New Mission President

January 9, 2022   

Email #15

 

Aloha Family!

 

We have remained in “vacation mode” this past week with Katelyn here with us.  It has been so much fun to have her here.  We drove her to the airport early yesterday morning and had to say goodbye.  I have a feeling that she will be back before too long but it was still hard.  Some of our fun together included: the PCC, morning walks, hikes, sunsets, shave ice, ukulele class, Waimea Falls, “water scooters’, snorkeling, lots of games in the evenings (five crowns is a new favorite), and good conversations.  Scott got to do more with her than I did because of his flexible schedule but I was still very grateful that I was able to be with her quite a bit. 

 

The ukulele store was much less busy this week than the previous two weeks. Plus—the students have returned from Christmas break so we are fully staffed once more.   Monday, the mission settlement at the PCC got very busy with many groups wanting ukulele lessons, so I went to their store to help teach.  I haven’t been there for quite a while and it was fun to teach outside on the porch again.  I think I taught about seven lessons in a row before closing time. I love meeting people from all over the world and the United States.  As you know—I can’t wear my missionary badge to work but if they ask what I am doing here or how I got to become a volunteer, I can tell them that I am serving a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and answer any other questions they might have about that.  I hope that somewhere along the way I am planting seeds and that they might want to know more about the church someday. I will probably never know. 

 

The first covid case in a senior missionary at the PCC was diagnosed this past week.  She works outside greeting guests and handing out maps and we talk and hug regularly.  So far—I am still good with no symptoms.  This next month could be very interesting.  A lot of students are getting it but so far, not the senior missionaries—except for this one case. But as you know, it could all change very quickly. 

 

We had a “meet the new President” fireside Tuesday night.  The Bassetts are going to be fantastic.  We love their personalities.  He is really funny and they are very enthusiastic. He told us that right after they received their call, they began receiving (almost immediately) revelation on the direction of the mission.  Their number one goal is to have love one for another.  He summarized a quote from President Nelson which is basically—we do not have to agree with each other to love each other.  They also introduced an original song (written by a relative) that will become our mission song.  It is called, “The Cause of Christ”.  President Bassett played a recording of the song and on the last chorus several missionaries joined in the singing because by that point, we had heard the chorus several times.  It is a very catchy tune and fun to sing.  After the song was over President Bassett was very emotional.  He couldn’t speak for a while and I think he took us joining in on the chorus as a sign that we love the song and are on board with it.  It was a great moment.  We were so thrilled to be in a large group and have the opportunity to visit with other senior missionaries.  It has been a while since we had been able to do that.  There is definitely strength in numbers.  Later in the week, each senior missionary couple had a very brief interview with the President Bassett and his wife.  We are excited to serve under them and help in any way we can.

 

I got to take another Wednesday (warehouse day) off this week and spend it with Katelyn and Scott.  The three of us went to Honolulu to ride some water “scooters”.  This excursion came highly recommended by a man we met when we first arrived here and has been on our bucket list.  Katelyn was all over it when I mentioned it and made the reservations for us.  I thought that it was fun but it was overpriced.  We rode a pontoon boat for about 10 minutes out into the ocean.  They brought nine “scooters” to our boat and we took turns getting our heads inside these scooters.  Your body is in the water on the scooter but your head is in a bubble so you can breathe normally. The noise of the machine bothered me and I had to continually pop my ears.  You have a personal guide that steers your scooter and eventually they put some fish food on your scooter to draw the fish to you.  It was VERY fun to see all the fish swarm around us. But the actually “fish experience” was only about five minutes long.  The three of us were in the first group so we had to wait for two more groups to do their “dive”.  In the meantime—you could snorkel or just sit on the boat and wait.  Katelyn and I snorkeled and it was a lot of fun.  After that Katelyn became quite sea sick—a rare occurrence for her and just had to stare at land for quite a while before she began feeling ok.  The rocking of the boat back and forth for so long was uncomfortable, and the three of us just wanted to go back to land.  The whole event was over two hours--for five minutes of seeing great fish.  I don’t regret doing it, but I doubt I will do it again.  One positive aspect was a conversation I was able to have with a woman on the boat.  She was about my age and was there to support her son on this excursion.  She didn’t ride on the scooter and was surprised that I was going to do it.  She asked about me being on the Island and I was able to tell her about serving our mission and a little about the church.  Planting seeds. 

 

Yesterday, on the way back home after dropping Katelyn off at the airport, Scott and I stopped at “The Valley of the Temples”.  We have been wanting to go there for a while now and it was really worth the stop.  It is a beautiful place—cemetery and mausoleums.  At the back of the property was a Japanese temple that you had to pay to get in to see.  The property was very peaceful and so well done.  I couldn’t help but compare it to our temples.  Our temples are also beautiful and the landscaping impeccable.  The cost of admission to our temples is not in the form of money but worthiness.  I hope and pray that we will each pay the price to continually be worthy to enter the temple and that it will be a place you yearn to be.  Ours is closed for two months now because of renovation.  I can’t wait until it opens again.  

 

You are in our prayers.  Have a beautiful week.  

 

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 help Randy and Jodi at the “mission settlement” when they got stranded and needed an extra ukulele teacher.

*I needed a ride to work and met up with the Bushmans out on the street while walking and asked them if they could help me.  They were very willing.

*I felt uncomfortable about going on a hike with Scott and Katelyn but decided to go anyway.  Before we began, I got more information about the muddy conditions of the hike and it confirmed my uneasiness.  I didn’t go and it was good that I didn’t. 

*I couldn’t find some cards anywhere and I needed them today to put in the mail.  I looked and looked for them.  I finally knelt down and prayed and asked that I might be shown in my mind where they were.  My prayer was answered almost immediately and I went right to where they were. 

*I had several opportunities to “plant seeds” this week.