This was the week of Hurricane Iselle.  I sent reports to the kids during the experience and since this blog is scheduled for a major publication in the future I will include the reports so that they will be part of our mission adventure best seller.  Also many of our readers :) did not receive the reports so now they, too, can experience first hand the first hurricane of the Central Pacific Hurricane season (August through November)  Maybe there is another one coming so I will keep my sterno stove.

Tuesday 5 August.    The adventure will begin on FRIDAY and then again on SUNDAY….our first Hurricane or Tropical Storm.  Pretty soon, Kimberly will not be the only hurricane survivor in the family.  I will keep you informed of what is happening as long as we stay connected to the world.  Right now I am figuring out the sterno stove (wish I had all our camping gear)   Oh well, maybe it will be just wind and rain….I hope so. Went golfing today, weather is beautiful…but 1000 miles away, 165 mph winds, Yikes.  Wednesday 6 August.   Your hurricane reporter checking in from Laie, Hawaii.   All the local markets are out of water bottles (in heavy rain the water supply becomes polluted) and other basics.  We did our part by purchasing a case of water and a sterno stove plus a few groceries.  We are ready with our 72-hour packs and the evac center is only a five minute walk away.  I just have to move my car to the lot where there are no trees. 
But having said all that, the locals are saying that the Big Island will get hit the worst, but it will not be a full force hurricane but rather a diminishing tropical storm, 6-8 inches of rain and 50 mph wind gusts. The path is now moving south of the island chain which is good news.  The second storm is right behind but it will not be as bad.  Schools and other public buildings will be  closed on the Big Island and Maui but everything is staying open on our island.  They do not expect widespread power outages, etc.  Church functions are going forward, the PCC is planning to open on Friday (the worst day) and so great concern has yet to be manifest.  Everyone says there will be flooding in the usual places and that power may go out, but not as widespread as feared earlier.  So today after school we golfed in beautiful weather (I shot a mulligan 39).   Tomorrow the rain should begin in earnest and continue through Monday.  So stayed tuned for tomorrow's report at this same time. 

Selfie at the point in the non hurricane

This was the worst...not much, thankfully

Thursday 7 August.   Your on the spot hurricane reporter is checking in at 3:15 on Thursday.  The clouds are gathering and growing darker.  It will hit the Big Island as a category 1 hurricane in a couple of hours.     It will not hit Oahu until after midnight so we will wake up to a tropical storm (that is what it is now called for all of Hawaii except the Big Island. ) They have closed the schools for Friday, all government agencies, stopped the bus lines and airports.  The main threat remains 50 mph winds and 5-8 inches of rain causing flooding, trees to topple in the saturated soil, washouts and sea and surf swells.  Power outages are also likely.  Our Church meeting was moved from Sunset Beach to campus because of the second storm that is following this one.  We will be meeting on campus if anyone can drive there. 
The rain has just began to pound down so maybe this is the first of more rain or just an ordinary rain storm.  We'll see.  Stayed tuned to your reporter who will keep you informed of our adventure. 
Friday 8 August.   This is your on-sight hurricane reporter checking in….It is now 8:20am and it is a normal Hawaiian rain storm.  The wind comes and goes, nothing dramatic.  The worst is supposed to come at mid-day.  But the track is moving south and it may just be a storm.  The Big Island got hit but not hard, Maui just had storms with no major anything reported on the news.  So we are next and the birds are singing outside my window, which is a good sign.  Likely lots of rain, and maybe some localized flooding.  Otherwise, pretty much a non-event. We may not even have a power outage…Maui only had a few isolated outages.  I will check in this evening when it has passed or during the day if it becomes an adventure.  The good thing is that it is nice and cool in our non AC apartment. Stay tuned. 
Friday 8 August.   Well, this reporter has little to say.  After an hour of rain this morning, the whole thing became a total NON EVENT!  Little rain, normal wind, no floods, no surf surges, nothing, nada, a total NON EVENT on Oahu.  I think the Big Island was the only one really hit by the storm.  Not that we are not grateful, because we are.  Not that we were not prepared, we were.  BYUH had the Cannon (think Marriott) Center set up for evac and they had thought of everything.  It was amazing.  But only 30 people showed up, mostly homeless beach people, so for that it was good.  We now have a case of water, lots of batteries, a sterno stove and other supplies that we will have in the closet for the next event or leave for the next missionaries.  But who knows, hurricane season lasts until November. 
But because the next hurricane is to the north and will cause only some  rain and wind (that is a nice day in Laie)  I will retire as your on the spot hurricane reporter.  Like I told Mom, Stephen, Geoffrey and I have camped in worse weather than we had today.  So we are grateful that prayers were answered.  Signing off as your hurricane reporter. 

You can see that our hurricane adventure was not so much.  We have seen much worse during our time in Vancouver BC.  But we are not complaining.  It could have been very serious so I am glad that we were over-prepared...much better to be prepared and not need it than the other way.

On a happier note the week began with our Branch break the fast.  This was a pancake buffet the Fullmer's home.  Dave Fullmer (1 counsellor in the Branch Presidency and Beau Nobmann, 2 counsellor are in the photo with Kaye and some of the branch members.  These are favorite events for the branch members.  They certainly can eat a lot of pancakes. 

Two more weeks of school in the summer term, then we are in our last mission semester.  The time is flying.  But I still miss my peach tree.