Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022- SNOW DAY !!!!

Every year the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center ) puts on a fun day for the community kids!  They make snow for days and then has a SNOW DAY for everyone!

They section off part of the parking lot and dump all the snow. You can see on the left,  they build a stairway up to a sliding ramp. The kids all line up to slide down the ramp on a saucer.

Mostly, they just have fun throwing snowballs and playing in the snow!!!  Who says we never have a white Christmas??

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 - it is that time again!

 It was transfer day today.  Because they didn’t want to have the regular transfer during Christmas, they moved our six-week transfer schedule up to just a four week transfer. Next time we will have a 8 week transfer so we can get back on schedule.

So, that means it is sewing time for the muumuu’s ! 

This time things went really well because we had a lot of help!  In this pic you see left to right- Sr. Gwinn, sr. Cannon, Sr. Bushman, and Sr. Dallin. We had 18 muumuus to sew, and since we had so much help…we got them all done on Tuesday morning! Even though, Sr. Gwinn and Sr. Dahlin only got to be there for 2 hours, and Sr. Cannon was only there for 3 hrs…it went so fast!

Friday, Dec. 9, 2022 - Christmas Cards

 Without a lot of time, but wanting to stay in touch with friends and family, we decided to just send post cards of our beautiful Hawaiian temple this year!  Here is a shot of the front and back!

Thursday, Dec.8, 2022 - Christmas treats

 So, we decided to give all our missionaries a treat for Christmas before transfers next week! We baked sugar cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip (with a dab of chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top), and some brownies!  We made special plates for the ones going home.

It was a real labor of love, and so many thanked us and appreciated the time it took us! We have some great missionaries!

Monday, Dec. 5, 2022 - Sad day!

 So, I supposed you have seen in previous posts our decorations in the Visitor’s Center. My particular favorite was all the beautiful trees that framed the Christus Statue!

Well, the powers that be came and told us we could not have any adornments around the Christus statue. He needed to be the sole focus.

So, after close tonight, several senior missionaries came and helped us take it all down!

So, we are trying to put a smile on our face, and be obedient…but we are still sad!

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022 - Christmas decor

 I think since it is so warm here, we grow to love any kind of holiday decorations and festivities all the more! We have to find some way to celebrate the season even in the heat! 

This is BYU Hawaii….all lit up and decorated for Mele Kalikimaka!  This is especially fun because our temple has no lights on the outside grounds at all!!!

It made us want to come home and decorate our little pad!  We had the previous residents leave us a tree..so we decorated it!

I will have to say, I love the tree in the VC so much that I borrowed the idea…I glued shells and starfish onto the ribbon we decorated with. Had to make it a little more Hawaiian!

Add a wreath from Costco, more lights, and a Hawaiian Monkeypod nativity and we are ready!

Quite a difference from a whole room full of decorations like we have at home! Ha!

Monday, Nov. 28, 2022 - Misc Picture post

 Here is another batch of non-related pictures, but that I wanted to include!  Some are pictures from here, and some are ones that were sent to us!

Picture of the decorated Oakland temple sent from Misty! I was glad since the outdoor grounds of the Hawaiian temple have absolutely no lights at all!

Wendy’s started having a peppermint shake this year! My favorite thing at Christmas are the Chick-fil-A peppermint milkshakes….but they only have one here and it is way down in Honolulu! So, we were hopeful that when we tried Wendy’s, it would be the same. Alas…No! It does have a peppermint taste, but no little chunks of candies in it!  Still, it is something!

Visitors came- top: brother of Benny Wilkins and his wife

Bottom: Seloni Tupuata- who we served with in France

Misty and Layne at the Stanford vs BYU game in Calif.

Monroe Family all home for Thanksgiving, except Trevor on his mission in Rome!

Austin, Kaden, Devon, Chad, Brooke, Tanner, & Ashlyn

Love all the rainbows we are seeing as the rainy season begins!

Landon has his sunsets, and we have our rainbows!

Lastly…what happens if you leave your phone or IPad unattended in the midst of young missionaries!

Sisters Erickson and Burbidge

 

Sat. Nov.26, 2022 - Ward BBQ

 Today was our end of the semester Ward BBQ. Finals are coming up and graduation is Dec, 9- so we needed to have it now. We had it at Hukilau Beach because it is the closest to the campus .

