Mission Letter: Merry Christmas from Laie on December 6, 2015

December 6, 2015

Greetings from a very pleasant Laie, Hawaii! It’s about 8 pm on this Sunday evening. The temperature is 70 degrees under mostly clear skies. No wind but 91% humidity. This weather is expected to hold for the next couple of days. We’re definitely enjoying it!

At the Visitors’ Center we’ve had a very mixed week. A couple of days were Very Slow and a couple of other days were just hopping. It’s impossible to predict from one day to the next how many visitors will come. The two new Church videos (go to https://christmas.mormon.org) are a major draw and get lots of conversations started. We have a large flat screen TV in the Christus room with the “A Savior Is Born” video on it and that is also very popular. Many locals are also coming in to see the seventeen Christmas Trees that various Stakes and Wards decorated for the season. I’ll need to take some good pictures of them … they are all quite unique and really add to the Christmas atmosphere at the Center.

Meanwhile, Sister Smith has come down with her annual bout of laryngitis. She isn’t a very happy camper about that. By tomorrow she’ll hopefully be on the recovery cycle rather than the “getting sicker by the minute” cycle. Her voice is definitely an octave lower than normal … although she can cough and hack all over the spectrum.

Once every five or six weeks the three senior couples get together for lunch. Last Friday we had lunch at the new Marriott Courtyard Motel that opened in Laie last summer. We always have a good time when we get together and can “talk story” (a lovely Hawaiian pidgen English term). The big event happened that morning. Three women we walking across the courtyard at the Center going toward the Distribution Center. One of them opened her purse and her temple recommend flew out and landed in the fountain pool (the pool is about 150 feet by 250 feet wide). Elder Jensen (one of the senior missionaries) was nearby and told the younger woman to go ahead into the pool and retrieve the recommend. So, in she want. The pool is about 2 1/2 feet deep, which is up to mid thigh on most adults. However, in the bright sun, she couldn’t see the valuable piece of paper in the water! Several people helped guide her to the right location; she retrieved the paper and climbed out. Then she lamented that no one got a picture. “Go ahead back in!” Elder Jensen encouraged. So, back in she went to a plethora of pictures. She was fairly wet and quite happy when she climbed out the second time. I don’t know how well the recommend survived, however.

We had our second Christmas Fireside this evening at the Center put on by the Southwind Celtic Ensemble. This six-person group played a variety of older but familiar Christmas tunes. It was very well attended. One of the attached pictures was taken in the big theater at the Center about five minutes before the fireside began. By the time it started it was standing room only. This is the fifth year that they’ve put on a program during Christmas at the Center. I’m definitely looking forward to them coming back next year.

Our Ward here in Laie had its Christmas party last Thursday evening. There nothing more true about parties in Hawaii than the fact the there is always Plenty Of Food! There isn’t enough room to put everything out at once, so food just keeps coming out of the kitchen the whole night long. The end of the line never has to worry about getting anything to eat as there is plenty for seconds and thirds. There is also plenty of music at these parties as well. We had a great time and came home rather sated.

I mentioned earlier that the visitor count has varied widely during the week. The same was true at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We were scheduled to work at one of the luaus last Wednesday, but weren’t needed as that luau didn’t happen. The PCC has potential for three luaus and on that day they only had one. The same on Thursday. The other days of the week they had two. So, their visitor count has varied widely as well.

So far this year we’ve had almost 127,000 visitors at the Center. We should end the year around 135,000 which is fairly close to last year’s count. Meanwhile, the new Visitors’ Center Director and his wife have been announced. Our new Director and his wife will be:

“Jeffrey Cheever Swinton, 68, and Heidi Sorensen Swinton, five children, Winder 10th Ward, Salt Lake Winder Stake: Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center, succeeding Elder Gene F. Priday and Sister Andrea Priday. He is a sealer in the Salt Lake Temple, a high councilor and Sunday School teacher. He is also a former Area Seventy, president of the England London South Mission, stake president, bishop, branch president and missionary in the British Mission. Attorney, Stoker & Swinton. Born in Salt Lake City to Kenneth Swinton and Venice Cheever Swinton.

“Sister Swinton is a writer and content manager for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and author of President Thomas S. Monson’s biography, To the Rescue. She served with her husband in the England London South Mission and is a former Relief Society general board member and ward Young Women and Primary president. Born in Salt Lake City to Frederick Sorensen and Harriett Horne Sorensen.”

They will be here mid-January. Elder and Sister Jensen finish their mission about a week later and they’re being replaced by Elder and Sister Andrus from Rexburg, Idaho. He’ll definitely be a relative in some fashion. So, January will be a month of change. Should be interesting (at least to us!).

The other picture was taken on Friday evening. The nativity scene in the courtyard at the Center is in the dark lower right corner of the picture.

Well, that’s about all from this little corner of paradise. Merry Christmas!

Nativity Scene
Nativity Scene



Fireside Audience
Fireside Audience


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