Christmas in Hawaii

 Our second Christmas on our mission, while not surrounded by immediate family members, was surrounded by our mission family.  We spent hours setting up the Visitors' Center with 17 Christmas trees, each decorated by our missionaries or by one of the stakes on Oahu.  Here's a couple:

Decorations for our home were not quite so exotic, as you can see from these pictures.

 

On Christmas Eve all our missionaries, including the four Elders in the Zone, met at the Eubank's for a white-elephant gift exchange game and refreshments and then we went back to the VC to watch two movies, "The Stone Cutter" and "John Tanner."

Christmas morning the four senior couples made breakfast for everyone...french toast, OJ, fruit, bacon...here's a picture of the four senior elders cooking the french toast.

Kody's 23rd Birthday

Kody Cook, and his friend Oyuka, came for his birthday dinner tonight.  Oyuka is from Mongolia.  This will be his last visit before he leaves for home Thursday.  He has been here attending BYUH since the middle of April and we have enjoyed having him close by.  He takes his last final at BYUH in the morning and we'll pick him up around 4:30 pm for a ride to the airport.

Former SLC Missionary now neighbor

Today we had a delightful experience visiting with a former Utah Salt Lake City missionary who lives just down the street from our apartment.  B. Kai-O Chang began his mission with us on June 17, 1992, just 13 days before we were released and returned to Escondido, CA.  He had a rough start on his mission after we left.

Kai-O walked into the VC a while back and recognized me while I was talking to some guests in our "Temple" corner.  Pretty amazing that he would remember me 18 years later.  He didn't say anything then, or since, even though he's seen us several times from a distance.  Until today.  He said he was "blown away" seeing us "there you were, both still faithfully serving in the Church."  He said, "I thought to myself, if they can continue to be faithful and serve, so can I."  He was pretty emotional today and all three of us had a joyful reunion.  He has a wonderful wife and three lovely daughters and now works for BYUH.

30 foot Tree falls with a bang!

Thursday night just a bed-time we heard a loud crash..I mean LOUD.  We were in the middle of the largest storm we'd experienced since being here with over 5 inches of rain falling in 24 hours.  The night was filled with thunder and lightening.  The next morning we could see the cause.  This large plumeria tree was blown over by the storm.  (That's our apartment behind Donna.)  We could see that the base of the tree was hollow and diseased so when the leaves were heavy with rain water it could not withstand the force of the wind...over it went.

It's Official: We finish our Mission February 22, 2011

Elder Eubank stopped by today and informed us our replacements have been called and will be here February 24th.  Our last day will be Tuesday, the 22nd, returning us home the morning of Wednesday, February 23, 2011, and will speak in Sacrament meeting on the 27th.

New Missionary returns to source of her Testimony

Last week five new sisters began their missionary service at the Visitors' Center: Sister Pinder, Woodland Hills, Utah (same ward as Guy & Erma Baker and Norma Tew); Sister Fortun, Philippines; and three from Japan: Sister Wada, Sister Imoto, and Sister Kamada.

When Sister Imoto was asked to tell about herself and bear her testimony at our Monday training meeting, she told of her parents sending her to Laie for summer classes at BYUH at age 15 to help her gain a testimony.   While in Laie she came to the Visitors' Center and met a sister missionary who, over the course of several weeks, helped her turn her life around and find out for herself the church was true.  She was so excited to open her mission letter and learn that she would now be able to do the same for others who come to the VC.

Birthday bash!

Traditionally the senior missionaries bake a birthday cake for the sister missionaries and deliver it to their pad at 9:30 pm on their birthday.  This week, however, there were four birthdays in three days so we combined them to one evening, but gave each birthday sister their own cake.  Pictured, left to right: Sister Watanabe, Japan; SisterWada, Japan (who just arrived from the MTC); Sister Lu, Taiwan; and Sister Nishigaki, Japan.