Kona March 11 - 17

Cool day for the old Blogger!

Kona March 11 – 17

A cool Aloha from the Pacific!

Another Sabbath day has arrived and it seems like we just got back home from our Hilo trip.  But, that was a week ago. 

We have been so engaged in making preparations for one of the busiest weeks we will experience in the Temple that the days passed even more quickly than usual.  It will all begin early Tuesday morning with the Temple filled to overflowing with the Saints from Moloka’i and Maui.  On next week’s post, we will provide more details but suffice it to say, that by 1:00 pm Tuesday afternoon, we will have witnessed about the same number of living ordinances equal to an average three to four month period in the Kona Temple.

Today, we were given an unexpected blessing at church.  When we arrived at our ward this morning, we saw the Second counselor in the Temple Presidency and his wife in the Chapel so we sat down next to them.  They asked if we had heard that a special choir from Laie was on the Big Island and they had sung the intermediate hymn in Hawaiian during the Sacrament meeting in the ward that meets just before our ward.  We were not aware of this choir and that they performed their hymns in the Hawaiian language so we were disappointed we had missed hearing them sing.

Well, all was not lost because President and Sister Nihipali told us that the Laie Hawaiian Choir was also singing during the Sacrament meeting of the ward that follows our ward.  So today, we attended two Sacrament meetings for the second week in a row, in order to hear the choir (there also were two excellent talks). 

The first hymn the choir performed was Secret Prayer (Pule Malulia).  It was wonderful to hear this beautiful hymn sung in the Hawaiian language which is a very musical sounding language when spoken by a native speaker, not by me!  For the intermediate hymn, they chose a medley of short hymns about the Savior.  It brought a little maka wai to hear these hymns sung in Hawaiian.

In addition to a very busy week coming up in the Temple, we will be speaking in two more wards next Sunday.  These two wards will mark the end of our Mission’s speaking tour.  We will speak in our ‘home’ ward on April 21^st, just a week before we leave for home.

Much love and Aloha from Paradise!