September 21,  2014

The past two weeks have been very busy and very rewarding.

This young student is from China.  He is in out blog because he would not let me into the PCC without by badge which you see hanging on me.  I had to go back to the car and find it in order to enter.  He was apologizing for not letting me in with my missionary tags and said he was just following orders.  It was OK we were just a little late for a luncheon.  These students try to the best they can in working, most of them have never had jobs before so this is a new experience for them.

This week was busy making repairs and new costumes for the Lagoon Show.  Fatue and I worked on these beaded belts for the boys.  The nuts had to be cleaned and cut in half then a hole drilled in them.  I helped her put the four nuts together but she took the string of four and braided it together on the waist band.  When the boys dance and move the beads make a clicking noise.

Fatie's Birthday was Monday September 22,  but we celebrated her birthday Friday morning.  We surprised her with a breakfast.  I had made a cake for her but had to be at the temple with our Ward for the Baptism.  It was a confusing morning, Ron had to be at the temple at 7:00 am and I needed to get cake to sewing by 8:00 am. Elder Pierce was home and took me to PCC and then to the temple for the Ward breakfast.  I took this picture of her after the party was over.  She was sweet and thanked everyone.  We got her a new T-shirt (Kahuku High School Shirt) and ball cap and lots of other little things. She was so excited, acted like a little kid.









We had a big three day social for our ward, it included a Baptism for the Dead on Friday, a service project on Saturday morning with a barbecue after, and then finished up with a musical fireside on Sunday.  The social was sponsored by our Elders Quorum and it included the Relief Society, missionaries and the Bishopric.

On Friday we had about five Elders and twenty Sisters do baptisms for the dead.  The elders performed the priesthood duties and the sisters did the proxies for about a 100 people.  Jason who is our First Councilor performed the baptisms and he was very sore afterwards.  I did the recording and witness duties.  This is the first time I have done baptisms for the dead and it was a wonderful experience.  After we finished we had a breakfast of rice, eggs, donuts and juice.  The sisters provided the food and we provided the drinks.

Cleaning the Chapel

On Saturday morning at 9:00 am we cleaned the Chapel and cleaned the taro patch.  The picture shows the members doing the chapel cleaning. It took us about an hour and we were done.   We did not get any pictures of the taro patch cleaning.  The Polynesian people regard the taro plant as sacred because of the significance it played keeping them alive when they first arrived in Hawaii.  You get to stand in water and trim the weeds and clean out the debris.

Jason and Frank

After the service projects we had a barbecue. In the picture you see Jason our Elders Quorum 1st Councilor and Brother Frank Buttell our Bishopric 1st Councilor.  He is a master barbecue chef.  He is lighting the briquettes. He cut up 160 chickens for the barbecue and boned all of them.  He said it took him about 2 hours.  It would have taken me 10 hours.  After cutting up the chickens he marinated them in large garbage bags in large coolers.  His wife made the sauce, it really tasted good.

Waiting for the fire

The fire is going, took about an hour for all of the briquettes to get hot enough to start cooking.

Bishop Liva and Sister Tremea

The chicken is cooking.  Frank would cook on one side for around 15 minutes and then turn them. They use another empty grill and put on top and then flip.  Pretty slick.  The chicken was a golden brown and in some cases a little burnt, but they like it that way.  They cooked around 10-12 grills of chicken, we had plenty to eat and a lot left over.  It is the Polynesian way to cook much more than needed and send home the rest with the guests.  You certainly do not go hungry.

After eating the members played games.  The purpose of the 3 day social is to get the students acquainted with each other, and who knows maybe a relationship will follow.

More games, playing with water balloons.  At least it kept them cool. The temperature was around 90 degrees so getting wet was welcomed.

After playing and sweating it seems the ocean was a perfect place to go.  The water is warm and the sun was hot, so a great combination for a good time.  The beach was only 100 feet from our tables and chairs so it was very convenient.  I don't think we will see this kind of picture in St George.

After food and games it was clean up time.  We finished around 3:00 pm.  I started at 7 am helping to set up the grills, tent, chairs, and tables.  Several of our Elders helped.  At 4:30 we had to go to the PCC to take tickets at the Luau.  We finished around 7 pm, so it made for a very long, tiring but very good day.

