July 17, 2013

Dear Family,

I am a wee bit late on the Blog this week.

We just got home from the Temple tonight.  Our Ward has Temple Night every Wednesday night and we have been attending.   The Temple has been closed for two weeks so tonight was busy.   This temple is small compared to St George.  The rooms are small and the Polynesian people are big...lucky we had Chinese, African, Mongolians, Australians and Mainland bodies smaller.  The temple was cool but I was squeezed between two Polynesian girls and felt cozy warm.  I felt the spirit so strong tonight with this little group of people from around the world.  I was thankful to be there.  After the session I started to fill out Jake's name for the prayer roll then added everyone of your names.  I  had the feeling you all have your little burdens your dealing with everyday and I can't do anything for you but pray.  So I added a few more spiritual Polynesian people to pray for all of you couldn't hurt either.

On Wednesday I checked with Hawaiian Airlines and was able to change our flight plans for Emily's wedding.  We were originally leaving on July 30 and arrive in SLC on July 31 and going to Becky and Mark's home for the wedding Aug 1.  I was able to get a flight out on July 26 into Las Vegas and hopefully Aimee or Mike will come and get us.  We will stay in St George for two nights and ride up with Aimee on Sunday morning.  We are excited to see kids and grand kids again.  We are excited to be able to attend Erik's Mission Farewell.  We are thankful our prayers have been answered and he has chosen to serve a mission to Boston.  He will be a good missionary, he is smart and if he relies on the Lord for help he will be led to those who desire a change in their lives and to include Jesus Christ into their lives.  We are happy we were able to make the flight change.   I think the Lord had his hand in the process.

We are continuing to work our regular schedules.  Mom works in the costume department in the morning and in the seamstress department in the afternoon.  She works with a lot of young students from all over the world and with another Missionary Sister Smith from Idaho Falls.  They work hard to keep the evening show running.  All of the actors in the evening program wear some type of costume that is prepared in her departments.  They have to continually fix the costumes that are torn or damaged.    

The Polynesian people are a very laid back bunch, they get the job done when they get around to it.  If it gets done today that is great, if it doesn't then it will get done tomorrow.    You can tell that they like to eat, they love their food and they like to share with others.  In the picture is Sister Smith in the middle with Cathy the boss in the green outfit and mama Tu in the white shirt.

Sister Smith works with me each day.  I have to tell you about her.  She has been a Professor at BYU-H for 30 years.  She put in her papers for a Mission and was called to Chicago inner city.  Upon her call she packed up her suitcase and bought heavy coats, boots and winter clothes to go to Chicago.  Sister Smith also bought a new car to drive to Chicago after her week at the MTC.  She went to the MTC and was there a week.   As she was leaving the MTC walking to her packed car to leave she heard someone calling her name.   Someone from the MTC stopped her and said she was to report to the MTC President's office.   The MTC President told her he had just heard from SL that her Mission call was changed.  She was to go home and wait for further instructions.  She went home to Rexburg and waited for almost two weeks.  They called her from SL and said her call had been changed to "Hawaii".  So, she left her winter clothes at home, her new car in the garage and flew to Hawaii.  Now for the rest of the story...President Grace was looking for help in the Seamstress area because Nona ( petite Polynesian sister) who had been working, cutting freehand all the clothes for the PCC for over 50 years, has health problems and is retiring in October.  President Grace somehow was reading the missionaries work experiences and had her name pulled after she had her call.  She is an amazing woman.  Never married and is a great teacher.  She is good with all the students and is teaching wherever she is.  She has written a book on pattern fitting and that is the class I am taking from her twice a week.  I just wish I was 30 years younger!!!  Its great sewing information and I am learning a lot.  I hope I can retain this info in the eternities.  President Grace has asked her to teach and put into place pattern cutting for the department.  It's a big challenge.  I see everyday little tender mercies that happen for the future of the PCC.

This is Nena a student working her 19 hours.  She is from Tonga.

These are pictures of the costumes we were getting ready for the canoe show at the PCC.


All the purple feathers have to be cut by hand!

Mama Tu sometimes sleeps while sitting in her chair!

The students call all Polynesian Women "Mama" or Auntie.

