August 19, 2013

A lot of things happened over the past several days.  Our oldest grandson Erik Mangelson left for his Mission to Boston, Mass.  He entered the MTC on August 14, and will spend two weeks there for training and then depart on August 27 for Boston.  We are very proud of Erik on his choice to serve a Mission.

The picture you see here is his before mission look, notice the long hair, 

This is the after mission look, notice the hair and suit, he is going to make a wonderful missionary. He has a great personality and will fit in well in Boston, besides that, he is as sharp as a tack.  He will be able to communicate with the intellects of Harvard and MIT.  Hopefully we will be able to communicate with him and share mission stories.  We will end our mission in November 2014 and he will finish his in August 2015.  

This is a picture of the new Elders at the MTC in Provo.  They are contemplating their wise decision to serve for two years for the Lord.  Today August 27, 2013 they will be flying out to their Missions.

The picture below is of our youngest granddaughter Sarah on her first day of school for the new year. So we go from oldest granddaughter getting married, oldest grandson going on a mission and youngest granddaughter going to school.

All of our other grand kids are very busy as well.  Anna Tremea is playing varsity soccer for Deseret Hills, Maddie Barton is playing varsity tennis for the Deseret Hills, Amanda Mangelson is playing soccer for Woods Cross high school and Sam Tremea is into cross country running.  The other grand kids, Matt, Jake and Elle are all playing soccer and Sarah is having fun.  We have been very blessed to have very smart grand kids who love their grandparents (I hope) and strive to do what is right.  
We miss them dearly and all of their activities.

On P-day we got together with some other missionaries and took a ride to the famous swap meet at the Aloha Football Stadium in Honolulu.  This swap meet covers the entire stadium parking lot.  On our way to the swap meet we decided to see some Hawaii sites.

Sister Nelsen, Sister Tremea and Sister Cooper.

We went to the Pali lookout, it is a State Park where King Kamehameha fought with another warrior King.  King Kamehameha won the battle and became King of all of the Hawaiian Islands, he was the one who allowed Christianity to be openly preached in Hawaii.  Sadly King Kamehameha pushed his opponents over a cliff and they all died.  They were not very nice to their enemies.

We were standing where this picture was taken and it is a very steep drop off no wonder the warriors died.  At the lookout we could see the east side of Hawaii and it is beautiful.

We made our way to the Swap Meet in Honolulu.  This thing is huge, it is held in the football stadium parking lot, with hundreds of vendors.  We were looking for aloha matching outfits,  we finally found them at a good price.  We are required to wear matching outfits when we take tickets at the luau's in the evening.

These are one of two new matching outfits we found at the Swap Meet.

 If you are wondering who is in the picture, that is me, Elder Tremea amongst all of the clothing.  He is trying to smile, but was getting tired of walking in 90 degree heat on black asphalt.

  

On our way out of the Swap Meet we saw this old truck, notice how they have put a sealant on the roof to keep the rain out.  This looks like a red neck truck in Hawaii.  I wonder if we would do that in St George.  Probably not.

These boys had a good laugh over the truck!

Elder Tremea, Elder Cooper and Elder Nelsen

This past week we had a missionary (Elder Reynolds) get very sick from a lengthy sinus infection.  He went to the nearby Kahuku Hospital but was then transferred to Queens Hospital in Honolulu.  They found a tumor on his brain.  We were fasting and praying for him throughout the week.  Upon arrival at Queens Hospital he had three specialists.  By Wednesday they diagnosed it as an infectious brain tumor.  He has been on strong antibiotic and will be for another two to four weeks.  They are from Idaho Falls and will probably be going home as soon as he will be able to travel.  We will miss them.

Thank you Mike for sending Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy's History to us.  It is on the I Phone and we can read it when not busy.  It might be good for all of you to look her up on google.  Her history is on line and it is an amazing story.  Nancy Naomi is my (Cathy's) Great Great Grandmother.  She was one of the first members of the church and followed the Prophet Joseph to Nauvoo and later Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley.   You can Google her name and get her story and information.

Friday after work another missionary couple, Dennis and Sherleen Cooper from Logan, Utah took us to the Schofield Air Force Base Commissary.  They took us to the grocery store.  Great prices, most were comparable to Costco, but you didn't have to buy in bulk.  I think that is the first time we have ever been into a Base Commissary.  We met a young man in the Army stationed here.  The Coopers knew him, he was 32 handsome and not married.  Said he was looking for a wife.  If you know anyone, he was a good catch.  I was thinking Margo?  

Hawaii is a very expensive place to serve a mission so we try to conserve whenever we can.

Sunday we moved into our new Chapel.  It is beautiful inside and serves 8 Wards.  Four wards start at 8:00 am and four wards start at 12:00 pm.  There are two chapels back to back with a partition.  This can be opened into a large multi purpose room and used for not only Stake Conferences but other large gatherings.  It is also used for classrooms on the BYU-H campus.  The Bishops Offices are on the second floor as are the two chapels.  On the bottom floor is an open area with tables and couches for the students.  They all took advantage of the area and lingered longer.  I think it was built for that very purpose.  It was definitely a gathering place for the students.  The classrooms all have lab or computer tables in the rooms.  Next week is the big celebration for 50 Years of the PCC, and the Chapel will be dedicated Sunday by Elder Nelson.

There is hardly any parking.  It is a walking campus and there are more stalls for bikes than cars.

We are grateful for the new building.  It felt good to be in the Chapel instead of the theater room we have been meeting in.  We have the largest Ward in our Stake.  The Chapel was filled Sunday.  Elder Tremea was asked to speak in two Wards Sunday.  One was in our own Ward.  We spent most of the day at Church.  I met with the Relief Society Sisters and he went to speak at the l5th Ward.  At noon we started our Block of meetings.  Our Sacrament Meeting had four speakers and Elder Tremea lucked out and didn't have to speak.  I felt bad because I had missed the morning Sacrament Meeting when he spoke.

We arrived home at four and had two couples over for dinner.  One couple was invited and the other just popped in!  We had plenty of food and it was an enjoyable evening.  I found out I can entertain with four plates plus paper plates, and 6 forks.  We laughed and talked about what we can really do without and still be happy.

We felt bad when we heard that Anna had torn her ACL again.  Anna, you will have a few little marks on your knees to prove your soccer stories when you tell your children someday.   We hope you recover real soon and can keep up with all your extra activities and schoolwork.  We love and miss all of you.  Thanks for your notes and emails.   Be sure to pray and watch for the miracles in your life.
Papa and Nona