Dinner, Reception, and More Family Visits: March 24 - 30, 2025

       The week started out as usual, PCC assignments on Monday, ukulele lessons in the evening, then FHE.  This week they did get the gym reserved for our Ward to use, so we were playing volleyball, basketball, and badminton in the gym.  The only problem was that when we came out of ukulele lessons, I had a bad headache.  FHE didn't start until 8 PM tonight instead of the usual 7PM start time.  We waited in the Aloha Center until 8 PM.  I was hoping my headache would go away by 8PM, but it did not.  We went to the gym unsure if we were going to stay. We had only been in the gym for about 5 minutes, and I could tell that all the bouncing of the balls and voices echoing in the gym were going to be too much for my headache.  We opted to go home, thus no pictures of the FHE activity.  It's a shame because the gym is a popular FHE activity. 

  Tuesday night we had a multi-department dinner at the loading dock of the food warehouse.  The committee had set up tables covered with plastic tablecloths and a few centerpieces, and chairs.  We had appointments to do initiatories and sealings at the temple that night, so we had to cancel the sealing session, but we were able to do initiatories before the dinner started, then came over to the dinner.  Uniforms, Motor Pool, Main Warehouse, and Food Warehouse employees and senior missionaries were all invited to come.  They asked all the senior missionaries to bring dessert.  There is always plenty of food whenever there is a party.

  

 Elder Rappleye and I sat across the table from Joanna, Zero, and Leiana - three of the food warehouse student workers.  Joanna works evening shift, so I never see her.  I was able to talk with her and get to know her a little bit.  Zero and Leiana work in the mornings and I know them fairly well.  

    As we were waiting to eat and while we ate, we had a nice view of the sunset. 
 

 The rest of the week was not very eventful.  Town Run on Wednesday was kind of a light day with only 9 stops.  I did get to snap a picture of this fountain that we passed by.  It's not one we pass by very often, but we have driven by it a few times before.

        Thursday night we did an Ask Me shift at the Gateway Buffet position.  We've had a little rainy spell, but thankfully no rain that night while we were standing outside of the Gateway.

     

      Friday was the last day that I would see Rachel at work because Saturday was going to be her last day working at the Food Warehouse.  She is changing jobs and going to work in the finance department.  It is a good change for her since that job is more suited for her major in accounting, but it's always sad when a student leaves.  When I came back to work a week later (spoiler alert - our daughter, Noelle's family is coming to visit) Rachel had left me a nice card at my desk.  None of the other students that have moved on from the warehouse has given me a card when they left.  Love you, Rachel!

 

     Our daughter, Noelle, and four of her children came to visit us.  They got in late Friday night.  Since they were getting in late, after work Elder Rappleye and I went down to Honolulu for a Costco run to pick up groceries for the week and brought them back to their Airbnb.  They had booked a house in Hau'ula less than 5 minutes away from where we live.  We were at their Airbnb when they arrived to greet them with kukui nut leis.  Everyone was pretty beat from the long travel day, so we didn't stay long.  We let them hit the sack so they could get rested for a fun first day in Hawaii the next day.

      On Saturday we headed for the North Shore.  Our first stop was BYU - Hawaii to pick up the Rowe's cousin, Lawson, who is attending BYU - Hawaii this semester.  Then it was off to Kawela Bay.  It is such a picturesque bay (top left-hand picture).  We saw some paddleboarders out on the water.  We also hit the jackpot for seeing turtles.  We have been to Kawela Bay multiple times and never discovered the turtles hide out until this time (top right-hand picture).  The picture only shows one turtle, but under the rock cropping in the background were two more good sized turtles napping.  It was the best turtle encounter of our whole stay here in Hawaii.  We also hiked out to the Turtle Bay Pillbox (bottom right-hand picture).  Lawson and Will crawled into the pillbox and are peeking out in the picture.  Of course, you can't go to Kawela Bay without stopping for a picture at the big banyan tree (bottom left-hand picture).

      Then it was on to Shark's Cove for some beach time and snorkeling.  The tide was super low, so no water coming up over the rock barrier this time.  Will and I went out and explored and we saw the biggest blue fish I have ever seen at Shark's Cove.  Then Noelle, Elder Rappleye, and Sofie came out to snorkel.  I was able to snap a few pictures of them in the water.  The bottom pictures are Noelle (left) and Elder Rappleye (right).

     Even though it was Saturday, it wasn't crowded, and the snorkeling never disappoints at Shark's Cove.  Sofie is in the pink in the top right-hand picture.

