A Bit of Fun!

Recently, my cousin Jan came to Hawaii on a business trip.  Since we are senior missionaries (as opposed to the youngsters!), we could take a bit of time and visit with her.  We had a lovely time looking at some of our favorite view points.  It was quite a breezy day!

We had stopped at the outlook just below Diamond Head.  While driving up we saw a long, long line of (I am guessing) Japanese tourists riding Segways.  I have seen lots of Segway tours over the years, but they are usually quite small.  I was too slow to get a photo but when we stopped, many of them had stopped also.  I thought it looked quite remarkable to see all these Segways together capped with helmets.

Another time we were out driving on a country type road, when we had to make a u turn which brought us face to face with this guy!

I think he was as curious about us as we were about him!

One last photo, just for fun.  We were buying a case that would protect my phone, since I forgot to bring the one that I already owned.  I put my phone in the sample bag and took a picture of Rex when he wasn't paying attention (he was busy being bored and wondering why this was taking so long!)  I think you'll enjoy seeing him!

ALOHA

Chasing Rainbows

Hawaii is known for its beautiful rainbows.  The license plates even have rainbows on them.  This is the only place that I remember having seen double rainbows.  We live near the center of Oahu and are closer to the mountains and slightly more elevated than other places we have stayed in Hawaii, so I think we have a bit more rain and clouds than nearer Waikiki. I have seen rainbows recently that were as bright as any I have ever seen.  They make you catch your breath.  As we were arriving home the other day, there was a beautiful rainbow on view from the parking lot.  I pulled out my phone, got the camera ready, jumped out of the car and "poof", the rainbow disappeared.  I thought it was a coincidence but a few days later, as we were driving and I was navigating (no I am not taking photos from the driver's seat!), I saw another beautiful rainbow and pulled out my phone, put it in camera mode and "poof" nothing to see.  I'm wondering where the sensor is that tells the rainbow it is time to disappear!!

If you look very, very carefully in the top right quadrant, there is a hint of that shy rainbow across the blue sky!

Primary Programs

Yes, that title was correct!  We got to watch three Primary Sacrament Meeting programs in a week!!  It was very sweet and fascinating to see the way the same program was done in three different ways.  (Just to explain that further, we have been trying to attend those three wards which have the largest number of military families each Sunday.  We have gone to the 8:30, 10:30, & 3:00 Sacrament Meetings and then whichever other meetings-Sunday School, Relief Society, Priesthood or Ward Council-that we could squeeze in!  I know the Lord helps His missionaries because I couldn't have done this at home!)

One ward had all the children and leaders wear white for the program. Needless to say, everyone looked very angelic!  One thing they did that I really liked was have each child state his or her name before they said their part.  They had also listed each child's name in the program so I was able to put families together and get some idea of who was who.  They also had a young girl who accompanied one of the songs on the piano and another girl who did the same on the violin.

The next ward had gotten a different lei for each class of children.  There were purple, orange/yellow, pink, red, green and then shell and kukui nut.  It was a fun way to differentiate the ages of the children.  One of the songs was "Scripture Power" and each time the children sang that phrase, they would pump their fists.

The last ward made one of the songs into a duet between the teachers (who stood to the side for this song) and the children.  It was lovely and special. We talked to one of the families later whose one son (about 5 years old) had walked up to the microphone, looked at the congregation, and then moved on to join his class.  They said that in past years he had refused to stand up and be part of the program, so his stepping up to the microphone was a big accomplishment for him.


It was also fun to see the various choristers working with the children. They had all taught them so very well.  I have always liked the Primary Program (especially when I got to see my own children or grandchildren performing!!).  I was involved in the "production" of them many times in one way or another so I know that it is a huge undertaking  for all involved.

All in all, I think I enjoyed the children's program more rather than less for seeing it repeated.  Each one brought its own special flavor and each one definitely brought a sweet and loving spirit to our Sunday.

Quick Pics

A night or two after we arrived, we came home to find these flowers on our doorstep from a family in the Pearl Harbor Hickam Ward, along with cards from each of their three children and a loaf of warm banana bread (probably the best banana bread we have ever tasted-we practically inhaled it!).  

A couple of posts ago, I described the beautiful scenery and beach at and near the golf course at Hickam AFB.  I finally figured out the reason I haven't been able to load photos onto the blog from my phone-I had turned off the connection with the cloud.  Oh, technology is great except when it isn't! 
Here are those pictures.

