Scouting Again

Last summer when Eileen and I arrived in Hawaii, we were assigned to serve in the BYU Hawaii 12th Ward. That is 1 of 5 married student Wards in the BYU Hawaii 2nd Stake. The 12th Ward happens to be the only Ward with a High Priest Group and the only Ward with any youth program except Primary. We happen to have both a Young Men and a Young Women program. We had about 4 YM and 1 YW in the Ward, and then the Winter Semester started. We got 6 new families. All of the men were High Priests, one had been a Councilor in a Bishopric back home in Tonga. Two had been Councilors in their Stake Presidencies, in Tonga and one in Kiribati. One had been a Bishop in Samoa another in Tonga. Some wonderful Preisthood strength. With those 5 families came 5 YM and 1 YW. Five High Priests were also added to our Ward. Four of those priesthood brothers brought their wives to BYU Hawaii. Only one of the men is a student. All 5 of the students are teachers in their Home Countries at LDS Church School programs back home. On March 27th, we got another High Priest, he had just been released as a Stake President in the Marshall Islands. Another boost for our High Priests Group. His only son is too young for the Young Mens Program. With the end of Winter Semester, also came changes in the Stake High Council and I was called to serve there. The Church really is true, I was asked to be the High Councilman working with the YM/YW programs in the Stake. A married student couple have been called as the Stake YM and YW Presidents. It still shouldn’t be too overwhelming for them, no more kids in the program than they have.

I had asked the Scoutmaster several times when they had a campout planned and he kept telling me they were working on the schedule. Well they held their first campout last weekend, March 25-26th They went just to the edge of town and the foothills on the Hawaii Reserve property, a place called cricket field. There is a 40 acre grass field that is surrounded by trees. It has a water connection and several places that you could build fires at the edge of the trees. It is less than a mile to the Hukilau Beach from there. The Scoutmaster brought a pig that they roasted on a spit over the fire. There were 2 boys from Kiribati, 2 from Korea, 3 from Tonga, 2 Samoan and 1 Hawaiian. They all enjoyed the pig over the fire, and the spare ribs and the chicken and the hotdogs on the BBQ. Then when I got there with a Dutch Oven peach cobbler and ice cream, they were not sure if they wanted to try that. None of them had ever seen a dutch oven, or tasted cobbler. They did finish off the gallon of ice cream, though. After I got them all to try the cobbler, they said I have to bring one of those for every camp. Of the Adult leaders, there were 3 of us from the mainland, 1 Samoan, and 2 Tongans. They had a good time and with a large “easy corner”, a metal frame with 1 side and the top covered with tarps the rain didn’t bother them too much. It was a fun camp and I hope the first of many. I did not stay over night, since they are not my boys and I am not their leader, I just love the program and going to the mountain. That and the fact that I am an old man that doesn’t do well sleeping on the ground any more.





This past Wednesday night, I went to the Temple and helped them do Baptisms for the dead, also. We had 3 YW and 3 adult YW leaders. We had 7 YM and 7 adult YM leaders. Like most of the other Temples, we were asked to provide our own Priesthood brothers. We also had a family visiting from Canada, that wanted to do some of their own names so we did those as well. Our Temple President has made the decision that 5 is all of the sheet names he will let the young people do. He wants it to be a shorter, more spiritual experience instead of a rush to get it all done. Hurry is not part of our instructions. The sealers and the initiatory people have all been asked to slow things down and make sure that it is a positive spiritual experience for everyone that is involved.


42 years ago today, Eileen and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. It has been wonderful.. We decided to take Friday off work and fly to Kauai and spend the weekend. We have never been there before and it really was a fun trip. We stayed in Princeville on the north end of the Island and then just went sightseeing. Kuaui is called the Garden Island and is actually much greener than Oahu. I think it has more agriculture if you don’t count the Pineapple plantations on Oahu.