Elder & Sister Mundell

Sister Mundell went to the airport early Monday morning for a flight to Las Vegas, where she met her one-week old grandson Chase for the first time, and to help the new parents Keilah and Anthony adjust to life with a newborn baby. Elder Mundell stayed behind to take care of our usual missionary responsibilities, which include teaching an early morning seminary class of juniors and seniors. We are well suited to teach the students as a couple; Dan has a deep knowledge of the scriptures and a sound understanding of the doctrine and principles of the gospel, and he is talented at being able to share some of that wisdom with them, Cathy is gifted at sharing personal experiences in her own life that relate to each topic, and how the kids can apply the lessons they learn in class into their own minds and hearts. We make a excellent team - we feel like the students are getting a very balanced approach to gospel learning as we each teach in our own unique way.  We can tell they love us, e...

It's not very often nowadays that you get a big surprise, but our family certainly did this week. Cathy's daughter Keilah and her husband Anthony were expecting their first child together, and the due date was yesterday, October 19th. But her doctors felt it could be harmful for mother and baby to go full term, so Keilah was scheduled for induced labor a few days earlier on the 16th. They'd had ultrasound images of the fetus, were expecting a baby girl and had chosen the name of Myanna for her. She didn't go into labor until the 17th, and the delivery went very well. Except for one thing -- they were shocked to discover that their little baby was a BOY!!! A cute little angel from heaven. Some parents prefer not to know the sex of the baby ahead of time. But for Keilah and Anthony, all of their prenatal planning and preparation were based on having a little girl. But now they were in a situation where they had no male clothes for the baby and no idea what they were going...

  When we made the life-changing decision to serve a full-time mission, one of the gut-wrenching challenges for us was what to do with our house. We were richly blessed to have a couple in our ward who needed a place to stay for two years, so it worked out perfectly. But we were still worried about what would happen while we were away in the event of a hurricane. We had a lot of debris from branches and leaves, and the floodwaters from the pond came up halfway the driveway to our house from Ian back in 2022, so we were closely monitoring developments as Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico and headed towards our home as a category 5. It seemed like the absolute worst-case scenario for us. One of the primary reasons Elder Mundell selected Sebring for his retirement home is it's about 100 miles inland from both coasts, and less likely to have severe damage from a major hurricane. Many of our church friends were asking Sister Mundell what her husband thought abou...

Ever since we arrived on Oahu for our mission, the one constant in our service has been ... cookies! Sister Mundell loves to bake cookies, loves to share her favorite cookie recipes, loves to find ways to incorporate cookies into our volunteer service activities, loves how a plate of cookies can open doors and soften hearts to our gospel message of Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for all of us.  Elder Mundell pretends to grumble sometimes about restocking the pantry with baking supplies every week, but it's all part of our calling and responsibility to serve others! This week's cookie adventures continued, this time by inviting the Olomana ward sisters to create their own "Cookie in a Jar" - and even getting our seminary students involved in the same activity during our Friday class. Activities like this serve a dual purpose - they are a fun and interesting way to learn something new and different, and it builds unity, love and friendship between the participan...