It's a Small World After All: March 4 - 10, 2024

   This week for our YSA family home evening activity they had reserved the BYU-H outdoor pool.  I was so excited about this activity.  I was excited to get some extra pool time. Especially since I was still in a lot of pain in my lower back.  I knew being in the pool would help ease the pain. But as luck would have it, I found out that the pool's heater was broken, and the water would not be heated.  That explained why the Wednesday before when I had gone to the pool the water felt cold.  If it felt cold on Wednesday, it would really be cold on Monday night having not been heated for almost a week.  Plus, the weather forecast was predicting rain and cooler temperatures.  

     I love getting in the pool, but my old bones don't like the cold, so I chose to pass on getting in the water this time.  I was so disappointed.  I'm hoping we do a repeat of this activity during the summer when it's hot and less likely to rain.  We did get quite a bit of rain during this activity.

      All the young students that came looked like they were enjoying the water despite the cold and rain.  The top picture shows a group of boys and then a group of girls.  I thought it was funny how they started out segregating themselves by sex.

   The girls started playing a fun game at the deep end.  The above picture shows them at the beginning of the game.  They lined up in pairs facing each other.  Then they started playing rock, paper, scissors.  The person who lost would have to take a step sideways towards the pool.  They would continue the rock, paper, scissors game until one of the pair ended up in the water.  In the picture to the right, you can see a girl diving into the water because she just lost, and another girl in the water who had already lost.

      Then they did relay races in the deep end.  That got the boys and girls mingling a little bit.  They had to swim across the pool with a big t-shirt on, and then take it off and the next person had to put it on and swim back across.  They kept switching until everyone on the team had a turn.

    

  The pictures to the left show the action going on outside of the pool.

The pictures above show the action in the water.  Some of them are pretty fast swimmers.  They also served dinner - hot dogs, chips, cut watermelon, drinks, and cookies.  It was a shame the weather was not good; it kept a lot of people away.

 

Of course there was pool basketball action as well.  The first counselor in the Bishopric got in and was playing with them.  He's a big Polynesian guy.  It would be hard to shoot over him or get around him.

Tuesday, my back was still just as bad.  It was really hard to get any sleep because there was no comfortable way for me to lay down. Then getting out of bed was another problem altogether.  I was still going into work despite my back pain.  Surprisingly sitting in my office chair was one of the things I could do relatively pain free, so doing my assignment at the food warehouse was not an issue.

      Tuesday night we had another Ask Me shift.  We were stationed right by the Hale Aloha entrance to answer people's questions as they left the luau.  Another couple, the Thackers, were helping at the luau that night.  They have been here in the mission awhile, but we had not met them yet.  After talking to Sister Thacker, we found out that when she was going to BYU as a young girl, she worked at BYU and Elder Rappleye's mom was her boss.  What a fun "small world" moment.  I have included a picture of the Thackers with us above.

     On Wednesday, a week after we said goodbye to Betty Ann and Steve Curtis, we welcomed more visitors - my dad and his wife, Javan.  They decided to make the long plane ride over to Hawaii to visit us.  An added bonus is that my dad's brother, Jay, lives here, and he can visit him and his wife, Faith, as well.  Pictured on the right is Javan and my dad on our couch with their welcome leis shortly after arriving at our apartment.  They arrived in the afternoon.  We didn't plan anything for the first night so they could have a chance to relax and adjust to the time difference.

  The next day Elder Rappleye and I went to work in the morning and let my dad and Javan have a leisurely morning.  It was going to be a pretty busy afternoon and evening because it was the Polynesian Cultural Center day.  In the photo on the left, my dad and Javan are standing by the Shaka statue at the south entrance to the PCC.

      We've already been to the PCC multiple times since we have arrived here 4 months ago, but we have never been at the entrance at 12:30pm when they open the center and get to see the opening show in front of the welcome center.  Well, this time with my dad and Javan, we were there to see it.  They introduce each island represented at the PCC and do a short dance from each of the islands.  In the pictures to the right is just a sample of a couple of the dances.

