More Family Activities: January 29 - February 4, 2024

       We started this week with Derek and Sharron still here visiting and hoping for a nice warm sunny beach day.  Monday morning was overcast and intermitted rain showers.  Still not good beach weather. Sigh!

  It was our Polynesian Cultural Center day, so we were hoping for nice weather while we were there as well.  It started out nice for our canoe ride through the villages on the lagoon. 

   

  This view of the main waterfall is always stunning.  But this time I noticed the fun fan shaped tree.

  

       We started in the island of Hawaii for the show there.  Then we headed to the island of Samoa, which is definitely a crowd favorite.  The picture on the right is in the Samoan village.  The speaker is giving us a welcome speech in Samoan.

  

    Kap, is in the picture on the left.  He is demonstrating how to open a coconut.  He has been doing shows in the Samoan village at the PCC for over 40 years.  He is quite the showman and has a very funny stand-up routine.

  

    He can climb the coconut tree, twirl the fire stick and even balance the fire stick on his bare feet.

      But his real talent is art.  He sells his paintings at the PCC.

      

      Here are some more pictures of the fire stick dancers.  This was the first time I have seen a female fire stick dancer.  Go girl power!

 

We also visited the Tongan village where they do a fun drum show where they call up people from the audience to play the drums.  That's always a fun show too.  I didn't get any pictures of the drum show this time, but I took the picture below at a previous show I saw back in December.

      Here's our group at the Ha, night show. You are not allowed to take pictures during the show, but this was taken before the show started. Sharron's parents were on babysitting duty.  We got them tickets for the show the next night.  It's a definite must see if you come to the PCC.

 

      Tuesday was their last day in Hawaii.  Unfortunately, it was still a cool (low 70's), overcast, rainy day.  Tuesday is one of my busier days at my assignment at the PCC, so I went to work in the morning because it was raining and our planned activity - the beach, was on hold.  While I was at work, they decided to go to the Laie temple visitor's center.

      Then later in the morning, after I had worked a couple of hours at the PCC, the rain stopped, and the sun started to come out.  We ventured over to Laie Point. 

      In the picture above, Peekay is "reading" all about the legend of Mo'o, the giant lizard.

Then we went back to the PCC to see some of the things we missed the day before.  All too soon it was time for Derek and Sharron and Parker to head down to Honolulu.  Their flight on Wednesday morning was super early, so they were spending the night in a hotel near the airport.  We were disappointed that the weather had not cooperated to give them lots of sunshine and beach time, but so glad to spend some time with them, even if it was way too short.

   As we were waiting for the Adams to come back from driving them to Honolulu (not enough room in the car for us), we exchanged their Ha show tickets for upgraded seats and enjoyed one of the best sunsets we've had since coming to Laie.  Since Laie is on the eastern side of the island, we don't usually get views of awesome sunsets, but if you are up early enough, you can enjoy awesome sunrises.

      It was hard to see family leave so soon and hard to get back into a missionary mind-set, but we are so glad to be allowed to have family come to visit while we are here.  Thank goodness the next day, Wednesday, was our day off to give us a day to help readjust back to missionary mode.  It was a gorgeous day.  We were definitely wishing Derek and Sharron could have stayed one more day - it would have been a great beach day!

     

   There is a path at the end of our road with this sign posted - No Trespassing Danger Keep Out.  We have not ventured past that sign, but we have seen other people walking up the path or coming down from the path.  Some people have told us that it's okay to go walking up the path, but we haven't dared to do it.  But on Wednesday afternoon, we decided to go ahead and check out the path that goes up the mountain, despite the sign that says otherwise.

     

     

       It's a fairly steep grade up, but it's a nice, paved road until you get to this water tank.  The peak you see behind the water tank in the picture is the peak we see from our kitchen window.

     

   

         As we walked around the water tank, we found this trail going into the forested hillside.  It looked like a fairly well traveled path, so we decided to take it to see if it would take us to the top of the mountain, hoping to get a great view of the ocean.

It was very quiet and peaceful as we walked along, getting deeper into the ravine between two mountain ridges.  The whole time we are walking, I'm feeling like any moment we are going to be surrounded by government agents with weapons drawn on us, telling us to put our hands up over our heads and that we were under arrest for trespassing.  Luckily that never happened.  In the above picture, you can see what happens to my hair when I let it go ala natural here in Hawaii's humid climate.

