Second wedding and Freedom!

So, the second daughter of President and Sister Pitt, got married.

 Can you tell she had a pineapple theme? Elder Cameron and I

 sanded over one hundred wooden pineapples when we had time. 

He helped cut out these and the big ones.

The day of the wedding/reception, Elder Cameron is putting a 

string in each pineapple so he can hang them. Everywhere!

President Pitt with one of the giant pineapple lights that he made to

line both sides of the driveway. There were twelve of these. It turned out to be a 

very beautiful tropical reception with flowers and lights everywhere.

The strength behind Pres. Pitt. The gracious, kind and beautiful, Sister Pitt. 

Now, the fun begins. President Pitt decided that after marrying

 two daughters, he needed a man party with a lot of meat to celebrate

his freedom. He decorated the tables with man tools. 

Neighbors of Pitts, Christine and Mark, came dressed as Brave Heart to the
 man/freedom party. We had chicken, shrimp, prime rib and some random greens.
 In the end, the party was a thank you for all of those
who had helped with both receptions.

Elder Jipus (Philippines) and Smothers (Arkansas) were a

 great pair of Elders we worked with. Elder Smothers just

went home.  I love this picture of them. 

I have no idea who these two adorable women are. The Chinese love to 

get their pictures taken with Americans. I just happened to be the closest one available.

Our "Hawaiian" Supermoon.

Aloha

http://ldsmag.com/the-sweeping-missionary-power-of-laie-

Their Mission Accomplished!

Nolan and Sharon Taggart, our friends from Homedale,
 having recently returned from a mission to Alabama,
 came for a week to visit and relax. 

We went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens in Kaneohe. The name means 'peaceful refuge' and is 400 acres in size. Elder Cameron and Taggarts walked around and enjoyed the lake, flowers, plants, and trees from different regions of the world.

Since I am still recovering from turning sixty, (lung infection) I opted to stay at the main buildings and conserve my energy. I was innocently wandering around and look what I found...a room full of sewing machines and women. They are a quilting guild and the leader is from Boise. They meet once a month at the gardens and make quilts for many who need them. Hospitals, cancer patients, nursing homes, homeless, etc.. We shared humanitarian ideas and had a wonderful time visiting.

 Three Tables, at sunset. Our favorite snorkeling spot.

Since Nolan and Sharon have served a mission,
 our busy Sunday was no surprise to them. 

YSA Branch Council, after our other meetings. 

Look how good they look taking a nap during the meeting. 

Nolan, entertaining our kids, after his snooze. 

Laie Point

Yes, that is Sherri Dew in the middle. She came to the Visitors Center for a special fireside to meet with the missionaries who serve there. Her message was: "Don't worry about perfection. Perfection will be a gift from God. Worry about progress. Our spirits want to progress. As we have questions about gospel principles and become seekers of truth, our testimonies will increase."

Beautiful, North Shore, sunset.

Aloha

Miracles Still Happen

We learned of these miracles in our Stake Conference.

There is a senior couple from Hawaii that was assigned to the
Family History Center, in Salt Lake City, Utah, for their mission. Their family is originally from India. 

They were assigned to the the records department, where they take old paper records, from all over the world, and make them digital. They weren't exactly thrilled with this assignment. They wanted to be in the Family History Center, and meet with new people every day and help them find their ancestors, plus, work on their own family history.

The very first day they went to work, they picked up the top bundle of papers and opened it. It was the family history of the Sister missionaries mother, from India. 
The next bundle they untied was her fathers history from India. 

Seamus, father of a currently serving missionary, related that when his oldest son received his mission call, their family met together to figure out how to pay for it. Two of the other sons wanted to help. One son is autistic. However, he found a job washing dishes. The other son is now a dancer at the Polynesian Culture Center.
Their efforts are paying for the entire mission of their brother.

Random Fun

 Sister missionaries didn't have umbrellas during a quick downpour, so a resourceful tourist helped them out.

It happened. I have influenced the haole girls to wear aloha dresses.
Our Sunset Beach YSA Branch presidency were released after three years. Their wives (without any prompting from me) bought matching dresses and wore them to church on their last Sunday. Their comment was "why haven't we been wearing these all along? They are so much cooler". (We meet in a very hot building from noon to three.) I'm telling you...go with the locals or the crazy Senior Sister from Idaho!

Cool Aloha

"The Other Side of Heaven"

Remember this movie about Elder Grobergs mission to the islands of Tonga? We attended a fireside where he was the speaker . It was two hours long and it still wasn't enough time. He is delightful and still so in love with the Tongan people and their culture. He has had many other occasions to serve with them, the past sixty years. I think he is an inside out coconut, like me; brown on the inside and white on the outside.

(These really awesome pictures are from my phone)

His wife, Jennie. They have eleven children.

 Among many things, he spoke about the time he woke up and rats had chewed on the soles of his feet. A woman came and immediately made him go outside and she staked his feet so they pointed at the sun, until they turned black. He said the only thing that hurt worse than the sun were the rats chewing on his feet. Several years later he developed cancer on the bottom of his feet. The doctor was befuddled by that until he told him this story. The doctor then told him the woman had saved his life. Had she not done what she did, he would have been dead by the end of that day.

Our darling, friend, Tasi, who came from the MTC, with us. We don't get to see her very often, so, we were happy she attended, too. Isn't she pretty.

Aloha