Brother Au, fist counselor in the Bishopric had marinated the chicken for 3 days! Plus he also BBQ’d 

Hot dogs and hamburgers!

Because it was from 9am to noon- they had one table of breakfast foods and fruit, and one table for lunch, with the meat, rice, Chips, drinks.! They do food in a big way here!

The high school here is Kahuku high school. It is about 7 min. Down the road. Almost everyone on the. aorta Shore goes here. They have a HUGE football fan base! They re pretty amazing! This year they beat Punahou (think the private school Barack Obama went to ) the night before for the state championship. Of course Roger and I HAD to represent…

It was fun, but not too many attended, even though we were offering rides to the park!We are in the YSA 12th Ward, and it is mostly freshman. We had to be finished by noon because so many have to go to work at the PCC at noon.

Thursday, Nov. 24,2022 - Thanksgiving!

 Busy day today. Of course, we worked at the VC…but we had reduced hours. This is the opening crew: we had PLENTY of time to take pictures, since no one came into the Center!

Front- Sisters Spencer, Lameroux, and Beeson

Middle:  Sisters Blakesly, Clevenger, Bushman, and Fisher

Back: Elder Hua, Elder & Sis. Mahaffey, Sister Drury, E. Bushman, & E. Adams

Then we went over to the PCC at the Gateway Buffet Terrace, and enjoyed Dinner!  The AhYou family here feed the whole mission ( and others ) every Thanksgiving. They cooked 300 turkeys emu style- buried in the ground for hours -  the senior missionaries each brought a side dish and the young ones brought dessert. 

Believe me, when Polynesians are involved, there is PLENTY to eat!

Then they had a little program with a lot of singers and performers. At one point the lady began singing a song for couples and invited someone who was having an anniversary to come and dance while she sang. After a minute all the young missionaries started chanting BUSHMAN, BUSHMAN….wanting them to go up and dance…so they did.  You know what is coming….then they stated chanting MAHAFFEY, MAHAFFEY……so we had to get up and dance too!

Then we walked over to the amphitheater where they hold the HA night show to have a whole mission picture. Organizing that many people is always interesting….

                                 Always a good time during a holiday in the mission field!!!

Wed. Nov. 23, 2022 - Turkeys!

 We made some turkeys to give to some of our sisters.

Several of our sisters that we have worked with at the TC, and the sisters in our ward and some others who have made treats for us deserved a treat in return. So, we had fun making these. However, we were very lucky, because apparently Hawaii only has candy corn on Halloween. And we were lucky enough to get some leftovers!

Sis. Use o and Sis. Lahache!   We have such great missionaries!!!

Tuesday, Nov.22 - Pres. Eyring

 Today we went to a BYUH devotional with President Eyring!

They started with a great musical number from the BYUH combined choirs:

The the devotional was a little different. They sat in a semi-circle on the stage with Clark Gilbert- head of Church Education, Pres. Keauwe - Pres. Of BYUH, Pres. Eyring, and three students .

So, instead of Pres, Eyring just speaking the whole time, the students gave them some pre-selected questions from the student body. It was good, but sadly, Pres. Eyring did not meet with the missionaries later that day! Rats!

Sat. Nov. 20- Finished product!

 So, now we have everything in the Visitor’s Center decorated and ready for Christmas!

The Christus Statue

Asian Theater

“

The Hawaiian Village

Walk through video theater- God’s Plan for his family

Temple hallway

Book of Mormon room

And then the 12 trees around the center. Each Stake on the island decorates their own tree. It is so great to see their creativity!  A couple serving here who came out with us- The Bowmans decorated our mission tree. She used to work with an interior design firm in DC that decorated a White House tree once. She really did a beautiful tree:

 

Kaneohe Stake.                -                   Makakilo Stake

BYU Married Student Stake.             -                 Laie Hawaii Stake

Waipahu Stake.              -                   Honolulu West Stake

Laie YSA 2nd Stake.               -                  Missionaries Tree

                                Mililani Stake                     -             BYU Women's Organization’s children

                               Honolulu Stake.                                     Laie YSA 1st Stake