Sunday

We started the day going to church at our YSA ward.  We had an unusually large crowd today.  I met quite a few new people, it was great.  Our new Sisters, to our district, joined us.  Here is a picture I took of our Sunday School class.  Wonder if this will be the last one...rumors

Sister Presler and Sister 

Saturday

Well, we got a break.  The flies are gone and the sun is back.  Yeah!  We got up early and went and cleaned the ward church house at 7.  Boy, was I a sweating mess by the time I finished vacuuming the rooms.  The President of the Branch brought over fried rice and fruit for a "thank you" for us.  Nice of him.  We came home and were so hot we decided to go to Sharks Cove for a swim, although we knew the water would be murky.  It was refreshing but we couldn't see much snorkling, so only stayed about 45 minutes.  The tide was in and it was breaking over the rocks and pretty rough.

We came home and showered and then I saw a text that we were having "Break the fast" tomorrow for YSA Branch, so did some quick thinking, did my hair and decided to run into Laie for supplies.  Elder Sanft wanted to stay home and watch the game so I asked Kathy, my across the fence neighbor, if she wanted to tag along.  She said she would and we headed out.  Oh, I forgot to mention, I lost a earring cleaning the church, it was a good one Ramon had given me...second good one I've lost and the leftovers don't match...So we stopped at the church and looked but couldn't find it.

We came home and I made chili, then went over to  Kathy's to print something up, (my printer is out of ink) and came back to clean the tile floor after the game was over.

Today was a special day for Grandson Ty, Adam's son.  He was baptized in Provo by his Father.  We felt bad we couldn't be there.  They sent pictures but I know it's not the same.  He looked so happy and so much like his Father.

Ty in front of all the medals he and his brothers
have won at soccer!

Friday

More rain and no trade winds.  Everything is sticking to everything!  This morning we ran into Laie to a District meeting,  no one there, saw some Sisters who said we never have a District meeting the Friday after transfers!  So home again.  It was raining so hard I could hardly drive.  I made Elder Sanft take a picture through the windshield...

We came back home, had breakfast and then I baked some cookies and we ran them up to the Kopp's
house.  No one was home.  We ran out of ink for the printer so decided to go back into Laie and see if the bookstore might have some.  Was a long shot and they didn't.  We ran into "our" Elders: Collins and Chandler, outside the Bookstore manning a booth to invite people to a Book of Mormon class they just started on  Tuesday nights.  They gave us a huge bunch of green banana's someone gave them and when we got home Elder Sanft cooked them.  While in Laie I stopped by the beauty shop that NEVER answers their phone and made an appointment for a hair cut.  Also, on the way there we stopped at the doctors office to make an appointment for Ramon's tennis ball on his elbow and they took him right in.  The doctor is so nice and she said it was bursitis and she drained a whole bunch of fluid off it and it's now almost normal size.  That came up awfully quick, might have been from him leaning on his elbows at the kitchen bar when he reads late at night.  She said carpet layers get it often on their knees.  Interesting.

Came back home, my fancy pepper steak dinner was ready in the crock pot and we ate. (wasn't that good, new recipe)   I then ran over and talked to Kathy for a while as she had dropped by during our dinner.  It's nice to have such good neighbors near by that care about us.

Here's some more rain pictures from our deck..it really pours here and I sure wish we could send it to Utah.

I guess the phone camera doesn't really show the rain very well

Thursday

Today started out just really bad.  First my phone wouldn't work, I did everything I've been told to do to reboot it up.  Then I went upstairs and asked Josh to help me, he couldn't figure it out so I called the Sprint store.  They walked me through a few things, nothing helped. They said to make an appointment.  I called Maile to help me, she couldn't.  Then I tried a Sprint store closer to us to make an appointment, and they thought they could help over the phone.  They recommended I do a few things, I did and then they said I needed to contact Apple.  I called them and made an appointment for Monday afternoon since I'll be in town then anyway for my infusion.

