Back To Work: July 15 - 21, 2024

       Since July 1st, we have been on the summer schedule for the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Which means we don't have Wednesday's off until the middle of August.  So for 7 weeks we will only have Saturdays to do all of our chores and play, which means we might not have much time for play or exploring the island.  Last week we took a break and did lot of fun activities and exploring with family. But now for the next 5 weeks we will be working 5 days a week.

    In the Food Warehouse we have had a lot of workers leave, and have 4 open positions, and 2 new employees.

    This is cute Rachel.  She is from the Philippines, and a very small petite girl.  They have to lift some pretty heavy boxes and 50 pound bags of food items.  I'm not sure how she does it.  Hopefully they are team lifting the heavy items.

    She always has a beautiful smile on her face.  She has been working at the warehouse for about a month when I got this picture with her.

      Ralph is the other new employee.  He is from the Philippines also and started working about the same time as Rachel.  Both Rachel and Ralph seem to get along well together, so I asked them if they knew each other before starting to work at the warehouse.  They said they did not.  Sister Sauve and I think Ralph and Rachel make a cute couple, so we are hoping for wedding bells for those two.  We are both going to be trying our best to be matchmakers with Rachel and Ralph.

     On our way home from our Ask Me Shift, we saw a limo parked in the PCC parking lot.  I had to stop and get a picture because the last time I saw a limo in the parking lot I didn't get a picture.  Now I have proof that rich and possibly famous people visit the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Maybe someday we will actually get to see who these rich people are.

Elder Rappleye found his second chicken's egg in with the batteries of a cart this week as he was servicing the cart.  Not sure why the chicken's like to lay their eggs on the batteries (might be because it's a warm place) and we're not sure how they can fit into the engine to even lay those eggs.

We had our monthly senior devotional on Tuesday night.  The picture on the left is the group of missionaries singing the song, "His Eye is on the Sparrow" from the Hymns for home and church.  That is the first time we had heard this new hymn.  I was asked to sing in this group, but since the practices were going to be the week Scott and his girls were here, I declined.  I wanted to spend my time with them as much as I could.  From left to right in the picture:  Sister MiLinda Hudnall, Sister Jackie Lee, Sister Julie Coleman, Sister Tamie Taylor, Sister Suzanne Ratelle, Sister Cynthia Jacobson, Sister Sandra Van Bloom, Sister Jenise Zundel, Elder Brian Coleman, Elder Larry Fisher, Elder David Wayt, Elder Robert Thompson, and Elder Kent Goates.

Sister Delsa Moe, vice president of Cultural Presentations at the Polynesian Cultural Center was our speaker. She told us how the PCC came to host some of the events of FESTPAC that was held in Hawaii in June (see my blog post June 10 - 16) and told us stories of how the spirit/environment of the PCC touched the lives of those who came to perform. One man who is a member of the church, but has not been attending for years was touched to go back to church with his family because he wants his daughter to grow up and attend BYU-H and work at the PCC.  Another man who has been studying to be a minister of another faith but having some doubts about continuing came and after participating at the PCC and engaging with the employees decided to go back home and hear the missionary lessons and has just gotten baptized.  When the member of the royal family from Tonga came to the PCC she had only planned on staying for the Tongan performance and then going back to Honolulu.  After the performance she changed her mind and stayed to tour the PCC and enjoy the luau.  She ended up staying all day and left with a very good impression of the Polynesian Cultural Center.  

It was good to hear these examples of the influence of the PCC in people's lives.  As we work here behind the scenes doing menial everyday tasks, it's hard to feel like what we are doing is making much of a difference.  Our efforts seem so small and unnoticed, but "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass" (Alma 37:6).  As everyone does their part in making the PCC the best it can be and sharing the light of the gospel in what they do, the hand of the Lord works His miracles in the lives of those ready to receive His spirit and let it swelleth and sprouteth and begin to grow (Alma 32) in their hearts and lives.  Not only is the Polynesian Cultural Center a great place for tourist to visit to learn about the islands and culture of Polynesia, it is a place that spreads the spirit of Christ throughout the world.  Because what we have learned is that the spirit of Christ is the spirit of Aloha.

