What a day!  We said an emotional good bye to the Sunset Beach YSA branch.  At the end of a wonderful testimony meeting, they invited Kaye and me to the front for the traditional send off...singing Aloaha Oe and presenting us with leis.  All the kids lined up and gave us a hug...I could not help it, it felt so fulfilling to see the effects of our 16 months of work.  Reactivated kids, kids with mission calls, kids having taken out endowments...all there to thank us and wish us well.  I know this must read like one of Kayla's mission letters, but it was a wonderful experience with a confirming spirit that our work had been accepted and that our service was appreciated on both sides of the veil.  This is comforting, recognizing that there were days that we wondered if we were doing any good.

Mom has a party every day this coming week...people are saying goodbye to her and thanking her for all she has done.  She has been wonder woman in the library and in the school of education.  RelEd is having a Christmas luncheon and that will be my going away social.  While I have enjoyed my work in teaching, it has not brought the feeling of fulfillment that we felt today at the branch.  Students rarely say thank you.  Even missionary instructors are pretty much furniture in their lives.  But there is some sense of satisfaction knowing that you have provided an opportunity for them to learn more about their faith.

Here are some photos taken on campus and today at the branch "break the fast" meeting that is held after church.  We will press forward now in packing and getting ready for a new chapter in our lives.  This one has certainly been rewarding.

We love going to basketball games!  The team is undefeated and we will hate to miss the rest of the season.  This is a photo of the head cheerleader and her boyfriend, both of whom were students of mine.  She is from Trinadad and he is from Oregon.  They are a great couple and good students.

Mom runs a story time for little kids at the library.  The school of education sends their education majors to practice telling stories under Mom's direction.  It has been a great success.  These two students are from the Marshall Islands.  They are teachers in their country. They have a scholarship to come to BYUH for a year to finish their BEd degree.  They are a dedicated group of students.

This is mom with the branch presidents wives.  They have been a great support and part of mom's fan club.  They are all Kimberly's age so we forget that like Kim and Nick they are now running the Church.  Hardly a place for us seniors...

This is mom and me with Kaisa who is one of our favorites.  He was inactive for years and one day decided to return to the church.  It was a year ago Christmas when he made that decision.  He is now a temple worker.  It has been exciting to see this miracle happen.

This is Kahili.  She has been a favorite of mine.  Finally she started coming to the branch and is now the chorister.  She is a wonderful girl.

This a me with some of the guys.  We have such great priesthood holders in the branch.  The two on the right are students at BYUH and the other is regular army (officer) who just finished ranger school.  They make me feel really old some days and rather young other days.

This is a different group of guys.  They are all Japanese students at BYUH.  They are native Japanese who are returned missionaries.  They bring so much to the branch.  Diversity seems to be the future of the Church and will be its strength in this new century.  BYUH is planning on expanding the school so that more students like this can come.  They are such faithful, dedicated member students.

This is Viti and Nye, two of our favorite branch members.  Nye is the first on the left, a nursing student who just received her mission call to Chile.  We went through the temple with her.  Viti is younger and a student at BYUH.  She is a dancer at the PCC in the luaus. Great kids, representative of the girls in the branch. 

2 Weeks - 1 Sunday
The countdown is on - 11 days to go! We are going to miss so many things here but are so happy that we will soon be home and reunited with our family and friends. We have truly appreciated all the love and support we have felt over the past sixteen months. We realized this week just how fortunate we are and how much we have to be thankful for.

Tuesday evening we were taking tickets at Prime Dining when all of a sudden I was in a big hug with McKenzie Nielsen, our next-door neighbor from home! What a happy surprise to see her. I can't believe she is a senior at BYU already. She was here with the BYU Girls basketball team. We went and watched them play. It was fun to see cute McKenzie!

