Our Temple is now dedicated

After many busy weeks of preparation for the Temple Dedication -- cleaning up the town, cleaning BYUH, many stakes preparing for the Cultural Celebration, organizing the Temple open house & meeting thousands of people who went through the Temple prior to its dedication. The week finally came. Presidents Monson and Eyring, along with Elder Cook came to Laie for the Temple Dedication. It was a wonderful culmination of lots of hard work and effort by many members.

We attended the PCC night show, “Ha, the Breath of Life” the same night the General Authorities attended. As we got there, we could see the decorated PCC golf cart type vehicles parked in front of the Ambassador Restaurant. I ran back to the truck to get our camera. And ran back just in time to see them drive away. The parable of the ten virgins came to mind. President Monson was greeting people and everyone was taking pictures and it was fun to watch as a group of Missionaries sitting off to the side. President Monson had only been seated for a few minutes when he took off the large, special lei that he had been given and put it over the head of a lady that was sitting right in front of him. At the end of the show, the cast gathered together and sang two songs for the special guests. President Monson stood as they sang. The performance was exceptional, it was obvious the performers wanted this night to be special. We were told that some people who normally performed couldn’t do it, because they were too nervous to dance in front of the Prophet. I loved watching President Eyring. I can only imagine how tired he was, but he was so full of enthusiasm as he cheered at the end of the show. You could tell by the grin on his face that he loved the performance.

Laie Hawaii Temple
The Laie Temple Open house has finally begun. For the last month this small community has taken a great deal of pride in community clean up, so that the whole town looks well-kept. The Temple Grounds and the three blocks leading up to the Temple are lighted and as beautifully manicured as the rest of the Temple grounds. There are beautiful fountains and reflection pools that lead to the Temple.

We took a tour through the Temple last Saturday. I was surprised at how small it was. The rooms are all beautiful, they have refurbished the original murals. There is wonderful art work, mostly of the life of Christ hanging in the halls. The Baptistry has many original paintings around the top of the walls. We have been asked to be tour guides for a 4 hour shift on Saturday, the 6th of November. We are excited to have that opportunity to serve. When the Temple opens on November 22, we will work in the Temple one day a week.

Maybe you will notice that above the front doors of the Temple, the words: "Holiness to the Lord, House of the Lord" Those are the words that you will see on every LDS Temple. Now look at the picture on the top of the temple. "House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord" is the way this temple has always been. They are trying to decide whether to leave it, or change it to match all of the other temples. The Laie Temple was the first one constructed off of the mainland (and outside of Utah). It was the fifth temple built. It was originally dedicated in 1919.

During the VIP tours, I talked with the Construction Superintendant. His father had done some work on the Laie Temple back in 1949 and had told him where several of the original workers had written their names in pencil on the cement beam in the top of the Temple. He had gone back in and found them and more names and dates were added. He said that the 1949 remodel had involved taking a planter box off the top of the Temple. He also said that in 1919, cement walled buildings had just started to become feasible and that he how this temple was built.
The walls are between 8 and 24 inches thick.

If you have time for a great article on the Laie Temple & its history, go to http://www.meridianmagazine.com/photography/category/80

Haunted Lagoon at the PCC

There's always an opportunity to volunteer!! The Polynesian Cultural Center has a "Haunted Lagoon" each fall. They put monsters in the canals they have made for the day time programs to do a sort of outdoor spook alley (only it's a spook canal). Some of the people involved are in the water and and standup right as the canoe full of people float by. The scary lights & music are also a dramatic touch. In the month of October, about 40,000 visit the Haunted Lagoon. The Haunted Lagoon will still be happening when the Temple openhouse begins. We've been called to be Tour Guides at the Temple Openhouse. We hope to see someone we know come thru. We are really having a good time. The weather is wonderful and the people -- BYUH & missionaries are wonderful.

Our First Visitors!!

This is the job Gary applied for!

The boys @ the PCC

Drew on our front porch next to Grandpa's ocean.

Don’t think that we have been swinging in our hammock, and too lazy to write. We keep busy!! Gary has become an expert on the computer. I am proud of his progress. Enough about our “day job.” About once each week we go to the Polynesian Cultural Center to help take tickets. They provided us with Aloha wear -- that they custom make to our measurements (that’s scary -- a custom fit moo moo?). When we want to walk around the PCC, all we need is our missionary badge to enter. Brooke & her boys came two weeks ago to visit. They spent a couple of days at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Plus a couple of visits to the beach.

Two different perspectives of our 500 sq foot apartment from the boys:
Drew (standing on our front deck facing the ocean): Grandpa, is that your ocean?
Trey (standing on the same deck): Grandma, did you buy this place because it doesn’t cost much money?

Gary & I are teaching the Marriage & Family Relations class on Sundays in our married student ward.
I have also been called as the 2nd counselor in the Stake RS.

We miss you and have been thinking about southern Utah a lot lately.

