And the floods came.....

Just one quick update today...yesterday (Dec.11, 2008) was one of those days that you see on TV all of the time, but never realize that some day you might be there! Well, it happened for us.

It started raining during the night of Dec. 10 and didn't stop for 12-15 hours. Now...I am talking rain! Like we have never, ever seen before!!! By 6:30 a.m. on Thur. our phone was ringing about flooding apts., roads, etc. This was something to see once, but one hopes it only happens once in your life time. Many of the locals here say they have not had this happen to them before. We have yet to hear the total amount of rain, but in Laie it was somewhere around 12-16 inches in that short period of time. Needless to say, some roads and bridges were washed out, homes washed away, etc. When we first left our apt., which is just across the street from the PCC, we could see the PCC parking lot was FILLED with water, it was running in rivers down out of the mountains. There were kids out playing in it and the water was up to their waist! They had their boogie boards and were having a blast! Cars were stalled as well as people! Everything shut down and we began to help, just like on TV!!!! First of all, we had a missionary couple that was leaving to go home and Bob and I were assigned to get them to the airport, on the other side of the island. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get there...normally a 45 minute ride. Flooding, unbelievable traffic, detours, rain that made it impossible to see the road, etc. made the trip rather a difficult one. We accomplished that task and then came back with the same difficulty. After we arrived here we went to one of the homes, and helped empty the house and pull out the carpet and all of the floor coverings so things could start to dry. Many of these homes are very nice homes of the administrators of the PCC and college and a lot of them are much more humble homes of the polynesian people here. So very sad and yet everyone so grateful that no lives were lost. Some of the homes we saw had as much as 6-8 inches of water inside in every room and water lines of up to 12 inches or more! The water, of course, is a red, mucky sandy dirt. It is so devestating for so many. They set up emergency shelters for those that are now homeless until temporary homes become available. WOW, we came home tired and grateful that we could help and grateful that our home is situated in a place where no water got into our apt. We had lots of water and large, large puddles in our yard area, but nothing got into the house.When Summer lived here last year on the big island of Hawaii she told us of the rains and flooding...she sent pictures, etc. Well, now we realize exactly what she was talking about!So today we are sure we will be doing the same thing again...helping all that need our help to overcome the disaster. We are happy to be able to help. Will tell more later...now, off to work! Love to you all,Elder and Sister Remund

Update

Here it is the end of November, and we have been in Hawaii almost 4 months. It seems like home now, except for the moments of homesickness that we feel occasionally. We get that way when there are certain things going on with any of you that we actually know about…like Thanksgiving Day for example. I think we are too busy to get
home sick very often, and we are thankful and grateful for that!

We have enjoyed going to the temple as often as time would permit us to do so. This picture was early one Sat. morning when I talked Bob into getting up early (my favorite time). They are closing the Honolulu Hawaii temple the end of Dec. and it will be closed for approximately 18 months. We are hoping they will get it open before we have to return home which will be in 19 months! Well, we will just have to wait and see. But in the meantime we are allowed to travel to the big island of Hawaii to the Kona temple to do temple sessions. We just have to arrange our work and pay our own way…so it won’t be too often, but we plan on doing if a few times.

“Ice Cold Coconuts” is a sign you see on the roadside fruit stands all over the islands. These particular coconuts are better if they are young and the milk has not turned solid (like the coconuts we open on the mainland.) They punch a hole in the top and put a straw through to drink the milk (very good IF it is cold) and then you can break it open and the white meat should be very soft and almost pudding like for the Hawaiians to really like it! As the coconut matures, the meat will solidify and they grate the coconut for cooking, as most of us “Hallies” know it.

A group of students from BYUH have business class to sell the coconuts at the PCC to make money. They were actually giving a discount to the missionaries, so we tried them out. I actually liked it more than Bob did, but he is always a good sport and goes along with me!

One day we came home from work and the house in our back yard was completely tented! This was something new to us. They are going to sell the home and it is a law that the property be fumigated for termites before a person can sell! They had big blowers and some sort of fogging device which ran overnight (probably 12-18 hours) and then the tent came down and the people moved back in. Weird to us, but fun to see!!

Right now this home is being rented by a family from St. George. It is a single mother with teen age and college age children and one child in grade school. They are great neighbors and we hate to see them leave when it sells. Well, we are hoping with the market the process will be slow and they can stay for a while.

We had a wonderful week with the Millers here for a visit. Rick and Teressa, Brandon, Kristen and her husband, Meagan, Skyler and Tyson were here from Nov. 13-19. We just couldn’t get enough time with them! Bob and I took some time off work and really loved being with all of them.

The picture above is when we went with Rick and Teressa to the temple and Meagan had her recommend and did baptisms while we did endowments. What a special time for us!

While they were here we had lots of rainy days, the most rain and coolest days since we have been here. This picture is when we were going to the Samoa village at the PCC and it really was a down pour. Regardless, the time with them was priceless!

The last day of their stay was a beautiful day and they spent some time on the beach at their house on the Hukilau beach. Some guy was snorkeling and came out of the water with this octopus! It didn’t take Tyson long to decide he was brave enough to play with it!

