Doug and Michelle Friends Visit VC

We were happy to see Scott Driggs and his family at the VC last week.  They bought a home around 2000 from McArthur Homes in Park Village (West Jordan) and were neighbors of Doug and Michelle, and have stayed close friends with them ever since.  They now live in South Jordan.

South Carolina Nurse-to-Be wants to know more

Donna greeted two ladies who came to the VC today and played for them the Christus message (a wonderful 90 second message using the Savior's own words from the scriptures).  Afterwards she brought them to our large theatre to see our 5-minute Laie history video.  Before showing the video I gave a brief intro about when the first missionaries came to Hawaii (1850), followed by the translation of the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian by George Q. Cannon and Jonathan Napela which lead to over 4,000 Hawaiians being baptized.

After the video one of the ladies wanted to see the first edition Hawaiian Book of Mormon.  How could the Book of Mormon help them, she asked, if they could not read?  What makes your church different from other Christian religions?  Her questions led to our Prophet's corner and a discussion about Priesthood authority, restoration, and prophets.  This was followed by more exhibits and discussions.  We ended up in God's Plan for His Family.  She then told me that she had come to the VC because the day before they had been to the PCC and had been so impressed by the young people she met there...they were happy, clean, with a refreshing conviction of the gospel...that she wanted to learn more about our beliefs.  She said that she had felt that same feeling during her entire visit in the VC and that seeing "God's Plan" was the capstone of her emotions.  I want to know more about your beliefs, she told me, because of what she had experienced over these two days.

A couple of years ago she felt prompted by God to quit her job and go back to school to become a hospice nurse.  So she followed the prompting and is now half way through her nursing college courses. Who knows, she said, perhaps her vacation to Hawaii (taken on a last-minute whim) was another prompting so she could come to the PCC and VC and learn about the Church.  The missionaries will deliver her a Book of Mormon and share the gospel message when she returns to South Carolina from her vacation.

Air Conditioner Technician finds more to check out than the cooler

The VC has had a history of problems with the air conditioning system.  As a result a service rep has visited us a number of times.  Today when he came to the VC he said that he had been at BYU-H and several young men shared with him info about the Church and told him he should come to the VC to learn more.   Donna was able to answer his questions, provide him with some pass-along cards and the Joseph Smith pamphlet and invite him to learn more.  He was rushed but was visibly impressed by what he had learned (and felt) and is coming back when he has more time.  [Nice job, BYU-H guys in sharing your testimonies!]

Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Tonight we were returning from Kaneohe and decided to drive Kamehameha Highway that hugs the ocean.  As we passed He'eia State Park Donna said, "Look, there's the Black Pearl!"  Sure enough it was moored at the small boat harbor and like a ton of other lookie-loo's we parked and walked in.  We couldn't get very close to the boat but we found a lot of people who said they were waiting for Johnny Depp to walk by.  I cheated and copied this picture from the promo on the web.

Here's what the Black Pearl looks like from the highway.   As we continued our drive we passed the staging area where the crew parks and then we passed a secured area with a lot of nice house trailers.  Filming here should be done in a few weeks.  The movie is to be released next May.

New VC Schedule

Don spent HOURS helping Elder Eubank work on a revised Visitors' Center schedule for the Sisters over the past week.  Here's an overview:

The schedule gets more complicated because their assignments change daily giving each companionship the full range of times and duties. 

Beginning Wednesday we will have 18 sisters, 9 companionships.  The blue indicates "VC time", gold "rc" is time in the Call Center, the "T's" designate tram assignments to and from the PCC, "M" is meal time.  The white open space is the time they have for proselyting their ward assignments.  Each companionship has a traditional family ward and two BYUH wards for proselyting non-members and less-actives.

The six-week schedule looks like this.  As you can see, they are busy missionaries!

Tripp Family Reunion

We were pleasantly surprised tonight at the VC to see Robert and Irene Tripp who had come to the Visitors' Center with their family as part of a Family Reunion.  The Tripp's served with us when we first began our Kona Temple assignment in 2002.  He was First Counselor in the temple presidency and she served as an Assistant to the Matron.  They have six children, 55 grandchildren and 20+ great grandchildren.  The VC was "packed" and I believe all of their family was there.

July 24 Pioneer Day BBQ

Tonight the Senior Couples hosted a BBQ celebrating Pioneer Day.  We cooked 26 hamburgers and a dozen hot dogs.  Donna did her "Beans" and Don cut up a ton of watermelon.

Top left to right:  Donna, Sister Eubank, Sister Smith, Don; Bottom left to right: Sisters Nishigaki, Watanabe, Stringer, Watanabe, Clark, Smith, Kafusi, Brown, Bacani.