap one of our investigators "K" just called me and said they he didnt want to meet with us anymore, kinda sucks.  Yea both of our lessons for today were with Pono and "K".   Earlier this week we taught this guy named "H" again he's from Micronesia (I'm not entirely sure how you spell it) he has some crazy story's.  He told us how he was spear fishing and this shark came up and jumped right over him and skimmed his body. He was swimming away as fast as he could and on the way a baracuda swam right at him and ran into a wall -- and he got shot straight in the eye. He's a crazy guy, I think we might be seeing him today.  It sucks that "K" doesn't want to us to come by anymore because we had an awesome lesson with him in the Keaukaha Dug out and commited him to a baptismal date......but its all good.

Things are slow here in Hilo just because the way people are here.

One of the sister missionaries had an extra camera, so I scored a free one.  It's nice not being on Island (Oahu) though, because I've only been to one transfer meeting my entire mission and that was my first one. It's because we are waters apart.

I've been having a crazy lady call me a lot recently.  I think she has some mental problems. She wanted us to call a taxi for her, pick this "thing" from the Library (she said thing), and pick up her clothes from a place called HITCO in Kea'au.  I told her we dont have a car and that wasn't really are calling to be a courier service. She's crazy, I didn't really know how to handle the situation.

I hope ya'll had a good week as well. I almost got  hit by a bus the other day on my bike, but its all good.

So thank you for all of the support and I love you guys!

Love Elder Tanner Shoemaker