Paused

As Dan and I are reflecting upon our mission here in Hawaii, we have come to realize that we have less than 6 months left.  This has caused me to think and reflect about our time here as a senior missionary couple.  Wondering, are we fulfilling our missionary purpose?  Are we making a difference with those we come in contact with?  Are we serving as our Savior Jesus Christ would serve?  We have paused from our weekly BLOG for the last couple of weeks and have done some self reflection.  We realize that we can always do more to serve others.  This is our goal and our desire - to do more, to serve more and to strive to make a difference each and every day that we are here.

Valentine's Day crafts and activities

The Week of Love:

For the last three weeks, we have helped the clients at the Windward Mental Health Center make homemade necklaces and crackers (poppers) to put the necklaces in.  They have been busy stringing over two dozen of their heart shaped necklaces, and they turned out amazing.  On Thursday, we will pass them out to the residents of a homeless shelter in Honolulu as a friendly Valentine's Day gift.  We're so proud of the clients' efforts and creativity.

Creating colorful Valentine necklaces that will be given to homeless families

With it being Valentine's week, we are busy making lots and lots of sugar cookies shaped like hearts.  We have been giving them out to everyone -- missionaries, recovering addicts, members of the Wards and non-members alike -- this is one of Cathy's favorite things to do.  It's fun to see the joy in other people's eyes as they create their own special heart-shaped cookies with yummy frosting and sprinkles.

Heart-shaped sugar cookies for Valentine's Day

We love our grounds people who work so diligently at our housing complex.  They work through all kinds of weather - tough sunlight, rain and wind.  To show our love and appreciation for them we hosted a lunch for them with lots of yummy homemade cookies that they love to eat.  Spreading the joy of service to those around us is our primary goal.

One of our amazing maintenance workers we gave lunch to

Building Our House:

Last week at One Hope Ministries we talked about the one of our Savior's sermons that He gave.  We talked  about the story of how we need to build our house on a rock and not upon sand.  If we build our house meaning ourselves on rock, when the storms and trials come we will be more prepared to overcome them.  After that, we used those Bible verses in the Sermon on the Mount as an object lesson for the men at One Hope to build their own house -- a gingerbread house.  They truly had a lot of fun with this activity.

An activity to demonstrate how to build our house upon a rock


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