January 1-7 2024

Martin Las Vegas Family Holiday Celebration

Siara and Nate went to Las Vegas at New Year’s for the Martin family Christmas. Looked like fun. They each had drawn a family name to give a gift to. The person in the seat was the recipient and the person standing was the giver. Someone had brought nerf guns for everyone and they had a nerf war.

Golden Plates Award

I was excited that the holidays were done and we could get back to a normal missionary schedule. The only problem was we had car and apartment inspections to do this week and reports that were due. We wanted the missionaries to have their cleaning done when we did the inspections instead of having to come back and check it again. So we decided to have a contest. The missionary with the cleanest side of the room would get an award, and the companionship with the cleanest car would get an award. It worked pretty good. I had never seen the elder’s rooms look so clean. They had put everything away. There was no clutter. Their beds were all made. I couldn’t figure out who had done the best job, so I looked at their desks to see which was cleanest. Elder Greer won. The rest of the apartment cleaning wasn’t done that well though, so we told them they could divide up the work and that would be part of the contest for the next inspection. They were kind of fighting over whose responsibility it was so we thought dividing up the work would help. The sisters apartment was mostly clean except some mold in their tub and dirt on the floor around the toilet. We teach them how and what to clean each time we do an inspection. They did have clutter everywhere. We will have to work on next time. They did win the best car Golden Plates award. The other cars both had things that needed done, like vacuuming and wiping down the seats and dash. So the sisters won. We want them to learn to have everything clean for the inspection and not waste our time and make us check back. So when we gave the awards in district meeting we told them that was why the sisters won. I had found some expensive Godiva truffles on sale for 4 dollars at the exchange and we gave each of the winners a package of them. They were normally 21 dollars for a little package. They had some amazing flavors in the package as well. I told them I had three more for awards at the next inspection. They do like competition. They really liked the golden plates award. Elder Whitman had ordered it on Amazon and I made the award insert. If found the frame for the best room at the thrift shop and made the award insert

The reports were a pain to do because they had things that were broken in their apartments and holes in their walls. I took pictures of everything and submitted it. Sometimes the things I tell them about don’t get taken care of though. The toilet I told them was running finally got the attention of the landlord because it was causing massive amounts of water to leak. The car that had the wrong inspection and registration in it was still wrong. That’s why I took pictures of everything this time hoping it would help. The mission office have an overwhelming amount of things they have to do. I don’t know how they keep up with it all.

Boat License

Some senior couples wanted to go to the sandbar and the base boat was the only boats that could be rented in Kaneohe Bay, so they asked us to get licensed and reserve the boat. Elder Whitman took the online class and only had to retake the test once. Then he went to the base to take the practical test where they take you into the bay and teach you how to get to the sandbar without running the boat into a reef. Apparently there is a narrow passage. It was an hour and a half ride there and back and then they had to take a written test. He had to get help with one question and hoped he got the rest right. They did let us reserve the boat, so I guess he did. I worry though because his memory has been very poor. I hope he can remember everything and we can get there and back safely. The boat is a 10 person pontoon. Everyone I talked to said the sandbar was boring with not much to do there. I told the couple that, but they still wanted to go.

Beautiful bay with all the pontoon boats they rent out

Written Test

Base Beach Walk

This week we have also been trying to get back into daily exercise. We slacked off during the holidays because it was so busy. We went for a walk on the beach at the base. It had interesting beach rock formations.

You can also see base housing behind Elder Whitman, and you can see the volcano. A lot of the housing has ocean views because MCBH is basically an island. We go over a swampy area to get to it.

Chapel Cleanup

It was the YSA’s turn to clean the church building, so we went to help. President Aki and his wife were there and two YSA’s. I guess everyone else was sleeping in on the weekend. Elder Whitman and I were in charge of cleaning the chapel. It looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in a while. The stand area was also a mess. I even had to vacuum the seats. There was also trash and candy wrappers everywhere. There was chocolate melted into the seats and glitter as well. It took me a while just to do that part. Next I went to vacuum the congregation area. By the time I had done one side I was exhausted. Elder Whitman decided to do a deep clean so he was vacuuming out the hymn book holders and the seats, so I had to finish vacuuming the rest of the chapel. I was so exhausted by the time I was done. There was trash in a lot of the hymn holders and trash under the seats. It took us forever to finish the chapel. Maybe it just didn’t get cleaned during the holidays. The gym was a mess as well. The Tongan ward had left all their giant leaf decorations on the walls and stage, and they had decomposed and smelled bad. The leaves were left in there for about 3 weeks. The two YSA’s cleaned it up. I don’t understand why they were never cleaned up. We didn’t even have time to windex the glass doors or wipe down anything else. The Aki’s did the bathrooms and other things. This building needs a deep clean or to be torn down. All the rooms smell so moldy.