Question to you all. Would you like to have all of our families birthdays on a chart from January to December so we can recognize their birthdays ?
New blog
Taking time to start my blog again. Since we got home off our Mission I have not written. Hopefully I will keep it going off and on. So I started writing and then when I went back to see it, I could not find what I wrote. So here I am doing it once again but of course different. The keyboard is very small because Roland thought it will be easier for me to have a smaller keyboard and it is a bit harder to get use to. I suspect over time I will get use to it. So now I will try to close this blog and see what happens.
Relocating
We have relocated this past week to Hauula. It is about 10 minutes from our old place. The two Senior Missionaries garages are being made into bedrooms for the sister missionaries. This way they will be able to house 4 sister missionaries in each pad. They wanted to have it done by the end of October which meant that we needed to find a new place to hang our hat. We had a couple of leads and one ended up being the right fit for us. We still have things to do to get the place in order but it will come along in time. The one area that is still a bit hard to get use to is the fact we have no air conditioner. It is mighty warm in the house. It is nice when night time comes and we can have the cool air coming in. We have 2 fans in the bedroom and 5 fans in the living area. We hope that winter will be a bit cooler !!! The other area is that we are quite a ways from the sister missionaries and we were right there with them and they stopped by often for butter or a cookie or a pan or so on. Once we get the rest of our place done then we will be able to have them come up for a meal and that will be nice.
There are benefits as well. We live very near to a mountain like 4 houses between us and the mountain. Roland and I have been walking up the smallish mountain together. It goes up to a water supply. We then walk back down. Once we are at the top we can see the view of the ocean. Really pretty. I heard a bird singing and it is a tune I have never heard. I actually recorded it and asked if anyone could remember it. No one mentioned it but perhaps I can get someone that knows bird sounds better then me. We both walk back down and then I continue on and walk another 30 minutes. I love walking. It is a bonus to be able to walk and to help others.
My sister Pam is coming to Oahu and it will be good to see her. It has been about 2 years since we have seen each other. We will have fun and we will make memories. Every time we move I look for new things to go and see and I try to figure out what I can do to help out.
I am also branching out to find something that I really like. Music is one. Learning a language is another. Drawing would be fun to try. Life is not slowing me down.
So because we needed to move I have looked for things that are new and interesting to me. I have found a great small mountain to climb, I have found a large beach area with only rocks of all different colors on it. I really like it. I am closer to the stores. I get to meet more people.
I am truly grateful for where we live and for all that we get to do. I am grateful for the blessings in my life. Grateful for our family and so grateful for Roland and all that he does. Being on a mission is surely wonderful so glad we are here.
Love to all, Nina
Morning walk
This morning I decided that I would go to the beach which is about a 15 minute walk. I had also decided that I wanted to be able to give help in some way to others. Because we serve in the visitor center we always have people coming in and on any given day we usually have at least 200 people. So I figured I might be able to help someone. I was almost to the beach area and I came upon a young man who is a student at the University. He was sitting on a stone wall and he had a surf board on his lap and he was busy scraping off some paint. I asked him what he was doing. Someone had given him a surf board and he named it Laie which is the name of the town where we live. He began to talk to me about how important that this board was to him. He had been thinking about how the board should look. He wanted it to be pretty much the way it was and thought he would just restore it. He asked me what I thought. We discussed a few ideas. He is Japanese and so I suggested that perhaps he could write a Haiku poem and put it on the surf board. So it would be something special for him. From that came other ideas. I asked him if he had a journal and he actually had his journal with him. He loves nature and we talked about that and I showed him my pictures from my phone and he wanted to Facebook me so he could see them. We talked for about 20 minutes. Then I had to leave as I had to get back in time to go to the visitor center. So we said good-bye. He knows where the visitor center is and perhaps he will stop by some time and we can continue our conversation.
It was a nice pause in my walk. I have found that if one takes the time to listen to others there is much to be gained. I will remember him and I will remember his insight into the beauty that he sees and that he was very willing to share his thoughts. It certainly was a nice way to start the day.
Christmas Eve
This Christmas finds us being missionaries at the visitor center in Oahu, Hawaii. We serve with 2 other senior missionaries. We also serve with 23 sister missionaries. We would love to be with all of our family members but this year it is not possible. Because of that I can’t think of any other place I would want to be. It is truly paradise here. Every day is a beautiful day.
