May 27, 2014

We have had a holiday this week and  a weekend without being so busy.  It has been a good feeling to go for the day.  Our P-days are always so packed full, we seldom get anything but personal and home cleaning.  We had a three day weekend and it was good.

We may have mentioned before D-Bob to you before.  He is here on a mission with his parents for one year.  He is Downs Syndrome.  His birthday was two weeks ago and his mom told him she thought it would be good to just have a family party and keep it low key for his birthday this year.   They live in a small apartment.  D-Bob didn't think that was too cool.  He talked to his Ward Elders President and found a student who helped him with invitations.  He made 250 invitations and asked the Elders Quorum buddies if he could have party at their pad.  It was a big party.  His mom got hold of the 250 invitations and cut it down to about 100.   The Elders had the party on the Point at their bachelor's pad.  Six students live in this typical boys apartment overlooking the ocean with big deck. Perfect for parties.  D-Bob's parents bought about 30 pizza's, drinks and doughnuts for everyone.  D-Bob was in heaven.

Happy Birthday D-Bob

Six LDS Students live here.  

Time for Celebration!  We have another 16 year old on the road driving.  Madeline got a car to drive… I'm told it's a family car, but whatever.  Pretty happy teenager.  Be careful Madeline!

Be careful on the road Maddie!

It has been working as usual everyday.  We haven't seen too many big crowds yet at the PCC.  They are always busy on Friday and Saturday, and for some reason Wednesday seems to be a busy day. That is always our walkabout work night and we always have two luau's.  Katie came to see Elder Tremea at work today.  She and Kevin are doing well.  Today I heard Keke is pregnant.  I hope she doesn't lose her volleyball scholarship.  I hope to talk to her soon.


We went to Waimia Falls last weekend.  It had been raining but the flowers were beautiful.  The trees were all in their flower blooming too.  The path was dressed with flowers from the rain.  It looked like I imagine the Garden of Eden would look.  Flowers I had never seen before were on bushes and trees.  We took a zillion pictures to go along with the thousand other flowering pictures I already have.

Hybrid Orchard

Lobster Claws

This was called the Popsicle flower.  

White Gardenia

Car problems…we had to fork out some money.  The brakes needed to be replaced and the bearings in the front wheels had to be replaced.  The air conditioner has a problem, but still works and some other minor things are starting to become problems.  We pray it will keep running until we come home.  Today we took Sister Cooper home for lunch and Dad backed out of the driveway and didn't see an old truck parked on the other side of the road.  Actually it was parked half way on the road.  It was an old beat up truck with the back filled with their entire belongings.  We couldn't see any damage to their truck but it bashed in our back bumper.  They were happy when Dad offered money to pay for damage that we didn't  see.

Elder Cooper told us he would try to take the dent out of the back of the car.  Today, three days after the accident we met with Elder Cooper, and Elder Nielson to ask them to try to get dent out of fender. We jumped out of the car to show them where it was, and to our surprise the dent was gone.  We kidded with them to see if they had just worked on the car today while we were at work but they said they hadn't.  Well, Papa said it was a Lexis and maybe the dents pop out themselves.  Ha Ha.  We're still not sure what really happened but the dent has disappeared!!!  Just another missionary tender mercy.

We stopped outside of Kuhuku for a drink beside the road last week.  It was a farm with a garden in the back.  Papa thinks he can try growing this kind of a garden when we get home.  It is called hydroponics or growing the plants in water and not in dirt.  The small seedlings are put in a small container with holes and placed in a pre cut hole in 2" Styrofoam.  This is about a 3x8 foot bed.  You can see from the pictures the amount of produce that can be grown in a small area.

On Memorial Day we visited the National Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu (Punch Bowl).  This cemetery is dedicated to men and women who served in the military who have died.  It was a beautiful day and the sight of all the American Flags was impressive.  Each grave had a flag placed by it.

The flags were all lined up and people were there to place flowers and to walk among the graves.  Below you see a man and his son walking proudly among the graves.

Old Glory was flying proudly.  The wind was gently blowing and the white clouds and blue skies made the occasion beautiful.  

                                              

Part of the cemetery was dedicated to the soldiers who died in the Korean War but whose names are not known.  There were hundreds of graves with markers  called "Unknown".  We thought of Uncle Rex who served in the Korean war, fortunately he did not die in the war. 

We are very thankful for the many brave men and women and served in the military to protect our freedoms.  We are also saddened by those who made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.  When we say our prayers we need to include those serving in the military.

When we serve at the Polynesian Cultural Center we have been walkabouts.  After we get all the missionaries settled at their posts, we are free to walkabout.  This little guy comes in each day with his father who works in the Hawaiian Village.  He is so darn cute.  We asked him what he has on his arms and he said, "Visa's" with his scary warrior face.  We asked if we could buy him…..

We didn't get his name.  Later checking back, he had become tired and was sleeping under the shade of the green leaves beside the hut, and no he was not for sale. 

We send our love.  Be good and do good.

Nona and Papa.