Jesus is my homeboy....

Area: Honolulu, Oahu
Companion:  Elder Ewar

Hey Mom and Dad and everybody else who is probably reading this!  This last week was pretty fun. Ya know.....I did my laundry and all that and kinda cleaned the pad.  Then did some jumping jacks. We did go to this Samoan party for the Samoan ward the other day that was pretty fun.

I received the box that you sent Grandma much Mahalo for that!!   Maybe in the Easter box thing you could include something for me to read? ......like a spiritually uplifting book?    Hey, but guess what?.... I'm actually going to be sending you guys a box today too... so that should get to you momentarily.

Zashalynn came to church yesterday.   We walked with her to church from KPT.  We're hoping for her to be baptized on the 19th of this next month.  For conference one of the ward members invited us over to watch conference at their house for Sunday.  Its pretty exciting.  The morning session is at like 6am in the morning so that might be a struggle with staying awake, but ya know nobody's perfect.

We tracted in some pretty ghetto dirty places this week.  Met some Filipinos and some Chuukese people.  I had to wash my hands afterwards. Well ken ne nom....

Heart Elder Shoemaker

 

 

Transfer week -- Staying put!

Area: Honolulu, Oahu
Companion:  Elder Ewar

Hey Mom, How's it going?  That's awesome.   Everything over here is going pretty good.   So transfers are this week.......and guess what?   We are both staying together another transfer! Whoot that's so awesome!!

Because this last week was spring break Zashalynn wasn't home at all this week she was in Wahiwa. So at this point her baptismal date has been pushed back to a later date.  Another investigator's Mom  called us as told us pretty much that she didn't want us to come over anymore and the sister lied to us several times this week, buts its all good and we took the hint!

I still don't know Chuukese that well, so I just always say the closing prayer.   I had the chance to give a blessing to this little girl yesterday so that was pretty nice.

Thank you for he letter that you sent Mom, it was pretty sweet.   I'm not doing that good with writing letters but I'll see what I can do.  I think we are going on a hike today and this past Wednesday we did service at the SS Missouri at Pearl Harbor.  It was pretty fun.

I sent a few pictures this time.

I have to get going but I love you guys!

cya later!

Elder Shoemaker

KPT in the background

Service Project at Pearl Harbor! Pretty Sweet!

Zone Conference and Oahu driving.....

Area: Honolulu, Oahu
Companion:  Elder Ewar

Hey hows everyone doing? This week has been pretty OK.  Zashalynn didn't get baptized last week and she probably wont be getting baptized this next week, because she didn't come to church yesterday. .....so that kinda sucks but its ok.  We had a lot of the lessons this week and they were all in Chuukese so I kinda just sit there and try not to fall asleep.... haha.   I have no clue what they are saying.

One thing I hate about Oahu is driving.  Every time I get on the road I feel like my life is in jeopardy, because when I first got here I wasn't really used to it as I mostly drove in the country.   Something else that I'm still getting used to is my companion.  My companion and I don't really see eye to eye sometimes, so it can be kinda frustrating.  There's not much that I can do about that other than try to be patient and pray!  

We had zone conference this last week.  It was really long, but President Warner is such a good guy.  He's really funny and he really cares for us.

Thank you guys for all of the support that you guys give to me and that's all I have to say about that.

Love Elder Shoemaker

He's Actually Warming up to the Place...I think!

Area: Honolulu, Oahu
Companion:  Elder Ewar

O how's it going everyone? That's good!  I went on exchanges this week with Elder Penrod and that was really pretty fun. Thank you EVERYONE  for the box's (fish family box and extra pants) that you sent.... they were most delightful! .....and yes some of the pants actually fit which is pretty dang nice!  I'm wearing some right now in fact.

Zashalynn came to church this Sunday, so that's really super nice.  She's hopefully getting baptized this week sometime.   We are making progress with her.   I think for P-day today where going to China Town.   I have no clue what we are gunna do there but we are going.

Oh man, so I only have like 5 minutes left on this computer, so bare with me.  Sorry it's going to be a short one today.   O ya...for Sunday some guy gave a talk through a computer.  I'm sure it's because he couldn't talk.  It was pretty cool and that was the first time that I had ever witnessed anything like that before.  Other than that.... I'm doing really really good!  I love you all.

Love Elder Shoemaker

Making Progress in the KPT

Area: Honolulu, Oahu
Companion:  Elder Ewar

Aloha everyone!!!   So this last week has been pretty nice.   So first off I think I need to correct the car thing....the mission gave us a car not our investigators, sorry for the confusion.

Yesterday was Stake Conference and that was pretty nice, Elder Dacosta of the Seventy came down. Most of the talks where on missionary work, just like the talks for the past year have been!! Surprise! haha.

