Aloooha!
I think I forgot to mention this last week, but I'm including Spotify playlists on these posts. Usually they'll just be songs that have been stuck in my head the last week or so, but occasionally they'll be a little more significant. It's Time by Imagine Dragons, for example, was the first song last week because I felt like Dan Reynolds nailed post-mission life beautifully with it. The Foo Fighters earned the top spot and episode title this week with their song Learn to Fly. A few weeks ago, about a thousand musicians got together and performed this song, asking Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters to come play a show in Italy. Hundreds of drummers, hundreds of guitar players, and hundreds of singers got together for it. Their performance is something beautiful. Most of the people there I'm sure had different political, religious, and economic views, different cultures, and different backgrounds, and yet, for one brief moment, all of that was set aside while they did their thing. Amazing what music can do. The video can be found here. (A word of warning, though, after they finish the song, the video goes on another couple minutes and the speaker uses a little bit of colourful language!) The title is also pretty fitting to where I feel like I am right now... Making my way back home and learning to fly.
Ah, this last week has been great. Although I must say, living in Hawai'i is much different than vacationing in Hawai'i. I feel like when you're on vacation, you're trying to pack as much into one day as possible. But when you're living somewhere, you have a lot more free time. A lot more time to just sit back and relax. And this is especially true when you throw being unemployed, not going to school, and living with your parents into the mix. Coming right off mission where you're trying to be productive literally every single hour of the day, having this much free time is insanely frustrating. But I think just like it takes learning to be that productive, it takes a little bit of learning to enjoy the free time also. It's been good, though. I'm still on mission schedule even with all the time zone changes, so I've been up a little earlier than the other guys. Been able to get some good runs in and make some nice Spam and eggs. (We're in Hawai'i... How can I not?!) And then once the others are up, Blake, Biz and I have gotten a lot of pinball playing and How I Met Your Mother watching in while Kiley's been at school.
Speaking of How I Met Your Mother, I should probably mention this before I forget... It is insane how many life lessons you can learn from Ted and his friends. One that stuck out in particular to me this week was this:
Before I left on mission, I had no idea how easy it would be to lose track of people. But it's real. If there are people you want in your life more than just an accidental bumping into at a wedding reception or mission homecoming, you have to give it some good effort. Without it, most people will simply disappear into the sea of the rest of the world. I dunno. Hold onto those you love... I guess that would be the lesson to learn. Also, the love story between Ted and the Girl with the Yellow Umbrella may be one of my favorite love stories ever told. I included La Vie En Rose by Cristin Milioti on the playlist this week, since that's the first song Ted hears her sing.
Anyway, back to reality...
Great sibling and mama bonding time this week. We made it to some of the touristy stuff too. Pali lookout, Pearl Harbour, Hale'iwa, Ewa beach, Laie, Diamond Head... We should have made it to the temple too but there's kind of a funny story behind that. The man I used to know as Elder Gold (but whom I now know as Landon) invited Blake and I to go spear fishing Friday morning just outside his dorm on Laie Point. Since we were gonna be making the drive to Laie anyway, we figured we'd get a temple session in afterward too. So we woke up early that morning and packed everything we'd need... Snorkels and fins for fishing, church clothes and temple bags for the temple. We drove to Laie wearing just t-shirts and board shorts since we were gonna be in the water, but...perhaps that was a mistake. I realized about halfway through the drive that among the white shirt, tie, pants, shoes, socks, belt, and temple bag I had packed, there were no garments. I'm notorious for forgetting underwear. It's happened on at least one family vacation, and I guess now it's happened on a temple trip too. Since I had already tried going for a run while the sun was highest in the sky that week, I figured I didn't need to add "go through the temple without garments" to my list of terrible ideas I'd tried. So long story short, temple trip ended up not happening, but spear fishing was the bomb. Blake and I didn't catch anything, but Landon caught a unicorn fish that he ended up frying up for us. umNandi kakhulu.
I don't remember if it was this week or last, but I had a conversation with Elder Childs (eish... Braiden now), and we were talking about how there definitely is something real about being set apart. He asked me if someone came and told me to wake up tomorrow and do missionary work all day, would I be able to do it? And honestly, I'm not sure... I think I could drag myself through it, but I know it wouldn't be the same while I was set apart. Looking back, I have no idea how in the world we did that every single day for two years. No downtime. No vacations. Even on p-days, you're hardly relaxing. Are missionaries sustained by the Lord? By the millions of prayers coming from members daily all over the world? I have to believe so.
