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We have a tradition in our Laie 4th Ward High Priests group where we invite visitors to share something about themselves beyond the usual “my name is, and I’m from” moment that we do in our adult Sunday School class . . . and on August 8, 2010, we were privileged to learn a little more about Tom Holdman from Lehi, Utah: His remarks were poignant — even more so because he has a lifelong speech impediment. Indeed, it was very touching to see him struggle sometimes just to get his thoughts into words.

Brother Holdman told us he’s in our small community doing the stained glass work on the Laie Hawaii Temple, which has been under major renovation for the past 20 months and is scheduled to be rededicated on November 21, 2010.

He explained that from childhood his severe stutter led him to express himself through art: “I believe that art is its own language,” he has said, adding he was an art major in college, and after serving a Latter-day Saint mission he prayed for inspiration about what he might do with his life. He said he received a two-word answer:

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During our June 2010 road trip on the U.S. mainland, my wife and I visited with our friend and fellow Laie 4th Ward member, Sister Napua Baker, who is currently serving as a senior missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Sister Baker told us she has been given a special assignment that is particularly appropriate and pleasing to her, but let her tell it in her own words:

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While watching several of our grandkids recently, I recalled something we taught our kids early-on . . . BUT FIRST, I apologize for being away from my blog for a while, just in case anyone out there in the blogosphere wondered if this site is still active.

Okay, back to the grandkids: My wife, Sally, and I recently went to Hilo to participate in the baptism ceremony for Sam Makakehau Kim — one of Daisy’s four sons, for those of you who know our kids. As everyone was getting ready to go over to the stake center for the services, I was impressed to see that Sam, 8, and his two older brothers — Jonah, 10, and Hyrum, now 13 — took turns ironing their own white shirts. This ironing incident reminded me of several things:

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People from all over the world have been praying for and following the story of Gavin David Bruce Norton, the eight-week old son of Richie Norton and his wife, Natalie Link Norton, who was born in Hawaii on October 24, 2009 and died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on January 7, 2010. [The picture at upper left, taken of Natalie and Gavin by Richie...and many more examples of Natalie's family and wedding photography can be seen on her blog, Picks & Kicks, at http://www.natalienortonphoto.com/].

The Nortons and their beautiful young family have many friends, and many thousands of others around the globe became aware of the medical challenges baby Gavin faced through Natalie’s contributions and links on her Digital Photography School web site — http://digital-photography-school.com/author/aloha . . . while only a few hundred of us were able to gather in the Laie 4th Ward chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this morning, January 13, 2010, to take part in the deeply touching experience of baby Gavin’s funeral.

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Years ago when our kids were all home and finances were tight we undertook a family project with the hopes of raising enough money to go to Disneyland: Almost every month we would label, prepare and deliver about 10,000 copies of the old Hawaii LDS News to the U.S. Post Office at the airport for bulk distribution.

I was also the editor at the time of this amazing tabloid started in 1967 by Alf Pratte and Ron Safsten as the Honolulu Stake Record-Bulletin (Reg Schwenke also served as one of the editors). The publication eventually spread throughout Hawaii, and until regional leaders stopped publishing it in 1991, Hawaii LDS News was the only Latter-day Saint-sponsored newspaper outside of the worldwide Church News.

Our family project took hours to complete each issue and it was a lot of work. To make the reward a little more immediate, each weekend after we got the newspaper out we would take some of the funds and all go to dinner: The kids particularly liked going to the Pizza Hut restaurant in Haleiwa, which was the closest one in those days.

But as the summer we hoped to go drew near we knew we didn’t have enough money for the mainland… so we planned a trip closer to home that took us to Maui and Kauai. Staying in hotels with swimming pools was definitely important to the kids, and of course we hit many of the regular visitor attractions on both islands; but our plans also included “high adventure” snorkeling off Molokini and along the Garden Island’s Na Pali coast. (more…)

After a church meeting today, a friend who has been teaching early-morning Laie North Stake Seminary told me how he still got up early this past week, even though class is over for the school year, and went for a walk on Hukilau Beach — one of the great treasures of our community. He said it was very beautiful and peaceful as the sun came up . . . which reminded me of an experience I had several years ago on the same beach one glorious, golden morning: (more…)

Back in the mid-60s when I was a Mormon missionary in Samoa, we often had to be flexible when it came to repairing things. For example, in an earlier blog entry, I shared the story of how barbed wire might be used to jump a car battery. Now, I’d like to tell two more tales of creative mechanics — both from Samoa’s “big island” of Savaii: (more…)

Jolene Kanahele of Laie recently wrote a poignant entry on Facebook that reminded me  of a somewhat related experience years ago in, of all places, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: (more…)

A number of times during this morning’s Easter program in church the music so moved me that I felt a thrill fill my body as tears welled in my eyes . . . which leads me to some thoughts on those familiar feelings. (more…)

Life in mid-60s Samoa could get a little strange for a guy who grew up in urban Salt Lake City. Here are just two examples: (more…)