A Hui Ho Oahu.

Let it be known that goodbye is still a bittersweet chocolate.

Well, I'm not going to tell you how long I've waited to get the chance to see somewhere other than Oahu. I also can't tell you how long I've waited to make the joke about the island I'm going to. But of course, good things come to those who wait, and that's why I'm not going to tell you what island I'm going to be on until next week. Please don't try to figure out what it is in the mean time. I've been waiting 16 months for the chance to make this joke. Please don't take my punchline away you guys. Besides, this email isn't about me and my long awaited pun about the island that isn't Oahu that I'm headed to. No, this email is about this stupid rock in the middle of the ocean. The island I somehow care about, even after all the many times it's let me down. More specifically, I'd like to take this chance to say thank you to the good people in the Kaneohe 4th ward. The people who took me in along with Elder Durrant almost 7½ months ago. I'm glad to have met my ward mission leader, Brother Hovey. I'm glad to have had the chance to see baptisms here. To have met people like Solomon, his family, the Medals, Brittney, Bro. Finau, Marcus (and the shakes), Gena, and Maiko.

Speaking of Maiko. Oh man. I had one last lesson with her on Saturday, and it was dang near close to being the best lesson I've ever had. I know for a fact that there were some of you who prayed for me to be able to do well in the lesson with Maiko, and I can say now, after the fact, that I felt the power of those prayers during the lesson. Ever since I got to live in Japan for 6 weeks, I have waited for the chance to be allowed to preach the gospel in Japanese, specifically to have the opportunity to teach the plan of salvation in the Japanese language was something that I have long awaited, wished for, and prayed about. On Saturday, that was exactly what I was given the opportunity to do. The lesson went perfectly, even better than I could have hoped, and all of it happened in Japanese. When Elder Hoke spoke, I translated for him so that he could contribute to the lesson. I'm not sure who is coming into this area after me, but I hope the Lord will bless them to able to help teach Maiko, and that she will continue in her path toward the gospel. I'm so glad I got this opportunity, I'm so glad I got to meet Maiko, and help her get closer to God by teaching her in her own language. One thing I'll never forget about her, is she loves Jesus Christ. As in, she thinks he's handsome. When we first dropped by to teach her she asked for a picture of our church's Jesus, because, in her own words, "Jesus is right thing to call him by. Because JEEZ, He's so handsome!". I got a kick out of that, but we have her a picture of Jesus Christ this time around, and she was happy. We also gave her a Japanese copy of the Book of Mormon. (Lucky I still have some of those lying around eh?) Maiko was very happy and excited to receive a copy in her own language, and when I handed it to her she exclaimed "Aha! This I can read! Thank You!" In fact, she loves taking lessons from us so much that she bought us food last night to thank us for coming by every week to teach her. It was delicious, even though we had already eaten dinner that day.... (^_^;) She wasn't super happy when we told her I might be leaving. That said, I didn't know at the time that I was headed off to the magical island of [REDACTED FOR PUN PURPOSES].

Now then, moving on from Maiko, whom I will miss a lot, let's talk about the other many great things happening here. Gena is still doing great. Last week we challenged her to follow the word of wisdom, which she follows anyway I guess, but the challenging part for her is coffee. I may have said this before, but Gena actually lives at the hospital because of her daughter, who is severely medically challenged. During the past year, she became emotionally dependent on morning coffee to help her survive the tough times provided by life at the hospital. Of course, the hospital provides coffee. In fact it provides it so well that it's impossible to not be near the smell of coffee while inside, but taking all of that into account, and perhaps in spite of those odds, the challenge to follow the word of wisdom and give up coffee for good was placed on the table. Now I'll say it. I didn't honestly expect Gena to drop the coffee time 100% in a week. I knew it was possible and that she could do it if she really wanted to. That said, I also know that since the dawn of time the enticing scent of the notoriously bitter liquid evil that is coffee has felled even the best of men. (and women of course) So this week i was expecting a solid try. I figured that she would be drinking significantly less coffee than before. What I didn't expect, was that she would actually go cold turkey and stop drinking the stuff all together. I was very impressed, but she was very tired, so our lesson was a bit shorter than expected this week, but she's really changing her life through Christ and that's been a joy and an honor to see.

Other than that, the Kaonohi clan is still inching towards the baptism of their mom/wife: Kalei. Unfortunately I won't be here to see that baptism happen, but I made her promise to send a picture to me when she gets baptized, so I'm glad that I could do as much as I could. Church on Sunday was a real struggle. As I bore my testimony to the ward, I expressed my immense gratitude to the people of the Kaneohe 4th ward. People whom I will miss a great deal. I'm glad that I could serve here for so long, but leaving is a tough thing to do regardless. The hymn to close out the day was 'There is Sunshine in my Soul Today' the very same closing hymn that was sung in the chapel of a ward in Kyoto Japan during the summer of 2016. A hymn that has a great deal of importance to me. The members then invited me up to the front to sing Aloha 'Oe, or farewell, and I couldn't keep it together. I was a wreck. As I gladly accepted the hugs and kind words of love and encouragement from the ward members, from my second family, there was one that stood out to me. Sister Davis, who was in tears, said that she has really loved having me in her ward. In her own words she said:

"You have been such an inspiration to me for the past 7 months, thank you so much for your service Elder Rogers. I'm going to miss you."

Everyone I saw kept telling me how happy they were to have me in the ward, and it was such a special feeling. Bishop Sadowski's last words to me were:

"Kauai is lucky to get such an incredible Elder. You've done so much for our ward, you've worked so hard here. Thank you so much Elder. We will never forget you."

Oh yeah, I'm going to Kauai by the way. I know the pun may be spoiled now, but I don't care. I'm nervous about going. New island, new companion, new everything. Nothing is even remotely familiar, and on top of that packing for the airport.... But somehow, even though it feels like I should be panicked out of my mind right now, I'm just.... Not. I feel happy. I feel hopeful. I know it's going to be OK. Oahu, you've given me an adventure. From Tyler Ramos, Curtis Zeek, and the Vickers to Lexis and her Sister to everyone here in Kaneohe, I have met such incredible people here. This island has grown to mean so much to me, and I'm so happy that I was able to get to know it so well.

A Hui Ho Oahu. It's been a blast, and a pain, and everything else. I'll miss you, you big rock. Take care of yourself Oahu. I'll see you again someday.

That's all for this week. Prayers are appreciated as I'm not sure how I'm going to do this from here, but I have hope and so should you.

Aloha Everyone, see you next week

Pictures:
1. The Yadao Family. Brother Yadao was ward mission leader for a while when I first got here. I love his family. They offered to let me and my family use their extra beach house anytime we need it. And they requested that I find a way to come back sooner rather than later.

2. The Davis family. This family means a lot to me, and I mean a lot to them too, apparently. They requested I bring my family by to visit someday. All of us cried when I had to leave. 

3. Solomon and Family. Solomon loves anime and comics, and before I left he wanted to make sure I knew how much he appreciated what I had done for his family. He gave me a signed, first edition comic book, one of a very limited number of copies whose cover was hand drawn by the author. These types of things are worth the same amount as superman issue one, and it's signed. I tried to make him keep it, as he's already given me so many spiritual experiences, but he insisted. It will remain unopened for all of eternity. This is a valuable treasure anyway, but because I got it on my mission from Solomon it's worth more than anything else in my entire collection. Nobody is ever to touch it.  The comic itself is a crossover between batman and Archie comics, which I am told increases the rare factor.

4. The Medal Family. Brother Medal told me that it was because of my efforts that he came back to church. I of course, still say it was Elder England, but the man insisted, so I didn't argue. He didn't have a ley to give me, so instead he gave me his favorite tie. In fact there were many who gave me their ties. I had made such an impact on them that they felt they needed to give me something.

Aloha 'Oe Kaneohe. I still stand by the fact that this is my second family. Kaneohe is the only place to ever come close to Japan. It's my second home. Ironically, my actual home comes 3rd.