This will be my last blog of experiences on Hawaii, at least for a while. I can’t believe how fast time has flown by. I can say that I have no regrets, we didn’t let a day go by that didn’t involve some sort of Hawaiian fun.
Finals are over, and good riddance. I was glad that I didn’t procrastinate all of my projects and studying until the end, because of that, I got to enjoy myself the final weeks, whereas other people were running around campus with “deer in the headlights” kind of eyes.
Do you remember me telling you how tough my biology class was? We had our final as well. It was the most prepared for final of all of my classes. I studied at least 20 hours for the final alone. Let me tell you a little about my semester with Biology.
First off, I am not biology. I do not eat biology, I do not drink biology, I will never sleep biology and therefore I do not understand biology in the slightest. It was a really tough class because most of the information was foreign to me. I didn’t fully understand how hard this class was going to be until I got my results back for the first test, 64%! That was a wakeup call. I met with my professor and we talked about things I could do to prepare better for the test. I felt like I was the only dumby in the class, but then he told me that I was with the average of the class.
I applied what he told me to do in my study habits and was able to increase my test scores by ten percent. I was sitting at 73% for my average and the class stayed at 64%. That made me feel quite good, but I still wanted to do all that I could to get an A in the class. As the final approached I knew I had to really pick up my game so that I could get a score worth bragging about. In other words, I guess writing a blog can motivate you to do outstanding things. Or else I wouldn’t have anything to write about.
As usual, I met with my group study. The members of the group were from my ward and we got along really well. We met often. Normally we would meet once a week for a couple hours, but as the final got closer; we ended up studying 5 out of the 7 days of the week. It was pretty intense. But it felt really good. I knew that I was doing all I could to get a good grade in the class.
All of this hard work paid off when I got my results from my professor. They weren’t posted yet, but I had to know NOW what I got on the test, so I emailed him. He responded that I got 55…my heart dropped…out of 62….at this point my heart picked itself back up and I then looked .3 inches to the right and saw 88.7%!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. He congratulated me for my hard work. I was bouncing off the walls the rest of the day. You can ask my roommate if you don’t believe me.
To celebrate finals being over, my roommates and I headed up to the North Shore to watch the end of Pipeline Masters surf competition. We arrived just as they announced the winner, Jeremy Flores, who is French. We got fairly close to the stage and talked to some French people. It was really good to hear the infamous French accent again, it had been too long. Then we walked up and down the north shore beaches and soaked in the sun and waves. It was hard to say good bye. The waves were massive and we couldn’t body surf them, so we let them tear us to pieces. We could hardly tell which way was up when we surfaced because the waves would pick you up and flip us every which way.
Later that night Curtis and I returned to Haleiwa to eat dinner with some friends that left the next morning. One of them had their dad with him. His name is Monte Holm, a soon to be Mission President. He doesn’t yet know where he and his wife will be serving, but it was so cool to see the excitement that he had to serve. He is a very successful businessman and I know he’ll be an incredible mission president. He frequently asked us questions about our missions.
Since Curtis and I were the only returned missionaries present, we got all the attention. One thing he asked that stuck out the most was when he asked me, “What do you remember most about your mission president.” I immediately thought of President Merrell and his law of obedience. To this day I am amazed by that man. I feel so blessed that I got to serve with him in the mission office and watch him closely. I told Broth Holm of his obedience, and how he never lollygagged. He was always in a hurry and busy doing important things. He walked briskly and with purpose. I knew that President Merrell would never ask me to do anything that he hadn’t already done or was willing to do. That is why I loved him so much. I knew that President Merrell was Obedient to the T.
I also told him about President Carter. I loved how President Carter incorporated his business skills into missionary work. He had so many new and creative ideas for carrying out the work. The mission would try out the ideas, and if they didn’t work, they were dropped immediately. When they did work, we pumped on all cylinders to get the job done. He was amazing at this. He also spoke with such conviction. He and his wife were converts, but you never would have guessed it. It felt so good to talk about our missions and what we learned from our mission presidents. It made me feel bad that I don’t keep in closer contact with them.
To finish this trip out strong, we did one last hike near Honolulu. It is called Diamond Head. This is a WWII historical sight. There are old bunkers and mounts for machine guns. They were really well camouflaged on the top of a hill that overlooked Waikiki and Honolulu. It was a really cool hike.
Before heading back to Laie, we decided to grab a bite to eat at the cafeteria in the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu. I heard it used to be the biggest mall in America. We had a pretty neat experience at lunch that day. The cafeteria is shaped like a large oval. There are all kinds of Chinese restaurants along the rim. Everyone eating there is either Hawaiin or Asian. There were a few American restaurants in there as well, but even they were ran by Asians, which was kind of funny. After getting some food, we looked for a place to sit. There wasn’t a seat anywhere. We had to walk to the clear opposite end of the oval before we found a seat. There was a lone man sitting near 3 empty seats. He let us sit by him. It wasn’t long before we were lost in conversation. Because we stuck out like elephants in a vineyard, he asked us where we came from and why we were here. He knew about BYU Hawaii and asked us if we were Mormon. We got to talking about the gospel pretty quick; I was immediately thrown back to my days with Curtis in Agen. It was like old times.
Companions reunited doing the Lord’s work. What an experience. We didn’t even seek out this opportunity. It came to us and thank goodness we were ready and willing. He told us that he knew missionaries and saw them every now and then, but felt sure that there was no church for everyone. They were all good and all had the same result. I immediately told him about how we were surrounded by tons of Asian restaurants, to the inexperienced mind, they were all the same, but if you sampled each one, you could probably tell a difference. It’s the same with the church. He chuckled and understood what I mean. We didn’t get much anywhere with him, but Curtis invited him to ask the missionaries he knew for a Book of Mormon the next time he sees him. We might not have preached the most beautiful sermon to him, but I felt we did our part. We talked about extraordinary subject, the Book of Mormon. Not many people talk about that these days, so I hope our words will ring in his head and that the spirit will drive him to seek for the sacred book.
The next day was filled with packing, but of course, we had to go to the beach one last time. We went for a couple hours and basked in all its glory and majesty. It will be a long time before I live on the coast somewhere, so we couldn’t say no to one last beach run. After we got back, just two hours before we left, we found out that our ride just bagged on us. Their truck broke down. We panicked a little and then called our bishop in desperation. He and his wife agreed to take us. What a way to end this adventure! We talked about all the fun we had these past few months. They are such great people and I am really going to miss them. I thought I saw a hint of emotion in all of our eyes as we said our goodbyes and walked into the airport. There’s no place like Hawaii. I love you all. Thanks for making my blog a part of your weekly routine. I’ll try to live up to my blog and keep you entertained and informed on my life as I head on down to Provo after Christmas.
Mahalo and Mele Kalikimaka! Thank you and Merry Christmas!
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