McKenzie and Kaye at the PCC

Thanksgiving Day was quiet. I made a pumpkin dessert in the morning while Dennis cleaned the car. Then we washed all the curtains in our apartment. At 2:00 we went over to Tita's Grill for Thanksgiving dinner. Tita's is a local restaurant where you order food through a window and then eat it at picnic tables by the road. But every Thanksgiving, Jr. Aiyou and his wife invite all the missionaries to share Thanksgiving with their family. At least that is what we were told. Actually, they do invite all the missionaries as well as all their family, and also all the homeless people in the area. There were a lot of people there - so many that some had to eat standing up. Dad and I found a little space at a table and ate with three homeless people. There was a two-piece band playing and Jr. gave a talk about the history of Kahuku and specifically, the football team. I learned that Kahuku has a population of 7,000 with an average yearly income of $37,000. I think many of the 7000 came to dinner.  It is a very nice tradition they have and very generous of the Aiyou family. They provided everything except the desserts. After about an hour we came home and in the evening invited the Rowells and Frogleys over to play games. We had a nice Thanksgiving. Here are a few pictures of our day:

Rowell's and Wrights on Thanksgiving Day at Tita's Grill

Part of the crowd at Tita's

No explanation needed

Jr. Aiyou giving his remarks - Porta Potty behind bamboo screen

Saturday afternoon we went to Kulia's wedding reception. It was held at the Aloha Ballroom on campus. He married a lovely young woman named Andrea. Her father is a Dr. in the Bahamas. Her older sister and husband came over and introduced themselves and told Dennis that he had been their D&C instructor seventeen years ago at BYU! What a small world! They now live in Gilbert, Arizona and have six children but they were newlyweds when Dennis had them in his class. It was a very nice reception with a delicious mix of Hawaiian and Filipino food. Here are Kulia and Andrea.

Dennis and Kaye with the newlyweds

We just returned from a lovely dinner with the Sharps. Dan and Carrie and their boys have truly 'adopted' us and made us feel so welcome here. We will miss them, but look forward to their visiting us when they come to Springville to visit Carrie's parents, the Rentz'.

It is almost Thanksgiving.  Where has the fall gone...It was just labor day.  But we are not complaining. 

As you can see, our chain is very small.  In fact, this photo is not up to date, we have only three links to go! That is two more Sundays so we are busy packing to get on the slow boat our boxes of junk.  Funny how stuff just piles up.  

The semester is almost over.  The students are ready for their finals and finishing all their projects.  I am tired and thankful that I am almost done teaching.  It seems to take so much energy at this stage in my life.  That and everything is social media and high tech.  I can wade in that water, but to swim in it is difficult.

We have become BYUH basketball fans.  They have a very good team that is really scrappy.  Games are close until the last ten minutes then

Kaye and Moana, her co-worker at the Library

they kick it in gear and the crowd roars.  We have a member of the team, a starter, in our Branch and I have three cheer leaders in my class.  That adds to the game. 

Here is a photo of Mom with her friend Moana who she works with at the library.  She is the official scorer at all the games.  She loves to play rugby and is a fitness gal.  Mom enjoys working with her.  

Mom is busy wrapping things up at the library.  She is done at the School of Education having organized their curriculum collection and cleaned out all their storage cupboards.  The professors are now busy filling them up again with junk.  Teachers are such pack-rats.  Mom's storytime is going great.  The Elementary Education majors are

Library Student Assistants

required to read stories to the kids under Mom's direction.  For the most part, she says they are very good.  A few would be better off becoming accountants.  Here is a photo of the students who work with her.  The boy is from China and is learning English.  She enjoys working with them.  

The community of Laie is high school football crazy.  Their team is always in the state finals and often wins.  This is the place where all those BYU and UTAH Polynesian players are from.   Their high school team is really something. This man even painted his house for the game. Yes - real paint. He is "fully invested."

For fun on Saturday we went to Haleiwa Joes, a famous North Shore restaurant.   I had Ahi (tuna) Mom had shrimp (of course) and our friend Elder Rowell had red snapper.  The picture below shows how they served it.  It was whole, head and all.  The waiter showed him how to break it apart and he said it was delicious.  It is a white fish that is caught in local waters.  

With the Rowells at the restaurant

The other photos were taken today at our branch meeting.  Because our last two Sundays are High Council Sunday and Fast Sunday, they asked us to speak today.  Mom did great with her talk on Joseph Smith, until she started crying.  Then all the girls in the branch started crying.  They really love her.  She has been a good friend to all of them and they really appreciate her.  The photo with the two girls are Mom's best friends, Hannah and Kuulei Akina.  

This photo shows the Tongan leis that they gave us.  It is a Hawaiian way of saying thank you.  Too bad they are real flowers and don't keep.  Maybe I will have to get one for Mom to wear home. 

