Hawaiian Hospitality

Aloha! So it's actually been a little while since we were in Hilo, Hawaii, but I kind of forgot to write about it, because we were only there for one day and it's been busy busy since then! I'll write about it super briefly because I'm doing a bunch of other stuff right now.


So I spent my day in Hawaii with Sam, Williama, Kyla, and Lizzie. We were with Williama and Kylas families, because they're both from Hawaii. It was amazing! Thanksgiving on an island is pretty awesome. We hung out in a guest home at a church all day, eating tortilla chips with dip and all sorts of island specialties and laughing at Williama's brother, who is one of my favorite children ever. When the full meal was ready, we loaded our plates up with pig, turkey, potatoes, fruit salad, regular salad, and lots of other amazing food. I had NO room in my stomach after ward, I was completely stuffed. We hung out for a while more and heard some stories about Hilo and The Big Island, which was great. We all loaded into the car and went to this chocolate store that was highly recommended. It was lovely! I didn't buy anything, but I did eat quite a few samples. Then we headed to Wal Mart, which doesn't sound that exciting, but when you've been without chain stores in America for a while, you appreciate then 1000% more. I walked in and there was a McDonalds and an American flag... I felt very much at home. We loaded up on snacks (and I loaded up on Martinellis sparkling apple cider) and headed back to the ship. We got there JUST in time to avoid dock time, and I spent the rest of the night making last phone calls home and to friends.

Being in America was super refreshing. Trust me when I say, being away for so long makes you miss little things, like being able to call home and send a text message, and not having to pull out a calculator every time you buy something so you can figure out how much you're actually spending. Spending the day with a family that welcomed us as if we were there own made the day even more amazing, because I didn't feel like I was away from home. I felt perfectly at home.