Happy New Year!

Sunday January 1, 2023.   

Email #65  

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

We were on our mission a year ago during the New Year’s Eve celebrations, but we didn’t really know how BIG that celebration is here. We heard lots of fireworks going off well after midnight, but pretty much ignored them and tried to sleep.  The next day we learned we missed out on an amazing experience and decided we needed to fully engage this year.  We had dinner, talking and games, at the Barton’s home with them and another couple, and heard fireworks going off throughout the night.  At about 11:30 we walked over to the temple street and at midnight we were amazed as at least eight firework shows began around us.  These are not “mild” fireworks.  They are the type that professionals use but going off right in the streets all around us.  It was quite the show and lasted for 10-15 minutes.  In talking with a missionary today who lives in Kahuku (the city north of Laie) I leaned that fireworks around them were pretty constant from 5:00 pm until 1:30 am.  Wow!

 

This week has been very laid back.  I almost felt like I was on vacation. The missionaries were not required to work every day because the students needed to get in 40 hours and there just wasn’t the need to have all of us there.  I worked three of the days for several hours.  One night I closed and decided that I am very happy I haven’t had to work closing the entire mission.  The store is very busy and chaotic during the closing “rush”.  Little kids are grabbing ukuleles off the stands and sometimes dropping them because parents are not around.  It’s hard for me to see that.

 

I had been having problems with my computer.  I was hoping that it would last until we got home but eventually, we felt like we better not risk it.  Monday, we went to Mililani and purchased a new computer for me.  That night as Scott was transferring information from the old to the new—it began crashing.  What a tender mercy to buy it when we did.  We had another tender mercy with our Bluetooth speaker we brought with us. It has been a great speaker but Tuesday night it wouldn’t pair with any of our devices.  Thankfully, it worked at least through the Christmas program last Sunday.  I really needed it that night. 

 

For date night Friday night, we decided to drive the 40 minutes to the nearest theater and go to a movie.  We didn’t do something we normally do before going to a movie—we didn’t watch the trailer or read reviews about Avatar 2.  I wasn’t super excited to see that movie but not much was playing, and we took a chance.  I don’t think I even saw the first Avatar, so I had no clue what to expect.  A few minutes into the movie, we knew we had made a HUGE mistake.  We were uncomfortable but thought it might improve. NOPE.  Eventually, we walked out.  I was so thrilled to be outside of that theater.  I did something gutsy and asked if we might get a rain check for a different movie in the future—might as well ask, right?  The kind employee gave us some passes for a future movie.  We were grateful. When we got in the car, we began listening to a conference talk and the spirit we then felt was such a stark contrast to what we were feeling in the theater.  The next night in conversation with another senior missionary couple, they asked if anyone had seen the new Avatar.   They had loved it and was encouraging others to see it.  I guess we each have our own tolerance and acceptance levels. 

 

As I contemplate the things I want to work on this new year, a part of President Nelson’s general conference talk (Overcome the World and Find Rest) speaks to my heart and my desires.   

 

“I extend to members of the entire Church the same charge I gave to our young adults last May. I urged them then—and I plead with you now—to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Work for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with false philosophies of unbelieving men and women. As you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.”

 

Have a wonderful, happy week!

Much love,

Sister Bleak, Mom, Grandma

 

 

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

*Scott just got things loaded on to my new computer when my old one began to crash.

*We made it through the Christmas sing-along/program before our speaker stopped working

*I felt inspired to pay for the missionaries’ (young elders) tickets to get into the Ha Show.

*I said some things to a senior sister missionary that she told me she needed to hear, and it inspired her.

*We were prompted to walk out of the movie.

*I felt the spirit in the temple.










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