talking to my boy

sidenote: We are here in beautiful Hawaii for christmas this year. Last christmas was very difficult for me since dan had just left and it was my first christmas without my mom. On christmas night last year after making Kraft Dinner for my family (i did buy stuff to make a really nice dinner but didn't feel up to it), I let them all know that we would be going to Hawaii next christmas, and i'm so glad we did. Since being here I have realized how far away Dan really is, we aren't even half way to him here. Part of me wanted to hop on another plane and travel the 8 hours to go spy on him for a day or two. I have thought alot about him here since the climate and surroundings are probably very similar. He is a lucky boy to be serving where he is. Although, Dan is the type of missionary that would be happy serving anywhere in the world. I am so proud of him for his good attitude and desire to serve God and others.
I was all muddled up with the time change and figuring out what time to call him at. In Calgary I am 17 hours behind in time from Micronesia. I figured since in Hawaii i am halfway to him and 3 hours behind calgary I would be 14 hours time difference. No....I am 20 hours behind him here. Greater time difference, but closer....go figure.

Our house here does not have a land line and rogers does not offer even half decent rates for long distance to guam from hawaii so we bought a calling card and planned on just using a pay phone. So at 330 pm our time on christmas eve, 1130 am his time on christmas day, we called him from Ala Moana Beach on the south shore (didn't want to interrupt sun and fun time of course).
I called the number he gave me and was told "this number does not accept incoming calls". I wanted to die. I kept trying and received the same message over and over so i called directory assistance in guam to try and get the mission home phone number. They gave me over 10 numbers assigned to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I called each one with no luck, until the last number. I heard "elder donakey speaking". I recognized the name as an elder who served with dan in saipan. I told him dan gave me the wrong number and he laughed. He gave me dan's number and we connected finally. As always it was so good to hear his voice. He apologized for the error and just laughed. We had a really nice visit. He was feeling a little discouraged because the work is very slow right now and none of their investigators had come to church that day. We all took turns talking to him. It wasn't a great phone connection so he cut out a few times but it was great just to have a real conversation with him. He told me how happy he is to be serving a mission and to be amongst the micronesians. That's all I needed to hear....that he is happy! Here are some pictures of us talking to him. julie