Updates....

My parents went to a parade Saturday to celebrate the founding of Laie.  They got there close to the end of the parade route and were noticed by the announcer of the parade. He recognized them as the full time missionaries over the loud speaker.  My dad said the people have a great love and respect for the missionaries here, especially the senior couples.

My mom was picking up  candy at the parade like the children do(And how she picks up coins found on the ground ;-))They knew a few people in the parade. A few members in their Samoan ward had a float and the construction mission had a boom truck in the parade. Since they were missionaries they were thrown extra candy ;-) 

My dad said the last baptism they attended was number 28 for the month.  The most ever, the last recored for July was 13.  He said the young Elder and Senior missionaries are really motivated to teach and convert the non-members in Laie.

My dad was asked to be the witness for the baptism service of a family of 8 in which 6 were the age for baptism. They are in the Tongan ward and he said it was a neat experience to be the witness.  

Sounds like the work is moving along and they are doing great things.

ALOHA---Denise

thanks for updating while I was gone Sarah :) 

This is the Samoan ward campout.

the beach where the ward picnic was held.

Here is a picture of my mom and the RS president at the ward picnic.  

Their view-

This is a photo of Kahana Bay,  to the left is Kahana Valley where they are serving most of the time.

Temple

Elder and Sister Anderson went to a session last Friday at the Temple.  My dad is going to work on taking some photos from his tripod.  He says, "The temple is so beautiful at night, especially when there are clouds in the sky."

They were the only couple that day, so they got to be the witness couple.  The officiator talked to them after in the celestial room. He had just come from Las Vegas to visit his mother who is not in good health.  He was telling them that he went with his brother, who is not a member. While they were in town, the brother went to the strip and he went to the temple.  What a contrast!

My parents went to the visitors center and took the tram ride and saw a couple of the videos at the visitors center.  The one called God’s Plan for Families it was fantastic.  It shows a family at the red rocks near Ivens and their son falls of a rock and gets them thinking- what if we lost him?  Then it goes through several scenes where they are remembering when he was born and how important family is and how they deal with the grandfather passing and then their daughter getting married in the temple.

My Dad took this picture of the Laie Temple. Beautiful.

Transfers

ALOHA! This is Sarah. I am updating the blog while Denise is out of town. My dad has sent me a few pictures so I'll upload those and give you all a little update!

This photo was taken with my Dad's iPad the day before July transfers.  They go out to Leia before every transfer and take photos,  a couple from Idaho was out there at 7:00 A.M. and took this photo for my parents so they could be in it as well. They did not get transferred.

This is the actual day of transfers. My dad took this picture of the sunrise the morning they took the missionaries photos on transfer day.

What was lost is now found...

So my mom decided after calling all the missionaries several times asking them to search their apartments for her cell phone that she better go get a new one.  So they went to the store and had everything arranged for a new phone to be sent to their apartment.  Well...as they were driving home they got a call from some Elders saying they found her phone in their apartment.  So my mom called the store and asked if they could cancel her new phone which they told her "no" so she spoke with a supervisor and they were able to cancel the new phone "just this once"  and now she will be refunded for the money she spent for a new phone.

So....if you want to talk to my mom you can call her on her phone again :)


ALOHA---Denise

lost phone...

So if you have been trying to call or text my mom and she isn't responding, she isn't ignoring you...she lost her phone :(
They went to do apartment cleaning checks for the Elders (yes, they put my mom in charge of making sure the Elders keep their apartments clean) and she must have misplaced it in one of the apartments.  They have tried calling it to locate it but can't find it...I'm sure one of the missionaries she made re-clean the toilet because it wasn't up to her specifications thru it in the toilet..HAHAHA Just kidding!!!

ANYWAY...if you want to get a hold of my mom you will have to call my dad's cell number
1-702-340-1804

ALOHA---Denise

Teaching in Kahana Valley...

Kahana Valley is the area my parents have been assigned to serve and help baptize and reactivate.  They went to teach some young girls a lesson from "The Friend" and make some book marks for their Book of Mormon.  They said the lesson went well and they were sweet girls.  

Sister Anderson giving a lesson to some of the Kahana Valley girls, and making book marks, the young Elders stopped by while we were there so they let them make book marks too.

The building in the background is one of the girls' house.  They live in very humble conditions but my mom said they could "love you to death"  

This little girl working on her bookmark was babysitting this little 8 month old so my mom held the baby while she worked on her project.

ALOHA---Denise