The Best and Worst of Times: December 30, 2024 - January 5, 2025

 

 

     Sister Cindy Bates, who works in the motor pool office, had a birthday on December 28th, but Monday is when they had a little birthday celebration for her.  I came over from the Food Warehouse to join the celebration and was able to catch Elder Rappleye and Elder Bates servicing one of the PCC club cars before the birthday celebration started.

 

  The birthday celebration was pretty low key with cupcakes and ice cream.  We did sing happy birthday to the birthday girl (pictured top and bottom pictures).

  

    It's still Christmas break for the students, so there was no FHE after ukulele class.  We decided we better go enjoy the campus Christmas lights and nativity before they take them down.

    We had a Ask Me shift on New Year's Eve.  I didn't think people would want to come to the Polynesian Cultural Center on New Year's Eve, but it was really busy.  We were at the entrance to the Gateway Buffet, and we've never seen the lines to get into the buffet so long.  To the left is a picture of the lines.  After I took the picture, I think the lines got even longer.  The girl in the green top is the hostess and a student at BYU-H.  She did a really good job of keeping order and keeping people happy while they were waiting.

  After our shift, we went home until about 10 PM and then drove over to the temple.  We were here last New Year's Eve and knew that in front of the temple is where everyone parties.  This year it started raining around 8 PM and was still drizzling at 10 PM so we weren't sure if there was going to be a party or not.  When we got there, nobody was around.  We decided to park our car and wait it out until 11 or so to see if it would stop raining, or if anyone would come to watch the fireworks, or if there would be fireworks at all.  Elder Rappleye took advantage of the wait and got a nap in.

      Eventually the rain stopped, and people started to show up.  The pre-fireworks music was not as grand as last year.  Only one group played, but they were pretty good (top picture).  Only one dancer this year as well (bottom right).  The bottom left picture shows the group of people gathered in front of the temple to watch the fireworks.  I don't think the crowd was as large as last year either.  The rain discouraged people from coming.

    

  Here's just a few photos of the fireworks.  We timed the fireworks this year and they easily went on for over 20 minutes.

       In fact, in the top left-hand picture you can see how smokey the sky is from the barrage of fireworks that had gone off practically non-stop for 20 minutes.

     The bottom two pictures show the crowd around us all videoing the fireworks.  It's not as large as Times Square in New York City, but it's the closest thing I'll experience to it.

      We had New Year's Day off.  We decided to finally go see the movie, "Wicked".  We drove down to Kaneohe, to the Windward Mall Regal Theaters in the afternoon and enjoyed free popcorn, my birthday reward as a Regal Crown Club member and the movie.  I didn't realize it was only going to be part one!  How long do I have to wait for part two?

   

 Last post of Christmas decorations, I promise.  I couldn't resist taking pictures of the Christmas decorations at the Windward Mall. 

      Thursday town run was uneventful.  It was another not so busy day, and we actually got back around the same time as we usually finish at the PCC.  Usually when we do town run it is a longer day than our normal days.

        We got invited to a sealing for a student that is in our YSA Ward - Matt Ducay.  He is from the Philippines and his finance grew up here in Laie.  Since Matt is from the Philippines, none of his family members were able to attend the sealing and wedding festivities.  We were more than happy to fill in for his missing family members. 

    The sealing was at 8:45 AM Friday morning at the Laie Temple.  The bride had a lot of family there.  We knew several of the groomsmen who were Matt's friends from the YSA Ward.

     The pictures are of the bride and groom coming out of the temple after the ceremony.  After that we couldn't stick around any longer, we had to go to work at the PCC.

    They had a reception in the Aloha Ballroom in the afternoon.  We had to get all our work done before we could go, so we got there a little late.  Everyone had already eaten, and they had started the toasts.  There was also a lot of dancing as part of the program.  First the bride's mother danced.  I was told she danced for a long time in the Polynesian Cultural Center's night show.

     Then the bride danced a hula.  The bride is an identical twin like I am.  She and her sister definitely look alike.

   This is the only picture I got of her twin sister.  She's the one circled in yellow.

     

All the bridesmaids did a dance.

Then the groomsmen did a dance.

This picture shows all the groomsmen we know from the YSA Ward - (left to right) Ezra Valdez, Vaugh Platon, Josh Gamil, the groom, Matt, and Jarom Notarte.  The Bishop nicknamed them the "Backstreet Boys".

This is Elder Armstrong from New Zealand.  He performed in the Haka.  Looking pretty good.  The Armstrongs serve in the same BYU-H office that the bride, Lehua worked.