     Even our non-swimmer, Lili (bottom pictures), enjoyed hanging out at the beach in the shade and her new black waders.  The weather was perfect.  We never can get enough of paradise when we are spending time with family at Shark's Cove.

 

 

    We topped our North Shore adventure off with shave ice at Kuilima Farm Stand on the way back to Hau'ula.

  

   After getting cleaned up, we attended my boss's daughter's wedding reception at the BYU - Hawaii's ballroom on campus.  We have been to a few receptions while serving here, but this one was the most elaborate and had the largest attendance.  The bride and groom are from two well-known families here in Laie, so there were lots of family and friends there to celebrate.

   We arrived late, but we got to sit at a table near the bride and groom.  You can see the beautiful decorations in the pictures to the left.  They went all out. Lili, my boss, is very good at floral arranging and decorating. Noelle and Will were the only ones who came into the ballroom with us.  The girls were too shy to come in since there were a lot of people they didn't know.  They waited outside on the plaza.  Noelle did go take the girls ice cream cones which they enjoyed.

     Sister Sauve and I went in together on a gift for the newlyweds.  We folded dollar bills to look like French fries and put them in a clean McDonald's French fry container along with a gift card for McDonald's.  I thought it turned out very cute and a better way to give cash than just putting the money in a card.

     After hanging out at the reception for a while, we then headed over to the McKay auditorium for the BYU-H Salsa Orchestra concert.  It was such a fun concert!  Not only was there an orchestra, but there were three amazing students singing the songs the orchestra was performing.  They projected on the big screen behind the orchestra the faces of the original performers of the song they were doing.  We are not big fans of salsa, so we weren't familiar with a lot of the songs, but a few of them were familiar to us.  We are certainly fans now!  The audience really got into the music and would jump out of their seats and go into the aisles and dance along with the music.  So much energy!  Everyone had fun.

    Sunday, my favorite day of the week.  We went to church in the morning.  These two pictures were taken in the Heber J. Grant building where we have our church meetings.  Noelle, Sofie, and Lucy (top picture) are standing upstairs outside of the room where we have sacrament meeting.  I covertly took a picture of Jazz while he was giving his talk in sacrament meeting.  Jazz is in our YSA ward, and he works at the Food Warehouse where I work.  This semester he has worked late afternoon/evening shifts, so I don't usually see him at work anymore.

It was the fifth Sunday of the month, so for the second hour of church we went over to the visitor's center and the junior missionaries presented the lesson.  They showed a few short videos, and we had a discussion about them.  After the meeting, we all went out to the parking lot and had muffins, oranges, and socialized.  It's the second time we have had the second hour on the fifth Sunday at the visitor's center, but the first time we have had food afterwards.  I think the students all enjoy the change even though most of them have to walk to the visitor's center from the HGB.

We got a group picture in front of the Laie temple before heading to the parking lot for food.

      

        After church and a short nap time, we headed out towards the Honolulu airport to pick up Cory and Ava who were flying in later that night.  We stopped at the Pali Lookout to see the view.

  We still had some time to kill before Cory and Ava's plane landed, so we went to Magic Island by Ala Moana Beach in Honolulu in hopes of catching a gorgeous sunset, but all we got was a hint of color (right-hand picture).  Sofie and I got bitten on our feet by ants as we watched the dismal sunset, but the park was a pleasant way to kill time before going to the airport.

    Ava qualified to compete at state in musical theater.  The competition was all day Saturday, so Cory and Ava delayed coming to Hawaii until Sunday.  Ava did really well and had a lot of fun competing.  Qualifying for state as a sophomore is a real honor.  It was nice to now have the entire Rowe family here visiting.

Spring Has Sprung, Time With Friends, and an Historical Tour of Honolulu: March 17 - 23, 2025

     

     

 The plumeria trees on the temple grounds are in bloom, so spring has sprung here in Laie.

      I forgot to mention in last week's post that on Sunday night, March 16th, all the senior sister missionaries gathered at the visitor's center to watch the worldwide Relief Society Devotional followed by a few sisters sharing their testimonies.  It was fun to see Elder Renlund talking from the Honolulu tabernacle.  After the meeting we took a group picture in front of the Christus that is in the visitor's center.  I'm in the middle row, third one in from the right. 

      We usually always start our week with ukulele lessons on Monday evening and then FHE with our Ward.  But FHE got cancelled last minute because they couldn't get the gym reserved for our group.  Instead, we just went home after our ukulele lessons.

