Mele Kalikimaka...

...is the hawaiian way to say Merry Christmas to you!! Well, a lot has happened since the last blog! Tiffany and I moved into a new condo at Hilo Bayshore Towers, a bayfront 15 story condominium on the north side of downtown Hilo. We live on the 7th floor and the view is spectacular! We are still waiting for our first view of the whales that are supposed to be coming in for the winter months.

Josh has been hard at work at Engineering Partners and Tiffany has been really working hard to make the condo more like "home." That means tons of decorations and cleaning and cooking.

This past weekend we were given a weekend away on the Kohala Coast near Kona at a resort called the Fairmont Orchid. We had a lot of fun! We went snorkeling and found sea turtles. Josh had a bright idea to grab a sea urchin, but then it stung him and he got prickels stuck in his finger. Ouch... but it was kind of funny. We had a lot of fun with his co workers and was just a great and relaxing weekend. We are thankful for the opportunity and we are so blesseed!

We are looking forward to spending Christmas here in Hawaii. We have had packages arriving from our loved ones and are excited about opening presents and having Christmas breakfast! We are going to have breakfast tacos! Its kind-of a Mitchell tradition that we are trying to continue!

We will also be going to sing Christmas carols at the hospital and then spend some time for Christmas dinner with some of our local friends here. We are looking forward to that too!

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Josh and Tiffany

Hanukkah in Hilo

So, a lot has happened since our last blog. Last weekend, we bought a car! We have named it "Queen B" or just "B" for short. Why, you say? Because it is a BLESSING, because it is BEAUTIFUL, because it is not the "A" car that we wanted...but oh well. It is a 2000 Subaru Legacy Wagon with 172,000 miles on it...WOO HOO!!! We just want to keep it moving!

Also, this week is Hanukkah and on the first night we celebrated with Pastor Ron and Judy and Wilke and her boyfriend Brandon. It was fun! Tiffany made Hanukkah cookies and Judy and Wilke made Matsa Ball Soup and Potato Pancakes. Wilke sang a blessing in Hebrew and then lit the Menorrah and then we sat around talking for a while in its glow. Also, Judy decorated the house with Hanukkah things and even put up the star of David in Christmas lights in the window. It was pretty.

The other great news we have is that in two days we are moving into a condo! It is right on Hilo Bay on the 7th floor with a beautiful view of the entire Bay, Ocean, and Downtown. The Lord has really blessed us and it came just in time, as Ron's daughter moves back to Hilo on that day. We will have to upload some pictures once we get it decorated!

We miss everyone back in Maryland and elsewhere...we really feel so far away with the distance and the time difference. We thank everyone for the weather reports (SNOW!!!) and the holiday cheer and hope that everyone is doing well and is excited about celebrating Jesus' birthday!

Until next time,

Aloha!

Tiffany and Josh Mitchell

Adjusting to Island Living

Today Josh made a joke in church, saying that this is the first time he's ever lived out of a suitcase and not been on vacation! We have been here for almost two weeks and are still living at the Pastor's house with his wife and another "roommate" named Wilkie, who is in and out and spends most of her day internet surfing or real surfing. We had another possible roommate earlier...its shown on the left...Josh picked it up and moved it away from the shoes on the front porch. Tiffany was the one that first found it, and it really scared her...but then, like she does with most furry animals, she fell in love with it and wanted to keep it...oh dear. Josh had to let it go though...

Last Friday, the 16th, we got our boxes in that we had shipped in. It was wonderous that it only took a day...THANKS PETE!!!! It arrived in time for Tiffany to take out her Thanksgiving decorations and add them to Pastor Ron and Judy's decorations at their house for Thanksgiving.

We led worship at the church on Sunday for the first time since our visit in August. The people were really appreciative to have worship at the church and they had a welcoming potluck for us and everyone was eager to get to know us. They brought in a Big Island Pizza which was the biggest pizza we had ever seen! It was as big as the table!

