Christmas...and More!

I didn't get around to making a post last week.  We were extremely busy at the temple this week and then Christmas came and went so here it is Sunday night again.
This is the first Christmas that I have REALLY been away from home and my family--ever!  After Larry and I got married we started sharing Christmas with our families doing an every other year thing if necessary.  Even then we would be able to be in Utah-or Nevada by the day after Christmas or the few days before Christmas.  This year was very different.  I was able to FaceTime with my family while they were all together for our traditional Christmas Breakfast so that was good.  At various times during the day I was able to talk with families individually.  Larry was able to talk to all of his kids that day also.
For dinner we kind of invited ourselves to Keith's house (his is bigger than our tiny apartment) for dinner and also invited the Fry's.  Larry prepared prime rib and I made a home made apple pie.  Debbie made funeral potatoes and the Fry's brought salad. We really enjoyed the meal and then played Tenzi afterwards.  We came home and watched a movie.  I didn't have as hard of a time as I thought I might being away from family.

This morning I thought about what I would post in my blog tonight and really had no idea other than report of Christmas but I need to talk about the busyness of the temple this week.  We were open Tuesday and Wednesday and were inundated with people either being married or sealed after having been married.  I love when the temple is so busy with living ordinances because we get to help quite a bit.  The temple was also busy because the temple will be closed for three weeks.  After being closed on Thursday and Friday, the temple was open again on Saturday and just like the other two days this week, we were very busy.  All sessions on Saturday were full which is really a great thing to see.  Now we have a break for three weeks.

Tonight we were invited to Keith's house for dinner since they had invited the sister missionaries to dinner.  What a choice experience that was.  Sister Latu and Sister Kurusawa are their names.  Sister Latu is from Salt Lake and Sister Kurusawa is from Japan.  We asked them a little about themselves and this is Sister Kurusawa's story.  She is 28 years old (looks like she is 19).  She was working in Japan and just felt she needed to do more with her life.  She moved to California and then to Utah (Provo), went to school to learn English and work.  She was called on her mission from there.  She hasn't seen her family for 4 years.  At one point when Larry was speaking to her in Japanese she shed a few tears.  We asked her if she was ok and she said she just got thinking that if it hadn't been for missionaries in Japan, she wouldn't be here on this mission.  She wouldn't have the gospel in her life and she is so thankful for it.  What a  special spirit she brought to this dinner.  I felt a little bad for her in that her English isn't really good yet (she has only been on her mission 3 months) so some of the conversation and jokes she didn't really understand.  We tried to help her understand as we went along.  Sister Latu is going to be leaving for home in January so it was fun to talk to her too.  We already knew her because she lived across from us a few months ago.

As we sat at the table with these sweet sisters, my thoughts went to my daughter, Michelle, who was far from home for a year and a half while serving our Heavenly Father.  What a sacrifice it is for these young people and what a strong testimony they have.  My prayer for them is that they always remember the feelings they have while serving and let the Holy Ghost continue to guide their lives when they return to life outside of the mission.  Our advice to them tonight was to attend the temple regularly and remember the covenants they have made, and when looking for an eternal companion make sure their values and goals are at least as high as theirs are.

For not having much to say tonight, I think I have gone on long enough.  Next week we are leaving for a week of island hopping--first to Kauai and then to Maui.  I'll report on that trip when I blog again.

Our Mission On The Downhill Side...

This week marks exactly the midway point of our mission.  I have learned so much to this point and am sure I will increase that learning and understanding of the temple by leaps and bounds in the next six month.  The time has gone by quickly and from what I hear, the rest will go by even faster.  I do know that after the first of the year when the temple opens after the scheduled maintenance break, we will be extremely busy re-certifying the ordinance workers and, as always, training new workers.  The last time we had to do this was right after we arrived and started in the temple.  I was so nervous because I didn't want to overlook anything but hadn't been adequately trained as to what to do.  I tend to like explicit instructions and there really wasn't much to go on.  Now I know what I am doing so it should go quite a bit easier.

Today we attended a missionary farewell for Eric Sims.  There is a family connection to Eric so we went to Millilani to attend.  Eric seems to be so prepared for his mission in Vancouver WA.  He has barely turned 18 and will graduate early from high school this week.  He is reporting to the MTC in January.  That is making the best of your time for sure.  His talk was very well done as he talked of the importance of his mission and the importance of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Pete, his father, gave a great talk as well.  It got me thinking about the things I need to be doing in order to live a life worthy of returning to my Heavenly Father and His Son at the end of my life.  He taught us that each of us should be doing four things as well as other things crafted by each individual in order to work towards eternal salvation.  These are: 1-Improve our daily prayer. 2- Improve our scripture reading and scripture study each day. 3- Improve our church attendance and preparation for taking the sacrament. 4- Improve in our temple attendance.
I feel like I really need to work on these things.  The only one I have under control right now is Temple attendance.  I spend over 30 hours/week in the temple.  I hope that when this mission is finished that I will continue to serve several hours in the temple whether as an ordinance worker or a patron.
I am re-committing myself to the other three items on this list.
Thanks Pete Sims for your encouragement in this regard.

Now to the weather and Christmas.  The weather is still 85ish and a little rain each day. Today was beautiful-a good beach day but it is Sunday so we didn't do that.  However, half the people on the island were at beaches all along the north shore today.  As I have said in other blogs, it will be strange to be in warmth on Christmas this year.  We are going to go to a mall tomorrow or next Saturday just to get a little of the materialistic part of the Christmas spirit.

