I'm not going to lie. it was a little hard to come back from Maui and get back into the missionary routine. Monday night we had a Gateway Terrace assignment. It is the easiest and most boring assignment of all the Luau/Ask Me assignments. All we have to do is guard the back entrance to the Gateway Terrace and not let anyone come through. It's basically security guard duty. We've only been assigned this spot once before. Last time we had the little lizards to keep us entertained, but this time we didn't even see the lizards! We are not allowed to be on any devices or read a book while we are at our post. We are thankful it didn't rain on us. I did sneak my phone out and take a selfie of us looking really bored.
We missed the FHE activity that night, which was sports night in the gym. That is one of the more popular FHE activities and one of my favorites too. Looks like they had a good crowd. We found out that Pamela's Place, where we were serving before we left on our mission, received two awards from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Office. A national award of merit in the affordable housing category, and a national award of merit in resident and client services category. The best part was that Tess Clark, one of our branch members, got to go to Orlando to accept the awards on behalf of the Salt Lake County Housing Authority. We were so excited to hear that Tess got to have that experience.
On Wednesday, we had an opportunity to give some service as a group of senior missionaries. We went to Malaekahana State Park, which is a little north of Laie, and picked up trash throughout the whole park which includes the beach.
it was raining as we gathered and received instructions from our mission leader, President Bassett.
The area we were assigned to wasn't too bad, so we didn't find a lot of trash. Elder Rappleye did find a golf ball and tee. Thankfully the rain quit, and we didn't have to pick up trash in the rain.
A light breakfast of muffins and fruit was a nice ending to the activity. Not every senior missionary was able to participate, only those who have Wednesdays off, which excludes any BYU-H missionaries that teach classes Wednesday mornings, and a few PCC missionaries that have to work on Wednesdays. It was great to give some service and also have an opportunity to visit with other missionaries.
There were a lot of BYU-H students who were excited to welcome the Golden State Warriors basketball team to the Cannon Activities Center on Wednesday. The team came to practice for a few days and do a children's training camp. On Friday they had an open practice where the public could go in and watch, but it was at 11AM and both Elder Rappleye and I were busy working for the Lord at that time. We never got a glimpse of any of the basketball players for the 3 days they were here. On Friday, our boss, Lili, brought in some Halloween decorations. Sister Sauve and I along with a couple of students spent some time that morning hanging the Halloween garlands around the office. I've been wanting to decorate the office for each of the holidays, but I wasn't sure if that was allowed. This is the first holiday that Lili has brought in decorations. Now I know we can do it, so we will have to decorated for the rest of the holidays we are here. it's not much, but with the weather here in Hawaii not feeling like Fall, it's hard to remember that it's getting close to Halloween. One of my favorite weekends in the year, along with the Primary Program done in Sacrament meetings in the fall, is General Conference that comes the first weekend in October and April. Here in Hawaii the first session is live streamed at 6AM on Saturday morning. We woke up and listened to the first session as we got ready to go to town and while we were driving to Honolulu. We arrived at the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium just as the morning session ended. We were able to get our shopping at the Swap Meet done as well as our Wal-Mart shopping done between sessions. As we got to Costco, the afternoon session was starting, so we did our shopping at Costco as fast as we could, and we were able to listen to the afternoon session on the drive back home to Hau'ula. There were many wonderful talks given in the three sessions on Saturday. A few of our favorites were Elder Neil A. Anderson's talk on "The Triumph of Hope", Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk on "Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion", and Elder Alvarado's talk on "Embrace the Lord's Gift of Repentance".
On Sunday morning, we listened to the morning session live at 6AM and between sessions we took a hike up the mountain right behind our house. Elder Rappleye has been itching to get up there and find a way to the top. The first time we went up there, we never found a trail going up to the summit, just a trail taking us into the canyon between ridges. We had new information from the neighbor that lives in the house next to the trailhead on how to spot the trail that goes up the mountain. We were able to find the trail that turns off the main trail and started up the mountain. It was steep in spots, but we made it up to a viewpoint where we took the bottom picture on the right. Our house is just around the mountain on the left side of the picture. The top picture was taken on the way up. We didn't have time to continue up the trail, so we headed back down in order to get back in time to listen to the afternoon session of conference. We didn't quite make our goal to the top of the mountain, so we will be making another trip up the mountain sometime to try to make it to the top. Sunday morning session of conference was probably my favorite session because I loved so many of the talks, Elder Hales talk on "Mortality Works!", Elder Stevensen's talk on "Days Never to be Forgotten", and Elder Wilcox's talk on "O Youth of the Noble Birthright". Of course, we were glad to hear from the prophet, President Russell M. Nelson in the Sunday afternoon session.
In the evening was our monthly munch and mingle with all the senior missionaries. We happened to sit at a table with a couple who had served at BYU-H a few years ago. They were back for a visit. After talking with them throughout the meal, the husband says to Elder Rappleye, "Where did you grow up?" When Elder Rappleye tells him Orem, UT, he then asks Elder Rappleye if he went to Geneva Elementary School. When Elder Rappleye told him he went to Geneva through 5th, he asks him if he remembered a Mike King. Elder Rappleye said, "oh yes" and proceeds to tell a story he remembers about Mike King. Then the husband says, "I'm Mike King". Surprise! They haven't seen each other since 4th grade, but they enjoyed reminiscing about their experiences at Geneva Elementary School. Elder Rappleye and Mike King are pictured in the top picture. It was also our 7 months left day. The bottom picture documents it.
We had a bit of entertainment after eating dinner. The top picture to the right is most of the mission settlement sisters singing, "I Will Follow Him" in lovely harmony. The bottom picture to the right shows Sister Walters joining in and tap dancing while the mission settlement sisters sing the chorus. It was a huge hit. I wish I had a video of it to share with everyone. Then we sang "Aloha 'Oe" to a large group of missionaries that are leaving during the month of October. The group was so large that I couldn't get the whole group picture in one shot. The top picture to the right shows from left to right - Sister Lanae Condie from El Paso, TX (mission settlement), Sister Jackie Ronco from Canon City, CO (seamstress), Sister Roxey and Elder Steve Neeley from Providence, UT (BYU-H), Sister Sandra Walters from West Jordan, UT (Ulu retail store), Sister Maralee Kmak from Gainsville, FL (archives), and Elder Creed and Sister Cammie Archibald from Arizona (PCC missionary coordinators). The bottom picture shows from left to right - Sister Walters, Sister Kmak, Elder and Sister Archibald, Elder Blaine and Sister Cindy Jacobson from Boise, ID (marketing/retail), Sister Colleen Pistorius from Houston TX (complaints department), Sister Renae King from West Jordan, UT (seamstress), and Sister Marjorie and Elder Glen Willardson (not sure where there are from - Visitor's Center). That's 14 missionaries in all, the largest group leaving while we have been here and most of them are PCC missionaries.
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L. to R. - The Archibalds, Sister Pistorius,
Sister Walters, Sister Kmak, Sister Walters,
and Sister Ronco. |
Top picture - Us with the Neeleys
Bottom picture - Us with the Jacobsons
So many goodbyes to people we have gotten to know and love this month. We will be having a lot of new senior missionaries coming in at the end of October.
Aloha 'Oe - one fond embrace, until we meet again.
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