A Moment's Musings

Life on the Island

2012-02-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

I thought anyone reading this might enjoy a snap-shot of my Hawaiian life :) I know there are a lot of sunsets/sunrises, but I just love them so much!! I can't help myself :D

To start off, here is my adorable little baby niece, Juniper. This was taken awhile ago before Rachel left to go back to Utah. Now we have a kitten instead, but kittens do not quite fill the void of baby nieces and sisters-in-law. We miss them dearly.

Here is the sunrise on my second morning on the island. I'd gone out for an early morning moped ride with out friend Aaron. Here we are:

That was such a beautiful morning.

Here are a couple others from early morning moped rides:

Then once upon a time Aaron, Jeremiah, and I took the mopeds all the way around the Island:

This was one of my favorite adventures :)

Although, it has a lot of competition because we are always having adventures. I think to quell the loneliness of not having Rachel around, Jeremiah and I go out for beach walks and photography-ing and things like that. It really is wonderful to spend this time with him. Here we are:

Haha as you can tell, we are extremely photogenic.

Here are some photos from our recent adventures:

This is the time when we found an alien head - I mean puffer fish - stranded on the beach. We threw him back in the ocean :)

And these are from just last sunday:

Skipping stones (I am not very good at it...)

This is a crazy stone formation we ran into on the beach.

And this last one is just a photo I took that night. It's a little dark, but I like it. That little shadow man is my brother :)

And just to finish off... Ron Paul 2012!!

I feel that he would make an incredible president. The extra-terrestrial world is in agreement.

[But seriously. I've had something of a political re-awakening since I've been here. I had felt so jaded and didn't believe that any politician could pull me out of it, but this man is so genuine and honest! An honest politician. Now that's a rarity! For more information please visit his official campaign site]

Well, I hope this post was enlightening. I am loving my time here and am grateful for it. I forgot to mention I got a job at Coldstone Creamery which is a lot of fun. Customers generally tip when I tell them I am a registered nurse :)

I wish you all the best and hope life is treating you splendidly!

Love and Blessings,

Deva

p.s. Comments are always appreciated :)

It's you and me, Blog.

2012-01-26T00:52:00.000-08:00

This is silly. I've been putting off updating because I wanted to upload a few photos, but I suppose it would make a lot more sense just to update now and upload photos whenever I figure it out. Hmm, that reminds me of the mission. I guess I have a long-standing history of photo-sharing trouble.

Life on the island is treating me very well indeed. I especially love being outside here. I've been waking up naturally around 6 or 6:30 each day which means I can sit out on the patio and watch the sunrise every morning :) I love that. I did that this morning, then went on a hike up to a waterfall with our friend Aaron. I spend most of everyday at the University of Hawaii Institute studying/writing papers/taking online quizzes or actually in Institute class. One of the senior sister missionaries was offering private piano lessons through the institute. I signed up for that so fast! I've only had two lessons so far, but I can already see some progress. I just love fulfilling long-time dreams! I highly recommend it.

I haven't found a paying job yet (which could be a problem), but tomorrow I have my first day of clinical for my nursing leadership class. I'm working with a lady named Aiea who is from Hawai'i and works as a wound specialist for American Medical Technologies (the company my mom works for). She is a masters prepared nurse and also has her MBA plus a lot of leadership experience. Oh, and did I mention how excited she is to bring me on? This is going to be great!

I've been forming a habit this week of going out to the beach after I finish my school-work each afternoon, breathing deeply, and watching the sunset. Today's sunset was exceptional. It started early with the sun trapped in a cloud bank and pouring rays out across the water. Then it slowly freed itself, making a brilliant appearance as a glowing orb above the horizon before sinking behind another set of clouds and turning them all to gold with a Midas touch. That began a symphony of color and motion played out across the whole sky as pink mixed with blue and gray took on a silver hue. Surely the work of the Master Artist.

Not too long ago, a friend of mine shared an artistic observation with me that I also witnessed in today's beautiful sunset. It is poem-worthy, but alas no poem has come... yet. It's the way the clouds at once so dark and ominous light up like fire with the sun behind them. In a phrase, All things turn glorious in the light of the Son.

Perhaps I shall expound upon that another day. It's late now, and I want to get up early.

Love and Blessings,
Deva

Joy

2012-01-08T15:51:00.001-08:00

To master the art of selflessness is to master the art of joy.

Love and Blessings,
Deva

Prayer and Poetry

2012-01-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

What gift is prayer?
What sacred treasure.
That I - imperfect though I be -
May humbly bow before
The Hands that formed the Heavens and the Earth
And hung each star in its careful place
And that those Hands to me outstretched now stand
To wrap me in Their loving grace.

[I woke up with this forming itself in my mind. I love it when that happens! Poetry is such a blessing to me. Some people are talented enough to write whenever they would, but for me each verse is a gift from on high. As though it already existed in some spiritual form and simply chose to enter the world through my mind and pen.]

The Holidays :)

2012-01-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

All growing up I claimed New Year's as my favorite holiday. I always loved the concept of a clean slate. Now that I'm older and more fully understand the atonement, I realize that we can we can start over at any given moment which is infinitely more beautiful than getting the chance only once every 365 days!

This year was great. Jeremiah and Rachel came into town from Hawaii for Christmas and brought with them my incredibly adorable 3-month-old niece, Juniper Iris. It was so great to meet her! I want to post a picture, but for some reason no computer will recognize my camera... hmm. I thought that was just an El Salvador problem.

My family had our 10th annual Christmas Eve Shindig as planned, and it was so wonderful to catch up with old friends and be surrounded by so much love. After things wound down, we went to a Christmas Eve church service as well (this year was Methodist). That is my own personal tradition, but I generally bring as many people as I can along with me. It started out with a simple desire to experience midnight mass (inspired by an unusual christmas song heard on the radio), but once I went I realized how much I enjoy that moment of worship on Christmas Eve. And what better time of year to open one's heart to a different form of worship than on the one day that unites all Christian sects? Anyway, this year I enjoyed the company of Curtis and my dear long-time friend Mr. Joel Pellini. For me it was an interesting mesh of eras since Joel and Curtis had never really met before.

Christmas Day was dedicated to family :) I love my family.

I hope the Holidays were as splendid for all of you as they were for me.

Love and Blessings,
Deva

One Month (and counting)

2011-12-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

This has been the longest fastest month I have ever experienced not on the mission! It's good to know that time is following the same nonsensical pattern that it has for the past year and a half.

My mission was incredible. Moving, challenging, life-shaping and absolutely incredible. I learned to love in a way that must be experienced to be understood. The way our Savior loves. A good friend once contemplated that the a greater revelatory experience would not be simply feeling Christ's love, but "having our own love for Him unlocked and recognized". During those precious 18 months, my love for Jesus Christ was truly unlocked and recognized. The relationship I now share with Him is one of the precious treasures I will carry with me from this point forward.

I didn't want to come home, and once I got here I wanted to go back; but I know now that Heavenly Father has a purpose for me wherever I am. I have seen miracles here in these 4 weeks, just like I did on the mission. What an incredible blessing!

...And so we move onward, ever onward to the next great adventure!

I stand today with tuition paid, text books purchased, one-way ticket bought and about $59 to my name. In approximately 2.5 weeks, I will be hopping a plane to Honolulu, HI. People always ask me if I'm going to get a job when I get out there, and I just have to laugh. If I don't get a job, I'm never coming back! After all, it's only a one way ticket. Life is exciting for me.

Love and Blessings to all who read this,
Deva