Fiji Devotional

Saturday morning we attended a Fiji Devotional in the Fiji Village at the PCC, celebrating the independence of Fiji. The theme for the program was taken from Joshua 3:5 "Sanctify Yourselves: For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." (great theme for a stake or ward conference) The program was outstanding. Following the program we were treated to a brunch and then entertainment. (the dancers were much better than the food.)

Mongolian Students

Sunday night this young couple came in to listen to the "Christus" narration. I asked them if they wanted it in English or another language. They asked for Mongolian, but unfortunately it was not available. In talking to them I learned the the girl (Tsatsral) been in the MTC with Kody Cook (she then served on Temple Square in SLC). The young man (Ganjii) had served with Kody in Mongolia (just not his companion). They said that Kody was an awesome missionary who LOVED the Mongolian people.

General Conference, Saturday morning Oct 3, 2009

General Conference was broadcast to the Visitors' Center and received at 6:00 am. After the morning broadcast we all gathered at the apartment compound and had breakfast. Here are a few pictures.

Our First Month

We finished our first month at the Visitors' Center and are beginning to feel more comfortable with our assignments. In September the VC had over 7,200 visitors with more than half non-members. We had 276 referrals during the month, some from members referring friends at home and some from walk-in non-members asking to know more.
Here are three experiences we had:
Erin, a single young lady from Texas, came in with two guy friends. Since the Sister missionaries were busy I took them through the VC including "God's Plan for His Family." When they came out I could tell she was touched by the message and she asked to have the missionaries call on her in Texas.
The next day, Tom, a 42 year old guy walked in. He had moved from Honolulu to our side of the island to find out about the church. On Sunday he went to church on his own, met the missionaries while there. He spent two hours in the VC and met with the missionaries again that night. He came back Friday and met with them again. When I took him through the "Temple" exhibit and explained what the baptismal font is for, he committed to be baptized when he knew it was true, so he could do the temple work for his deceased father.
Yesterday a family from Draper, UT came in. Grandparents, parents, four daughters. Two of the daughters go to school with Mckenzie and Karli. I invited them to view the "Family Plan" and afterwards invited them to refer the missionaries to friends back home. I was talking to the adults. I opened the exit door from the exhibit but they all didn't follow me out. When I went back in one of the daughters was filling out a referral for a friend and his family in Draper. Amazing how the Spirit works.

China Contacts
Sep 23, 09
We are feeling more productive and useful and can see the benefits of serving. The other night I greeted two young adult brother and sister from mainland China. The brother could speak English but his sister couldn’t. They are not members and have a non-member sister attending BYUH. The sister had visited the Visitors Center before, felt something special, and wanted to go to church. My two guests were visiting her for a few weeks. Anyway, we have a sister missionary from Taiwan and she had just arrived to substitute for another sister missionary. She took the two in hand and spent about an hour with them. When they left they took a Chinese Book of Mormon with them. We have given out three Chinese Book of Mormons in the last two weeks. We do not give out B of M’s to anyone else because we send in a referral and have the local missionaries deliver one to them in their home. But since there are not missionaries in China that can do the same, we give them one at the VC. Amazing to see how the Lord is “planting” Book of Mormon seeds throughout China.

I had a mother and two young adult children come in Sunday night from Spain. The mom could not speak English but the kids could – they were both attending BYUH. We have a large Christus statue in the main foyer and there is a 2-minute message – in the Savior’s own words – that we can play. It is very powerful. We played it for them in Spanish. They were impressed. As I used my very limited Spanish with her, her eyes lite up and I could tell she had a positive experience in being there.

Usually the sister missionaries greet and handle the guests…we only step in when they are busy with other guests.

Last night at 10 pm all 14 of the sister missionaries crowded into our bedroom to watch a 5-minute video clip as part of their evening devotional. We have a small TV in the Bedroom with a DVD player and the TV in the front room doesn’t have a DVD. As many sat on our bed one leg collapsed but they went on with the devotional. Your mom and I stayed in our living room but listened. What a great way to end the night. Our apartment is the only senior missionary apartment adjacent to the young sisters. Every morning they wake us up at 6 am with their group exercising in the driveway area. At night they “sing” us to sleep when they gather in the same area and wrap up the day with a song and prayer.
Our sister missionaries are truly amazing.

Our First Day at the Visitors' Center

This picture was taken last night - our first day serving in the Visitor's Center - September 13, 2009. The Visitor's Center is staffed by one senior couple and about four sister missionaries. Donna manages the front desk and I make sure all systems are working and all guests are being taken care of. The VC is open 365 days, including Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, etc. It opens at 9:00 am and (starting tonight) closes at 8:00 pm. In "high season" it will be open until 9:00 pm. Our shifts are about four hours each day. In addition, I will be handling finances - paying bills, maintaining budget, etc. Now I'm typing (Donna). Donna's extra duties include sewing and maybe apartment inspections. So far so good. Shirley left today and we really enjoyed her and Leana. We appreciate the good bed and company they provided. Tomorrow is zone conference and a social after 9pm at the Eubanks.

MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER

The MTC was a great experience.  We arrived on Monday, August 31st and stayed the full week.  On Friday we returned to our home for the weekend, returning Monday to the MTC for specific Visitor Center training.  We finished our MTC experience on Tuesday around noon and returned home to sleep in our own bed one more time before embarking for Hawaii on Wednesday.

Here are a few pictures from the MTC.

Oahu, Hawaii...a mighty small island in a mighty big ocean.

This is a picture of all of the senior couple missionaries in the MTC with us for the first week.

These are the misisonaries in our District.  I was the District Leader which means I asked people to give the prayers.

One of the MTC highlights was the Tuesday evening Devotional.  Here is a picture of those attending.  We heard from Elder and Sister Paul Sybrowsky of the Seventy.  You can see Donna left of center, five rows up from the bottom of the picture.

We enjoyed seeing Elder Shaun Kleiman who arrived two days after us.  He is serving in Roseville, California.  We also met Micah's friend, Elder Costello who is going to serve in the St. Louis, Missouri Mission.  (That's his MTC companion on his left.)

Donna in the Referral Center waiting for a phone call from someone wanting to know more about the church. They receive 100's of calls a day.


Our group spent about an hour in the Referral Center, each of us with the head sets on, some hoping the phone would ring, and some hoping it wouldn't.  Donna's phone didn't ring.  Don got a call but it was a wrong number.

Elder and Sister Woodhouse are also going to the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. They will serve at BYU Hawaii. He recently retired as president of LDS Busines College. Their home is in Thanksgiving Village - bought from Village Communities.

Here we are on our last day in the MTC.

Set Apart to go to Laie, Hawaii (not Kzakastan, Ghana or Hong Kong)

After a bumpy road trip that began last January with a call from Elder Rasband's office (Seventy) to see if we were able to accept an assignment to serve "on the frontier of the Church," we received our Call Letter on Wednesday, July 8th, while sitting in the Marriott Hotel on Broadway Avenue in New York. 
In conversations with Elder John Carmack, emeritus Seventy and head of the Perpetual Education Fund, before we submitted our papers, we were first led to believe we would be assigned to Ghana to oversee the PEF in that part of Africa; however, we were turned down for medical reasons.  John next proposed Hong Kong and I thought it would be a "slam dunk."  Oh well, Hawaii here we come.

We were set apart by our stake president, David Tate, on Sunday, August 30, 2009, and reported to the MTC the next day, Monday, August 31st.