Just as a side note, Delsa comes to the pool to exercise in the mornings at the same time I am there doing my water aerobics workout.

On Wednesday afternoon, I went to my final dentist appointment to finish the dental work of my root canal! It's so good to finally finish that process 102 days from the time my tooth started hurting.  Glad to have that experience in my rear-view mirror.

      On Thursday night we had a Luau assignment at Hale Aloha.  It was my turn to help at the entrance and Elder Rappleye was at the exit.  The woman in the picture to the left came up to me and asked me where I was from.  I told her South Jordan, UT.  She then asked me if I was Angela Jorgensen's ( our oldest daughter) mom.  That surprised me because I didn't know who she was at all.  Then she told me she was Sara Armstrong's (one of Angela's good friends) mom.  I have meet Sara before, but not her mom.  Her whole family seemed to know Angela, so I had to get a picture of the gang to send back to Angela saying, "Look who found me!"  We just happened to be substituting for another couple that night and normally wouldn't have been there.  It's amazing how many times that has happened to us.

      All week after work I was doing laundry to catch up because I haven't done any the whole week Scott's family was here.  Then Saturday it was cleaning day and grocery shopping day.  It had been two weeks since we had done a grocery shopping trip, so the cupboards and refrigerator were quite empty.  

    On the way home from Honolulu, we tried to order a Little Caesar's pizza online for pick up in Kaneohe with our half price online coupon deal, but their website was not working.  It just kept showing "Oops, didn't work. Try again."  When we finally got to the store in Kaneohe, we still had not been able to order our pizza.  I go inside and told them my problem and asked if I could still get the pizza half off even though I couldn't order it online.  The area assistant manager just happened to be there, and he offered us the pizza for free.  I told him I was willing to pay for it, but he insisted it was on the house.  So, I gratefully accepted it, and we headed home to Hau'ula 40 minutes away.  The pizza smelled so good that we couldn't wait until we got home to eat it.  We both ate a piece of pizza on the way home while it was "hot and ready".  Here's a picture of Elder Rappleye eating his pizza and driving home.

      Sunday for the piano lesson class, they had two new students who needed to do the conducting course before they start the keyboarding course.  The week before Sister Coleman had taught them their first lesson, but she was not there this week, so they asked me to teach it since I had taught the class with Sister Bodily during winter term.  Sister Bodily has gone home, so Iza, a student who has graduated and was in our YSA ward Fall/Winter term is helping me teach.  Thanush is one of the students.  He is from India.  Mariella is the other student and she is from the Philippines.  With only two students we should be able to get through the conducting course a little quicker than last time when we had 6 students.  I'll have to get a picture to post next week.

      

 

Enjoying Paradise with Family: July 8 - 14, 2024

     This week's post is going to be mainly about all the activities we did with Scott's family while they were here visiting us.  We had reserved Monday morning at 10AM to go hike Diamond Head Crater.  It's an hour drive from where we live to the crater.  If you don't arrive within 30 minutes of your reservation you lose your reservation, and they won't let you in. 

     Scott's family was staying in a condo at Turtle Bay Resort about 15 minutes away from us.  They were going to come pick us up on the way to the crater.  They needed to be at our house no later than 9AM to get there by 10AM.  They were running late, so we were stressing about getting there in time.  We decided to walk down the hill to the highway to save them some time.  Even having them pick us up down by the highway, we were pushing the 30-minute deadline.  Luckily, we made it will 5 minutes to spare.

      The hike up Diamond Head crater is about the same length as the hike we took on Saturday to Manoa falls, but this one seemed harder.  It was hot because there was no shade cover, and it was crowded - lots of people going up and down the trail and the trail was not as wide as Manoa.  Although the views from the top of the crater are amazing (pictures to the right), and I'm glad we did the hike, it was a little disappointing.  Probably going in July during the peak summer months made it hotter and more crowded.  I would still say it was worth it.