On Sunday finished our three day Social with a musical fireside at 6:00 pm.  This was in addition to all of our church meetings, another long day.  The musical fireside was a wonderful spiritual event. The theme of the fireside was "why I believe.  Several groups performs musical selections and several ward members gave their testimonies.  While the testimonies were being given the piano was softly playing in the back ground.  Most of the music came from the Church hymn books with a twist on the arrangements.  Some the songs were sung in Tongan and the Polynesian guys did a great job harmonizing.  The testimonies were from the heart and brought a few tears to our eyes.  We had over 350 people in attendance, our ward has about 125 members, so we had a lot of visitors.  Several non-members were there to enjoy the program as well as the young missionaries serving in Laie.

After the Fireside we served refreshments to the people attending.  Every thing in Polynesia requires food after an event.  The Relief Society sisters provided desserts, the Bishopric brought the ice cream and we brought cookies baked by Foodland.  The students lined up and kept coming until everything was gone.  The students are always hungry so it is a joy to feed them.

This 3 day event was the highlight of our Mission over the past two weeks.  It is a spiritual high to be with so many young people who are strong in the Gospel.  They give us hope for the future that every thing will be OK.

Have a great week,
Love and miss you.
Nona and Papa

September 15, 2014

Busy week mending costumes and making shirts.  The shirts are worn and sold as fast as we can make them.  The crowds at the PCC have been smaller this week.  Weeknights we only had one Luau and on Friday we worked the Aloha Exit.  We had over 500 people, almost enough for two Luau's but they were able to seat everyone in one plus Island Buffet.  We like working the Exit.   They have added a sushi bar!

The Exit is low key, not the push to get everyone in taking their ticket, giving them the lei and taking pictures.  We see less children and teenagers too.  I guess everyone it back to school.  Like our own grandchildren.

Elder and Sister Cardno from Canada will be leaving this week.  Sister Cardno has been working in the seamstress room with me our whole mission.  She is a good seamstress.  Elder Cardno is in refrigeration and has kept the air conditioning going at the PCC.  He will be missed too.  He is a funny guy, always teasing the girls and women…..real Aussie Canadian.   We had a luncheon for her in seamstress and only brought healthy foods.  Sister Cardno is a health enthusiast.

Sister and Elder Cardno and Sister and Elder Tremea

Grace brought her little girl to work last week.  She came in the costume room for popcorn.  Her Daddy is a fire knife dancer at the evening show.   Her sister is a fire knife dancer too.

The weather has been very humid this week.  It has rained at night and everyday which cools the heat down.  We are so grateful to have air conditioning.  I think we would have died by now without it. The other missionaries are really struggling because of the heat and their apartments are so hot.

Last weekend we drove to Honolulu for the Swap Meet.  A football game was scheduled for late afternoon and so no Swap Meet.  We were with two other couples so we found a new Mexican restaurant that was very good then drove over to Ko Olina for the afternoon.  Nice day.  Stopped for grocery's and gas and ice cream and came home.  Just another circle of the Island,,,

Looked like a dive, but great Mexican Food
Elder Nielson, Sister & Elder Johnson, Sister Nielson and Elder Tremea

Old Missionaries!  Same place, same palm trees, same chairs as many P Days as we can!

Spotted Stingray

Trail along beach

 Ron and I walked along the beach trail.  It was beautiful, right by Paradise Cove Luau.

Last weekend was a big weekend for Desert High School.  Homecoming game and dance.  Both Anna and Maddie were asked to the dance.  We have two beautiful granddaughters to be proud of and show to all our Missionary Friends and Polynesian Family.  We are so proud and grateful for these beautiful granddaughters.

Princess Anna Jo

Lucky Boyfriend Tucker

Princess Madeline Rose

Boyfriend Brandon

And were off and going…..bye Mom and Dad….wait up for me!

We miss and love all of you.  Thanks for the pictures, it's almost like being there.  Have a great week. We have a busy weekend coming up.  Our Ward is having a three day event, Friday Temple Baptisms and we are preparing breakfast.  Saturday is Service Work at the Heber J. Grant Bldg. for two hours and then a BBQ at the Beach and Sunday we are ending with a special Fireside.  We are helping with the food we will be busy.  The Ward doubled this past week.  It was great to have the kids all back. They are so excited for school, friends and life.  It's great to be around the youth…..they love us even if we look old, and they are forever teaching us new perspectives of life.

