We've Run Away From Home: February 26 - March 3

    We are thankful we were able to take a couple of more days off to be with Steve and Betty Ann.  Monday was our day to do things in and around Laie.  We started the day off by an early morning visit to Laie Point.
    

       The beauty at the point never gets old.   Since visiting here with Steve and Betty Ann I have found out that people who are daring enough actually jump off of the point.  Apparently, there is a safe place somewhere on the point to jump off and survive.  When I have been out there and observed the waves crashing in on the point, I have no idea way where on the point they could do that.  I would never had the nerve to do it.

     Then we headed to Hukilau Beach and walked along the beach for about 2 miles.  We were going to try to walk all the way to the point on the far end in the picture to the left, but rain clouds were rolling in and we decided to head back to our car.  We just barely made it to the car in time.

 

 After going back home and having breakfast and getting ready for the day, we next went to view a small art exhibit on the BYU-H campus in the McKay Auditorium Lobby.  The exhibit, "She Speaks through Art" showcased student's works of art.

  

    I'm just posting a few of my favorite ones.

This painting above was actually done by one of the senior missionaries, Elder Greg Silva.  It's a painting of the fishponds at Kaneohe Bay.

We then headed over to the Laie Temple grounds.  The temple is closed on Mondays, but we wondered around to the back of the temple.  There's a path that goes up the hill behind the temple to a small gazebo.

We found an old pioneer memorial cemetery on the top of the hill.  The plague reads:

"Here in the shadow of the temple, lies many of our honored pioneer dead.  They who helped establish the true Church in Hawaii and make Laie blossom as a rose."

Most of the grave markers had no markings on them due to the weather eroding the writing off.  From the few we could read they were buried around the early 1900's.  It looked like there were many infants buried there.

  

The views were spectacular from up there, and it was very peaceful.  We were the only people up there.  What a great place to mediate, get away and be alone if you need to.  

At the bottom of the hill near the entrance, was this statue, dedicated to Ma Noaheakamalu Manuhii.  She is a native Hawaiian who took care of Joseph F. Smith, who became very ill when he came to the island as a 15-year-old missionary. Later, in 1909 Joseph F. Smith, now the prophet of the Church, visited Hawaii and told her that she would live to see a temple built in Hawaii.  Three months later in General Conference, President Smith proposed the construction of a temple in Laie.

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Although construction advanced promptly, sadly President Joseph F. Smith did not live to see the Hawaii temple completed among a people he loved so dearly, but “Ma” did. In her nineties and among the first to attend, Ma was carried through the temple to receive her blessings and be sealed to her husband. While in the temple she heard the words of Joseph F. Smith tell her “aloha,” and a dove flew in through an open window and lighted on her bench. Expressing her feeling of deep contentment, Ma passed away a week later.  She is buried in the pioneer cemetery.

Next we headed up to Turtle Bay Resort and looked around.  It's an elite resort on the northeast tip of Oahu. Since all the beaches are public, people who are not staying at the resort can come in and swim at Turtle Bay.  That's Turtle Bay in the background of the picture to the right.  We have hiked out to the point in the background.

This is actually the beach at the resort that looks nice to swim in.  And they don't even charge you to park, you just have to park kind of far away.  The close parking spots are reserved for the actual guests of the resort.

A little further around the North Shore we stopped at Kawala Bay.  It's here where they filmed the famous Banyan tree in Pirates of the Caribbean and lots of other movies and TV shows have been filmed here.

Sitting on the beach at Kawala Bay.

Last place we stopped at on the North Shore was Sunset Beach.  We didn't time it for sunset, but it's still a nice beach to visit.  There are always quite a few people there.  I had to crop out the people that were having a picnic right under the palm tree in the picture to the right.

We did get a pretty good sunset at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We had dinner at Pounders Restaurant in the Marketplace and afterwards did a little browsing in the shops.

We started Tuesday off with an early morning temple session.  

Here's a view looking out from the temple towards the ocean.

Before going to the PCC, we took Steve and Betty Ann on a behind the scenes view to where we work.  The picture to the left is Betty Ann getting a ride in one the carts that Elder Rappleye services monthly in the motor pool.  The carts are a hot commodity at the PCC.  Currently they are slowing all the carts down and setting them on a certain maximum speed per President Grace's (President of the PCC) orders.

Too many students were speeding around the PCC a little too recklessly.  Not too many people are happy about that.  They bring the cart back and say, "There is something wrong with my cart.  It won't go very fast.".  He then has to explain to them that there is nothing wrong, it's now just limited.

Then we took them over to the food warehouse.  Here is a new updated photo of me at my desk.  The poster above my desk is the "Our Kuleana", meaning our responsibility, encouraging all employees to be accountable for all they do.  It states our vision - To spread aloha around the world. Our mission - To share the cultures, diversity and spirit of Polynesia in a unique and uplifting way that blesses and inspires all who visit, while contributing to the educational development and growth of all employees. 