We went to a "break the fast" this past Sunday for the Pearl Harbor Hickam Ward that was held in the recreation hall of a chapel on the base.  This is handy since the members of this ward live in military housing in this area and since the LDS building has four wards meeting in it every Sunday.  When we left it was dusk and the sky looked pretty, so we drove towards the sunset and found a pier that had this view!

The Name Tag Makes the Elder...or Sister!

One of the first things we received when we entered the MTC was our name tag.  Our first tags were simple with our name and the name of the Church on it.

Later on we got name tags that included the words Military Relations under our names (which were underlined).  It was quite normal to wear a name tag in the MTC-everyone else was wearing one.  If you weren't a missionary, then you had a different tag identifying you.

When we went to the airport in SLC, it felt a bit different to be dressed up and wearing a name tag.  We had one other senior couple on the plane with us going to Hawaii.  They are working at the PCC now.  Funny sidelight, we saw another senior missionary recently.  She was at the MTC with us and is now working at the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center). She didn't fly out until Monday after our Saturday flight-she had 27 young missionaries on the flight with her!  

Anyway, when we arrived in Honolulu, we were greeted with hugs and kukui nut leis by President  and Sister Bekker  and by Elder and Sister Woods who were picking up the Senior Missionaries going to the PCC.  We also were met by an office couple, the Overduyns, who came to the airport on their P Day (that is Preparation Day) to collect our luggage and help show us to our apartment.  We  have been treated with love and kindness here!!

We felt a bit odd going out to shop dressed up and wearing name tags.  About an hour after we arrived at our apartment, we decided to go to the nearest store and get some groceries.  We went to the deli at the store and while we were picking out some salads, the man behind the counter asked us about our name tags.  We explained that we were on a mission for our church to which he replied that he had been thinking about going back to church!  After our jaws returned from the floor, we said that we would love to talk to him more about it, but that we were so new here that we would like to come back in a couple of days.  To make a long story short, he and his family have had two missionary discussion!  I don't know what will happen in the long run, but we certainly could see the value of wearing our name tags!

Since then almost anytime we have shopped at the Navy Commissary or Costco, we have had someone say Hi to us and tell us about which ward they are in.  I really laughed when one fellow said "Hi Cousin" to me.  I asked him what he meant and he said that he wasn't LDS but he had relatives who were so that made us cousins!  Of course, the first time we were in the Exchange someone asked Rex where the wine was-he thought it was a joke at first, but it turned out the man really thought that "Elder Bentley" was an employee!!

We went to a local Mexican restaurant the other night and when our bill came, it was half of what I had expected.  When I asked the waiter about it, he said that the owner always gives a discount to missionaries!  We thanked her and she told us she was in another ward that meets in the building we have been attending!!

One last story (sorry this is so long winded!): we had occasion to be walking on the beach at Waikiki when some young adults asked if we would like a lei.  We said no thank you, and as we walked off someone said "they're missionaries", another young woman got very excited and said she was a member too!!  She said she loves missionaries and asked if we would let her take a picture with us.  We were delighted!  Then she insisted on giving us each a lei-she said they were giving them out to advertise their grandmother's lei shop.  It was a lovely ending to a lovely day in Hawaii!

Murphy's Law

Isn't that the Law that states that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong??  As I was going to write a bit and include a couple of nice photos in the most recent post, suddenly my new photos didn't show up on the easy link that I thought I could use.  I tried and tried to find a way to use them, but finally gave up, and thus, it was a photo-less post.

That made me think I should share this picture:

This is the sign that was hanging on the elevator door at the MTC on Friday after we took a LONG walk and I was ready to be off my feet!!  The senior missionaries live on the third floor!  GROAN!! This was the beginning of conference weekend and so it meant no elevator until Monday afternoon.  I should be thankful I no longer need my cane!  I felt badly for some of the missionaries who were leaving in the wee hours of the morning Monday. I think they recruited young elders or MTC workers to help them get their luggage down.  Happily, all was working well when we needed to move all of our things!!

Speaking of moving, we left for the airport on Saturday, October 8th.  We really enjoyed our nearly two weeks at the MTC, but were very exhausted as well.  We aren't used to being on the go non stop as we were while there.

It was interesting. The first week there were about 85 of us senior; when we met with CES, we had a group of about 40; when we met as Military Relations Specialists, we were 12.  On our last day, we met at the church office building in SLC.  We got to meet with the head of the Military Relations department as well as other people who work there. It was fun to meet Elder Donovan as he is the one we spoke with on the telephone over this past year and who convinced us that military relations was the mission for us.  Everyone we met or who taught us was terrific and we enjoyed the lessons they taught.  It was interesting to see how careful they are about security at the church office building.  I guess everyone has to be more aware these days.  