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God:  I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom, for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."  
2 Nephi 28:30

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said:  We have all seen a toddler learn to walk.  He takes a small step and totters.  He falls.  Do we scold such an attempt?  Of course not.  What father would punish a toddler for stumbling?  We encourage, we applaud, we praise because with every small step, the child is becoming more like his parents.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to become more like Him.  That should be our eternal goal.  God understands that we get there not in an instant but by taking one step at a time.
"Four Titles,"  General Conference, April 2013

Be good and do good this week.
Love,  Nona and Papa

September 9, 2014

Saturday Papa and I decided to go on a hike.   We couldn't find anyone interested to go with us so we went alone.  The Hike was Moana Falls.  We drove to Honolulu and found the base of the hike.  It had been raining and had stopped suddenly and the sun was shinning.  We thought positive and started on the hike from sea level to 800 foot hike.  It was beautiful after the rain.  The trail was gravel and steps.  Halfway up it started raining buckets.  We did get wet and trail was muddy the last part of the hike.  I thought I was going to die twice….decided I had to finish since we were almost there, and this was on my bucket list to accomplish.  It proved to be a beautiful waterfall and coming down was easy.

The trees and ferns were beautiful.  Every shade of green and the rain was still on the leaves.

Hike not recommended for old people!
Glad Papa didn't decide to have his spinning dizzy
spell on the hike.

 

                               The trail was clearly marked and as you can see it was muddy.

Palm Leaf made a great umbrella

Papa's new hangout…a bit wet and muddy

We made it!!!

Not so many flowers just foliage

After our hike we met Elder and Sister Mayfield for lunch in Honolulu.  We ventured to a new place called Nico's at Pier 39.  It was recommended by President and Sister Warner.  It apparently was her favorite place.  We had fish and chips.  Very yummy.  We would go back again.

Sister Janet Johnson farewell, Elder Lunt, Sister Clark and Elder Petty

On Monday night at FHE we had our farewell for Sister Johnson.  She has been an outstanding missionary and a very good friend.  She is from SLC and her son and grand kids were here to escort her home.  We all sing the Aloha Oe departure song for each missionary, it is quite touching and something we will go through in November.  As we get to the end of our mission our old friends are leaving and the new missionaries are coming in.  We won't have much time to get to know the new people but we will try to help them settle in.

The friends we have made on this Mission will last a life time.  I am sure we will reflect on our Mission when we are back in St George.

D&C 58:27
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

Have a good week, we love you.
Nona and Papa

September 5th, 2014

September 5, 2014

Another week has passed us by, time is flying fast.  Last week our good friends the Cooper's went home, it is amazing how we become goods friends with the missionaries.  We will certainly have places to visit after our mission.  We now have goods friends from our mission and hopefully will have our goods friends still in Utah.  I guess that is the best of both worlds. A person can't have to many friends.

Soldiers, Sister Tremea, Joseph

When we were taking tickets at the Aloha Luau on August 28 we meet these two wonderful US soldiers stationed at the Scoffield Army base.  They had just return from Afghanistan and were driving around the island to see the sights.  They heard that the PCC had great pineapple drinks and stopped in to buy one.  They are all smiles because the drinks tasted so good.  We talked to these soldiers for a long time and offered to take them to the HA show but they didn't have enough time.  They promised to come back again.  The guy on the right is our good friend Joseph, he is kind of over the pictures taken of the guests at the PCC.

Michelle

We had a going away party for one of our student employees, her name is Michelle, from China.  I can't pronounce her last name let alone spell it.  She was just called to go on a Mission to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  She was going back to China to see her parents and then leave for her mission in November.  She is very shy but has a wonderful testimony.  She struggles with English but she makes up for it by being so nice.  The Chinese students are kind and thoughtful especially to older people, especially the missionaries.  I hope our grandchildren are as respectful to older people as the Chinese children are.

Business office staff

On the right is our PCC business office staff.  They are Elder Tremea, Battsey (student, Mongolia), Jerod (controller), Cyril (student, Philippines), Renon, Michell (above), Joseph (student, Maryland), Sister Robinson, Larry (Chief Accountant), Felicia (student, Malaysia), Frankie (student, Malaysia), Frankie and Felicia are married, Hal, Lindie, and Kamaka.

This is a wonderful group to work with.

