January 10, 2016
Greetings all! It’s Sunday evening here in Laie, Hawaii and we’ve been having just fabulous weather the past several days. The visitors from Utah and Idaho keep telling us about all the snow that we’re missing (Jim and LeeAnn even got snow in Kentucky!). Problem is, I’m not missing it at all. Please don’t judge….
We’ve had another great week. The Visitors’ Center hasn’t been very busy, which is expected now that all the holidays are over. All the Christmas stuff has been put away for another year and the Center is pretty much back to normal. The big activity going on right now has to do with the Internet connection. A new Internet Service Provider is busy installing new wiring and sometime next week we should be cut over to the new, much faster and more reliable (so says the advertising) service. Meanwhile, our Internet has been down far more than it has been up. That’s quite frustrating for the sister missionaries as they have trouble doing their weekly emails as well as keeping in touch with the folks they are working with online. The Laie Temple is closed for it’s normal spring cleaning and maintenance, but this closure is going a week longer than usual to accommodate the Internet and other related changes at the Temple. Everything is due to be completed by January 18th as the Temple reopens on January 19th. We’re definitely praying for them!
About every six weeks or so the three senior missionary couples here at the Center get together for lunch. We were able to arrange that last Friday. Elder and Sister Priday, the Visitors’ Center Director and wife complete their mission next Friday, January 15th and the other senior missionary couple Elder and Sister Jensen finish their mission the following week on January 20th. So, last Friday was the last time for all of us to be together for lunch. Because Elder and Sister Jensen are on the opposite shift from us, we don’t get to spend a lot of time with them during the week. They are great people and we’ll sorely miss them as well as Elder and Sister Priday when they all go home.
Next week I’ll be able to write a bit about our new Visitors’ Center Director and his wife. They get here Friday afternoon and the current director and his wife depart Friday evening … a very short turnover.
We are assigned to the Laie 3rd Ward in the Laie Stake. That ward now meets at 8am on Sunday morning. Our Sunday shift at the Visitors’ Center has also changed. We’re now there from 11:30am until 4pm on Sundays. That’s during the busiest part of the day at the Center. Many locals as well as visiting Church members go to Church in the morning and then spend much of the afternoon at the Visitors’ Center chatting, walking around the grounds, watching some of the church videos that we have available, or just sitting and reading.
This afternoon, however, President Russell M. Nelson from the Quorum of the Twelve was here in Laie at BYU-Hawaii for a worldwide devotional broadcast. People from all over the Island of Oahu came up for the devotional which started at 3pm and went for an hour. During that time, the Visitors’ Center was definitely Not Busy … a total of eight people came in during that time. After the devotional was finished, however, several hundred people descended on the Center! It was quite amazing. I had a great time visiting with people and helping them take pictures, get set up to watch a video, or taking them on a tour of the Center. Many of them had never been to the Visitors’ Center before, even though they live within an hour’s drive. I’m hoping many of them come back and bring friends.
As said, changes start happening this week, which is good as it give me something to write home about! We love you all and know that you’re always in our prayers!
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