Rain, Rain, Rain

December 6-12, 2021 

Email #11

 

Aloha Family and Mele Kalikimaka!

 

It doesn’t seem like Christmas yet to us but hopefully that will still happen.  Maybe when Jordan and Faith get here! No complaints about the weather being in the 70’s--it’s just not Christmassy.  J  

 

The word of the day on Monday was “RAIN”.  Oh my goodness.  I have never seen that much rain in 24 hours in my life.  It rained 90 percent of the day and I am talking a hard and steady downpour.  I think we received at least 3-4 inches in 24 hours and we were supposed to get another 4 inches the next day but it didn’t rain as hard.  We were scheduled to have a devotional Monday night with the Walkers but because of flood warnings, it was cancelled. The wind was another issue.   It was blowing so hard the night before that both Scott and I did not sleep very well.  Our windows were rattling pretty badly. 

 

Work was crazy Monday.  We had 800 high school students at the PCC that day because they were going to be playing in the Pearl Harbor commemoration on Tuesday.  It was raining so hard that as soon as our doors opened at work, we were flooded with youth coming in to purchase ponchos.  Every transaction was only $3.00 and it takes a while for each one.  The lines were really long and then we ran out of ponchos.  They sent more from the warehouse but it took a while.  We were super busy for two hours.  The rest of the day was steady but not busy as at the first part. 

 

Wink and Candi Scoville are a senior missionary couple whom I work with at the ukulele store.  Wink ended up needing to go to Honolulu for emergency eye surgery for a detached retina Tuesday morning.   Candi later told me that a series of miracles happened and without them, Wink would be blind in that eye. The miracles began with the local doctor Tuesday morning, sending him immediately to a doctor in Honolulu who happened to be available to see him.  That doctor then referred him to another doctor who said, you need surgery immediately, and sent him to a surgeon. None of those doctors would have normally been available on such short notice.  God is so good and watches over us. Wink has to keep his nose pointed downward 24/7 for 10-14 days.  I can’t imagine.   We visited him Saturday night and he looked and sounded so miserable.  He is normally a very happy, upbeat man.  But what a huge tender mercy to have things turn out the way they did.  Because of Wink’s surgery, we were shorthanded most of the week.  Candi was only working a few hours each day. At times, there were only two of us there.  But we were watched over because that was the slowest time of the day. 

 

Several senior couples went to the new “chosen” movie Wednesday night. I have to admit that I was pretty excited to go to a real movie theater and sit in comfortable chairs and relax for a couple of hours. We met up with Connie Uluave (Peter was out of town) and Stephanie (Bleak) Johnson and her husband David for some food before the movie.  It is always wonderful to spend time with family and we are thankful that Connie and Peter live on this Island.

 

I have referred to Samedy (from Cambodia) who works at the warehouse with me on Wednesdays.  She graduated from BYU-H on Friday. I will really miss her.  I learned a lot from her about resilience, faith, perseverance etc. I mention her here because I wanted to include a picture of her in this email.  I just marvel at the students here from all over the world who have the faith to leave their families for four years, never returning home during that time.  Obtaining an education is so important to them.  

 

Our cancelled devotional with President and Sister Walker was rescheduled for Friday. The devotional was a “goodbye” of sorts with the Walkers. Our new mission president will arrive the first part of January.  Sister Walker talked first and told the following story which I want to remember.  She and President Walker went on a hike recently and they noticed how nice the trail was.  They came across an older man (they guessed in his 80’s) who went to this trail every day with a shovel and a pick to dig up the roots in the trial to make the trail better for others to hike.  The Walkers asked if they could take his picture and he declined saying that he and his wife were just trying to make this world a little bit better for others.  A few minutes later, they came upon his wife digging and clearing just like her husband had been. They were so impressed that a couple in their 80’s were doing physical labor to help others out and try and make the world a nicer place for others.  It made me wonder--Am I doing my part to make this world a little bit better?  I sure hope so. I was watching President Walker’s face every once in a while, while Sister Walker was speaking and noticed that he was deep in concentration with his own thoughts. When he got up to speak, he said that the spirit told him to give a completely different talk than the one he came prepared with.  He said that he knew it would benefit at least one person in the audience and he knew that he was supposed to give it.  It was on “Ten principals to remember when a loved one struggles with their testimony”.  It was a very good talk.  

 

Lastly, I was reading Elder Rasband’s conference talk this morning- “The Thing of My Soul”.  He lists seven things of his soul and admonishes us to complete his list with our own numbers 8, 9, and 10.  Immediately the thought came to me—“my number 8 would be: Cherish and strengthen your family relationships.”  I am so thankful for you my dear family!  I miss you but am very grateful for modern technology that allows us to stay in touch and connected.  We love hearing about everything you are involved in.  We pray for you daily and our greatest yearning is that you will continue on the covenant path and desire to develop and enrich your relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives and loves us.  May we think about Him often this holiday season!

 

 

Much love,

Sister Bleak, Mom, Grandma, Gayle

 

 

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

 

*We were kept safe during the heavy rains and flooding this week.

*Allie Denato (a student in our ward) texted me to remind me about her performance that we wanted to attend. I had totally spaced it.

*Right when Scott and I got inside the car, it began raining.  We had no warning at all it was going to rain. 

*The time that was the slowest at work on Thursday and Friday was when we only had two of us there at the store. 

*Emily Wolthuis brought us a live Christmas wreath to brighten our house. It really helped!