     Tuesday night was our monthly Senior Missionary devotional at the Visitor's Center.  Sister Margaret Penfield sang a beautiful solo of "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" to begin our meeting.  Sister Karen Fisher accompanied her.  Sister Fisher is our mission "Diana Haggerty" for those of you who know what I mean.  For those of you who don't, it means Sister Fisher is a very accomplished pianist.

       Then the meeting was turned over to the mission leadership council (12 of the junior missionaries) who shared with us what the junior missionary responsibilities are at the visitor's center, online missionary work, the PCC shifts and the different area assignments.  Then they sang us the mission song, "Cause of Christ".

       Each companionship shared with us where they were from, why they decided to go on a mission, and bore their testimonies.  Each missionary ended with "I am a daughter (son) of God, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am a child of the covenant, and I am a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The mission president had the junior missionaries do this once before since we have been here, and it was one of my favorite devotionals.  This time they added the phrase, "I am a child of the covenant."  It's very powerful to hear them all recite the same truths and declarations.   Such amazing missionaries!

      On this week's town run, we went to a new place we've never been before - Chaminade University.  It's located 4 miles from downtown Honolulu and the campus is beautiful.  The flowering shrubs were gorgeous.  We were actually going to the high school academy that is located on the Chaminade University campus.  We were dropping off coconuts and a sharp stick to one of the teachers.  I would guess they were going to teach or demonstrate to the kids how to husk a coconut.  I was surprised that we could deliver the sharp stick to the school.  It could technically be classified as a "weapon".  We enjoyed seeing this new place in Honolulu.

   We have been trying to get Jimboy and Camilla Fajardo over for dinner and games, but our schedules weren't allowing it.  We finally found a night that was good for both of us - Thursday night.  Jimboy and Camilla were the first students we met in our YSA Ward when we came in November 2023.  They were so friendly and nice to us nervous new missionaries.  They got married and moved to a different ward but are still going to school at BYU-Hawaii.  We wanted to reconnect one more time before we leave to go home.  We taught them how to play a new card game - Kings in the Corner, and they taught us a new card game.  I can't remember the name of it, but it's like "Golf" only with 4 cards and it's a lot more game of chance.  We all had a fun night visiting with them.

      On Fridays we receive a delivery of ice cream that is served at the Gateway Buffet.  This Friday's delivery was extra-large because we have been having very high attendance. Lots of people and groups come to the PCC for Spring Break.  Each of these drums of ice cream hold 5 gallons of ice cream.  Zero is pulling the cart to take them to the freezer.

 It was Alex Tam's last day of work on Friday, so they had a little goodbye luncheon for him and his wife out at the motor pool.  Alex has been helping Elder Rappleye service carts the whole time we have been here, so it's going to be a little lonely for him having to do carts without Alex.  Hopefully Bri will pick up the slack and start helping him more.  In the top picture is Elder and Sister Bates (back row), Elder Rappleye, Anthony (the boss over motor pool), Alex Tam and his wife.  The Tams are going back to live on the mainland.   They have been service missionaries for five or six years here in Laie. They have a house in San Jose, California.  He definitely will be missed.

Later that day around quitting time, I got a nice surprise when Terry, who used to work at the food warehouse until he got married, showed up at the motor pool with his wife and child.  The Tams are their neighbors.  I haven't seen Terry for over a year, and I have never seen their little boy either.  It was a very tender mercy to see Terry and his family before we go home in May.

   

   We had an Ask Me shift Friday night and were blessed with a lovely view of a sunset from our post by the Shaka statue.  I'll never get tired of a view like that.

 

From all of our driving around downtown Honolulu on town runs, we could see there are a lot of cool things to see, but we never have any time to visit any of the places when we are doing town run.  I found on the internet a short walking tour of 4 historic church sites in downtown Honolulu.  I also found on the internet a downtown tour poster that showed, as a self-guided tour, 25 historic spots around downtown Honolulu all within walking distance.  We decided to spend Saturday morning hitting as many of the 25 spots as we could before it got too hot.