Grandma asked what KPT was?  It stands for Kuhio Park Terrace, I'm pretty sure.  Its two 17 floor buildings that have a whole bunch of Chuukese, Marshalese and Samoans that live there.  Yea most of the place smells like pee and its basically for the more poor people.   There are kids running around there all the time.  Actually most of our investigators right now are kids, because the adults don't want to friggen listen.

We are making process with our investigators.  Right now there is Zashalynn who is 9 years old, she'll probably get baptized.  Then the other week we received a referral from a ward family at dinner time.  We went over there the other day and the Mom was like yea I think I should have my son baptized.... so where like shoots yeah!  His name is Ayden.  The Mom is less active and the Dad is a non-member.  They are from Kentucky so they have a southern accent.   Then just yesterday Elder Ewar and I went to a family that we had met trackting.  They were actually members, but for some reason there membership record hadn't been taken over to the new ward, so they weren't on the ward list or anything.  We decided to go back yesterday and the mom said that she wanted her two kids to be baptized as well, so where like dang yeah!   Those were probably the most important parts of my week.

P-days over here kinda suck, because we have to stay in our zone.  Our zone is Honolulu West and most call it "HonWest" for short.  There's not really a whole lot to do over here.   We're not aloud to go into Honolulu because its not part of our zone.  So most of the time I just play with my Kendama (a catch game).   We have quite a mix of races in our ward.  It's way cool.  I'm learning lots about the cultures.   Many of members in KPT are Chuukese, Marshalese or Samoan.  Most of them are less active and it think the biggest problem is that church is at 9:00am and Micronesians like to sleep.  They seriously just sleep all the time.   This area was recently white washed too so the ward list pretty much sucks and so does the area book.  We are working on making it better.   Well, I have to go.... so I love you guys and I'll be seeing you later.

Love Elder Shoemaker

My new companion!

The Blessing of Transportation

Area: Honolulu, Oahu
Companion:  Elder Ewar

Hey ALOHA, how's everything? Everything is pretty good over here, just this and that.  This week has been a little slow as most of our appointments fell through.   Ummmmmmm I'm having a hard time thinking of things to type.   So were actually not right in the middle of Honolulu and where our apartment is located its surprisingly really quite.   Right now we don't have a whole lot of investigators that were working with.   The most important one is probably Zashalyn and she's about 11 years old. She lives at KPT.   Her family actually gave us a car, which is super nice because now we don't have to ask the other Elders to give us rides and stuff.  

Well I hope you guys have a wonderful day!

Love Elder Shoemaker

An adjustment period.....

Area: Honolulu, Oahu
Companion:  Elder Ewar

Ok so how is every one doing?  Hope your doing ok!  I'm doing ok.   So I'm transferred to Oahu to the Moanalua 1st ward.  I live in an area that they call Salt Lake.   My companion is from Chuuk Micronesia Islands ‎(in the North Pacific Ocean in between Philippines and Papua New Guinea) and he speaks Chuukese.  He's been out for one more transfer then me.   My companions name is Elder Ewar.  He's pretty crazy.

Elder Shoemaker's new location (a little off from the guess last week, but kinda close!)

I've sent my new address (indicated on the right).  When I first got here I was kinda lost, but this is pretty typical when I get transferred, especially to an island where I don't know where anything is.  However, I leave Kekaha with 7 investigators with a baptismal date and I come here and we have nothing!  I look in the area book...... there is nothing, I cant even find a map!  We don't have a car, so we have been bumming rides off of there people a lot lately.  We cover an area called KPT.  This place is where there's tons of Chuukese people and Marshalese people.  It a place with tons of people from different places.  There are various language wards that are on the Oahu island that cover the entire island, so we always see other Elders and Sisters from other zones.  We also share the area with the zone leaders and they have a car.   We have spent most of our time in KPT since I have been here. 17 floors of pure housing after housing!!  I don't think that we have the complete trust of the ward either so that is something else that we need to work on.  The area isn't split in half with the Zone Leaders either .... we just all share the same area.  It's almost kinda like a competition and I don't really like that.

I have learned some words in Chuukese though like "rananim" = Hello and "ifa usum" = How are you?  My ward is mostly all white people.   I have to get used to that as well.

Yes, sure I would love to have some pants and if they don't fit me then maybe they will fit some of the other elders here.   It's definitely gonna be a trial, but hopefully I will be able manage.  It's so different though!  I maybe saw the other Elders and Sisters once a week in Kekaha and now I see Elders every day.  It's a big change for me.

Well love you guys! Sorry I don't have my camera cord and cant send pictures this week.

Kene nom

Love Elder Shoemaker