Lili is very talented and did an amazing job. She reminds me of my sister-in-law, Tricia Terry and my niece, Meadow Alexander, who are also amazing at floral arranging. The General Authorities were here to speak at the BYU-H devotional on Tuesday. But on Monday they were going to have lunch at the Gateway Terrace and go to the HA show at the PCC that night.
The motor pool shut down their operations during the devotional, so Elder Rappleye was able to go attend the devotional in person. Sister Sauve and I were not able to leave our office, so we just watched the live stream while we worked.
Elder Rappleye was sitting up in the rafters (his words), but in the bottom picture I count 20 senior missionaries. Most of them serve at BYU-H, but there are a few PCC missionaries.
Tuesday at lunch, our group of PCC missionaries that eat lunch together sang "Happy Birthday" to Mini (Sister Margaret Handy).
Speaking of birthdays, I need to do a shout out to my grandchildren who have January birthdays. Their birthdays are within 5 days of each other. Sunny (in the pink) who lives up to her nickname Sunny always has a smile on her face and is so fun to be around. She turned 7 years old. Brinton, her brother (top right-hand picture) loves learning about all kinds of things and is very good at putting Lego sets together. He turned 9 years old. Sterling (bottom right-hand picture) who is the kindest, most likable kid turned 17 years old. I secretly told him he was my favorite because he was the only grandchild to call me on my birthday and wish me a happy birthday. That is just a small way that shows his kind nature.
Pictured to the right is our list of stops for our Wednesday's town run minus Hawthorne Cat that got added on late. It was our most stops in one day to date - 15. It was our longest day as well. We didn't get back to the PCC until after 5 pm. To give you an idea of what kind of things we are picking up I'm including our list -
1. Sherwin Williams - Kaneohe - 5-gallon buckets of paint plus other things
2. Kanile'a Ukulele - Kaneohe - 3 ukuleles
3. Beachside Lighting - Kailua - lights
4. Element 8 - Honolulu - a big box (I don't know what was in it)
5. Daltile - Honolulu - box of ceramic tiles
6. Battery Bills - Honolulu - batteries for portable generators
7. FQ Labs - Honolulu - drop off water samples from the Lagoon to test water quality
8. West Marine - Honolulu - Hardener
9. Ryan's Graphics - Honolulu - Gateway Menus
10. Burney's - Honolulu - small, insulated blankets for some kind of kitchen equipment
11. American Retail Supply - Waipahu - shelving
12. Hawthorne Cat - Waipahu - 5-gallon buckets of oil, filters, and a cable
13. The Home Depot - Honolulu - ratchet straps
14. Signs Today - Honolulu - signs for Hukilau Marketplace
It varies every week, but some places we go quite frequently. We have to be aware of when places close (some close as early as 2 pm) and get there before they close. After 9 weeks of town run and the previous times we've done it last spring, we are getting quite familiar with the layout and streets of Honolulu and surrounding areas. I'm sure we have guardian angels surrounding us as we travel each week because sometimes, we get into some tight spots and hairy situations. I am always grateful to get back to the PCC without any mishap.
Frank, one of the food warehouse student workers, had his birthday on Tuesday, but he didn't work the morning shift, so I didn't see him that day. But on Thursday he was working the same time I was there, so I gave him a birthday gift. Frank is from the Philippines and a great worker at the warehouse.
Thursday was a stormy rainy day. It's the first time I've had to greet the guests getting off the tour buses in the rain. I took this picture (right) between tour buses arriving when it was raining pretty hard. You can see all the raindrops hitting the pavement and how the view of the mountains is obscured by clouds. I was taking refuge under the porch of Nona's Clothing store that is right by where the tour buses drop the guests off. It's not as fun visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center on a rainy day. I did find out that they have a rainy-day schedule with added shows and activities that are in the covered buildings to help the guests have a great experience despite the rain.
I also took the time to go into Tutu's Sweet shop after greeting all the tour bus guests and take a picture of the macaroons on display that they sell there. Those are the macaroons we go pick up on our town runs. I haven't tasted them, but they do look delicious!
When I came out to the motor pool when I was done with my work, Elder Rappleye was working on the backhoe. I'm not sure what or why he was having to fix on the backhoe, but I was able to snap a few pictures. Notice, the sunshine showing on the cement in the lower left-hand corner of the picture. The rain did stop for a little bit during the afternoon.
