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.

Week 44 Blog

Monday – the first day of transfer week. Devon’s leg is looking pretty good – still a little red, but vastly improved. I’m also feeling rested and better.

I had a sweet surprise when Sister Liwai showed up in our office for visit, and brought us a box of yummy chocolate covered biscuits – made on the Big Island.

Sister Liwai (pronounced Levi) lives on the Big Island. She was in Oahu for a family wedding (that got cancelled, but she came anyway) and stopped by the office to meet me. She has been organizing the Mission Zone Conference Luncheons on the Big Island for 17 years. She was stake RS president many years ago and has kept the luncheon assignment all these years. She is wonderful and loves our missionaries so much!!! She has been such a cheerful support to me as I was learning how to organize the luncheons – so loving and patient. I was thrilled to meet her. Can’t you just tell by her beautiful smile that she is one in a million!

That was such a good start for my week. We were steady busy but not crazy. I finished the monthly mission newsletter and got that emailed to everyone. I finished the departing books for our missionaries that leave tomorrow. Eight beautiful new missionaries arrived safely from the Provo MTC. They were supposed to arrive about 3:30 but their plane was late. They gathered their luggage and then drove to Tantalus to see Honolulu. Sister Bekker likes to give them a history talk about Hawaii while they are there. She is a big history buff. It was 6:00 pm before they came to the office. We had pizza dinner ready for them. President and the AP’s did a short orientation and then the office staff did their orientation. It was almost 9:00 before we got home – a very long day as we started at 8:00 am. We may need to adjust this schedule.

Tuesday was truly crazy – transfer day. The office was buzzing with missionaries. They love to come see the office staff and we love them. A couple missionaries were pretty sad to be transferring, and, to tell the truth, I was sad to see them go. Oh well, that’s how it goes.

Elder Eborn (L) has been assigned to our ward for the last 5 months. We've enjoyed getting to know him, but he has been transferred. Elder Ashby (R) will be staying and getting a new companion. This is his first transfer cycles, so he is glad to be staying. They are both great missionaries.

Our AP's - Elder Lybbert (L) and Elder Roney (R). Elder Roney is a brand new AP and Elder Lybbert is fairly new himself. They will be great leaders.

Sister Yamamoto (L) and Sister Iino (R) - both from Japan. We bonded with Sister Iino when her apartment had mushrooms and we had to find them a new apartment. Both these sisters are so sweet and such good missionaries.

We had lots of mail because Monday was a holiday. I had multiple calls to make to various offices at the missionary department in SLC: requested a couple coming in March be delayed until April, requested a senior couple who went home in December on medical leave be released in the computer, verified that the missionary coming from Phoenix that we were hosting overnight was really coming (the last two didn’t show up), had an issue with IMOS, and I had to call a couple of senior missionaries on the mainland that are coming in a couple of months. B-U-S-Y! Then I downloaded the photos of the incoming missionaries and emailed them to their parents. Last, but not least, I did the weekly Come and Go Report. We had two new missionary recommendations for Visitor Center missionaries, so those had to be printed up and files made, and had to email a PDF copy to the Visitor Center Director.  We ended the day with a trip to Office Depot to pick up the printed newsletters, and Walgreens to pick up the photos of the new missionaries. We stopped at Panda Express for take out on the way home. After dinner we folded laundry and I ironed Devon’s shirts. I also enjoyed short phone calls with Lori, Emily, and Barbara during the day.

Devon was busy all day in the office getting all the moves straightened out in IMOS. Every transfer people get moved, phones get traded, so it’s a job to keep it all organized. It seems there is always a surprise move at the last minute and Devon has to deal with that.