This evening some of the missionaries had the assignment to put on a program for all of us. They did a wonderful job. It was all focused on the Savior. We went from one area to the other and along the way we were able to learn more about Him. It was so nice. The big lights in the visitor center were all turned off and the lights from all of the Christmas trees made everything look and feel so special. It was good to be able to be there. A nice way to end the day.
After we got home two sisters came to get some wrapping paper so they could wrap their exchange gift which we will be doing tomorrow. It will be fun time. We will see a movie and we will have a Christmas day dinner. Turkey, Ham, potatoes, salads, and desserts and rolls. I am in charge of peeling potatoes for mashed potatoes. I am also doing a fruit bowl. It will be nice to have dinner with all of us.
Also the sisters will be able to call home or Skype their parents. That is always the best part for me. I get to meet their parents and siblings. Of course it is especially nice for the missionaries. We will be able to chat with most of our family as well and that is really the best of the best.
It is time for me to get to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow. I am so grateful for all of our friends and family. We love you.
Merry Christmas to you all. Nina
Life in Oahu
The great news is that the trade winds are back !!! I love the trade winds. They are truly a gift, especially after the last 3 months or more. Everyone says that it has been the hottest ever. Who knows if that is true or not but I will have to say it was so humid, that I was pretty sure I did not want to be out walking in humidity! Now that the trade winds are back I will really enjoy my morning walks and take advantage of the cooler weather.
It has once again been a long time since I have written. The time is flying past. Next week we will have been in Hawaii for 8 months. It does not seem possible. I love so much what we are doing. Both Roland and myself love serving here. I am sure that no matter where we might have been sent any place would have been the best. I can’t hardly imagine what it will be like not on a mission !!! It will be fun to see all of our family for sure. But meanwhile here we are and loving what we do.
The winter months bring surf boarding contest and we are hoping that we might be able to see some. From what I hear they are poplar and fun to watch. The beaches are amazing. We have not gone swimming although we can, just not much free time to do such things. Our lives are very busy and we like it that way. Roland is getting over pneumonia and this is good. He was wondering how one can get that here. But he did and it is good that he is on the mend.
We are gearing up for the holidays and it will be fun for us. Our first time here. During the last week or so of November we will be getting the visitor center decorated. There will be trees decorated by us and by people in the community. We will have music each Sunday for people to come to. It is very popular. This year I will not miss the snow ! I forget often that there is snow else where !! I am good with that !
One of my goals is to help other people to know of the importance of having Christ in their lives. I spend a good piece of time behind a counter in the front area and on this counter are Book of Mormons and often people stop by to look at them. They are always interested. One day a man in bare feet came in and I asked him where he was from and he said Switzerland and he spoke German. He was traveling on his own. We had only one Book of Mormon left and this book was not in the best of shape due to some water having been on it. But I figured if someone was interested they could have it. Well the barefooted man wanted it. It is so nice to be able to talk to people and find out what they want and where they are from. I love talking to people. I have been keeping track of where people come from. I have not kept as much track of those in the USA but more so from other countries. To date I have 42 countries. A few of the more interesting ones to me are Nepal, Tasmania, Macaw and Dubai. I need to start getting the United State ones. The # 1 state for traveling is Utah ! Arizona is also big. I always enjoy the ones from the east and have met some from Connecticut which is where I am from. It is always fun. I take time to chat with as many as I can and I also take pictures of those whom I connect with. I love the children who come in. They are always so delightful. The visitor center is a great place to be. Many people are drawn there and it is a very beautiful area and also very peaceful. In all the places that we have lived I think the whole combination of this area is my most favorite place. Perhaps it is also this way due to the fact that I do live here. If we were here full time I am not sure how it would feel. I think it would be different. I would never want to be so far away from our family either.
