Our Little "Hale" now has 5.

                                  WE ARE NOW "ONE O'HANA SHARING ALOHA."
Sister Baker arrived last Sat evening, Mar 4 with the big rainstorm. They thought they would be washed away before she arrived. She is settling in nicely. She has the smallest room for awhile but in May when Diane leaves she will probably have the biggest one.

Polly,             Diane,       Cecely,        Karen  and now Raeola.

We had spent the day at Hanauma bay, swimming and watching the fish. It is a beautiful bay. I was there once before when we were here in "99". We saw many colorful fish but the funniest ones were black and white striped and they called them "convict fish."

    

Monday started with a sad farewell for the Clarks. They will be going back to Utah in a couple of weeks. They were one of the couples that met me at the airport and brought me to Laie. They will be missed but Elder Clark has been training an Elder to take his place as the "safety inspector" and Sis Clark was working in the cash office. I don't know who will take her place. Life will go on and someone else will be just as loved. That is the beauty of this place and we all come and go. (Notice all the beautiful lei's)

                                                       PLANTS OF THE WEEK

These flowers look like our petunias so I guess this is a petunia bush. Probably not but I will call it that anyway. Saw it while walking to stake conference today.

Side Track

At stake conference there were about a thousand kids of all different nationalities and a few, like about 20 "old" people. It was a good conference especially the afternoon session. Our General Authority was Ian S Ardern of the Seventy. He is from New Zealand. The most remarkable thing about it is that we FaceBooked 2,000 people with a message on keeping the sabbath day holy. It was totally amazing. He picked a young returned missionary and asked to see her phone and whamo it was done in a few seconds. 

Here they do not have an evening session on Sat because many of the kids work at the PCC in the evenings so we had two sessions today. It was almost like general conference.

Back to flowers

                   .   

This one was very interesting and quite large.

 

  

This is one of my favorites. It is like a tulip tree.

                           

                               The colors in this plant are scrumptious. The plants come from the PCC nursery          which the Carpenter's take care of.

                   

                        Wish I knew the names of the plants. Polly got this one from the PCC

                        nursery and it sits by our front door.

Tender Mercies are Always Available

A new sister moving into our Hale next Sat. Mar 4. That will make five of us. We have been trying to get ready for her. We do have two refrigerators but they are bulging over with food and had to come up with a solution. We found another small fridge in Sister Dykeman's room but it sat on the floor and we needed a stand for it. We looked online and we couldn't find anything in our price range that would be suitable. We went to "give and take", found a (1) rusted wheeled cart and thought we would paint it to see if it would work. We took old electric cords and tied it to the trunk of the car and (2) made it home.
   Friday I was looking for some boxes to box things up so Sis Baker would have some shelves to use.  Pua found a few for me and I was telling them about the cart. Elder Griffeth was within earshot and  said come with me. We went downstairs to the carpenter's shop and low and behold there was a (3) stand that Elder Hafen had made out of discarded wood and had to get rid of. Right then and there he and Elder Williams (?) took that stand and fixed it to just the right height to put the refrigerator on and delivered it to our hale. Miracles never cease at the PCC. Mahalo to them.

Plant of the week came from the PCC MIS office.

P-day adventure this week was going to Honolulu and finding a K-Mart that was going out of business, made a round at the flea market, met "The Leishman's" who were here for a week.  Highlight of P-day was Waimea Beach. It is a very beautiful place and I can't wait to go back and explore it. The power of the waves never cease to amaze me.

Thank you for all your love and kindness that was shown from each of you this week. I love hearing, seeing pictures, texting from each of you and visits when you are here in Hawaii. If I could I would bring all of you here. 

New Friend of the Week

Met "George" on my walk to the temple today and also this beautiful tree was located behind the temple.

"P"-Day again in Oahu

This week in Oahu we have had an abundance of rain without the snow. If we had the snow we would have looked worse then Mt Sterling. I hear several new lakes appeared this week. Did you think Noah had prophisied again and you had missed it? I'm glad you didn't all float away.
Last Monday we had a fabulous fireside at the Temple visitor's center. All the young sisters put on a program and talked about what they did in relation to the PCC. It was interesting to hear how     BYU-H, the PCC and the Laie temple all work together to teach the world of our Savior's love and His atonement, and His Church in this very small out of the way town.