Week 3

Our responsibilities in the Office of Honor are becoming more clear to us. Besides the day-to-day things dealing with Bishop’s endorsements, and an occasional honor code violation, we have been given a long-term challenge to help (find a way) and to educate the students about the Honor Code. So many people look at it as something they are told they MUST ABIDE BY or they will be referred to our office. There is really a bigger picture of the honor code that we are going to be trying to educate the students about. Each student signs an agreement when they enroll in school, agreeing to abide by the Honor Code (which includes 12 points) Three of which being: Academic Honesty (cheating, plagiarism, etc.), Dress & Grooming Standards (on & off campus), Residential Living Standards (visiting hours, respecting others, dignified conduct). We are going to focus on HONOR & keeping the commitments you make. Making a long & very detailed story short . . .. . Don’t sign an agreement you aren’t willing to honor -- it will impact your character.
We have a map of the island of Oaho with about 35 spots to visit. Our plan is to visit each one of those (to begin with). We bought a truck this week, and so we are ready to explore!! Today we visited Kahuku Golf Course Beach. It is off the beaten path and had only 4 people on a huge wide open beach. . Then off to Pupukea to see an ancient Hawaiian Temple (only the foundation is left). But it overlooks beautiful Waimea Bay . There were hundreds of people at Waimea today. We’d prefer to visit there on a weekday or evening. Shark’s Cove was also right there and it 's THE PLACE to snorkel & scuba. We couldn’t resist going to see a large scout camp for our area while we were in the mountains. The last beach we visited was Laniakea Beach. It is also known as “Turtle Beach” because the sea turtles come out in the late afternoon to rest on the beach. From the road, saw two large turtles just approaching the beach. We definitely want to return to that beach -- also not on a Saturday.

2nd Week - Trying to adjust to the time change

The first week of our “Dream Come True.” Sorry, I can't get my pictures in!! Our first week in Laie has been wonderful. We live 1.5 blocks from the beach and in the other direction 1.5 blocks from work (school). We live right across the street from the Polynesian Cultural Center and about three blocks from the Temple that will open in November after a year long renovation. We are able to hear the musical performances and practices that go on in the evenings at the PCC. We will be working in the BYU Hawaii Office of Honor. The purpose of this department is to educate and encourage students to keep their commitments they made when entering school: Honesty, chastity, residential living, dress & grooming. Another part of the Honor Code is that students are expected to govern not only themselves, but to let other students know if they are violating some part of the Honor Code. Our goal is to shift the perception about our department from being an “enforcement” department to one of educating and encouraging students to take their commitments seriously. We have spent much of this week reading last year’s cases, just to help us see what violations have been made & the resulting consequences. We both know we’re going to love it!!

Because of the time change, we wake up early each morning and go for a walk. We try to go someplace different each morning. We also walk to work and then walk in the evening -- if it doesn’t interfere with our 9 p.m. bedtime! It rains almost every day, we have been told that a 30% chance of rain here means that it will rain three times during the day. We have been soaked once while we walked, most of the time it’s OK.

Laie is considered living in the “country.” We are sure glad that we do. Even though there are paved roads and sidewalks, there are lots of chickens running around all thru town. One jumped up out of a garbage can as we walked by and scared us both. We have geckos in the house and lizards outside of the front door.

There are many senior missionaries here and they are all so friendly. They have lots of get-togethers, that we are sure we’ll get involved in. We will be trained next week to work a couple of hours each week at the Polynesian Cultural Center (plus enjoy their great buffet dinners).

We hope to see someone we know while we’re here, so start looking at your calendar & saving your $$.

Our MTC Trainer -- Bro. Barney. Also, the Brashers (Lima, Peru), Us BYU-H, Brownells (NY,NY), the Garretts (Germany)

ALOHA!

Our girls and Monique Wilson planned an “Aloha” Party for us the Saturday before we left. It was so much fun. The food and decorations all were centered around a Hawaiian theme. They really did a great job and we had a wonderful turnout.

Our Mission Call

June 30, 2010 -- about 8:30 a.m. All of our family gathered to help us open our Mission Call letter. We let each of our grandsons hold the envelope (before we opened it) and say where they would like to serve a mission. We heard places such as Japan, Brazil, Austrailia, and then 4 year old Jarren said "I want to go to Mickey's at the Condo" For those of you who don't know Mickey, he's my Mother's dog. So right now Jarren doesn't want to venture too far away for his mission.

We were elated and knew we were blessed as we read we were to serve at "BYU-Hawaii." It was a mission we had applied for and prayed for, but knew we weren't the only ones in that position. The shocking part -- we were to report to the MTC in 12 days!! We lived our life from lists as the next 12 days rushed by.

Our daughters, Sunny, McKinzie & Brooke and Monique Wilson hosted an "Aloha Party" for us Saturday night. The food and decorations were delicious and beautiful. They had authentic leis for us and we had lots of visitors that night. Thank you Girls & Visitors!!

After nearly 5 years, Gary was released from his Bishop's calling on Sunday and a couple hours later we were set apart as missionaries. We headed for the MTC Sunday evening.

We entered the MTC on Monday, July 12th. What a great experience. We were in class with a bunch of great people who will be serving all over the world. We were taught from PREACH MY GOSPEL by young return missionaries who did an excellent job. The food at the MTC was delicious and after seeing how happy those 2000 young sisters & elders were, I'm okay to send my grandsons there someday.

Hawaii, here we come!!