Using the Talents We Were Given

 

October 11, 2025

A weathered piano bench here has a new life. This is the top.

For the last 2 months I (Debbi) have been heading up the effort to reorganize the marketing offices. We’re packed in pretty tightly, so it’s been several consecutive games of Tetris to make it all happen: empty one area, redesign, fix most of the details, move back in and shift over the stuff from the next space, then do it all again. It’s about the last thing I thought I’d be doing as a missionary, but the Lord uses the skills He has helped us develop however He can. We’re almost finished—which is a really good thing because my back has organized a protest. I may be doing my usual job remotely for a few days. But it’s worth it. The improvement in the environment for the staff is already making a difference.

Dennis has also been doing something he didn’t expect on a mission. Once upon a time, the Center had a laser engraver that served well, but breathed its last a few months ago. They bought a new one, but no one really knew how to use it. (Only a couple of students who had used the old one are still here, and besides, this is a different machine.) Experience with his own laser engraver and the computer savvy it takes to calibrate one, he has found himself in the enviable position of playing with the new toy. He’s also using his engineering skills to design and create spacers they’ll need to hold ukuleles in place when they are being engraved. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

Why Do This?

 

August 31, 2025, Sunday

                                                            Lā‛ie Hawai‛i Temple, painted August 2025

Five months left. Time is going so fast now. Friends are starting to leave as they complete their missions, and we’re getting to be among the old timers whose time is short.

 Not a lot has changed in our daily work. Dennis is working hard to finish the projects he’s been immersed in before we leave. Debbi keeps plugging away, writing. So I guess the only thing that would be of interest to talk about here would be a spiritual experience of some kind.

Our new mission presidency seems to be pretty great. On July 15 they did a “meet us” devotional. President Mo‛o (a counselor) works at BYUH as Senior Manager of Strategic Enrollment. He travels all over the Pacific Rim in that work and showed us what our work here really means.

The reason the Polynesian Cultural Center exists is to help students—mostly from island nations and the Pacific Rim—get college educations. This would not be remotely possible for most of them without this program. Many of them grow up in humble circumstances. They couldn’t even afford a trip to Hawai‛i, let alone a 4-year stay while they earn degrees. Many also need help learning to navigate the world—they’ve never been off their island homes, or at least not out of their nations unless they have served missions elsewhere.

When they come here, they learn to go to school in a structured environment. They also have to work, though those who are in the I-work program (most of the students) cannot work more than 19 hours per week (so that they have time and strength for school). Some of the jobs are really fun, and some are pretty mundane. But as I interview the students for our employee newsletter, I often hear how grateful they are for the opportunity to earn; for the chance to be in an environment where their cultures are valued; for the ability to do things they would normally do anyway (dance, demonstrate skills, help people, etc.) as a means of earning their degrees. The goal is for them to leave school debt-free, and I believe that is a regular achievement.

What missionaries do here is support the students by doing some of the jobs so the PCC can keep running. As a nonprofit organization, the Center would not be able to function if it had to pay all the people who volunteer here. We also interact with the students, often temporarily feeling like parents or grandparents to them. This helps them keep going—because this is pretty tough for them. Being away from family when you’re making some of the most crucial decisions of your life is stressful.

Also in the plan for most of them is to go back to their homes after graduation to help build the infrastructure of those places. They take with them skills to build new and better services, feed industry, grow tourism, open restaurants, and act as counsellors, accountants, and teachers. They also become leaders in the Church at home.

President Mo‛o showed us pictures from his travels—photo after photo of branch, ward, district, and stake officers who are BYUH grads. They are strengthening the Kingdom where they stand; and because they love and understand their native lands, they can do it better than anyone else. He said, “This is the plan, and it is working.” When you look at serving here in that way, our work here is an amazing thing.

 June 29, 2025

What Are We Doing?

Dennis' Makau Fish Hook on its stand.

I thought I might just update you on all the stuff that's been going on for the last couple of months that have kept me too busy to write. (Not really. I just couldn't hone in on anything profound, so I kept putting it off.)

Dennis

Dennis has spent his time at the PCC on special projects in IT, transferring large amounts of  data to new systems and automating account updates due to the high turn-over of student workers. He's been writing code to try to accomplish that, making slow, steady progress. In other words, he's in his element and loving it. 

On most weekends he gets to carve a bit.

Dennis' Makau and the stand. Note the detail.

Our next door neighbors work at the Visitors Center, and they asked him to make a bookstand for displaying the scriptures on their front desk. He just finished that this weekend.

Bookstand for Visitors Center.

