More Tragedy, New Student Workers, and More Beach time/Hiking: September 2 - 8, 2024

      Monday was Labor Day, but the Polynesian Cultural Center is open on most holidays, so we are expected to work despite it being a holiday.  On Friday, I was surprised to be told I didn't have to come in on Monday.  Most of the vendor's that deliver on Monday were closed for the holiday, so it was going to be a slow morning.  So instead, I was super busy on Friday getting my Monday work done so I could take Monday off.  Elder Rappleye on the other hand had to work half a day on Labor Day.  Since I usually work the holidays, he had already told the other missionary couple out at the motor pool that he would work Monday since he thought I would be working, and they could take it off.  I drove Elder Rappleye into work on Monday, then hopped on the bike that we keep at the motor pool and took a 5 1/2-mile bike ride through Laie and up towards Kahuku along the bike trail and back.  After the bike ride, I headed home to do some cleaning and laundry.  I went back to the PCC and picked Elder Rappleye up around 11:30am.  It's a good thing Elder Rappleye and Elder Tam, the service missionary, were there on Monday morning.  Elder Rappleye said he was very busy helping people who needed their services.  Elder Tam was left to hold down the fort for the afternoon. We went home, had a quick lunch and then headed to Kaneohe to get some groceries and a birthday present for Elder Gammon, who is in our district.  His birthday is on September 3rd. 

     We had to get back to Laie by 3:30pm to get ready for our shift helping at the Hale Ohana luau. (Editor's note: for those of you who read this in last week's post I was mistaken and wrote that we did this on Saturday when it was actually Monday.)

     This is the sunset that greeted us after our shift and heading to our car to go home.

   We have had 4 new employees hired at the Food Warehouse - all boys.  Kali (far left in picture), just graduated from high school and lives in Laie and is what they call a community worker because he is not a student at BYU-H.  Bryce, next to Kali, is also a community worker and lives with his grandparents in Laie.  Jaz, second from right, is from the Philippines and is a student at BYU-H and is in the YSA ward we serve in.  Frank, far right, is from the Philippines and worked in the Food Warehouse during the summer and liked the work schedule so well, that he transferred over to be a permanent worker on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  They are all hard workers and are catching on quickly on what to do and how things work in the warehouse.  They are all wearing the warehouse uniform - safety shirts that help the forklift drivers spot them on the floor and not run over them.  I do not wear the safety shirts, so when I go out into the warehouse, I have to be extra careful not to get hit by the forklift.  We now are almost fully staffed, just missing one full-time employee.  Seven of the student workers are from the Philippines, one from Japan, and three from Laie.  We also have one graduate worker from the Philippines on an academic internship.  Only Jared, Saturo, and Aurel were working in the warehouse when I arrived here and started my mission.  That's a lot of turn over.

     To give the student workers in the Food Warehouse a bit of encouragement at the start of the Fall semester, I prepared and handed out some school supplies and fun items with encouraging words on Tuesday, the day before classes started. A glue stick telling them to "stick to it even if it's hard".  A pen and pencil telling them to "start the year off "write", keep your mind "sharp". Some glow sticks telling them "This year is looking bright, make it glow". And hi-chews candies telling them to "Chews to have a good attitude and you will have a good school year."

       For our Wednesday P-day activity, we decided to finally go to Shark's Cove on the North Shore.  When we first got here in Hawaii it was high surf season along the North Shore, so it wasn't safe to get in the water.  Then it became summer, and it was tourist season and too crowded.  Now there are not so many tourists and the surf is still low, so it's an ideal time to check out Shark's Cove.  We tried to get there early in order to find a parking spot and we lucked out and found one fairly easily.  We didn't have very good snorkeling gear, just one mask and two breathing tubes that was left in our apartment by someone.  So, we had to take turns with the mask.  We are not very experienced snorkelers and just trying to get the hang of it.

     I wish I had a good underwater camera, but I don't, so I tried to take a few pictures above the water in the shallow area of the fishes we could see.  Most of the pictures didn't turn out, but there are a few to the left.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of the big school of fish I saw when I was snorkeling.  And we saw a very interesting fish with a pointy nose swimming along the surface, but with all my Google searching I still haven't figured out what kind of fish it was.  At first, I thought it was an eel, but it had kind of a flat light-colored elongated body and not a round worm looking body.

  After we got done snorkeling, we headed further west along the north shore to the "turtle beach" or Laniakea Beach.  This is our second visit to this beach.  Our first visit we did not see any turtles, but this time we got to see two on the beach and one huge one swimming just offshore.  We kept waiting around in hopes that the big turtle would come ashore, but he never did.

   The bottom picture to the left, I circled where the swimming turtle is in the picture.  I'm not sure you can see it, but that turtle just kept teasing us by coming close to the edge of the water and then back out again.  There were volunteers on the beach to make sure we didn't get too close or touch the turtles.  It's Hawaii state law and the endangered species act makes it illegal to touch, harass, or disturb sea turtles.  There are big fines if you violate the laws.

    It was fun to spend the day on the North Shore of Oahu.

Thursday morning, I went to BYU-H's pool to work out.  On Thursday mornings I only stay 45 minutes because I have to get into the Food Warehouse for work by 8 AM.  While I was in the pool, the handsome young man in the picture above came into the pool area.  He strode right over to the lifeguard that was on duty and talked to her for a little bit.  I just assumed he must be friends with her and was having a friendly conversation before getting in the pool.  He slipped into the lane next to the one I was in.  I just kept doing my workout routine, but I noticed he never started swimming laps, he just stayed in the shallow end.  Toward the end of my workout, I was stretching out in the shallow end right next to him.  I still wasn't paying much attention to him except I noticed him checking his watch.  I assumed he was timing himself to see how long he could hold his breathe under the water.  When I got finished stretching out, I had to go across his lane to get to the stairs to climb out of the pool.  He was still standing in the shallow end facing the wall.  He did not seem to be aware that I was in his lane, so before I went behind him to reach the stairs, I just told him that I was going behind him to get out of the pool.  I didn't want him to back up into me and get me or him hurt.  It took him a second to reply, but he finally said, "go for it".  When I got into work about an hour and a half later, Kapu'u asked me if I was at the pool this morning.  I told her yes.  She said that one of the delivery drivers said there were emergency vehicles over at the pool.  I was surprised about that news and said they were not there when I had left around 6:45am.  I found out later that day that it was this young man, Garrett Nichols, a senior at BYU-Hawaii, majoring in business management that had gotten hurt.  The Steiners, a senior missionary couple at the PCC, are his grandparents.  From all the information I have gathered, he was apparently practicing holding his breathe under water to increase his lung capacity for free diving into underwater caves.  He had worked his way up to 3 minutes under water and his goal was to get to 5 minutes. Garrett did not have a spotter with him, which I was told his mother told him that morning he better have one when he goes to the pool to practice.  He must have stayed under the water too long, blacked out, and then took water into his lungs.  It's called shallow water drowning.  The medical professional estimated he had been in the water between 5 - 7 minutes before they pulled him out.  He was rushed to the hospital and put on life support, but there was no brain activity, so his parents made the decision to take him off, and he passed away the next day, Friday.  Although it happened after I left the pool and at the time I talked to him he seemed fine, I have had a hard time dealing with this accident wondering if there had been anything I could have done to prevent it.  It was the first time I have ever seen this young man, so I had no clue if his behavior during our interaction was out of the ordinary.  At the time it didn't seem so, but I have been second guessing every little thing and wondering if I missed something or ignored a prompting.  I don't think so, but. . . 

     Later that day after my shift at the PCC, I went to the Mission Settlement, part of the PCC, to wish Sister Hella Lunnen a happy birthday.  She is our oldest senior missionary in the Laie Hawaii Mission and serves in the Mission Settlement demonstrating the art of quilting that was done in the early days of the church settlement here in Laie.  She turned 89 years old. The other sister missionaries had decorated her quilting corner and crowned her queen for the day.

Thursday night we went over to Brent and Jen Cowley's new place in Laie to have dinner and see their much larger home.  Brent will be staying and teaching at BYU-H for the next few years.  Maybe he will end up like my uncle who taught at BYU-H, retired from BYU-H, and lived in Laie for over 50 years. The picture above was actually taken on Sunday because we forgot to take a picture Thursday night when we were there.

    Friday morning, we enjoyed a Mahalo Brunch with President Grace.  All the senior missionaries serving at the PCC were invited to meet and mingle with President Grace and the President's Council.  The President's Council, if I have it correct, is all the department heads at the PCC, the VP's, and President Grace.  It was given to show appreciation for our service and a chance for them to get to know us and us to get to know them. 

     It was a very delicious spread.  We were definitely spoiled and not going to need to eat lunch.

   The picture to the left shows a few of the wonderful staff who planned, prepared, and served us.  Greg Maples, the man in the right-hand picture, is the department head over Culinary Services, that includes the luaus, Gateway Buffet, and the food warehouse.