   This is where mom works, she seems to like the job and does a great job doing what they ask for.  Some times they want it fixed immediately and so she has to use her creative skill to get the job done.  She was upset the other day because she gave her scissors to a student and now they are missing.  Kind of frustrating but that is what happens, hopefully they will turn up.  The PCC doesn't have a lot money so they try to get by on as little as they can.  It is tough cutting material with dull scissors, but she does it.  The Lord seems to have his hand in this place because the work gets done even if they don't have good tools to work with.

 On Monday night we worked at the PCC taking tickets with the Cardono's from Canada.  As you can tell we have the same outfits on.  These outfits are made where Mom works, the missionary couple choose the material and they are made from scratch.  As you can tell we chose the same material.  If you look closely you can see Elder Cardono's legs, he is wearing a sulu or Polynesian Skirts.  Some of the young guys on Sunday wear them at Church.  They say they are cool and comfortable.  Someday I will get the nerve to wear mine..  Maybe, maybe???

This is the BYU Student at Island Feast with us.  She was helping to seat the guests after we had talked to them and taken their ticket.  We had about 950 people eating at Island Feast Buffet Monday night.  Five All star Football Teams came to eat tonight too.  Big guys and Papa had fun talking to them.  They were coming from Australia on their way home to the Mainland.  We were tired tonight!!!





We were tired but we drove to the point, which is just behind our apartment and saw the clouds change colors as the sun set.

July 1, 2013

We started off the week working our usual hours, 8-5 but in addition tonight we were also on ticket duty from 5-7 pm, fortunately they feed us prime rib and crab after we are done, the food is always the same but always good.  You have to be careful on what you eat because the pounds will start to add on pretty fast, and they are much harder to get off at our age.

On Monday night we had our usual FHE (Family Home Evening), tonight we had 3 missionary converts talk to us, two were from Russia and 1 from Fiji.  They all had very interesting conversion stories.  The Sister Missionary shown here in green is Sister Farmington from Russia along with her American

       companion from California.  Her mother and father both died when she was very young.  She said she did not remember anything about them.  She was placed in an adoption center and she stayed there for over 12 years.  A couple from Utah wanted to adopt a young girl to replace a child that had died many years ago, they also had another daughter and she wanted a sister.  They found this young girl and knew immediately that they wanted her in their family.  The process of adopting her took another 4 years along with tons of paperwork.  She has a very strong testimony of Gospel and is very eager to tell others.  You can certainly tell the Lord had his hand in making this adoption happen.  The other Sister missionary from Russia had a similar story to tell, both of these girls were in adoption homes and both were adopted by Utah families.

Sister T (can't spell her real name) is from Fiji and is the one in blue.  The guy on her left is her fiance JJ and is from Utah.  I think you probably know the other 2 people in the picture.  She is the only member of her family to join the Church and she was kicked out of her family.  She is a student here at BYUH and is madly in love with JJ.  He is in his last year of school and she in her 2nd year.  They plan on going back to Utah or California and finding jobs when finished with school.  He is a returned missionary and is a fun guy to be around.  She has an infectious smile and you can't help but like her when you talk to her.  These are the bright spots of our mission, meeting these young people.

On July 4th a group of 5 missionary couples went to the Byodo-in Temple or Valley of the Emples Memorial park.  This is a picture of the Temple, the grounds are gorgeous with ponds, trees, ducks, turtles and flowers.  This Park was built in 1968 to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.

Sister Reynolds and Sister Tremea

Nona & Papa

             


 Inside the Temple is this Buddha, it is 18 feet tall and thought to be the largest figure carved since ancient times. When the carving was complete, it was covered with cloth and painted with 3 applications of gold lacquer.  Gold leaf was later applied over the lacquer finish.  The hall where it is housed is popularly known as Hoo-do.








We found this Buddha replica that was for sale, it stands about 18 inches tall and would fit nicely some where in our St George home.  Problem is trying to get it home.  This guy is supposed to bring you luck and keep your home safe.

After visiting the Temple we headed for the Koalua Ranch and had their hamburgers, Big ones with lots of fries and cole slaw.  Very good, we haven't had a hamburger for a long time, so it was a good change.

This was the price tag for the Buddha.  I liked what he stood for best.  I thought that was fitting for this fat cute smiling Buddha.