It was quite a thing for the kids to see and Grandpa also…WOW! The sad part is…the guy was going to have it for his dinner that night! Such a beautiful creature and pretty harmless at this point!

Tyson really did get a thrill out of having the octopus crawl around on his back and neck. Pretty brave I think! Not many of us can claim such an adventure!

We did lots of fun things while the Millers were here, we saw a turtle (Brutus) on turtle beach, did shopping and lots of good eating in Honolulu and playing in the water at Wikiki. We spent a little time at the PCC (however, they have been here before and have seen all of it…we did enjoy the night show). We ate at the famous Hukilau café a couple of times, went to a movie “Madagascar 2” and went to the Valley of the Gods down by Kanehoe. We took them to “Our” new beach (Kawela Bay) over by turtle bay where they snorkeled and played with a hugh sand crab.

Rick and Teressa cooked us a great Thanksgiving dinner and we all ate together on the Sunday they were here. Tyson and Skyler peeled all of the potatoes! We had all of the traditional Thanksgiving food. We truly are blessed with wonderful family, beautiful surrounds, serving this mission, and belonging to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. What more could we ask for? I hope we don’t ask for more!!!!

Before we could even believe it, it was time for the Millers to leave and we were back to our normal life here. Normal life for us is pretty great, we must admit however.

For Thanksgiving we spent the morning with our BYUH 20th ward family at the Aloha Center eating 9 turkeys that were cooked in an emu at the bishops house over night, 50 lbs. of potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole (the best and most yummy I have ever tasted…but don’t ask Bob, he didn’t even taste it!), hugh amounts of stuffing, corn, homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, salads, cookies and even a chocolate fountain! The kids loved it, we had about 65 there and the food was pretty much gone before the afternoon was over. We really have a great Bishopric that work very hard to make these kids happy!

After dinner they had about 8 gingerbread house kits and the kids divided into groups and had a competition. Here is Bob getting started with our group. Below is a group of the Asian kids…when they ask me it I could read what they had written on it I told them, “No, but we have a son that spent his mission in Japan and he could!” That always makes them excited, so I told them I would send a picture home so Ryan could read it. Okay Ryan…what does it say?

So again, we are back to normal living and loving it all. It was so wonderful to talk with all of you on Thanksgiving day and know that you are doing well. We know the Lord will continue to bless you as you obey his commandments and make the sacrifices necessary receive His blessings! The day after Thanksgiving we went exploring the island, actually looking for the best place to watch the World Cup Surfing Championships that are now in progress. The waves were big on the North Shore and some of the woman’s events were starting. However, we came on around to the Haleiwa shore and talked to one of the surfers…he said the waves weren’t as big as they were wanting yet, but directed us around the Haleiwa Bay for some good places to view the competition during the events that would be coming up in the next few days and weeks. When we arrived there, what did we see…TURTLES ALL OVER ON THE BEACH! At one time there were probably 7-8 turtles out in the sun. Can you count them in the picture above? We were only there about ½ hour and we saw 3-4 come out of the water and that many go back into the water! What a sight!

This picture above is of two turtles together. One has his front fin over the face of his buddy! People are good not to touch them or disturb them…there are signs all around telling you that they are protected and not to bother them. We loved it! We also went into Honolulu and went to the harbor. We watched some of the big freighters loading and getting ready to leave, cruise ships, and some dinner cruises going out to watch the sunset. They have a nice area to sit and the weather was beautiful. After sun set we went to explore another new Aloha Tower mall that we had not seen before! It was a fun day.

Back tracking a little, on the Sat. after Teressa and family left, we took a little trip around the island and ended up on the south east side of the island. We had dinner at Panda’s and then went to the movie “Twilight!” I guess most all of you have already seen that and what a fun time! So when does the next movie come out?

I think this was the same day that BYU played Utah and we were so sorry to hear the outcome! Oh well, we can’t always be on top! Cindy had a “good time” giving Bob a
“bad time” about that lose! She and Gil are Utah fans, of course! But we still love them anyway!

During the past month we have had some great firesides and Monday Night Home Evenings with the Sr. missionaries. We had Stake Conference and also Sister Sherry Dew was here to speak to the BYUH devotional. We have some great experiences with the things that BYU has to offer.

So it is time to wrap up this letter and tell you all again how much we love you. Thanks for the Thanksgiving cards, the notes, letters, and emails. We love to hear from all of you, even though we can’t respond to each and every one in a timely way! We are always praying for you and giving thanks that you are a part of our lives. Please know that we care about each family and what is going on in your lives. We hope this finds everyone happy and well and looking forward to the Christmas holiday season ahead.

We are very, very blessed and want you to know how much we love and appreciate the gospel for the happiness and joy it brings into our lives and for the hope and peace it fills our hearts with. We are grateful to be serving the Polynesian people here in Hawaii and sharing with them in this land of paradise.

Love for ever and always to all,

Elder and Sister Remund
AKA: Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma