Transferred From The Blue Centipede Motel!

Elder Travis was transferred this week. He'll still be on Oahu but we don't know where until next Monday when he can email again. I'm so happy that he will be leaving his apartment that has come to be known by his family as The Blue Centipede Motel bz of all the blue centipedes they found in there! Hopefully the new apartment will be blue centipede free, lol!
I've had a comment left asking for Elder Travis' new address. I can't respond to this comment directly bz this person doesn't have a blog so I'm putting the address here. Elder Travis' address remains the same throughout his entire mission, no matter where he's transferred to.

His address is:
Hawaii Honolulu Mission
1500 S Beretania Street, Suite 416
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826

For his security I'm not putting his full name on this public blog but those of you who know him know how to address the letter. He loves letters so I hope this helps the person who commented and also inspires others to write him!

Much Aloha

This has been a time of saying goodbye for Elder Travis. He said goodbye to President and Sister Peterson as their mission was now completed.
He said it was an emotional time and so hard to say goodbye....
as he had really grown to love both of them.
It was also a time of saying hello to President Dalton who will be his new mission president. He also said hello (or aloha) to Sister Dalton who is President Dalton's wife. They will serve for the rest of Elder Travis' mission so he'll have a chance to get to know them really well.

Enduring And Praying For A Resolution

Well I had to go see the doctor again on Tuesday after they gave me antibiotics. On Tuesday, I had these huge headaches, the biggest I've had in my whole life. It just was a pain! So I called up again to see the doctor Wednesday cuz I just did not feel right at all. Well, they brought me in, saw that they gave me a wrong pill (Cipro) and had to...DRAW BLOOD!!! They wanted to make sure they didn't kill me or something. So I go in, I tell the doctor I hate needles and will pass out on him...well the second that needle was in my vein..yup you guessed it. I passed OUT! I woke up with three people around me looking at me. I laid down for about 20 minutes and the doctor said, well the good news is you don't look so pale. Bad news is I need three more vials from you...It was...horrible!!! They had me put my head between my knees and I started shaking really bad haha..it was bad. (The Cipro)...just gave me a HUGE HUGE HUGE headache. It was like poison to me, Dr. Lawler said.


Elder Travis' response to his mother's question about the blue centipede bite: I feel better, good enough to work, but I can still feel the effects. My leg still hurts a little bit. My throat is a little dry and I can tell the tonsils are still swollen. hmm..it's been a rough few weeks haha!

When Blue Centipedes Attack

Elder Travis' mom speaking: The following is an email I received from Travis yesterday. After that I've written about the phone call I got from the mission home last night. I'll add pictures when the memory card arrives.

So this is the story which you can forward to the whole family so they know whats going on:
Well first off last night I feel a hard pinch on my leg. At first I thought it was a bed bug cuz they are really common and it was 2:30 am!! Well I get up and put the itching cream on it to keep it from itching but notice it actually HURT. Well I go to my bed with permethrin to find that lil rascal and see a Centipede!! I'm like..ohhh great I hope it's not a BLUE centipede...well I spray him, he goes beserk, I kill him...yup...he's blue!!
So I'm sitting in the bathroom with a burning leg thinking Whyyyyy!! I'm already miserable enough!! (Travis' mom here: He's struggling with a bad bout of tonsillitis). Well, I get an ice pack and ice the sting which helped A TON!! I ended up falling asleep 90 minutes later with it on. It was bad though and I hurt!!! It still burns but not as bad. I got pictures of him I'm sending home today (the memory card)."

Elder Travis' mom again. We got a letter from Travis later in the week where he stated the doctor told him "the centipede could have immobilized me for weeks" so he's lucky he got bitten where he did.

About 9:00 my time (4:00 Hawaii time) I got a call from a Sister who is the medical liaison for the mission home. She told me Travis had been to the doctor and is on an antibiotic. He's been so sick for so long that I hope he isn't building a tolerance to antibiotics now. He seems to be doing well now and is in good spirits. She told me that the mission president had just gotten out of a meeting right before she called and that he was amazed that Travis waited so long to go to the doctor (tough kid!). She said Travis had pictures of the blue centipede and it was huge. She told me that they sent him home with more spray to spray down their apartment, bedding, and clothes and then rewash the bedding and clothes.