Wednesday Devon was in the office all day working on letters to the landlords. Many of them want to be notified when our missionaries move in and out of their apartments, so Devon prepares letters letting them know who is now living in the apartment. I was busy all day as well. Previously I sent release certificates to only the MLS, MRS, and Office missionaries. The PCC and BYUH sent out their own. Well somewhere along the way this past year they stopped sending them. No one seems to know who was doing the job, so they have now decided to give it to me. It’s no problem, but now I have to go back and send certificates to those who didn’t get one. So that kept me busy. I found out that one of our sisters who has been temporarily serving in Canada Calgary Mission while she waits for her visa approval has been granted her visa. They were going to wait until our next transfer (6 weeks) to send her, but we want her now. So after a few phone calls I think it’s been worked out. As soon as the Calgary Mission has the visa in hand, travel will book her flight to us. 

After work we drove to Costco to pick up a few things for us, and a couple of study tables for missionaries. Unfortunately, Costco was out of the tables. We’ll have to go to another Costco tomorrow to get them. We came home, had a quick and easy dinner, and just kicked back.

Thursday Devon was out of the office all day delivering and moving furniture, and then he went to Costco to get the tables. It seemed I had one thing after another all day. President was in the office all afternoon doing interviews, so we had quite a few missionaries in and out. I had to talk to a couple of missionaries whose release date falls between transfers. When this happens, President gives them their choice of which date they want to go home on. One sweet missionary was devastated just thinking about going home much less making a decision about when. We had a long talk. I hope he can work it out. Another elder is thinking about what he wants to do, and the third one knew right away he wanted to stay as long as he could.

We found out that one of our missionaries had a seizure last night and had to go to the emergency room. He is an excellent missionary, but he is being sent home to be evaluated and treated. Hopefully, he will be back. His companion is also fairly new. He did a great job getting help, but it shook him to the core.

Friday – wonderful Friday! All the advancement letters to the parents went out today. This is the fastest I’ve had them out after transfers. I think that’s because President is getting the transfer board finalized quicker in IMOS. When that it done it makes everything easier after transfers. I have about 5 senior couples that need travel home. A couple know what they want to do and were easy to request. But a couple more just can’t make up their minds about when to leave. I encouraged them to talk it over and let me know ASAP – I’m already overdue requesting them. We have 5 senior missionaries that want to change their release dates. It’s not a problem if it’s within 30 days of their original date, but if it is outside that date it gets complicated. So I’ve been working on that as they are all outside the 30 days. Two stand a chance, but I’m not sure about the other three. We’ll see.

Devon was in and out of the office today, but was able to get a lot done. After office hours we went to dinner with the other office couples to a wonderful Asian restaurant in Manoa Valley. It is the best Asian food I’ve had – everything is good, especially the honey walnut shrimp! It was fun to just relax and enjoy time together.

Saturday – our first totally free P-day in quite a while. We slept in! Then we did a little laundry and got cleaned up for the day. We decided to go check out the blowhole at Halona Beach. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were excited to be out in the sun. Well, the rock formations at the blowhole were amazing, and we enjoyed seeing the ocean crash into the rocks, but it was low tide and thus no activity from the blowhole. Oh well. Next time we’ll check the tide charts before we go see it.

We drove a little way farther down the road and stopped at a beach. We pulled our mats and chairs out of the trunk of the car and set up on the beach for an hour. It was glorious basking in the sun and hearing the ocean waves roll in and out. Well, glorious until the clouds rolled in and it started to sprinkle. At that we folded up our stuff and headed back to town.

Sister Shurtz and I meet up when we got home and went to get pedicures. I used to go with Sister Overduyn all the time and she’s gone home. I’m grateful to have a new buddy to do this with me.

I drove home, dropped off Sister Shurtz, picked up Devon, and headed to the theater to see “La La Land.” We both really enjoyed it, but Devon was worried for the first half hour. After the movie we went to Safeway for groceries and then home for dinner and rest. It was a good Saturday.

Sunday was wonderful – sunny and warm. We enjoyed watching the Golden Globe Awards in the evening – especially as we just had seen “La La Land” last night.

