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!