Counting Down

Today when we tore off another link on our paper chain, we realized that we are down to three Sundays and four weeks until this adventure draws to a close. While it has been a wonderful opportunity and blessing in our lives, we are ready to come home. As we prepare to return to Utah we will carry with us some remarkable experiences and memories of many new friends. Hopefully, this blog journal will be a useful reminder of what the past sixteen months have meant to us.

As things are drawing to a close, there isn't too much that is new to write about. We are simply trying to do our best to finish the race with all the loose ends wrapped up. So to summarize the past couple of weeks. . . November 2 was Stake Conference. Our Branch President, Ethan Lee, and his wife, Lezlie, spoke and did a great job. We also heard from our Mission President, Steven Warner and his wife. My mother's cousin, Keith Pierce, a counselor in the temple presidency, and his wife spoke. It was a good conference. Once again, President Hannemann singled out the Sunset Beach Branch and had us all stand up. We are his special project and he is always bragging about the branch. I think the other student wards must be getting tired of hearing how great we are. They are equally great, just not as unique. 

After the conference we attended the Senior Missionary "Break the Fast" over at the PCC. Each month we are assigned to bring either a main dish, salad, or dessert. This month I took a chicken, black bean Mexican soup. I thought it was good. Dennis didn't have any. haha.

Tuesday we worked at the PCC. We were assigned to take tickets at the Kauai luau for a special function. The whole luau had been rented out by an insurance company from Malaysia. They rewarded all their salespeople with a trip to Hawaii. Some things are the same in any culture.

Wednesday was our regular temple day. We usually attend the four o'clock session since it is for handicapped patrons and they always seem to need help there. This week the session was full. A group from the Marshall Islands were here to do temple work for a couple of weeks. They all had on headsets for translation. I admire their faithfulness in serving here when I know it must have been a very expensive trip to make with a lot of sacrifice involved. 

Friday and Saturday all the power to our building was turned off from 8:30 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon. It was rainy and dreary so we went to 'town' and ran a couple of errands and basically hung out.  We went to see "Interstellar" on Friday night. I liked it, but it was different. I had to stay awake and I'm still not sure I get it.

Monday, the 10th, the branch had a bake-off for Family Home Evening. We had a bunch of cakes and the kids divided into groups of three and decorated their cakes using a beach theme. Some were pretty good; others looked like a hurricane had hit their island. Here are a couple of pictures.

 OK, so you can't see any of the finished product, but they all had a good time and we had a great turn-out which was nice. Here is a picture of our two missionary elders, Elder Moffit and Elder Doxey, with a recent convert, Blaine. It was nice to see him there as well.

Tuesday our PCC assignment was cancelled. They occasionally do that when the crowds are small for the luaus. It worked out well because we were then able to attend the Religious Ed dinner and lecture by a visitor, Grant Hardy.
Wednesday Dad's computer died and so we had to take it down to the Apple hospital at the Kahala Mall.
Thursday I went to my last BYUH Womens' Organization luncheon. They have these once a month for anyone who works on campus. We pay ten dollars for a little lunch and a talk by a guest speaker. This month our speaker was Blanche Linton, one of the senior missonaries who has an educational software company in Utah. She spoke on the importance of education and what it means to be a teacher. 
Friday we started the super cleaning of the apt. We washed all the louvered windows, the screens, and the curtains. We also packed a box and put it on the slow boat home. 
Saturday the weather was beautiful and so we spent the morning at the beach. We tried going in the water but the waves were too strong and kept knocking us down so I gave up. It was 84 degrees which was weird when we heard on the news that it was 30 degrees in Utah. A cold night for a football game in Provo. Saturday night was the first basketball game of the season and so we went over to watch that with the Rowells. They recruited three seniors from the Mainland and they are super tall - 6'10". One of them is in our branch. He is from Medford, Oregon.

The 'Big Wave" season is upon us once again and while they are spectacular to watch, I am not too sure about those who love to surf them. They may have too much water sloshing around in their brains. We went over and watched a bit of the surf competition at Haleiwa. 

At Haleiwa Beach Park

Waves crashing at the 'Point' in Laie

Finally, one of the things I will miss is our "Branch in a Box" where we all pitch in and help set up chairs, podium, Sacrament table, etc. each week. Here is a picture of Lezlie with our "box."

