Elder & Sister Mundell

This is our first spring in the Hawaiian islands, and we didn't know if they celebrate the Easter season differently than what we're used to on the mainland, so this was an opportunity for us to observe and participate in some of their island traditions and church culture that are unique to this part of the world. It's traditional to get together on Easter Sunday for family dinner and socializing, and bigger is definitely better. The whole extended family comes from near and far to eat and drink. Unlike the rest of the US, ham isn't the main meat dish as much here, although other types of pork in many varieties usually are, along with chicken and fish. We attended two different wards today, and both took their individual own style and approach to remember the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. The Waimanalo ward had multiple musical numbers with ukulele and guitar, in both Hawaiian and English, which was very nice. The Olomana ward had several youth speakers, ...

Today marks an important milestone in the life of Sister Mundell, it's her 60th birthday, and unlike some people she doesn't mind letting them know that she's turning the big 6-0. She makes quite an impression upon people when they first meet her, and those who get to know her well absolutely love and adore her! She has such a big heart, she's kind, generous and thoughtful. She loves her family, especially the kids she raised She loves talking to people, and is always trying to help them. Being a missionary is the right thing for her to be doing right now because she truly loves serving others.  Happy Birthday Cathy! Looking good and feeling fine! One extra special benefit we're discovering from serving is a greater understanding and appreciation of the Book of Mormon. We've read this sacred record of scripture many times before, but being seminary teachers and preparing for the weekly Come Follow Me class in the Waimanalo ward has made us dig deeper into the ve...

We feel this opportunity to serve full time in so many different ways and probably more than we ever have before, is making us become better people; more Christlike, kinder, thoughtful, more aware of other's needs and more unselfish with our time and resources. It really is all about "when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God". (Mosiah 2:17) We don't like to draw attention to ourselves or talk much about what we're doing and what it may be "costing" us, because we feel if our actions and activities are in secret "thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly". (Matthew 6:4) The rewards come into our lives every hour of every day, and we feel richly blessed to be serving this mission. We hope that those same kinds of blessings will come into the lives of the people we meet and interact with every week. There are three groups we are trying to serve. First and foremost, we make th...

Today, March 12th, is our 5th wedding anniversary. The story of how we met and married is an interesting one, and we wanted to share it with our friends who may not have heard it before. We'd both been married for about 30 years, Dan was a widower and Cathy was divorced. Like a lot of single adults nowadays, we turned to the world of online dating to find someone else to share our life with. We are one of the rare success stories. There's a lot of deception and lies out there, so it's hard to know who to trust and what is real when you approach someone online. Cathy liked my profile and called me one night. This was the first time anyone had ever been bold enough to call me, so I was intrigued. Cathy said there was something about my eyes and the way I presented myself that caught her interest. We talked and messaged each other for a few weeks, but never saw each other in a video call. Cathy was looking for a new job and accepted a position at a detention facility in Okeech...

Several months ago we were the highest bidder in a silent auction to raise money for the Key Project for four tickets to visit the Bishop Museum. We pass by the museum almost every time we drive into Honolulu, and we thought it would be a great idea to use the tickets when Claudia and Alden came to Oahu, because we knew they would probably get more out of it than any of our children. The building itself is very old and impressive, and we learned a lot about the eight monarchs that ruled Hawaii from when Kamehameha united the kingdom in 1810 up to the overthrow and imprisonment of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893. The museum was built by Charles Bishop to display heirlooms from the royal family passed down to his wife, who was a princess, and other artifacts from the islands of Polynesia. We feel it's important to learn as much as we can about Hawaiian culture to better understand the people we interact with, and because we were charged to learn the culture when we were set apart as senio...

Our main project this week was giving blank Easter cards to people so they could color them in and leave a message inside of hope and encouragement for the recipients, children who are battling cancer at a number of hospitals around the country. Sister Mundell found a non-profit organization called "Cardz for Kidz" in Chicago that distributes the cards to cancer patients, and we enlisted the help of almost every group we visited during the week to be creative and share some Aloha (love) from Hawaii. They request the cards arrive a month or so in advance of the holiday, so we were busy handing out cards, markers and crayons to both kids and adults all week, and then mailed them off on Friday. We sometimes get a thank you back for our efforts, most times not, but the only reason we do this, and encourage others to help us, is we know there will be a smile on the face of a sick child somewhere and a little more joy in the hearts of their parents.  We had a visit this we...