October 29, 2017

October 8, 2017

I need to make a disclaimer... if it looks like all we do is play on this Mission, that's wrong.  In case we haven't explained our mission call, we have been called to work at the BYU-Hawaii campus. We are Service Missionaries on campus.  We don't proselytize,  we don't give member leadership support. In lieu of hiring more staff, the money they save with our services goes toward scholarships to international students so they can fulfill their dream for an education.  

Steve has been called to be a mental health counselor to students in the department for Counseling Services.  He received his license with the state of Hawaii as a mental health counselor. I  work in the registrar's office.  We register students for classes and answer all the 1001 different questions that students have about their college requirements (though I know very few answers yet).  We certify that every graduate candidate has met all requirements and conduct the graduation ceremonies that occur three times a year.  We work roughly from 8 am to 4:30 pm five days a week.  We really can't share anything about our confidential work so what we share on our blog will be our activities outside the working hours.  And let me tell you, we play really hard on our preparation day which is Saturday.

On Wednesday afternoons I volunteer with another senior sister missionary to drive to and pick up food from a local resort about half an hour away and then deliver it to a local pastor.   He then delivers it to the different food banks and shelters for the needy in Laie, Hau'ula and Kahuku.  This is a joint function we have with the Kahuku Catholic Church.  As we serve and participate in this food pick up, it allows us to provide meals for many people, as well as build relationships with non-LDS organizations and other faiths within our communities.

Several afternoons a week I work with THE VOICE program.  This is a student requested, non-academic opportunity for foreign students to enhance their conversational English. We meet with students for one-half to one hour sessions any weekday by signing up at the student Aloha Center desk. We are here to help students improve English language speaking and pronunciation skills in a relaxed atmosphere.  Students must pass elementary English proficiency to be enrolled at BYU-Hawaii, but  many students still have a need and desire to carry on English conversations with greater fluency.  Remember, we have students coming from 76 different countries with almost that many different languages or dialects.  I have met the most wonderful, humble students from Mongolia, China, Taiwan, Samoa, Tonga, Nepal, Japan, Indonesia, etc.  If they don't have a particular item to work on or talk about, I just start asking about their families, childhood, where they grew up, some customs in their culture or where they served their missions (most are returned missionaries who served in their country of origin).  Helping these students with their English skills is my favorite job.  They are so eager to learn and have a great desire to improve their English.  I end each session by giving them a granola bar or small snack and they always give a hug.  They are so grateful for any help offered to them.

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Waimea Falls is a historical nature park with a one mile walk that brings you to a beautiful pool of fresh spring water for swimming.  They make you wear a life jacket so everyone is safe in the nippy water.

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About once a week, if we choose, we are assigned to take tickets at one of the four luaus offered at the Polynesian Cultural Center every evening.  We dress in matching Aloha wear; we can buy them at the swap meet in Pearl City (the best shopping on the island) or get loaner outfits from the PCC.

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Yesterday we left home at 6:30 am to get an early jump on our day. Our neighbors, senior missionaries and now great friends, Wes and Kathy Himle from West Jordan, Utah are our Saturday  sight-seeing buddies.  They serve at the Polynesican Cultural Center. Wes is a plumber and Kathy works in their offices.  We both have a bucket list of things to do and see before their mission is over in March.

We drove toward the North Shore where they have the big surfing competitions in the winter time when the waves can be 60 foot high.  Watching the surfing competitions is on our calendar for January.  We drove around to the west side of the island where the Dole Pineapple fields are farmed.  We followed south, drive back through the center of the island and over toward Honolulu where we hiked to this amazing old lighthouse.  It still blinks 24/7 warning boats or ships of the rugged rocks below.

Not surprisingly we were pretty warn out with the hike, sun and humidity.  In the same vicinity is the Sea Life Park where we enjoyed the bird aviary and dolphin show.  

Every street and town name  here is of course is in Hawaiian.  It helps if you have an introduction on how to pronounce these names.  We found these instructions which have been quite helpful.  For example, we live on Kealalani Place, in Hau'ula, neighboring towns are Kaaawa, Kaneohe, Laie, Kahuku, etc.

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On the first Sunday of the month all the missionaries meet together in the evening for a pot-luck dinner, called "Break the Fast".  Each first Sunday we fast for two meals for the purpose of: 1) to draw closer to the Lord and to pray for a specific purpose, answers to questions, pray for someone else's benefit or pray to express gratitude for our blessings; and, 2) to donate generously on behalf of the needy.  

