July 6, 2015
Greetings from a rather warm and humid corner of paradise. I’m pretty sure no one has any sympathy, however! We’ve seen the weather reports from the western US and we’re quite happy not to be in all that unseasonable heat. Tonight we’re very happy for the trade winds which during this time of the year are quite sporadic but when they’re blowing, the sleeping is very comfortable.
On Saturday we had a picnic for the sister missionaries. About half of them are from places other than the United States so this was an opportunity for them to experience hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, and your mother’s potato salad. These girls are able to consume a serious quantity of food! After the picnic they started a game of “duck duck goose” which quickly was modified into the Cambodian version of the game where after the flag is dropped, the tagged person grabs the flag and flips it at the person next to them and all three start running. It was quite the melee and a great laugh. That got senior missionaries thinking that we need to have these “foreign” sisters begin teaching us a little about their countries and cultures.
This afternoon I visited for a while with a family from Thailand who were very interested to learn that a Temple is being built in Bangkok. The likely spot (no official announcement, yet) is land where Church offices are along with a chapel. That location was very close to one person in the group and I’m sure they’ll be paying attention to the announcement of an open house in a couple of years. Along with visitors from Thailand, we had people today from Brazil, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines, and France. It was also a fairly slow day.
This month is “Pioneer Month” … even here in Laie. 150 years ago the Church bought 6,000 acres of property here and dedicated it as a gathering place for the Hawaiian and Polynesian saints. We attended a fireside honoring these pioneers who came from the islands of the sea to embrace the gospel and to be by the House of the Lord. While people in the intermountain west will be celebrating pioneers who crossed the plains, the people of Laie will be celebrating a different group of pioneers who came here by canoe across thousands of ocean miles without GPS, life preservers, relying on the sea for their food, all to be able to worship the Lord in freedom and safety. We’re gaining a whole new perspective of the idea of “pioneers”!
It’s not just July for this celebration, but it continues through December with quite a few high-profile events. We’re looking forward to the festivities and learning a whole lot more about these pioneers.
The days do seem to run together, and every day at the Center is very different than the previous day. There actually doesn’t seem to ever be a “normal” day! Consequently, it really keeps us busy. For instance, this afternoon a woman came in actually a bit frantic. She wanted to know if there was a library or something anywhere around here where she could escape from her rented condo that had no air conditioning and the workmen were all outside mowing the grass, blowing the leaves, trimming the palm trees, and shredding the palms. She just wanted a few minutes of peace and quiet so she could be on her computer. We have a couple of small rooms in the back for places to teach missionary discussions or for small groups to watch a video (rather than using the 150 seat auditorium). She gratefully spent a couple of hours. Your mother then told her where the local library is (in the neighboring town of Kohuku in the high school building) so she would have a place to escape to tomorrow, if necessary. While she was there in that little room with the door closed, we had about a half-hour of literal chaos as a tour bus of mainland Chinese came in and were delighted to find that we had two Chinese-speaking sister missionaries on hand. They had an amazing amount of questions as they roamed through the Center. Meanwhile, I’m sure that the noise-harrassed woman in the teaching room had no idea of all the commotion outside her door!
Last week we had a record guest day at the Center. There was a Lions Club Convention going on in Honolulu and an evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center was on their agenda. Many of them took the opportunity to take the Laie Tram Tour which spends twenty minutes at the Visitors’ Center. All afternoon long full trams stopped at the center and as evening came on, two trams came at once, then three at once. It was quite amazing. The sister missionaries felt like they were in heaven, they were so busy. My feet were right ready for bed when that day came to an end! But, they were definitely happy feet.
I’ve been following the funeral events back on the mainland. In the family Uncle Ted Larsen passed away last week at age 90. He was married to my dad’s sister Aunt Larella. They lived for many, many years in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Then this week Aunt Leone passed away at age 80 from pancreatic cancer. She was the husband of my dad’s younger brother Ross Smith. I’m now down to two aunts and two uncles. Aunt LaRella in Las Cruces, Uncle Ross in Thatcher, Idaho, Uncle Nate Smith in Yuma, Arizona and his wife Aunt Sharon. They’re all on my dad’s side. That generation is almost gone. It’s kind of sad. Both funerals are this week. Aunt Leone on Tuesday in Niter, Idaho (just south of Grace and north of Preston) and Uncle Ted in Preston, Idaho. My sister Terry is taking my mother to both funerals. She’ll enjoy visiting with all the (remaining) family members.
Life here is good. We’re healthy, happy, busy, and tired. I hope this note finds all of you well, healthy, and happy!
‘Til next week!
Love,
father!
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