August 20, 2018

John and Charlene Kapololu 

at August 14 Graduation

Atim Aru and Kapololus

Atim Aru with Elder an Sister Halvorsen

Chandler Selk at Graduation

Seth Villagomez at Graduation

August 16 Cake Cutting

Painting hanging in the Caruso Chapel

August 20, 2018

Monday, August 13, Gwen turned 3.  She is such an energetic little doll.  It was fun to talk with her.  We love her so much.  We drove to the NMCRS Thrift Store for me to participate in cashier training.  They had several officials from Headquarters in town because Camp Pendleton has been selected to be the first thrift store to install a card reader. (I know we are pretty behind the times.)  It was nice having our local NMCRS personnel introduce me and explain that we are serving as missionaries and volunteering in three of their offices.  Headquarters was quite impressed at how many hours we serve and the variety of roles we play.  So thankful that we have the opportunity to work with the NMCRS.  

After the training we bought some goodies at the commissary.  On our way home we delivered goodies when we stopped to cheer up Bro. Varwig who had recently totaled his jeep.  We also said goodbye to the Nasfells who moved to Virginia on Wednesday.  We have learned to love this family and look forward to following their adventures on Facebook in the future.

Elder and Sister Kapololu drove up from San Diego for Atim Aru's graduation on August 14.  Aru had some medical issues at MCRD and the Kapololus cared for him while he was recovering and delivered him to SOI.  He is an outstanding young man.  Chandler Selk and Seth Villagomez were also part of Charlie Company who graduated that day.  These men were always so faithful in administering the sacrament at SOI.  We will really miss all of them.

Cal Weber returned from his fishing trip to Mexico and brought back some Wahoo for all of the senior couples.  We picked up ours from him on Tuesday night and ate our first Wahoo meal on Wednesday.  What a treat!

Wednesday was one of those crazy days you hope comes to an end.  I got to teach Budget for Baby because the teacher didn't show up--that was fun.  Things went downhill after that.  Marines made so many errors on their paperwork that required correction after the fact.  That was the first time I had made so many errors--the day couldn't end soon enough.  I did get to work with a new volunteer that day.  Kelly is a marine spouse and it was fun getting to know her.

We were thankful Thursday turned out to be spectacular.  Using the new electronic equipment at the Thrift Store made reconciling the sales a snap.  We had six marines at cake cutting.  We really enjoyed talking with the Budge family from Michigan.  After our seniors dinner at Cafe Rio, we went to the San Diego Temple where we were able to complete ordinances for two of Brad's ancestors.  We did baptism, confirmation and initiatory work.  It had been years since I was baptized. It was a very special evening.

Our day at the San Onofre NMCRS office was much like Wednesday.  We saw so many marines who were in big financial trouble.  It was hard because we just couldn't help some of them.  That is always discouraging for us.

We were excited to receive updates on Tige and Tate's first football games of the season.  Makes us anxious to be able to actually be sitting in the stands when they play next year.  They both won and had fun playing which is the most important part.  We had a very quiet day that ended with a nice hike.  Elder Halvorsen realized it had been exactly one year since our first Dawson musical (Emma and Spencer were in Beauty and the Beast on August 18, 2017)  They are now in Okinawa and we are enjoying reading about their activities on Facebook but we sure miss them.

You could definitely tell that Charlie Company had graduated this week.  We had three marines at our morning services and 14 at our fireside.  We are praying more valiant marines arrive this week to take Charlie's place.  Bro. Jolley taught us about prophets in the morning and Bro. Richards instructed us on how to search for truth in the evening.  The messages were wonderful. Elder Halvorsen met the artist who painted the kneeling marine hanging at the Caruso Chapel (see above).  Danny Saenz is a retired marine who has great faith in Jesus Christ.  He uses his talents to share a message of faith.  The Marblehead Ward provided dinner for us Sunday night.  They brought BBQ ribs that were amazing!!  They always go the extra mile.  We all enjoyed that meal. Elder Pack and Elder McMillan rode with us to the fireside because they had locked their keys in their car--kind of humorous if it isn't your car.  Hope they don't have to pay a locksmith.  Enjoyed visiting with Grant's wonderful family.  They are always busy doing interesting activities.  Susie and Kate had just returned from Girl's Camp and everyone was excited for the upcoming school year to begin.