We have 4 new sister missionaries and it has been so much fun to get to know them. Two are from Japan and 2 are from the mainland. I am trying to get a dinner/lunch/or breakfast schedule set up so we can have all 26 missionaries to our place before the next transfer. I did not make it the last transfer. We may need to do 4 at a time. The other options is to have some over for ice cream. Having the sisters is a lot of fun. Today I received a phone call about flooding in one of the apartments or Pads as we call them. It was a mess. But fun cleaning it up. I just got a phone call 15 minutes ago about a problem in the large pad behind us. The sister said that in the day time they clean up there living area but in the morning there are seeds in the living room. I am thinking “like do I really want to know!” It sounds like a critter to me. Call 100 Roland is what I am thinking. But he will probably not be up and ready to check it out. Stay tune for more information. Life here is always an adventure. Roland and I take care of 7 apartments (pads) and also Roland does the bikes. I do more of the house stuff. Each situation is different and sometimes like today I laugh so much that it makes what happens funny.
I love the sister missionaries so much. They are the best of the best. They work hard. They are kind. They visit with us. We don’t get so homesick and they don’t either. We get to know them better and we simply love them all so very much. We are also so grateful for the senior couples that serve with us. We are grateful to be here. Time to get to bed. Not telling what kind of critter is up there in the pad. Signing off for now.
Pneumonia, transfers and missionaries.
Hello one and all !!! I am sure that everyone things I have fallen off the edge of the world ! Not that every one is missing these blogs, but perhaps some !! I must have to say I never could have guessed what a mission would really be like until I got her and also until I have been here her for awhile. I am now at the part where I cannot imagine what it would be like not to be on a mission !! Only thing I really miss is our children and family and friends. It is so worth what ever it takes to be on a mission. I have learned so much and have been able to change things that needed changing.
This week Roland got sick and symptoms were tight chest and coughing. He finally went to the doctor in the next town and got some cough medicine. It took only a day and a half (about) to realize that what he was taking was not working well for him. He was so mixed up in his head due to the strength of the cough syrup. So he stopped taking it and then he ended up with pneumonia. We went to the small hospital very close to the house and they gave him some antibiotics. It took almost 2 hours to get that done. He will be on one pill a day for a week and then should be alright. As a result of this we have the day off tomorrow. It will be good for Roland as he will be able to just hang out and take it easy. It will seem strange not to be at the visitor center but that is fine. I will probably go down there to watch some of the movies that I have not yet seen. I need to be able to recommend videos to people when they come in. I will enjoy watching some of them. I will also take the time to get my letters mailed. Finally got pictures printed out and now can mail the letters.
We have the best house on the block. We can see the Temple daily and we have sister missionaries walking past out house all of the time. Tonight while I was washing dishes two of the missionaries knocked on the kitchen window and we chatted for a few minutes. Love those sisters. Then I had a knock on the front door and two more missionaries were there and returning our GPS system that they borrowed. Then of course we had to chat just a bit. I came back into the house thinking how lucky I am to have such good friends here. They are a whole lot younger then I am but they seem not to mind the fact that we are so much older. We love them all.
Today was transfer day and we had sister missionaries coming from “full field” meaning from other parts of the island or from other islands. Then we had 4 coming to us from the Missionary Training Center and then we had 4 leaving for their homes as their missions are all finished. It is joyful to see the full field ones once again. It fun to met the new missionaries and get to know them. It is sad to see the 4 who left. That part is hard. Now that we have been here for some time we know them all pretty well. It is never easy for me to say good-bye. One that is from China will be skyping me and that will be fun. I hope to be able to stay in touch with some of them. Hard for us to believe that we have been here for almost 8 months. Amazing to me for sure.
The humidity is still awful. I hope soon the cool air will make its way to us. Hard to imagine that we are waiting to have Thanksgiving. We will do some service for Thanksgiving. All of the missionaries will help to build. It will be a great time to check on on friendships for sur.
All is well here in paradise. Take care of yourselves. Love Nina
A nice cool breeze
Hello to all,
It has been way too long since I have written in the blog. The writing part of life needs to get better !!! I try to write in my journal on a regular basis and then I write to family members and friends. Phone calls to be made and so it goes. No excuses however. Just busy.
Today we got to visit with our Granddaughter and her husband. It was just so nice to be able to chat for awhile. They made a trip over to Oahu and had some family friends with them. We were abel to get to see them twice which was so nice. We appreciate being able to see them.
Yesterday on October 12th we had a huge amount of rain here. It rained so hard that the Polynesian Cultural Center had to close due to the large about of rain and flooding in that area. This meant that there were some people who did not get to see the cultural center because they had to leave the next day to go back to the mainland or to other countries. One lady said that she had waited 13 years to get here and was not able to see the center because she had to leave the next day. If you were able to stay longer then you would have been able to a pass to come back. We were at the visitor center for the morning shift and in spike of the rain we actually had quite a few people who came in rain and all. There were no trams for the evening. Today it was back to normal.