We finished up the 4th with an ice cream social at the Maples home.  They are senior missionaries and just rented a bigger home which will accommodate all of us for these type of gatherings.  After the ice cream we played a little bit of basketball, horse, first one to spell the word horse by missing shots loses.  I think it got dark before we finished the game.  As you can tell it also rained a bit, but that did not change our spirits.  The one things about senior missionaries is we are all very slow.

                                                                                 Senior Missionaries

 Hawaiian Temple in the background

         


We finished up the week by having a luncheon in the costumes department where Sister Tremea works.

        We had stew and rice, which Moma Tu cooked.  she is the older lady and she is a full time employee at the PCC.  The other girl is a student at BYU-H.  The stew and rice was actually pretty good.  Sister Smith also made yummy brownies.  There were about 6 students there and they kept eating.  These kids love to eat and it is fun to see them enjoy the food so much.  Most of them do not have this kind of food back home or it is in such short supply.

We went to Kaneohoe Friday afternoon.  They were out of work for the seamstress department so I didn't have to go in.   We went and bought an iron and some things we needed at Longs Drug.  It was retail therapy for me!  This weekend a memo came from President Grace that the Senior Missionaries were working too hard...and he wanted the missionaries to work 6 hours a day rather than 8.  That will be a change for us.   Maybe I will live after all!

We love the letters and notes from you.  Thanks Emily for your letter.  I will get back to you soon.  All the fun notes and letters help us each day.  We love and miss each of you and pray for you daily.  I know the Lord will bless each of you as live each day choosing righteously and doing your best.
Hugs to all of you.                                                    

June 23-30, 2013

June 23-30   2013

Sunday night we were invited to a resident's home for dinner, Bro and Sister Wolthuis.  He works at BYU-H and they both help out with the Luau's once a week, Sister Missionaries, a few couple missionaries and some students.  It was another food and fun night!  These kids are big kids...and they cook lots of food for them.

Missionaries at the Backyard BBQ

Sister Petty on the right, she took my job ...I don't know the others!

Sister Woldthuis and...me

One of the Students cooking and about 6 more boys like him were waiting to eat.

 They had a huge pan of shrimp to go with the steak.

Single Sister Missionaries plus few married ones like me.

The week was busy with my new job change.  I am now in costumes in the morning 8-12.  We mend costumes and make beaded headbands, any costume the kids use in the Ha Breath of Life Show.   This last week we made white skirts and red sashes for the Tahiti Devotional Saturday Morning. Each Island has a special Saturday Devotional.  It's held every other month.  This was first one for us.  I helped sew for it this week and it made it more special I guess.   During the afternoon I work in the seamstress room.  There are 6 to 10 women there working different shifts.  At first they just let me sew and get used to the industrial machines.  By Wednesday I was sewing sashes and skirts for girls.
This isn't near the stress of my former job.  I am able to talk to other women too.  I am grateful for the change.  These are the pictures of the Saturday Tahiti Devotional.

The Devotional is held in the Tahiti Hut on the PCC Grounds.  President and Sister Grace are sitting on the right.

Notice all the white skirts and red sashes.  That's what I got to help make on my day job!  I'm not sure who makes the red ties, but they looked awesome.

Elder Tremea and Elder Waite before Devotional

Everyone gathered at 8:00 am and they fed us breakfast before the Devotional at 9:00 am

Inside the Tahiti Hut

Papa's contribution...he needs to explain.  I think it was on the Tahiti Hut wall.  This map shows the locations of the various islands, actually they are different countries. ie., Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, etc.  The people from these islands settled in Hawaii getting there on sailing canoes, pretty impressive since they didn't have anything but the stars to navigate with.  

We were supposed to work four times last week but found someone to take our Saturday shift.  This helped because we had to talk in Sacrament today.    We both tweaked our farewell talks.  Papa did a good job today.  He prepared more than I did, and it paid off.  We have a skeleton Ward right now however in two or three weeks it should be larger when the students all come back to school.

We had Sunday Dinner alone.  Crock Pot Dinner, meatloaf Papa's favorite.  It's an easy fix.  Then we slept for two hours.  Enjoyed looking at the Washington DC pictures from Mike & Family.  Looks like your on the run.  There is so much to see and do.  It will be fun to hear all about it.

It was fun to face time Aimee and Becky and families at Snowbird.  Made us a bit homesick so we went to the Point and watched the waves crash on the dragon rock until the sun went down.