    

 Here's some pictures of the group.  The bottom picture shows President Grace at the podium speaking.  I didn't count how many missionaries were there, but I would guess between 40 - 50 senior missionaries.  At the end of the bunch, President Grace said they would probably have another brunch in 6 months.  We've been here 10 months, and this is the first one.  I hope they do another one before we leave in May next year.

Here's the group picture they took.  It includes several PCC employees and President's council.  From what I can count there are about 45 senior missionaries in the picture.

    Friday evening, we had a district meeting in the mission chapel building that is in the Mission Settlement.  We learned all about the history of how Christianity was introduced in the Hawaiian Islands, how our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was introduced in the Hawaiian Islands and how Laie became a place of gathering for the members of the church.  Then President Workman, VP at the PCC and counselor in the mission presidency spoke to us about the role of the Polynesian Cultural Center in helping the students get an education, work experience, and strengthen testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ so they can be future leaders in the church, their communities, and future families.  Around 2013, the PCC was in big financial trouble and the board of directors were seriously considering shutting it down and turning it into something else.  It's a good thing, President Thomas S. Monson, told them none of their ideas were the right thing to do and they needed to go back and figure out how to make the PCC work and be solvent again.  The first presidency reorganized the board of directors.  President Henry B. Eyring told the new board members they needed to do 4 things - Be independent financially, support the students in getting an education and be debt free when they graduate, protect the area around the temple from worldly intrusions, and be a soft sale of the church to change hearts and minds.  As we learn the history and background of the Polynesian Cultural Center more, we can see more and more the Lord's hand in this work, and we are going about doing His work in this part of His kingdom.  In the picture above, President Workman is taking the selfie picture, and his wife is in the front on the right side.

     Inside the Kawaiola, or chapel, hangs the saying in the picture to the left.  It's Hawaiian, and it's quoting 2 Nephi 29:7 and Isaiah 11:11, "He (meaning God) will remember the islands of the sea."  That saying is part of the scripture verse we put on our missionary plaque hanging in our ward building back home, "Know ye not that there are more nations than one?  Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea". 2 Nephi 29 :7

 

  Friday was also our 10-month mark and 8 months left before we come home.  So, we took two pictures showing 8 more months.

       

    After the meeting in the chapel, we all headed out to the Hukilau Marketplace where everyone got their choice of dinner from the many food options in the marketplace.  As we found a place to sit at the tables, we found a dime on the empty table. Another message from Elder Rappleye's dad letting us know he's aware of us, watching over us, and sending his love to us.

     We also celebrated Elder Gammon's birthday that was on Tuesday.  Sister Lee, who serves at the Mission Settlement teaching ukulele classes, pulled out her ukulele and played "Happy Birthday" on the ukulele while we all sang to Elder Gammon, who is in the Hawaiian shirt in the left-hand picture.

   On Saturday we decided to hike the Maili (Puu O Hulu) Pillbox hike, more commonly known as the Pink Pillbox hike.  We are trying to do a lot of the hikes we haven't done yet before the rainy season starts, although it would be nice if it would cool down a bit.  This hike is one of the furthest away from us at over an hour drive.  It's on the west side of the island near the town of Maili.  We left our house around 8 am to try to get a somewhat early start.  We probably should have left even earlier because it was still a hot hike.  Here we are at the start of the trail.

     The west side of the island is the leeward side of the island which makes it a lot drier, less rain and not as green.  We hiked past two interesting trees.  The tree Elder Rappleye is standing in front of we passed first, and the tree I'm standing by we passed second.  Both trees had their roots exposed and cascading down the side of the mountain.

   

  There were actually several pillboxes along the trail.  The first one we came to was this puzzle piece painted pillbox.

 

    It had the best murals painted on the inside of the pillbox.  The picture on the bottom left of the collage had "Just breathe" painted above her head, it got cut off in the collage.  All these amazing artists that would hike up carrying all their paint supplies to create their masterpieces shows to me their passion for art.

  

    Here we are at the Pink Pillbox.  It was originally painted pink for breast cancer awareness, but you can see there is now graffiti all over the pink pillbox.  

      The pink pillbox is not actually the highest pillbox.  In the picture to the right, we are standing on the highest pillbox, and you can see the pink pillbox below in the background.  We had to transverse a narrow rocky path to get to the very top pillbox.

    The views from the very top were awesome.  The coastline of West Oahu is beautiful.

     This view is looking inland from the top.  You can see it's a large valley surrounded by the Wai'anae mountain range. 

     After the hike, we headed to Kapolei to do some shopping before heading home.

     Sunday by piano student, Thanush, didn't show up for piano class, so I ended up leaving early.  It was a nice restful Sabbath.