Even though whether or not the flagpole is straight enough or not is still a subject of debate between the Temple Engineer, Salt Lake City, and the contractor, we’ve finally been given the go ahead to put up the flags each morning and take them down each evening. I’ve been looking forward to this for quite a while, as have several of the sister missionaries. So, this week as we had the morning shift on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (today), we’ve been putting the flags up each morning and the afternoon shift has been taking them down about 7pm.
By flags I mean the United States flag and the Hawaiian State flag.
The flagpole is, I think, 120 feet tall. That turns out to be a very tall pole! The flags are huge, as one would expect on a pole this tall. The process is to first, using a key, unlock the place where the crank can be inserted to raise of lower the flags and then bring the hooks low enough to hook on the flags one at a time while raising the flags to keep them off the ground. Once both flags are attached, then crank the flags to the top of the pole.
It all sounds simple enough on paper. In reality it’s a Big Job. We need at least four people to put the flags up and one of them needs to have some pretty good heft to push the crank in far enough to unlock the mechanism. The spring behind the crank mechanism takes at least 50 foot-pounds of pressure to release. That means that one person has to put all of his/her weight behind pushing the crank in while a second person turns the crank. Two other people manage the flags, one person for each flag. The entire process takes ten or fifteen minutes to get the flags up and a little less to take them down. The sister missionary in the picture pushing in on the crank is from Cambodia and she was pretty tired by the time the flags were completely up. Her companion said that she needed to go sit in the air conditioning and get dried out after she got the flag to the top of the pole. Only problem was that when we got to the Center this morning, the air conditioning was not working and it was warmer inside the Center than it was outside! It took the whole morning once the engineer got the chillers back online to cool of the front part of the Center.
This morning as we were putting the flags up, a family from Utah was nearby. It was quite touching to watch them standing there with hands over their hearts as we put the flags up and then they recited the Pledge of Allegiance! Turns out the kids are home schooled and they recite the pledge every morning at home.
If either or both of the flags are wet when they come down, then they have to be hung on a Very Tall clothesline in the electrical switch room overnight to dry out. I can’t reach the line, so I’m pretty sure we need some kind of a step stool, or have a pretty good arm to toss the flag over the line.
We had our all-time (since we’ve been here, anyway) low visitor count for the morning shift this week on Monday. That meant we had plenty of time to visit with each of the guests who came into the Center. Nina was able to talk with a couple of women who came in that morning and had a great conversation resulting in them taking a Book of Mormon with them when they left. So, it’s kind of a “six of one, half dozen of the other” type of a quandary. We like to have the visitors and be busy, but sometimes when we’re really busy it’s not difficult to overlook someone who might want to know a little more about the Church but doesn’t know how to ask or may be too shy to ask.
The standard conversation starter for us is, “Where are you from?” Everyone has a story and most people really want to tell their story! This morning after we got the flags up, I walked over to a couple who had just come onto the grounds. As we talked, it turned out that they were on their honeymoon as a second marriage for both of them. The wife had been to Hawaii 24 years earlier, not yet a member of the Church, and had toured the Visitors’ Center at that time. Four years later when a co-worker introduced her to the missionaries, she told them about her one experience with the Church when she had visited the Laie Temple Visitors’ Center. Apparently we had made a good impression on her. She joined the Church, her then husband did not.
As a result of her visit to Hawaii, she had decided she wanted to marry a Polynesian fellow. A few years after her divorce she met the man who married her in the Phoenix Temple a week ago … and he is Samoan. Wish finally fulfilled.
They had a great story and today I had time to listen to the whole story. They’re clearly in love with each other and are having a good time getting to know each other now as husband and wife. I wished them both a good life as they left the Center to go on about their honeymoon.
Life is a delightful narrative!