 I was a little worried because it was so late in the day with traffic and all, for that appointment.   Then Ramon's phone started not working so I called back and changed the appointment for tomorrow at 3:50 because we needed a phone over the weekend.  Both times they warned me I probably needed a new phone.  Then Ramons phone started working, he had grabbed mine thinking it was his and had the wrong phone, so his had worked all the time.

All this as we were puttering around here, washing and we had the ironing board set up (remember we are in a tiny studio) and I hadn't really gotten ready for  the day yet, in a ratty old Muumuu, the Elder's stopped by!  It was about 9:45.   They charged in, laughing and saying "we're having a meeting here and couldn't get you on the phone!"  I thought they were joking and continued to iron...until the Sisters arrived.  I asked them why they didn't call Elder Sanft's phone...grrrr.  So we had to stop everything and have a meeting, and if you know me you know I like to be in control....of how I look, how my place looks, etc. Here I was dressed in not much more than a nightgown, looking like a scary old lady.   I was fuming a little, and kind of grouchy.  I knew we needed to be at the Visitor's Center for our shift at 2:00.  The meeting lasted until noon.  Then the power WENT OUT at about 11:00.  Yikes.

Our bathroom doesn't have a window, and we have exactly two candles and one flashlight.  We muddled through our meeting then the Sister's left and the Elder's decided to eat their lunch here, we offered a few tidbits (candy, water and tangerines) to go with their lunch.  They finally left, and I wondered what to do about getting ready.

Just about 12:30 Dave appeared at our window by the bed asking if we'd like electricity.  He then tried to pull something out there to connect the generator and nothing happened.  He got frustrated because the generator wouldn't turn on and said he thought he had run over a cord with the lawnmower.  Yikes again!   I decided I'd get dressed the the Muumuu uniform for the Center and take all my makeup and curling iron over to the VC and get ready there.  So I called Sister Tuitupo and asked her to open the back door for me to slip in.  So that was the plan.

When got out our door and it started pouring like the Heaven was letting everything go, I mean really really buckets.  We ran for the car, got in, and I forgot my badge.  I got out, ran to the apartment and got it.  Ran back and we forgot something else, so I ran back and forth.  By the timeI settled in the car my hair was sopping wet and so was I.  The umbrella wouldn't have helped because it's only a 5 foot walk from the car door to the overhang of the house, but buckets of water were pouring down, and I would have gotten wetter as I opened up the umbrella or shut it down.

Whew, then we started out.  It was slow slow driving, as it was flooding and we were creating such a splash every time we drove through a giant puddles.  But we made it in safely, ran with umbrella to the center.  I got situated in there at the bathroom, which is large, just as a bus load of Asian women arrived.  I love them but they are pushy.  One especially so, I had to stand firm and hang on to my supplies as she must have thought they were for her to use.  Honestly....

We had a busy afternoon in spite of the rain.  Trams still arrived and bus loads of tourists still came.
It was nice having a little time to visit with the Sisters a bit.  They are so choice, and we received 7 new ones on Monday.  After working a while there, I settled down and felt a bit more peaceful.  I needed to be there and calm down and breathe.

I started to show a Sister some of my Halloween pictures of treats I had made, and low and behold my phone started working!  My prayers really really do work.  I had asked so many people how to fix my phone and nothing.  Finally it dawned on me to pray, dumb that I am, it always takes me a while to think of that!  Was another tender mercy of the Lord.  I really really didn't want to drive into Honolulu tomorrow in the rain to fix a phone or buy a new one.

On our way to close down the VC,  Elder Sanft lost the key to the main doors, after we had turned off the lights.  We all were scrambling around looking for it with flash light because it was too much trouble  to turn on all the lights again.  I turned and saw three Sisters on their knees right by the Christus and heard them praying for the lost key.  It was immediately found and all was good.

We were starving after our shift ended at 8:00, no milk at our place and no electricity to use the microwave and no light to see in the kitchen, only lights from from a window over by the bed, so we hadn't eaten lunch.   We drove over to Foodland, bought milk and then went to 7 Brothers for dinner! The day was saved.

