New Granddaughter

Sunday August 7, 2022.   

Email #44.  

Happy Birthday William! And a very belated birthday to Katelyn!  And happy BIRTH DAY to Holland Jane Bleak. 

 

Aloha Everyone!  

 

It dawned on me earlier in the week that I never publicly wished Katelyn a Happy Birthday.  So sorry Boose!  I have likely missed other family members as well in the past.  If so, I do apologize. 

 

We were thrilled to have grandbaby number 22 arrive healthy and well yesterday.  Congrats Bryan and Jennie.  We are so happy for you—she is adorable.  That makes 10 boys and 12 girls for us.  As in the case with Cal being born, we wish we were there to cuddle her and are sad to miss many months of her life.  There are times when it does indeed seem like a sacrifice to be here.  Yesterday was one of those days!  We also missed being with my extended family at the Burton reunion.  But we were so very grateful that Neal and Phil included us by zoom.  Thanks, Jonathan, for making that happen.  It was wonderful to see and talk with extended family members. 

 

Another day this week in which I felt like it is a sacrifice to be here was on Monday when we listened to Merlene Featherstone’s funeral.  It was a beautiful service.  It wasn’t the same as being there in person, but we are VERY Grateful to be involved remotely.  

 

We have “attended” several funeral services since being here and each time the service either cut out at some point, or we couldn’t hear the speaker, or it was muffled etc.  But we heard every word on Monday.  I had been praying that that might be the case.  My prayer was answered.  I’m so thankful.  I just can’t believe that when I go home to Bountiful, I won’t be able to go see her.  She was such a big part of my life. She and Elder Featherstone are examples of what can be accomplished when you dedicate your lives as a couple to the Lord. Neither one of them grew up in a Gospel centered home, but they chose to live their lives in accordance with the prophets and always loving the Lord and serving others.  They left a legacy of righteous living and love.  I’m so thankful that I got to know her as I did.  

 

Nothing much stands out about work this week.  But I will mention one experience. 

On Wednesday we had about 10 or so teenagers in the store just hanging around and laying on the floor.  They weren’t shopping, they were just hanging out.  They were taking up a lot of space and we felt like other customers weren’t coming into the store because of them.  I finally decided I needed to talk with them. I went over and asked them questions about who they were and where they were from and if they played the ukulele.  They weren’t very responsive, but one boy was nice and he chatted with me.  I asked if they wanted a free ukulele lesson.  Four immediately took me up on it.  They had such a good time and three more teens from their group came back to observe the end of the lesson and then they wanted one also.  It was good I did that because they left the store after the lesson and that space was freed up for other guests/customers.  It was fun watching them go from kind of tired and being in bad moods to really responding and loving the lesson and smiling and having a good time.  I love the challenge of trying to turn a person’s mood if they come to the lesson “less than” happy. 

 

This week we had luau duty on Thursday.  It was SO VERY HOT.  August is a few degrees hotter here, but more than that, it is more humid.  My job at the luau this time was to be the “line manager” and I was sweating.  I felt like my face was glistening—not in a good way. A student tour guide brought her group to the luau, and she had a little time to kill before going to a meeting, so she stayed there on the sidewalk with me, and we began talking.  Stella (from Tonga) had a fan in her hand, and she could tell that I was hot.  She stood by me and kept fanning the two of us.  I told her that she didn’t need to do that, but she insisted.  She said that when she was young, her grandparents lived with their family, and it was the children’s job to take turns fanning the grandparents, so she was used to it.  She was so darling. It was a small act of service that helped me out that evening and meant a lot to me. 

 

We had a surprise during our two-hour block of meetings today.  During the break between meetings, I went for a little walk in the hallway to stretch.  I came back just in time for Sunday school to begin and found Scott sitting up on “the stand”.  I was wondering why he was sitting up there.  They announced him as our Sunday School teacher for today.  What?  He hadn’t been asked beforehand.  Our bishop was out of town and one of the counselors (a student) told Scott that they didn’t have anyone to teach Sunday school and asked if he would do that.  I was so thankful that I was out in the hallway!!!   Scott had not even one minute to review what we had read and talked about during the week.  He did a great job.  I was so glad it was him and not me.  And I’m so thankful that he is the type of man who at the drop of a hat can stand up and talk about the gospel and bear meaningful testimony. 

