-The Ancient Magus Bride
And just like that, things are starting to look grim for me out here. I can feel my pulse giving way, my body shutting down-Ladies and Gentlemen I'm dying. As time marches on, the world around me takes on a somewhat gloomy color. To be honest, I think it's just that finally it's starting to sink in. This is it. My last week in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. After this week they'll be no more Palm trees. They'll be no geckos lurking around every corner. They'll be no more plateluches or pidgin to talk in. I'll never again wake up to the sounds of the distant ocean waves crashing along the pristine shoreline or enjoy a true Hawaiian meal. This really is the end of everything then, isn't it? To be honest, it's a bit melancholy. I feel as though I'm loosing a piece of myself, or that my entire world is about to fall to pieces, and in a way, it is. Part of me wants to be selfish and choose everything I do with what little time I have left, but I'm not that naive. I know that it's not my place to pick and choose where we eat everyday or how we spend our time, those choices belong to my companion now, and he's going to be taking over the area soon, so it's important for him to take the lead, moreso now than ever. I know that once this week ends I can't offer him anything. And so, as my final true p day comes to a close on the island of Hawaii, I sit quietly by myself and reflect on my mission. How has it been two years already? Two full years. I still can't even fathom that. The more I think about it the more solemn I feel. I've waited my whole mission to reach the end goal, kind of like reaching the end of a marathon. But now that it's here I kind of wish I could choose to keep running. To be honest, I'm so used to this world of humid paradise I can't even remember what it was like to live in Utah. It's weird to think that even though I'm going home, it feels more like I'm leaving my home now. 23⅓ months ago I got a yellow tie from my trainer, Elder Campbell. The tie had his name on it, and it had written above it his trainer, and his trainer before him, and so on. The tie was to go to whomever I trained, which at this point isn't going to happen because I never trained anyone. That means the "posterity" tie is going to come home with me.
... At least, that's what I WOULD say if it weren't for the fact that I've come up with a new plan.
You see, I've decided that the tie shouldn't come home with me, because I promised my trainer I would give it to my "son". And so, now that the time has come, someone in my district shall be given this tie, to keep and pass down to whomever they train, and thus I will have effectively become The Godfather. If you've never seen those movies by the way, you had better do so immediately. But that's beside the point. This is the final week of missionary service, so this week I'm really going to give it my all. I'm going to be bold, and I'm going to Preach the gospel as well as I possibly can! Next week's email will probably be pretty long, so just be prepped for that.
Until then, Aloha!
And just like that, things are starting to look grim for me out here. I can feel my pulse giving way, my body shutting down-Ladies and Gentlemen I'm dying. As time marches on, the world around me takes on a somewhat gloomy color. To be honest, I think it's just that finally it's starting to sink in. This is it. My last week in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. After this week they'll be no more Palm trees. They'll be no geckos lurking around every corner. They'll be no more plateluches or pidgin to talk in. I'll never again wake up to the sounds of the distant ocean waves crashing along the pristine shoreline or enjoy a true Hawaiian meal. This really is the end of everything then, isn't it? To be honest, it's a bit melancholy. I feel as though I'm loosing a piece of myself, or that my entire world is about to fall to pieces, and in a way, it is. Part of me wants to be selfish and choose everything I do with what little time I have left, but I'm not that naive. I know that it's not my place to pick and choose where we eat everyday or how we spend our time, those choices belong to my companion now, and he's going to be taking over the area soon, so it's important for him to take the lead, moreso now than ever. I know that once this week ends I can't offer him anything. And so, as my final true p day comes to a close on the island of Hawaii, I sit quietly by myself and reflect on my mission. How has it been two years already? Two full years. I still can't even fathom that. The more I think about it the more solemn I feel. I've waited my whole mission to reach the end goal, kind of like reaching the end of a marathon. But now that it's here I kind of wish I could choose to keep running. To be honest, I'm so used to this world of humid paradise I can't even remember what it was like to live in Utah. It's weird to think that even though I'm going home, it feels more like I'm leaving my home now. 23⅓ months ago I got a yellow tie from my trainer, Elder Campbell. The tie had his name on it, and it had written above it his trainer, and his trainer before him, and so on. The tie was to go to whomever I trained, which at this point isn't going to happen because I never trained anyone. That means the "posterity" tie is going to come home with me.
... At least, that's what I WOULD say if it weren't for the fact that I've come up with a new plan.
