Iosepa, lighthouse

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Aloha Family!

 

I hope your week went well and that you are happy and healthy.  It was sure fun to see all of your pictures of Halloween costumes and celebrations.  Our street had a “Halloween parade”.  It was a fun event and very fun to chat with people from our street.  We haven’t met hardly anyone that lives on this street.  Since we live at “the point”, people come and go all the time right in front of our house and we never know who is local and who is visiting. 

 

I worked on doing store inventory two days this week instead of one.  The good news is that it is done in AC which is wonderful.  The bad news is that you work until it is done, no matter how long it takes.  Monday was from 8-4 and Wednesday was 8-3.  Not too bad.  We have one more store next week to do and then I am assuming I will be back at the warehouse on Wednesdays—no AC and on my feet for six hours straight. 

 

On Tuesday, President Walker had interviews with those senior missionaries who came out when we came. (six couples).  He and Joni are incredible people and it was nice to visit with them.   I was very much hoping and praying that Scott could get a blessing from President Walker at the end of our interview on Tuesday with the devotional coming up.  The President offered one to each of us.

  

We attended a sealing session of the temple that evening.  I wish we could have done an endowment but the sealing session was still good.  It was great to be in the temple. They limit the patron number to about 14 in each endowment session and cater to the locals so it is rare that a missionary gets to attend.  We felt peace in the temple about the direction of the presentation.

 

The next day (Wednesday) Scott got a devastating email telling him that he would not be able to use his 40 slides for the devotional. They asked him to cut them down to eight. It was hard for him because he felt like he had to go back to the drawing board and start over.  Long story, short.  He put two pictures on one slide and it looks like it will be alright now. 

 

We had a very fun “field trip” for our ukulele class on Friday.  We went to the site where the huge ocean double-hulled canoe called “Iosepa” is kept.  Ancient voyagers traveled 2400 miles to Hawaii in these types of canoes.  This is a modern day version built by the hands of local people on this Island about 20 years ago.  It is massive—57 feet long.  This one took eight months to build.  One hull represents the father and one hull the mother.  With the netting and floor of the canoe in the middle representing the other members of the family.  The family all has to work together to make the canoe go forward and move properly.  If either the female or the male tries to get ahead of the other one, the canoe will not progress in moving forward.  I loved how that related to our own families and working together to help the family progress and move forward.  I noticed one of the logs had termite damage.  It made me very sad.  This beautiful canoe that took many, many people months of hard labor was getting ruined by little insects invading and taking over.  I liken that to us.  Are we keeping the “little insects” out of our lives?  Those little things that can get to us and bother us to the point of eating away at us.  I will sometimes tell myself—“just let it go” so that I don’t let little things eat away at me.   

 

I had one of the scariest moments of my life a little later on Friday.  I was eating a sandwich really quickly at home before leaving to begin my shift at the store. The sandwich got stuck in my throat and I drank water quickly to force the sandwich down but it wouldn’t go down.  Drinking more water didn’t help the situation.  It actually made it worse.  I couldn’t breathe.  I needed the Heimlich maneuver done on me but no one was home with me. I began to panic and felt like I was going to pass out soon.  The thought seriously crossed my mind that this was “it”.  I was going to die and Scott was going to find me on the floor when he got home (at least he could get out of giving his talk).  Jokes aside—I was truly worried and scared for my life.  I’m not sure how I did it, but I forced some air enough to cough and got some water up and got a little air.  I was gasping for air for a while afterwards but feeling relieved and thankful. It took a while for me to get my breathing back to normal.  I had a raspy throat and voice all day long. I still get emotional when I think about it.  It was awful. My prayers were different that night as I expressed my gratitude for preserving my life. 

 

 

We had a fun P-day on Saturday.  We went to a light house near Kailua.  It was a 1.5 mile walk—all uphill, but on a nice, paved path.  The scenery at the top breathtaking and so worth the walk.   I felt very thankful for all the beauty that Heavenly Father has created for us to enjoy.  Afterwards, we went to “Sea Life Park” that is fairly close to the lighthouse. 

 

This evening we had a senior missionary fireside with the Walkers. It was excellent.  He said some things that I needed to hear, like: “ NO effort is wasted.  Everything we do here matters to the Lord.  He was told by President Grace (the president of the PCC) that the PCC would collapse financially if they didn’t have the senior missionaries serving here.” 

 

We truly are thankful to be here and will lift where we can and serve in whatever way is helpful. 

 

Love to each of you!  I hope you know how important you are to us.  

 

Much love,

Mom, grandma, Gayle

 

 

How I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life this week:

 

*Getting blessings from President Walker.

*Attending the temple.  YAY! 

*The Lord saw fit to keep me around a little longer and not take me yet.  He helped me through the choking incident. 

*The breathtaking beauty of the world He created.