 

Once again, we thank you for your constant love and support. You are precious to us!

 

Much love,

Sister Bleak, Mom, Grandma

 

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

*We were able to listen to Sister Featherstone’s whole funeral without sound issues.

*Scott suggested having a prayer when a friend lost his “distance finder”.  They found it immediately afterwards even though they had all looked in that same area before. 

*I felt impressed to say certain things in my conversation with the students at “English class”.

*Stella offered her help at the luau.  

*An appointment got cancelled which allowed me to go to the Hansen’s farewell get together.  It was a huge tender mercy. 

*I felt great love for family on Saturday and such gratefulness for a new grandbaby born safe and well.

 

Here are some excerpts from Scott’s journal this week:

 

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

 

On Tuesday, I attended the ARP class for one of the Laie student stakes which is held from 9 to 10 pm at our stake center. In attendance were four men: Jared, Keal, Tanoah and Chris along with Elder Mike King and myself. Tanoah said he had been praying all week long and things just began to line up for him. He had just been released from jail just that very day. He ran into Keal and Chris who talked him into coming with them to a church meeting tonight. He thought he was going so he could meet some girls. But instead met with us old guys in this class. He laughed big time and said at the conclusion of our class, “but this was much better”. This is Chris’ third time coming, Keal’s second time coming and of course Tanoah’s first surprise time. We’ll be starting over next week with the first lesson in the ARP manual. I’ve been attending for the last four weeks now, starting out to just attend when one of the senior missionaries (who were called to that position)  wasn’t able to attend. They always want two priesthood brethren to be there. So I have been the substitute. But I’ve kind of worked my way into possibly a regular position. We’ll see how long this last since I was not called to help out.

 

 

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Playing golf miracle

 

There was a group of us that went to play golf at the Hawaii Country Club course near Mililani.  We had just finished playing the 14th hole and were driving to the 15^th hole. We, Gary and myself, crossed a bridge driving behind the Talbots. Sister Talbot said something fell, hit her leg and feel out of their cart and asked if we saw anything. They didn’t know what fell out until we went to play the second stroke on the 15^th hole where they would use their distance finder. The distance finder was what fell out. So, the Talbots decided they needed to go back and look for it. After looking for a bit they drove back to where we were waiting and said they probably needed to stop playing and spend more time looking for it. They are expensive. Then Gary and I and Jeff also decided to stop play and drive back to help them look for it. The Talbots and Jeff went one way and Gary and I drove back the way we had come while playing the hole. We met up on the bridge. The Talbots had already looked all over the bridge their first time looking. Jim said he went down into the wash below the bridge but didn’t see it in the heavy brush. I don’t know how many times we had all looked around and below the bridge to no avail. I suggested saying a prayer. Jim said one quietly to himself, I said one, and I assume the others also said one. It wasn’t even a minute before Jim said, there it is. He spotted it in the top of a clump of brush. It was very difficult to see, even as he was pointing at it. The Lord heard our silent prayer and gave us an immediate answer. We didn’t have eyes to see before until we asked Him in prayer. The Lord is always in the details of our lives. We just have to have faith to ask.

 

 

Sunday, August 7, 2022

 

Today, I was approached by the second counselor in the bishopric and asked if I would lead the discussion in Sunday School since the Sunday School president hadn’t been to church during the summer months. That was just a minute or two before Sunday School was to begin. So I led the discussion on Job, somewhat. I really talked about the purpose of life here on earth – a time to prepare to meet God, to have trials and experience to be proven, of course, to gain a body, to have a hope in the resurrection, to stand up in defense of the Lord’s kingdom and teachings, to gain the covenants required while on this earth, and to become true disciples of Jesus Christ, to become like Him by building our character through trials and experience. I was grateful for the help of those who shared excellent comments and thoughts. I was grateful for inspiration during our discussion.