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Medicine Cabinet Re-Do

I've never given a whole lot of thought to my medicine cabinet since I never really open it anyway.  On the rare occasions when I'm searching for a box of contacts or something, I'll pry open the door and am usually met with an old yellowed box of bandaids, rubbing alcohol from 1987¹ and expired eye drops, all perched somewhat haphazardly in front of a rusted out shell.  Then, I frown, close the door and put on my glasses.

before

This past week though, I was feeling a bit HGTV-ish and decided it was time for a re-do.  I simply removed one of the mirrored doors, scotch-taped some bold printed craft paper² to the back of the cabinet and tidied up the contents with some plastic containers.  Thanks to a 50% off sale that was going on at the local craft store (and convincing some sisters with a craft club card to come along with me so I could take an additional 10% off), the entire project cost was next to nothing.  Me likey.³

after 

¹  Obviously an exaggeration

² At first, I thought about a bold masculine stripe but ended up with these red and black poppies instead.  They're flowers, I know but still not too girly and floofy.  In fact,  the design reminds me of the funky Marimekko prints from Finland in the 70s.  Groovy.

³ Especially that tube there on the bottom shelf: Jasmin-Mint Marvis toothpaste.  Decidedly a bit pricey because it comes all the way from Italy, but it lasts a long time since you use only 1/3 the amount of regular toothpaste.  Better yet, it tastes like peppermint grape soda!

2011 Memorial

The past two weeks have been a happy blur of activity with 73 engaged in some facet of the pioneer work this month, including just about our entire Spanish group, brothers who are working full-time secularly, sisters with unbelieving mates, and a brother who is paralyzed from the neck down.  We completed distribution of Memorial invitations this morning to the 3 remaining homes on our Spanish territory out in Ookala  and met a new guy named Edu, who then directed us to another Spanish speaking home close by.  That makes 5 new contacts this past week!  Yupi!

Our Memorial was held in the same school cafeteria where I used to eat my lunches waaaay back in the 80s.   (That would be the NINETEEN-eighties, for those of you who are wondering.)  At this point, I'll politely decline from dwelling too deeply on any personal lunchtime experiences there,  since many of my cafeteria ponderings tend to conjure up nausea-inducing memories of certain classmates who used to smoosh their milk and fruit cocktail into their spaghetti just to gross everyone out.  It worked too. 

The crowd tonight was a lot more dignified of course and Steve did a real nice job with the talk.  

The cafeteria was packed inside and out  with new faces- including a nice turnout from the Spanish speaking territory, inactive ones and even a good number of unbelieving mates.  We had many encouraging experiences. 

One was of a Spanish speaking woman who had asked her priest why their church has been so lenient toward the religious leaders who had molested minors.  The priest's answer was that if she didn't like what she saw going on in the church, to get out!  She has started studying and attended the Memorial with her 2 children and their father. 

 with some of the Spanish-speaking attenders

With the opening song and prayer over, we were beginning to doubt whether two other Spanish studies were going to show up as planned since many from the territory often say they'll come and then end up having to work late.  But as the talk got started, they both walked in... along with 7 others! 

So then: 

130 publishers total including 13 in Spanish

316 attendance total including 30 in Spanish

How'd you do?

Song 84 "I Want To"-

Thought you all might enjoy this.  Luke recently did a really nice mashup of Song 84 ("I Want To").  The vocals switch seamlessly between French, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Albanian and German.  I think you'll like it even if you don't happen to be a foreign language freak like myself.

LISTEN HERE 

Cute Baby, Not So Cute Rock Wall

There's nothing quite like the noise of your rear bumper crunching against a rock wall... which is what happened this morning out in field service as I was reversing out of a driveway.  I really don't know what the problem was since I'd done it a hundred times before.  Thankfully, I'm not the sort to freak out over stuff like this, even if it is my first accident since I got the car last year.  I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Oh well...

 
On a slightly positive note, I guess scraping my car against the wall DID manage to take off some caked on mud around the tire-well along with the paint, so now I'll only have to clean the other side. 

On an even more positive note, the householder wasn't home and there was no damage to the wall.

On a much more positive note, I finally got to take pictures of little Zack.  Looks a lot like Jaedan, don't you think?  I just love that expression!

 

By the way, there were 6 more AP's announced last night, bringing our total pioneers to 72!  And Catanny did his first Puntos Sobresalientes.

A re-newed Sunday Routine?

People somehow get the strange idea that I'm smart because I like learning languages, but the truth is: (and don't spread this around) I'm actually kinda dumb. 

Don't let the glasses fool you.  The only smart thing I've actually done regarding this whole language deal, was to make it easy on myself and choose to learn related languages which more or less share the same rules of grammar, have the same root words and form verbs in the same way.  At the bottom of this entry,  I've included a few phrases from this post in the different Latin languages I'm learning. You'll see the close similarities and will begin to appreciate that understanding 6 related languages is not as impressive as you'd think..

What IS impressive is this:

So far this month, we have 66 persons¹ engaged in some form of the pioneer work, so the normally happy buzz of activity is getting even louder by the minute.  The increased service support is a really nice encouragement, not only for the congregation as a whole, but also for me to put into practice what we were told to work on at our pioneer session last week: supporting Sunday field arrangements. 

Ugh, I know right? 

Sunday has been a bit of a challenge since it really is the only day I'm not either at work or out in service.   But, it's not like Sunday was never part of my service schedule (it used to be for many years) and in fact, re-introducing it would help me catch up for the year.  Besides, my marathon 2 weeks² ended yesterday with a public talk and there was no pressing reason for me to have to go home,  so....