Debbi

May is busy around here. One major factor is the annual fire knife competition that goes on for several days. Check it out at https://worldfireknife.com/ Most, if not all, of that footage was shot at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Some we saw in person. I love the drums that accompany the dance, but I wear earplugs.  I hope to leave here with my hearing intact!

Another glimpse into fire knife is a PBS documentary on one of the female champions (local here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orAH3XbhJF8.

Fire knife is part of "We Are Samoa," a month-long festival, if you will, in which all the schools in the area use the theater at the Center to put on end-of-year programs. Since so many here have Samoan roots, this is a big deal. There are many major productions.

This was also the time period when limited showings of the movie the Center produced started. It's been winning awards at festivals and is scheduled for some theaters soon. The movie is about the students at BYU-H, most of whom work at the Center to contribute to their tuition. Their stories and struggles are mind blowing and humbling. https://www.sharingalohathemovie.com/

I wasn't in the middle of all this, but I was on the fringes, writing/editing copy.

Right at the end of April, with the new semester at BYU-H, I started attending a class, but not as a student. I was there to learn about what all goes into preparing a double-hulled canoe and his crew for a one-month sail around the islands of Oahu, Molokai, and Maui. BYU-H owns and the Center houses Iosepa (said canoe) and I was writing about it. (https://blog.polynesia.com/voyaging-iosepa-2025) In the process, I got to know the students who would be part of the crew, and was asked to monitor and edit the copy they would be sending out daily from the voyage. That I did, adding to the fun for the month of June, and the posts are still coming in. If you use Instagram, you can check them out @iosepavoyagers.

The sail was May 22 through June 20. It was kind of exciting to follow along with them on their adventure. Though they had an itinerary, they had to change it a few times in the middle of the trip because of weather or other factors. Part of sailing is being able to adapt--big life lessons for the voyagers. I'm still writing about it--things to be published on the Center's blog page later, maybe. And of course I painted  a 16 x 20 portrait of the canoe.

"Iosepa" Painted in May 2025

Interestingly, one of our missionary friends wanted to buy it, so this one won't be coming home with us. 

Below is another one that has found new home.

Alex O'Brien moved, taking "Pretty Boy" with her.

Most of the paintings so far I still have, and their numbers are growing. But I am doing some things that are specifically for people here. As mentioned a couple of blogs ago, our district did talk me into teaching them to paint. We had a fun evening as each person expressed herself/himself on canvas (and I gave away my "samples.") And I added artistic piano benches to my list of skills. More pics later.

 Looking Deeper

I was thinking about pictures I could post on our blog, and an unexpected one came to mind. It’s what we see from our front window. Lots of wires, crowded houses, fleets of cars—even a kayak on a roof—with a small patch of sky in the middle. Unless we stand on the outer edge of our porch, turn left, and look very hard, we have no evidence that we are 300 feet from a beautiful beach. Metaphor: Sometimes life seems to close in around us. All the details of getting through each day press in and are the most prominent things in our view. But beyond all that is glorious beauty.

 Sometimes when I look out the window my eyes don’t even see the mess in the foreground. I’ve learned to push past it and only see the patch of sky. It’s not until I look at the cold reality of the photograph that the tangle of wires, the jagged pavement of rooftops, the jumble of everything stored outside come into view.

 All that stuff has purpose. The people who own it use it. They obviously value it. The fact that it blocks our view is of very little importance. The good news is that I can understand the viewpoint of the neighbors and the value of their beachfront property, and let the minor inconvenience of our view stay in its proper perspective.

 There are rewards in being able to look beyond what closes in on us. Because we know what’s on the other side, we also know the claustrophobia it can cause does not represent reality. And once in a while, something magical happens in the clouds, and that little patch of sky becomes a wonderland. That patch is where reality lives.

 Finding Bits of Paradise, Even When It's Not a Vacation
 

Since this is what many seem to think we do over here, I thought I'd humor you. I had to go back to November pictures to find this. We really don't get to the beach very often.

Still, we are having some fun. We go to the temple every week, which we love. We had dinner with some friends last week, and will be having dinner with another group this week. We have our monthly devotional and our district meeting this week, too, which are usually really interesting. And our evening of answering questions for guests at the Center ("Ask Me" duty) is tomorrow.

Last week we helped out with a screening of a movie the Center has produced that will be making the rounds on the Mainland, starting next week with a screening in Orem, Utah. If you want to see if it's coming near you and find out how to get tickets, sign up for updates here.

https://www.sharingalohathemovie.com/ 

Another fun thing is making connections. There is a student photographer in my office named Joseph. Joseph overheard part of a conversation a few days ago in which he thought we were talking about Indonesia, where he is from. We weren't actually, but that led to some questions and answers, which then led to our discovering that he knew our dear friends the Tuckers when they were missionaries in his country several years ago. 