The trail never did go up, just deeper into the ravine.  This was the best view of the ocean we got between the trees as we hiked along.  We finally decided to turn around and head back home.

    

      On the way back down the paved part of the trail, we finally got a pretty good view of the ocean.

   

   Friday night, we were assigned to do the Ask Me shift at the Hale Aloha in the PCC.  We enjoy the Ask Me assignment more than the Luau assignment, because you have more of a chance to visit and answer questions from the guests. 

 

     We got up early Saturday morning, 6AM, so we could attend our grandson, Brinton's, baptism via zoom.  It is a wonderful blessing to have the technology available to us to be able to still witness and be a part of the milestones of our family members even while we are serving a mission thousands of miles away.

     I was even able to give the opening prayer.

 

Here's a screenshot of Brinton saying hello to us.  Isn't he so handsome?

I took this other screenshot right after Brinton's confirmation, after the priesthood brethren had stepped away from the circle and before Brinton stood up.

      After the baptism, we went over to the PCC and attended an island devotional in the Hawaii village.  Each island at the PCC will present a devotional throughout the year.  We attended the mission settlement devotional when we first arrived here.  This devotional was presented by staff that works in the Hawaii village. 

 Pictures of the program, front and back.

      The theme of the devotional was "A Song to Our Descendants" They talked about how a lot of their history is shared through song and dance, and the importance of sharing and teaching our values and testimony of the gospel to our current and future descendants.  So of course, they shared a lot of songs and dance throughout the program.  You can see on the back of the program, the hymn, "High On The Mountain Top" translated into Hawaiian.  That was the opening song.

      The Hula Kahiko - an ancient dance used to honor and entertain the chiefs who have travelled from different places.

      "Iesu Me Ke Kanaka Waiwai" (Jesus and the Rich Man) song.  It's based on the parable from Matthew 19:16 - 24 of the rich young man who asks Jesus, "what must I do to gain eternal life?".  It was composed in 1915.

      Hula 'Auana, a contemporary or less formal style hula that tells stories of everyday life through movements of the limbs and hips.  Notice they smile as they do the less formal style of hula.  They don't smile when they do the traditional hulas.

     Musical number, a song and dance called, "Kulaiwi" - an expression of a deep connection to homeland, ancestors, heritage, and culture.

   President Grace, the president of the PCC was the concluding speaker at the devotional.  It was a very enjoyable devotional where I learned a lot about the Hawaiian culture.

      Although we as senior missionaries are not supposed to be given a formal calling in our YSA ward, the Bishop asked us "as an assignment" to conduct the Teacher Council Meetings every week in the second hour of our church meetings.  I'm not sure if the bishop is following the guidelines right, but we told him we would do it.  We will miss interacting with the members during RS/Priesthood and getting to know them better.  Instead, we will get to know the teachers really well as we try to help them learn to teach like the Savior.  Sunday was our first week to teach.  We only had one of the Relief Society teachers join us in the class.

      With this assignment and my conducting class on Sunday afternoons, it makes Sunday my busiest day.

Our First Family Visitors: January 22 - 28, 2024

 

      The beginning of this week started slow, not much happening out of the ordinary.  The picture to the right was captured by Elder Rappleye, a couple of weeks ago.  I forgot to share it in the last post.  Every once in a while, we are treated to some great views in the sky, like amazing sunrises or sunsets, and rainbows after rainstorms.  This picture was taken outside the motor pool at the PCC.  Elder Rappleye happened to step out of his office and had a great view of the full rainbow.  I'm glad he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of it.  On Wednesday morning this week, I got to view a gorgeous pink sunrise while I was in the pool doing my water aerobics workout - sorry no picture of that since I don't take my phone in the pool.

    

    On Wednesday last week, we finally stopped and snapped this picture.  It's on the side of the 7-11 store in Hau'ula.  We drive by this on our way home from town, but we are always in a hurry to get home and put away our groceries, so we never stop.  This trip we had no groceries, so we took the time to stop and get a picture.