The picture above is a card the Young Sister Missionaries pass out advertising the tram tour of the three places. It really does look a little like what you think paradise might look like.

I work with Misi (below) and he was honored at the Employee Recognition Day on Friday for 25 years of service. The thing that I find interesting is the amount of lei's around his neck. This is a tradition in Hawaii and a way of honoring people you hold in high esteem. I bet he had a dozen different lei's that were given to him that day. He could hardly move his head. They were all beautiful and I was told that they smelled so good. Of course, after the recognition we all had to meet for a luncheon on the square. Misi is responsible to make sure all the food orders are placed on time so that the guests have food for the evening shows. 

                      

(Below)

Morgot and Vernon Summers (who I served at the temple with for 4 years popped up in Hawaii this week. It was so fun to spend some time with them at the PCC. They were so kind as to take me lunch. It was hard to find a time to get together with so much going on. I hope they enjoyed their time in Hawaii. Yes, it made me homesick for all of you.

P-day started out bright and sunny and so we are off to another adventure. Every adventure has to star off with food so here we are at Ted's for the best breakfast that I have had in Hawaii.

After the tummy's were full of food off we went around to the northern shore and made a stop at Waimea Beach. It was so crowded we couldn't find a parking space so we decided to go to the falls and they were spectacular. We walked up to the falls and below are some of the flowers we saw.

This one is my favorite. I have never seen one like this before.

                       

                               

            

      

               

        

Ticket taking at the PCC!

One of the things that the "Senior" Missionaries do is take tickets at the PCC for the evening at the Lua's, Prime Rib Dining, and Island Buffet. We get to meet so many people from all around the world. Maybe I should make a list of all the countries like we used to do with license plates.

This picture is taken with Elder and Sister Lundgren and Sister Hutchings. Sister Hutchings is next to me. Elder and Sister Lundgren are missionaries at BYU-H.  Elder Lundgren's youngest brother was in my ward in North Logan and his youngest sister was in Sister Hutchings' ward and we were all taking tickets together on this evening. It just tells me that we are all connected in some way or another. I thought that was truly a coincidence, though.

Can you see the sweaters? It was really chilly that evening. Probably in the 50's- 60's. I'm sure you UT people don't feel a bit sorry for me.



This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy and about 2 to 4 little piggies get pit cooked for the Lua's every night. Yum! Yum! Takes a lot of little piggies to feed all the people who visit here and many, many, many people to make it all work out. The Lord takes care of his own.

Sunday Mornings are a day to reflect! I miss each and everyone of you!

As I reflect back over the week it has been a much better one than the previous one. I think I am beginning to figure out why I am here and what things that I can do to help the Lord in this beautiful place on our earth. The island, the ocean, and the sky have a different personalities everyday. Just like home but different in its own way.

I think this is what they call "Vog." It is like our fog mixed with volcanic ash and settles itself on everything and is kind of oily on the cars and windows. Makes a beautiful view, though. As I look at the beautiful mountains here that is one thing I don't have to miss at home.

Watching the waves crash against the rocks reminds me that I don't rule much of anything. I am a such a small part of this world. Then I am reminded of how much God loves me to trust me to try to make this little piece of my world a better place.

THIS IS THE "P" (purchasing) TEAM

This is the PCC purchasing team.  Misi Fui, Me, Pua Nohipali, and

    Elder VerNon Griffiths. They like
    to work, eat and have fun, also. here we are taste testing some of the things that Misi has purchased for Pounder's Restaurant. I can't wait until I learn enough to be of any help to them. I have faith that it will come.

Views as I walk to work in the mornings. I don't walk every morning but I should it is very relaxing, beautiful and enjoyable.

                     

P-day comes around every Sat and here it is again. Today we took in the Hulu Festival at the PCC, ate at the Food Festival, BYUH, and then later in the evening took in a movie.