Kona January 21 - 27

Beautiful Orchids

Kona January 21 – 27

Aloha ‘Ohana a na Hoaaloha!

Warm greetings on a beautiful Sabbath Day here in Hawai’i.  It was good to attend our ‘home’ ward today without having to travel to the far side of the Island and speak in other wards.  If memory serves, we only have five more wards to visit before we leave.  While we enjoy visiting the other wards and since we basically use the same talk, speaking at Sacrament meetings is more of a blessing than it might seem.  We might, however, be in for some extra preparation if we had to return to one of the wards where we spoke earlier.

  L to R - us, President & Sister Mossman, Elder and Sister Walker, special guests

 

This was an extra special week to serve in the Kona Temple!  Our week began on Monday, with a luncheon with Elder William R. Walker of the First Quorum of the Seventy, the Temple President, Matron, and some other guests.  Elder Walker and his wife Vickie were very gracious and he related many experiences about the temples and with President Hinckley and President Monson (Elder Walker is the Executive Director of the Temple Department).

Wednesday began our Temple Review conducted by Elder Walker.  The Temple President, counselors Matron and her assistants were all involved at various points during the review.  We enjoyed another lunch with Elder Walker in our little Recorder’s office and again at a Devotional for temple workers, sealers and spouses.

After some opening greetings and remarks to the nearly 200 Ordinance Workers and spouses assembled at the Devotional, Elder Walker opened it up to questions.  The questions ranged from the temples in Rome and Paris to Brigham City.  He also told of experiences he has had with Presidents Hinckley and Monson and about the process for selecting temple sites.  He freely spoke about little known facts about the site selection process and how key the role is of the Prophet who makes the final decision.  It was interesting to hear that, on some occasions, the announcement of a new temple has been made at Conference by the Prophet and that no other General Authority was aware of the  decision to build a temple in that city. We all gained a testimony of revelation!

We were expecting Elder Walker to come into the office and review the recording procedures and sacred record controls we maintain.  It came as a surprise and relief to have that part of the review pass us by.  We are hopeful that it meant we were taking care of everything in a satisfactory manner.

Finally, on Thursday afternoon, Sister Elwood and I were invited into the President’s office for a personal interview with Elder Walker.  As in all of our other opportunities to be with Elder Walker, he was very kind and at ease with us while expressing appreciation for our service.  We are so grateful to be led by a living Prophet and to have brethren like Elder Walker who give faithful service and leadership to the building of the Kingdom of God here on the earth.

Our testimony of the Temple was strengthened by the experiences of this past week and we feel so blessed to be able to serve in a small way, in this marvelous work!

Love and Aloha from Paradise!

Birth of the Tree Fern Branch