      I'm so excited to have this bike to ride now.  Elder Duncan, who works in the motor pool with Elder Rappleye, offered to let us have his wife's bike because she doesn't use it.  They will be going home in April, and they are not shipping their bikes home.  I happened to mention that we would love to have bikes here, and that's when he offered us theirs.  He will give us the other bike when they leave.  He uses his bike to get to work every morning.  It's a very stripped-down version - no gears and coaster brakes.  We don't have room to store it at our pad, so we keep it locked up at the motor pool.  It's great to have a chance to take a little bike ride after work when it's nice enough.  I've been on a couple rides after work while I am waiting for Elder Rappleye to finish up his duties before we go home for the day.  When the time comes for us to go home, we'll find another missionary couple who would like to have them and pass the bikes along to them.

      BYU-H had club rush week on campus.  I found this picture posted on Facebook of the Elder's Quorum president in our student ward.  Rory Pilkington is the one on the left in the picture to the left.  He is from Australia and served a mission to New Zealand.  He works as a tour guide at the PCC.

      We were excited to have our youngest son, Derek, and his wife, Sharron, and their 10-month-old son, Parker come visit us for 6 days.  They are the first family visitors we have had since we arrived in Hawaii in November.  Their plane got in about two hours late on Thursday night, so by the time they arrived in Laie they were ready to hit the sack.  They stayed with Sharron's parents in an Airbnb in Laie on Iosepha Street, so it was close to us in Hau'ula.  Sharron's dad served his mission in Hawaii 30 years ago, so he is always looking for an opportunity to come visit Hawaii to see old friends.  He bankrolled the Airbnb, which made it possible for Derek and Sharron to be able to afford to come.

      On the list of things Derek wanted to do in Hawaii, a visit to Pearl Harbor was on the top of the list.  Friday, we drove into Honolulu and went to Pearl Harbor.  We have been wanting to visit Pearl Harbor as well, but we knew when visitors came, they would probably want to go to Pearl Harbor, so we were waiting to go when we could go with family. Thanks, Derek, for coming to visit!  I'm sure we will visit Pearl Harbor a few more times before we go home.

 

   It was a great day to go - not too crowded and slightly overcast so it wasn't too hot.  In the picture on the left, we are waiting to get on the boat to go out to the USS Arizona Memorial.  See how happy Derek is to be at Pearl Harbor?

     Picture to the right - On the shuttle boat to go to the USS Arizona Memorial.  Sharron's dad didn't get to go out to the memorial.  He had to take care of an issue with their rent car.  The car alarm had gone off when they were unlocking the car to put bags in it and the alarm wouldn't turn off.  He ended up having to wait for the rent car company to come tow the car and go back to the airport to get a new rent car.   He missed the whole Pearl Harbor experience, but we were glad we were stranded there with things to occupy our time and not on the side of the freeway somewhere.

 

The wall of remembrance in the background.  Neither Elder Rappleye or I had any direct relatives on the USS Arizona, but it's very sobering to remember the 1,177 men who were causalities that awful day in history. Grateful to those who sacrificed their lives so that we can enjoy our freedom today.

The opening on the memorial is where you can look down into the water and see part of the sunken battleship. The last time I was at Pearl Harbor was 51 years ago when I was only 15 years old.  I 'm pretty sure I didn't understand the significance of the event and sacredness of the place at that age. This visit impacted me more this time than my first visit did.

 

After the rental car situation got taken care of, we headed back towards Laie.  We decided to stop to eat dinner at one of Sharron's dad's favorite places to eat - Haleiwa Joe's in Kaneohe.

We thought we were getting there fairly early and there wouldn't be a long wait time, but no such luck - 1 1/2 hour wait.  We decided to wait it out.  There was a beautiful garden area to enjoy while we waited.

      The pictures don't do it justice.  This is a view of the restaurant.   We walked down a pathway to the left of the picture through the trees to the pond pictured.  There were koi and turtles in the pond.

     Here's our whole group on the walkway out to the gazebo that was out on the pond.  Parker, our grandson, was a champ waiting it out for our table.  It helped that he had both sets of grandparents there to entertain him.

   

   There were paths to wander around on, but it had been raining so they were a little muddy.  Elder Rappleye is looking back on one of the paths.  Right there it wasn't too muddy, but just beyond the bridge it was quite muddy, so we had to turn back.  The picture on the left is looking across the pond from the restaurant side towards the mountains.  The restaurant was right behind us on the hill.