I'm so grateful that he's in good hands and that they take such good care of him. Hopefully this is the last blue centipede he'll see in Hawaii!

ADDENDUM: The very next day after he was bitten they trapped and killed another blue centipede in their apartment! He's longing for Kauai with all the chickens because apparently chickens eat centipedes!

A Rough Week

Elder Travis' mom here. This is an update on Elder Travis and his current bout with being ill. He's been told that the Sudafed he was taking and the Motrin were exacerbating his heart condition so he's off of those meds now.


Part of Travis' email this week:
The doctor said they didn't like the look of my tonsils, they gave me more meds to try and do something for me...but if they don't work I have to go see 'em. IF I had to get 'em removed, I would have no idea what to do.

I went to the office to pick things up and let them know about the doctor and Sister Robbins heard my name and was like ELDER SMITH?? I HAVE HIS MAIL!! I went in and saw the package with a few letters..haha she knows me so well!! She tells me I'm popular!! Haha makes me happy!!

We couldn't do a whole lot this week cuz of the meds doing weird things to me like knocking me out or making me dizzy. I'm trying to work though so I'm working as hard as it will allow me :)Anyways, I love you so much thanks for all you do. I truly love and appreciate you :)

So..what are the symptoms that tonsils need to be removed?

Oahu Update

This week was good, kinda. I've been sick the past few days so the work wasn't..really work..more rest. I was prescribed Penicillin from the doctor and it made me feel a little sick so I called up the office nurse to see if I could take Motrin with it...she called up the doctor..then me...and I got 3 meds on top of it. So I took those, and it made me miserable. Didn't help with the cough either so I might be going back to see the doctor. It's..tough to say!! haha but, however, on top of a bad physical week..we had a really good week of teaching.


We taught ***, a new Tongan investigator who has some real interest in the lessons, so we are working with him :) We did a zone car wash Saturday and met ***, a guy on the marine base who is determined to come to church Sunday and learn about us. We got his info and are pursuing him :). We have a few others that we need to get in contact with through members and hopefully teach them.


Elder Standiford and I have really noticed a change in this area the past two months. We've found lots to teach, and we are seeing some success. We might not have a baptism for him before he goes home in a few weeks, but it's not about that. We are working hard!

Here's an interesting Hawaiian fact...if someone doesn't want something, whether it be an AC unit..fridge..TV..anything..they put it on the sidewalk for people to take/dump. We almost took an AC unit.
We had Stake conference yesterday where Spencer J. Condie of the Seventy spoke to us, which was really interesting!! He's hilarious for an old timer, and gave a really good talk!! President Peterson spoke to us as well..I will miss him!! It makes me so sad to see them go, but President Dalton will be good I'm sure. He actually led Prop 8 so I can tell he will be a good bold mission president full of love! I look forward to him, but will deeply miss President Peterson.
Yes, our pad was one of those cruddy ones. It's good, but bad. haha we recruit geckos to live here to take care of roaches, it gets really hot! But oh well, it was nice to have President come to our Pad. (yes home haha) I will truly deeply miss that man.


Love you all!! Write to me :)

Mother's Day 2010

The following post is being done by Elder Travis' mom to document his first family phone call home and his first birthday in the mission field.


The phones were lined up waiting for your call to come. I didn't want to chance a battery running out. I even had a cheat sheet of questions but I really didn't have to use it. Two pens available to jot notes on the paper.

We had to strain a little to hear but the speaker phone worked best. It made me smile when you talked to Jill and you said, "hi, stinky" and she responded with "hi, fatty!" It felt like you were right in the room with us!

We each tried to take turns talking to you individually and even Savannah said "Tav" for you but I don't think you could really hear her well.

