April 5, 2015

Greetings from a bright, sunny day on the island of Oahu. It’s still Sunday here while those in the eastern time zone have already started their Monday. The sun will set here in about 45 minutes and within a half hour after that it’ll be dark.

I’m really enjoying being here and serving a mission. As all of you know, this has been a goal of ours for many years and it’s finally happening. I’m beginning to get a small sense of what Jim in Argentina, Dawnmarie in France, and Trevor in Japan felt and did on their missions. While our assignment is quite different than those, we’ve had and will have many similar experiences.

Your mother has told you (and you can read on the blogs) a lot about our day-to-day activities. They don’t vary very much from day to day! What I can attest to is how tired we both are when we get back to our home here in Laie at the end of our shift at the Visitors’ Center. It’s a good tired, though. We’re meeting and talking with a lot of people! Between 3,500 and 4,500 people a week come to the Center. Most are not members of the Church and a significant percentage of those are from Korea, Japan, and mainland China.

The area around the Temple and the Visitors’ Center is stunningly beautiful. I’m hoping that some or all of you can find a way to come over sometime in your life. There’s a gentle, peaceful spirit here that complements the beauty and most visitors comment about it.

Sundays are actually our busiest days since we both work at the Center as well as attend our Church meetings in our assigned Ward. We should attend the same Ward, the Laie 3rd Ward, Laie Stake for the two years that we’re here. We’ve gotten to know a couple of people in the Ward and thoroughly enjoy the diversity here. There are people from all of the Polynesian Islands as well as Hawaiians, Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese in our Ward, even including a few caucasians like us. It’s easy to tell who the Polynesians are by how loudly and well they sing! There are Samoan and Tongan Wards here as well and their singing is legendary. Perhaps sometime we’ll be able to visit one of their Sacrament Meetings.

Laie is Hawaiian, which means that every letter is pronounced with a slight aspirated pause between the ‘a’ and ‘i’ … so it’s pronounced “la ‘ ee-ay’. I’ve also learned that there’s also a slight aspirated pause between the two ‘i’s in Hawaii … so it’s pronounced kind of like “ha-why-ee ‘ ee”.

Back in the 1860’s the Church purchased 60,000 acres of land on the north shore of Oahu. The area was pretty much uninhabited at the time. This area was designated as a gathering place for the Hawaiian and Polynesian saints, kind of like Utah was the gathering place for the converts from Europe, Canada, and Central and South America. George Q. Cannon, of the Quorum of the Twelve, was a very successful missionary in Hawaii in the 1850’s, lead the translation of the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian language, and literally thousands of native Hawaiians and Polynesians joined the Church. The Temple was built and dedicated in 1919. The Church College of Hawaii was built in 1954. It was moved in 1964 to it’s present location and renamed Brigham Young University – Hawaii Campus. The Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) was set up in 1963 to provide a way for the students from the Pacific Islands, who had no money, to come here and get a college education so they could return home to become leaders in their countries. There was then and is now no requirement to be a member of the Church to attend the university or work at the PCC and, according to a few of the students I’ve talked to, at least a third of the student body are not members.

The Visitors’ Center was built in 1964, so last year it celebrated it’s 50th anniversary and the University celebrated it’s 60th year.

Well, that’s probably enough history for now, particularly as it’s about all the history I’ve learned so far!

Please know that I love all of you so very much. It’s actually quite humbling to be here in this beautiful place and be a missionary. Just about everyone we meet asks about our family and I quite proudly list you off, scattered from the east coast to India. I appreciate your support of our mission and hope that you’re willing to hear from me from time to time! I know that what we’re doing is important, for the people we meet, the people we work with, and for us.

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