I had to include the top picture because I love the way Matt is looking at his new wife - so in love!

Shortly after getting out of the temple for the sealing, we got word from our daughter-in-law, Sharron, that she was showing signs of preterm labor.  They sent her to Utah Valley Hospital because they are experts on preterm labor.  Sharron is only 19 weeks into her pregnancy.  This was not good news, and the family started praying for a miracle.  The doctor decided to keep her in the hospital overnight and the next day they decided to do a cerclage, which is a procedure to stitch the cervix closed because her sac was poking out of her cervix.  They did an ultrasound and found out that the baby was a girl.  She looked healthy and they heard her heartbeat.  So far, no sign of trouble.

Saturday afternoon when they went in to do the procedure, Sharron's water broke, which was the worst-case scenario.  The chance of infection to the baby was pretty much certain with her water broken. Now the odds were extremely high that she was going to lose the baby.  The only thing to do was to induce labor and hope that the baby would make it through delivery, and they would be able to hold her for just a moment.  But that was not to be.  Sharron started hemorrhaging shortly after talking the induction tablet and they rushed her into OR.  She lost about 2 liters of blood and had to get a blood transfusion.  Derek, our son, was exiled to the waiting room (his words).

A set of handprints and footprints is the only thing they get to keep of her.  

Because of their personal and religious beliefs, they gave their baby a name. They named her Elysium "Ellie" Rappleye, born and passed on January 4, 2025, at 5:40pm.  They decided to bury her in the cemetery in Eagle Mountain close to their home (more about that in next week's post).

It's been very hard to be 3,000 miles away in Hawaii unable to be there and offer our support only through prayers and talking on the phone.  We are extremely grateful that Sharron's parents could travel down to Utah to be there for them.  We are also grateful for the knowledge of God's plan of salvation, that the sealing covenant of eternal marriage that Derek and Sharron have will allow them to raise Elysium in the Millenium, free from Satan's power, and that Christ's atoning power can provide comfort, peace, and assurance during their time of grief.  The spirit has whispered and reaffirmed to them and all of us that "the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ." (Mosiah 16:8)

On Sunday afternoon, we drove down to the Honolulu airport and picked up our daughter's nephew, Lawson Toone from Calgary, Canada, who is starting school at BYU-Hawaii this semester.  We had no problems picking him up, but when we got to his hale (dorm room) it was all locked and he had no idea how to get a key.  We found some students so we asked them if they knew where to go to check in to the dorms, and they directed us to security.  I knew where the security office was, so we headed there.  They did have key cards for new students, but the problem was there was not one for Lawson.  Since it was Sunday there was no one there to talk to about the problem.  The security officer did unlock his room door for him so he could get in, but he had no way to get back in if he left his room.  We had planned to take him to the munch and mingle with us so he could have some dinner after his long flight, but he didn't want to leave his room without knowing if he would be able to get back in.  Luckily, I had planned ahead.  The paper bag that Lawson is holding in the picture I had filled with food items so he would have something to eat until he got his cafeteria card.  I had also brought some take home containers so I told Lawson we would bring him over some food from the munch and mingle so he could have some dinner.  Although it was not ideal, it all worked out in the end.  

We only sang "Aloha 'Oe" to one missionary couple who are leaving at the end of January, Elder Dennis and Sister Kim Singleton from Alabama.  They served in the Visitor's Center.

Christmas and So Much More: December 23 - 29, 2024

 

     Monday I was back to my regular schedule for serving at the PCC.  All week it was going to be very busy.  The holiday season finally has kicked in.

      Monday night we went to the last musical presentation of the Christmas season at the Visitor's Center.  The schedule said it was Hau'ula 2nd Ward, but it was only a family that was performing.  Maybe the family was in the Hau'ula 2nd Ward.  The young man pictured in the top photo is a singer/songwriter and performed one of the songs he wrote.  The father, in the bottom left picture was the narrator.  The bottom right picture is the mother and daughter singing while the son played the piano and sang.  They were a very musical family.

     Tuesday was Christmas Eve.  Lili, my boss, had me do most of Tuesday's purchase orders on Monday just to make sure we got them in on time, in case the vendors were closed or closing early on Christmas Eve.  That made Tuesday a really short, quick day.  I was done by 10AM.  I went over to the church building in Laie by the temple to practice my piano solo one more time before the performance that night.  By the time I came back, Elder Rappleye was wrapping things up at the motor pool because Anthony, his boss, told them to close at noon.

