A Celebration of Life and More FESTPAC: June 10 - 16, 2024

       

     This week was like Culture Night revisited, FESTPAC, I mentioned in last week's blog post, was continuing all week long.  The nice thing was that we didn't have to travel all the way to Honolulu to participate in the festivities.  Each day (except Wednesday) between 11 AM and 1PM at the Pacific Theater in the Hukilau Marketplace different island groups came to perform.  

     The great thing was that most everyone, employees, senior missionaries, and the community wanted to enjoy the performances, so we were able to take a two-hour lunch break and go watch the shows.  Some days that meant staying a little later in order to get all the work done, but it was well worth it.

      The first performing group that came on Monday was Tonga.  They had a large group of performers and performed several different dances.  It was a great way to start the week.

Some were small groups, and some were larger groups performing. All were awesome.

      We were honored to have a Tongan dignitary there, the Honorable Frederica Lupe'uluiva Fatafehi'o Lapaha Tuita, a member of the royal family, visited and performed.  The picture to the right is her on the right with her attendant.  Tonga is the only Polynesian island that has been self-ruled continuously and never colonized.

The second performing group was the island nation of Niue. It's a little island between Tonga and the Cook Islands. They are a self-governing island under the protection of New Zealand.

The costumes were colorful and the dances delightful to watch. The pictures in the collage above is of the large group that performed. The pictures in the collage to the right are a small women's group of dancers, and the pictures in the collage below are from the men's group that performed.

Although most of the performing groups are from the same islands that are represented at the PCC, there are some that we are totally unfamiliar with, and the island of Niue is one of those island nations. Someone mentioned that serving here at the PCC is like serving a mission in multiple nations all at once because of all the different countries that the students come from. I'm just glad I don't have to learn all those different languages!

     Tuesday is a busy day for me in my job, so I had to miss most of Guam's performance.  I caught just the last few minutes of it and from what I saw, it was a favorite.  I was sad that I missed most of it.

American Samoa also performed. They are a bigger group than most. They had a choir that sang a few songs and although I couldn't understand a word they were saying because it was all in Samoan, the singing was excellent. The pictures to the left are a dance that the men did.

Here's the ladies' dance.

The picture to the left is, as far as I know, a Siva Samoan dance. A Siva dance is a slow, fluid, graceful storytelling dance traditionally performed by a young woman (center front). The movements are rich in symbolism mimicking nature and daily life which allows the dancer to tell stories and express emotions through their movements. During this dance, people from the audience came on stage and threw money at the dancer, that is what is lying all over the floor of the stage.

Here's a picture of the whole American Samoa group - choir and dancers.

We had a bonus third performance on Tuesday. A performing group from Taiwan performed for us. It was just a musical performance, no dancing.

Tuesday night my dad flew in with my Uncle Don and Cousin Tina to attend my Uncle Jay's celebration of life on Thursday. My Aunt Gwen flew in as well. My dad stayed with us. My Uncle Don, Aunt Gwen, and Cousin Tina stayed at the Marriott Courtyard adjacent to the Polynesian Cultural Center. On Wednesday I was my dad's chauffeur so he could go do things with his brother and sister. Elder Rappleye went into work at the motor pool since we were taking Thursday off for the celebration of life.

They all wanted to spend time at the beach. We just walked across the street from the Marriott Courtyard and down to the beach. I took the picture to the right of my dad, Uncle Don, and Aunt Gwen enjoying the beach on a grassy spot in the shade. My cousin Tina and I enjoyed the sunny stretch of the beach. You can see the hotel in the background of the picture, that's how close the beach was to the hotel.

Reminiscent of Wrathall Family Reunion days when we would have family photos taken, my Aunt Faith had arranged for a photographer to come take group pictures on Pounder's beach. The top picture is the whole group. It's all of Uncle Jay and Aunt Faith's family, Aunt Gwen, Uncle Don, my dad, Elder Rappleye and me.