    

 For the Aotearoa (New Zealand) they do an audience participation dance.  Elder Rappleye got picked out of the crowd to do it. (left) That's because the guy in red, Rory, with Elder Rappleye is in our YSA Ward.  He spotted Elder Rappleye in the crowd and ran and got him up and dancing.

One of the first and best photo ops is in front of the main waterfall.

Also, the canoe ride is also a favorite photo opportunity.

Here is my dad and Javan waiting for the show in the Aotearoa (New Zealand) island village.

My dad told me that they would have to take a break during the day for a nap so they would be able to be awake enough for the Ha night show, but they were enjoying all the village shows so much that they just kept going.

In the picture to the right is my dad trying to do the Taitian man dance where they bend their knees and knock them together very quickly.

We were able to get tickets to the Luau for my dad and Javan.  While they enjoyed the luau, we went home and grabbed jackets for everyone because it was getting a little cool and we knew they would want a jacket after it got dark.  I snapped this picture of the very end of the luau program from the entrance where we were waiting for them to come out.

After the luau we browsed the marketplace until it was time to take our seats for the night show.  One of the perks we have is after 6pm the night of the show, we can go to customer service and ask for them to upgrade our seats.  Every time we have done that, we have gotten great seats.  I think my dad and Javan have gotten the best seats so far.

The long, busy day at the PCC pretty much wore them both out. 

The next day, we had planned to let my dad and Javan have another leisurely morning while we went to work.  I had started to feel feverish during the night and was wondering whether I should go in to work, but I knew Kapu'u was not going to be in and my fever seemed to break come morning, so I got up and got ready for work despite my continued back pain and now apparent cold symptoms. When I arrived at work and explained I wasn't feeling too great, they immediately sent me home.  Elder Rappleye decided to stay until we knew what my dad and Javan wanted to do that day.

When I got home, my dad and Javan had decided they wanted to go to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens in Kaneohe.  It's a huge 400 acres garden that you can drive through and there are also places to get out and walk around.  The picture above is the view you get as you drive into the gardens.

I thought that would be a good thing to do while I'm not feeling too great since it would be mostly sitting in the car, and I wouldn't have much contact with other people.  

It's a 45-minute drive down to the gardens.  The day was overcast and a little cool.  We did get out and did a short walk to the lake, The pictures on the left show the lake.  You can also see we are wearing our hoodies.  We kept our distance from everyone including my dad and Javan.

     My dad and Javan were pretty worn out from the PCC activities the day before, so they were content to view the gardens from the car as we drove through the area.  Elder Rappleye and I did a very short, but steep hike to a lookout point and captured these pictures to the right of the Ko'olau mountain range.  

As much as I love the lofty snowcapped mountains in Utah, these green covered vertical majestic mountains of Hawaii are just as impressive.

In the evening, we went out to dinner with my Uncle Jay, my dad's brother, and his wife, Faith,  my cousin Julie and her daughter, Eyrn.  We went to the same place at Turtle Bay Resort that we did last time we went to dinner with Jay and Faith, Lei,Lei's.

The food is excellent there.  I was tempted to get the same menu item I had last time, but decided I should try something new.  Elder Rappleye and I shared the Herb-crusted Chicken entree.  It did not disappoint.  We got to hear a lot of reminiscing about when my dad and Jay were young and about their parents, my grandparents.  Several of the stories I have heard before, but I also heard some new ones and heard Jay's perspective on them. We got a nice sunset, just not as good as the last time we were there.

     On Saturday we went out to Laie Point.  It is always windy out on the point, but it seemed extra windy that day.  Someone told us that they had seen a whale out on the ocean by the point, but we could never spot it.  We should have brought our binoculars.

Then we headed over to the Laie Visitor's Center.  We spent some time in there watching a movie about the history of Laie and viewing the displays.  Of course, we got our picture taken in front of the Christ statue.

