Wedding Bells

Life is full of surprises. And it's the wonderful surprises that make our lives happier and more rewarding. We had one of those pleasant surprises this past week. After we picked up Cathy's daughter Keilah and her fiance Anthony at the airport, her mother asked both of them if there was one thing they really wanted to do while they were on vacation in Hawaii. Keilah mentioned snorkeling, and then Anthony said he'd like to get married! We both looked at each other, not sure what to say next, but we could tell he was 100% serious. After we got over the initial shock, we did everything in our power to make their marriage a reality. Elder Mundell was curious if his status as an official minister of the LDS church would allow him to perform the ceremony. We found out that it's relatively easy to get married here even if you aren't a resident of Hawaii. All they needed to do was fill out the application for a marriage license online, go to the health department downtown for an interview, and find someone to officiate the wedding who is registered with the state, which meant Elder Mundell was off the hook. Bishops can only marry those within their ward boundaries, so that wasn't an option either. Sister Mundell contacted almost everyone we know, looking for someone to perform the wedding. Meanwhile, she also found a dress for the bride, and asked Sister Bond to make a lei po'o and a ti leaf lei for them to wear. So within only a few days, we were able to help them go from being an engaged couple looking to get married sometime next year to husband and wife! The wedding itself was so special, a beautiful setting with just the four of us and Brother Ron Durant officiating in his back yard.  We are so happy for them! And pleasantly surprised we could be here to help.

Anthony and Keilah Young with us on their wedding day

Newlyweds Anthony and Keilah Young at Waimanalo Beach

Sister Mundell has been complaining about not hearing very well in her right ear for quite a while, but when it became worse a couple of weeks ago and she was experiencing more pain, she decided to have it checked out. Long story short, her ear was plugged with an unusually large amount of ear wax that had built up over a lifetime, complicated by the fact she had tumors in both ears years ago. It took three doctor visits and hours of painful digging to remove the blockage. She has gruesome pictures of some of the wax that they took out, but for the sake of any queasy stomachs out there, we won't post them, but if you're curious just how bad it was, she can text the photos upon request. So far, her hearing hasn't improved much, but we're hopeful things will improve. 

The USS Missouri hosted a BBQ for their volunteers on Independence Day, and most of the senior couples on Oahu, including our mission leaders President and Sister Andersen, were there. It was a great opportunity for us to enjoy a fabulous dinner, socialize with the other senior missionaries, and enjoy a wonderful fireworks display afterwards from a perfect vantage point the ship's deck as we watched hundreds of pyrotechnics being launched from the navy base across Pearl Harbor. 

Senior missionaries: Clawson, Mitchell, Johnson, Clemons, Andersen,
Mauler, Hinton, Whiting, Jensen, Roberts, Mundell


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Together

Image
It's not easy being a full-time missionary, even for retired senior couples. We're away from our family and friends, we miss our homes and familiar surroundings, and adjusting to a new routine can be stressful, especially if we start having health issues. But the greatest blessings in life come to us by doing things that we may find difficult or unpleasant, and it's the growing and stretching required to accomplish our mission that molds us into the kind of disciple of Christ our Savior wants us to be. This week we had the difficult task of helping a sister in our ward with the funeral for her husband, who passed away at the early age of 47, leaving her with three young children and one on the way. Funerals are never fun, you feel awkward and don't know what to say to comfort those left behind. This particular funeral was especially hard for us because we had met the deceased only briefly one day, and we weren't close friends with his widowed wife. But we persevered...
Read more

Aloha Hawaii !!!

Image
     We arrived at our missionary assignment to the island of Oahu Saturday night, August 12th. We so excited, so blessed to be here, and willing to serve in any capacity, consecrating our time, energy and talents in a full time effort to bless the lives of God's children.       The MTC experience the past two weeks was unforgettable. What stood out the most to us during our time there was how close the ideal of Zion can be if we are unified in our purpose to serve Heavenly Father and His children with an eye single to the glory of God. "And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness, and there were no poor among them." That is an apt description of the MTC.      Our departure to Honolulu was delayed for five hours, but we used our time wisely to engage the people near us in meaningful conversations, and really listen to them. Elder Mundell is making huge p...
Read more

Grateful, Thankful, Blessed

Image
At this special time of year, we wanted to express our gratitude for all of the blessings our Heavenly Father gives us.  Elder Mundell: I am grateful for my family; parents who loved and taught me, sisters who have been there to support me, Marquita who was a rock of faith with unbelievable talents and abilities, Cathy who brings love and joy into my life, children who were easy to raise and continue to bless my life by the choices they make; for the Savior Jesus Christ; for his perfect example of love and kindness to all, and his infinite atonement for me, and for all of us; for a testimony of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter days; for the prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I am thankful for each day that I am allowed to live, thankful for the opportunity to be a missionary and share my testimony with the people I meet, either by words or through my actions, and to know deep inside that I am doing what I should be doing at this time of my lif...
Read more