April 13, 2014

Another two weeks has passed us by on our Hawaii Mission.  Over the past two weeks we have been busy getting ready for BYUH graduations, PCC celebrations and a big birthday party for Sister Tremea (Cathy, Nona) we celebrated her 70th birthday.

First the birthdays.  On April 9th we celebrated Sister Tremea's 70th birthday.  The kids sent her gifts and lots of cards and letters to look at. As you can see here she is very proud of her collections.  She certainly does not look like she is 70 years old. The kids decided to send gifts that they remembered that Nona liked and things that they remembered most.  Some of her gifts included black licorice, Cavanaughs rum balls, clean wipes, jelly beans and stuff.  

The girls also sent us a birthday celebration kit, with candles, balloons, ribbon, sparklers, etc.



Seamstress had a birthday celebration for 4 of us that had birthdays in April.
Tamera our Mongolian student,  Sister Cherrington, Sister Miesasaki and Sister Tremea.

Sister Fuller did all the decorations.  Papa gave box sent from Aimee and Tammy to Brother and Sister Fuller and they hosted the party and picked up 2 cakes from Ted's Bakery.












We were the walk a-abouts at PCC.    The missionaries that worked with us sang to me at dinner. Never in all my dreams did I think at 70…. I would have a birthday while serving a mission at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Two cute students sang for us.

Thank you, thank you, for all the cards. the pretty dress (Tammy), the poem from Emily that made me cry, and all the wonderful thoughts of your love.   What a thoughtful fun way to spend a Birthday when I was able to give away all my favorite things.   The candy, whips, hand lotion, jelly beans and treats was fun to give away and everyone was excited to receive something.

Below is our friends at the Birthday Party at Elder and Sister Fullers home on the Point.

Our Missionary Friends from Left to right…Elder and Sister Tremea,  Elder and Sister Nielson, Elder and Sister Cooper, Elder and Sister Sessionsn, Elder and Sister Cardnal and Elder and Sister Fuller

Phtue in Wardrobe/Costumes also had a birthday on the 10th of April.  Sister Cooper made a cake and we had cake and ice cream together.  She has worked at the PCC for 35 years.  She turned 60 years old.  Oh, to be 60!!!  (Sister Cooper took this fuzzy picture!)  

                                                    Sister Tremea and Phtue

Kathy Helo and Phtue

Last week was a busy one in Costumes.  We made feather skirts and Lapa Lapa's and had to have 18 made in two days.  We were busy.  I did a good burn job on my arm while pressing them.  

We have been catching rats too……this is number 18 and 19!

We called these two Romeo and Juliet because we caught them in one trap together………

Needless to say, I have been using the disinfectant and cleaning up the place again.

On Friday a group of us from the office (11 to be exact) went to a funeral service for the mother of our boss Larry Yuen. We took a 12 passenger van and I was the designated driver.   The service was in Waipahu about 30 miles away in an LDS Chapel. Mrs Yuen was 89 years old, had 10 children, 36 grandchildren and 45 great grandchildren.  That would be quite a party when they all got together. One of her sons George Yuen lives in Eden Utah.  She came from a family of 14 children, she was Japanese and her husband was Chinese.  Wow what a legacy.

The viewing was held in the culture hall.  While we waiting in line waiting to see the family all kinds of sweets and small sandwiches were provided to us.  After the funeral service was held in the Chapel we were invited back into the culture hall and invited to eat lunch.  Again lots and lots of food, and really good food. Apparently this is the tradition in Hawaii, to provide food for all of the guests that attend a funeral.  Another tradition in Hawaiian funerals is that donations are made to the family in the form of cash and not flowers.  I guess this donation helps the family pay for all of the food.  

Today at church we brought a couple from St George, Bro and Sister Randle   They contacted us at the PCC Friday night and we asked them to join us today.  Their children were friends of Aimee and Scott's and their granddaughter Olivia is a friend of Maddie's.  We had many visitors because of graduation this week, unfortunately many of the students have already left so our meeting attendance for the summer will be small.    It was a bitter sweet Sacrament meeting.  Bishop Wasden was released and our new Bishop Liva sustained.  Bishop Liva is Samoan and seems to be a very humble man.  He works at the Temple and his wife works in the PCC Business office.  It will all be good, the Samoan students were excited and we have lots of them in the ward.  We will miss Bishop Wasden and his wife and family.  They have been a great example to the students and us as well.

It is wonderful to know that our Church is organized in such a manner that a new Bishop is selected to take over from an old Bishop and is given the Priesthood keys to manage the needs of each ward. He has been given the gift of discernment and he knows how to manage the needs of each member of his ward (Ohana, family).   The Lord is in charge of the operation of his kingdom on earth and will not let it go astray or fail.  