The connections are  pretty amazing sometimes. At the MTC, we learned that the Frys in our district had known our friends Dave and Mary Spear for years. When we arrived in La'ie, we were assigned mentors, the Taylors, who were friends of Julie and Gary Lundstrom. We have also met Gilbert Laulusa's sister; young missionary Sister Turley from Marana Stake (who was in our branch when we arrived, and now we touch base fairly regularly); the Crotts from Marana Stake who just showed up at the Center one night, looking for Sister Turley; Sandy Holmes, our supervisor from our Employment Center mission; Sister Hamblin, serving here in the same department I am, who is a friend of our friend and neighbor Robyn Hunt; and the list goes on.

And people will just stop us on the street to talk to us--usually members but not always, either local or here on vacation who know they can talk to missionaries. One yesterday wondered if we knew some people serving over here, because she taught one of their daughters (and we do know them). Then there are the people who come over in the Center when we are answering questions. Since we stand under a flag that says "Ask Me," they think they'll be clever with their requests. Several times now someone has asked something like, "In 25 words or less, can you tell me the meaning of life?" They are pretty shocked when we can. (My last answer was "service and love." The Spirit joined the conversation, and the man walked away grateful.) We do enjoy that kind of thing.

And then there are the times when we need bolstering. I had had a particularly bad day recently, and we were scheduled for "Ask Me" duty. Then came the rain--like cloudburst rain. I was struggling to be positive. But then, as we sheltered with other people, one couple who is nearing retirement age enthusiastically asked a lot of questions about what it was like to be on a mission, then told us how valuable our service was (several times). About the time they left, another person came up and told us about how his father had struggled at first on his senior mission with situations very similar to what I had just experienced, and how he had called his son for encouragement a few times. The father ended up learning what he needed to, and truly enjoying his mission. Now don't tell me that these people weren't sent to interact with us in that moment. I didn't see any halos, but I'm sure they were there.

I recently completed my 10th painting since we got here. Ridiculously prolific, don't you think?  It's a good unwinding activity, and there is plenty of scenery to paint. 

Some of our district members have talked me into teaching them to paint something for our meeting in June, so now we're scouting out scenes they might like to do.

Dennis is carving some, but he quickly realized he needed to build some tools and jigs to make his process easier. (I love it when that engineering brain kicks in to high gear.) I think he has most of what he needs now, so hopefully this coming Saturday will be a fruitful day for him.

We had a medical emergency back home with my mother last week, but she has come through it all pretty well and things seem to be normalizing (whatever that is with a 92-year-old). Blessings be heaped upon my brother and my mother's caregiver Renee for being the anchors in that storm. Dennis gave me a blessing here, in which Father was very clear about what my role should be. I'm so grateful for that access to direction in our lives. 

I guess the message this month is that we have a pretty defined routine as far as our assignments go, but there are enough variations to make it fun and interesting. And through all the ups and downs we feel the hand of the Lord upon us every day. It's a really special blessing for us, and we are very thankful for the opportunity to experience this.

January 12, 2025

I thought I'd let you see the first painting I did here. I originally titled it "Our Beach #1" knowing that I would probably paint this scene several times. I afterward learned that the strip of beach down the road from us is called Alligator Pond, because the rocks near shore resemble the backs of alligators. 

This one is 5 x 7, but I've done other sizes, too. I'm working on the ninth painting now. I have already bought more canvas. :)

Dennis first found a cool piece of driftwood and worked it until he had created a beautiful walking stick. It's grain and gentle curves are pretty amazing, and he finished it just right to enhance its beauty.

(Kind of hard to get a decent picture of the full length of a walking stick.... )

He's now crafting a relief carving of some hibiscus flowers, which is proving quite taxing as he is using a hardwood that is difficult to carve. It's going to be gorgeous, though. I'm excited about it.

We do this usually on weekends when we have a little down time. It's a great way to relax and reflect--or just to clear our minds. 

Our mission is a time of learning in many ways. We both have areas where the Lord sees we need to grow personally, and He put us here to give us the opportunity to do that. 

At the MTC in June 2000, and in the October 2001 Liahona, Jeffrey Holland said, 

"I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary."  (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2001/10/missionary-work-and-the-atonement?lang=eng#p50)

He suffered everything all of us could possibly suffer so that He could help us find our ways. The challenges are what give us the incentive to turn to Him, to learn to trust Him more, and eventually to change our understanding and therefore our actions to be more in harmony with His. Over and over. Line upon line. Tirelessly. Lovingly. Until we figure it out. 

Blessed be His name!