The forgotten (but still beautiful) wastelands of Hawaii

3/2/15

Ohana!! 

Our tiny group of Elders in Laie zone that tried to stay afloat among all the sisters!

Aloha from Big Island!!! Man, I cannot believe it has only been a week since I last wrote to you! It feels like it has been ages!! Honestly SO much has happened in this last week I don't even know where to begin! Well first off I guess I should say that I am glad to hear everything is going well back home! Be sure to tell Joe to break a leg this week with his performances and if possible to definitely get a copy of the show cause I wanna see it when I get back! :) But anyway, also I'm glad that everyone else is doing great at doing what they are great at! You are all just great people and I am grateful for that every day! :) haha

saying goodbye to our fellow missionaries in the Hauula wards the Borsellas

 the two Elders who are replacing us in Hauula, Elder Hobbes and Elder Melvin 

WELCOME to the thriving metropolis of Na'alehu and Ocean View!!

 So as for my updates, to anyone who thinks about Hawaii and thinks it's all just beaches and sunshine and very rich, or thinks of a tiny little island where you can walk from shore to shore, I say, send them to Ka'u! It is CRAZY down here! Fun fact, we are not only the largest area in the mission but we are the most remote as well! We cover quite literally the entire bottom part of big island! We are approximately an hour and 10mins from the nearest missionaries in either direction and an hour and a half from the nearest city and that from the middle of our area. Just going from one end to the other of our area is over an hour drive in and of itself! Anyway, so not only are we
completely isolated but we're also basically in the middle of nowhere! If you ever want a good laugh look on google maps for Na'alehu, HI... that's where we live! haha! the tiny building behind the church on the main road there. Anyway, so our area includes that town as well as the thriving metropolis of Pahala and the ridiculously spread out houses of Ocean View. The latter of the two being a community literally build on nothing but a dessert of volcanic rock! As for the people here, they are well.... they are their own people! Definitely a lot of fun stories to leave here with! Perhaps my favorite so far being one of our members houses with perhaps the world’s largest collection of bears. She is a great lady and over all the 2,000+ stuffed, porcelain, gummy, toy, and all kine bears are actually just rather impressive, however being there I am reminded just a little too much of our wonderful stay in Independence MO at the Serendipity bed and breakfast. haha! Anyway, it really is a great place though! :) It will just take some MAJOR adjusting to! :P

And while we're on the topic of thriving metropolises, I'm sure you'll be interested to know that my new companion, Elder Sellers, comes straight out of the of Hanksville Utah! haha! Population 215! (Well 214 I guess now that he's out here in Hawaii! haha) Also, he is interested to know if we are related to any of the Alvey's out there. I guess they're parents are Powell's from Price? Anyway, he's a good guy! Been out for a long time, really hard worker and just a tough cookie! In fact he's actually studying and training to apply to West Point and eventually join the green berets after the mission... so as you might imagine it's just another great match up for the skinny little nerd from Tempe! haha! But really though he's a good guy and we get along well! :) Anyway, as for what exactly is happening here with regards to mission work, you'll have to give me a couple more weeks before I can really give you a good update on that! :P haha Mostly all we do out here is... well... drive! Unless we're visiting one of the four people we visit with in Na'alehu it's about 20-30 minutes to either Pahala or Ocean View and then lots of drive time in either of those areas! haha! But it's great! We actually do have two investigators that are potentially going to get baptized very soon! They are kids of a less active lady that wants to get them baptized so we'll see how all of that works out! 

Anyway, I guess that's about all of my update for this week!  I've gotta get going soon, we're gonna do a little shopping while we're up here in Hilo (since we don't normally make this drive almost ever. :P haha) and then I'm not too sure what we're going to do after that but I will be sure to let you all know next week about our many adventures here in the forgotten (but still beautiful) wastelands of Hawaii!! Have an amazing week! I love you all and pray for you constantly! Stay strong, carry on, and don't forget to be awesome!! :D

-Elder Powell

some special effects fun with Elder Hatch! :)