       Tuesday night was the mission wide Christmas devotional.  All the missionaries, young and old, attended and anyone could volunteer to perform a musical number.  I had brought with me a piano Christmas solos book (not sure why).  Last Christmas we were so new and getting adjusted that we did not participate in the musical devotional.  This year when they asked for volunteers, the spirit reminded me that I had brought the Christmas solos piano book. I wasn't sure I wanted to volunteer.  I could think of lots of excuses not to - I didn't have ready access to a piano to practice on; I had hardly played the piano in over a year; and I have not performed in public in decades.  But the spirit kept prompting me, so I looked over the songs in the book and picked out what looked like the shortest and easiest piece to play.  I emailed the sister missionary in charge of the program and told her I would be willing to play a piano solo and told her what the piece was, "The First Noel".  She responded by asking if I could play a different piece because someone else was already doing "The First Noel".  I wavered.  I looked through the pieces again and thought I could possibly do the medley of "Joy to the World/Hark the Herald Angels" although it was one page longer than "The First Noel".  I emailed her back and told her I could change it to "Joy to the World/Hark the Herald Angels" medley.  She responded by telling me that Joy to the World was going to be the closing song and was there something else I could play.  I was ready to tell her no, and to just forget about it, I would not be a part of the program.  But before I responded back, she responded again and told me it would be fine if I played the medley, and that there were a lot of vocal numbers, and they needed musical numbers on the program so she would put me on the program.  I guess I was stuck.

  I have been practicing for weeks almost every day.  Fortunately, I have been able to go to the church building on the far end of campus and practice on the piano in the chapel most days after work. I felt fairly confident about how well I had learned to play the piece, but I was not very confident about how my nerves would do playing in front of 200 people. 

      At the devotional, I was sitting on the stand because we were in the choir for the closing song.  I took this picture (right) of President and Sister Bassett speaking.  It shows how full the chapel was with all the missionaries in attendance.

     I was scheduled to play my piece in about the middle of the program right after the men's choir sang "The Little Drummer Boy".  After they sang, I got up and started laying out my music on the piano (see picture above) and as I was doing that, the junior sister missionary who was listed on the program after my song came up to the podium and started singing and playing her ukulele.  I was mentally all ready to play, but then I had to wait until Sister Walker got done playing her song.  That's when I started getting nervous.  When she finished, as I started playing the air conditioning came on and my music was right in the path of the AC vent, and it started to blow my music off the piano.  I had to stop playing, rearrange my music and start again.  The same thing happened!  Now I was pretty flustered.  Sister Lee and one of the junior missionaries came to my rescue and stood on both sides of the piano to hold my music in place.  I started playing for the third time and was able to get through the piece with only a few minor mistakes despite it not going well to begin with.  I had asked God to send me angels to help me as I played, specifically asking for my mother to calm my nerves and my mother-in-law to help me play well because she was very good at playing the piano. I'm sure God answered my prayers, and they were there beside me to help me get through it.  Although it stressed me out for weeks, I'm grateful I followed the spirit.  It was certainly a learning and growing experience for me. Now I could enjoy the Christmas holiday - no more stress.

 We were really hoping being away from family on Christmas day would not be as hard as last year. We were able to Facetime several of our children in the morning and open presents that they sent while talking to them.

      We had a mission wide Christmas luncheon at noon.  I volunteered to bring cheesy potato casserole.  There were rows of tables filling up the cultural hall to fit enough places for everyone.  There were 3 serving tables, one on either side of the gym and one in the overflow back area.  Even with 3 serving tables, the lines were long, but everyone didn't mind, it gave us a chance to visit with each other.  We had traditional ham, potatoes, corn, rolls, Jello salad, garden salads, and many different kinds of desserts.  There were so many desserts that they had to put them in the Relief Society room.

   After eating, there was a program (pictured above bottom right).  The first skit was "The 12 Days of Christmas I see in Laie!" (top left and bottom right picture).  It included geckos, chickens, turtles, matching muumuus, ukulele players, fans, cockroaches, and a mission leader in a palm tree.  Then a junior sister missionary did a hula dance (top right and bottom left picture).

     Then the king, Elvis Presley, made an appearance and sang "Blue Christmas".  Elder Parker was "the king" and did a pretty decent job of impersonating Elvis.  He even dyed his hair black to help complete the look.  Elder Harris, Sister Larsen, Sister Lee, and Elder Wayt were his backup singers.

     We have 12 sister missionaries from the Philippines serving in our mission.  They all sang a Filipino Christmas song.

