Create in me a Clean Heart

Today Donna, with a little help from Don, taught the Gospel Doctrine class.  The lesson was titled "Create in me a Clean Heart."  We used Jeffrey R. Holland's last General Conference talk, "Place No More for the Enemy of my Soul" for part of the lesson.  Good lesson about David, Bath-sheba and Uriah and David losing his exaltation.

We all need to be on guard and never let inappropriate thoughts or conduct slip through a crack in the door.

Member-Missionary Work is the Best!

This morning a church member brought a friend and his wife and young son to the VC before going to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the afternoon and evening.  I learned the two friends are in the military.  For some reason my tour of the VC was unlike any other --- we started in our temple corner, then saw "God's Plan for Families", followed by the Book of Mormon exhibit and our interactive kiosks.  We ended up in the Prophet's corner listening to President Monson's testimony of the Book of Mormon.  We had spent an hour together and when we were done Bryan, Glenda and son, Ezra, all expressed in interest in receiving a copy of the Book of Mormon and having missionaries visit them.

53rd Wedding Anniversary

Today was our 53rd Wedding Anniversary - we've actually been going "steady" for 56 years, and the years seem to get better all the time.

Our celebrating consisted of driving to the airport and picking up our granddaughter, Courtney, who will be staying with us for a couple of weeks.  Her brother, Kody, drove with us.  Listening in on their back-seat conversations we realized that we speak a different language than they do and, although we live on the same globe, their world is much different than ours!  (Personally we like ours better.)

Transfers Again

Transfers occur every six weeks.  This week we lost three sisters:  Sister Petersen returned to Japan; Sister Larsen to Young Ward, Utah; and Sister Latu to Cucamonga, CA. 

One new sister arrived from the MTC: Sister Brown from Mesa, AZ.

Family from Guam

This afternoon Sister Aguda asked me to follow up on a family she had started in "God's Plan.."  She had to leave.  She said the dad was not a member but the mother was.  I later learned that the son and daughter were also members.  The dad said he was catholic and we compared doctrine.  We talked about one major difference (besides authority) was the doctrine that families can be together forever.  After also showing them our 5-minute Laie history, I said to him, "Ricky, I would like to send two missionaries to your home to teach you the gospel.  Would that be alright?"  He said, Yes! and so they are on their way.

Donna's latest batch of chicks

So far she has made 127 chicken pin cushions and is working on 26 more.  Execept for a few for family members and missionaries, they all go to the Polynesian Cultural Center for sale at the Mission Home.  They sell for $8.00 each and the money goes to help pay the BYUH students who work at the PCC.

Temple Dates Announced

The Open House dates and Re-dedication dates for the temple were announced this week.  Finally! The Open House will run from Friday, October 22 (David's birthday) to Saturday, November 13.  The dedication will be on Sunday, November 21 in three sessions.

BYU Hawaii Women's Conference

The two of us were invited to be Presenters at the annual Women's Conference at BYUH.  We had a workshop yesterday afternoon and also this morning.  Our workshop was titled "Joy in Temple Service."  We used this picture painted by Linda Curley Christensen which she titled "Beautiful Gate."  It is a painting of the third Jerusalem Temple seen by Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel, and other prophets which will be built before the Savior's Second Coming.  The scriptures describe water flowing out from under the threshold of the temple door on the east side.  Jeremiah calls it "Living Waters."  Donna shared stories of JOY in the temple.  We had fun doing the workshop (now that it's over).  The conference was small, with less than 100 attending.

Visitor Referral In Spite of the Odds

This morning before opening the VC I stopped at BYU-H's IT office for some help setting up my new laptop.  It took longer than I thought and before I knew it, it was after 9:00 am, meaning I was late opening up.  About that time my cell phone rang and the sisters called to say they had entered the VC, assuming I was there, and set off the alarm.

When I drove into the parking lot a lady was walking from her car towards the VC.  The alarm was still sounding.  After turning off the alarm and started on our "opening up" routine we heard someone try to open the front door, but when I got to the front there was no one there but I saw the "parking lot" lady across the courtyard by the Distribution Center.  So I went outside and waved to her, to let her know we were finally open.

She returned and we spent over an hour touring the VC.  She is originally from Fiji, but has lived in Seattle for the past 20 years.  She has LDS relatives in Samoa and in Utah and all of them have been good missionaries over the years.  Her Utah relatives, when they heard she was coming to Oahu told her to visit BYUH to learn more about the church.  Her son looked us up on the internet and found that we opened at 9:00 am so she wanted to be first.  She told her son, as she left the place they are staying, that she was going to learn more about the LDS church.  And she did.  When she left (her name is Virginia) I said that I wanted to give her a Book of Mormon and have it delivered to her in Seattle by two representatives of the Church who would answer more of her questions.  She said that would be "wonderful."  I have the distinct feeling she willl join the church and that other family members will follow!

Seems like the adversary tried to get in her way this morning but, fortunately, I had enough sense to go after her and invite her back to the VC.

Hump Day

Thai guests visit VC

Three Buddhist monks were among 18 Thailand visitors who came to the VC today.  The group of college educators is spending a week at BYUH exchanging ideas.  One of the monks asked if he could have his picture taken with me and I, of course, agreed.  Then I asked if I could have his picture.  One of the visitors said he was Muslim and told me there are 3 million Muslims in Thailand.

Two of them (none of the Monks) asked to have missionaries visit them in Thailand.  Yes, the Savior reaches out to all of His children.