Today I decided to walk longer then I usually do because it was our preparation day. I like it when I can walk as long as I like. Today I decided to walk 5 miles and after 4 miles I thought “I am so tired I can’t manage another mile,” but I regrouped and made myself go. I was so slow but I can say that I managed the 5 miles. I would love to get to where I could do more on a regular basis.
Today I decided to make banana bread and I also decided to use the mini meatloaf pans. They are the best! So I ended up making 42 mini banana breads. I will give them to the sister missionaries and also some to the Senior Missionaries who live near us. I will take the mini breads to the visitor center in the morning and then all of the sisters can get them there. It is a perfect size for a small snack.
I have been doing an inventory of the sister missionaries “psd” and trying to get them all in order with the things that they need. There have been some things missing and as a result I have been checking it all out. The rest of this week I will get what is needed and get it to the pads. I will record all of the new things that are in the pads The next thing is to try and make sure things stay where they belong !!
I hope you are all having a good day. A big hello to my mother-in-law and to her friend Gloria who reads the posts to her. Thanks !!!
Missionary Life
Well, it has been some time since I have written. Life seems to have a beat of its own. I have things planned out as to what I will do the next day and the next day comes and it changes. Pretty much it turns out different then I thought. There are some things that are consistent and the visitor center is one of them. We are always there when were are suppose to be. The faces we see and the things that happen are alway different. It is good to have variety each day.
Today being a Sunday means that there are usually more people coming in then normal. It is always a busy day. People who are visiting usually go to church in one of the chapels that are next door and then they come over to see the visitor center. Most of them have not been to the center and it is such a pretty place that they usually want to check it all out. They also love walking on the grounds. It is extensive and all of it is pretty. The people who live in the area often come over to the center to visit with family. They like bringing the children over and often they will watch a video. We have quite a few of them and it is a nice family thing to do. We have recently gotten some new video’s and that is always good. There was a large bus that came this morning. They were a group of people that have docked at the port and took the bus ride around the island to see the sights. They are on a Holland America cruise ship that will be taking them to the other islands as well. They only had 15 minutes to stop to see everything. They were a very friendly group of people. One lady just chatty away with me and it was really nice. She was having a wonderful time. She headed back to the bus and then turned around and came back to me to tell me when she was in Salt Lake City she bought a cd from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir ! I thought it was so sweet for her to let me know that. We hugged each other and off she went.A man from Ontario was also quite chatty. They were headed at some point to the Big Island and I told him I would love to go there to see the volcano area. I have been reading about it. He said that there were 2 empty seats left ! Such friendly people are enjoyable ! Makes ones day go better for sure.
I have been off from walking for a week or so and started back up a couple of days ago. It is good to take a break from time to time. i had been having some neck problems and finally it has pretty much fixed itself. I have found that taking a walk close to every day really makes a difference. It is my time to think things through. I never listen to music as I walk. I just like to listen to nature and stop and take pictures and walk the beach sometimes and think. When I walk 2-4 miles it gives me plenty of thinking time. I am able to get things figured out and I get to see the neighborhood. I go various ways in Laie and I see many other people as I walk. Some comment to me that they see me walking. I always wonder where they are when the see me. It is such a small town. Perhaps from their house and perhaps just walking. I guess it is good. I have also been able to find money. Not sure why but this town seems to have plenty of people that loose coins. Maybe it is because people walk more in this area and plenty of kids on skateboards and bikes. To date I have found $2.10. I will keep collecting it and then before I go I will donate what I have to a charity. My sister and I have a running bet on who will find the most money by the end of the year. Because it is always warm here I forget that soon it will be October which means that soon it will be cold and snowy in Idaho. I will not miss that this year !
Our Granddaughter and our Grandson-in-law will be here in 2 weeks. It will be a Tigger day for me ! I can’t wait to see them. Too much fun. It is also good that they will be right down the street from us. Hurray ! So it is time to get things ready for tomorrow. I hope you are all doing well. Have a wonderful day tomorrow. Perhaps take some time to enjoy a walk. Even if it is only a small one.
Life with Nina 