More Visitors and Another Aloha "Oe: August 26 - September 1, 2024

     After 3 weeks in a row of having an Ask Me Shift at the Gateway Terrace in the PCC on Monday night, we finally were not scheduled this week, so we were able to go to ukulele lessons.  Needless to say, we were a little rusty.

  On our way into work on Tuesday, as we turned off the Kamehameha Highway and driving towards the back of the Polynesian Cultural Center, we were greeted with this lovely rainbow.  The low-lying clouds are covering the view that we usually have of the mountains.  We have been blessed to enjoy so many views of rainbows while we have been serving here in Hawaii.

    The not so fun part of serving at the PCC is the things you have to do because you are basically working a job at the PCC, only without pay.  This was the case on Tuesday morning. The silly picture of us to the right was taken in the Hawaiian Journey theater while we were waiting for the sexual harassment training everyone has to attend once a year.  This picture shows Elder Goodfellow giving us rabbit ears as Elder Rappleye took the picture.  I was laughing because I knew what Elder Goodfellow was doing.  Felt like we were in junior high school again - haha!  Some missionaries are still kids at heart.

   On Wednesday for our P-day, we decided since the weather was predicted to be unpredictable, we would do something indoors.  We found out that we can get into the Bishop's Museum for free with our PCC badges (and up to 5 guests free as well).  So, we decided to check it out before we did our grocery shopping.  It's in a big old brick building in Honolulu.    

  It was much bigger than I thought, 3 levels in the main hall, plus another two-level hall and then an exhibit hall and a planetarium. We had only planned to spend a couple of hours there, but we could have stayed much longer.  We spent most of the time in the main hall pictured to the left.  It has a lot of Hawaiian history and culture displays.

  We've seen many of these kinds of replicas of thatched "hales" at different places we have visited.

  We got a bonus treat - a concert!  These Japanese students were singing when we walked into the main hall.  They sang for about 15 minutes while we were there.  The acoustics in the main hall were amazing!

  

   Founded in 1889, Bishop's museum is the largest museum in Hawaii and has the world's largest collection of Polynesian cultural artifacts.  Originally the buildings were built to be a boy's school.


      Hopefully we will be able to get back to the museum again sometime before we leave, but we seem to add things to our bucket list as fast as we check things off our bucket list.

      Late Wednesday night, Elder Rappleye's sister, Patricia and her husband, Mike, came for a short, somewhat unexpected visit.  Their daughter, Meadow got married on the Big Island and they took a short side trip to see us.  We didn't know they were coming until a week before they arrived.

      They just stayed two nights and one day.  Long enough to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center for a day.  After we worked in the morning, we met up with them to spend the afternoon in the PCC.

    They were able to see the new canoe show that they are doing on the lagoon.  If you look closely at the top left picture you can see the Samoan men vigorously rocking the canoe with their dancing.  Both canoe navigators are working hard to not fall in.  In the top right picture, you can see that the back canoe navigator is in the water - he ended up falling into the water because of the rocking motion.

     We spent time in the village of Fiji.  It's the first time I have seen this dance presentation on the left in the Fiji village.

      We also watched the Ha, night show with Patricia and Mike.  It's the fifth time we've seen the show, but it's so amazingly good every time.  I'll never get tired of watching it.

     On Friday, the motor pool had a going home lunch for the Duncans.  Elder Dan Duncan worked out in the motor pool with Elder Rappleye for the first 7 months we were here, then they transferred him over to the visitor's center with his wife, Stacey. Elder Rappleye was disappointed to have Elder Duncan get a change in assignment. We really like the Duncans and are going to miss them.  Luckily, they live fairly close to us in Springville, Utah so we'll be able to visit them when we get back home.

   I got to come to the luncheon that was held out at Seven Brothers in Kahuku.  In the pictures to the left, the boss, Anthony Wong, is presenting to the Duncans gifts of appreciation for their service.  It started to rain on us, so in the top right picture several of the group is huddled under a patio umbrella.