      Here we are at the top with Waikiki and Honolulu in the background.

  

    On the way down, you descend 90 stairs and then turn left and go through a tunnel. When we did this hike 35 years ago, I remember the tunnel, but not the stairs. 

   After the hike, we made a quick stop at the King Kamehameha statue in downtown Honolulu.  King Kamehameha united all the Hawaiian Islands in 1810.  The building behind the statue is Ali'iolani Hale, home to the Hawai'i State Supreme Court.

   We drove home along the North Shore so we could stop at Ted's Bakery and get a cake for Caroline's birthday on Wednesday.

   When we got back to Turtle Bay Resort, we headed for the beach.  I didn't get any pictures at the beach, so here's one I found online.  The girls were a little slow about getting in, but once they did, they had fun.  We had brought two boogie boards from our pad that they used.  The weather was threating to rain, so Elder Rappleye and I walked back to the condo while everyone else stayed.  I didn't know that Scott had put his car keys in my beach bag, so they ended up stranded and had to walk back to the condo too.  Luckily, it was less than a 10-minute walk, but Scott had to walk back to retrieve the car.

      Tuesday morning, we let the girls sleep in while Scott, Elder Rappleye, and I attended the temple.  It was Scott's first time in the Laie temple.  We spent a long time in the celestial room after the session.

   After the temple, we got everyone together to go to Waimea Valley and Falls.  It's up along the North Shore.  We had gone to Waimea Falls 35 years ago when we came to Hawaii for a Wrathall reunion. 

   Scott was only 7 1/2 years old, but he remembers swimming in the pool and trying to swim into the waterfall.  Back then it was not required to have a life jacket like they do now and there were not so many people in the pool.

     No one got in the water, but the girls enjoyed putting their feet in the water and enjoying the surroundings.

     Here's the men in front of the waterfall.

      The girls, minus Gabi, with Grandma.  Gabi's flipflops had busted on the walk up to the falls.  They were selling flipflops near the falls, so Grandpa took her over to buy a new pair for her.

Elder Rappleye and I with the falls in the background.

     Had to include these two pictures on the left.  This is what the girls would do a lot during their visit.  We would take their pictures like the one on the right-hand side, and then they would gather around and look at the pictures to see how they turned out.  Sometimes they would say, "that's not good, got to do it again". Other times they would just laugh and giggle as they looked at the pictures.

      Wednesday was our Polynesian Cultural Center Day.  Here's our group at the beginning of the day posing at the Shaka statue.

    

     The tour guides do a welcome show right at the entrance right before the PCC opens.  It's a lot of fun and high energy.  They introduce all the islands in a short music and dance show.

  

     They get the guests pumped up to enjoy the islands by involving them in the performance.  Here's Scott's girls joining in on the fun.

      It was Caroline's birthday, and she was the one who chose to go to the PCC on her birthday.  

     I made up a treasure hunt that she had to do while visiting the PCC.  There were certain activities she had to participate in before she could get a little gift and the next clue.  

 

  The first thing she had to do was receive a Happy Birthday pin from the employee that puts on her waistband.

    The next thing she had to do was take the canoe tour on the lagoon that takes you through the islands.

    

       Another one of the activities was in the Hawaiian Island where all the girls learned a hula dance.  They look pretty good.

   One of the best shows at the PCC is the Aotearoa Island show.  It's one you don't want to miss and hard to get a good seat.  The students do a stick song game, poi ball dance, and a haka.  All very well done and very entertaining.

 

     In the Aotearoa Island the girls tried their hand at Poi twirling.  It's harder than the island girls make it look.

   In the Mission Settlement, we all took a ukulele lesson.  Sister Condie and Sister Lee, (in the bottom left picture to the left) played and sang a special Happy Birthday song to Caroline for her birthday.

   In the island of Tonga, they do a drum show that involves members of the audience.  We have seen the show 3 or 4 times and so far, have not been volunteered.  They usually always pick men, so I'm safe.  The top left picture to the right is the girls getting their picture taken with the drummer.  This show is also one of my favorites.