We were visiting with some of the sister missionaries and found out that Sister River's is from Lindon, UT.  We told her that our son, Devin and his family live in Lindon.  She looked up on her LDS tools and found out that they are in the same Ward!  It definitely is a small world, our second small world moment this week.

it's a shame that my dad and Javan were visiting during the 2-week temple closure for cleaning.  They would have loved to be able to attend the temple while they were here.  Instead all we could do was walk around the beautiful temple grounds.

In the afternoon we went back to the PCC to visit the Hawaii island village.  We did not have time to visit the village of Hawaii on Thursday when we were there.

Before the show, they made a special presentation.  I knew they had to be special dignitaries or VIP guests, but I wasn't sure where they were from.  My guess, from the clothes they were wearing, was Mexico or South America somewhere.  Afterwards, I asked one of the photographers where the group was from, and he told me they were from the Seminole Indian Tribe in Florida. In the picture to the right, the two (there are actually three) people standing facing forward were the people they were welcoming.

I hear about special guests coming to the PCC, but I have never seen them in person.

It was our stake conference weekend, so we had an adult session of conference Saturday night.  I was tempted to stay home because I really wasn't feeling well, but I decided to go and sit far away from everyone.  I'm glad I went because we had an area seventy there, Elder Naumann, and his talk about the sacrament was especially good.

 

     I finally succumbed to being sick and stayed home from the Sunday session of our stake conference.  The biggest problem I had was our Ward choir was singing the prelude song and both Elder Rappleye and I were participating.  There was only 3 alto's singing in the choir, and without me it would be down to just 2.  But there was no way I was going to be able to sing, so I had to bow out. 

Someone sent me a little snippet of the choir singing and I got this screenshot of Elder Rappleye and the choir singing.

My dad and Javan went to my Uncle Jay and Aunt Faith's ward for church.

This was the worst possible timing for me to get sick on top of my back pain while my dad and Javan were visiting.  I was praying that I would not make them sick, but I also wanted to make sure they had a good visit after spending all the time and money to come.  That has made it a challenging week.

We've Run Away From Home: February 26 - March 3

    We are thankful we were able to take a couple of more days off to be with Steve and Betty Ann.  Monday was our day to do things in and around Laie.  We started the day off by an early morning visit to Laie Point.
    

       The beauty at the point never gets old.   Since visiting here with Steve and Betty Ann I have found out that people who are daring enough actually jump off of the point.  Apparently, there is a safe place somewhere on the point to jump off and survive.  When I have been out there and observed the waves crashing in on the point, I have no idea way where on the point they could do that.  I would never had the nerve to do it.

     Then we headed to Hukilau Beach and walked along the beach for about 2 miles.  We were going to try to walk all the way to the point on the far end in the picture to the left, but rain clouds were rolling in and we decided to head back to our car.  We just barely made it to the car in time.

 

 After going back home and having breakfast and getting ready for the day, we next went to view a small art exhibit on the BYU-H campus in the McKay Auditorium Lobby.  The exhibit, "She Speaks through Art" showcased student's works of art.

  

    I'm just posting a few of my favorite ones.

This painting above was actually done by one of the senior missionaries, Elder Greg Silva.  It's a painting of the fishponds at Kaneohe Bay.

We then headed over to the Laie Temple grounds.  The temple is closed on Mondays, but we wondered around to the back of the temple.  There's a path that goes up the hill behind the temple to a small gazebo.

We found an old pioneer memorial cemetery on the top of the hill.  The plague reads:

"Here in the shadow of the temple, lies many of our honored pioneer dead.  They who helped establish the true Church in Hawaii and make Laie blossom as a rose."

Most of the grave markers had no markings on them due to the weather eroding the writing off.  From the few we could read they were buried around the early 1900's.  It looked like there were many infants buried there.

  

The views were spectacular from up there, and it was very peaceful.  We were the only people up there.  What a great place to mediate, get away and be alone if you need to.  