Well, I'm hopping on the plane tomorrow night back to Utah. Kinda crazy... Been with the family the last couple weeks, but with me heading out tomorrow, Blake leaving to the MTC in 10 days, and the fam bam living in Hawai'i, this is the last weekend we're gonna be together for for another two years... Here we go again! But it's worth it. The sacrifice is definitely worth it. Probably should wrap up and go spend some time with them. There may be plans to have a camp out on the couches tonight... We'll see how that plays out!
Oh! I've posted a link to an album of pictures from the Hawai'i trip if you want to check that out.
Much love and aloha!
Dizzy
Ah, this last week has been great. Although I must say, living in Hawai'i is much different than vacationing in Hawai'i. I feel like when you're on vacation, you're trying to pack as much into one day as possible. But when you're living somewhere, you have a lot more free time. A lot more time to just sit back and relax. And this is especially true when you throw being unemployed, not going to school, and living with your parents into the mix. Coming right off mission where you're trying to be productive literally every single hour of the day, having this much free time is insanely frustrating. But I think just like it takes learning to be that productive, it takes a little bit of learning to enjoy the free time also. It's been good, though. I'm still on mission schedule even with all the time zone changes, so I've been up a little earlier than the other guys. Been able to get some good runs in and make some nice Spam and eggs. (We're in Hawai'i... How can I not?!) And then once the others are up, Blake, Biz and I have gotten a lot of pinball playing and How I Met Your Mother watching in while Kiley's been at school.
Speaking of How I Met Your Mother, I should probably mention this before I forget... It is insane how many life lessons you can learn from Ted and his friends. One that stuck out in particular to me this week was this:
"You will be shocked kids, when you discover how easy it is in life to part ways with people forever. That's why, when you find someone you want to keep around, you do something about it." -- Ted Mosby
Before I left on mission, I had no idea how easy it would be to lose track of people. But it's real. If there are people you want in your life more than just an accidental bumping into at a wedding reception or mission homecoming, you have to give it some good effort. Without it, most people will simply disappear into the sea of the rest of the world. I dunno. Hold onto those you love... I guess that would be the lesson to learn. Also, the love story between Ted and the Girl with the Yellow Umbrella may be one of my favorite love stories ever told. I included La Vie En Rose by Cristin Milioti on the playlist this week, since that's the first song Ted hears her sing.
Anyway, back to reality...
Great sibling and mama bonding time this week. We made it to some of the touristy stuff too. Pali lookout, Pearl Harbour, Hale'iwa, Ewa beach, Laie, Diamond Head... We should have made it to the temple too but there's kind of a funny story behind that. The man I used to know as Elder Gold (but whom I now know as Landon) invited Blake and I to go spear fishing Friday morning just outside his dorm on Laie Point. Since we were gonna be making the drive to Laie anyway, we figured we'd get a temple session in afterward too. So we woke up early that morning and packed everything we'd need... Snorkels and fins for fishing, church clothes and temple bags for the temple. We drove to Laie wearing just t-shirts and board shorts since we were gonna be in the water, but...perhaps that was a mistake. I realized about halfway through the drive that among the white shirt, tie, pants, shoes, socks, belt, and temple bag I had packed, there were no garments. I'm notorious for forgetting underwear. It's happened on at least one family vacation, and I guess now it's happened on a temple trip too. Since I had already tried going for a run while the sun was highest in the sky that week, I figured I didn't need to add "go through the temple without garments" to my list of terrible ideas I'd tried. So long story short, temple trip ended up not happening, but spear fishing was the bomb. Blake and I didn't catch anything, but Landon caught a unicorn fish that he ended up frying up for us. umNandi kakhulu.
I don't remember if it was this week or last, but I had a conversation with Elder Childs (eish... Braiden now), and we were talking about how there definitely is something real about being set apart. He asked me if someone came and told me to wake up tomorrow and do missionary work all day, would I be able to do it? And honestly, I'm not sure... I think I could drag myself through it, but I know it wouldn't be the same while I was set apart. Looking back, I have no idea how in the world we did that every single day for two years. No downtime. No vacations. Even on p-days, you're hardly relaxing. Are missionaries sustained by the Lord? By the millions of prayers coming from members daily all over the world? I have to believe so.
Well, I'm hopping on the plane tomorrow night back to Utah. Kinda crazy... Been with the family the last couple weeks, but with me heading out tomorrow, Blake leaving to the MTC in 10 days, and the fam bam living in Hawai'i, this is the last weekend we're gonna be together for for another two years... Here we go again! But it's worth it. The sacrifice is definitely worth it. Probably should wrap up and go spend some time with them. There may be plans to have a camp out on the couches tonight... We'll see how that plays out!
Oh! I've posted a link to an album of pictures from the Hawai'i trip if you want to check that out.
Much love and aloha!
Dizzy
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