   The Tongan show also includes a clapping game that everyone in the audience gets to participate in.

      These are pictures of the show in the island of Tahiti.  They teach the women how to shake their hips to dance, and then they teach the men how to dance.  The bottom left picture is Scott trying to do the men's dance.

      The Samoan show is also one of the top shows to see in the PCC, especially if you like fire-knife dancing and lots of good jokes.

    We took time out between visiting the islands of the PCC and the Ha, night show to celebrate Caroline's birthday with cake and toasts with Martinelli's.

   Here's our group before the Ha show started.  No photography allowed during the show.

 

But after the show you can go down on the stage to get pictures with the cast.  It's so much fun!  The girls loved meeting, talking, and taking pictures with the cast.  At the end of their vacation, it was a unanimous vote - Polynesian Cultural Center was everyone's favorite activity.

     On Thursday we went to Pearl Harbor.  Scott has been there when he was 7 years old, but I've sure he doesn't remember much about it.  None of the girls have ever been there.  It was pretty crowded, and we went with no reservation so we weren't sure how long we would have to wait.  They had a new standby system that worked really well because we didn't have to wait very long before we could get in line for the boat ride out to the memorial.

      Out on the memorial it's always very sobering seeing all the names on the wall of remembrance and seeing the boat sunken under the water.  The pictures to the bottom right were taken as they viewed the wall of remembrance, and the top picture shows part of the wall of remembrance in the background.

      On our way home from Pearl Harbor we stopped at the 7/11 store in Kaneohe to get free Slurpee's.  Except for Caroline who doesn't like Slurpee's.  We haven't had Slurpee's in years, probably decades!

   We also got lucky and saw that Sadie, the monk seal was on the beach in Hau'ula on our way home, so we stopped to let Scott and his girls see a seal up close and personal.  We have seen Sadie several times but have not yet caught her awake!  She's always snoozing.

     Every night we would eat dinner at the condo where Scott and the girls were staying.  We made it an early night because the next day we were going to go in to work at the PCC and let the girls sleep in.

   

      On Friday, they decided they wanted to go back to the PCC because they liked it so much and there were things they didn't have time to do on Wednesday.

    These pictures show them playing a Maori stick game.  Everyone starts holding a stick in front of them in a big circle.  When the person in the middle calls out right or left in Maori, everyone moves whatever direction was called out and grabs the stick next to them before it falls to the ground.  If you let the stick drop, you are out of the game.

    The pictures to the left are showing them doing the spear throwing activity in the island of Tahiti.  The bottom picture shows the Tahiti native showing how to throw the spear stick.  The top picture shows Scott's technic.  He threw the javelin in high school, so he was pretty good.  He almost hit one of the targets.  I think the Tahiti native was pretty impressed.  I guess not too many guests get their spears close to the target.

      They got to paddle their own canoe in the lagoon.  You can see Ella in the top picture in the front of the boat dipping her hand in the water.  She did not have to paddle.

     They even took the tram tour from the Polynesian Cultural Center to the Laie temple by way of BYU-Hawaii.  We had not taken that tour before either.  Sister Lau, one the of junior missionaries (on the right-hand side in the bottom left picture), was one of our tour guides.  She served in our singles ward several months ago.

    One last group of random pictures from our PCC visit.  From top left going clockwise - Me and the girls with the Rapi Nui statues behind us, group picture in from of the main waterfall, removing the pig from the imu for the luau, Scott at the Polynesia Football Hall of Fame, learning to play the derua in the island of Fiji, and a stick game in Aotearoa.

      The Polynesian Cultural Center is as magical as Disneyland in a different sort of way - spreading the spirit of Aloha to all who visit.  

      Saturday morning, we headed to the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.  It is the best place to find souvenirs at reasonable prices.  Open air booths with lots of vendors selling clothing, jewelry, leis, and lots of other things all around the outside of the stadium.  You can spend hours browsing and shopping.  The girls all knew they wanted to get dresses, so that was the main focus.  I had a shopping list as well of things I needed to get.  It only took us a couple of hours to find all the things we were looking for and everyone left happy.  I wish I had thought to snap some pictures.  

