A New Mission Formed

December 5, 2021 

Email #10

 

Aloha Family!

 

It turned cold this week.  Our low was 64 degrees this morning (haha).  But honestly, it has felt so good to me.  While working on Friday, it was the first time since being here that I didn’t feel hot and sweaty.  My hands actually got a little cold at one point.  We have been able to  sleep without the overhead fan going all night for the past couple of nights. I’m sure this “cold spell” won’t last long but it has been nice.  And it is definitely the rainy season now.  It has rained VERY hard several times during the day, for the past several days. Another way that we know it is winter here, it that the big waves are here on the north shore.  We have seen some BIG ones. They are amazing to watch. 

 

I found a small Christmas tree at our local drug store.  It will work perfectly in our little apartment.  I just had to have something that looked like Christmas around here.  I was giddy as I purchased it and set it up.  I couldn’t wait for that evening when I could surprise Scott with it.  I was surprised at myself—how much such a little thing could matter and bring some happiness. I love the Christmas season so much and know that it will be different this year but having just a little decoration will help.

 

One morning after dropping Scott off at work, I went to the temple to walk around it and up and down the street.  I parked at the little parking lot opposite end of the temple and walked across the busy highway to the “temple park” and sat and meditated and watched the ocean and breathed in the fresh air and was just “still”.  I don’t do that type of thing nearly often enough in my life. I felt the spirit and was loving the experience until I felt the beginning of rain drops.  I know that when that happens, a huge down pour might be only moments away. I was very blessed to make it to my car before the downpour—indeed a tender mercy.

 

Tuesday I worked at Hapa Home (a store of decorative items for homes) instead of my regular ukulele store.  They were short of help there and needed me. The time went by pretty fast because I was much busier than normal. But I was on my feet the entire time. I unboxed 16 boxes of product to be put out in the store.  I had to count each item and make sure the number matched what was written on the order. Many things were breakable and it took me all day to do that job. But I was happy I could lighten the load for the manager. We was so happy to have my help.  

 

My Wednesday warehouse day was pretty busy in the morning.  I worked with Samedy (the student from Cambodia) again for the first few hours. I want to tell you one little story Samedy shared with me that day.  We were counting out leaf shaped fans for an order to go to a store and she told me this:

 

When she was a little girl growing up in Cambodia, it was very hot and they had no electricity.  So in order to help make the four little girls in her family more comfortable, her mother would fan her and her three little sisters as they would take their naps each day. The mom would keep the fanning motion going while her girls slept.  She would even do it at night time.  Can you imagine?  Sameday told me that when her mother would stop, she would nudge her mother so that she would begin again.  I thought that that was a sweet, tender story. A mother’s love is a powerful thing.   But they didn’t use woven fans like we have today, her mom would use great big leaves. 

 

We were notified early Thursday morning about a very important zoom meeting that we were each to attend at 9:00 a.m. Scott and I had a guess as to what it was going to be about and we were right. The Honolulu mission will be split come the first of the year.  The Bassetts who were going to be the new visitor’s center directors will now be the new mission president couple for the Laie mission. Here is a side story about them. When they decided that they would put in their papers to serve a mission, they thought that serving a six month mission would be best for them at the time.  Then before submitting papers, they changed their mind and decided to put down a 12 month mission.  Church headquarters contacted them and asked if they would be the visitor’s center directors and serve for 2 years.  They accepted.  But then later when it was decided that the Honolulu mission would be split, they were called to be the new mission president and since they will begin in January (rather than July), they were asked to serve for 3 ½ years.  So—they went from thinking that they would serve a six month mission to serving for 3 ½ years. Oh, we just don’t know what will be asked of us do we?  The only real change affecting us with the split is that we will no longer have contact with the Walkers whom we love dearly.  But they are being release at the end of June anyway.  And since they are from our Bountiful stake, hopefully we will cross paths when we get back to Bountiful.  They are very loved and respected as mission president and have done such a wonderful job here.  

 

For our P day we were invited to go to Ewa to ride a train to Ko Olina.  We were told that we would be back for our Luau responsibilities that evening.  We committed but I wasn’t super excited that it would be an all-day event. We went with three other couples.  It is an old historic train that they are trying to keep alive by letting tourist ride on it.  It used to be a train for carrying sugar cane. It rained part of the train ride.  There was a ceiling but no sides on the train.  We were expecting some wonderful scenery but only got about 10 minutes of an ocean view. We mostly saw the backs of stores, industrial yards, dead groundcover, dessert scenery etc.  The narrator of the “tour” wore and mask and we couldn’t understand hardly anything he said. He spoke so loudly that we couldn’t carry on a conversation with the people we were with.  We stopped at Ko Olina and were able to get off for 25 minutes but that wasn’t enough time to get lunch.  We were very hungry.  Ko Olina was beautiful and I would have loved to just drive there and spend all the time at that location.  The traffic was not great on the way home and I was concerned that we would be late for the Luau.  It was a six ½ hour event that was very mediocre but the good part was that we got to know the Clarks and the Grahams a little bit better. They are wonderful people so that was a plus!  We had a very nice Gospel discussion with the Clarks on ride home.  I won’t be recommending that tour to anyone.  Oh Well, you win some and loose some and because of the great company, it definitely wasn’t all bad.

 

I had a prompting about a week ago that I should memorize “The Living Christ”.  I have tried two other times to do that but have failed both times.  I am determined to do it this time.  I am giving myself the whole year next year—2022 to accomplish this goal.  I decided that if I tell you all about it, I really have to do it.  It might be the biggest miracle I have on my mission. Thanks for your example Joan!

 

I am so thankful for each of you!  I love you dearly and want you to know that we pray for you daily. 

 

Mahalo for all of your prayers!

Much love,

Sister Bleak, Mom, Grandma, Gayle

 

 

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

 

*I was able to meet up with our non—member neighbor this morning on our separate walks and we talked for quite a long time.  I found out that her name is Rachel.

*It began sprinkling while I was at the “temple garden”. I hurried toward my car as quickly as I could but had to get across Kamehameha Highway which was very busy.  Just as I got inside the car, it began raining really hard.  I was SO Thankful that I didn’t have to begin from scratch on my hair.

*I saw the Visitor’s Center sisters (who attend our ward) outside our store today and one of them invited us to the VC that evening.  They had also invited others from our ward to meet at 7:30.  We have been wanting to have an opportunity to get to know the couples from our ward better.  

*I received sweet whisperings from the Spirit during the sacrament of ways I need to improve in my life.

*I received a strong impression that I should memorize “The Living Christ” during the next year.