I’ve mentioned previously the Mainland Chinese tourist phenomenon that started a couple of months ago and continues non-abated. I’m not sure what the traveling times are for the Chinese. For instance, we will see the most Europeans during July and August when Continental Europe pretty much shuts down while people take 3 to 4 week vacations. We see a lot of Koreans around the Lunar New Year and the Japanese during the January new year.

The male senior missionary goes out to every tour bus that stops at the Visitors’ Center to meet the driver and/or the tour guide, to thank them for coming, answer any questions, and get a passenger count. That seems to have had the desired effect in that we’re coming to know the drivers / tour guides, they’re getting to know us a little better, and are willing to turn their passengers over to us for a longer period of time. Some of the tour guides are starting to bring their passengers into the Visitors’ Center rather than sitting in the bus reading Facebook, or sleeping, or smoking.

What I’ve learned is that these tourists have arrived the previous evening and are flying onward this evening. They may be on their way back home having flown in from San Francisco last night and going on to Beijing tonight, or are just starting their vacation having flown in from Beijing last night and going onward to San Francisco later this evening. They have one night and one day in Oahu. Their tour company has already booked those that are interested onto a around-the-island all-day tour. Others may book a different tour. The ones that come here on the around-the-island tour have started their tour at Pearl Harbor for a very abbreviated stay and then make six or seven stops, returning to their hotel about 5pm in the evening. Depending on which route they take (that is, clockwise or counter-clockwise), the size of the tour (meaning how big the bus or van is), and which variation of the tour they want (there seems to be three different variations of places they stop on the tour) the tour group will arrive at the Visitors’ Center in the late morning or in the mid-afternoon. A few come around 10am. Most are from 2-4pm. I haven’t seen any later than 4pm as it’s an hour from here back to their hotel in Waikiki.

In any regard, we’re very happy to have them stop. We’re also starting to get other tour companies that aren’t Chinese-specific to stop. Today we had a small group of Germans and another slightly larger group from France stop on their around-the-island tours.

The kidney stone issue seems to be behind me. The intravenous contrast agent used during the CAT scan has an impact on my kidney function, so my doctor ordered a blood workup last Wednesday. The results came back today and the agent did have an impact, but not serious. My kidney function is down around 50% and was improving until the issue with kidney stones. Hopefully we can regain that ground. I’m still waiting for the lab analysis of the three kidney stones. All I know right now is I don’t want to do that again! A heavy dose of ibuprofen knocked down the pain followed by an oxycodone pill to make life bearable. I’ll hang onto some of that for a while “just in case”.

In addition to our normal shifts at the Visitors’ Center, we now have added work with the Laie Tram Tour. Two nights a week Nina and I go over to the PCC between 6 and 7pm to coordinate the couple-hundred people who want to take the tour. The other two senior couples also go over two nights a week. On the two evenings that we are on shift at the Visitors’ Center, I spend the time from 6:30pm to 7:10pm out front helping coordinate the loading and unloading of the trams and busses. During most of the afternoon one tram makes the circuit every twenty minutes. However, the demand is large enough at 6pm that we usually need two trams. At 6:20pm and 6:40pm, the last two tours of the day, we need two trams and two twenty-five passenger busses (and still turn folks away). Those last two times means juggling four big vehicles in very small spaces, both at the PCC and in front of the Visitors’ Center.

When I’m out front at the Visitors’ Center, I like to visit with the people waiting for the trams/busses to come back. I ask them about their day, what they thought of the PCC, how was their visit to the Temple Visitors’ Center, and did they have any questions. I’ll usually talk to fifteen or twenty people with more than just “Aloha!”.

On Tuesday evening, a young couple (picture to the left) were waiting for the tram. They were having a great time on an around-the-world tour. While they weren’t interested much in religion, they were glad they had stopped, but both of them had no more battery power so they couldn’t take any pictures. She was particularly dismayed because they were in such a beautiful place. So, I offered to take their picture and email it to them. I took the picture, he entered the email address, and away the picture went. I told them about the France temple that’s under construction and encouraged them to watch the news in a a couple of years for the open house. This morning I got a very brief email back: “Merci … we had a great visit. You are very kind. We will watch for your new temple.” Now that I have a verified email address, I’ll be sure to let them know when the temple is completed and the open house starts. Maybe we can go to France and go with them??? Miracles can happen!

Ta ta for now!