     All the BYU - Hawaii senior missionaries did "Twas the Night Before Christmas" skit and adapted it to what their assignments at BYU-Hawaii are.  It was nice to see which missionaries are serving where because we don't interact with the BYU-Hawaii missionaries much unless they are in our district.

     Sister Purcell, a counselor in the mission presidency's wife, did the "Song of Christmas Hula"

     Then she taught the moves to everyone, and we all did it with her.

      I captured a few pictures of Elder Rappleye trying to learn the hula.

   Then we had a ukulele sing along.  Everyone who has been learning how to play the ukulele was encouraged to bring their ukuleles to play.  I didn't see too many people playing the ukulele this year.  It seems like last Christmas there were a lot of missionaries playing the ukulele, especially the younger sister missionaries.  

   After the program was over and after helping clean up, we headed over to see the Cowley family.  There was so much food leftover from the luncheon that they were trying to get people to take some home with them.  We grabbed some of the bags to take over to the Cowleys.  Jen was going to have a baby in a couple of weeks, so we thought they could freeze it and use after the baby was born.  We visited on their front porch, and they opened the gift we had left them on Sunday.  It was a Velcro dart game.  They immediately went out on the lawn and started playing the game.

   Thankfully Christmas wasn't as hard as last year.  We were able to talk or Facetime with all of our children.  We ended up not having enough time to go to the beach like I was hoping, so we can't say we spent Christmas on the beach.

        But we did go play some pickleball with the Fishers and Goodfellows, and Elder Rainsdon to burn off some of the calories we ate at the Christmas luncheon.

   We finally unwrapped the rest of our gifts after pickleball and ended the night watching Mr. Kruger's Christmas.

     

     One of the gifts we opened were messages and drawings from children and grandchildren.  I was so happy to now have some pictures to put on our ugly looking refrigerator.  Doesn't the refrigerator look so happy now?

     We got so many notes that they wouldn't all fit on the refrigerator, so we taped them up in our stairwell.  Now we can see them and feel the love every time we go out our front door and when we come home.

    The day after Christmas we were back serving at the PCC.  They had pushed town run to Thursday since Christmas was on Wednesday.  Thankfully, there wasn't very many stops, so it wasn't as stressful as the last couple of weeks.  Here's a few interesting sites we saw on our town run this week - top picture is Oahu Community Correctional Center.  It's the largest jail facility in Hawaii and it's right in Honolulu.  It houses about 950 male inmates.  The bottom picture shows that there is a street named "Salt Lake Blvd." in Honolulu.  We have driven by there lots of times.  We finally stopped at a red light where I could get a picture of the street sign.

   We were so excited to see our neighbors that live across the street from us in South Jordan at the Hukilua Marketplace.  They were vacationing on the island for Christmas break.  I arranged for some discount PCC tickets for them.  It was good to see familiar faces from home and visit with them for a little bit.

     

         The pictures to the right show the decorations at the Aloha Center (Student Activities Center).  It's pretty quiet there during semester break.

 On Saturday we drove over to Turtle Bay Resort.  We had heard that the Christmas decorations at the resort were pretty good.  So, we walked around the resort looking for all the Christmas decorations we could find.  We also found an infinity pool with a gorgeous view toward the ocean with lots of palm trees.  The ocean swells were quite large that morning.  We were hoping to enjoy some beach time at the resort, but it was too overcast.  We decided to get back in the car and drive along the north shore in hopes of finding some sunshine.  We got to Sunset Beach and the sun was shining, so we got all settled into our beach chairs to watch the wild waves (too dangerous to swim) and do some reading.  After about 30 minutes it started to rain, so we packed everything up and headed home.  So much for getting some beach time.

     

     Later Saturday afternoon we were able to watch on our laptop the BYU football team play in the Alamo Bowl and beat the University of Colorado, 36 - 14.  So even though we didn't get to have some good beach time, it was a good day after all with the BYU win!

      We had a fun district activity on Sunday evening.  The Tates offered to cook everyone a turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy.  Everyone else brought different sides.  The dinner was delicious.  Then we did a white elephant gift exchange.  It was mostly a true white elephant gift exchange with odd items found around our houses that each person didn't want any more.   There was even some stealing going on during the gift exchange.  I ended up with a pretty nice hoodie that says Ketchikan Alaska (never been there) with canned snow.  Elder Rappleye ended up with a box of macadamia chocolates. 