But during our Ask Me shift later in the evening, the rain was back. While we were eating dinner before our shift on the Gateway Terrace, it poured down rain. Luckily by the time we had to go out, the rain was just a steady drizzle. You can see that there are no guests walking around on the grounds. We are by the Shaka statue and there are usually guests posing for pictures at the statue the whole time we do Ask Me. In fact, we are asked to take pictures all the time for the guests when we are assigned this spot. Not on this night.😕😞😟😥
I need to do another shout out to my granddaughter, Lili. Her Academic Olympiad team from Logan High School took first place in state on Thursday! Her gold medals she is holding are for - total team points, social studies, science, and battle for Olympus. Hip, hip, hooray for Lili!
We began the month of February with the Hawaii village devotional Saturday morning. The theme of the devotional was "Who does God want me to be?" based on the scripture from Ether 12:27 (bottom right-hand picture). The flag on the program cover is the Hawaiian state flag. The stage was decorated with unique floral arrangements using woven heart shaped fans (top right-hand picture).
The program started with the students participating in a flag raising ceremony. I wasn't in a good spot to get a good photo of it (top left-hand picture), but you can just barely see the flag through the tree leaves.
The student speakers were all very good. Rafael (main picture in the collage to the right) introduced the theme. Sissy (middle right picture), Keoni (bottom middle picture), Sterling (a girl, bottom right picture) who grew up in Laie and wanted to go off-island to college, told of how God reveled to her the need to stay on island and go to BYU-H. The last speaker, Manuel (bottom left picture) is from the Philippines. He spoke of being raised by a single mom and how his motivation to get a good education came from his mom who encouraged him to go to BYU-H. His mother died while he was here at BYU-H during his sophomore year. He is now in his last semester and will graduate in April. He testified that his mom is still encouraging him and watching over him on the other side of the veil. It was a very powerful talk. President Grace was the concluding speaker (top right picture).
Music is always a part of all devotionals. The men sang a song that Rafael had written. Rafael is playing the guitar in the picture to the left. The bottom picture shows some of the words to the song Rafael wrote. It was a very pretty song.
The women did a hula dance.
There was another small group musical number. After the devotional, we are always served refreshments. The student workers always treat the senior missionaries so well. 
After the devotional, we went to the motor pool and cleaned our car, inside and out. Then took pictures of the car, so we could make a flyer about our car to advertise it when we get ready to sell it at the end of our mission. Here is the flyer I made up. We already have two senior missionary couples who have their calls and are looking for a car to buy. Elder Rappleye is stressing about whether we are going to get someone to buy our car. I can't believe we are already having to do things to get ready to go home.
After lunch, we were ready to hit the beach and soak up some sunshine. We went to a small, overlooked beach on the North Shore called Waialee Beach. You can't see the beach area from the road, you just see the parking area. We have driven past the parking lot many times and wondered if it was a good place to stop. There never are very many cars in the parking lot. We decided to stop this time and take a look. It's a small beach that is not really good for swimming because it's rocky. But it was a great place to just relax and unwind because not many people were there. The fun little islet is not too far from the shore. A few young men showed up while we were there with spears and snorkel gear. They went out into the water and were looking for fish to catch, but we never saw them get one. It was a lovely few hours in a little piece of paradise. Then it was back to real life as a missionary.
I can't believe it was time for another Munch and Mingle on Sunday. We sang Aloha 'Oe to three senior missionaries - Sister Kim Manley who worked in uniforms. We got to know her really well as she would come out to eat lunch with the PCC group almost every day. Also Elder Warwick and Sister Leah Tempany. They are from Australia and Elder Tempany served as the PCC architect and Sister Tempany assisted. The Tempanys would come join us for lunch on occasion. The bottom left picture shows the group of singers leading us in Aloha 'Oe. The bottom right picture shows part of our group of senior missionaries at the munch and mingle. The top picture shows Sister Manley, and the Tempanys as we are singing Aloha 'Oe to them. We only have a few more munch and mingles to enjoy before we are the ones being sung Aloha 'Oe to. It is really starting to hit home that the end of our mission is drawing near.
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