Things I'm grateful for today:

Granddaughters that call me up to see how we are....they are so loving.
Power of Prayer
Safe home and good people around me
Sister's on this mission that love us unconditionally, and really show it
Good friends at home who are taking my place and ministering to my aunt...Dianne, Leslie and Janet, thank you.  And dear dear Lavina!

Wednesday

We started the day headed to Wahiawa to get blood drawn for me, was a small little place that took me in immediately.  The nurse was so kind and although not my Megan from Dr. Call's office (some times I never even feel the needle with Megan) it was okay.  Then as we got in the car, we talked about flu shots, passed a Walgreens and pulled over and got a flu shot.  Same thing, really nice people.

Since we were so far from home we went to Costco looking for tangerines for my Halloween Birthday treat next Tuesday for the Sister's at the Visitor's Center.  I want to draw pumpkin faces on them.  Costco was totally out, where I had gotten some for the Elders 5 days ago and they had tons then.  We drove over to Mililani and Walmart.  I picked up some Nutter Butter cookies to make ghosts for same event.  Then we stopped at Jack in the Box for lunch and home.

I made a PinaColada Cake for dinner tonight at the Geronio's house.  Can I just say how terribly  humid it has been for about 4 days.  There has been very little wind and every piece of clothing sticks to us like it's painted on.  There have also been these little tiny flies, like nats, that are all over inside and outside.  I bought two kinds of sprays but the best result is going back to killing them like we do fruit flies around canning season, apple cider vinegar with a drop of Dawn dish soap, we have three glasses around our studio and they are full of flies.

Another comment.  The moon has been full and I guess it's a harvest moon, but it has been breathtaking!  I went out this morning and it was still up and this picture does not capture the beauty but it will remind me of the mornings here.  The sunset the other day made the sky totally red, I saw pictures but unfortunately didn't know what was going on and didn't take any.

Look for the moon!

We went to the Geronio's for dinner at 5:30.  We had a large crowd there tonight.  The Nicols were back and brought a daughter and her family, the Elders brought two young men, the Gerionio's had a new couple there, Mike and Tracey.  One of the young men the Elder's brought was Kyle, he spoke in Stake Conference on Sunday.  I was so glad to meet him and tell him what a terrific job he did of telling his conversion story and bearing his testimony.  He said he has been asked to do a couple of firesides now, so others were impressed too.  The birds were out and we all had a great time with them.

This is Blue with Nick Geronio

This is Blue

This is Marley

Elder Chandler and friend
The birds just flew over to them

Almost everyone that was at dinner

Crazy birds!

Tuesday

We were so busy today I forgot to take any pictures.  But we did have a good day!

We started by a meeting at 7:30 at the Allen's house, they are the directors of the Visitor's Center here.  It was a meeting for us couples only, who serve at the VC.  It was more of an information and getting rules straight meeting.  We did learn some new things.

Then we hurried home to bake cookies and get ready to take our lunch supplies over to Laie to have lunch ready for the returning Missionaries after they do a temple session at 2:00.  I baked and iced cookies and then went looking for my phone.  It was in my purse, turned off (of course because of the meeting) and there were many texts and it was ringing.  I grabbed it open just in time to see it was from President Bekker.  He was informing me that because of all the new arrivals of missionaries that they had to up their time for lunch to noon and could we be ready?  Of course!  It was 11:15 and a 20 minute drive to Laie.  But hurried and called Taco Bell to rush the order and we made it!  In fact, we waited 20 minutes for them.  While waiting,  Leslie called and said she had just gotten her Mission call!

Exciting for Leslie but she doesn't come here until December 31!  We were a little rushed because the President asked the Missionaries if they wanted to do the 1:00 session and hurry lunch or the 2:00 and visit.  They chose 1:00 so we didn't have much time to visit.  And I forgot to take pictures.  This was a smaller group and only had two Sister Missionaries in it,  ones we knew well.  One going home to Mapleton.

