Hello Everyone,

Of course it is another lovely day here on the beautiful island of Oahu. It is always warm and sometimes very very hot and always humid. However we are blessed on the north end of the island with trade winds most of the time except for today which seems very quiet.  I had a fantastic time starting Friday about noon when Todd and Michelle came to see me for a short visit. I am thrilled that they got away for a week on Maui but stopped here to see me first. They were absolutely exhausted after a total comedy of errors trying to get here on buddy passes but it all fell through and it seemed to take two days to get here and no sleep. Anyway we had a half day on Friday and most of the day on Sat. and they were flying to Maui on Sat. night and the plane cancelled so we ended up going to a movie near the airport and they stayed in a motel near there and took off on sunday morning. they finally got there and I hope are doing nothing but resting, eating and exercising. NO WORK whatsoever, either one of them. they soooo deserve it.

Anyway I loved showing them both off to all of my new friends and they loved the Center and the show and remembered a lot of it from over 20 years ago. I know it sounds crazy that our families and friends are allowed to come and visit us but that is the way for service missionaries. One of my roommates is going home to UT for a month to help care for brand new twins her children are trying to adopt and they have the brother already who is only 2. So she is leaving with mixed feelings of course as it is a strange feeling to leave a missions for home and then return. We will all miss her but her children will be really happy for the help.

Well, we have big things happening at the PCC. They started their Haunted Lagoon and the first night we had over 2400 people go through it. we all volunteer to help with this at night so we close down the place where I work all the time at 6 instead of 7 so everything in the PCC is pitch dark. Wow it is amazing how everyone comes out for it. I haven't personally gone through it yet but I can't wait. Maybe i will do that this evening. We work at them 5 or 6 times helping the volunteers to keep from being too hungry and give them hot chocolate and noodles and whatever else we can I guess. We dress all in black and can't be seen of course. This is a big money maker for the kids going to BYU and for the PCC so they are having it every year. Look up Haunted lagoon at the PCC on Google and take a peek at the website. I think it may just be www.hauntedlagoon.com

Also I think I mentioned  that we are assigned to all different wards and I am in a brand new stake ofall freshman wards. got a call yesterday and was asked to show up to help out at a choir practice for the stake conference to be held in two weeks. So I went and there were 4 girls and five boys,. Wow that was challenging. Sooo, I will be calling a few of my sister missionaries to help sings. I also will call my Bishop make sure that these kids come out for this. There are so many beautiful singers but since they are all brand new here so I think there is a lot of shyness. We all just need some time to get to know each other.
Then last night I had another meeting about working with the clubs of all the many countries represented here. Again I am assigned to Australia and just learning what they expect from us. More on that when I know more. At least I don't have to worry about the meeting s being run in another language.

This is a wonderfu,l beautiful place and I love it here. We all listened to conference here although it cme on at 6 am (not a morning person). What a fantastic announcement about the change in ages for missions. Now I think we may  have some grandaughters going now that it is 19. WOW! how exciting. I think of Jordan often and pray for his safety and health. He will be beating me home by a month or two as he goes for two years.

My love to you all. If you are unable to write to me on this site please write to me at brendalwoods12@gmail.com.

Oh I have found another darling girl going to school here and working as a guide whose parents and grandparents I know from Mt. Olympus area. I got to talking with a beautiful tall blond student one day and she said she was from Yuma. I said the only people I may know there are the children of Russ and Naoma Hansen. So, those of you who know them Amanda is the daughter of Marsha. Isn't that fun? And I ran into her when Todd and Michelle were with me and she told them how much she loves it here. OK that's it for now. I love you all and certainly miss you a ton. come on over and enjoy this amazing place. Maybe during the winter for those of you in IL or UT.

Mahalo, Brenda