April 1, 2014

Last week was a busy one for us.   Five of our favorite missionaries are leaving and we had good-by luncheons and dinners.  That's right eating again.  Monday at Family Home Evening they talked and we sang good-bye songs to them.   We always sing the Aloha song with hugs and lei's.

Elder and Sister Walker

Elder and Sister Walker will be moving home
to St George


Sister Sherlene Cooper from Logan
Sister Helena Radzik from Switzerland
Sister Cathleen Tremea
Sister Janet Johnson from Ogden

Sister Radzik is returning to Switzerland

 Elder and Sister Robinson

They are returning to Provo and to St George. They have two homes.

Elder and Sister Cooper, Elder and Sister Robinson, Elder and Sister Cardnol, Elder and Sister Tremea and Elder and Sister Nielson

Papa's golfing buddy Phil…..along with Nielson and Cooper
They have a lot of fun together.

Kahuku Golf Course

We worked Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday was a State Holiday.  Both of us had it off but our Young Adult Singles Ward had planned a temple day.  We had endowments in the morning, baptisms at noon, and a big luncheon at 2:00 pm.   We had decided since we were going to be busy all day we drove to Millani Costco on Tuesday night.  We accidentally met the RS sisters who were buying the food for the Temple Day.  They bought $450 worth of groceries and didn't have room to take it home in their little car.  We stacked 14 chickens, 7 cakes and 200 rolls in our car to help.  I think we were part of a minor miracle.  They could have never fit all the food in their car.

Wednesday Ward Temple Day turned out to be a memorable day.  We went to the 9:00 am session. Then we went to help with luncheon.  We had almost 100 kids in the temple that day doing endowments and baptisms.  We had plenty of food.  Leftovers the kids took home for dinner.  That seems to be the Polynesian way,  have plenty of food so everyone eats and carries home.  We were home almost one hour and had to be back to the PCC to work that night.  Because it was a holiday, the PCC was busy with a lot of people for dinner and the show.  We were very tired at the end of the day..

Friday the Queen of Tonga came to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  She came in a large white limo and we rolled out the red carpet for her.  It turned out to be a cultural experience for me.  Papa wasn't able to see it.  Sherlene and I decided since our boss was out of town, that surely she wouldn't want us to miss greeting the Queen of Tonga.  We found out later that day one needed to have special invitation to go, oh well.  We will have to ask forgiveness now, permission next time.

The Tonga Queen was new because her husband just became King after his brother passed away.  It's passed down through blood line.  I took pictures and hope you can picture what greeting the Queen was like.

Dancing, drums, singing and loud music greeted her at the front entrance of the PCC.

This man on the right is the Tongan representative here at the PCC in the PCC Village.  He is dressed in native costume.  He is also a counselor in the Stake Presidency.  Nice man.  He is missing a front tooth. Maybe Dr. Mangelson could help him.















President Grace is in the red shirt and the Queen is walking beside him in her native costume.  She was led to a decorated golf cart to the Lagoon where she stepped on a canoe that took her to the village of Tonga.

In the picture the lady with the fan sleeves had on a beautiful dress.

The sleeves were beaded fan sleeve.  The women wore different waist skirts each hanging in long note like strips, but all made differently.

The decorated Golf cart

Riding down the Lagoon

This is a pig dressed and ready for cooking.  The pig was presented to the Queen as a gift.  Check him out, he has the longest nose I have ever seen.

This little boy was so cute all dressed up in his Tongan clothes.  He's wearing shirt, skirt and lava lava or sulu.




This is his sister wearing her native dress too.






















The Queen was sitting at the door to the Tongan Hut.  The carpet was rolled out for her to walk up to the Hut, and at the bottom of the steps two people were sitting guard.  No one could enter the hut, all gifts were brought up and laid on the steps.  The pig was pulled up toward her as a gift too.

The PIG

The singing and dancing began.  Money was thrown out to the dancer in yellow and black, the older ladies in blue would dance and roll on the ground into the money.  After the dance the money was gathered up and given to the Queen.   We asked what she did with it….no one knew.  We hope she would distribute it to the people.

Below is President Grace bringing the Queen back to the Golf Cart to escort her to lunch.

Two Tongan Girls in their native dress.

Three sisters who came to see the Queen in their Tongan dress.

                                          Notice the difference in their waisted skirts.

What you see on the right is the YSA 5th Ward Elders Quorum Presidency.  They are from left to right Landon Southwick 1st counselor from Kaysville, Me, Kevin Miller, Secretary from California, Freddi Ika, President from Oakland, but he is Tongan and Jesse Grimshaw, 2nd councilor from California.  I should mention that Jessee is getting married in 2 weeks to Aubry who is a beautiful girl from Texas.  They are all returned missionaries and love the Gospel. These are great guys, they are all leaving except for Freddi, to go home in April so our Quorum will be in need of more leadership. During the summer our ward will shrink by over 60 percent, so we will be combining our ward with another ward.  This is my first selfie picture and was fun to be with my boys.  All of them could be my grandsons and I would be happy about it.