Parking is the issue in downtown Honolulu, but not so much on an early Saturday morning.  We were able to find parking right in front of the Territorial Office Building (#5 on the self-guided tour map and bottom right-hand picture).  It was built in 1925 and is still used today as a government building.  You can see the two large, fluted Corinthian columns grace the front of this classical revival-style building.  Right next to the Territorial Office building is the King Kamehameha Statue, built in 1882 and dedicated in 1883.  It's an18 foot bronze statue representing King Kamehameha I who unified all the Hawaiian Islands (#7 on the self-guided tour map and left-hand picture).  The building behind the statue is the Ali'iolani Hale (#8 on the self-guided tour map and top right-hand picture).  Built in 1874 in an Italian Renaissance Revival style. It's the oldest government building in Hawaii.  It was originally built to be King Kamehameha IV's palace.  King Kamehameha V decided to turn it into a government building.  The state Supreme Court and judiciary history center are located in this building.

Right across King Street is the 'Iolani Palace (#9 on the self-guided tour map).   Built in 1882 in the Italianate style with fluted cast-iron Corinthian columns, decorative iron railings, mansard-style tower roofs and wide lanai (patio porches) on all sides.  It was home to the Hawaiian monarchy until it was overthrown in 1893.  In 1978 it reopened as an historic site, restored to its original grandeur and the public can tour the palace.  We didn't have time to take the tour, but the building is quite impressive.

On the grounds of the 'Iolani Palace are the 'Iolani Bandstand (#19 on the self-guided tour map, left-hand picture) and the 'Iolani Barracks (#18 on the self-guided tour map, top right-hand picture).  The bandstand was constructed in 1883 for the coronation of King Kalakaua and Queen Kapi'olani.  The Royal Hawaiian Band performs there on most Fridays at noon, weather permitting.  The barracks, built in 1870 were home to the Royal Household Guard.

The next place we walked to was Washington Place (#20 on the self-guided tour map and top left-hand picture).  It was built in 1846.  The colonial Greek revival-style house was built for John Dominis, a clipper ship captain.  It is most well known as the inherited residence of his daughter-in-law, Queen Lili'uokalani.  After the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, the Queen lived in this house until her death in 1917.  From 1922 - 2003 it became the Governor's Mansion.  Currently it is a house museum and used for state events. The top right-hand picture shows the roots of the Kapok tree in front of the Washington Place Museum.  The bottom left-hand picture shows a plague in front of Washington Place that has the words of the song, Aloha 'Oe, written by Queen Lili'uokalani.  The bottom right-hand picture shows the historical marker for Washington Place, but in the background on the right side is the Hawaii State Capitol (#1 on the self-guided tour guide map).

The pictures to the right are the first of 4 churches on the walking tour - The Cathedral of St. Andrews.  It took over 90 years to complete this English Gothic-style headquarters of the Episcopal church in Hawaii. (1867 - 1958).  King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma were staunch supporters of the Episcopal church, and the church honors them on November 28th, the anniversary of their confirmation in 1862.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church, the second of the four churches on the walking tour, was built in 1914.  It's the oldest historically Chinese congregation among Asian American Episcopal churches.  We could only get a small glimpse of the beautiful stain glass windows.  There are 26 stain glass windows in all - 5 alter windows, 4 Chancel windows, 6 mauka (mountain) side windows, and 7 makai (ocean) side windows, and 4 bell tower windows.  The church's website shows all the unique and beautiful windows. Each window has a hymn associated with the depiction on the window.  There is one window depicting the tree of life and another window depicting St. Peter's keys.  We found these similarities very interesting.  We so wish we could have toured the inside of this church.

 Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, the third church on our walking tour, is a Catholic church.   When the cathedral was first built in 1828, it was surrounded by jungle and dirt.  Now you can see that it sits surrounded by high rise buildings in the heart of downtown Honolulu.  The bell tower was built in 1917 and is the oldest of its kind in Hawaii.  Inside is the oldest organ that is still in use today in Hawaii dedicated in 1934.

Outside in the courtyard stands this statue (left-hand picture) and the right-hand picture shows the other end of the building.  I'm not sure which end is the front and which end is the back of the church.  The pictures online of the inside of this church shows the inside as a lot more elaborate than the outside. 

This tile mural depicting an underwater scene is on the outside of the Alexander & Baldwin building (#12 on the self-guided tour map).  It was built in 1929, blending Hawaiian, Chinese, and other design elements.  On the fourth floor there is a balcony, or lanai that goes around the whole building.

At this spot we are very close to the Aloha Tower.  Although the Aloha Tower is not on the walking tour of downtown, I have wanted to go there for a long time because we have driven by it many times while doing town run.  On our way to the Aloha Tower, we walked past this peaceful memorial fountain and garden, dedicated in 1972.

