Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022- Goodbye to our neighbors!

 Our downstairs neighbors, Darla and Scott Tarbet left for home today. We took them to the airport. He worked at the PCC and she worked in the office. They will go home to St. George, Utah. They were wonderful neighbors and friends. So far they have not replaced anyone to live downstairs…so, we’ll see.

This is not such a wonderful picture as she had been working all day to finalize packing and cleaning the apartment.  We will miss them!

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022- A Samoan fireside

 We have a wonderful friend who is the landscaper for the house behind us. His name is Ula Pula. I have done posts about him before. Anyway, he is the Ward Mission Leader in one of the Samoan wards here. He had arranged a missionary fireside for his ward and his main speaker got COVID and couldn’t be there.  So, he came and asked us if we would each speak for about 10-15 minutes each at his fireside.  We had to do some scheduling revisions, but we said yes.

We went to work at the VC, then our coordinators came to relieve us while we went to go speak. Bro. Pula gave us these beautiful leis that smelled incredible!!!  Little did we know, however, that the whole fireside would be in Samoan!!! Even the songs!  And….even though the words were in Samoan, we didn’t even recognize the tune! Apparently they have many hymn that are specific to Samoans!

We were nervous that no one would be able to understand us, but he told us they would…so we forged ahead! My talk was about Love, Share, Invite….and only took barely 10 min.  Roger’s was great…about his father and mother’s conversions to the gospel and his was about 15.  Then Bro. Pula spoke, followed by the Bishop and both of his counselors….all in Samoan!  It was kind of funny that as they were speaking in Samoan, sometimes they would switch to English for a sentence or two, then back to Samoan! I don’t know if they even realized it.  

Afterwards, they had some refreshments. They served a kind of Samoan stew over rice!

It was a little different, but good! Guess they don’t know about brownies as refreshments! Ha!

Then we ran back over to the VC to finish our shift! Whew! What a day!

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022- the Christus

 The first thing you see when you walk into our Visitor’s Center is a huge statue of the Christus. We try to tell people that we don’t worship the statue, but we worship the man, Jesus Christ. Many do not realize we are Christian. The original statue by Bertel Thorvaldsen is in The Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen Denmark, but almost every visitor’s center has one that has been recreated in marble.

I Love how in our VC the painting on the wall behind is in lighter blues and green …ocean colors. The one is Salt Lake was very dark blues and purples…made to look like space. One thing that we tell people is to look at the earth painted on the left, and bright light colors, depicting heaven on the right.

And, the only way to get from one to the other is thru Jesus Christ who is in the middle.  We usually play a 90 second narration of scriptures where Jesus Christ bears witness of himself.

It is such a wonderful reminder every single day of in whose service we are! 

Saturday, Oct.22, 2022- The Cockroach and Centipede man

 I am not sure how, but Roger has been officially designated as the cockroach and centipede remover at the VC. Every time the sisters see one they come running for Elder Mahaffey! The first centipede was a baby and so he just picked it up bare-handed and tossed it outside! We have since found out that centipedes have two fang-like pinchers and they bite and sting and it is painful. Baby ones have not learned to control their venom yet, so often their bites are worse! YIKES!  

This one was a big one and so he now resorts to scooping them up with a dustpan and broom!

We have also heard that if you kill them by smashing or stepping on them, the juice draws other vermin… so now we try to scoop them up and send them to the dumpster in back. Sheesh!!!  Everyday life in paradise!

Sat. Oct. 22, 2022- A bittersweet day.

 Today we were able to watch. over zoom, the funeral for Jim Monroe- our son-in-law Chad’s father.

We are so thankful for the technology that allows us this opportunity!  All of his grandchildren sang I Know My Father Lives ( except Trevor who is in Italy on his mission)

And Brooke and Tanner sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

( sorry these are so blurry- I just did a screen shot during the funeral)

It was very well done, Shannon and Chad- their children both spoke as well as Scott- Shannon’s husband gave the eulogy. Seems so many of our friends are dying….guess it is that time of life we are in!

Thursday Oct. 20 - Pday

 We went shopping today, as usual for our Pday, but on the way home we stopped at a place we have often passed, but never stopped. Waiahole Poi Factory.

