Today was our first Sunday meeting at the Sunset Beach Recreation Center. We were worried that not many branch members would come because of the distance they now have to drive but we were happily surprised to see about 40 there. We had a group picture taken in front of the center to commemorate the historical significance of the event as it is the first time that there has been a meeting of the Church held on the North Shore.

The boy standing in back of us is named Fletcher. He is in the military and a good, happy member of our branch. We will be sad to see him leave when the military sends him someplace else. We are teaching the Temple Prep lessons and one of the girls taking the class is preparing to get her endowment this month. She is from Samoa and is one of the dancers at the PCC. She has already graduated and has decided to move to Utah to begin working on a Master's Degree. We will also miss her but she knows it is time to take the next step in her life. That is one thing about this branch - It is very fluid. The kids move in, move out, ward hop, always looking for someone new to date. I don't really blame them but it is hard to keep things going with so much constant change.

We were able to attend the Senior Missionary Home Evening this week. They rented out the Game Center on campus and everyone could bowl, play pool, ping pong, or dance. Our missionary neighbor, Elder Cochran loves 50's and 60's music and he was the deejay. We decided to bowl as dancing was not Dennis' first choice, or last. We bowled with Elder and Sister Rowell (our neighbors) and Gary and Laura Cardno. It was hilarious because we were all so terrible and the machines for setting the pins sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. I barely managed to break 100, but it was good enough to beat Dennis! HaHa. I think my mom would have been so proud. Dennis told everyone that I had a bowling trophy, but lest they expect too much, I had to confess that it was for "Most Improved."

 Below is a picture of me with President and Sister Wheelright. He is the president of BYU-Hawaii. They frequently attend functions with the Senior Couples. Maybe they miss 'hanging out' with their peers. Anyway, they seem quite nice and are highly visible on campus. We have seen them at Girls Volleyball Games, basketball games, our Senior 'Break-the-Fast' meal and we were once in a temple session with them. He was at BYU-I before he was asked to come here and tighten things up. No more good ol' boys club!

Dennis went golfing this week with several of the other Religious Ed. teachers. He has a student who can sometimes get deals on golfing the Arnold Palmer course over at Turtle Bay. They played 18 holes and Dennis was happy to report that he got 2 Birdies. He loves his new golf clubs. I guess he will have to stick with golf and give up bowling, While he was golfing I put up our little Christmas tree and decorated it. It is cute and makes our apt. feel more like Christmas.

On Thursday I went over to the PCC and helped decorate the Christmas trees for the Christmas Lagoon. Each village has a tree by the lagoon and over the last two weeks in December, people can ride in the canoes and they stop at each village and hear part of the Nativity. They are given snacks and sing Christmas music. It sounds quite nice and is something I am looking forward to doing. It was super hot when we were decorating, around 90 degrees - not too Christmas-y weatherwise.

Yesterday was a big day for us. I borrowed the School of Education staff car and we drove down to Wahiawa on our way down to Pearlridge to do some shopping. I think everyone knows that Dennis has this 'thing' about cars and he decided that we should sell the car we had and buy a new one. So, here he is with another new car. This one is a 2009 Chevy Cobalt. We hope it will prove reliable and get us around the island. We sold our car to a girl who needs one to get to Kaneoe to do her student teaching this next semester.

It is interesting that we went to this used car lot because the man in the picture, Ross, was a member of the Church until two years ago. He had been a convert and member for over 32 years. He worked in the Laie temple and has two children. Now he is divorced and inactive. He asked if we were from Utah. It turns out he has a son working for Adobe and living in Payson. His daughter lives in Haliewa but she is not active. I told him that the church wants to build a chapel there and maybe he could bring his daughter back. I told him about the Christmas Fireside tonight and invited him to come back. He was very nice and I was happy we had stopped at his car lot. I am trying to be a good missionary but I need people to cooperate with me!