Adventures in Paradise 67

Kia Orana, everyone!  Our excellent adventure continues with some thoughts about a very old saying and how it applies to life in the present.  Ward’s father Lester, whom I never met, had a way with words. He had an adage for almost any occasion. I have grown to know Lester through his son and even a grandson or two as they are fond of repeating his “Words of Wisdom”. Some of Lester’s favorite phrases  continue to elicit groans from everyone within earshot. When passing a cemetery Lester would ask, “Do you know how many dead people are buried there?” The answer : All of them. Please feel free to roll your eyes and groan if you wish. Or “Why are there fences around a cemetery?” The answer: Because people are dying to get in. Yes, I know. Another groan is most  appropriate here.  When asked if something tasted good to him, he would reply that it was good if you like it. I could go on, but I am certain that you get the idea. Lester Belliston was one of a kind.

Ward, being a chip off the old block is prone to repeating those tired old one-liners and I confess that I often tire of hearing them.  However, having survived last week’s brush with the  Rarotongan  legal system and with my  friend  safely back on American soil, I have had time to ponder the deeper meaning of one of Ward’s favorite “Lesterisms”.  “It will feel better when it stops hurting”, holds new meaning for me now as I consider what a blessing it is to feel better. When peace returns or the heart heals, it does feel better and I am grateful for knowing and experiencing the difference. 

As a child, I thought that my Heavenly Father had made a mistake when he created us. I couldn’t understand why we had to feel pain. Why would He want us to suffer? It seemed that pain served no purpose other than to make us uncomfortable or in some cases miserable. What was the point? One day I spoke to my mother about this and what she told me was so profound that I remember that conversation to this day. She told me that pain wasn’t a bad thing. It could serve as a warning or a caution. It could teach us to pull our hand away from a hot stove. It could signal that something was not right with our health. Pain was actually a protection from further harm and a warning that we needed to heed in order for us to stay safe. She said that pain was often a blessing.

Does it feel better when it stops hurting? Do we appreciate peace more fully after we have lived through turmoil?  Good health is never more valued than in those times that we don’t possess it.  Happiness  holds  greater worth to us when we have experienced its opposite. So, this week, I am made more keenly aware of the peace that we enjoy here having experienced the upheaval and uncertainty of last week. We are grateful to have the opportunity to make this comparison.

Sadly in the last two weeks, two young people on this island chose to take their own lives. These children, both under sixteen did not have the vision or understanding that it would feel better when it stops hurting.  They had not lived long enough to be able to look behind them to see this pattern develop in their own lives. They chose a permanent solution to a temporary problem, thus robbing themselves of the opportunity to learn what most of of us have learned along our way. As I grow older, more than ever I appreciate each new day for what it is. It is the opportunity to make choices that leave me in a better place than I was the day before. That new day gives me the opportunity to make change. It gives me the gift and possibility of feeling better.  It gives me hope.

So, the next time Ward uses one of his father’s axioms, I will try to be a little more patient. I will try to look at the deeper meaning. The jokes about the cemetery do not have a deeper meaning, as far as I am concerned, so I reserve the right to roll my eyes whenever those are mentioned. As for the rest, I will practice patience when Ward tells me that “It’s good if you like it” or “ It will feel better when it stops hurting”.  I now have positive knowledge that everything  does feel better when it stops hurting. I can finally see that Lester knew what he was talking about all along. I wish that I could have passed this vision on to the two young people that we lost this month.

As always, we are happy and trying to work hard. We are grateful for the gifts in our lives that help us to feel better. We are grateful for those in our lives who support us by helping us to change our outlook, thus changing the outcome. We are grateful for the opportunity to make change and to enjoy another day with friends and family. We are just plain grateful!  Thank you for you love and support over the last seventeen months. Thank you for the e-mails, packages, letters and prayers. Thank you for asking about the children here that we love and thank you for loving us. We want you to know how much we appreciate having you in our lives. We are also grateful this week that we finally were “found”. We now have travel arrangements and a return date. We will arrive in Salt Lake City the evening of April 14, after having spent two weeks touring in New Zealand. Should you be interested, our homecoming is slated for Sunday, April 22, at 12:50. And to paraphrase Lester Belliston, "Life is good if you like it”.

Love, Ward and Susan                         Elder and Sister Belliston,serving in the Cooks  

Our photos this week are of things that make us feel better

The morning view from our living room holds the promise of a new good day

Picking a new flower for my hair always makes me feel better

A rainy day makes us feel like we are home

And we try to imagine that these are snow clouds. Kindly ignore the palm trees!

We feel better when the rain stops and everything is clean

Yes, the smell of rain and the water droplets on the palm fronds always makes us feel better.

Because of a storm somewhere in the South Pacific our waves are larger than usual. It is exciting to see them. They were even crashing over the sea wall at the airport. Beautiful!

We feel better knowing that these spectacular waves cannot harm anyone here.

We always feel better when the sun comes out on our own beach even though the waves are much larger that we are used to seeing. They are louder at night as well.

We always feel better when we look into the faces of the children.

I felt much better and very excited when my friend Mary Beth sent us a Valentine party in a box! She suggested this would be enough to entertain twenty children. Tune in next week to see just how many Rarotongans benefited from her kindness.