Greetings from Hawaii! This is the Sunday letter on a Tuesday. When we finally got home from the Visitors’ Center on Sunday evening at 9:30pm, writing a letter was not on my agenda any more that evening. Monday turned out to be equally as busy. Since we don’t have to be anywhere today until 2:30 pm, I finally have a few minutes.

Our Sunday schedule was definitely different than normal. Elder and Sister Swinton were speaking in the afternoon, so we needed to take their shift in addition to our shift. In addition, we had a musical fireside at 6pm that day featuring our very talented sister missionaries. That made for a very busy and a very long day. If it wasn’t the busiest day ever at the Visitors’ Center, it’s got to be right up there with 1,102 people coming into the Center during the day on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Chinese busses have slowed down. I understand from one of the drivers that the national airline for mainland China increased their air fares on July 9th by about 35%. They’ll stay that way until the end of August when they’ll go back down. So, the Chinese who are coming at present either don’t have to worry about money, or who couldn’t come at any other time than now. Rather than getting 300 – 400 Chinese visitors a day, we’re currently down to around 150 visitors.

Aunt LaRella, my dad’s only sister, died last night. She’s been in a skilled nursing facility for several years with severe dementia, so her passing is a relief. Her funeral will be next Monday in Preston, Idaho with burial later in the day in the Cleveland Cemetery. Two brothers, Uncle Nate and Uncle Ross, along with Uncle Nate’s wite Sharon, and my mother are all that are left of that generation.

Last Saturday we were able to meet our new Honolulu Hawaii Mission President, President Bekker and his wife. They arrived on July 1st and have been making a whirlwind tour around the mission. They are, as expected, wonderful people and we’re looking forward to getting to know them a lot better.

The morning has passed and it’s time to get ready to go to work at the Visitors’ Center. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
father/father-in-law/brother/brother-in-law/son/uncle/grandpa/missionary/friend

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