I really enjoyed Sunday School today. We are studying the Doctrine and Covenants and today’s lesson was specifically about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We read and discussed many scriptures – interesting discussion. Our teacher ended with a personal experience I will try to share. He said he told the Lord once that he really didn’t need adversity to keep him faithful, active, obedient. He was going to do that no matter what. But then a strong impression came to him….”But how will you come to know Me?”

I read a quote from Jeffrey Holland this week, “…man’s extremity is God’s opportunity…” This resonates so powerfully in me. I have experienced God’s companionship and comfort most in the moments of my greatest despair. I don’t seek for adversity – but I know it can come at any time, in any form. I try to live to have God’s companionship all the time. How sweet is His peace. But how powerful when His all encompassing love and peace lifts me in my affliction and carries me to a place of peace and hope. My testimony is sure and my heart is full.

Week 43 Report

Wow! This week started off with a bang. I forgot to mention that last Saturday Devon was bit by a stray dog when we were in Kaneohe. It was a pretty mean looking bite that broke the skin in many places. We tried to clean it and went on our way. In the early hours of Monday, Devon started running a fever and wasn’t feeling well. We thought he had the flu. The fever continued all day Monday and Tuesday. He felt bad enough to stay home on Tuesday (that tells you something). When I came home from the office about 5:30 I took a look at his leg and the whole lower leg was red and swollen – cellulitis. We got in the car and went to the ER at Queens Hospital. The waiting room was packed, but gratefully we only waited about 30 minutes before we saw the doctor. He agreed it was cellulitis and ordered labs, IV hydration, and 3 grams of ampicillin IV. The labs looked pretty good so he sent us home with a prescription for 10 days of Augmentin and instructions to return in a day or two if Devon wasn’t feeling better or the leg didn’t look better.

Wednesday Devon said he felt a little better – no fever – so he went to the office for half a day. By evening the leg was less red and still no fever, so we were encouraged. By Wednesday he was ready to put in a full day at the office – no appetite but definitely better. It continued to improve throughout the week. We were very grateful.

One of our big concerns was the possibility of rabies, as we didn’t know anything about the dog. It was a big relief to learn that there is NO rabies in Hawaii! I was stunned and very grateful. The ER doctor confirmed that was true. So I guess Hawaii is a good place to get a dog bite. Devon says that now his missionary experience is complete.

Work in the office this week has been as busy as ever. It was time to request travel home for our March departing missionaries. We only have 6 going home, but four of them are going to the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea. It’s a little challenging to figure out which airport to send them to especially if they are from a small town. I’ve learned a lot and I think I’ve got them booked to the right destination. I also requested our flight home – that was really strange!

It seems like I’ve been on the phone to SLC a lot this week – questions about travel, IMOS system problems, visa and permanent residence questions for one of our missionaries, having SL adjust release dates that were wrong in the computer and an arriving date for a senior couple that needed to get moved up. One sweet brother in SL said, “Oh, hello Sister Tufts. How are you?” We’re getting to be good friends!

I’ve also been busy doing the mail this week. Usually the receptionist does it, but she is new and has so much to learn. It takes a big stress off her to have me do it. I’ve had time this week, but next week may be different as it’s transfer week. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll keep doing it as long as I can. I’ve also had lots of letters to write. We only have 2 missionaries going home next week, and I already have most of their departing books ready to go. My big goal is to finish updating my instruction book for the sister who will be replacing us.

Thursday was my birthday. That day and the next couple of days I enjoyed lots of phone calls, texts, and messages from family and dear friends from all over the world wishing me happy birthday. It was a little overwhelming to realize just how many special people have been a part of my life. I have been richly blessed! Thursday itself was a usual, busy day at the office. We came home very tired and decided to stay in and have left-overs – which were actually very yummy!

Friday was Elder Reeder’s birthday, so the three office couples decided to go to dinner at my favorite restaurant – Haliewa Joes in Kaneohe. Luckily it is a favorite of Elder Reeder’s too.