We left with many leftovers.  So decided to take the leftover box of tacos over to the VC to give to the Sisters there.  We brought the cookies and tangerines home and I plated up the cookies.  Emma called and wondered if we could do a cookie drop tonight.  I told her sure and then Brother Bowen texted that he'd like a meeting this afternoon at 5:30 and invited us to dinner with his family afterwards.   So we went over there and I called Emma a told her I couldn't do it tonight.  We set it up for Thursday.

We meet with Brother David Bowen our Branch Mission Leader and our two Zone Leaders for about half an hour, then enjoyed pizza and salad with his cute young family. They are such nice people.  Her parent live near my son Ryan near Riverside.  She's expecting baby #3 in November.  They are in the process of moving from one Turtle Bay Condo to another bigger one.

We came home and Elder Allen called and asked if we could substitute at the temple on the  Thursday afternoon shift from 2:00-8:00.  We agreed readily and I texted Emma back and had to cancel the cookie drop for that night.  She is going to LA Friday so I guess it won't get done.  Maybe next week.

Monday September 24, 2018

This morning we had a very inspiriing Visitor's Center Meeting.  Elder David F. Evans, the Regional Seventy over Asia  (I think that was his calling, I'll check and make sure I'm right) was our guest speaker.  He talked to us for 11/2 hours mainly about how the age for perspective missionaries got lowered a few years ago  and also about China and the restrictions there.  I had wondered why so many missionaries were learning Mandarin in so many different parts of the world;  it is so those people can learn about the gospel and take it back to China. There are amazing members of the church there and yet it is not allowed to be taught in that country. So the people have to be taught elsewhere and return.  The Sister's were warned about communicating with friends they might have met here, both for their friend's protection and for the safety of our church there.  He said more rules are coming and they are even stricter than before.

He also told us that the English language was the language of the restoration.   He had us open our Book of Mormon, as many of us had it in different languages, and he showed us the difference of the wording in the same scriptures in different languages.  He told us all how important it was to learn English and use it, as it had the correct meaning of certain words and that made a difference in understanding some verses.  Interesting.  He encouraged everyone to be fluent in English, glad I'm pretty good in that one area.

He went on to talk very emotionally about how important the Visitor's Center was to members who might be struggling with one of their children in helping them grasp the gospel.  That we are not to just look at the tourists or visitors but when members come to embrace them in love and sharing.  The Visitor's Center is a crucial part of member resource for families.

After we made a quick stop at Taco Bell to put in our order for lunch tomorrow to feed the returning home missionaries.

Later at night we attended just the FHE for the YSA Branch in Kahuku.   My goodness, I haven't laughed so hard in months.  They were doing Karioke  and celebrating Nicole's birthday.  It was so fun, I took videos of the Elder's and sent them to their mothers and threatened to show President Bekker tomorrow.  He'd love the show I'm sure.  I wish video worked on blogs but it doesn't so you'll just have to take my word for it.  We laughed and laughed and missed our next FHE we stayed so long.

Eating pizza and cake and getting "ready"

Dominque and Alora

Nicole, Sister Cardenas and Dominique

Dominique

The whole group led by Elder Chandler, wish I could download the video!

Sunday

Today our YSA Branch had Stake Conference, so we met in the Aloha Center at BYUH.  It was a very good meeting, with great speakers, one was a new convert who gave a great testimony.  Our Temple President and his wife also spoke as they are being released next month, the Kealohas.  I'm posting a picture I took of my friend Mollie's husband's cousin who is in this Stake Presidency and spoke to us about Joseph Smith.

After conference we went to our Sunset Beach Family Branch, it was the Primary Children's program.  Very cute, and then I had to teach Relief Society.  

After we returned home my friend Heather, who used to cut my hair, and her husband came over and we drove them over to Turtle Bay to see it and the sun set but it had rained all day so the view was lacking.  It was fun to talk to someone from home and visit a bit with them.  They are loving it here and staying actually quite close to where we live.

