An Unexpectant Farewell: April 29 - May 5, 2024

 

      Another month is almost gone!  The first few months of our mission went by so slowly, but the last two months has seemed to have gone by a lot quicker.   

   I'm going to start this week's post with a shout out to my daughter-in-law, Jasmin Rappleye (the one circled in the picture to the right).  She was invited to be on BYU TV's Come Follow Up show on Monday.  Young Men's President, Steven J. Lund was on the show with her.  The only problem is it won't air until next February! You don't want to miss it!

I saw this heavy load going down the Kamehameha Highway on Monday on its way to Kahuku.  The famous Idaho Potato tour truck with its 12,000-pound potato on it.  That's Elder Dahlin standing in front of the truck.

      If you read last week's post, you'll remember the bird encounter we had at the Honolulu airport.  On Tuesday at lunch, we had another bird visitor at the table next to where we eat lunch.  I guess it is a sign of spring around here.

      I know rain is not a sign of spring around here because it rains quite often all the time.  On Tuesday we had an Ask Me assignment at the  Hukilua Marketplace and it was the first time we got rained on.  That's a pretty good track record to not be rained on for almost 6 months of Ask Me/Luau assignments, especially since winter is the rainier time of year.

      I'm not talking about a short quick rain shower, but a good old-fashioned downpour.  It ended up raining for over an hour while we were there.  We only had one umbrella, so we took turns standing out in the rain under the umbrella while the other stayed dry under Pounder's restaurant's side porch.  Since most people took cover in the marketplace stores (as you can see from the picture on the right - the place looks deserted), we didn't have a lot of questions to answer that night.

   On Wednesday we cleaned our pad and did other housekeeping chores.  It was finally nice enough to go to the beach, so we got a little beach time.  While we were there, a bride and groom showed up to get pictures taken, but I didn't think to take pictures of them.  

     I did happen to finally have my phone with me at pickleball this week and got a few pictures of Elder Rappleye playing pickleball with Elder Fischer.

     After pickleball we walked over to the Pacific Theater at the PCC where the World Fire Knife Championship was going on.  It was the junior and intermediate divisions that night.  Next week is the men's and women's divisions.  You had to have a ticket for these events, but we couldn't stay long so we didn't want to buy a ticket, but the usher was nice enough to let us watch for a little while.

 

      The pictures above are the winners of the competition.  On the left is the top three in the junior division, ages 6 - 11.  First and second place is from Laie, and third place is from Seattle.  On the right is the winners of the intermediate division, ages 12 - 17. First place is from Tahiti, second place is from Hawaii, and third place is from Florida.  The championship is a really big deal around here.

      I need to give another shout out to another daughter-in-law, Joslyn Rappleye, who graduated on Friday from the University of Utah with her nursing degree.  It took a lot of sacrifice, determination, and hard work for the last year and a half to accomplish this goal and we are very proud of her.

 

       "The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory" 

- Les Brown

On Saturday, the We Are Samoa High School Festival was held at the PCC.  This event was sold out, but we went down to the PCC to drink in the atmosphere.  They had booths set up selling Samoan food and Samoan accessories.  We were hoping to see some of the performers, but either we got there too early in the day or just didn't hang around long enough.  There were lots of covered staging areas set up in the parking lot for the high school groups. It lasted all day Saturday.

 I got one picture of the We Are Samoa High School Festival from someone who attended.

Tragedy struck the Laie Hawaii Mission on Wednesday, but we didn't hear about it until Friday.  Elder Young suffered a massive heart attack 2 days before the end of their mission.  He was in critical condition at a hospital in Honolulu.  They tried everything they could to help him survive, but despite all our prayers and all the doctors' efforts, he passed away early Sunday morning.   The Youngs were extremely well loved here.  Elder Young worked at BYU - Hawaii as a counselor and promoted mental wellness. Sister Young worked in the Ukulele Experience Store at the PCC. They were very friendly and outgoing. They helped us when we first arrived to get our footing and understand the lay of the land so to speak. The celebration of life for Elder Young was pulled together at the last minute to give all the senior missionaries and BYU-H students a chance to come together and support the Young family.  It was held in the Hawaiian Journey theater at the PCC.  The theater seats 463 people, and I would estimate that there was close to 400 people in attendance.  It was an open mic forum, where people could come share thoughts and stories about Elder Young.  They allowed about an hour for sharing.  Students, missionaries, employees, and his two sons and wife all shared their thoughts.

 Sister Young mentioned how Elder Young kept mentioning that they needed to go to the Aotearoa village before they left because the students wanted to do the haka for them.  They never made it, so at the end of our time together several of the students came on stage and performed the haka for us. It was very heart wrenching to see how much the family was suffering, but also very comforting at the same time to feel the room filled with so much love for them. We all were certainly "willing to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort" (Mosiah 18:9).  Everyone in the theater that night needed the comfort that only the Holy Ghost could bring.  You could say that instead of getting released, Elder Young got a permanent transfer, to continue to build the kingdom of God on the other side of the veil.  The Young family is making the ultimate sacrifice for the Cause of Christ.  The words of our mission song," Cause of Christ" reflects the sacrifice they are making - 

As we follow in the covenant path

God gives knowledge we know we are free

To accept His will and follow willingly,

We invite in the cause of Christ.

We'll endure through the storms of our lives,

No wind or rain can throw us from our course!

As we choose each day to follow God's commands,

We'll find joy and love because of Christ.

Our hearts and love are with Sister Young and her family.

Aloha 'Oe - Until we meet again.