After work we took a hike up to the Point.  The point is a beautiful place where you can enjoy the ocean and whales.  On our way back we saw some guys getting ready to jump from the cliff.  The distance from the top to the ocean is about 30-40 feet.  They jumped feet first and way out to avoid hitting the rocks.  Crazy.  Nobody got hurt .  I will be waiting to see if any of our kids will try to do the jump.  Hopefully not.

After the jump they swam to shore and climbed up a steep crevice to get back up to the top to do it again. The waves pound you as you come in and you have to walk on sharp lava rocks with your bare feet.  It was fun to watch them.

On a more depressing note,  in January a young women drove her car over the cliff  near the spot these guys were jumping and committed suicide.  She was a young mother, a member of the Church but apparently could not cope with life any more.  I can't image life being that stressful and depressing with out any hope to commit suicide.


Saturday morning was our Stake Relief Society Birthday Social.  I helped with the lunch.  It started at 8:30 am and the first 100 girls received a cute T-shirt.  We had a good turnout and the girls enjoyed a speaker, hands on projects of hygiene kits, missionary letters, baby blankets, and genealogy on line.
We served them taco salad and birthday cake.  It was a fum morning.   We had a large group picture taken but I haven't seen it yet.  I will put in Blog when I get it.

                               Sister Essley, Sister Pollock and Sister Greer who also helped.

Sunday was a mixed day.  It was our fast and testimony meeting at Sacrament Meeting.  Many of the students will be graduating and returning home.  Our two Relief Societies will blend into one and it will be a small group for the summer.  We made lots of new friends from Hawaii to China and all the islands in-between.

The gospel is true, we love and miss each of you.  My dear grandchildren, remember to stay in the boat…the safe boat, don't let anyone pull you over into drowning with the wicked!!!

Be good….
Love,  Nona and Papa
  

March 18, 2014

Lucky us our family arrived safely in the rain.  Mike, Tammy and kids arrived Saturday.  We met them at the car rental in Honolulu.  What fun to see them and get the hugs and smiles we have missed for so long.  We could tell they were excited to get started on their Hawaii fun.  Elle couldn't wait to get to the beach.  It was raining and we all wanted to get home and settled.  We drove all the way to Kahuku before we stopped for something to eat.  Elle was asking how much longer………Food is always good there.  We filled our tummy's with good food, attitudes changed and we were on our way home.   We helped settle them into George's house and how to find the secret  path to the beach.

                   Anna Jo with her favorite….a hamburger.  This was gone in less than 4 minutes!

                              Sam looks happy with his cowboy hamburger.   It quickly disappeared.

Sunday we still had a cloudy rainy day.  Weather changing and we prayed for good weather.  We all attended church.  The girls went to Relief Society with me and boys went to Priesthood meeting.  We skipped Sunday School lesson and drove to Temple Visitors Center.  We were greeted by the missionaries and the kids liked the hands on video's and information.  Also met friends and neighbors from St George.

Tremea Family

Sam and Anna Jo

Sam and Nona

We went back for Sacrament Meeting at the Heber J. Grant Building with the Student Ward.
Our Sunday Dinner was at George's house and Tammy used the china, with the background of the ocean.  Very nice.  The weather cleared up some so we drove to Turtle Bay and took some pictures of the grounds and ocean.  Michael was having pain in his neck and wasn't feeling well.
He struggled all week with neck and shoulder pain.   This picture is at Turtle Bay Cove.

 This was a great picture of everyone but Anna.  Pretty little Anna got caught by the wind…..but she was smiling.

The week flew by.  We now are reminiscing the good times with family.  Pictures tell it all.  We went from cloudy to beautiful sunny days and playing on the beach.  Monday the family was snorkeling and beach with dinner at the PCC.

Castle Beach

Castle Beach, best beach for body surfing and surfing

Anna after her surf lesson

Sam and Anna's surf instructor and Mike

Anna surfing and Tammy catching the wave

Beautiful sunny lazy day on the beach

Tuesday was a day at PCC,  dinner and the night show.  Wednesday paddle boarding, surfing and beach.  We worked that night and was to meet kids at Temple.  By the time we arrived the session was filled, Tammy was inside and Mike was sick.  First time we have ever been turned away at the temple.  A ward from Honolulu came and filled session just as we arrived. The temple was short workers that night and so we came home.   Thursday we went to Pearl Harbor in Walkers Van.  We stopped at the Pineapple Plantation and had ice cream.

