Dear Loved ones,
I am having the MOST wonderful time here in Kona. For those of you who don't know Hawai'i, I am staying on the Big Island, which is the biggest and also the most rural/least populated. It's absolutely beautiful here, at about 80-85 degrees every day. In Celsius, that is…? I arrived here on January 9, so 10 days! I spent a week in San Francisco visiting friends. Right now my official end date is Feb 28th, but it is more likely that I will be staying until April 10th. My day starts at 5:45 am, drive the van at 5:55 and 6:10 (we have new people coming in every day), have prayer together at 6:15 and eat breakfast until 7:00. Then I have kitchen duty from 7-9 am, unless it is Monday, then we leave at 8 am for worship. From 9-3, I work in Staff Services, which is really nice because I get to work on the computers and interact with all of the incoming staff. It is easier and more fun than working in the kitchen all day. I prayed from God to give me the best possible position and he answered my prayers. I lucked out because I also speak Korean, and they thought my translating skills would come in handy, with so many Koreans on campus. My roommate is this really cool redheaded 19 years old from Saskatchewan, Canada, which is……unfortunately, she is leaving today. The days are warm, but it starts off cold in the morning and gets really warm by around 10 or so. The nights are much cooler as well. There are two sides to the island, and we are on the dry side, as opposed to Hilo, which is the wet side. But this weekend we got a storm, and the biggest swells (waves) in the three years hit! The surfers were pretty happy with that! I have not been able to get up on a surf board yet, but I plan to soon. So far I have only been boogie boarding once. The waves were pretty big, and it is a little overwhelming.
1st day: Arrived at 1 pm (plane was delayed an hour because a truck backed into our plane and we couldn't get one of our thrusts up, but not a problem). Unpacked, went to a Kona coffee plantation. The coffee here is usually 100% organic, and tastes SO good. It is not bitter at all. Oh, and the macadamia nuts are SOOOOO good. I also found a ripe avocado on the ground, which they let me keep. I haven't seen any wild dolphin yet, but there was a family from the South Shore that saw about 65 of them, and even had a whale almost tip their boat over. That's the kind of experience I want to have!!!! Then I met my friend Sam, who is from England, a 21 year old blond kid who is loads of fun. We walked down to the pier and I jumped off. You just have to be careful because there are vauna, sea urchin, which are dangerous if you step on one. They are a blackish purple, and are EVERYWHERE in the water. There was a luau going on across the water, which we could hear, but couldn't see. But we walked over and got our pictures taken with them.
2nd day: It was great to arrive on the weekend because it was all fun and no work. We went to the Hilton Hotel, which was like a miniature Disney World. But I think I liked it more than Disney. There was a mini tram, boat, a huge pool system, which had waterfalls, water slides and a nice Jacuzzi underneath. We also saw five dolphins, which I kind of felt bad for, that they couldn't swim free in the wild. But they were so amazing to watch. The wildlife, fauna and flora is just so amazing here. Everything is so bright and colorful, and exotic. We have resident geckos, which are bright green and crawl everywhere. It is fun watching them race around, and hop from wall to wall. Unfortunately, with the good comes the ugly, such as flying cockroaches, which actually aren't that bad.
3rd day: Sunday, Sam and I went to Kamauimaua Church, which is the very first church built in Hawai'i in 1820. The pastor was super cool. Everyone here is SO laid back, it's a nice change of pace from Boston. We went to Hapuna Beach the next day, which was where I went boogie boarding. The waves are huge, and my friend Anthony got swiped by his boogie board on a large wave and it left a mark. That night we went to Kona Inn and got mud pies, which are SO delicious! It is Kona ice cream with a cookie crust and whipped cream on top. They are so big that 5 of us all shared one!
There are SOOOO many Koreans here. It is awesome and feel so much at home. The demographics are pretty much all white and Korean, not much else. There are SO many Canadians, and many from Washington. There were two other Korean Americans, but they left, and the five others are from Korea. There is also a huge contingent from Pennsylvania, particularly many Mennonites, and they are only here for about two weeks at a time. They are working on a new building that is going up pretty soon.
So, I am a Mission Builder, and we are all volunteers, staying on Hale Ola, which is about a mile from the main campus at the University of the Nations, Kona. We take shuttle buses to eat food and do our main work there every day. The main campus is huge, and most of the students there are doing their DTS, which is the Discipleship Training School.
4th day: Monday, First day of work. Kitchen is a little harder, but it is fun because we are all there together. There are pretty much two groups of people, twenty somethings and the older couples. I am the only person in my 30s and Anthony is the only one in his 40s. There are some rare men (2) that are not married, but pretty much everyone else is in their 50s or 60s and married. But everyone gets along really well, and we try to mix together. My boss Dave is a surfer, and he's younger than me, so he listens to cool music and is pretty chill. Dottie also works in my office and she is older, and she always buys snacks for our office. It reminds me of being at Dana Farber, where there were always treats lying around.
5th day: Tuesday, group meeting. Got to meet all the new people. SKATE NIGHT! One of the highlights of my time here. It's basically a way to outreach to all the young people in our community, and it is AWESOME! There is cool music playing, and a ton of ramps set up. I was basically the ONLY girl there (actually skating) among about 50 boys and young guys. It was my first time really skateboarding, and it was SO much fun!!!!!!!! I have gotten up on a skateboard before, but never really did it for any prolonged period of time. This was a nice long stretch of two hours of skateboarding. No tricks yet, but I can go across the length of a basketball court without falling off! Although I did have one nasty spill and fell, so my wrist is a little sore. A Korean guy taught me some new breakdancing moves as well. People were shocked that I just got up on stage and started dancing……ha ha, they will learn soon enough. I wasn't wearing long sleeves though, so I didn't dance too much.
6th day: Wednesday, finally did laundry, jumped off the pier, which I do almost every day.
7th day: Thursday, praise and worship in the Ohana court. I finally got to hear Loren Cunningham speak. He's the founder of YWAM and he is just the funniest, most down to earth guy. Talk about humble and sincere. Amazing.
8th day: Aloha Friday! Yup, that's what they call it here. Pretty awesome vibe! I feel like I have found my second home. Boston will always be my home, but there is a part of me that really wants to settle or spend more time on the West Coast. Yes, I love California. I could definitely spend quite a bit of time in Hawai'i, though I am not sure if I could live here forever….but then again, there are people who have lived here for twenty years and they are surprised that they are still here. That could be me!
Storms and high seas. Pouring rain. More mud pies, this time at Bubba Gump's shrimp.
9th day: Saturday. We went to Mauna Lani, another high class resort, http://www.maunalani.com/ and saw my first turtles up close. They were lying out in the sun on the rocks, and just looked so sweet, like husband and wife. One was bigger than the other, and had his eye open, and the smaller one was nestled under his arm. So peaceful.
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This weekend we are going to South Point, which is the southernmost point in the entire U.S. I hear there are 30-50 foot cliffs. Pray that I don't hurt myself! It hardly seems like I have only been here for a week and a half. It feels like months! I miss you all and my prayers are with you! love, Sung Yun
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