Normally the first Sunday of the month is Fast Sunday where we end our fast at the potluck dinner. Twice a year in April and October, however, the first Sunday of the month is General Conference and Fast Sunday is held on some other Sunday. Regardless, the potluck dinner is always held on the first Sunday of the month. We potentially have eight more Break the Fast dinners before we finish up our mission here in Hawaii. Time is moving along quickly!
We do watch Conference. It comes on live from Salt Lake City on Saturday from 6-8am and then from 10am-noon. The same times on Sunday. I connect the iPad in the big theater up to YouTube and stream the video onto the big screen for all of the missionaries in our Zone. Between sessions on Saturday and Sunday we also have a breakfast for all the missionaries in the zone. We have a lot of fun, have good food, and a very spiritual Conference experience. Somehow every conference seems to be better than the last one and this weekend was no exception.
The week before Easter and the week after Easter are the most popular weeks for Spring Break, meaning that we see a lot of families at the Visitors’ Center. Consequently, we had another very busy week at the Center. I’ve been suffering from a cold the entire week (maybe next week it’ll finally go away?). Long days starting at 4:30am to be at the Center for conference at 6am followed by very busy days and short nights have yielded a very tired Elder and Sister Smith on this Sunday evening!
It is great fun to get Elder Steven Smith’s and Elder James Smith’s weekly letters from their respective missions. Dawnmarie and Trevor were very faithful letter writers from their missions and it looks like both Elder Smiths are going to be equally as faithful. Keep it up! Whenever we have visitors from the Portland, Oregon area of the Fresno, California we tell them about our grandsons and encourage them to look up and support the missionaries. Hopefully a few of those will actually happen!
This coming week and the next several weeks will settle down into another lull. In about eight weeks summer vacation will be in full swing and we’ll be swamped with visitors again at the Center. While I enjoy being very busy at the Center, I also miss being able to spend more time one-on-one with visitors. There was a family at the Center today where the husband grew up in Bancroft and the wife grew up in Soda Springs. We didn’t have much time to visit, so I don’t even know their names! But, she knew of my mother the piano teacher. She didn’t take piano lessons but one of her friends had mother as a piano teacher. Those are always fun experiences.
Attached is a funny picture … beware of the bees in the high winds. There is a tall mountain range that goes from the northwest to the southeast through the middle of the Island of Oahu. For many years the road from Honolulu around Diamond Head and places north was a difficult and treacherous road. Finally the Pali Highway was constructed in the early 1950’s up and over the mountain. At the summit is a pulloff area for tourists and the views are quite spectacular. It is also very windy. I suspect that a bee being propelled by the wind into one’s face is not a pleasant experience! We can’t say that we weren’t warned….
So, another week has been successfully completed and a great week lies ahead. Hopefully it will be the same for all of you!
<--Previous Entry | Next Entry -->