I went out for 4 hours³ after the meeting.  And you what?  It was great... just as field service on  Sunday⁴ had always been.  Looks like I just needed a reminder of what it was like.  And there was still time afterward to relax, cruise around town a bit, and then work out in the yard.  Which was a good thing because look what I got after the four hours in service were over:

 
A ton of orchids!  And no, I didn't blow any money on these babies cause someone gave the plants to me⁵  for free!  Count them!  Nine fully grown Vandas some of which were in bud, one  overgrown, pot-bound Paphiopedium, and three large Aerides, all of which came from a vacant property Catanny was hired to clean and whose owner didn't want them.  The plants had been abandoned for many years⁶ behind an old house, were in a leggy tangle and burning under direct sun after a ton of surrounding trees were removed.  None of them have labels but as all my friends⁷ know, I never complain when "Plants" and "free" are in the same sentence.  Cause I may not be smart, but I can be cheap.

 

1 SIXTY SIX PERSONS: sesenta personas(Spanish); sessanta persone(Italian); sessenta pessoas (Portuguese); soixante personnes(French); seixanta persones (Catalan);  şaizeci şi şase persoane(Romanian)

2 TWO WEEKS: dos semanas(Sp.); due settimane(It.); duas semanas(Pt.); deux semaines (Fr.); dues setmanes(Cat.);  două săptămâni(Ro.)

3 FOUR HOURS: cuatro horas(Sp.); quattro ore(It.); quatro horas(Pt.); quatre heures(Fr.); quatre hores(Cat.); patru ore (Ro.)

4 SUNDAY: domingo(Sp.); domenica(It.); domingo(Pt.); dimanche(Fr.); diumenge(Cat.); duminică(Ro.)

5  SOMEONE GAVE ME THE PLANTS: Alguien me dio las plantas(Sp.); Qualcuno mi ha dato le piante(It.); Alguém me deu as plantas(Pt.); Quelqu'un m'a donné les plantes(Fr.); Algú em va donar les plantes(Cat.); Cineva mi-a dat plantele(Ro.)

6  MANY YEARS: muchos años(Sp.); molti anni(It.); muitos anos(Pt.), [plusieurs] années(Fr.); molts anys(Cat.); mulţi ani(Ro.)

7 ALL MY FRIENDS: todos mis amigos(Sp.); tutti i miei amici(It.); todos os meus amigos(Pt.); tous mes amis(Fr.); tots els meus amics(Cat.); toţi prietenii mei(Ro.)

To Kona and Back

Just in case I ever feel like complaining about gas prices on our side of the island, here's a photo I took in Waimea this afternoon as a reminder to keep my big mouth shut:

Attendance at the Kona Circuit Assembly was in the upper 900's at the posh Keauhou Convention Center this morning, and there were 5 baptized.  I stayed for the morning session and got to help out with translation, although my attempts at translating Brother Driver's reference to the "AINOKEA bumper sticker" and "Chicken Little" made my toes curl just a bit.¹  Later this afternoon, Casey will have the privilege of translating a clucking chicken caught under a box.  Too bad I'll miss it.²

Unfortunately, although I started out intending to, I ended up not really being in the mood to take photos, which may or may not have had something to do with the heat... it can really be draining! 

¹ I translated "AINOKEA" as "a mi, no me importa" which sorta loses the oomph of the original. Add to that mouthful, the Spanish term I later learned for "bumper sticker" ("calcomanía de parachoque") and you can see I probably shouldn't have even tried.

²   In case you're just dying to know, Hens say "coc co co coc" or "kara-kara-kara" in Spanish.  This of course, is not to be confused under any circumstances, with roosters that go "kikiriki". What is it with Brother Driver and chickens anyway?

 

2011 Circuit Session with Pioneers

Friday, 7:30am, Umauma: stormy on one side of the road, sunny blue skies on the other and an awesome rainbow in between... all at the same time!

It would have been a really cool photo too, if it weren't for the stupid windshield wiper in the way.  But it was either a clear shot with the wipers on, or a waterfilled blurry one with the wipers off.    Here's a nicer shot attempted out the side window over Hakalau valley a few seconds earlier:

Hmm, not bad...except the powerlines.  So yeah, it was pretty much rainy  and wet en route to Honoka'a this morning for our Pioneer meeting.  Once we passed Laupahoehoe however, the skies suddenly turned a deep, cloudless blue over the soaring eucalyptus trees and the wetness disappeared as a strong cold wind blew down from Waimea.  No pictures of that though.  Sorry. 

None of the meeting itself either unfortunately.   

Or of the magnficent view of the ocean from the Honoka'a Hall.  

Or of any of the 172 pioneers in attendance.

In fact, last weekend's Circuit Assembly and this morning's Circuit Session with Regular Pioneers have been so enjoyable, so breathtaking, that I pretty much forgot to get any pictures of my dear, sweet, loving, encouraging brothers and sisters.  Horrible, I know, since I've obviously still managed to get the odd photo or three of orchid blooms and chicken pot pies the last week or so.    

 I did however, remember to get a group shot of our pioneers after the session was over:

 
Then another one of, um.... a toilet in the Happy Day's themed bathroom at the 50s Cafe where we had our lunch.

 

And finally, a nice shot of the Phalaenopsis house in bloom at Carmela Orchids on the way back home.

 
Well, I'm off to Kona tomorrow to help with translation at the Circuit assembly over in Keauhou.  I'll try to get more pictures then.