The bottom picture is my dad, me and Elder Rappleye.

Here are family groups - top left is my cousin Theresa and her family. They live in North Carolina; top right is my cousin Steven and his significant other, Olivia. They live in Laie next to my Aunt Faith; bottom left is my cousin Michelle and her two children. She lives on Hawaii, the big island; and bottom right is my cousin Jay and his son. They live in Colorado.

The family groups to the left are top -my Aunt Faith with all her children: Kenji, Theresa, Julie, Michelle, Jay, Steven, and Melody; bottom left is my cousin Julie and her family. They live here in Laie next to my Aunt Faith; and bottom right is my cousin Melody and her family. They live in Texas.

After the photo shoot, we all gathered at an Airbnb in Hau'ula where most of my cousins were staying for a delicious family dinner. I had baked a cake earlier in the day to bring to the dinner. It was good to have some visiting time to catch up with everyone's lives. I haven't seen most of my Hawaii cousins in 35 years.

Thursday morning was the celebration of life at the church across the street from my uncle's house. Here's a picture of the program. He died two days before his 91st birthday, two days before Mother's day, and right before their 55th wedding anniversary.

They had set up this display in the cultural hall along with tables on either side of the hall with pictures and memorabilia of Jay 's life. There was an old accordion (I didn't know my Uncle Jay played the accordion), a baby blessing gown, and some of his favorite shirts.

Part of the program allowed family and friends to go up and share memories of Jay. The top picture on the right is my Uncle Don and my dad sharing some memories. The bottom left picture is my cousin Julie's daughter and husband performing a medley of some of my Uncle Jay's favorite songs including Give Said the Little Stream and Love at Home. The bottom right picture is my cousin Kenji sharing some of his memories. I shared my first memory of my uncle when he came to visit our family in Seattle when I was a little girl before he was moved to Hawaii. My siblings and I gave him lots of dad practice

(he wasn't married yet) because he would play with us and give us lots of attention. I also shared my last memory of him when my dad came over to visit in March and we all went to dinner. I enjoyed listening to my dad and Uncle Jay share stories of growing up. Some of the stories I had heard before, but this time I got to hear my uncle's version which wasn't always the same as my dad's.

After the celebration of life, my dad and his siblings, and cousin Tina went to the Polynesian Cultural Center to enjoy the islands and show.

Elder Rappleye went to work at the PCC after the celebration. My dad had opted to not eat at the luau, so when he was ready to come home for dinner Elder Rappleye met up with him and brought him home. When we took him back to the PCC for the Ha show, we ran into a high school friend of our son, Neal. Coincidentally, Rob Goetz, Neal's friend, was here visiting his parents who also serve at the PCC.

We missed the FESTPAC performances on Thursday because of my uncle's celebration of life, but on Friday we were back at work. Fridays are a busy day for me, so I opted to work through Aotearoa's performance because we had seen it down in Honolulu. We caught the tail end of their performance. You can see in the picture to the right the crowd giving them a standing ovation. That's how popular the New Zealand group is. They are doing the haka in the picture.

The second group of the day was from the Marshall Islands. They started out carrying a canoe onto the stage.

Although their dances were fairly repetitive, it was fun to watch because it was different than what the other groups had done.

While my dad was packing and resting up for his long flight home, we had an Ask Me assignment at the PCC. We had another fun encounter with people we knew from back home. The Bowles, Bryce and Rosanne, from our home stake were visiting the PCC and came walking by. It's always so fun to see familiar faces.

Then a short time later, Aunt Gwen, Uncle Don, and Tina came by. They were back at the PCC seeing some of the things they missed on Thursday. There is so much to see and do at the PCC, that it really takes more than one day to see everything. Luckily, the ticket you buy lets you return any of the 3 days after your original visit.

