Update from Dad...

Seluvais Atalina Napulou

On Thursday, August 23, 2012 about 10:00 A.M. Marsha & I went to help Aunti Selu weed her garden.  When we arrived she didn’t want to have us help weed but talk with her about her assignment by the Stake President.  President Shumway ask her to tell how she was able to introduce the Tongan family of Eight to the Gospel.

We talked for a while about what she thought she should say and in the conversation her mission came up.  Marsha said we have heard that you went on two missions can you tell us how that happened?

So she proceeded to tell us.  She was living in Tonga at the time and as she woke up one morning the spirit told her she should go on another mission.  She packed a bag and proceeded to the Stake Presidents home.  When she arrived his wife answered the door and she said she would like to see the President.  She was directed to a room where the President was with the lights out.  She knocked and the President ask her to turn on the light and come in.  He ask her why she was there, and she responded that she was there because of what he had been praying about.  He said and what would that be.  She said she was there to answer the call to go on another mission. The Stake President explained that he had been ask to find two returned sister missionaries who could accompany two sister medical missionaries to Tonga. He explained that he had not considered her because she was doing such a good job with the young single adults and did not want to give her up in that calling.

Arrangements were made and she went to the MTC but when it came time to go the medical missionaries could not go.  She was given the choice to go on a proselyting mission or go back home, she chose to go on the second mission. 

She told us a couple of experiences she had while on her second mission which I will add later.

A week in review...

Monday August 13, 2012

We went to an investigators house to help the Sister Missionaries with a service project.  We helped them sand and paint a picnic table that was in pretty bad shape.  We also raked the fallen vegetation from the front yard.  It is a daily chore here to pick up leaves etc. that fall from the trees.

Tuesday August 14, 2012

We went to help Auntie Selu, work in her garden.  She lives in Kahana Valley and takes care of a huge community garden with the help of a few family members.  Some of the family brought dinner, beef stew with taro instead of potatoes and some other native dishes that we did not try.  We visited a couple of other members also.

Wednesday August 15, 2012

We spent a lot of time today studying for our talks.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

 We were assigned the topic “Good Language” it was harder than we thought to say more than don’t swear.  Dennis took the general direction of bad language used today and also the language of prayer.  Marsha based her talk on using kind words to each other.  As we were sitting on the stand waiting for the meeting to start, in walks the whole stake presidency.  It made for just a little more pressure to do well.  If our talks were not good what could they after hearing a talk about speaking kind words.  Actually we received several nice compliments.  One sister told Marsha she “liked her sweater & hair but didn’t comment on the talk.

Sunday evening we attended a missionary fireside- our zone missionaries sang and bore testimonies of Jesus Christ.  The Mission President and his wife spoke also.

There was an interesting person in attendance also it was the “devil” Michael Ballam was there.

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I don't know why this posted here and not my blog but you can all enjoy :) HAHA!!

A "little" service project...

When I say "little" I mean "little" for Dad.   This was a pretty big service project but of course no big deal for my dad....other than it took 12 hours.  He was at this home from 8:00am-6:00pm.  These people needed help putting in a door for their house.  They previously had been using a tarp so I'm sure the door is a BIG upgrade.  My mom said the night before they had to go buy my dad some work clothes since he didn't bring any to Hawaii with him.  He will probably use those work clothes several more times before their mission is over. I'm sure all the people involved appreciated my dad's expertise and knowledge on how to do almost anything. Here are a few pics of the project.

Here they are removing the tarp the family had been using for the door.

Next my dad is framing in for the door.

The finished product. 

I bet my dad is so thankful I asked him to put a door on our living room in Gunlock before he left so he could have practice for this project :)   

Dad's Temple pic...

Message from Marsha....

“A week in the life of a Senior Missionary”          

We held our “Scripture Class at Kahanna Valley on Wednesday.  The Children from the Valley did not come, however seven children 5 of whom were recently baptized in July.  They are from the Tongan family Dad & Mom and 4 of the 6 children who were part of the record 28 in the month of July.  They are really cute, just learning the gospel so our lesson on the creation and Adam & Eve turned out perfect for them.  They are so eager to learn and so excited when we talk about something they already know.  Marsha got bitten by a mosquito and it was itching so she started to scratch it.  She ask they why they didn’t get bitten and one of the young men said “Because we are Tongan” we laughed and told him I was going to become Tongan then.  We have a class scheduled for next Wednesday and invited them to come if they are there visiting.

Thursday evening we met with all of the Elder and Sister Missionaries in our zone and President and Sister Dalton took everyone to the Polynesian Culture Center.   For dinner and the program “Breath of Life” because the zone reached double their goal of 14.  Twenty eight baptisms in a month is going to be hard to beat. Most of the people in the area have been contacted many times by missionaries.  New people keep coming in though.

 Friday we visited a young lady 21 yrs. old, has an adorable baby boy, lives with her boyfriend & her dad and the boyfriends dad.  Pretty common here for several generations living in the same house to be able to afford rent.  She feels good about the gospel but can’t yet make a dicision to get married or ask her boyfriend to move out.  We showed her a video based on a talk by Jeffery R. Holland titled “Motherhood an eternal partnership with God”  We plan to visit her again on Monday.

Saturday after cleaning the apartment and car we went to the beach, being the water love Dennis is, he sat in the car and read, and I on the other hand went in the water and sat on the beach to watch the surfers.  It is a NICE place to serve.

Sunday we are at our three wards & a ward council meeting for the Hauula 2^nd. Ward.  Sundays we are in church all day attending meetings and visiting with the members Marsha does that very well that is “visiting”.  We are also fasting with the zone.  They have set a goal of 20 baptisms for August. They come up with a planner cover each month and August is “Money in the Bank”, Dennis made a planner cover for them.

The Spirit is strong here in Hawaii. The Elders and Sisters work so hard and have an amazing presents the local people have a reverence for the missionaries,  we are truly blessed to be here.

To our family in the Rainbow with ward – with your triple digit temperatures you would love this chapel “ice box” its set at 64 degrees even I freeze out and I can take a lot of cold .

Will update more news later my parting words now are “Good Choice Romney”

This is the 21 year old sister (the one with the new baby) and her boyfriend.  They did some service at her house.

This is the planner cover Dad made for August