Missionary Experiences for the week

June Lee, A dad who lives in Honolulu and his daughter, Karen Enriquez, who was visiting him from northern California came to the VC.  The dad has attended church a few times with a friend.  As we finished the "God's Plan for His Family" presentation I could tell both were touched by the message and both said that they would like missionaries to visit them and answer more questions.

We decided this week to sign up for Direct TV instead of cable (which has caused us no end of trouble).  As I talked to the person helping me over the phone I told him about our serving as missionaries in Laie and that we would be returning to Utah next year.  I asked him if he knew anything about the Church...he didn't...said he was a Lutheran.  I asked if he would like a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said yes (what else would he say since he was trying to complete a Direct TV sale).  So I have sent him a copy and will have the missionaries in Colorado Springs stop by and visit Eric Martinez.

1981 visitor returns to PCC

This is a picture of Ray Lockwood and his wife, Suzie, who visited the PCC Saturday, returning after their first visit in 1981.  Ray was not a member of the church in 1981 and his member-wife wanted to come to Laie to see the Temple.  They stopped at the Visitors' Center for a tour and a Senior missionary, Sister Haskell, took him in tow.  She showed him an exhibit and then send, "Oh, you need to see one more."  Then she would show him another.  After which she would say, "Oh, you need to see one more."  This continued all through the VC.  At the end of the tour she said, "Of course you will want to sign our guest book," (the forerunner to the Comment cards we now use).  And while he was signing she said, "Of course you will want to have the missionaries visit you when you return home."  And he said, "Of course."  The two of them returned home, the missionaries came, and Ray was baptized.  And their entire lives were changed forever, thanks to a sweet and unbashful sister missionary in Hawaii.

Moanikeala Festival

Today we attended a Hula Festival held in the Pacific Theatre at the PCC.  It was teriffic!  Here's a composite picture of a few of the performances.

Trip to Kona

Thursday afternoon we flew to Kona and on Friday I met with Major Rodriguera of the Salvation Army in an effort to convince him to sell part of their property adjacent to the temple to the Church.  (I've been asked by Church Real Estate to help out.)  They have been planning on building a Thrift Store on the property and we feel there are better locations.  I didn't make much progress but later in the afternoon I checked out two properties found by Chuck Corbe, the realtor who sold us our first condo at The Shores.  Here's the two of us standing in front of one of the properties.  The second property has promise and Chuck will show it to the "Army" next week.

Donna and I were able to attend an endowment session on Friday, between meetings, and another session on Saturday morning on our way to the airport.  I was also able to do the initiatory for a cousin and a sealing of a son.  Thursday night we had dinner with Tom and Dorothy Heers at our Shores #125 condo (they are renting it) and Friday night we had dinner with Phil and Olly Harris at Huggo's.  We stayed both nights with the Harris's.  It was nice to be back on the Big Island...it is like a second home to us...and we saw many temple worker friends Friday and Saturday.

Senior Missionaries at BYUH and PCC

Here's a picture of most of the senior missionaries serving at BYUH and the PCC.  We're in the second row, right side.

Mainland Chinese Convert

This week Sisters Hu (Taiwan) and Aguda (Philippines) (in muumuu) saw one of their investigators from mainland China be baptized.  Qian Ying Zhao, and her husband, have been in Laie visiting their daughter, Jiayuan, who is attending BYUH and playing on their tennis team.  All three began meeting with the missionaries at the VC.  The husband had to return to China for business but the mother continued with the discussions and was baptized.  This picture includes the District Leader, Elder Stanger, who conducted the baptism interview.  In China, non-members can only attend church services if a family member is a church member, and they must hold separate meetings from the expatriates who are in the Country. Sister Zhao joined the church here so her husband can attend with her in China and learn more.  The daughter, Jiayuan, says she will be baptized soon.

Happy New Year!

Donna and I were in charge of the New Year's activities for the sisters and elders.  (We now have six elders in the VC zone.)  We began with a dinner at the stake center adjoining the VC.  Menu: Kailua pork sandwiches and BBQ pork sandwiches, salads, beans, etc.  We got the Kailua pork from the PCC at a great employee discount.

After dinner we moved the the VC for a "talent show."  I was the MC and shared the magic trick "Flags of All Nations."  Next we watched the movie, "The Other Side of Heaven," thanks to a permission letter we got from Mitch Davis (Dave, Linda and Steve's contemporary from the San Pasqual ward) who produced this movie about Elder John Groberg's mission to Tonga.

Last, we went back to our "PADS" and had ice cream sundaes in the driveway followed by watching the locals shoot off fireworks like you wouldn't believe!  Actually, they have been shooting them off for the past week.