We had the best success so far on this cookie delivery run. I caught about two-thirds of the girls at home, and Elder Rappleye caught about half of the boys at home. I think since we have done this a few times now, they are learning to expect the cookies and don't want to miss out. We only have one more final's week to experience here before we go home.
Tuesday evening, we were able to go to the temple with Elder Brian and Sister Julie Coleman and do sealings. The Colemans taught religion classes at BYU-H and are part of the missionary pickleball group that plays on Wednesday nights. We were able to do sealings with them and then went over the Hukilua Marketplace for a bite to eat. We'll miss the Colemans. Not so sure we'll miss Elder Coleman's wicked pickleball serve though. Sister Coleman and I made a pretty good team on the pickleball court and had a pretty long winning streak going for a while.
Tuesday evening, we were able to go to the temple with Elder Brian and Sister Julie Coleman and do sealings. The Colemans taught religion classes at BYU-H and are part of the missionary pickleball group that plays on Wednesday nights. We were able to do sealings with them and then went over the Hukilua Marketplace for a bite to eat. We'll miss the Colemans. Not so sure we'll miss Elder Coleman's wicked pickleball serve though. Sister Coleman and I made a pretty good team on the pickleball court and had a pretty long winning streak going for a while.
Wednesday's town run was crazy busy with 15 stops to make! That's a record. It was a long day, but we did get to see a few Christmas decorations in the downtown area and a beautiful fountain. Hopefully we won't have another town run with that many stops again, but since we are only doing one run a week now instead of two, every week could be a long day.
Although it was a long day doing the town run, we went to the musical presentation at the Visitor's Center that night. Moana and Junior Feinga were performing. We didn't realize Moana was part of the family band, "The Jets" in the late 1980's until she mentioned it when introducing themselves. It was a good concert. We even got a photo with Moana, just as if we are groupies - 😁😉
Friday was commencement at BYU - Hawaii for Fall graduation. There were 207 graduates from 21 states and 31 countries, 21 - 54 years old. 66% of the graduates were female, and 34% were male. 87.7% of the graduates had at least one job either at BYU-H or the PCC during their time at BYU - Hawaii. The commencement speaker was Elder Marcus B. Nash. He and I grew up in Seattle. He was in the Ward that shared our building in the North Seattle Stake. We went to early morning seminary together, although he was a year ahead of me in school. It's been at least 50 years since then, but it would have been nice to have talked to him while he was here. I was working at the PCC during commencement exercises, so I knew our paths were not going to cross. I was able to listen to the live stream in my office while I worked. I'll share one quote from his talk, "To the degree you focus on Christ, He who is the 'light and the life of the world' will unerringly guide and take you safely home, no matter the currents and storms you encounter." – Elder Marcus B. Nash 
Although it was a long day doing the town run, we went to the musical presentation at the Visitor's Center that night. Moana and Junior Feinga were performing. We didn't realize Moana was part of the family band, "The Jets" in the late 1980's until she mentioned it when introducing themselves. It was a good concert. We even got a photo with Moana, just as if we are groupies - 😁😉
Lili, our manager at the Food Warehouse, made a beautiful lei for Kyli Panti, one of the warehouse workers, who graduated. She sent me over to the Cannon Activities Center when the commencement ceremonies were over to find Kyli and give him the lei. I told her OKAY, but in my mind, I was thinking "How in the world I'm I going to find Kyli in the throng of people who are going to be out on the plaza celebrating?" Elder Rappleye drove me over there in a cart. We parked by the side of the CAC building and walked toward the crowds out on the plaza. We walked down one side of the plaza and then the other looking for Kyli. The longer we searched, the more discouraged I got. I stopped and said a prayer in my mind, then decided we would retrace our steps and go back around the plaza. We got all away around, still not finding Kyli. Then I saw Jared, another food warehouse worker, and asked him if he knew where Kyli was. Jared saved the day and pointed to a grassy spot right next to the CAC. We finally were able to give Kyli his lei and tell him congratulations. I love the picture his girlfriend took. It shows how the graduates are showered with love from friends and family with so many leis - flower, candy, ribbon, etc. He even was decked out with an inflatable flamingo around his waist and an inflatable crown on his head. Many others were similarly decked out. I have never seen anything like it before.
The Mission Settlement missionaries put on the musical presentation at the Visitor's Center on Friday night. We attended because we wanted to support our district leader and his wife (Elder and Sister Lee), and the other missionaries. Most of the songs were the same ones we heard at the Mission Settlement Devotional a week ago. We still enjoyed it very much.
The decorations to the left we found around the Ward's Village area. I'm sure they would have looked much more impressive after dark.
There was an elf scavenger hunt at Ward Village. We found a few perched at various businesses around the area (pictured right). I think there were 51 total you could find. We didn't even come close to finding all of them.
