December 2, 2015
Dear loving, tender, kind, gracious Friends and Family of mine,

Let me think where to begin.  Right now is the quiet time of language study.  I'm sitting on my mattress on the floor, white sheets all made, Hawaiian flag covering them. I'm criss cross-apple sauce in a dress I got for $4 at the Kailua Goodwill (where all the rich people live).  I think it's from Singapore?..(that's what the tag says).  It's long and cotton and EASY.  Like Sunday morning.  I only say that because that's the song that's coming in on the breeze from the construction worker's boom box across the street (bless that boom box!).  The usual sound of the bus stopping floats in too.  When the doors creek, the familiar voice says, "Aloha, welcome aboard the bus."  In a deep voice.  Birds are fighting over the papayas in the trees next to our window.  The pad is somewhat insane.  There is no easy way to keep everything in its place with 3 people and so little time to sort things out.  The wooden table we use as a counter is crowded with a microwave, a [sincerely loved / overused] rice cooker, a jumbo box of cereal from a member, a chocolate birthday cake that reads "ppy thday oria" and has 3 forks close by.  The banner you sent hangs above the cabinet (that we always bang our heads on).  It serves as a reminder to keep the peace and to do what we came here to do.
Our fridge, for the record, could have made it into a MLK Jr's speech, I'd say.  "I have a dream that one day the kim chee will sit next to the quinoa on the top shelf.  That lumpia and moonpies will reside in the crisper in harmony and that the seaweed soup will be served next to the shrimp & grits and none will discriminate."  Powerful stuff!  Sister Kim has brought the SPICE to our pad.  Koreans like their food HOT--like, drinking-tabasco-exit wound-make-your-nose-run spicy.  Our new favorite lunch special is bultakploogim meon, but we just call it spicy noodles.  The first time I ate it, I lost feeling in my lips for almost an hour!  It is a different kind of heat. ...drinking nail polish remover- kind of heat.  But tasty!  Eating here is always an Adventure!

The BEST Home cooked meal by the Yugawa's

I made shrimp & grits and it was a party and a half!  Somehow the Elders found out and before the grits were done, there were 4 Elders sitting on the steps outside our pad.  Of course, they can't come in. So we put 2 folding chairs on our porch (4x4ft).  It was gone! haha and they LOVED it.  Ever since, they keep popping up most days around noon.  We gave them some spicy noodles in an effort to scare them off, but to no avail.  Maybe we'll switch out the soy sauce for fish sauce.  That's enough to scare ANYONE away.  That stuff smells so gross...
The members are SO GREAT.  They think the VERY best of the missionaries and do any and every thing for us. Often their belief is entirely too optimistic. But they consider it an honor and a blessing to have us in their home. SO humble. We went hiking and Sister Kim felt sick, so we called Aunty early and asked if we could go over right then. Later Uncle Norman (her husband) finished the lunch with a spiritual thought and said that he had been laying in bed feeling sick next to Aunty when she got the call. When he found out that we were coming over, he turned to his wife and said "aren't we so blessed to have the servant's of the Lord in our home?" and got up! We don't deserve their devotion. He told us the story with tears in his eyes. I don't know what to do!


I am SO BLESSED!  God is GOOD & the church is true!

RANDOM FUN FACTS:
1. I met a woman from Athens last night!  She was wearing a UGA shirt and we had a great talk about Herschel Walker and manners!  
2. We tracted into a very nice Indian man named Vikram who invited us in and shared Tandoori with us...Swoon!
3. Brother Kanahele told me I was a yogurt covered raisin--white on the outside, brown on the inside.
4. We skype in a month!  No...23 days!  Forgive me if I ugly cry!

I Love you to the Sky!
xMLS

                                                       Sometimes it's Fun to push Sister K's buttons

                                  Fab Jammies and our felt Christmas tree (Thanks Mama!)