Gone With The Wind

Aloha folks! As yet another week comes to a close and with a whole slew of new things to talk about, the hardest part is figuring out where to start. For some reason I found it difficult to decide what to title this one. Originally I thought about calling it Misty Mountains Cold but I didn't think anybody would get the reference, so instead I went with this one. (Most of my emails are titled in a way that references something I'm a fan of.)

This week has been marred by violent windstorms so strong that thus far they have picked the chickens off the ground and slammed them into things, which, kills them, to say the least. During the relatively short calm periods looking around outside is kind of like looking at the damages after a hurricane hits. The wind is still blowing strong though, so we've been saying many gratitude prayers due to the fact that we live in a cinder block hut that is rock solid. This whole week has been like this, and with that in mind, we've been staying nice and warm by riding our bikes as much as possible. Winter has arrived ladies and gentlemen, winter has arrived. And before you go around laughing at me for getting cold in Hawaii let me explain a little something. When it's 60 degrees outside, it's pretty warm. When it's supposed to be 60 degrees and the wind chill makes it 46 degrees, it's pretty cold all of the sudden. And in Hawaii, there's no such thing as a heater. So the thing is, when it's 60 outside, the heaters on inside isn't it? Because typically you want it 70-75 degrees inside. So if we have no thermostat, our options are to A: use the AC to make it colder. B: Put on a sweater. Lucky I kept that Alien hoodie, huh? Well, don't freak out and send things to keep us warm, because typically this kind of thing doesn't happen. In fact typically in Kekaha I'm sweating the cheeks off my face. So it's just a weird rainy season occurrence. I'll tell you where it really gets cold is up in the mountains of Waimea Canyon. Whew! We were up there for a service project this week, and signs point to us being up there again, but next time I think I'm bringing the rain jacket up there. It was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but at over 1300 feet above sea level its a bit nippy compared to the 2-3 feet above sea level I'm used to. That said, the project was a lot of fun. We were helping out the Goff family, who are non members, with their cabin in the woods (see what I did there?). And it was definitely the first time I've ever been mudding in a Toyota Corolla. Elder Atwood, who just came from Malakai (where mudding is a common experience apparently) was having the time of his life, and the whole time I was just hoping we didn't slide off the jungle cliffside. That said, the pictures we got up there are nothing short of legendary. You'll see what I mean. All things considered, it was probably the most fun I've had in a long time.

As for Walt, well he's progressing! That's a miracle I tell you. It's probably going to be a long time before anything related to baptism gets brought up, but the fact that we're even teaching him is enough to make me happy. Keep him in your prayers anyway. Can't hurt, am I right?
٩( 'ω' )و

So last but not least, we've been cleaning the pad when the winds are too strong to be outside, and that led to the discovery of a lifetime. While Elder Atwood was cleaning the place, he found.... Drumroll please.... AN ATTIC!

Yes, really. So with the attic occupying all of our attention and curiosity, we decided to go up there and check it out. The first thing we noticed is that missionaries have been up there before. As evidenced by signatures that go back a long time. As in, April 1999. Yeah. This place is the coolest thing ever! Elder Atwood and I also found a few long lost treasures up there, among the signatures, and of course we added our own names to the list of those who have been brave enough to scale the depths, or heights rather, of the attic. Now I don't know what I expected, some kind of fort or something of that nature I guess, but as of yet no fort has been built. I say as of yet because currently plans are underway to construct a fort up there in the near future. Anyway, I better finish this up before the wind takes out the power over here, which it will do soon by the sounds of things. We lost power at church quite a few times so, yeah. Hopefully this makes it to ya.

Have a good week guys! Stay warm out there!
-Elder Rogers

Pictures from the service project up in Waimea Canyon. It's like no other place on earth up there. 

The attic.  

Look what I found!