"What to do about your home when you go on a mission..."

Very interesting question.  It seems there are only a few options available that I have seen over the years:

1) Sell it.
2) Rent it out.
3) Leave it vacant.
4) Have someone live in it.

Sell it:  Very easy in a way.  You don't have to worry about your home while you are gone.  No more furniture unless you put some of it into storage, and you are a free nomad to consider what to do after the mission.  I guess your family can put you up after the mission while you readjust, but then again, I would think you would want to have someplace to go after the work of being a missionary.  I believe my wife and I are looking forward to coming back to our home right after the mission.  Feels comfortable in many ways.

Rent it out:  To whom would you rent it out?  Who do you trust?  You could just rent it out to anyone.  Solicit adds and then find someone.  Maybe you find a missionary couple that is living in your area and have them live in it.  If so, do you leave it all furnished or just leave some things in it.  What about your valuables?  Do you place them in storage?  Which storage facility?  They differ in price too, let me tell you.  Do you build a shed out back?  How about someone in the Ward where you live?  Young couple?  Transitional couple?  Someone living here for a period of time only?  Do they stay the whole time you are gone?

Leave it vacant: This is probably the easiest decision in a way.  Everything stays the same.  Just walk out and everything will be the same when you come back...
Maybe.  If you have lots of plants, etc.  who will take care of them?  You could have a friend or kid from the Ward periodically come and check on the place and do a few chores.  How about the outside?  Gardener?  What about repairs that need to be done?  Probably should have them all done before you leave.  Leave nothing to chance.

Have someone live in it:  Much like have someone rent your place, but you are giving that someone a break by living in your place.  This also straddles the thought of leaving it vacant as well.  It is just that someone is in it more than just leaving it vacant.  How about that nice little couple, again, going to school close by you and needing a break themselves?  I can think of a couple I would have approached in our Ward, but certainly would not approach just any couple either. Family member?

So, as you can see;  there are a few things to consider, just with your home, which most, if not all Senior Couples can consider.  Whatever it is, don't wait until the last moment to make a decision.  Take some time and plan.

We chose #4.  Thank you Colleen and Lance.  Just so happens Lance is being deployed and Colleen and the boys can move in and then they can save money, be by their family members, utilize a good school district, see some friends and have the strength of the Ward.

Happy Mother's Day....my missionary companion...

Happy Mother's Day to my Missionary Companion; Mary Jane Card.  She is always there, always does the right thing, and points the way we should go as a team.  I am looking forward to being with her on this adventure.  This will be the best companion on my two missions yet!  I love you.

Where are you living? What about your house?

Those are the questions everyone is now asking...

Well, we will be within blocks of the Polynesian Cultural Center and BYU Hawaii.  All of it is within walking distance.  We talked to the couple we are replacing and they say it is a nice (5 years old!)  condo and we live on the bottom floor.  It does have three bedrooms and it will have enough room for any of you should you decide to come over and see us!  Really!

The Address is:

Hit me up!...

Our house in Arcadia will also be occupied.  Catherine and Peyton have a house in Valencia/Santa Clarita area, and they move back up there this week.  Colleen and Lance, however, called while we were waiting for our call, and mentioned that Lance was soon to be deployed.  We have since found he will be going to Korea for a year.  That would mean Colleen would be alone for a year in Georgia.

Another answer to prayers, in a way, as we have worked it to have Colleen and the boys move to our home while Lance is gone.  That way, they will be close to her In Laws, have the help of our Ward, go to the local schools, be closer to the Buhlers, and have most everyone within earshot.  Winner.
That's what they are planning.

Looking down our street.  The beach is right there!

Some of you have mentioned you are coming.  Come on!  We hear that people visit the couples here and we have the room.  We know that there is a lot to see in Hawaii, especially Oahu, where we are.  But the Number One attraction that most all people visit is...That's right!  The Polynesian Cultural Center!

BYU Hawaii-Cosmopolitan Landing...

All of the students with whom we will be working, go to BYU Hawaii.  They are on scholarship there on the iWork Program.  Any of you that have been to BYU Provo, know that is a VERY big place with some 30,000 students.  BYU Hawaii is a little different.  The school is pushing, I mean pushing, 3000 students.   

Do the math.  Not very big at all.  Nevertheless, they offer a fully accredited program to all that go there.  Of that 3000 student population, however, there are over 70 countries represented, many of them from the Pacific Rim.  It has a completely different feel than that of Provo.

Football team?  Nope, but they have everything else. Music, yep, but they even have a steel band called the Shaka Steel Band.  You can't find that on the Provo Campus!

Plus, I am sure there is not another Church campus that has more Hawaiian wear on it than that campus.

Consider for a moment that this is a big and confusing campus for many of the students that will attend there.  Coming off the islands, they are not really used to that kind of population and requirements to survive in a University setting.  In talking to one of the iWork Missionaries, they said the students have no problem working at the Polynesian Cultural Center, but attending all of their classes is another issue.  I don't know; it does not sound much different than any freshman student in a way!  I look forward to meeting them.

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck

Last year, my wife and I went to Hawaii for a wedding.  Jovita, our good friend, had a daughter getting married there.  Great time!

Well, we took a few more days and stayed in a condo right across the street from the Polynesian Cultural Center and BYU Hawaii, where we happen to be going for our Mission.  It is always fun to try new food while touring around!  We talked to a newly married couple in our cSoongregation that had just honeymooned in Hawaii and they recommended Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.  

They said it was to "die for" and don't miss it.  They have two trucks on the island and one of them is just up the Highway from Laie where we stayed.  Garlic, lemon shrimp which really is to "die for."  Unbelievable and I cannot wait to go there sometime once we get there.   One of the small perks for being in that area...

So, if you decide to come and see us, you probably will go with us to Giovanni's for some awesome shrimp!  Look them up on Google!

The Hawaiian Temple

Very close to BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center is the Hawaiian Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Opened in 1919, the temple is the first one built outside the Continental United States and is the first built in the Polynesia and Hawaiian areas.  It is only a half mile from the Ocean and is surrounded by beautiful flowers and cascading pools.  It is a rather small temple when you consider that it was only around 10,000 square feet in size when built.  It is now around 40,000 square feet in size.  Besides the sessions conducted in English, it also offers ASL (American Sign Language) sessions and ones in Tongan and Samoan.

While being built, the crew ran out of lumber and construction for the temple ceased.  Not knowing quite what to do, prayers were offered to find a solution.  Two days later, a freighter became caught on a coral reef just off the island.  The Captain of the ship offered the people of the island his entire cargo if they helped him unload it enabling him to get off the reef.  The cargo?  Lumber!  in fact, enough that they could complete the temple.