You see, I've decided that the tie shouldn't come home with me, because I promised my trainer I would give it to my "son". And so, now that the time has come, someone in my district shall be given this tie, to keep and pass down to whomever they train, and thus I will have effectively become The Godfather. If you've never seen those movies by the way, you had better do so immediately. But that's beside the point. This is the final week of missionary service, so this week I'm really going to give it my all. I'm going to be bold, and I'm going to Preach the gospel as well as I possibly can! Next week's email will probably be pretty long, so just be prepped for that.
Until then, Aloha!
-Elder Rogers
One really cool thing I found this week was the rarest of all the reptiles found on the Hawaiian islands: A snake. Yeah, Hawaii does in fact have snakes, despite what the locals tell you, but these snakes are not your run of the mill garter snakes of Utah or Rat Snakes of Japan. No sir, these are a breed all their own, so let me tell you a bit about a creature you may not have known about before now.
This is in fact not a worm, despite the fact that the two look strikingly similar. Like all serpents, it has a forked tongue which it uses to smell its surroundings and give itself a sense of direction, effectively "tasting the air" around itself to do so. Because it lives primarily underground, the snakes senses of hearing and taste/smell are very strong, as apposed to its eyesight which is extremely poor, hence the name "blind snake" it is the only naturally occurring land snake on Hawaiian Islands, and is beneficial to humans because it eats termites and bug larvae in large quantities. It prefers living in loose and moist soil , such as near potted plant roots and in decaying leaves or near decaying wood. It has two small teeth, and little tiny eyes, and it's face looks like somewhat like a tennis ball when viewed closeup. It's incredibly small and fast, making it tough to find and tougher to catch, but like all snakes it indeed has little scales. I found it while at a service project. We were moving old lumber that was crawling with termite larvae when we discovered what we thought was a worm. The local guy we were doing service for was actually the one who told us that this creature was in fact a snake not a worm. Many locals know about this creature, but don't talk about it due to how small and hard to find it is. But, after some trial and error, I was able to contain it in a small plastic bucket, and show this beauty to the world. It's completely harmless, as it's mouth isn't powerful enough to break human skin, so if by some miracle you happen to find one, it's perfectly safe to handle. Just be careful and wash your hands afterwards, as you would do after handling any reptile or amphibian.
I got a close up of its head from a reptile book so you could see the details my phone camera couldn't pick up. I also included a close up of the scales from the book. If you look really closely you can tell it's the same creature we caught, but I wish I had video of it to show off the forked tongue. With this creature found and pictured, I have come that much closer to documenting almost every species of reptile and amphibian on these islands myself. It's been one heck of a scavenger hunt, but little by little I'm getting there!
One really cool thing I found this week was the rarest of all the reptiles found on the Hawaiian islands: A snake. Yeah, Hawaii does in fact have snakes, despite what the locals tell you, but these snakes are not your run of the mill garter snakes of Utah or Rat Snakes of Japan. No sir, these are a breed all their own, so let me tell you a bit about a creature you may not have known about before now.
This is in fact not a worm, despite the fact that the two look strikingly similar. Like all serpents, it has a forked tongue which it uses to smell its surroundings and give itself a sense of direction, effectively "tasting the air" around itself to do so. Because it lives primarily underground, the snakes senses of hearing and taste/smell are very strong, as apposed to its eyesight which is extremely poor, hence the name "blind snake" it is the only naturally occurring land snake on Hawaiian Islands, and is beneficial to humans because it eats termites and bug larvae in large quantities. It prefers living in loose and moist soil , such as near potted plant roots and in decaying leaves or near decaying wood. It has two small teeth, and little tiny eyes, and it's face looks like somewhat like a tennis ball when viewed closeup. It's incredibly small and fast, making it tough to find and tougher to catch, but like all snakes it indeed has little scales. I found it while at a service project. We were moving old lumber that was crawling with termite larvae when we discovered what we thought was a worm. The local guy we were doing service for was actually the one who told us that this creature was in fact a snake not a worm. Many locals know about this creature, but don't talk about it due to how small and hard to find it is. But, after some trial and error, I was able to contain it in a small plastic bucket, and show this beauty to the world. It's completely harmless, as it's mouth isn't powerful enough to break human skin, so if by some miracle you happen to find one, it's perfectly safe to handle. Just be careful and wash your hands afterwards, as you would do after handling any reptile or amphibian.
I got a close up of its head from a reptile book so you could see the details my phone camera couldn't pick up. I also included a close up of the scales from the book. If you look really closely you can tell it's the same creature we caught, but I wish I had video of it to show off the forked tongue. With this creature found and pictured, I have come that much closer to documenting almost every species of reptile and amphibian on these islands myself. It's been one heck of a scavenger hunt, but little by little I'm getting there!
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