We spent Saturday morning and early afternoon doing 5 pad checks. One pad needed some attention, but the rest were pretty good. I started feeling a little under the weather and so took a nap in the afternoon. I woke up feeling feverish and achy and decided to miss the Zone New Year activity. I put the potatoes in the oven and cut up the vegies (my assignment). Then I sent them with Devon and stayed home. The zone enjoyed the baked potato bar and vegies. Then they watched “Chariots of Fire” while they ate popcorn and candy. Afterward they enjoyed a rowdy Nerf war game in the halls before they had to leave for home. Curfew is 9:30. I heard it was great fun but I was glad I decided to stay home. I went to bed early, but Devon stayed up till midnight. He said the fireworks over the city were loud and amazing. He watched them from our balcony and said he’d never seen so many at one time. They were coming from multiple areas all over the city. Beautiful!

Sunday our church time changed from 11:00 to 1:00. I woke up feeling pretty good, but by 1:00 my energy was fading. I played the organ for Sacrament Meeting and then came home for a nap. In the evening Devon needed to deliver a bicycle to an elder in Hauula (up by Laie), so I rode with him to drop off the bike.

I wish I had some photos to post. I’ll have to do better at taking some, but in order to do that I suppose we will need to do something besides work and sleep. Hopefully this new week will find us both feeling well. I’m looking forward to transfers. It’s a lot of work, but so fun to meet the new missionaries. I always hate to say goodbye to the elders that are transferred from our zone, and I’m going to miss our AP that is going home. But that’s the natural progression of things. All is well. We love being here!

Week 42 Report

I was worried about coming back to work on Monday after being away for two days, but it turns out there was no need to worry. There was lots of catch up work, but it went smoothly and I was able to get a lot done. We had another huge influx of packages for the missionaries, but with four of us in the office the task was soon accomplished. President was in the office most of the day doing missionary interviews, so I was able to catch him between interviews and get lots of questions answered. It was a good, but busy Monday.  Devon was gone most of the day moving missionaries from one apartment to another. He is closing one apartment so repairs have to be scheduled. Thankfully we have a wonderful member who is happy to take on all our projects. He is such a sweet man and does a very good job. I think most of Devon’s week will be moving people and things.

It was great meeting our new office couple, Elder and Sister Shurtz from Washington state. They are excited about serving here and ready to get to work. I think they will pick things up quickly and will be a blessing to our office. We will miss the Overduyns – don’t want to talk about them leaving.

Monday evening we had our Senior Missionary FHE at President and Sister Bekker’s house. In December they are in charge of FHE and it was wonderful. We had baked salmon with a yummy pesto sauce, wild rice, rolls, tossed salad, and a great chocolate cake with berry topping. It was delicious! For the activity they invited Sister Swinton to give a talk about the prophet Joseph Smith. She and her husband are the Visitor Center Directors. She is an accomplished writer about church history and has been specifically involved in special projects about Joseph’s life. I wish I had a recording – it was so wonderful. I have a new understanding and appreciation for this amazing prophet of the Lord.

Tuesday was good. Devon was gone most of the day moving more missionaries and helping the Overduyns move things out of their apartment. Tuesday evening I had a wonderful phone conversation with one of my dearest friends. I treasure our phone conversations. We’ve been friends since we were teenagers. We talk about our challenges (there are plenty) and rejoice in our blessings (also many) – including our friendship. She is my hero!

Wednesday was busy moving people and things…again! I was busy in the office: letters, mail, updating rosters, working on senior travel, etc. In the evening Sister Reeder and I went over to the Overduyn’s apartment and helped them do some cleaning. They are scheduled to fly home tomorrow night and they still have so much left to do. I sure don’t envy them.