      We celebrated three birthdays - Elder Brent Timothy's whose birthday was December 24th; Sister LaRae Tate whose birthday is January 16th, and Sister Sherry Gammon whose birthday is January 7th (bottom picture - left to right),

      Top picture is a group district picture with the birthday honorees seated on the couch.

A week full of Christmas celebrations: December 16 - 22, 2024

 

     This was the first full week that school was out for Christmas break.  For FHE, the ward had another movie night in the Little Theater with dinner provided.  Can you tell what movie we watched from the photos? (The Polar Express).  The attendance was low because of kids going home or working at the PCC.

    I just feel that I need to document an aspect of the work Elder Rappleye does even though I don't have any pictures to go along with it. Elder Rappleye and Elder Bates who work out in the motor pool are the most popular senior missionaries in the mission.  I don't have any way to prove it, but all the senior missionaries that have vehicles are frequently asking for help with their cars.  The senior missionaries don't get mission cars, so every senior missionary who wants to have a car to use while serving here is responsible for buying and maintaining their own cars.  Whenever someone's vehicle is having mechanical troubles, they approach Elder Rappleye or Elder Bates and say, "Could you help me with . . . " or "I'm having a problem with my car, it's doing (fill in the blank), what do you think is wrong?"  Everyone knows who to ask if they have car issues and many days Elder Rappleye is helping a missionary with their vehicle or giving advice on what they need to do. With no auto repair shops in Laie or the surrounding area, the closest place to go to get a car fixed is Kaneohe, 40 minutes away.  For minor repairs or diagnostics, Elder Rappleye doesn't mind helping them, but it does keep him busy serving both the PCC and the senior missionaries.

    I went into work on Monday and worked the full day, then Lili, my boss told me, "Merry Christmas. You can have the rest of the week off."  I was like, WHAT???  The PCC was going to be so slow that week and all the student workers are allowed to work 40 hours a week when school is not in session.  They were going to have a hard time keeping the student workers busy all week, so they let me have some time off and had Jaz, who I've trained to do my job, do the purchase orders, to give him something to do all week.  Sister Sauve was already taking time off because she had family in town.  Since we haven't had Wednesday's off, I have not had enough time to get things done.  It was nice to have time off to clean, get Christmas gifts ready, practice the piano for a piano solo I was playing at the Christmas Eve devotional, and Tuesday morning I spent a little time at the beach.  I still had to work on Wednesday doing town run, and a short day on Thursday greeting the tour buses, so I wasn't completely off the hook on all my duties.

   This week at the Hukilua Marketplace is Santa week.  Every night some of the missionaries get a chance to help at Santa's workshop that has been set up near the Pacific Theater. The kids can stop by and tell Santa what they want for Christmas and get their picture taken with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  We volunteered to be Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Tuesday night.  We had two elves to assist us - Sister Julene Jolley (a perfect name for an elf - sitting next to Santa in the picture) and Sister Carlene Bailey (the elf standing far right).  We had fun posing for a lot of pictures with kids, young and old, that believe in Santa Claus.  My main job as Mrs. Claus was to hand out candy canes to the young kids after they got their picture taken with Santa.  No sitting on Santa's lap was allowed, except for one lady who shocked us both and sat on Santa's lap and quickly took a picture.

     Thankfully this Wednesday's town run was not quite so crazy - only 11 stops (still quite a few).  It didn't help that when we went to one of the locations near the airport, they told us one of the items we needed to pick up was not at that location, but at their downtown location.  We had already done all the downtown pickups before we had gone out to the airport.  Alas, we had to head back to downtown Honolulu, and unluckily we got stuck in a traffic jam.  So, getting stuck in the traffic jam and going back downtown probably added an hour onto our travel time.  Luckily, we did go past the Aloha Tower nice and slow so I could get a picture of it.  I'm hoping to go see it up close and out of the car before we go home.

      The added stop downtown was right by these murals pictured left.  Since we had to illegally park, I opted to stay in the car while Elder Rappleye went in to get the part.  We have actually been here before, but I didn't get a picture of the murals last time.  There are so many buildings in Honolulu with painted murals on them.  It's so fun to see them, and it helps you remember where you are.

      We stopped by the Hukilua Marketplace after playing pickleball Wednesday night to see who was acting as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  We were delighted to see our district leaders, Elder and Sister Lee in costume that night.  We were able to get our picture taken with them when there was no line.

     We were finally able to get over to another musical presentation at the Visitor's Center on Thursday night. It was the Laie 9th Ward Relief Society choir.

      Friday at work, we had a BBQ out at the motor pool for all who work out there and their spouses.  Everyone pitched in to bring something.  It was fun to have Anthony (the boss over motor pool) bring his 3 teenage kids to participate and we were able to get to know them a little bit more.