     After all the shopping we were ready for lunch.  Everybody could agree on Chick-fil-A for lunch, and there was one close by, but it was just a drive through with no dining option.  It wasn't hard to find a beach park to eat our lunch at. Wailupe Beach Park is just a small beach area on the southeast side of Oahu.

   

  We took the long southern route around the island home to show them more of the island before they had to go home the next day.  

    We stopped at Halona Blowhole Lookout.  It's always super windy there.  We watched the water blow up through the hole like a geyser for a while.

   Then we headed to Makapu'u Point Lighthouse.  It was a hot steep trail because it was late afternoon, but everyone made it and the views make it well worth the hike.  It's always pretty windy there as well.

    It was later than we had hoped when we got back to home base at Turtle Bay.  We left the girls at the condo to start packing for their departure the next day.  Elder Rappleye and Scott took the rent car to the PCC motor pool to clean and vacuum out the rental car to turn it in, and I went home to get supplies for dinner.  We all finished each of our assignments and got back to the condo about the same time.  It's nice to have dinner with Scott and the girls because they all know how to cook, so they all help out.  

      Sunday was our last day together.  Just as Scott was leaving to come to church, his car wouldn't start.  The battery was dead.  It would take a long time for the rental company to come bring a new battery, so instead Elder Rappleye was able to get into the PCC motor pool and grabbed the jump starter.  We brought it to the resort and were able to jump start his car.  My then it was too late to make it to our YSA ward's sacrament meeting, so we went to the 10:30am Hau'ula family ward.  We should have gone to sacrament meeting in my Aunt Faith's ward building, but I didn't think of it.  I'm not sure what time her meeting is, but we might have run into her, or we could have gone across the street after church to visit her.  We were just so rattled about the car problems we were not thinking very good.

      Scott had to be checked out of his condo by 10AM, so after church (and after we had jump started his car again) we headed to our pad so they could change into traveling clothes, have something to eat, and even a short nap before heading to the airport.  We were hoping to take them to Chinaman's Hat and the Pali Lookout before heading to the airport, but with the car battery problems we weren't sure it would work out. 

      We did stop at Chinaman's Hat beach park (Kualoa Regional Park) and we kept the car running (Elder Rappleye stayed in the car) while I took their family picture (possibly a Christmas card photo).   So, it was just a short quick stop.  Then we headed to Honolulu.  We stopped at Costco to fill up Scott's rental car with gas.  He had to turn the car off for that.  We thought we were going to have to jump start it again, but it started back up on its own after filling the tank.  We thought the long drive to Honolulu must have charged the battery back up.  There was still about an hour before they needed to be at the airport and it was almost sunset, so thinking the car battery problem had been solved, we headed to Ala Moana beach park to view the sunset on their final night in Hawaii.

     It was a gorgeous sunset from Magic Island, a section of Ala Moana Beach.  Apparently, it is a popular place for tourists and local alike to be at sunset.  The park was hopping and parking was tricky.  The hardest part was after the sunset when EVERYONE was leaving the park.  Scott's car again wouldn't start, so we had to jump start it again!  It was a long wait to get out of the park, so we were a little nervous about Scott turning in his rental car and getting to the airport in time.  It was a little close, but they made it.  It was definitely hard to say goodbye.  

      We enjoyed every minute of their visit.  Although, we didn't spend much time the past week doing our assignments at the PCC, we were in a way doing missionary work since all of Scott's girls are not baptized members of the church (their mother won't allow it).  We are hoping that being with us, visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center and temple Visitor's Center, and coming to church with us they were able to feel the Holy spirit in their hearts and hopefully one day come into the fold of God to enjoy the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.  God is a God of miracles.  It was a miracle that they were able to come have this experience with us in Hawaii, so we believe and pray for miracles, just as President Russell M. Nelson has counseled us to do.