At the bottom of the hill near the entrance, was this statue, dedicated to Ma Noaheakamalu Manuhii.  She is a native Hawaiian who took care of Joseph F. Smith, who became very ill when he came to the island as a 15-year-old missionary. Later, in 1909 Joseph F. Smith, now the prophet of the Church, visited Hawaii and told her that she would live to see a temple built in Hawaii.  Three months later in General Conference, President Smith proposed the construction of a temple in Laie.

.

Although construction advanced promptly, sadly President Joseph F. Smith did not live to see the Hawaii temple completed among a people he loved so dearly, but “Ma” did. In her nineties and among the first to attend, Ma was carried through the temple to receive her blessings and be sealed to her husband. While in the temple she heard the words of Joseph F. Smith tell her “aloha,” and a dove flew in through an open window and lighted on her bench. Expressing her feeling of deep contentment, Ma passed away a week later.  She is buried in the pioneer cemetery.

Next we headed up to Turtle Bay Resort and looked around.  It's an elite resort on the northeast tip of Oahu. Since all the beaches are public, people who are not staying at the resort can come in and swim at Turtle Bay.  That's Turtle Bay in the background of the picture to the right.  We have hiked out to the point in the background.

This is actually the beach at the resort that looks nice to swim in.  And they don't even charge you to park, you just have to park kind of far away.  The close parking spots are reserved for the actual guests of the resort.

A little further around the North Shore we stopped at Kawala Bay.  It's here where they filmed the famous Banyan tree in Pirates of the Caribbean and lots of other movies and TV shows have been filmed here.

Sitting on the beach at Kawala Bay.

Last place we stopped at on the North Shore was Sunset Beach.  We didn't time it for sunset, but it's still a nice beach to visit.  There are always quite a few people there.  I had to crop out the people that were having a picnic right under the palm tree in the picture to the right.

We did get a pretty good sunset at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We had dinner at Pounders Restaurant in the Marketplace and afterwards did a little browsing in the shops.

We started Tuesday off with an early morning temple session.  

Here's a view looking out from the temple towards the ocean.

Before going to the PCC, we took Steve and Betty Ann on a behind the scenes view to where we work.  The picture to the left is Betty Ann getting a ride in one the carts that Elder Rappleye services monthly in the motor pool.  The carts are a hot commodity at the PCC.  Currently they are slowing all the carts down and setting them on a certain maximum speed per President Grace's (President of the PCC) orders.

Too many students were speeding around the PCC a little too recklessly.  Not too many people are happy about that.  They bring the cart back and say, "There is something wrong with my cart.  It won't go very fast.".  He then has to explain to them that there is nothing wrong, it's now just limited.

Then we took them over to the food warehouse.  Here is a new updated photo of me at my desk.  The poster above my desk is the "Our Kuleana", meaning our responsibility, encouraging all employees to be accountable for all they do.  It states our vision - To spread aloha around the world. Our mission - To share the cultures, diversity and spirit of Polynesia in a unique and uplifting way that blesses and inspires all who visit, while contributing to the educational development and growth of all employees. 

 The big letters I, M, U, and A stand for Integrate Beliefs, Magnify Employees, Uplift Guests, and Achieve Excellence.

Of course, we made sure we did the canoe ride at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

   We never know who we are going to see at the PCC from our YSA ward.  This time we saw our 2nd counselor in the Bishopric performing in the show at Aotearoa village (New Zealand).

This time we got our picture taken with Kap, the star of the Samoa village shows.  He's been at the PCC for over 40 years.  He climbs coconut trees, does fire knife dancing, is a stand-up comedian in the Samoa shows, and displays his art in a gallery at the PCC.  Although I have heard his routine several times, it's fun to watch the audience's reaction to all of his jokes. He never fails to get them laughing.

Steve and Elder Rappleye learning a Tahitian dance in the village of Tahiti.