Saturday

BYU Football day!  We started the day going for a walk over to the Reuel's house.  These are the people who gave us the "star" fruit and Ramon wanted to see how it grew.  They live about 1/2 a mile up the street.  My goodness!  Their house is amazing.  One of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  They even had a separate guest house that is in itself amazing too!  So beautiful.  Brother Reuel has done all the landscaping and it is terraced with a row of citrus, a row of other stuff...but so neat and orderly.  We fell in love with it.  He was so generous and gave us more star fruit.  I quite like it! 

After we came home and Elder Sanft found the BYU station and the game thanks to Kathy our great neighbor.  I spent the time preparing a RS lesson, that they just asked me to teach this morning.  Then I baked a new main dish, Chicken Tetrazzini, we really liked it.  Gave a plate to Dave upstairs who has been working hard the whole day, this guy never stops.  He's joining his wife in Europe next Sunday and Ramon asked him if he could do without surfing that long, and he answered he hoped to surf in Portugal.  Good luck Dave!
BTW BYU won!

Friday

We got up early and ran to our District meeting at 8:00.  The Elders decided to play some games to introduce scripture study.  Everyone had a great time.  We also met the new couple who are serving at the VC now.  He plays the organ wonderfully, we caught him in the act after the meeting.  Their names are Elder and Sister Luker from Salt Lake City.

This is our district

After we went and checked on two apartments.  One was really bad and it was our District Leader's apartment.  They hadn't even tried at all to clean up.  I scolded them and they promised but Elder Sanft said he was going to talk to them about it.  We'll see.

Then we ran home, grabbed some things and headed out to Costco, the cleaners, and Walmart.  Pretty unimpressive when I get excited about a trip to Walmart.  You have to remember we live in the country and the stores are few! I drove by Walmart and right out front were some tomato plants.  I went in and purchased two, some potting soil, fertilier and a Halloween bucket for a $1.00, to try and grow my own expensive tomatoes. I spent about $10.  Everyone discourages me, saying tomatoes don't grow here,  so I have to see for myself.  I think I said yesterday I spent $5.50 for three unjuicy tomatoes to make salsa.  

On our way home the traffic was stopped, ended up turning off the car, (which worked perfectly today with some antifreeze).  We didn't know the problem but two ambulances drove by us going the other way, then two police cars going our way and a fire truck going the other way.  It was about an hour until we could move again.  Figured there was an accident on this only road around the island on this side.  Sure enough, we drove past our Sunset Beach and in the parking lot was two crinkled up cars on and flat bed truck to be hauled off.  I guess the accident happened in front of our place.  I hope someone survived, it looked horrible.

Later we went over to Jenny and Zack Kopp house to see the sunset from their deck.  The have a house high on the hill and the view is spectacular.  They are the family whose dog liked me.  I think he forgot me, cause he wasn't nearly as friendly tonight, although he was still sweet.  We took some watermelon to share with them and visited with them for about an hour.  After dark I was driving and drove up the wrong way into another family's yard.  Kind of scary out here, it gets pitch black outside, no street lights and you have to know where you are going.  I turned around quickly and beat it out of there.  Here is a picture of the sunset from their deck.  It got cloudy fast after I took the picture so it's not a complete sunset.

Thursday

Today we were doing apartment checks,  just two today in Kahuku.  I got up a little early and decided to make cinnamon rolls, in order to take a plate to each apartment of Elders.  We left the house at about 9:45 and within one mile we had a overheated car engine and warming signs beeping and I had to pull over by the fruit stand.  We didn't know what to do, remembering that on Tuesday, two days ago, we had our car checked and they mentioned they had topped off all fluids.  Well, I called the Zone leaders, Elders Collins and Chandler,  and if they were free to come help us.  Luckily, they were our first appointment and were free.