Bright and early Saturday morning, 5AM to be exact, we got up and met a group of 14, mostly senior missionaries, met at Laie Park. The plan was to hike to Laie Falls. Last time they planned this hike we were planning on going, but I woke up with tremendous back pain and there was no way I would be able to hike 7 miles. So, we were excited that the weather and timing finally was right for another group hike to Laie Falls. The pictures to the right are some views along the trail. You would be surprised at the pine trees along the trail. I am told that they are Cook pines, commonly known as Hawaiian Christmas trees.

Elder Archibald was nice enough to drive us from Laie Park to the trailhead, which took about a mile off the length of the hike. The upper right picture shows the group of people who rode in the back of the truck. The bottom right picture shows our group as we stopped to take a picture going up the trail. The upper left picture shows a part of the group as we were headed back down the trail. The bottom left picture shows the group at our destination. The main waterfall is behind us. We are on a flat portion between the main waterfall/pool and the lower waterfall area.

The main waterfall is the lower left picture to the right. The lower right picture shows me, Elder Rappleye, and others crossing a portion of the trail that is very narrow. Thankfully they have a rope that you can hang onto as you cross to steady yourself and makes it a lot safer. There were other places where you had to use ropes to scramble traverse the trail.

The top picture shows the view behind us as we stopped to regroup.

As we came down the trail, I couldn't help but think about my sister breaking her leg at the end of her hike a week ago and hoped that I would NOT have a "twinner" event and do the same thing on this hike. Then I hoped that thought would not tempt fate and jinx me.

The views along the trail were amazing! Whether you were looking out across the mountains or looking back towards the coast.

The reviews I read about this trail said it was a popular hike, but we did not see anyone besides our group on the trail while we were hiking up. On our way down, we did encounter a few people headed up the trail. We are so glad to have been able to do this hike with the other senior missionaries that came along. It was exactly what we were needing to rejuvenate us in our joy of serving here in Hawaii. Friday had been a hard, exhausting day, at least for me. Being out among God's handiwork, with great companionship, and enjoying some good hard physical exertion was just what my soul needed.

Despite being hot and sweaty, we wanted to go see the FESTPAC performances because it was the last day. We arrived late but caught about half of the French Polynesia performance.

There is a lot of national pride when these island nations perform. Many wave flags of their country. I caught the picture on the far left of the Tahitian waving the Tahiti flag, Tahiti being the largest and most populated island of French Polynesia.

The women dancers came up into the audience to perform on the stairs in their last dance.

The last performance we saw was the island nation of Tuvalu, a small island nation in Oceania, southeast of Tonga. It was their first time participating in FESTPAC. Their group was smaller than most and not as polished because of it being their first time participating and the small population of Tuvalu.

The rest of Saturday was spent recuperating from our hike and getting ready for the Sabbath. We both hit the sack early that night.

Sunday was Father's Day. I had totally forgotten about it being Father's Day until late Saturday afternoon. I am grateful that I still have my father alive and living close by us (when we are in Utah). It is a blessing that most do not have when they are in their mid-sixties.

It was especially nice that I could spend a few days this week, right before Father's Day with him here in Hawaii. I even spent Saturday doing something that my dad taught me to love - hiking. He would take me, my twin sister, and older brother hiking in the Cascade Mountains when we were young. He even took us to hike Mt. Timpanogos in Utah county when I was 10 years old. That was the first time I ever climbed to the top of Timpanogos, and I have been to the top many times since, but none as memorable as my first time. I credit my dad for instilling in me my love of the outdoors and hiking.

Elder Rappleye has not had his dad with us for Father's Day for 20 years now. We truly miss his presence, wisdom, and as our son Derek said when he was a little kid, "his jokeses".

Elder Rappleye enjoyed all the calls he got from those who made him a father. He's proud of all of our children and for the boys who have all now become fathers too.

"A strong father means a strong family" - Melvina Young

"A father's faith is his family's guiding light" - Jeannie Hund

"Dad - tiny little word, great big difference" - Keely Chace

"The best gift a man can give to the world is to be a good father." - Renee Daniels