Memorial Day at Punchbowl

Today we visited the "Punchbowl," the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. It covers 116 acres and was selected at the end of WWII as one of two burial places for casualties from the war.  Originally it was a secret burial place for the ancient Hawaiian "alii."

The first interments were for the 776 casualties from the December 7, 1949 Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese.  Original burials included 11,597 identified bodies and 2,079 unidentified WWII dead from the Pacific.  There are also 848 unidentified U.S. servicemen buried there who died fighting in Korea.  A total of 33,255 are buried in the cemetery.

Thousands of the graves were decorated with flower lei's collected by Boy Scouts from all over the island.

Here is a picture of downtown Honolulu taken from the entry to the Punchbowl.  Diamond Head is shown in the background.

Tom and Dorothy have 13 Baptisms!

Received this photo today from Tom and Dorothy Heers, the missionaries staying in our condo on the Big Island.  Thirteen of their investigators were baptized yesterday - all are shown in this picture.  The young elders were taken out of the ward a few months ago because there had not been a convert baptism in the ward for over a year.  What a great example of what two senior missionaries can do - with the help of the Lord, of course.

Another Tender Mercy

Our missionary friends, Tom and Dorothy Heers, who are renting our 2-bedroom condo at the Shores on the Big Island, finish their mission and will return home on July 12th.  Besides serving as an Assistant Recorder and office managers in the Kona Temple, for the past few months they have been full-time proselyting missionaries and this weekend they are slated to have 17 baptisms, with another 10 planned in the next few weeks.

Two nights ago I placed an ad in Craig's List, the free internet web site, to rent the condo.  Within two hours I received an e-mail from a couple interested in seeing it.  They looked at it yesterday at 8:00 am and by 9:00 am called me and said they wanted to rent it.  Their rent will begin 3 days after the Heer's move out and at a higher rental rate.  It will be a 9-month lease, covering our remaining time on our mission.  What a nice tender mercy the Lord has blessed us with!

Don's Birthday

Tonight the senior couples came to our apartment to help me celebrate my 73rd birthday.  We had cream puff's instead of cake.  Later, at 9:45 pm, we took cream puff's to the sisters who were having a FHE and they sang Happy Birthday.

Not sure the birthday card is legible but it is from the sisters with cute comments, like "old man," "funny," "especially all your stories."

Devotional at BYUH

Don was the devotional speaker on Tuesday May 18.  If you would like to see and hear his A++ talk (grades were given by Donna) you can go to www.byuh.edu and click on Devotionals.  He spoke by the Spirit and seemed at ease but I know better.  He has never been so nervous because of the teleprompter and having to have the script given to BYUH ahead of time.  Topic was about temples, Laie, San Diego, and Kona.  I am so proud of him and lots of people have stopped him and congratulated him.  The Lord really has blessed us with some great growing experiences on this mission.

Pictured are those who joined us for an "After Devotional" lunch provided by BYUH.

Temple Open House Committee Assignment

We have been called to be on the ushering committee for the open house, cultural night and Laie Temple dedication.  No word yet when the temple will be dedicated other than in the last quarter of the year.  The dates will be announced soon.  The ushering committee is headed by Dean Ellis.  He and his wife, Lisa are friends from our early years in Escondido.

BYUH Devotional Speaker

A few weeks ago I was asked to be the Devotional Speaker at BYUH next Tuesday morning.  Here's a copy of the flyer that has been posted around the campus.  I am more than a little nervous and have sweat bullets getting ready.  Remember me in your Tuesday am prayers please.

Monthly lunch with Senior Couples

Usually every month the four senior couples get away for a lunch somewhere.  Today we drove to Hale'iwa for lunch at Hale'iwa Joe's.  Left to right: Tripp's, McArthur's, Eubank's, Nysetvold's.  Another missionary couple from PCC, Elder and Sister Craig, cover for us at the VC.

VC visited by couple from Italy

Giovanni and his wife came to the VC today.  They are Catholics from Milano, Italy.  They were open to the message of the gospel and didn't seem offended when I talked about the Restoration.  We agreed on priesthood, the importance of families, the need for baptism, etc.  He was intrigued with "temples" especially with one to be built in Rome.  He said that for centuries everyone in Italy were Catholic but in the past twenty +/- years many immigrants to Italy have opened doors to other religions.  They agreed to have missionaries visit them at home and bring them a copy of the Book of Mormon.

May Transfer brings five new missionaries

Five new missionaries joined our team this week: Sister Largent from Oklahoma, Sister Bacani from the Philippines, Sister Muller from Germany, and Sisters Watanabe and Nishigaki from Japan.  The two Japanese sisters were transferred here from Temple Square where they have served for three months.  Japanese sisters originally called to serve here were sent to Temple Square a few months ago, leaving us dangerously under-staffed to handle the hundreds of Japanese tourists who visit our VC.

Four missionaries went home:  Sisters Bailey to Utah and/or Texas; Sister Cutler to Boise, Idaho; Sister Ochiai to Okinawa and Sister Hu to Taiwan.  Here's Sister Hu and Sister Ochiai after we sang "Aloha Oe" at their last Training Meeting.

Sorenson Family Raids VC

We had a delightful visit today at the VC by Roger and Judy Sorenson and their seven kids and spouses.  Roger was our bishop in the Country Park 4th Ward.  One of his sons, Terry, is a counselor in our stake presidency.  Another son is in Ron and Ger's ward and served as their bishop until a couple of years ago.  Their son, Brad, is a dental partner in Washington with some of Floyd Packard's sons.  Great family.

Sister Ochiai finishes Mission, returns to Okinawa