After our meetings and lunch, we visited the outdoor viewing area on the 26th floor.  It was a beautiful day and a fun way to finish our training.

After that we went over to the recently remodeled Church History Museum.  We were only able to take a quick peek because we had to get back to pack.  We watched the new 7 minute film of the First Vision-which was very good and seemed a good sendoff for newly minted missionaries!!

A Poignant Moment...

Elder Bentley and I were exploring Hickam Air Field today.  We drove all around, often getting lost as it is a very, very large base.  We found lots of housing for the military families.  It was interesting to see the variety.  Many of the buildings and homes were built in the 1930's and 1940's (I believe) and looked very art deco which I found very attractive.  We know that we will have to use maps and GPS to find families when we visit as it is very complex getting around!

We found a small golf course and they told us where to find the large golf course which took us on a long drive around the perimeter of the base and next to the Honolulu airport. Near the golf course, was a small beach that I had often seen when flying in or out.  The water is a spectacular shade of turquoise and it was amazing to see it up close.  

We drove back and then came upon a park that was on the channel where the ships go in and out of Pearl Harbor.  There is no beach or swimming but it was very nice and had a long walking/running path through it.  Next to it was the Historic Hickam Officer's Club.  We stepped inside just to see it and there were some very interesting old photos and chandeliers that I thought resembled pineapples.

What brought reality back was a short walk to the the Missing Man Formation Memorial.  It showed 
four planes held up by curved pillars, three of which were flying forward and the fourth flying upward.  It honors those who have died while serving their country.  As we were looking at it, a large ship came through the passage on it's way out to sea.  We were gawking at it looming so large, when a young woman with a phone at her ear came up and began vigorously waving.  Across the water, we could see a man on the ship waving back.  They stood there waving while we could barely keep from crying.  Then she abruptly gave one last wave and hurried away.  It brought home just what hard sacrifices our military and their families are making for all of us Americans!

Elder Bentley Has A Comment

This is Patrice's blog, but if she let's me, I may add something from time to time.  First a side note on what to call each other.  I was on the phone earlier with another senior missionary and referred to "her" as "my wife".  I then asked him, do I have to call her Sister Bentley all the time? His reply was a chuckle and "you and I think alike".  So she remains Patrice or wife or whatever nickname I happen upon.  At least around here.

There were a lot of impressive things at the MTC, but one particularly stood out for me.  That's namely the young elders and sisters who were there.  These are kids mostly between 18 and 21, and there were around 2,000 of them.  (700 left our first week there and were replaced by about the same number a week later.)

These kids looked great!  The young men wore either white shirts with a tie, or a white shirt. tie and suit jacket. Jackets were optional, I didn't wear one but many of them did. There was no green or purple hair, no body piercings, no tattoos visible, and their slacks were up around their waists, not hanging halfway to their knees. And the young women?  They all wore skirts or dresses and had no body parts hanging out for public display.  And also no weird hair colors or tattoo or piercings.  The men were not all handsome, the women were not all pretty, but they all looked great. 

If someone dropped by who didn't know us and our missionary culture and standards, they would've been absolutely amazed at how different they looked from your usual group of people that age.  They were super impressive.  And then, add to that the amount of time they spend away from school, jobs, sports, etc. not to mention family.  And boy friends and girl friends.

They were by far the most impressive thing there!  What a contrast between them and other people their age.

Patrice is looking at me like it's time I quit, so I'd better.

ALOHA AND ENJOY THE COMING WINTER.

Time Has Flown By & So Have I!

We arrived in Hawaii five days ago!  Before I am current in this blog, I would like to tell a few more things about our time at the MTC.  I mentioned that I was going to play the piano for a couple who were singing for the newest senior missionaries.  I practiced and practiced and felt reasonably prepared.  It was difficult to get together since it was conference weekend and we didn't want to miss a minute of general conference and we had other things going on as well. 

Natalie's and our dear friend Paka (from her freshman year at BYU) invited us to dinner Sunday night.  It was so fun to get to spend time with her family (husband Mark, sons Levi (18)  & Deeren (7).  We hadn't seen her in over seven years.   They are very lovely  people and very multi cultural.  Paka is from Indonesia and Mark & Levi are from Haiti.  The boys were really great-so friendly & polite to us!  And especially exciting, Paka is expecting a baby girl in a few months.

