blackrockbulletin: Adventures in Paradise 17

Adventures in Paradise 17

Kia orana, everyone! Our excellent adventure continues with a true confession. Some may find this revelation shocking, even unbelievable, but I do not care for Oprah Winfrey! There, it is said. It is out in the open. Do I still have readers? I find that Oprah is just too much for me. There are too many magazine covers, too many reports of favorite things, too many book suggestions, too much hype surrounding her life. It is not to my taste, but then, that may just be me. I will, however, say that one thing I have appreciated about Miss Winfrey is her idea of creating a “Gratitude Journal”. This is a personal compilation of things for which one is grateful. On this one point, Oprah and I agree. Life is full of reasons to be grateful.

Many of us are grateful that we are not in someone else’s shoes. We are grateful that life is not worse than it is at a certain point in time. We are grateful that a particular thing has not happened to us. We find gratitude by comparing ourselves to others. I am just now learning to be grateful simply for the way things are at the moment. I am grateful that the good people here are teaching me by their example. In all honesty, I will admit to being a slow learner at times.

Today, in our weekly mission meeting, we were speaking about a family who has very little by my standards. We have mentioned them before. They live on a hill that is not accessible by any vehicle and their family of eleven has only two motor scooters. We learned today, that this home was a gift to them for as long as they needed it. Years ago, in

Fiji

, this family was very kind to an old man and in gratitude, that man’s family made this house available to the Fimone family. When I expressed my surprise and concern that the house had neither water nor electricity, our wise friend quietly, but firmly informed me that this is enough and the family is grateful. Actually, there is water if it rains, so this family is also grateful for any rainstorm.

Marisha Fimone, who is taking lessons with us said that she was unable to read in the evenings because the family was out of candles! This was said very casually, and without any reference to the total lack of electricity at home. She simply stated that she would be grateful that there would be new candles that evening. Marisha is also grateful for the “lightness” that has entered her life as she has made changes and left old habits behind her.

We are grateful and overwhelmed by the many calls we receive each day from people concerned about the progress of our friend who had surgery last week. He has been moved out of the hospital and is now staying at the donated house that we mentioned last week. When I mentioned to the owner that this was a generous thing to do, she simply said that she was grateful to be able to help. Another phone call involved a woman who said that when she was visiting New Zealand, she heard that carrot juice was very helpful in a patient’s recovery. She said that she would be grateful to know if the patient and his caretakers would allow this. She was going out that afternoon to purchase a juicer for the sole purpose of making carrot juice for our friend!

An eighteen-year old young man is grateful to his family for their support. This young man loves to cook and is one of only five international students accepted in Chef Gordon Ramsey’s (Hell’s Kitchen) cooking school in London. The Ramsey scholarship only supplies half of the year’s tuition. This young mans family sold their business and have helped Junior open his own restaurant. It is hoped that this restaurant will supply the rest of the tuition. The father and mother will continue running the restaurant while Junior is in London. For now this “boy” is grateful that he is healthy and is able to work from 7am to 1am every day! He is grateful for the opportunity to make the dream of owning his own four-star restaurant a reality. He is grateful for proud parents who taught him the value of work by setting a good example.

Last Saturday, I hosted forty young women and their leaders at an open house, here at the mission home. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to work with young people, as I really do miss teaching. We provided a sewing project and a cooking project with the opportunity to sign up for future classes. I was grateful (and tired) that a 1-4 pm open house was still going strong at 6:30. I smiled when the girls remarked that the house smelled like America! I was grateful that the water pump was replaced that morning and we actually had water! I was grateful that I had enough food. We made eight batches of mini pizzas, with about sixteen pizzas to the batch. You can do the math on that one! I am grateful that Ward only did his “Little Grass Shack” dance once during the afternoon! I am grateful that I found a sewing machine in the closet. I am grateful it is over and I can relax now…………well, I guess that a change is as good as a rest. I am grateful for the chance to move on to something else.

Ward and I are grateful for the little miracles that we have witnessed. We are grateful to have been taught by three General Authorities in the last week. We are grateful that this little island and its people are remembered and appreciated for who they are. We are grateful for the lessons that we are learning here and the opportunity to serve. We are so grateful for the tender mercies and touching events that we have experienced. We are grateful for our friends and family who have been so good about keeping in touch. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your messages. Can you believe that we are entering our fifth month? In the beginning, I was grateful that time was passing, now I am alarmed by just how quickly it is moving.

As always, we are happy and trying to work hard. We hope that you are grateful for the way things are in your lives at this moment. Thank you Oprah for the inspiration, I am grateful for the idea for this blog!

Love, Ward and Susan Elder and Sister Belliston serving in the Cook Islands

Our beautiful young women enjoying the open house

Cooking class at the open house

The open house buffet table. The empty space is for the pizzas. Pork and plum sauce sandwiches, fresh pineapple, deviled eggs, cheeseball and crackers, hot rolls and jam, chocolate parfait cookies, banana bread and chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles. There were no leftovers! If you didn't do the math on the pizzas, we made 128! Where did they go????