October 16, 2022

Aloha Family and Friends,

I would like to tell you a little about our mission because it is very unique. The Laie Hawaii mission was created from the Honolulu mission the first of this year.  (2022) It is very small and encompasses the area around Laie on the island of O’ahu. The Laie Temple, BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Culture Center (PCC) are in our mission. There are senior missionaries and junior missionaries who are mostly young sisters.

There is a mission president, temple president, university president, PCC president with missionaries in those areas. We are assigned to wards and branches so there are also stake presidents.  It is quite confusing.

I counted the senior missionaries from a recent list. There are 51 couples, and 19 sisters so right now there are about 120 senior missionaries.  These missionaries have many different and unusual assignments.

There are some senior missionaries at the Visitor Center. We’re not familiar with what they do yet.

There are many senior missionaries at the PCC. We’ve met missionaries who do accounting, sew costumes, teach ukulele, man the stores, maintain the facilities, host some of the exhibits, order food for the buffets and luaus, work in the garden and with the landscaping. One elder said his job was to change the lightbulbs in the ponds.  A sister has the assignment of preparing leaves and sticks for the fish weaving activity. There is even a sister in charge of guest relations – complaint department.

We are assigned to the university (BYUH). So far, we’ve met missionaries who teach religion, accounting, IT and math. (So glad we didn’t get called to teach math). One elder is reorganizing the career center. There are missionaries in the counseling center. A couple that came just before us is creating a women’s center. My favorite missionary assignment (besides our own) is the baby/nurse missionaries who visit and help all the pregnant students and new mothers.  And my least favorite, (besides teaching math) would be the missionaries enforcing the Honor Code.

Mark and I are almost always together, but most of the missionary couples in the PCC have different assignments and don’t see each other all day. The PCC missionaries don’t wear missionary tags, they have tags with their first names only. So we often call each other by first names.

Here’s something else that might be unique to our mission. The young missionaries aren’t allowed to go onto the sandy beaches or into the water. They can get close and stand on the grass, but no closer. On the other hand, the senior missionaries purchase kayaks and snorkeling gear for P -day. I’m a little afraid of water, so we are not too adventurous. We bought some beach chairs for half price. They sit about three inches off the ground. So, our biggest adventure is seeing if we will be about to get up once we get down.

I hope you enjoyed hearing a little about the Laie mission. We are doing well. This past week, Elder Soderborg accompanied a quartet at our mission devotional. We attend the temple for the first time. It is a beautiful temple. We taught our class and met with students. We made a trip around the island to Costco and visited several beaches. We spoke in sacrament meeting in our Tongan ward today. It’s been a good week.

We wish the best for you all. Love Elder and Sister Soderborg