The Aloha Tower is a retired lighthouse and a landmark in Honolulu located at Pier 9 of Honolulu harbor.  It opened September 11, 1926, and greets vessels, visitors and immigrates to Hawaii.  It stands 10 stories high at 184 feet topped with 40 feet of flag mast.  For 40 years it was the highest structure in Honolulu.  It can be seen at sea 15 miles away.  It is built in the Hawaiian gothic architectural style. They used to have tours to the top of the tower, but since Covid closed it, they have not reopened it, and they are doing some renovations to the tower.

Behind the tower you can see the harbor (lower left-hand picture).  There is also a luau venue behind the tower.  The large tikis (top left and bottom right) are on either side of the stage.  Elder Rappleye is showing off his likeness of the tiki he is standing by in the top left-hand picture.  Beside the tower is an extension of Hawaii Pacific University (top right-hand picture). It also has stores and restaurants. 

The Aloha Tower is situated halfway between the airport and Waikiki.

There are several hula dancer statues located around the complex.

I was so excited to check this off my bucket list of things to do before we leave Hawaii. 

The fourth church we visited is the oldest Christian church in Hawaii, Kawaiaha'o Church (#23 on the self-guided tour map).  It is considered the mother church of Hawaii and the Westminster Abbey of the Hawaiian Islands.  It was established in 1820 and was originally called the Mission Church of Honolulu.  They changed the name in 1840.   The building is made of 14,000 coral blocks, each weighing up to 1,200 pounds. They laid the foundation in 1839 and completed the building in 1842.  This building is also being renovated, thus the fence around the building. 

The name Kawaiaha'o literally means "the waters of Ha'o", the name of a sacred spring located on the property.  These are pictures of the waters of Ha'o.  It was reserved for chiefs and chiefesses only to bath in this spring.  Ha'o was a high chiefess that used to bathe in the spring.

Right next to the church is King William Charles Lunalilo mausoleum.  He was Hawaii's sixth monarch.  He died in 1874 only after a short one-year reign.  On his deathbed he requested to be buried on the grounds of the church instead of at the royal mausoleum at Mauna 'Ala in the Nu'uana Valley where most modern Hawaiian monarchs are buried.  He was temporarily interred at the Royal mausoleum until 1875 when the current mausoleum was almost finished.  His father, who outlived him, requested a second funeral and a 21-gun salute from King Kalakaua like his first royal funeral.  The king granted the funeral but not the 21-gun salute.  During the funeral procession, eyewitness reports stated that a sudden storm arose and that 21 rapid thunderclaps echoed across Honolulu, which became known as the "21-gun salute" for the king.  The king's father, Charles Kana'ina, is also buried in the vault.

The Mission Memorial Cemetary (#23 on the self-guided tour map) is right next to the church.  It was established in 1823, but the oldest grave marker I could find was Mary Ward who died in 1834 (bottom left-hand picture).  We also found a grave marker that Elder Rappleye could relate to inscribed "Charlie - rest beyond the river" (top left-hand picture).

Tombstones engraved with familiar names - Bingham, Cooke, and Gulick - names of people who were missionaries or prominent members of the church and all names of streets we drive on when doing town runs.

It was quite an interesting couple of hours spent seeing all these historic sites in downtown Honolulu.  We didn't see all 25 spots listed on the self-guided tour map, but we hit 11 plus the Aloha Tower.

Saturday night we went to the musical Aida performed by the BYU-Hawaii theater department.  It was the last night of the show, and we knew several people performing in the show.  The singing and dancing were fantastic.  Note the glowing shoes the guys wore in one of their dance numbers (bottom left-hand picture).  It's never hard to get a good seat in the auditorium and the students always do a great job.  The plays and concerts never disappoint.

We knew my piano student, Thanush, was in the production (bottom right-hand picture).  He's the one kneeling.  We knew Anthony, Elder Rappleye's boss at the PCC, was in the production (bottom left-hand picture).  I don't have a very good picture of him.  He's the guard standing behind the guy on the left holding the scepter.  We were surprised to see Clabell from our YSA Ward (top picture first one on the left) in the play.  We didn't know she was performing in it.  We did know she's a phenomenal singer.  Now we know she's also a great dancer and actress.

To end the week, we had our district leader and his wife, Elder Brent and Sister Jackie Lee, over for dinner on Sunday night.  It was sort of a late birthday dinner for Elder Lee (his birthday was earlier in the month).  It was nice to have some company for dinner and get to know them better.