The Elders came and and transferred us and our three plates of rolls.  They took us to our second appointment to check and left us while they ran and bought us some antifreeze.  Our antifreeze container was totally empty.  Grrrr!   We told them we'd start walking if they weren't there by the time we were done.  They weren't and we walked down the hill, it was a nice pleasant walk, not too hot. We were able to see lots of yards and how people live, many asked us if we needed rides.  Kahuku is also predominantly LDS.

The Elders came, dropped us off at our car, Elder Sanft put in the antifreeze and we prayed it would work.  Meanwhile we had called to see if we could get a different car (this one is a piece of junk) and Elder Walker said there were no cars available.  We wondered how we'd make it through the next busy 5 days.

We then drove back to Kahuku to stop by Leilani's waffle truck and give them a plate of cinnamon rolls. We ended up talking to them about miracles for about a half an hour.  Good people.

We came and and prepared to feed these same Elders for dinner.  Meanwhile my doctor called with an appointment for my infusion, Oct 1.  It will have been since July 17 since my last one, a real miracle I've made it this long.  I hope we can get them scheduled now every 4 weeks without trouble.

The Elders came to dinner and brought Nick an investigator we had met previously.  He is a "select eater", so I pulled together some vegetables for him and watermelon.  We HAD chicken enchiladas! I had stopped at the Foodland and bought 3 tomatoes for $5.50 to make salsa and no one ate it but me.  I should have just bought a pint at the Mexican joint in Hale'iwa for $6.00, this homemade cost me at least $12.00.  But when you haven't had homemade in a year.  The tomatoes were so dry I had to blend half of the mixture up to make some juice.  Definitely not fresh tomatoes from my garden!
We hope the car is okay now, it seems fine.

Wednesday

This morning at 8:00 we went to do a Temple Session with our District Elders and Sisters. We tried to take a picture first thing but it was kind of shady and so then we took some pictures afterwards.  We saw cousin Leilani Watne serving at the Temple today too.

Then we came home and did our laundry, then Maile texted us these cute pictures of her and Inde at Disneyland which I'll just show you how cute my kids are....I miss my boy sooooo much!

Then this evening we got a darling picture Kameron and Anne texted us of our Sunia with a Mickey I had given him years ago, they didn't even know Mai was in Disneyland but this one is so cute too, so...

We're definitely Disney lovers.  At 4:30 we were supposed to meet Sunset Family Branch members at the Polynesian Cultural Center and  have a cooking demo and then dinner.  We waited, Nick came, then Hector the Chef came and we waited.  Finally a few more people showed up and our Elders.  We ended up just having this amazing Prime Rib, Crab legs dinner buffet, no cooking demo by the chef.  Chef Hector had a table all ready for us and treated us extra special.  I pigged out on crab and the men did a lot of Prime Rib! I am sooo full.  Tomorrow we have the Elders here for dinner, I think I'll fast until then.

Nicki and Nick Geronio

President Hippolite is the big guy second from left, Nick, then
Hector the chef, Brother Tofa and his wife Keriann.

Ramon and Hector
All in all it was a good night, very few of us but we visited and got to know some people better.

Things I'm grateful for tonight:
A granddaughter that calls me often!  Maya you know who you are :)
Good food, and a husband who opens my crab legs and feeds me first!
Disneyland, that our family loves.
Wonderful new friends that are becoming like family to us.
A mission that we love.
Hawaii!

Tuesday

We spent the morning going into Haula to get our car fixed.  It was a little place the mission uses and we had our doubts when we pulled in.  Lucky for us they fixed it pretty fast and hopefully did a good job.  We had to sit outside around a picnic table while they worked and I was just grateful it didn't take all day!  Went to McDonald's afterwards to celebrate(?) the ease of it all (?).  Not many places to celebrate at around here!  It was called Organic Mechanic!

Monday

We headed into Costco today but had some car trouble.  We called the Mission Office and they told us to go into Haula and get it fixed at a place there they use.  We chanced it and kept on going and running some errands.  All was well.  We basically went in to get a jacket Ramon had dropped off at the cleaners but when we got there there was a sign they were closed.  So stopped again on our way back and they were still closed.  Anyway, when we came home we made an appointment for the car for Tuesday.