Then we headed to Ala Moana Mall. It's a big mall in downtown Honolulu near Waikiki. It was not the best weekend to go to the mall being it's so close to Christmas, but we had not been to the mall yet and malls are usually decked out for Christmas. Besides a few Christmas decorations, we found a Giving Machine that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sponsors at the mall.
We also found a big Christmas tree in an open area of the mall (pictured on the left side of the collage to the right). The other picture on the right side is the Christmas tree we found at Ward's village. Although we did find a few Christmas decorations to enjoy, we were a little disappointed that there wasn't more. (Since going down there I discovered that there were more Christmas decorations at City Hall near where we saw the huge Santa and Mrs. Claus when we were doing town run.)
Since we were on the hunt for Christmas decorations, we went down to the Hukilua Marketplace that night and snapped a few pictures of some of the decorations there. The top picture on the left is the nativity scene that is displayed in the gazebo. The fun wintery train scene is at the entrance to Pounder's restaurant. The bottom right picture is technically not a Christmas decoration, but it shows the PCC's main waterfall all lit up after dark. 
We usually are not in the PCC after dark, but Saturday night we were invited to a private screening of a PCC documentary that has been produced and they are hoping to be able to get it shown on Netflix or Hulu, or something like that. The documentary follows several BYU-H students that work at the PCC and how working at the PCC is beneficial in allowing them to go to school and improve their education without going into debt to do so. They are then able to go back to their countries and help their families and communities. Many of the students don't get to go home to see their families until they have graduated, that's at least 4 years being away from their families. It was a very interesting documentary. We have been here at the Polynesian Cultural Center for over a year and there were still things mentioned in the documentary that we didn't know about. It reaffirmed to us how inspired this relationship between the PCC and BYU-H is and how God's hand is in all the details.
There was an elf scavenger hunt at Ward Village. We found a few perched at various businesses around the area (pictured right). I think there were 51 total you could find. We didn't even come close to finding all of them.
Then we headed to Ala Moana Mall. It's a big mall in downtown Honolulu near Waikiki. It was not the best weekend to go to the mall being it's so close to Christmas, but we had not been to the mall yet and malls are usually decked out for Christmas. Besides a few Christmas decorations, we found a Giving Machine that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sponsors at the mall.
It was Jo Ya's last Sunday in our YSA Ward. The next day she would fly home to Taiwan. We gave her a lei to say goodbye and wish her success in her future endeavors. We love to see the students accomplish their goals of graduation, but it's hard to have to say goodbye. Jo Ya is definitely part of the rising generation, youth of the noble birthright, that will keep building the kingdom of God wherever life takes her.
Because of conflicts in the student's finals schedules, our work Christmas party was held on Sunday. It was held in the Gateway Buffet building. Lili and Regina set up and decorated these beautiful tables.
Because of conflicts in the student's finals schedules, our work Christmas party was held on Sunday. It was held in the Gateway Buffet building. Lili and Regina set up and decorated these beautiful tables.
Here's some of the student workers - Satoru (left edge of picture), Jared, Rachel, Rowan, Leiana, Aurel, Ralph (behind Aurel) and Jaz. Regina is standing.
I only got this picture of the food, but there was a lot more. A separate dessert table, and more salads and sides. It was a Christmas feast.
After eating, the group played a few games. These pictures show the game of picking up M&Ms with chopsticks from the plate in the middle to the plate in front of each individual. Whoever could get the most M&Ms onto their plate during the allotted time won.
These pictures show the game where you place a cookie on your eye and have to try to wiggle it down your face and into your mouth without touching the cookie with your hands. It was pretty hilarious watching everyone try to do it. No one was able to accomplish the task, but Elder Rappleye was the only one to get his cookie touching his tongue, so he was declared the winner.
The next game was to try to unroll a roll of crepe paper using just one hand. When they said go, crepe paper was flying everywhere!
It was finally time for the gift exchange. We all grabbed a gift from off the table and stood in a big circle. Then Regina went around the circle, the first person rolled two dice and depending on what number they rolled we would have to pass the present to the left or right, exchange with (blank), everyone changes with someone else, etc. When everyone had a turn to roll the dice, and we had mixed up the gifts multiple times, then we all opened up the present we ended up holding.
I opened up my gift and it was a mini waffle maker. Elder Rappleye opened up his gift and it was a beach towel. The top picture shows Jared, Kyli, Satoru, Jaz, Ralph, Aurel, and Rachel with their gifts.
Here's a picture of the whole supply chain group of workers. It includes the motor pool, the food warehouse, uniforms, and the main warehouse. I don't know if you can see in the pictures, but the murals on the walls of the Gateway are amazing. Most of the student workers don't get to go home for Christmas because they can't afford to, and they need to stay during the school break and work. This work party was to help give some Christmas cheer to the students who are a long way from home and family.
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