Each week at our senior couples coordinating meeting for the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center we go over the current “Come and Go” list. This document lists the missionaries who will be arriving and their arrival date along with missionaries who are completing their mission along with the expected completion date. The list looks forward some three to four months.

The list we got last Tuesday has our names on it as departing on February 9th, 2017. Seeing our names in print with an actual date is starting to make this “being completed with this mission” seem real. The 9th of February will be here way too soon. We’ve still got a few items on our “Hawaii Bucket List”, but most of them have been crossed off. Today we put together a short list of places we want to have dinner at least once more before we leave … food is a subject near and dear to my heart!

Five days a week, when possible, I take a one-mile walk in the morning after getting up and before breakfast. The first quarter of the walk is a pretty intense climb up the side of a mountain to a large fresh water storage tank. The next quarter is back downhill from the tank. The last half mile is around the neighborhood and the nearby cul-de-sacs. The climb itself is (for me) pretty intense with some significant elevation gain.

The last half mile is relatively flat. I keep thinking that the climb at the beginning will get easier. So far, not so. I’m panting heavily as I near the top. On the way back I take a picture looking eastward out to the ocean (today’s picture at the top of this post). It’s a vigorous and pleasant walk. I’ll be doing it again tomorrow!

See you next time. Ta ta for now!