Lihue ,Kauai! "the garden island"

Aloha Everyone!
I am sitting in an air conditioned Family History Center in Li huet Kauai! I never thought I would go off Island again but here I am on "the garden island" of Kauai, the most green and beautiful island of Hawaii. My new companion's name is Elder Gray from Mesa Arizona, he's super cool and we have a lot in common. The Kauai zone has 8 missionaries in it which is the same as the Pearl City district that I just came from and it's the first district/zone I've been in without sisters. My companion will die (go home) in 5 weeks (same as Elder Naulu) but he isn't trunkey at all despite his trunkey girlfriend and family. I am amazed at how focused he has stayed, he is a lot of fun to be around. We have been listening to the "Mafia to Mormon" story on cd by Mario Fassioni, it is a recording of the fireside he did, I'm wondering if its the same one we went to because he said "there are two people in this room right now from my original ward" was that you Mom and Dad? Elder Gray thinks it's a really cool story and I think it's cool how he talks about George Romney and Bro. Newby and all those Michigan People. I was sad to leave Pearl City but after 6 months it was my time to go. The only down side to coming to Kauai is that I will most likely be here until the end of my mission so I will not get to go to the temple in Laie with my recent converts when it opens back up in November. Kauai is much like Maui, very laid back, quiet, super dark at night, no big buildings or roads. About half of our sacrament meeting attendees were tourists. Everything here is so beautiful I hope we get a chance to go on some hikes while I'm here. With Elder Gray leaving in six weeks I have a lot on my plate and I need to learn everything quickly.
We have 7 people with a baptismal date right now. First there is Sam and Madison. Sam is a middle aged woman from Thailand who is married to a less active member. She is super solid and is currently working on quitting smoking. We had a fast with her yesterday and others from the ward joined us, she felt it helped her a lot. Her daughter Madison is ten years old. She will be baptized on Sept. 25th, Sam will be baptized a few weeks later (she has to be smoke free for three weeks before she can be baptized). The next family is the Cruiz family, a local Hawaiian family with three kids in elementary school (two, old enough to get baptized) The Mom, Hokulani, is also working on quitting smoking right now and she also participated in the fast. She is having trouble getting work off on Sundays right now so she didn't make it yesterday but her husband, Bay, and the kids came. Elder Gray and I had to speak in Sacrament meeting so we were not able to sit next to them. For some reason while the sacrament was being passed they weren't passed the sacrament. After church that day Bay told us what happened and he seemed very upset and offended. We told him we were sure it was just an accident but he told us he felt very unwelcome and uncomfortable and singled out. He said he wasn't sure if he wanted to attend our church anymore. This shocked us and his wife and we didn't really know what to say. Elder Gray and I have been praying very hard to know what to do but I know that the situation is in the Lord's hands and the spirit will tell us what to do. Please pray for the Cruiz family. Please always make visitors feel welcome at church. The last person with a baptismal date is Nolan Nerell. About halfway through our gospel principals class yesterday a lady from our ward opened the door and signaled from E. Gray and I to come out into the hall way. When we came out she was standing with a really tall kid wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a beany. She said this is Nolan, he just walked in and said he wanted to join us. So we talked to him in the Hall for a couple of minutes and he told us he just had a feeling he needed to come to our church today. He told us that he had been thinking about it for the past six weeks but he would always wake up at 10 and figured he was too late. He said he woke up at ten today but he just decided to walk to the church to see how far it was from his house. So he walked over here in about 10 min. and then decided he would just walk in and see what happened. He told us that morning he woke up, drank a beer, smoked half a cigarette and then asked himself "what am I doing with my life". He is 32 and looks like he's 18, he lives with his parents in an old folks home, they are Jehovah Witness but he says he doesn't agree with anything they say and he doesn't feel anything when they talk to him. It sounds like he has had a rough life and it may take him a while to get stable before he can get baptized but he is humble and he has a sincere desire to change. We took him to gospel principals and elders quorum with us and then told him we'd meet him back at the church in a couple hours for a lesson. He agreed so we met up with him at 3:00 and taught him the Restoration and watched the DVD. He liked it and we invited him to be baptized on October 23rd, he said yes. He said he is from Orange County, California originally but he has lived here for a few years. It was funny, when we asked him if he knew anything about Joseph Smith the first thing he said was "um... he liked to wrestle.. um, and he got shot" I thought that was funny but I'll keep you posted on Nolan's progress as well as the others.
Just a few Items of business before I go. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE! I can't wait to see you! But until then please send me pictures John!
Mom: I need white shirts (short sleeve), I used to have 6 and now I only have 3, I don't know what happened. I actually bought one today but I was wondering if you could send me two more so I could have one shirt for each day of the week. I put that for my birthday present but If you could, I need it as soon as possible, It's hot here so wearing long sleeves is a pain. I left two boxes full of stuff for elder Naulu to send you guys that wouldn't fit in my luggage to come to Kauai, He should be sending it to you today. It's just books and letters and stuff that I don't need anymore, I'd rather you not open the boxes until I get home. Did you get my packages with the T-shirts and stuff?
Well I need to go but I just want you to know that I'm doing great and I'm learning a lot and I'm sharing the things you taught me my whole life with others. Take pride in the fact that all of the good things I've accomplished on my mission are a result of your hard work in raising us right. Never forget that.
Love, Elder Prina