It is kind of a dumpy looking place, but is always crowded!  One of our guests at the VC recommended it. They serve all kinds of Hawaiian comfort foods, but we were stopping for the dessert.  They serve something called The Sweet Lady of Waiahole.  It is named after a real woman who used to bring here papayas and bananas down by the road here and sell them to support her 8 children! There is even a Hawaiian song written about her.

The dessert is warm kulolo , with Haupia ice cream on top, and it is sooooo good!

Kulolo is a kind of desert made from, taro, coconut, coconut milk and sugar. It has a consistency of fudge, but tastes like caramel.  Haupia is very popular in Hawaii. It is made from coconut, coconut milk, cornstarch and sugar. We have had it in chocolate Haupia pie, and now Haupia ice cream. When they put the cold cream on top of the warm kulolo, ….it is so good! We weren’t sure if we would like it, so Roger and I split one bowl. Good thing because, like everything in Hawaii, it is kind of expensive- $8.50 a bowl.

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022 - A surprise visit from an Apostle

 Today we were treated to a surprise visit from Elder Gong. He was filming something about his family history and he and the film crew were on the temple grounds. We were counseled not to ask for a picture with him, but if we just happened to be out there…

We waited after our meeting for about an hour, but he hadn’t showed up yet, so we left. There were a few die hard sisters who stayed however, and after he was finished, called them over for a picture! He was so gracious!

Left to right: Sisters Spencer, Seals, Millar, Fischer, Alapa. Elder Gong, Ford, Huang, Gonzalez, Crummett, Jensen, and Mickelson.

 

Monday, Oct. 17, 2022- maybe our next Christmas card ??

 So, tonight the moon was so full and pretty shining on the water…. We took this picture, and it reminds us of the Star over Bethlehem!  What do you think?

Maybe we will use it at Christmas???

Monday, Oct. 17, 2022 - a visit from Cole

 The house that is behind us has been in need of some work. So the Uncle of one of the owners came and stayed while he worked on the house. He quickly realized he needed more help, so he hired a local guy, Cole Thompson. Cole rebuilt the whole deck and did a lot of work inside AND built a new set of stairs down to the beach!!! ( I am not sure why he didn’t like our wonky cinder block creation! )

Okay..so maybe they ARE a little better! At least they don’t wash away with the tide every week!

Then tonight, he came to show us what he had caught fishing with his spear gun about 50 feet offshore on our little beach:

AN OCTOPUS!!!!  Of course, dad wanted to hold it!  And it was way heavier that he thought it would be…about 20 lbs! He showed us all the inside of the head, the ink pocket, and, of course, the suction cups!

Pretty amazing! Cole said it is very good eating!  He is Samoan and he told us how they cook it with coconut milk!Wow!

Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022 - Some fun pics!

 We just loving getting fun pics of friends and family - and seeing all the fun you are having!lLayne and Aaron and Arie went to visit Lindsay and Cameron and family in Alabama. Here are Layne and Lindsay- our bookend girls!

Aaron, Layne, Lindsay and Cameron at Taladega raceway.

And, of course, we had to include Layne’s biggest thrill…going to see an Alabama football game

Me and some Sisters getting a great pose!

Sisters Horton, Spencer, Mahaffey, Peterson, & Birch

A fun one from Elder Monroe in Italy, and a “roo” (kangaroo) in Australia

Also, got a surprise. Is it at the VC. Brother and Sister Whiting - the parents of my France Lyon Mission trainer Parker Whiting. Parker’s dad came to pick him up in France and stayed with us a couple of days. I checked with him and he doesn’t think he is related to Elder Mahaffey’s trainer Elder Whiting, tho.

Monday, Oct. 10, 2022 - Goodbye dinner for Tarbets!

 Our sweet, wonderful downstairs neighbors are going home. So we had a goodbye dinner for them at our house. It had been raining all day and the bottom patio was dripping wet, so we had it inside. It is fun to do it inside, just a lot hotter…even tho we had 2 fans going! Everyone brings food and we always have a ton! We will miss them!