Your sisters certainly enjoyed the call. They miss you so. We were glad Nicholas thought of the idea to call Brandon on the cell phone and put it up to our phone so you could talk to him for a minute. For some reason the army wouldn't let him come home from drill to talk to you, lol!

Dad took care of Bailee and we both couldn't help but think about you when you were this size and that this is the first birthday you've been away from us.....ever.

I hope it was a happy birthday for you. I know it was the best Mother's Day I've had in a really long time. I love you.

Hawaii Honolulu Mission Motto

The following is the mission motto taken from a devotional talk by President and Sister Peterson at BYU Hawaii. Elder Travis wanted me to share it with you on this blog.
"In the Hawaii Honolulu Mission we have a wonderful mission motto and it goes like this: We are grateful to be in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission--the Aloha Mission. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is our message, love of God and others is our motivation, and obedience to the commandments and mission rules is our strength. By sharing the gospel with others, we can give them the "ha" - the breath of life, even eternal life. Aloha."

The Week In Review

Well this week was a lot better, we found two new investigators. One is a 16-year-old who has a lot of potential...the other is...well...miracles can happen, haha she's not too solid. She is real set on the Bible and nothing more than that. So this will be tough, but it'll come down to sincere testimony and teaching from the Bible haha. We have a few more set up to teach this week and should find a few more investigators as well, things are really looking up here in Kailua!!! But the work that really surprises me is the Kaneohe **** Tongan Branch. They are working hard to get it to be a ward by the end of the year, and so they are bringing MANY people for us to teach Tuesday and what not, so things are really moving. They are so missionary-minded it's awesome. Kailua **** is a good ward, it's hard cuz a lot of leaders are leaving with deployment, but it should be a smooth transaction. We weren't able to baptize Stacey *** last week, but should next week. We are meeting up with her tonight to get plans set and a date set. We are hoping to teach Sean this week too. Might be hard since he's just barely coming back from West Virginia on Wednesday, but we'll see.


I loved the hat, yes I did take pictures, haha I sent my memory card home today so it should come real soon with pictures. (Elder Travis' mom here with a close up of the hat so you can read what I had sewn on it for fun. The picture he took was in a mirror and the wording was backwards but it says "Tsunami 2010 Survivor. Please ignore the Christmas wrapping paper.....I'm too cheap to buy anything different! Now back to Elder Travis).

I sent you PART of your mothers day gift, all I'll say is it's solar paneled so hold it out into the sun and watch what happens. I'll send the rest in a package after my B-day for whatever reason you told me haha. (Note from Elder Travis' mom: I'll explain why in another post after his birthday!).


We are seeing many great things starting to happen now, and Elder Standiford and I are working really hard. The Lord is blessing us for our obedience and diligence. Anyways, I gotta go I love you all dearly and can't wait to hear from you :)

Dorie (Think Finding Nemo)

Disclaimer: This is Elder Travis' mom. I changed the name of the lady in the following story Elder Travis sent to Dorie after Dorie the blue fish in "Finding Nemo" with the short-term memory loss. The rest of the story is told in his own words as transcribed below.


So here's a funny story: A lady, we'll call her Dorie, who is a member, has short-term memory.

We visited her and she's like, "you're not going to convert me to the Mormonism!" and her caretaker was like, "no Dorie you're already a Mormon." She was like, "oh...ok, I'll live with that." It was hilarious!

Anyway, this week was better. We finally found a new investigator!! His name is Jim and he's super solid! We have potential this week too.

Tuesday I had to go on an "emergency" split with my DL to a girl who was thinkin' of backin' out on her baptism. We had a way spiritual lesson and she was baptized yesterday.

We hopefully have a miracle baptism happening Saturday.

Here's an interesting fact. In Hawaii, you know when you fill up on gas there's that lever to keep it pumping so you don't have to hold it? Pretty sure it's illegal here, no gas pumps anywhere have it.

I love ya'll & I'm grateful for all your support!! It means the world! Five months is quick isn't it? I love you all dearly and can't wait to hear from ya!