..no big deal....
ok, um..soo....facts
Fact: Hawaii is NOT what you picture on a postcard. There are VERY few places that are tourist friendly and nice. Not that the locals aren't friendly or anything, they are pretty much the most giving and kind people I've ever met! BUT they're poor, dirt poor, and MANY are homeless, so needless to say it's NOTHING like what I imagined.
Fact: Hawaii actually looks a LOT and I mean "CHOKE" like Okinawa. The buildings are concrete that are painted bright colors, there's also SUPER old concrete buildings so everything looks rundown in lots of areas, there's tons of beach bums...tons....and the greenery and flowers and everything looks EXACTLY like Okinawa, and it's warm and humid like Okinawa, and then the fact that there's TONS of Japanese people living here...yeah....I'm pretty much in an English-speaking mini Okinawa....and it's AWESOME!!!!! OH! With a plus-side! Unlike Okinawa, there's no snakes here..............none..........:D :D :D :D :D
Fact: People spend the most time in traffic on Oahu than in any other place in AMERICA!!! 58 hrs to be exact, NY had 57 and San Diego had 56 (or vice versa, I don't remember) haha I don't know why, traffic is just....slow.....and it took us about an hr and a half to get from Honolulu to La'ie!
Fact: La'ie is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!! And it's seriously like I'm in a foreign mission....the Asian and Polynesian cultures here are SO thick it's seriously NOTHING like ANYWHERE else in America, it's so crazy and I'm absolutely in love with it!!
Fact: EVERYONE here is amazing!!! President Dalton and his wife are amazing!!! The McDonoughs are amazing! My COMPANION is amazing!!! And everyone is just so GIVING!!! AAAHHHH!!!!
Ok, so enough facts. Let me give you a rundown of the past 2 days. So we get off the plane in Hawaii and we're greeted with Kukui nut lei and met the assistants and the president and it was so awesome! THEN we got a tour of honolulu and La'ie and it was SO beautiful and got to hears lots of facts and history from Pres. it was so cool! THEN we went to a church house and got to see a BAPTISM (AMAZING!) AND got fed this (light) Tongan meal...."light"....ha...ha...ha....it looked like a stateside pot luck...but FOREIGN...there wasn't ONE thing I recognized except watermelon and curry!!! Crazy!! haha but it was good! OH my goodness...the assistants...yeah.....EACH have gained 40 or 50 lbs...........ugh....my hopes are being trampled on...BUT I WILL PREVAIL!!!! I will NOT gain weight! But anyhoo, we THEN went to the Clowders (members) and spent the night in this BEAUTIFUL beach mansion and woke up to the prettiest ocean view! We then went to transfers and I met my companion!!! Sis. Christensen! She's the SWEETEST, COOLEST, most AMAZING person ever! I'm SO excited for her to be my mom! (Your first trainer is called your mom and you're her baby, so your mom's trainer, is your grandma and so on :P) AND she got me a mini Preach My Gospel! My mission life is complete ^_^ hahaha then after a TON of meetings we went to Walmart, picked up a few things and then got my muumuu and sandals and met the McDonoughs, and then we toured the VC and the temple and now here I am!!! In the BEAUTIFUL city EVER!!! I can't WAIT to start working tomorrow!!! Our P-days are on Friday so starting NEXT Friday you'll be getting blog updates from me weekly, and the Mission home address IS the address I'll be using for the rest of my mission because they don't want me giving out my real address. soooo yeah! Start sending mail! I love y'all!!! The church is true!!!
Aloha,
Sis. Bradley
No comments:
Post a Comment