On Friday Sept 28th, Joel and I rented a car and drove to California to meet up with the Tuanauu's to go through the Newport Beach Temple with Suene' to receive his endowments. It was beautiful. The night that Suene had opened his mission call, that took 2 weeks longer than usual because the Stake Pres. for got to send it, to the Anchorage Alaska Mission we asked them when he was going to go to the temple and they immediately started to talk about it. We knew that the St. George Temple was closing for awhile for cleaning but unsure for how long. Someone said that they thought it was until after conference. So, since they had to go to Cali for an Aunty's funeral the weekend before General Conference they decided to do it there. Plus that way the family members wouldn't have to travel here again. They had all come a couple weeks earlier when he had received his Melchizedek Priesthood. SO, Vince asked us if we were coming and Joel said of course. Instantly, the two if them started to see if there was a Dodger or A's home game that weekend too. Sure enough, the A's were at home. So, we were off. We checked into the cheapest hotel that we could find that was also in the world's best location! We will staying there every time we go to Cali! It was nice and SHARED A PARKING LOT WITH DENNY'S! That right there is a deal maker. It also had a Wendy's across the street. It was right off of the freeway exit and 15 minutes from everywhere! Seriously, we loved this place. It even had free wifi, a mini fridge and a microwave and we didn't even have to ask for it.
Anyway, Saturday morning we met them all at the temple. We had taken the kids to the Newport Beach Temple before but it was closed and we had to just take pictures from outside the gate. This time we got to go inside. It was gorgeous! But, as we were walking from the parking lot I couldn't help but take picture's of the outside of different places that I thought David would have liked to pose for our picture's together while we used to wait for everyone to get out of doing baptisms. It was a happy/sad moment. Happy that everyone can now go in but sad that I'll never have those kind of moments back with my little kids. I don't like it when my kids grow up.
When we got inside Suene and Vince were sitting on a couch just beyond the entrance. We gave them both a big hug and told Suene how proud and happy we are for him. Vince is the only boy in his family. He has 5 sisters and his father died a couple years ago. His dad was a caterer and made amazing Polynesian food. So Vince has been the priesthood holder for that family. Joel has always been like the brother that he has never had. While we were in there Jen told us that they had gotten there a little early and had to wait for Suene's host to show his around. They were very happy to see that it was a cute little old Polynesian man. They were surprised that when the man asked what Suene's name was that he said, "I know your Grandfather!" Suene was named after Vince's father who used to live in that area. Everyone's eyes instantly filled with tears. It all became perfectly clear that the Lords hand was indeed in all all things and had orchestrated an amazing miracle to get them all there at that exact time and place to hear this cute little old man talk about how wonderful grandpa was and how he used to love to eat his cooking. Many things had to come together to make it all happen, a mission call had to be 2 weeks late, a death had to occur, our temple had to be closed, and this cute little old man had to be scheduled, not only to work but to help Suene out, on that day. WOW! Such a tender mercy. It was awesome to say the least. I'm so glad that we were there to share it with them.
We love Suene and know that he will be a great missionary. He was a great coach/big brother to Ben and David. They will miss so much.
Then that night we went on a double date with Jen and Vince to the baseball game. It was great. We were sitting 20 rows from the field. Vince's Uncle has season tickets and they are amazing. It was a lot of fun! I will go to any game at any time! I don't care who it is or where it is. I just love the entire ambiance. It's great! The next morning we took our time getting up and checking out. Then we walked to Denny's and ate breakfast and drove home. It was a great weekend. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!
A youth group that just got out from doing baptisms!
Anyway, Saturday morning we met them all at the temple. We had taken the kids to the Newport Beach Temple before but it was closed and we had to just take pictures from outside the gate. This time we got to go inside. It was gorgeous! But, as we were walking from the parking lot I couldn't help but take picture's of the outside of different places that I thought David would have liked to pose for our picture's together while we used to wait for everyone to get out of doing baptisms. It was a happy/sad moment. Happy that everyone can now go in but sad that I'll never have those kind of moments back with my little kids. I don't like it when my kids grow up.
When we got inside Suene and Vince were sitting on a couch just beyond the entrance. We gave them both a big hug and told Suene how proud and happy we are for him. Vince is the only boy in his family. He has 5 sisters and his father died a couple years ago. His dad was a caterer and made amazing Polynesian food. So Vince has been the priesthood holder for that family. Joel has always been like the brother that he has never had. While we were in there Jen told us that they had gotten there a little early and had to wait for Suene's host to show his around. They were very happy to see that it was a cute little old Polynesian man. They were surprised that when the man asked what Suene's name was that he said, "I know your Grandfather!" Suene was named after Vince's father who used to live in that area. Everyone's eyes instantly filled with tears. It all became perfectly clear that the Lords hand was indeed in all all things and had orchestrated an amazing miracle to get them all there at that exact time and place to hear this cute little old man talk about how wonderful grandpa was and how he used to love to eat his cooking. Many things had to come together to make it all happen, a mission call had to be 2 weeks late, a death had to occur, our temple had to be closed, and this cute little old man had to be scheduled, not only to work but to help Suene out, on that day. WOW! Such a tender mercy. It was awesome to say the least. I'm so glad that we were there to share it with them.
We love Suene and know that he will be a great missionary. He was a great coach/big brother to Ben and David. They will miss so much.
Then that night we went on a double date with Jen and Vince to the baseball game. It was great. We were sitting 20 rows from the field. Vince's Uncle has season tickets and they are amazing. It was a lot of fun! I will go to any game at any time! I don't care who it is or where it is. I just love the entire ambiance. It's great! The next morning we took our time getting up and checking out. Then we walked to Denny's and ate breakfast and drove home. It was a great weekend. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!
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