Back to the piano-we finally practiced and......it was awful!!  I couldn't play at all.  I was horrified with how badly I played and, to be perfectly honest, my standards are not that high.

I think this was a brief practice on Saturday so I was wondering what to do when I realized that we hadn't prayed about it.  The next day, we had a little bit of time to practice and I suggested a prayer before we got started.  Then they did their whole program which began with the husband explaining in somewhat halting words why they were singing this song.  He had suffered from a debilitating stroke (in his mid-fifties) nearly 9 years earlier.  He had to re-learn talking and walking.  He was promised if he would read the Book of Mormon every day for an hour a day, he would learn to speak again.  He said that, for three years,  he couldn't understand what he was reading, but he kept doing it.  After a couple of years, someone suggested he try singing it as singing sometimes is easier than talking.  This was a song that they had sung before his stroke.  He still has to work hard at speaking and also has some problems with walking and such, but going on a mission is truly a miracle for them.  Now I realized that I didn't need to be perfect, I just had to play with the spirit of this amazing story.  

The song didn't turn out perfectly, but it was very beautiful.  I don't think there were any dry eyes in the room when we finished.   We even did it again the next morning for the group of us who were still there at the MTC.  It was very special to be part of their story for a short time.  And I worked up the courage to play the piano for several more hymns which the whole group sang later throughout the day (that was far easier, believe me).  

Art & the Gospel

One of the things I've really enjoyed here at the MTC is the artwork on the walls.  All along the hallways are paintings of the Savior or church history or Book of Mormon stories.  In one of the main buildings there is a hallway filled with photos of missionaries in various parts of the world.  I hadn't paid too close of attention until a couple of days ago when our Church Education Instructor suggested we walk around and look at the art.  I would like to share some of it with you.

  

The Last Supper by Walter Rane

It is next to the elevator on our floor

In our lobby

Along the hall of the main building

I believe these are both Carl Bloch prints

Christ walking on water

We gave a small copy of this to Kendra when she was baptized 

This is one of the photos-imagine being baptized in that icy water!

I don't know how to enlarge this (wish I had better computer skills!)

Look closely-the men on the left are watching for crocodiles while the men in white are baptizing people!

We have a print of the Savior with little children and one of the Kirtland temple in our room.   Seeing all these images brightens my day!

ALOHA!

Rex & I are serving a military relations mission in the Honolulu, Hawaii mission.  We received our call in August and are now in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.  We are very excited about the opportunity to serve the military personnel at Pearl Harbor.  This blog is also a new adventure for me.  A nice, young woman in the IT department here at the MTC helped me set up the blog so I am now excited to see what I can do with it.  It will be fun to share this experience in such a "high tech" way!

First stop was a meeting with our Stake President where we were set apart as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

Look at us with our missionary badges pointing at the location of our mission-this is a must for each missionary at the MTC.  Notice that we will be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!  Our daughter Tracy drove us to the MTC and dropped us off with our four suitcases, Rex's golf clubs, two back packs and a carry on suitcase.  No worries about how to get to our third floor room-several young elders were there to pull and carry everything and show us the way!

This beautiful olive wood "Last Supper" was on the coffee table of the lobby just outside of our room.  It looks like it came from Jerusalem as it made me think of the Nativity that Rachael got when she did her semester there.

 

This is a statue of Samuel Smith, the first missionary of our church.  The weather has been spectacularly beautiful and the mountains surrounding us are so close!

Recognize the Dever's & Cherise with Tracy??  We got to have dinner with them Wednesday evening as they had come to SLC to prepare for their mission in California that will begin in October. 

We spent the week studying Preach My Gospel.  There is a very special spirit about the MTC.   The young sisters and elders are really impressive.  There were 85 of us seniors who arrived on Monday.  Four other couples are serving military relations missions in various parts of the country and will study with us next week with both Church Education System and Military Relations personnel.  Other couples are serving with Young Adults, Member Leadership Support, and photographing archives in the US & Germany.  One couple will be serving in El Centro where my father served in the Marine Corps during WWII.  A single sister is going to be sewing costumes at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  All in all, a very interesting, kind and fun group. 

I got up my courage and volunteered to play the piano for our opening song Thursday morning and now I am going to accompany a couple singing a duet for the new seniors who arrive on Monday.  We have really enjoyed studying the gospel and our Savior. We are feeling very blessed to have this opportunity.  Until next post...Aloha!