Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022 - Polynesian Cultural Center

 Today the Monroes started off the day by going to Waimea Falls while we worked, it is a nice hike, ending with a nice swim at the Falls.

Then we all went to the PCC- 

(The guys in the back is Lee Young- they had Tanner & Kaden as MTC teachers, used to live below us for 1 month, and work at the PCC.) He arranged for us to have a great tour guide- Madison (Maddie) Johnson. She is from Antioch and  their family was good friends with Layne’s family. She just returned from her mission and is working at the PCC.

Usually when o people come to visit the PCC, we will start going to the islands with them, then we will work for just a short time at the luau taking tickets, then join them for dinner and the night show. That is why we are wearing our Hawaiian outfits.

We had fun  at the island programs…and doing the game or craft they have. Here we are doing the stick game:

And the spear toss…

In the island of Samoa we learned how to weave fish out of coconut leaves…

On to the island of Fiji, where we all got to not only choose our tattoo, but choose where to place it as well…..Ashlyn and I chose our ankles

Austin wanted it around his neck, but then wasn’t happy with the way it looked….

Devo got his down one side of his face, others got them around their arms!!!

After the islands comes dinner at the Luau….everyone gets a lei to start…

Then my favorite part….the drinks in a pineapple…so good!

They have a whole program where they bring out the pig that has been cooking all day. They have songs, and dancing, etc. then you go to the buffet to eat as much as you want! After you are totally stuffed you head to the evening show…Ha, the Breath of Life.

It is always a great time at the PCC !!!!

Monday, Dec. 20, 2022 - The Big Island

 Just a few shots of the Monroes on the big island. They ended up not getting to swim with the manta rays, and even the volcano had stopped erupting…but they still got to see and do some fun things:

Got to see the black sand beaches….

And a little bit of the volcanoes….

And the beautiful Kona temple

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Monday, Dec. 19, 2022 - In the dark !

 Today we had a pretty good storm that knocked out all the power in Laie!  But, of course, the President did ‘t want us to close the VC, so we spent a lot of the morning sitting in the dark!

Sisters Birch, Eastman, Lahache, Adamson, and. Crummett (sr. Jensen not pictured)

There was no light at all in the back, and only the light from the windows in the front. We could not even let people come in and use the restrooms because in Laie they have pumps to pump the sewage up the hill to the sanitation station, ….but the pumps are electric. So, if there is no electricity, then when you flush it all backs up…worse problem!  But, people just kept coming in to see inside.

At one point there were about 20 people, many of them children, just laughing, running around, not wanting to hear anything about the gospel for sure!  So 3 sisters got up - Sr.Crummett. Adamson & Lahache - and told them that since there was no electricity, we could not play the narration that goes with the Christus statue, but that she would just recite it by heart to them!!! So Sr. Lahache , who has heard it many times because she will gone home very soon, had them all sit down and she just recited the whole thing!!! You could have heard a pin drop! It really brought the Spirit in a big way!

This is the day the Monroes flew to the big island of Hawaii to spend a few days. Because of the storm they had a pretty turbulent ride there! Only to arrive and find out that the biggest reason they went there was to do a night swim with the manta rays…but because of the storm and huge waves, they cancelled!

Later that evening we walked over to the PCC to see the Bushmans doing Mr. & Mrs. Santa.

Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022 - Happy Sabbath !

 Today was Sunday. The Monroes came with us to church in our BYU YSA 12th ward. Then they came over to the Visitor’s Center to see us work. Lots of great pictures on the temple grounds:

In front of the Banyan tree up behind the temple! It is an amazing tree!

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Up by the front doors of the temple:

You can see all the way out to the ocean from these front doors:

Then they came inside….I showed them the 7 minute video Welcome to Laie. Then we showed the Christmas video- The Christ Child- A Nativity story. I told them how we show guests a video, then explain a few things and beat our testimony.

Then Papa showed Ashlyn our storage room with pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon in over 80 languages!

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Sat. Dec.17, 2022- Mele Kalikimaka

 Sunrise on our beach:

Brooke and Ashlyn take an early morning swing on another swing just down the beach and Austin finds coconuts

Chad and Kaden did an early morning run out to Laie Point and saw the waves crash….

It is amazing that when the Mahaffeys were here in July, this WWII Pillbox had sand all around it and we could climb into it. Now, the waves are almost engulfing it. 

We had to work at the VC, so the Monroe’s went to Bonzai Beach to watch the surf competition.

They even got to see Bethany Hamilton, the girl who once had her arm bitten off by a shark.

Later that evening they came over to see Elder Mahaffey and I become Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Each night a new senior couple would be Mr & Mrs. Santa.

It was a lot of fun. Of course, since we are missionaries, we couldn’t have the kids sit on Santa’s lap…so we would just have them sit beside us on the bench and take their picture and give them a candy cane.

We had a great time!!!