Check out the Rainbow

This picture of the Laie HI Temple was taken a couple of weeks ago by Bruce Bean, the superintendent overseeing the remodeling of the temple..

Sister Tripp's Birthday

The Tripp's treated everyone for ice cream and cake on her birthday.  Fun time.

Turtle Bay Music

Hungry for good music we bought tickets to a piano and guitar duo performing at the Turtle Bay Resort.  The music, performed by husband and wife Jeff and Lisa Linsky, was more improvisational and more jazz than we like, even though Jeff, the guitarist was an outstanding guitar player.

Speaking Trip to Hilo

The Hilo Stake on the Big Island invited us to speak at it's annual High Priests' meeting and dinner on "The Joy of Missionary Service" so on Saturday afternoon we caught a 3 pm flight, arriving in Hilo around 4:00 pm.

Donna included in her remarks a card made by Marin we received a few days ago.  Everyone loved the card as Donna tied it into our mission.

In preparing for this assignment Don e-mailed the missionaries who were in our MTC "class" and asked them what their concerns had been for serving a mission.  Most responses focused on "what to do with our home" and "will our family be cared for."  We especially liked the answer from Elder and Sister Powell serving in the mission office in Santiago, Dominican Republic.  They said their answer about their family came as "...an apostolic promise from Elder Bednar...that if we would take care of His children in the Dominican Republic, He would take care of ours at home.  We have decided that He is a much better caretaker of our children than we could ever be of His children, even if we worked all day every day."

Our talks were well received and we both felt the Spirit guiding our message.  Many flocked to the stand afterwards to thank us.  Sister Lowe sought us both out during the night and said she had never wanted to go on a mission but during our talks it was revealed to her that she and her husband should go, and that they should sell their house at a certain time, visit their daughter for three months, and then begin serving.  After the meeting as she shared her thoughts with her husband he said that he had received the same exact inspiration.

We spent the night with President and Sister Bauer and caught a 1:20 pm plane back Sunday (after waiting from 9 am at the airport for a delayed plane).  We had just two hours to serve at the VC before leaving for a Temple Open House committee meeting in Mililani.  Needless to say, by the time we got home at 10 pm we were both exhausted.  Here we are with President and Sister Bauer.

New Missionary Couple Coming to VC

While attending the Hilo Stake HP dinner/meeting (see accompanying blog) we met Elder and Sister Keith Crouch who are now serving on the Big Island but are being transferred to Laie in a few weeks and will serve part-time at the VC and part-time proselyting.

We learned that Elder Crouch was baptized in the Ramona Branch in 1968 when about 18 years old.  (Most of you know that Ramona is in the foothills beyond Escondido, CA.)  Elder Crouch remembered many of the members there,(Don McGoffin, the Tippitts family, others,) and especially remembered President Wallace Gray, president of the Palomar Stake.  He sure loves President Gray who helped send him on a mission.  When I was a stake missionary we covered the Ramona Branch and held a number of meetings in the Tippitt's "castle" home.  There were several daughters in the family who were our ages (when we were teenagers) and who would come to Escondido and participate in some of our youth activities.

It was in 1968 that I was called to be President Gray's second counselor in the stake presidency, but Elder Crouch and I could not make a connection as we talked about the "good ol' days."

Willkommen Sie im Besucherzentrum

Today I met two tourists from Germany, Anneliese Philipp (age 70+) and her daughter.  They came to the VC looking for the "Cultural Center" meaning the Polynesian Cultural Center.

 Anneliese spoke little English but her daughter spoke English very well.  We started with the Christus narration in German, beginning a wonderful ninety minute visit which also included our Laie history video, God's Plan for His Family, a visit to our temple corner, learning about the Book of Mormon (I handed her the German copy), and ended with listening to President Uchtdorf's testimony.  They both asked very insightful questions and we developed a bond of friendship and a mutual love for the Savior.  As they left Anneliese said she would like a Book of Mormon which I first planned on having delivered to her in Germany, but later decided to give one to her out of our supply room.  I also gave the daughter a copy in English.  They asked if they could take my picture with Anneliese and so we traded pictures.  Here's a picture of the two of them taken outside of the VC.

The German greeting up above says, "Welcome to the Visitors' Center."  Today I experienced the Lord's "Welcome" extended to two lovely daughters of God and was reminded once again that The Spirit is not limited by language - His language is universal and the invitation to Come Unto Christ is to ALL of God's children.

An Evening at the PCC

We served at the Polynesian Cultural Center tonight and greeted 311 guests at the Ambassador Restaurant.  Photo crew took our picture and gave a copy to us.  Here we are in all our glory.

And, just before we began taking tickets at the Ambassador, we visited with our stake president from South Jordan, President David Tate and his incredible family.  They are here, enjoying a week's well-deserved vacation.