Thanksgiving

November 28, 2021 

Email #9

 

Aloha Family!

 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a nice dinner with four other couples who we were with at the MTC. It felt very different (which is to be expected) but was nice. We missed you all very much.  The rolls I made to contribute to the meal did not turn out very well at all.  I have not had success YET with anything I have baked here.  I now believe it is due to the flour I am using. It is very heavy and just doesn’t taste good.  Oh well!  That evening we drove to Kailua (50 minutes away) to visit with Connie and Peter Uluave.  They had a lot of company there.  We all went to the park and played pickle ball.  Good times.

 

Monday morning as I was walking in the rain to my ukulele class, I heard a “crash” behind me and I turned around to see what was going on.  I saw that a girl was lying on the street with her ride-on scooter on top of her and gasoline leaking out of the scooter.  I ran over to her and lifted the scooter off of her and made sure she was ok before helping her to a standing position.  She was shaken up but not terribly hurt.  Soon afterwards other PCC employees came to help her.  A man driving a cart came by to help drive her where she needed to go.  I asked her one more time if she was ok before leaving the scene.  I’m glad that it wasn’t any worse than it was.  I was also thankful that I was there to help. 

 

We had zone conference Tuesday evening.  Sister King talked about the character of Christ and how we should be trying to become more like Him.  I just really don’t know if I’m making progress in that regard.  Sometimes I think that I am improving and then other times, I feel like I’m not changing at all.  It’s a difficult thing to really change ones character.  I guess I just need to keep on trying and recognize that the improvements might be so minimal, I just don’t see them.  I hope that I am changing in some aspect or another.  I am trying to.

 

Because the PCC was open on Wednesday this week (instead, it was closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving), I worked at the store and not at the warehouse. I left about an hour early because it was our ukulele “concert” that evening.  There were about 100 people in the audience and they cheered after each song so loudly, I almost laughed out loud.  The “seniors” stood in the back and really couldn’t be seen which was appropriate since the concert was to feature the BYU students.  But the teacher wanted us senior missionaries to participate as well.  The concert marked the end of our class—which I am very sad about.  I am so thankful that I was able to take the class and learn more about this fun instrument—especially picking and reading tablature. I hope I will have the discipline to keep it up.  

 

Two families (separately) came into the store on Friday looking for “Sister Bleak”.  That’s never happened since I’ve been here and then to have it happen twice in one day was pretty fun.  The first family that came in works with Nathan and Cade at Fishbowl (sorry that I can’t remember their name).  The second family is in Nathan and Steph’s ward (Isoms).  We got to see the Isoms again when we were working at the Gateway buffet that evening. 

 

While we were working at the Gateway Friday evening, Dallas Jenkins—the creator of “the Chosen” came through the line to eat dinner.  He and his family spent the day at the PCC.  Evidently he is not LDS, but his business partner is.  We got to have a very brief conversation with him and thank him for the wonderful work he is doing. 

 

Our morning began bright and early on Saturday.  We needed to be at the university by 7:00 to have our pictures taken.  All 175 missionaries who are serving in Laie area!  It was raining pretty hard before and at 7:00 but everyone was there, dressed for the picture.  It was taken by a camera on a drone.  The noteworthy thing was that the rain didn’t last really long—many prayers were offered and we were able to get it done without too much of a delay.  I guess this was an historic moment—to have a picture done with that many missionaries in it.

 

Scott and I got our Pfizer booster later that morning.  So far—only a little bit of a sore arm, no other side effects  Saturday evening we attended an organ recital featuring a world renowned organist—James Welch.   Elder Welch (James’s brother) is serving a senior mission here as a professor at BYUH.  I was debating whether I wanted to make the effort to attend.  Scott was supportive either way and would go if I wanted to.  Because the BYU football game was going on—he showed a lot of love towards me when I chose to go and he came with me.  I just felt that I should go and was very glad I chose to attend.  It was incredible.  I was in a position to see both his hands and feet play.  I have never witnessed anyone playing the pedals like that before.  It was amazing.  I realize now that I know very little about playing the organ. It inspired me to want to take organ lessons when I return home. 

 

This evening we were able to meet with some other senior missionaries for a quick dinner before we left to go to the community Christmas lighting ceremony.  It was held on campus and it was very well attended by the community members.  The president of BYUH (President Kauwe) gave a short talk after a couple of wonderful musical numbers.  When the lights came on it really was rather magical.  I have never seen Christmas lights on palm trees before.  Beautiful. 

 

We love each of you and pray for you daily.  Keep smiling!

 

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 the girl in the accident. 

*I was an answer to Sister Sharp’s prayer.  She wanted me to help her by working her luau shift this next week and we met up right when she was thinking about contacting me. 

*Scott’s and my prayers were answered Friday afternoon when he was able to find his PCC badge.

*I was taught by the spirit that it is a really great thing to be married to a man who lets things go easily and doesn’t complain about little things or the way people do things. I am thankful that I can learn from him. 

*The rain stopped which allowed our large group picture to be taken.