PRIDE, HUMILITY and CHRISTMAS FIRESIDE

So this week has just flown right by.  We started working the afternoon shift in the temple this week.  We were fairly busy most of the week and then the real "busy" hit on Saturday.  Several weddings, sealings and people coming to the temple for the first time.  It is always so tender to see the emotions of those who have waited for this day and are so prepared to take the next step on their journey to eternal happiness.  I wish I could go into more detail about some of my experiences but the sacredness of what goes on there needs to stay that way. I love being able to be part of the weddings of the young people.  Watching the girls walk out the door in their wedding dresses with a very attentive new husband brings back so many memories of my own daughters doing the same thing on their special wedding days, and even my own temple wedding some 45 years ago.  In a few years I hope I will get to experience that with granddaughters and grandsons.

Today in Relief Society, the lesson was from the Teachings of the Presidents (Pres. Ezra Taft Benson) on pride and humility.  I came home and read the chapter more in depth and was touched by the things I read so, as much for my benefit as that of those that may read this, I will recap some of my favorite teachings.
"Pride is characterized by 'What do I want out of life?' rather than by 'What would God have me do with my life?' It is self-will as opposed to Gods will. "

"To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears; to the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts."

"The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives."

"Our enmity (hatred or hostility) towards God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers.  The proud wish God would agree with them.  They aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's."

"When pride has a hold on our hearts, we lose our independence of the world and deliver our freedoms to the bondage of men's judgment.  The world shouts louder than the whisperings of the holy Ghost.  The reasoning of men overrides the revelations of God, and the proud let go of the iron rod."

I loved this one. "Think how temple worked would increase if the time spent in this godly service were more important than the many prideful pursuits that complete for our time."
"The antidote for pride is humility-meekness, submissiveness. God will have a humble people.  Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble.  We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are."

Like I said, just some of the thoughts that made me do some reflection for myself and my actions. Maybe they will be ideas for a talk in the future.

Now, for the last part of this blog.  The visitors center has scheduled firesides for each Sunday evening this month.  Tonight a celtic group performed several Christmas songs for us.  It was such a nice program.  The room was standing room only.  This group is comprised of people from this community (one couple from our ward) and their talents were amazing.  We loved the songs of the season from British and Irish decent being played with a celtic twist.  I love Christmas and the activities that go on this time of year.  One other cool thing that happens at the visitors center is the decorating of several Christmas trees by various stakes throughout Oahu. The trees depict the birth of our Savior along with the traditions of the Hawaiians.  I hope to get pictures of them when it is not so crowded.  They would stand up against any tree I have seen at the Festival of the Trees.
Well, it is late so I'll close for tonight.

Christmas And Other Things...

Well, I am a few days late on this post.  I just remembered a few hours ago that I hadn't updated for the week so here goes.  Last week was Thanksgiving and what a different Thanksgiving it was.  First of all, we have warmth here as opposed to the cold weather that Utah has been having.  It rained most of the day but it really didn't matter.  We were invited to go to Tita's grill where the owners (our bishop and his family) cooked 3500 lbs of turkey and ham in an emu.  It was SO good.  Very tender and moist and the flavor was amazing!  So glad I was able to experience that this year. Those in attendance were the Sr. missionaries, those less fortunate and those who had actually stopped at Tita's to just get a good meal.  They had no idea that it would be such a big gathering but they got to eat for free.  The family also takes much of the food to other communities on the Island to feed the homeless there.  I can't even imagine the cost to that family (the Ah You's) for this service they provide.  I'm sure they have been and will be blessed for what they do.

For us, it was nice to have a day off from our service in the temple.  We had been getting up so early for the month of November to cover the morning shifts.  This month we have the afternoon/evening shift.  So far it has been great.  The afternoon is usually a little quiet but the evening sessions are more attended and there is more training to do so the time goes a little faster.  I really enjoy getting to know the workers and being able to interact with them in such a cool setting.

One of the things I have struggled with a little is that Christmas is so close now but I doesn't really feel like Christmas to me.  It is warm and we have had quite a bit of rain.  We don't live close to a bigger city that decorates the streets, parks, or many of the houses.  Just tonight I finally saw a couple Christmas trees in windows and a few houses with lights.  I don't have much of a Christmas tree either which is a "first" for for me.  That being said, last Sunday night we attended a musical fireside put on by the sister missionaries at the temple visitors center.  They shared Christmas music and sweet testimonies.  I am always in total awe of those cute sisters and the talent they have.  Several can play the piano for accompaniment, several sing beautifully both in group and individually.  All of them have a strong testimony of our Savior and the Book of Mormon as a testament of the life our Christ.  They were asked to bear testimony on the spur of the moment and said wonderful things from their hearts.
I think it is a great thing that these missionaries, under the direction of Elder Priday, do these firesides for the community.  I would suspect that most if not all those in attendance are members of the church so they aren't trying to convert anyone.  They just want us to know of their love for and appreciation of our God and His son, Jesus Christ.

In closing, we watched the news today before going to the temple.  There was a mass shooting in San Bernadino, CA where several people were killed.  My brain and my heart just can't understand how people can intentionally take the lives of innocent people. What a travesty at this time of year.  Because I went through the death of a loved one at this time of year 12 years ago, I am feeling so bad for those people who are faced with these losses this close to what should be a very happy time of year.  I want them to know, even though I will never meet them, that my thoughts and prayers are with them.

And finally, we have been here nearly 6 months now so the time is going so quickly.  I suspect the next 6 will go by just as fast.  I'll still keep up on this blog.