Week 45 Report

Another week in paradise, although sometimes I have to be reminded it is paradise. We spend so much time in the office in Honolulu and there isn’t much paradise there. But, the people we work with make up for that – all wonderful – especially the missionaries.

Monday we spent a good amount of time in the morning going to Costco to pick up the food for Missionary Leadership Conference. And then in the afternoon we drove to the airport to pick up a sister who was arriving from the Canada Calgary Mission. She is from Canada, and was temporarily serving there while she waited for visa approval. It finally came last week, so they flew her to us on Monday. She’s adorable and so full of excitement and energy. She is the second oldest child of 5. Her family is all members of the church. They immigrated from the Philippines to Canada 6 years ago seeking better opportunities. She speaks great English and Tagalog, and will be serving at the Laie Temple Visitors Center.

Tuesday Devon made a trip to Laie to meet with an insurance adjustor. One of the apartments we rent for a senior couple had a water leak and sustained quite a bit of damage. No one was living in it at the time. The owner lives in California and she wanted Devon the meet with the insurance adjustor for her. We are not going to be able to keep the apartment (because we don’t need it) and the owner is really sad. It’s not a great apartment even without the water damage.

I’ve been so busy requesting travel for seniors going home in the next three months. We have so many. Most are easy to work with, but some have circumstances or requests that are difficult. I do my best to help, but a lot is out of my hands. I’ve also started working on documents/letters/etc. needed for the next transfer. It’s 5 weeks away, but if I don’t get started I won’t get it done. Problems come up daily and they distract from the routine.

Wednesday we were only in the office in the morning. We left early for a doctor’s appointment in Kahuku (by Laie). My sciatic nerve pain is getting worse, and added to that is a low-grade fever, body aches, and chills for about 10 days. So we made the hour and 15 minute drive. The doctor ordered x-rays of my chest and hip, but when I got to the hospital the order was for a lumbar spine and hip. I said, “Nope, that’s not right.” He checked with the doctor and then I had chest and hip x-rays, AND a series of spine x-rays. Whatever! The doctor called in a prescription of Prednisone to our pharmacy in Honolulu. He told me it would be 2 a day for 10 days, then 1 a day for 5 days, then ½ a day for 5 days. I get to the pharmacy and it’s only 2 a day for 10 days. What is going on? The pharmacist put a call into the doctor to clarify, but he wasn’t available, so we left without the med. We’ll have to go back tomorrow to get it. He was supposed to call me by now with the x-ray results, but no call yet. I’m beyond frustrated! I’m so used to great medical care and these two mistakes just drive me crazy. I feel sorry for people who don’t know when to speak up. Okay…rant over, but next time I’ll just go to the ER and pay the co-pay!

Today I am so grateful for a wonderful, patient husband and companion. He is worried about me and hates to see me hurting. He’s so good to take me to the doctor, and run get whatever I think will help make things feel better. I am truly blessed! So for now I’ll pull out the frozen peas and sit on them for a while!

Thursday morning came and my frustration with the sciatic pain and low-grade fever overcame me. We spent the morning in the ER. I was seen by a wonderful PA and doctor. The results were two fold: I don’t have a pelvic blood clot and I was referred to a local family practice doctor for follow-up. The rest of the day we worked in the office and Devon ran mission errands. Another medical problem has cropped up. Devon's jaw pain is back and as bad as ever. He has been off his meds for about 4 months, but will restart them and hope it will quiet down the nerve. We are falling apart!

Friday was a quiet day in the office. I was able to get a lot done updating the instruction binder for my replacement. Every time I look it over I find one more thing to update. Just let a few days go by and there is something new or different to add. Thankfully, we will overlap a week here in Hawaii so I should be able to show her everything. Actually, she has a lot more office experience than I do…she’ll probably show me a thing or two!

We left at 2:30 for my appointment with the new doctor. Her office is just down the street and she is WONDERFUL! I will be starting physical therapy on Monday and she ordered a short course of Prednisone to try to relieve the inflammation and irritation that we think is causing the pain. There’s always the off chance there is new cancer activity, but neither of us thinks that’s the case. If this course of action doesn’t help, we’ll pursue that avenue. Another good outcome from this doctor visit is that she will see Devon next week about his jaw pain.

We returned to the office to finish out our workday about 6:00 and then decided to catch a quick dinner and movie. We saw “Hidden Figures” and really enjoyed it.

Saturday we slept in and had a lazy morning that included doing a little laundry. At noon we arrived at the harbor to enjoy the Christmas present Daryn and Catie gave us – a whale watching lunch cruse. It was wonderful!

Our ship - Star of Honolulu.

It's funny...we see this ship from our apartment cruising back and forth almost daily.

Docked across the harbor from us was this sweet lady. She cruises around the Hawaiian islands.

Pulling out of the harbor. The white tower with the steeple is the Aloha Tower.

Waikiki Beach. I love the historic pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel among all the newer skyscrapers. Also, notice how they build homes up the side of the mountain. They are really packed in, but have beautiful views.

Lighthouse

The next photos are of various ships we passed.

Tug boats bringing this sailing ship in.

Lunch - yum!

At the end of the cruise they had three different Hawaiian activities. One was lei making - I didn't get a photo of that.

Keike (children) getting ready to learn the hula. They were adorable!

And my favorite...a ukulele lesson. He taught us how to play "Diana" and "You Are My Sunshine." So much fun. He is playing a Kanilea ukulele - same brand as mine. He was quite impressed that I had one. I'm impressed with his. It's got a baritone body and tenor neck - custom made.

Ukulele band

Happy cruising senior missionaries!

You, no doubt, noticed there was not one photo of a whale. That's because we didn't see any! Such a disappointment. But since we were guaranteed to see whales, everyone was given a voucher to take another cruise. WIN WIN! I would love to go again, thank you very much! And a big THANK YOU to Daryn and Catie!

Our day ended with a little shopping. We need to pick out a refrigerator for our new Lehi home, so we went to Best Buy the check them out. I think we've made a decision. We also did a little grocery shopping and had a quiet evening. I worked on my Hawaiian appliqué project.

Our weather this week has been warmer and so nice. I wonder if winter is over in Hawaii (not that we had much winter). Sunday was no exception - a beautiful day. We enjoyed church and quiet time in our apartment. I'm beginning to feel like I need to start shipping things home. The weeks are flying by and time is creeping up on us. There are a few more places we want to visit before we leave and I hope we get it all done.

My cousin who is serving an office mission in Arkansas shared a scripture in her blog last week that I want to share here. It's found in Moroni 7:2. 

"And now I, Mormon, speak unto you, my beloved brethren; and it is by the gift of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and his holy will, because of the gift of his calling unto me, that I am permitted to speak unto you at this time."

In my arrogance, I thought of this mission as my gift to God. But I have come to know that it really has been His gift to me. I've learned so much, had such wonderful experiences (some that have challenged me), and met so many wonderful people. It truly has been a gift. I hope I will approach whatever calling comes next with this new attitude and feel grateful for all the opportunities God puts in my path.