      Elder Rappleye is presenting Elder Duncan a special lei we made for him.  We put a few of his favorite mission activities on the lei - 2 golf club/golf ball charms, 2 excavator charms with his name engraved on them, and one Laie temple charm.

      On Sister Duncan's lei we attached little white flowers and nursing charms since she was the mission nurse as well as serving at the Visitor's Center.  She also had a Laie temple charm on hers as well.

     They are wearing the leis in their picture above, but you can't see the charms on them very well.

     The Laie temple is closing for 6 weeks, and this week was the last week it would be open until October 21st.  We have been trying to get an endowment appointment for weeks, but it has been fully booked.  I would log on several times a week hoping for a cancellation that would open up 2 spots that we could take.  We were finally able to secure seats in the Friday 4:30pm session.  We were so happy to get to do an endowment session before it closed because we haven't been able to do endowments for weeks.  The only availability has been for sealings or initiatory.  We will miss our weekly temple service.

      Bishop Causse, the presiding Bishop of the church, and his wife came to visit the PCC.  The picture above was taken by one of the senior missionaries who were working in the mission settlement and noticed them watching the canoe show Saturday afternoon.  He came to check on the properties of the church, and the PCC is one of them.  

      The Food Warehouse was given a heads up that he would be coming to inspect the warehouse on Saturday, so the student workers worked really hard the last few days of the week and got the warehouse cleaned, organized, and in tip-top shape before his arrival.  I wasn't there because I don't go into work on Saturdays, but we did get this message from the VP over the warehouse.  Sounds like all the hard work was worth it.

      

      Bishop Causse also held a devotional for all the French speaking students at BYU-H.  The picture below shows a group picture of all who attended the devotional.  I found three students in the picture (look for the red arrows) that we know from our YSA Ward.

      

     Saturday, we went to Pounder's beach for an hour in the morning.  The rest of the day was spent listening to the first BYU football game of the season and getting the welcome handouts prepared to pass out at church on Sunday.  At 3:30pm we had to get ready for our shift helping at the Hale Ohana luau, so we didn't get to listen to the 4th quarter of the game.  I was manning the entrance to the luau and Elder Rappleye was providing security at the exit.  Right at the busiest time when there were lots of people waiting to get their tickets scanned for entrance into the luau, an older lady who was in an electric scooter lost control of her scooter and ran into another guest and knocked her to the ground.  It caused quite a bit of confusion.  The lady who got knocked over had abrasions on her leg that needed attending to by the first aid personnel. We finally got the injured lady off the ground and onto a bench to wait for first aid to arrive.  Then the student worker scanning tickets was able to get the waiting guests admitted into the luau and things calmed down.  Not the kind of excitement we like to have while we are doing our shift.

      Sunday was the first Sunday for a lot of the new students that are coming to study for Fall semester.  We wanted to start the new school year off with some words of encouragement for all of the students in our YSA Ward, so we made 120 of these bookmarks pictured to the right and passed them out as we welcomed them to the YSA 10th Ward at the door of the chapel.  I could tell many of the new students were nervous to be there.  So many of them have come long distances, leaving family and friends, to a campus that is totally unfamiliar to them, where everyone is a stranger. Some are still struggling with the English language and stress about their classes is high.  I am impressed by their courage and faith in taking this opportunity to learn and improve their lives.  Many of them will not be able to return to see their families for 4 years until they have graduated.  They are making such huge sacrifices but will be so blessed for it.  They come from all over the world.  They are the future of the world and church - definitely youth of the noble birthright. 

    It was our monthly munch and mingle on Sunday evening.  Sister Renee King and I wore our matching dresses, so we had to get a picture of us in our matching outfits.  Sister King is a single sister from South Jordan, UT and serving as a seamstress at the PCC.

   It was the official "Aloha 'Oe" for the Duncans. One last time to say goodbye and wish them safe travels home on Tuesday.