Each week on Monday Evening the senior missionaries serving here in Laie, whether at the Temple, the Visitors’ Center, the Polynesian Cultural Center, or BYU-Hawaii, get together at 7:15pm at the Heber J. Grant building on campus for a Family Home Evening (FHE). There are around 90 senior missionaries here. Quite often the program consists of testimonies of missionaries who are completing their missionary assignment and will be going home before the next Family Home Evening. Every other Transfer our schedule allows us to go to FHE (on the other schedule we’re on duty at the Visitors’ Center on Monday evenings). Tonight three missionary couples bid their farewell. We don’t get to see the other senior missionaries very often because our assignments are so different, but these three couples have been here the entire time we’ve been here and we’ve had the opportunity to get to know them a bit. They’re moving on to something different and it kind of makes me realize that it’s not very long before we’ll be the ones saying goodbye!

Whenever missionaries are leaving, either at FHE for the senior missionaries, or at our weekly Visitors’ Center Training Meeting held for the Visitors’ Center missionaries, we sing “Aloha’oe”. This is a piece of music written by the last Queen of Hawaii and is revered and loved dearly by the Hawaiians. Whenever someone moves out of the Ward, the entire Ward sings “Aloha’oe” after the closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting to the departing family. It’s also sung as the last number at the Polynesian Cultural Center luaus. Over the past 14 months we’ve sung it or heard it sung quite often and pretty much have it memorized. It’s one of those pieces of music that becomes an “ear worm” … you can’t get it out of your head!

This afternoon we had another assignment at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We were assigned to the exit at the Hale Aloha luau. We enjoy this assignment. Our job is to direct people to the restrooms or people to the entrance when they come in through the exit. We get to see the luau program and generally just sit and enjoy the late afternoon. This week we have two assignments. On Wednesday afternoon we’ll be taking tickets at the other big luau, the Hale Ohana luau. We also enjoy that assignment as (1) we’re in the shade and (2) there’s a lot of people traffic both on foot and on the boats in the canal that bisects the PCC. Meanwhile, this morning was one of the slowest mornings we’ve had at the Visitors’ Center. Fewer than 30 visitors between 9am and 2:30pm came in. I took advantage of the slow time to install a couple of kick-down door stops on a couple of doors that we need propped open fairly often and we’re always looking to find the rubber wedge that seems to regularly disappear. Three more doors need these door stops, so hopefully this week on Preparation Day I’ll be somewhere around a Home Depot to pick up the hardware.

Today was another beautiful day. The trade winds are blowing bringing inland nice cool ocean breezes. The skies are partly cloudy with bright sunshine. It’s a pleasure being here!

Ta ta for now!