Finally, one more picture of Elder and Sister Wright in front of the Sunset Beach Rec Center.

Mom reminded me that I did not "do the blog" last week.  So I am doing my bi-weekly duty out of synch.  I apologize to the thousands that read our blog who were holding there breaths last week when I missed doing the blog.  Here it is for this week

Last week we had an interesting missionary outing.  The place is called Hawaiian Plantation and is an historic recreation of a 1860-1900 sugar plantation.  The tour was to be one-hour and ended up being three.  The guide was very knowledgeable and because we were all "university professors" he gave us the full treatment.  The time went by quickly because he was so interesting as he explained

Kaye and Dennis in a Taro Field

that the mosaic of Hawaiian society started with the importation of Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Filipinos to Hawaii to work in the sugar cane industry.  Here are photos with comment.

The first workers were Hawaiian but there were few Hawaiians left in the 1850's due to the effects of white society diseases on their population.  But they left the heritage of taro as a basic protein source.  When the cane industry ran out of Hawaiians they imported Chinese until agreements with the Japanese government made it better to switch to that group.  These Asian groups brought to Hawaii their food and

Plantation house

culture that define the community to this day.  Most Hawaiians have either Chinese or Japanese ancestry.  There are very few descendants of the original Hawaiians. 
The plantation owners wanted absolute control over these immigrant workers so they kept them separated by cultural groups in camps.  They built houses like this for them to live in and paid them hardly enough to live on.  Immigrant workers lived in these houses for about 50 years before the cane industry ended.  The last group to come to Hawaii, the Filipinos also had a dramatic effect on the Hawaiian community because of their large families that intermarried among the Asian-Hawaiian people who were already here.  So you will find many different looks, names, mixed language usage and other features of a society formed from these immigrant workers.  Today the white culture is a minority in Hawaii, far outnumbered in both numbers and influence. While our guide did not mention the latest immigrant group because they arrived after the cane industry, the Samoans and Tongans are also a part of the Hawaiian culture and tend to identify with the original polynesians to form a larger island group.

BYUH Missionaries . 

Jack and Pine o'lanterns

Of course it was Halloween and we had to get in the spirit.  Carving a pineapple for a jack o lantern is difficult but can be done.  So here we have an example of cultural diversity at Halloween.  Mom threw a halloween party before the women's volleyball game Halloween night and here are some photos of that gala event. 

Kaye the Hostess

The Halloween Spread

She served chile and others brought veggies, cornbread and the like. It was a big success. 

Our YSA branch had a halloween party and of course we dressed like senior missionaries and attended.  It was a fun activity. They had dance contests, gave costume prizes and also had chili and cornbread.  They are such an active bunch with endless energy. 

Kaye and Noah

This is Kaye with one of our surfer dudes who is coming back into the Church and preparing for the priesthood.  He is a character and always wanting to be of help.  He does all the ironman races. 

Kaye and Leslie

Below is Kaye in her missionary costume and Leslie Lee, the branch president's wife in her Katie Perry costume.  She was a hit.  Remember that she is Kimberly's age and her husband is younger than Stephen.  This makes us feel old.  Oh, wait, we are old. 




Last night we went to the Utah State vs. Hawaii game at Aloha Stadium.  It was much like a BYU game, even to the point of the home team losing.  Utah State played a 4th string quarterback and still beat Hawaii.  See, it does sound like a BYU game.  Sorry, but I have given up on the cougars, they are all talk and no show. Norm Chow is the coach of Hawaii. Maybe that is why they are like Bronco's boys.

Missionaries at the game 

International Food night is fun.  Each of the clubs (ours is Indonesian) has a booth and cook their native food.  It is a money raiser for the clubs.  We stopped at the Indonesian booth to see the kids who were cooking pancakes that they put nuts and chocolate on...they were good so we bought one.  Then Kaye had to go to the native American club booth to get some

At International Food Night

fry bread so that she would feel at home.  I had fish balls from the Chinese kids. 

So that was the last little while.  Midterm exams are over and we are on the home stretch.  We are packing up boxes and sending them home.  We have five Sunday's left so we can see things coming to a close.  It continues to be a great adventure with a variety of great experiences.  We will certainly have mixed emotions when it really does end. 

