What is the most common sound we hear from our home? Roosters. Crowing. Feral chickens everywhere. It’s amazing to me how many chickens roam the countryside.

We’ve finished a whole week at the Visitors’ Center (I wrote it a couple of times as “Visitor’s Center” but then saw the words across the top of the building and along the side entrance. It’s “Visitors’ Center”, plural possessive. I’m repenting…). It has been a fun, interesting, tiring, happy week. And, to top it off, we’ve got 97 more weeks just like this one coming up. One of the visitors yesterday suggested that being here was kind of like going to heaven without dying. I resemble that remark.

So, how does the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center work? Differently than I had imagined, and more fun than I had thought. The Center is open from 9am until 8pm every day, including Sundays. There are a few days in the year that the Center is closed, but the list is out in the car and I’m too tired to go get it. There are three couples assigned to the Center and currently 22 sister missionaries.

Elder and Sister Priday are the Center Directors. They’re called by the First Presidency, attend a special training in January along with new MTC presidents and serve for two years. They’ll be here until mid-January next year. Elder and Sister Jensen and Nina and I are the other two senior missionary sets. The Jensen’s are also here until mid-January next year. We’ll be here until mid-February of 2017. While the Center Director is associated with the Mission, they are not under the direction of the Mission. On the other hand, The Jensen’s and us are missionaries under the direction of the Hawaii Honolulu Mission assigned to the Visitors’ Center. It’s possible (but not likely) that the Mission President could change our assignment.

Sunday we are at the Visitor’s Center from 9am until 11:30am. Elder and Sister Priday go to Church at 8am and relieve us at 11:30am so we can go to our Ward (the Laie 3rd Ward) at noon. Elder and sister Jensen attend their ward at 11am (I think) and relieve Elder and Sister Priday that afternoon and close the Center at 8pm. This Sunday schedule remains the same for at least the rest of this year.

The weekday schedules vary, and change around every six weeks when mission transfers happen. The next transfer is on April 8th. On this rotation, Nina and I open the Center at 9am on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings and work until 2:30pm. We have Thursday as our Preparation Day. We work at the Center on Friday and Saturday afternoons from 2:30pm and close the Center at 8pm.

Each week, usually on Monday mornings, there is a Visitors’ Center Training Meeting at 7:30am. All of the missionaries assigned to the Center attend this training meeting. There are always enough things to talk about and discuss to use up the hour and a half before the Center opens at 9am. For instance, the Church has just released a new Easter video “Because He Lives” along with a complete campaign including advertisements, social media, and special firesides. This included setting up a new display in the Center which is getting a lot of attention. This topic generated a lot of discussion at our last training meeting.

One very important component of each afternoon is the Laie City Tram Tours. These trams originate at the Polynesian Cultural Center and make several stops around town, including at BYU-Hawaii and the Visitors’ Center. Two sister missionaries are on the tram giving those riding the tram color commentary. When the tram stops at the Visitors’ Center, they help guide the guests onto the grounds and into the Center. Most stop at the fountain, however, to take pictures. The missionaries and I greet them and offer to take their pictures. Most everyone wants to have a picture taken and are quite willing to put expensive cameras and phones (mostly phones) into my hands to take a picture. That’s my best qualification after one week … I know how to operate the camera on a half-dozen different brands of smart phones. And, so far, I haven’t boggled any of them. We do have insurance, however, should something bad happen!

The tram tours are every twenty minutes starting at 3pm and ending at 7pm. The earlier trams are pretty light, but the later ones average around 35 people. Sometimes there are enough people that two trams are running starting at 6pm. We can get really busy when that happens. It’s a fun busy, however, visiting with people, learning where they’re from and what they’ve enjoyed in Hawaii, and answering questions. The most often asked question is whether or not we have any bathrooms (we do). The second most asked question is about the Temple. So far I haven’t encountered anyone who has been negative or discourteous. I’m sure it happens, though.

Today we were on the evening shift and closed the Center at 8pm. Then it’s back to our house, get a quick and easy bite to eat, relax a bit, write in our blogs, or do email. Then off to bed to get ready for another fun-filled day!

Life is pleasantly tired today.