Thursday was interesting. It started off with a brunch for all the office staff to say farewell to the Overduyns. Elder and Sister Evans joined us. Later that morning I received an email with the travel itinerary for the couple that will be replacing us. What’s interesting is that they weren’t in the computer system, which means they hadn’t accepted their call yet. I wondered if they had even received it yet, so I sent them an email asking if they had heard anything. Sister Williams said, “Not yet, but we are so anxious.” I told her to keep watching – surely it would come soon, being careful not to let on that I knew anything. A couple of hours later I got an email from her saying the call had come and she could hardly contain herself. WooHoo! I shared what I knew about her travel and wished her well with her mission preparations.

Thursday evening Elder and Sister Overduyn came over for a quick dinner of stew, salad, and rolls. Then we hopped in the mission truck and took them to the airport to catch their “red-eye” flight home to Utah. What an experience. Their bags were overweight, so they had to rearrange things to stay under the weight limit. The goal was achieved by giving some items to me to ship home. The important thing is that they made it home safely in time to enjoy Christmas with their family.

Friday was another busy day in the office. The highlight was a FaceTime chat with Marianne and Tony’s family. We watched them open their gifts from us – so much fun. Friday evening we ran errands and arrived home exhausted. We have received so many wonderful Christmas cards. It’s been wonderful to open our mailbox each day and find it holding a treasure. One of those days a package came with all these cards.

Our extended Onstott family had written notes to us at the Onstott Christmas party. What a treat! We divided them up so we could read a few each day and have them all read by Christmas. Each one was a treasure!

Saturday we drove to Laie…again! I had an appointment with Dr. Hughes. He thinks my hip pain is a pinched sciatic nerve and no problem with the joint – good news. He and I both think it’s from sitting at a desk so much. He gave me some good ideas about how to relieve some of the pressure. Sure hope it works.

We also dropped off some things at the Visitor’s Center, and a box springs at a senior apartment. When we arrived at the senior apartment we were surprised to find there had been a bad water leak that caused extensive damage to the bathroom. The apartment was vacant, so no one was there to catch the leak. The owner is going to have it fixed…well, she is going to let Devon arrange for the repair and will pay for it  -  one more thing on his plate.

Saturday evening, Christmas Eve, we had a gathering with our zone and the AP’s at the mission office to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.” We had popcorn, pile up dip and chips, soda, and movie candy. We all enjoyed it.

Christmas morning we got up early, showered, and waited to FaceTime with our kids. While we were waiting I put a crockpot stew on. We visited with Lori’s and Brad’s families, saw some of the wonderful things Santa had brought them, and watched them open our presents to them. We received Brad and Jenna’s presents early in the month and have been enjoying them. We opened the ones from Emily and Lori while we were on FaceTime.

Devon got a nice BYU tie and I got these adorable “peg dolls” – replicas of us! So cute. I can’t wait to show them to the office staff. The Christmas card is from one of my childhood friends, Ellen. It's a watercolor she painted. I love it!

Church was just an hour long and was very nice – great talks, and nice musical items from the ward choir and the primary. After church Elder Schmidt and Elder Jensen came over for lunch of stew and rolls, and then used our computer and iPad to talk with their families. After they were done we FaceTimed with Stephen’s family and Daryn’s family while we watched them open the gifts from us. Good times! Later we enjoyed FaceTime with David and some of his kids. It was great to have talked with all our kids today!

In the evening we went to Brother and Sister Mataele’s home for an amazing dinner and Christmas celebration.

LOVE the Hawaiian Christmas Tree!

There were probably 35 people there – family, missionaries, and some members

without family near by.

The Mataeles are some of the most generous, loving people I know. What a blessing they have been to us while on our mission.

Sister Mataele had prepared a wonderful program starting with the Hawaiian version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” that Sister Reeder and I accompanied on our ukulele. We played a couple of fun games, and then had a nice program with various people sharing special memories and impressions of Christmas. We sang a couple of carols and Brother and Sister Mataele bore their testimonies. We left with hearts full of gratitude for the opportunity to be in Hawaii on our mission and share in these special moments, and increased gratitude for the greatest of all Christmas gifts – God’s Son and his gift of the Atonement for us. There is no greater love and no greater gift.