In the meantime we are in the rainy season and Hawaii Electric is turning off all the power this coming Friday and Saturday.  That will be another adventure.  Don't open the fridge for any reason they say.  Yeah right....

Let it Rain, Let it Rain, Let it Rain

This week's weather report is rain and more rain and even more rain. We are on our third hurricane watch of the season. The weather people have suggested that many people are suffering from 'hurricane fatigue' and cautioned everyone to still be vigilant and prepared. Thankfully hurricane Ana has passed to the Southwest of the state but it did manage to drop an enormous amount of rain on the islands. While sitting in a Stake Leadership meeting a few minutes ago, everyone's phones started beeping with flash flood warnings for Laie. It has been raining for two days now. The temperature has cooled off nicely, but the humidity is crazy. It is 90% outside and 90% in our apartment. There is really nothing quite like damp sheets, clothing, and furniture. Hopefully, tomorrow it will have passed by and we will settle in to some nice trade winds.

Another fairly typical week for us. Last Sunday one of the Elders in our branch announced that he was being transferred to Maui. His name is Elder Petter and he is from El Centro, California. Just to show what a small world it is, he is friends with a family we knew when we lived in Mesa all those years ago. Here is a picture of us with the Elders.

Elder Moffitt, Dennis, Elder Petter, and Kaye

On Wednesday we were able to go through the temple with another one of our branch members who will be leaving soon on his mission. His name is Zach Nobbmann and he is going to the Mexico City mission. He is a great young man and will be a wonderful missionary. He was in Dad's temple prep class that he gives to the branch members as they prepare to go to the temple.

Sister Wright, Zach, and Elder Wright

Friday we thought we would try and go snorkeling over at Shark's Cove before the hurricane, but it was windy and the ocean was stormy so we went to Castles which is only a few minutes from our house. It was windy but I do love watching the ocean in all kinds of weather so it was a fun morning.

Dennis at Castles

Friday night we went to the girls' volleyball game. There was a tournament and they played Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They won Thursday night as well as Friday night. I don't know if they won on Saturday because we had to stay home and watch poor BYU lose yet again. On Friday we sat by the Dennisons, another senior couple who are here serving from Elise's ward.

Kaye with Sister Dennison

Due to the hurricane, the community center was closed today and so our branch met here on campus at the Little Theatre which is where we first met when the branch was organized. It is hard to believe that was over a year ago. It has grown from a modest beginning of maybe 15 to over 90 on most Sundays. There are always new people coming to join with us and some just 'hopping' but we are happy to have them as well.

As I review the events of the past week, it seemed pretty ordinary to me.  I guess there are no really ordinary weeks, but teaching went just fine, Kaye had a busy library week, went to a BYUH soccer game in the rain, had a nice evening at the temple and a great Sunday with the branch.  Pretty nice week, but not a lot of adventures to tell about. 

The missionaries did go to the "Meet the Mormons" movie.  I did not know what to expect.  I am not a real fan of the new "Pop-mormon" movement but I have to admit that the movie was well done  Not your typical members of the Church by any means, but it was, after all, a movie and had to have something different than folks just going about their lives. I guess we ordinary Mormons will just have to muddle through our faith based lives without being the coach of Navy or a great humanitarian.  Maybe just being a missionary mom is just as important as being one with a story right off the pages of the Ensign.  Maybe ordinary lives are okay.  Having beat my drum, I enjoyed the movie and arranged for our branch to choose it has their FHE activity tomorrow night.  

We also went to the reception (locals call them "feedings") of our branch RS president.  It was a nice affair with lots of food.  She is a nice girl and did a great job as RS president.  She is now a schoolteacher and off on her life's adventure. 

Kaye and Marvelyn

Kaye and her Branch friends

This is Kaye with the Bride.  The other photos are of the wedding and one with Kaye and her branch friends, Hannah (the librarian) and her sister Kulia (a pro photographer like Leah)

Bad picture of a well decorated Church gym

That is about it for this week.  We are watching our mission chain grow smaller.  Only seven weeks left.  I am hoping for snow, it is still rather warm, although it is cooling down more each day.  Now only 82 degrees and 77% humidity in our apartment at 8:00 pm :)))