Monday, September 9, 2013

No Rain on Our Parade

Aloha Ohana!

Wow what a week. What a transfer! This week was the Polynesian Cultural Center's 50th Anniversary and I wish I could explain what it meant to be a part of it! Because us sisters get to give the tram tours at the PCC, we were invited to be in the PCC's 50th Parade. A Parade! And oh boy was it ever amazing! We wore our blue tram muu muus and stood on the tram waving to the people of Laie. Who gets to say that they were in a parade as a missionary?? All 30 of us sisters belted "Called to Serve" and "Army of Helaman" over and over and we could really feel the excitement in the air about missionary work. We got to throw candy, hold the hands of the children on the curb, sing, and represent the Lord Jesus Christ all in ONE parade! There were so many times where I tried to hold back the tears, as little girls would run along side us and shout,"I want to be a sister missionary like you someday!" or "When I grow up, I want to be just like you!" Ah, I'm crying just thinking back on it. Who knew a being a part of a parade could be such a spiritual experience :)

On September 21, our mission will be honored to have Elder Holland speak at our Mission Conference! Have you heard of him before? Oh man, I don't know if I can wait that long. The VC and the trams from PCC will all be closed that day so that all of us sisters can attend. It's going to be so special. I can't wait to tell you about it!
We have been and are so blessed here. Laie is such a special and inspired place. I can't say enough how blessed I am to serve on temple grounds almost my entire mission. I can honestly say it's my home away from home. But we can all say that ya? The temple is literally our home while we are away from home. Yes, I can be referring to our home here on earth, but I really mean that the temple is our home while we are away from our home with Heavenly Father. It always amazes me how much He truly loves us! He provides His House here on earth for us to help us feel closer to the home we used to reside. Life is oh so good.

Thank you for being the people you are. I love you so much. Thanks for being patient with me! I'll try to write more.

much ALOHA!

Sister Annen