    

  The food did not disappoint.  It was worth the wait.  Elder Rappleye and I shared the top sirloin and mashed potatoes.  I didn't take a picture of my salad.  If you didn't notice - like father, like son.  Derek got the top sirloin like his dad.

      

Saturday morning, we drove back down to Honolulu to the swap meet at Aloha Stadium.  We got out of our car, took this picture while we were waiting for the Adam's car to arrive, then it started to rain, and we ran back to our car.  We sat in our car for about 1/2 hour until it stopped raining.  

      The swap meet is all outdoors.  Vendors set up booths all around the outside of the stadium.  We walked all the way around looking and shopping.  We got us zippered hoodies (for these cooler days in winter) and flower clips for my hair.  All the women around here wear them in their hair.  If you put it on the right side, it means you are available.  If you put it on the left side, it means you are taken, so I'll be wearing it in my hair on the left side.

     Here's a picture of the inside of the stadium.  Elder Rappleye says they don't use the stadium anymore because it's condemned.

      Of course, we had to try some of the food choices.  I had gone to the restroom and when I came back, the food Jim bought was almost gone, so I didn't get a picture of it.  It was a Filipino dish, one kind had chicken and another kind had bananas in it. They only saved me a piece of the banana dish, so the chicken must have been good since it was all gone.  I liked the banana dish; it was like a pastry of some sort.

      After shopping we headed to Kaneohe.  We were meeting up with the Gutheries.  Sharron's dad, Jim, baptized Rachelle when he served his mission 30 years ago and now, she is married and has a family. They are still active members of the church in Kaneohe.  Jim had arranged to have us all go boating with them out to the Kaneohe sandbar and play in the ocean for the afternoon.  We were so excited to do this activity because it would probably be the only time we would get a chance to go out to the sandbar since we don't know anyone who owns a boat.

      We were going to be getting on the boat at the Kaneohe Yacht Club.  The pictures above are views of the docks at the yacht club.  You can see the dark clouds in the sky.  When we arrived, we were told that the ocean was too rough right now and we would have to wait and see if the waves calm down, then we could go out.  The water in the bay looks calm, but out of the bay it was very rough.

 

      The yacht club just happened to be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the yacht club, so there were a lot of people hanging out at the club.  Above is a picture of Derek's cute little family waiting and hoping that we would be able to go out on the boat.

Here we are relaxing at the club with our dry pina colada with raspberry syrup.  It was delicious.  I never thought we would be hob knobbing with the yacht club community while we are missionaries here in Hawaii.

An interesting thing they did while we were waiting is that they asked us all to gather in a big circle in the lawn area and hold hands.  Then a Hawaiian clergyman gave a speech and pronounced a blessing on the yacht club.  He spoke about Christian values and in the blessing, he recognized the need of Jesus Christ in our lives.  I guess we fit in more than I thought we did with the yacht club crowd. 

It didn't look like we were going to get out on the boat, so I finally went and sat by the edge of the pool and dangled my feet in the pool.  There was a lady about my age floating around in the deep end where I was sitting.  I thought I would try to engage her in a conversation, so I started asking her questions to find out about her.  Well, she just started talking to me like I was an old friend.  I found out all about her family, how she ended up living in Hawaii (she used to live in Utah, but now she lives on Maui, but her daughter lives in Kaneohe).  By the end of the conversation, she had invited me to come back to the yacht club tomorrow for her son-in-law's boat christening event.  She said it was going to be fun and there would be a catered meal.  I had no plans to attend, but it was nice of her to invite someone who she had just met to this private party.  That's the spirit of Aloha.

On Sunday, Derek Sharron, and Parker came to our YSA ward for sacrament meeting, then took Parker home for a nap.  Peekay had not gotten too many naps since arriving in Hawaii and needed to get caught up on sleep.  In the afternoon, after I had taught my conducting class, we headed back down to Kaneohe to have dinner with the Gutheries.  Another example of the Aloha spirit.  While there we met another senior missionary couple who serve in Kaneohe as MLS missionaries.  It was fun to hear how their MLS mission is like.

Here's a picture of Sharron's parents, Jim and Melissa (on the left) and the Gutheries (on the right)

Who thought a senior mission could be like a vacation? I'm grateful that the Church allows family members to visit and experience the places senior missionaries are serving.