 The big letters I, M, U, and A stand for Integrate Beliefs, Magnify Employees, Uplift Guests, and Achieve Excellence.

Of course, we made sure we did the canoe ride at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

   We never know who we are going to see at the PCC from our YSA ward.  This time we saw our 2nd counselor in the Bishopric performing in the show at Aotearoa village (New Zealand).

This time we got our picture taken with Kap, the star of the Samoa village shows.  He's been at the PCC for over 40 years.  He climbs coconut trees, does fire knife dancing, is a stand-up comedian in the Samoa shows, and displays his art in a gallery at the PCC.  Although I have heard his routine several times, it's fun to watch the audience's reaction to all of his jokes. He never fails to get them laughing.

Steve and Elder Rappleye learning a Tahitian dance in the village of Tahiti.

We also got pictures after the Ha show with some of the cast members.   You can't take pictures during the show, but they invite you to come down on stage and take pictures with the cast after the show.  No one that we have taken to the show has wanted to do that, but I knew Betty Ann would want to do it.  The picture to the right is Fiji cast members.

The lighting on the stage wasn't always great for taking pictures, but these dancers are from the island of Hawaii.

Pictured above is the stunning waterfall backdrop on the stage with two of the Tahitian dancers.

      Wednesday was the last day of Steve and Betty Ann's visit. We can't have a visit with Betty Ann without involving some shopping, so in the morning we went to the swap meet at  Aloha Stadium.  I was able to find an Hawaiian outfit for Deklan's birthday that is coming up in March.  It's always good to have Betty Ann around to help get the vendor to lower their price and get the best deals.  Then we stopped at Sam's Club.  We aren't members, but Betty Ann and Steve are.  It was nice to shop and get some different items there that Costco doesn't carry.  Around 3pm we said our goodbyes.  They headed to the airport, and we headed back to Hau'ula.  Another great visit with family here in paradise.

On Thursday, leap day, it was back to work at the PCC. I've decided I don't like leap day because I had a rough day at my job. My brain was probably still on vacation mode. We had a Ask Me shift that night.   It's the first time we were stationed by the Shaka statue.  It's my favorite spot to work.  You get asked to take people's picture by the statue.  We also had someone come up to us and said, 'You guys look way too young to be out here working. Do your parents know you are here?"  That helped make me feel a little better after having a bad day at work.  I told her we had run away from home. 

      Saturday morning, I woke up in extreme pain.  I could hardly move.  I was having spasms in my lower back. We were debating the night before about going on a hike with some of the other senior couples or going to the canoe races at Kahana Bay.  My pain in my back was definitely not going to allow us to go hiking. 

     

       I did manage to get myself ready despite the pain, and we went down to the canoe races.  The water was pretty choppy, and there were a few near miss crashes.  The BYU-H students were having a great time.  I'm not sure how much practice, if any, the teams had on the water, but what they lacked in practice and experience, they made up with enthusiasm and youthful energy.  In the pictures above it shows them carrying the canoe out of the water and then bailing water out of the canoe.  Between races they would have to get all the water out of the canoes so it wouldn't slow them down.

There was a band of drummers and ukulele players beating away the whole time the races were going on.

 Canoe teams launching out.  They would have to paddle out to the certain distance

 where the starter buoys were. 

 

Here they are getting all lined up to begin the race.  Then they would blow an air horn and they would paddle like crazy.

 If you look closely, you can see three canoes racing towards the shore.  The boat with the flags is the starter boat.

Here's a race that was neck and neck.  It was hard to tell who won from our spot on the beach. The guys on the paddle boards on the right-hand side of the picture are the judges at the finish line.

A team celebrating in the canoe after a win.

Another winning team posing for a photo on the beach.

A view of the canoes during a break.  You can see how long they are. Because of the pain in my back, I could only tolerate being there for about an hour, so we didn't get to see the finals.
We found out on Sunday that a student from our YSA ward, Trae, was on the second place team.  Somehow in all the pictures I took, I couldn't find one with him in it.

      

      Sunday afternoon was our monthly munch and mingle.  We also honor and sing "Aloha 'Oe" to all the missionaries that are leaving during the month.  This was the first month where there were some missionaries leaving that we know and grew to love in the short 4 months we have been here.

In the picture to the left is Su Jones, the second from the left.  She works in the food warehouse with me.  She has been here almost 23 months, and they are really going to miss her in the warehouse, especially Kapu'u.  I am a little worried that they will be asking me to do a lot of the "extra" things that they are always having Sister Jones do.  The new sister coming in to take her place has big shoes to fill. 

And Elder Craighead on the end has worked with Elder Rappleye in the motor pool.  He is an excellent mechanic and also will be hard to replace.  You can tell that they are much loved by all the leis that were given to them that night.