We also got pictures after the Ha show with some of the cast members.   You can't take pictures during the show, but they invite you to come down on stage and take pictures with the cast after the show.  No one that we have taken to the show has wanted to do that, but I knew Betty Ann would want to do it.  The picture to the right is Fiji cast members.

The lighting on the stage wasn't always great for taking pictures, but these dancers are from the island of Hawaii.

Pictured above is the stunning waterfall backdrop on the stage with two of the Tahitian dancers.

      Wednesday was the last day of Steve and Betty Ann's visit. We can't have a visit with Betty Ann without involving some shopping, so in the morning we went to the swap meet at  Aloha Stadium.  I was able to find an Hawaiian outfit for Deklan's birthday that is coming up in March.  It's always good to have Betty Ann around to help get the vendor to lower their price and get the best deals.  Then we stopped at Sam's Club.  We aren't members, but Betty Ann and Steve are.  It was nice to shop and get some different items there that Costco doesn't carry.  Around 3pm we said our goodbyes.  They headed to the airport, and we headed back to Hau'ula.  Another great visit with family here in paradise.

On Thursday, leap day, it was back to work at the PCC. I've decided I don't like leap day because I had a rough day at my job. My brain was probably still on vacation mode. We had a Ask Me shift that night.   It's the first time we were stationed by the Shaka statue.  It's my favorite spot to work.  You get asked to take people's picture by the statue.  We also had someone come up to us and said, 'You guys look way too young to be out here working. Do your parents know you are here?"  That helped make me feel a little better after having a bad day at work.  I told her we had run away from home. 

      Saturday morning, I woke up in extreme pain.  I could hardly move.  I was having spasms in my lower back. We were debating the night before about going on a hike with some of the other senior couples or going to the canoe races at Kahana Bay.  My pain in my back was definitely not going to allow us to go hiking. 

     

       I did manage to get myself ready despite the pain, and we went down to the canoe races.  The water was pretty choppy, and there were a few near miss crashes.  The BYU-H students were having a great time.  I'm not sure how much practice, if any, the teams had on the water, but what they lacked in practice and experience, they made up with enthusiasm and youthful energy.  In the pictures above it shows them carrying the canoe out of the water and then bailing water out of the canoe.  Between races they would have to get all the water out of the canoes so it wouldn't slow them down.

There was a band of drummers and ukulele players beating away the whole time the races were going on.

 Canoe teams launching out.  They would have to paddle out to the certain distance

 where the starter buoys were. 

 

Here they are getting all lined up to begin the race.  Then they would blow an air horn and they would paddle like crazy.

 If you look closely, you can see three canoes racing towards the shore.  The boat with the flags is the starter boat.

Here's a race that was neck and neck.  It was hard to tell who won from our spot on the beach. The guys on the paddle boards on the right-hand side of the picture are the judges at the finish line.

A team celebrating in the canoe after a win.

Another winning team posing for a photo on the beach.

A view of the canoes during a break.  You can see how long they are. Because of the pain in my back, I could only tolerate being there for about an hour, so we didn't get to see the finals.
We found out on Sunday that a student from our YSA ward, Trae, was on the second place team.  Somehow in all the pictures I took, I couldn't find one with him in it.

      

      Sunday afternoon was our monthly munch and mingle.  We also honor and sing "Aloha 'Oe" to all the missionaries that are leaving during the month.  This was the first month where there were some missionaries leaving that we know and grew to love in the short 4 months we have been here.

In the picture to the left is Su Jones, the second from the left.  She works in the food warehouse with me.  She has been here almost 23 months, and they are really going to miss her in the warehouse, especially Kapu'u.  I am a little worried that they will be asking me to do a lot of the "extra" things that they are always having Sister Jones do.  The new sister coming in to take her place has big shoes to fill. 

And Elder Craighead on the end has worked with Elder Rappleye in the motor pool.  He is an excellent mechanic and also will be hard to replace.  You can tell that they are much loved by all the leis that were given to them that night.