     This whole week at the Hukilua Marketplace is like a party every night.  So, we just go hang out at the marketplace after dark for a little while to enjoy the lights, music, and atmosphere.  The top right picture in the collage to the left shows the band that was playing in the gazebo in the marketplace Thursday night.  The bottom left picture shows the "train" that gives people rides around the marketplace and parking lot of the PCC.  We were hoping to take a ride on it, but the line was too long.  We wanted to make it over to the visitor's center on time for that night's musical presentation.

     When we got to the visitor's center we were surprised to see the Cowley family there.  We knew it wasn't their ward performing that night because it was the married student 4th ward.  We found out that Ava and Cohen's piano teacher is in that Ward, and she had recruited them to come perform.  There were also some nice singing groups that performed - a men's group and a women's group (pictured), and some individual performances.

 

We finally were able to go back up the mountain behind our house and hike all the way to the pillbox.  Above are pictures of the trail.  The top left is us at the trailhead up by the water tank where the paved portion of the trail ends. It had rained the day before so I was a little reluctant to hike it because I thought it would be too muddy, but surprisingly it wasn't bad except for the spot pictured bottom left.  There were places along the trail that was covered in dead pine needles like pictured in the bottom right picture.

When we got to the top of the ridge, we found this sign.  The left picture, taken on the way up, I'm pointing the way to the pillbox.  The other way goes to Koloa Gulch.  The right picture, taken on the way down, shows Elder Rappleye giving a thumbs up because we made it to the pillbox.

Shortly after the sign as we were walking along the ridge, we came to this section of the trail.  Thankfully the trail was wide enough and there really wasn't any risk of sliding down the mountain.

The views from the top.  The top picture is looking south over Hau'ula and beyond.  The bottom picture is looking north over Laie.  If you look closely you can find the BYU-Hawaii campus, Laie point, and Hukilua Bay.

We made it to the pillbox!  It's hidden behind trees that have grown up so you can't see it from our house or the highway.

The top picture is showing the other side view of the mountain shown in the bottom picture (yellow arrow pointing).  The red yellow is showing where the pillbox is located.  The bottom picture was taken from our deck.

This last picture shows the view of our house (red arrow) from the top of the mountain.  It's a zoomed in photo. Mission accomplished for Elder Rappleye, now having completed the hike to the pillbox.

  Saturday was our last chance to ride the PCC train, so we again went to the Polynesian Cultural Center so we could ride the train.  Knowing this is our last Christmas here, it was now or never.  As we waited in line for our turn, we asked the little boy behind us if he was excited to ride the train.  He told us that he already rode it, and this was going to be his 5th time!  I guess that means he liked it.

      After riding the train, we walked around the marketplace for a while.  The top right picture shows where they were making "snow".  The bottom two pictures show the band that was playing in the gazebo that night.

    We didn't stay long because we needed to hurry over to the Visitor's Center to enjoy another musical presentation.  Saturday night's performers were from the La'ie 7th Ward.  This was my favorite night of all the one's we went to.  They had so many youth participating, and they were all a little reluctant, but also very good.  The young men's group (bottom left picture) was especially reluctant, but the young man with the long hair had a good voice and carried the group.  Despite his demeanor, I think he actually enjoyed singing the song.

    

    The choir conductor was THE best!  He is the head of the theater department at BYU-H, Dr. Michael Morris. As he led the choir, he would sway and bob to the music.  You could tell he loved music, and it was in his heart and soul.  He sang a solo, "O, Holy Night" (above bottom right picture) - so very good.  The pictures to the right I took trying to capture his body movements, but it doesn't really show it.  I really should have videoed it.

     Sunday, we only had Sacrament Meeting, so after church we delivered gifts to our fellow district missionaries and to my Aunt Faith and Cousin Julie (bottom right picture).  We missed connecting with Cowleys and just left their package on their porch.  Elder and Sister Timothy is in the top left-hand picture.  Elder and Sister Lee are in the top right-hand picture. Sister Tate is in the bottom left-hand picture.  Elder Tate was taking a nap.  I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the Gammons when we dropped off their gift.  

Top Left to Right: Devin's family, Sara's family, Noelle's family, Derek's family, Neal's family, Aimee's family, Angela's family, and Elder and Sister Rappleye

 

     We decided to take a picture by our little Christmas tree to document it since all of our children were sending us pictures of them by their Christmas trees.  Merry Christmas Sunday!