Left to R: Elder Terry Bushman, Pres. Sidney Bassett, Sister Diane Bushman, Sister Stephanie Bassett, Elder Grant Cannon, Sister Shari Cannon, Elder Scott Tarbet, Sister Darla Tarbet, Elder Tom Kendall (sister Kendall, our nurse, had COVID and couldn’t come) Sister Gail Olsen, Elder Steve Olsen, Sister and Elder Mahaffey.

Wed. Oct. 5, 2022- Chocolate!

 We serve with a wonderful sister here from Quebec Canada. Her name is Kelsey Lahache. 

We often joke about our favorite place- Chocolats  Favoris !  So. Today, she gave us a can of that wonderful chocolate sauce her mother had sent from Canada!!!

We immediately put it to good use!  You can see I almost are the whole thing before we got a picture of it!!! Ahhhhh…it was soooo good!!!  What a kind gesture !

Monday, Oct. 3, 2022- we love news and pictures!

 Today was such a busy day getting everything done for transfers…so it was even more welcome when we got some wonderful pics of our grandsons who are serving missions!

Elder Zachary Krey serving in Arizona Tucson

Elder Trevor Monroe serving in Italy Rome

Elder Landon Mahaffey serving in Australia Perth

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So thrilled to be serving with these great missionaries!!!

Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 - Break the Fast

 Even though it was conference and NOT a fast Sunday, we still had our traditional senior missionary dinner together. It is also the time when we do an Aloha Oe for the departing seniors.  After a great potluck dinner, where there is always TONS of food, we had several sisters dance a hula for us. The leader of the class was going to be one of the departing ones, so they did a dance to show us what they had learned in their class!

Sr. Phillips, Sr. Saunders, Sr. White, Sr, Olsen, and Sr. Arnett

Then we had the Aloha Oe for the 2 couples and one single sister who were leaving:

The Grahams, the Tarbets ( who live below us) and Sr. Saunders ( Pres. & Sister Bassett are in the middle)

 The Ukulele class accompanied us in our singing!

We are going to miss the Tarbets! He works at the PCC and she is the office Secretary. 

We also are beside Sr. Robinson. She had Tanner as a teacher in the MTC and wanted me to take a picture and send it to him. She said she loved having him as a teacher! She is a singer too, so she really appreciated him singing to them.

Sat. Evening- Oct. 1, 2022 - Transfer News

 

Transfer news happens the Sat. Evening before transfers on Monday. We all gather in the large theater at the VC to see a power point presentation about the upcoming transfers. This presentation is the first the young missionaries hear about their transfers.  

The presentation tells several things:  which Elders are going back to the Honolulu Mission and which Elders will be coming to Laie from Honolulu, the Sisters who have been serving for 3 transfers (about 4 months) outbound in the Honolulu mission and will be returning, as well as the new sisters who are called to serve outbound in Honolulu. It also tells, new leadership assignments like Lead STL, STLs, District leaders and Zone leaders. It also tells new companionships and if they will be moving wards and apartments.

We also have an Aloha Oe that night for those missionaries who are returning home.

And we had one sister who was returning back home but will finish her mission at home in San Jose as a service missionary.

And then we all go out on the courtyard and sing Aloha Oe and put a lei on them! Along with a lot of pictures and hugs and some tears!

Sat. Oct. 1, 2022- General Conference

 So, in Hawaii our days to watch General Conference start early!!!  The first session started at 6 am!  We are lucky in that we have a TV, so we could just stay home and watch it.

Later that day we had a shift at the Visitor’s Center. It was not busy at all, so we took our IPads and watched the second session while at the VC.

We sustained the leadership of the church, and watched when no guests were in the VC.

The missionaries who did not have a way to view it, or an invitation to a member’s home, watched it on the big screen in our theater at the VC.

What an amazing conference!  We even saw 3 of our new missionaries singing in the choir on Sat. Afternoon. They willl come on Monday!  It was amazing that Pres. Nelson announced that there were 53 temples that have been announced, but construction has not yet started, then he proceeded to announce 18 more!!!  And who can forget President Nelson’s poignant last address. It sounded like it could be his goodbye!!! And then the choir sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again, in case we all weren’t crying already!