We went into our two FHE tonight. the one at BYUH was about Polynesian cultures and they had 6 different island represented, telling us briefly about each island.  It was nice but  we sort of knew everything they were telling us.  Students from the school reported and they all did a great job and were very invested in their culture.  Here are a few pictures I took.

Maori boy talking

Sunday

Relatively slow quiet Sunday with only 5 hours of church.  Our YSA branch cancelled because they rent a community center and I guess it was over booked or something.  So we didn't start until noon.  Was kind of a fun day.  We were in a small gospel study class for a new convert and they invited all the Hanneman brothers who are in our branch with their wives to come too.  I finally asked their names and said 'How on earth did Seek get his name?' (the one who has the Provo Seven Brothers place) Shem told me, went on and on about how you know there is that little thing in the car, the seek button, and his mom thought this and then....etc.  I finally figured out he was leading me on.  Evidently the name is part of his Samoan long name...which means seek after righteousness or something.  Then we all got in this big discussion about DNA and how some of them are only 1/4 Samoan while others are 1/3 in their family...sounded so much like my kids arguing over it.  I told him some of our kids have had DNA done with different results.  So we went on and on from there.  Their Dad is 1/2 Samoan/Mom Haole.  Kind of like us, only we're Tongan.  I felt like I was back home listening to my children scrabble.

Came home after fasting for the fires and ate leftover spaghetti.  Good day.

Saturday September 15, 2018

We woke up early, did our prayers, and companion study and then went over to Kahuku High School to participate in the Aloha Week clean up there.  No one was there,  the field was all locked up tight.  Then we drove over to Laie to check the walking path along the way that some wards were to clean, no one there.  We drove back to the stadium and saw a few people, students only milling around doing nothing.  We parked took a picture and found out there had been no game the night before so hardly any cleanup needed.  Went back home and watched BYU win their game! Then went to Shark's Cove and found a really neat place to snorkel that we had missed in the past.  I also went over to the calm little pool I had found earlier, and exercised.  Came home, made lemon chicken and was done for the day.  Got a text (yeah! Thank you Michele!) saying church for YSA was cancelled and to find another ward to attend.  I said "Yeah" because someone remembered to tell us, not that church was cancelled.  So we'll have 5 hours of church tomorrow instead of 9, slow Sunday.  We're fasting for the fires in Utah...and praying they get them under control.

Friday

Today is Friday so we went into Laie for a district meeting.  These Elders are so mature in so many ways for being so young.  We had an excellent meeting.  Came home and called to get doctor's appointments for us here locally,  just in case we need one for emergencies.  We had a referral from another missionary couple.  Anyway, they got us in this afternoon!  Couldn't believe the speedy action!  The doctor is female and her husband is at the health center at BYHU.  She was very nice!

Afterwards we went over the BYUH for the start of Aloha Week.  We were impressed with all they did but no one of our branch was there, so after about an 1 1/2 hours three young women came.  So we started giving our table's food away, since we had the best bucket of ice cream around, macadamia nut!  The Stake had furnished the food, it was chili, rice and ice cream.  Each Branch or Ward had a table set up to feed their members.  We were to provide drinks, but didn't know no one would show or we'd have brought some drinks.  It was an impressive showing otherwise.  I took lots of pictures and sent them home to Aisea and Marisa to wet their appetite for BYUH.  They showed and outdoor movie and had these huge blowup couches to sit on,  and popcorn.

We came home to lots of pictures of the fires in Utah.  It is horrible and so sad for everyone and thing.  I hate that Payson Lake got burned so bad.  We'll continue to pray for rain and deliverance from this natural disaster.

We met a couple who are related to my friend Mollie

Getting set up

Came home to a surprise from Maile's family, celebrating Grandparent's Day!
Thanks, we're grateful for you guys!