Josh started his job on Monday and had a short week...work til Wednesday then off for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Our Thanksgiving was really nice because we were invited to Josh's office secretary's house for appetizers where we got to know some local people. When we say local, we mean people that live here, but only moved here within the past 5 years or so. Most of the Mainlanders we have met have only recently moved here. The host of the party is an astronomical engineer who works on the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea. Their house was really nice!

From there we left and went back to Ron and Judy's and proceeded to prepare for our Thanksgiving feast. There wasn't much Hawaiian about it - lots of good ole Thanksgiving food. Tiffany made green bean bundles that would make Mama Mitchell proud and apple dumplings that would make Mama Wise proud! Josh brought some sparkling cider...hooray!

On Black Friday we bought a Christmas Tree! Yes, that's it tied to the top of Ron and Judy's Suzuki...Josh felt it was quite an accomplishment getting it back to the house in one piece. Its temporary home is on the front porch until we find a place to live. Hopefully it will be happy there. It was crazy at Walmart and Sears and Macy's so we decided not to shop. We went car shopping and checked out a couple more places to live.

On Saturday we went to the Hilo Christmas Parade. It was about 20 minutes long but it was exciting...and different. Mostly it was high school bands, community groups, and the fire department with Santa Clause. The greatest thing to watch was all the Hawaiian kids and how excited they were. Tiffany fell in love with one in particular. She was a little girl who was really excited to be there and kept clapping her hands.

After the parade we went to the beach. It was really nice and Josh got to swim with the turtles.

We finally made a decision on a car and will be getting it tomorrow, a nice little 5-speed Toyota Corolla. We will show pictures on our next blog. We will continue house hunting this week and we are hoping to be in something by December 1st.

white boy in the ocean!

Mahalo (thank you) for reading our blog...



A hui ho (goodbye for now),



Josh and Tiffany Mitchell

You can't take it with you...

Hi! This is Josh and Tiffany and this is our first blog together. There are many things that you talk about doing after a major life event, like marriage, or moving...this was one of the ones that we FINALLY are doing together. We are excited at the prospect that people may actually read this! Who knows?

So today is our third day in Hilo, Hawaii. It has been a long road to get here. It started in March, when we were praying for the Lord's direction and guidance upon their lives. We both felt that Salisbury was not where the Lord wanted us but didn't know where to go. The Lord brought an opportunity to lead worship in Hilo, Hawaii at Calvary Chapel Hilo. After a lot of research, we decided that the only way that we could make it is if Josh were to find a full-time job and be able to provide...the cost of living is much higher than Salisbury, Maryland. After months of applications, resume sending, and phone interviews, Josh got an invitation to come to Hawaii for an interview.

We got married on July 28, 2007 and after a week of honeymoon in Mazatlan, Mexico, we flew directly to Hilo and began looking at the place where we may be calling home in a few months. The landscape is beautiful but most of the actual city is old and deteriorated. Most people do not have much money, and the culture is varied. The city itself has been wiped out by tsunamis (big waves) in the past a couple of times. It is on the side of Mauna Kea, the largest volcano in the world. It is 20 miles from Kilauia, one of the most active volcanoes on earth. Daily, they say there can be as many as 200 minor earthquakes.

Why are we here again? Oh yeah, because the church was in need of worship leaders. The church has been without one for 6 months now, and this Sunday we will be starting to lead that ministry. We are hoping to not only provide worship for the church, but to also invest ourselves into those with musical talents and see the Lord raise them into leadership positions.

We moved to Hilo on November 13th and have been searching for a place to call home and a car to drive. Reestablishing to a new state in the middle of the ocean is really tough! We have 10 small boxes of our most necessary stuff coming in today (hopefully) and then we will need to find a place to put it! All of the other stuff that we had accumulated over the years is either in storage or was given away before we left...even our dogs, Austin and Scout! That is really sad, we know. Hopefully we will reunite in the future! Maybe they will be become Hawaiian dogs...who knows? Well, that is all for now. We will keep you updated as to our progress and maybe post some pictures in the future!

Thanks for stopping by,

Josh and Tiffany