Sam and Mom

Pearl Harbor Memorial

Dole Pineapple Ice cream 

Dole Pineapple Plantation

Sam climbing the palm tree

Elle climbing the palm tree

The week flew by and it was all too soon to take them back to the airport.   Lots of hugs and tears and goodbye.  Papa worked all week but I was able to spend more time with the kids.  We worked our evenings at the PCC too.  Time travels too fast.  We dropped them off at the airport where we had picked them up at the car rental and it was windy and starting to rain again.  We had a little week of tender mercies.  Good weather, good food, good times and good to be together.

We stopped at Costco and did our grocery shopping for the week and came home in the rain.  

Sunday was a busy day.  It was our Stake Conference.   Ron attended early Priesthood meeting and Conference started at 10:00 am.  We had two student speakers.  One from Mongolia who told us of her life and conversion to the Church.  She told how cold the winters are in Mongolia.  Their only activity was sledding.  Her father passed away when she was young, her mother had to work and left her brother, 8 years old to watch over her,  and her two younger brothers 2 and 3.  The brothers started a fire under their bed and burned the house down.  In 2002 they met missionaries and joined the church.   She has since kept a journal keeping her family stories.  She was encouraging everyone to start keeping a journal and writing down family stories and history.  The second speaker was a Tongan student.  He was brought up in a family that hated the church, so he too disliked the church.  He was always in trouble.  He went to an extended family party and met an Uncle who  was a bishop at the time and promised him if he changed his ways and joined the church, he would serve a mission, attend BYU-H and marry in the temple.  He told us he laughed, and thought this was funny.  Later he found he had no where to go in life, started to question his own friends and family.  He prayed, found his own testimony, joined the church, went on a mission, came back and attended BYU-H  and next month he will be married in the temple.   He told us how he'd found the gospel and true happiness.  

 Elder and Sister Snow from the Seventy were our guest speakers.   They talked about home teaching and it's importance in the Church.  Elder Snow stressed that our home teachers should seek to teach those families that really need help and not just the easy families.  Home Teaching is a Priesthood calling and in order to magnify that calling all of our families need to be taught.  Our young men in the ward have a hard time visiting all of their families, last month we reached 63% which is high in this stake.  We have 125 members in our ward so that means 59 members were missed.  Our goal is 100% but that seems unattainable, we need to keep trying to do better. 

Sister Snow talked about President Lorenzo Snow statement to  "Stick to the ship of Zion.    If boats come to the side, showing beautiful colors and making wonderful promises, do not get off the ship to go to the shore on any other boat; keep on the ship.  If you are badly used by any of those that are on the ship, who have not got the proper spirit, remember the ship itself is alright.  We should not allow our minds to become soured because of anything that the people on the ship may do to us; the ship is all right, and the officers are all right; and we will be right if we stick to the ship  President Lorenzo Snow said the ship will take you right into the land of glory."  

Papa and I want to tell our children and grandchildren how much we love them and to Stick to the ship of Zion.  Don't jump off nor listen to anyone who will pull you off the ship.  Watch out for those in the boat that want to jump ship. Help them to come back, but don't jump with them.  Stay in the protection and love of the gospel's boat and be safe.  You have wonderful parents to help you stay on board.  We don't want anyone to fall or jump overboard.   

We love you and know your boating experience.  Don't jump ship unless it's sinking!! Ha Ha.     

On Friday the PCC asked the Missionary couples to visit the hotels in Honolulu and talk to their concierges to determine if they are recommending the PCC as a site to visit for their hotel guests.  We were not to tell them that we were PCC Missionaries, but we acted as Hawaii travelers.  It was interesting because some of the concierges did not mention the PCC as a travel site, some of the reasons being, they are Mormon, they don't allow alcohol on the grounds and it takes all day. One said you had to row your own boat to each village.   Some of them said it was a must see when visiting Oahu.  The PCC management takes our information and visits each hotel and sells them on the benefits of the PCC and what it provides to the Hawaii tourist.  This is very important because if the attendance does not increase the Church will have to keep subsidizing the PCC to keep it solvent.  The PCC is the second largest referral system for the Church next to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  The Church is very anxious to keep this wonderful organization going and to fulfill the prophesy of President David O. McKay.  We bought girl scout cookies from these cute little girls on our walk to the hotels.

Ron took me to Honolulu for a root canal.  That was an exciting day.  For the first time in three months I am starting to feel normal again.  I guess a bad tooth can make you feel awful for a long time.  Now I just have to have a permanent filling.   I hope the crown will be good until I get home.   This little experience cost $1, 229.00, and that's not counting the permanent filling.  Joys of staying healthy!

Have a good week, love you all.