Kuhuku Club House

This is the Kuhuku Golf Club House, place where you buy your golf pass.  This is typical of the area, run down and will probably not be fixed for a long time to come.  Notice the porta potties, this is an added feature recently, at least they don't charge you extra for using them.  The course is a fun one, 9 holes and you can see the ocean on every hole.  The ocean view makes up for some of the poor grounds maintenance.  The price is right though, $13 for 9 holes and $4 dollars for a pull cart.

Elder's Nielsen and Tremea

On Saturday we took a young student her name was Blesil from the Philippines to the airport.  She was sent home for a BYUH honors code violation.  She will be eligible to come back to BYUH in a year.  We asked our good missionary friends the Nielsen's to go with us for support.  Before leaving Elder Nielsen and I gave Blesil a blessing to help her and with her journey.  After lots of hugs and making sure she got thru customs we left her in care of the airlines.

On the way back from the airport we stopped at Kolina to sit on the beach at the Marriott.  it was very relaxing.

Sister's Nielsen and Tremea

The grounds were beautiful and sky and water were every better.  We found a place between four palm trees that provided shade for the entire time we were there.  This was a great way to spend some time.

Looks like a perfect place to be on Hawaii

Marriott Kolina tree

We were sitting next to this tree with the beautiful flowers.  It was an amazing sight to see the blue sky, turquoise water and green and white leaves and flowers.  Hawaii is certainly a beautiful state.  I don't think St George can compare to the green beauty of Hawaii.   Oh well we can't have everything. We plan on coming back every year to get our green medicine to last us the rest of the year.

Tremea's and Nielsen's

We had a sad but fun day.  We pray for our little Philippine student that she will stay on the right track to get back to BYUH and that she will remain strong in the Church.

We need to that our good friends the Nielsen's for going with us.  It made the day a little more enjoyable.

As you can tell from the picture we are all about the same size.  The food in Hawaii is growing on us.

On Sunday we went to Church, this is our new chorister, (don't know her name yet).  She is a Polynesian and has a beautiful amount of black hair.  She always wears it full with nothing to hold it down.  The Polynesians women are very proud of their hair and they are very loving and polite to us Missionaries.   (Be sure to have Maddie and Anna see her hair…)

Sister's Nielson, Johnson, Elder's Johnson, Tremea and Nielsen

On Labor Day we enjoyed the beach at the State Park.  We brought our portable grill and grilled hamburgers with all the trimmings.  We enjoyed the company of the Nielsen's and Johnson's.  The Nielsen's are from Mesa Arizona and the Johnson's are from Logan.  We spent several hours just relaxing, after we work the week it is very nice to sit back and look at the ocean

State Beach Park

We all kept our eyes on the beauty of the ocean and it's surroundings.  This is the kind of setting that you don't get tired of.

Konie and Sister Tremea

After the beach we worked at the PCC Prime Dining taking tickets.  We start at 4:30 pm and finish around 7:00 pm.  We get to eat after we serve.  The young man you see on the left is Konie from India, he is a student and will finish his studies next year.  he is married and will return to India.  He always has a smile on his face.

We spend a lot of hours working and enjoying our Mission but the best part is meeting and working with the students.

Sister Tremea and Odmaa from Mongolia

I have worked with Odmaa for my entire mission.  She has been in seamstress with me.  She has two children and has graduated from school with a degree in business.  Her family returned home on Friday.  We had a luncheon and fun party to tell her goodbye.  She has a sweet testimony and said if we would come to Mongolia she would be our tour guide.  Good luck and lots of love to Odmaa and her family.

It has been a long two weeks without my friend Sherleen.  Friends make a difference.  She is home enjoying a new grandchild and a yard as beautiful as a park in Hyrum.  We miss you guys.  We don't hear anything that is going on with the Blue Shirts any more!!!  We have three more new sisters and your replacement is coming tomorrow.  We also have two or three couples for BYU that are new.  We haven't met all the new people.  Cardnels are getting ready to go home.      They leave on the 17th. She hasn't been coming in to seamstress.  Her son is here also for another week.

Hope you are all having a good week.  School, work, and extra school activities will be keeping you busy.  Papa keeps checking on Girls Woods Cross Soccer and the Track Meets and Tennis matches.  I think he would love to be there watching……now that's an understatement.

Be good,

3 John 1:4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Love and miss you.
Nona and Papa