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This week we were called to serve in the Addiction Recovery Program, (ARP).  This is a Church sponsored 12-step program that anyone can attend who may struggle with any addiction: alcohol, drugs, pornography, eating, gambling, etc., or for those who associate with someone who does may also attend.  The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have been adapted into a framework of the doctrines, principles and beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We serve the students along with another missionary couple.  The meeting  is at 9 pm to accommodate the students who may work late or have late classes.  Many student activities like Family Home Evening start at these late hours for their convenience.  It's a bit late for us but it's an important program and we're happy to serve where called.

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October 29, 2017 - The Polynesian Cultural Center

Next door to the BYU-Hawaii campus is the Polynesian Cultural Center.  It is a 42-acre site that includes mini-villages of seven Pacific island nations: Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti and Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

The center was opened in 1963 as a way to provide employment and scholarships for students at BYU Hawaii and to preserve the cultures of Polynesia.  It has its roots in the 1940's and 1950's hukilau and luau beach gatherings that earned money to rebuild a local LDS chapel which had been destroyed in a fire.

Since it opened its doors in 1963, over 32 million people have visited the center.  The PCC has transformed from an unprofitable unknown entity into one of the most popular tourist sites in Hawaii.  The students attending BYU-H work at the PCC.

The PCC is the venue for the annual World Fire Knife Dance Competition where contestants display their skill with blazing swords. Steve put in an application for Fire Dancer but hasn't heard anything back. :) 

Fire Dancers

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Most of the international students attending BYU-H are part of a work-study program called the 
I-WORK Program. The mission of the I-WORK program is the same as the mission of the school,: to prepare learners, leaders and builders who will bless families, communities, and the Church around the world. 

Currently the student body of BYU-Hawaii is approximately 2,700 students (just over the number in my high school).  The University's master plan calls for that number to increase to 3,200 in the next few years.  About 700 of these students benefit from I-WORK.  Many of these students would not 

be in a position to attend BYU-H were it not for this program.  The five letters in the acronym 

I-WORK stand for:

International

Work

Opportunity

Returnability

Kuleana

The first three words are self-explanatory.  Returnability describes the  process of students preparing to return successfully to their home countries and Kuleana is Hawaiian for responsibility.  Every student I meet in THE VOICE program is part of I-WORK.  After graduation, they all want to return to their country and help build it in every way they can. Participating students are required to earn good grades, keep the Honor Code and work on campus or at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Most students work in the villages of their origin.  Many are tour guides to tourist groups from their own country and lead the tours in their native language.  The Japanese and Koreans especially love native speaking tour guides.  

The I-Work program pays for the student all university tuition and books, class fees, insurance, room and board in excess of the student contribution and payroll deduction from their work. The program offers a 50% grant and a 50% forgivable loan.  There is a catch... the loan portion must be repaid if the student chooses NOT to return to their home region following graduation from BYU-H.  Upon graduation, it is expected that the student return to their home country/region qualified to provide leadership roles in an international Church, in civic and social affiliations and within their families and of course then their portion of the loan is forgiven. Students are required to maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 and complete 14 credit hours per semester. 

Students in the program must work 19 hours per week while school is in session and 40 hours per week during school breaks.  

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Mission Tidbits-Since this Blog is our journal, these are tidbits we want to remember.

Grocery prices have given us sticker shock!  Someone suggested that 'if you want it, just buy it'.  We're slowly coming around to that idea.  So far, we're still going without a lot of things.  We eat very simply, I'm not going to cook after working all day;beside I'd rather take a quick walk to the beach. We grill burgers and chicken on our little George Foreman grill, frozen veggies, if we're lucky a salad.  Ice cream is usually on sale somewhere.  Sometimes I cook bigger on Sunday and it lasts in some form throughout the week.  A roasted chicken from Sams will last a whole week.  We brown bag for lunch every day.  If you're hungry, it always tastes good!

There are only two grocery stores on the north shore.  Foodland, found throughout the island and a local store called Tamura's.  Also, Longs Drug, is like a Walgreens or CVS.  We shop the sale ads to survive.  Tamura's milk is $5/gal.  Foodland milk is always $7/gal. 

1 doz eggs usually $3-$4.  We found  a local joint called 'Cackle Fresh Eggs' that sells a flat (30 eggs) for $5.  They said all eggs come from the mainland wherever you buy them. It's pretty ironic since there are chickens and roosters roaming freely all over the place.

Small cereal, 10-12 oz. $5

Gas $2.95/gal., better than we anticipated

Costco watermelon  $10

Costco/Sams roasted chicken still $4.99, hot dogs w/drink still $1.50

Produce is always sold by the pound, $2.99/lb for lettuce, bananas $1.39/lb

No, we haven't succumbed to this!

There's a big push to have food storage in case of a hurricane or tsunami  "Don't expect someone else to share their food if you haven't scrimped to provide for your own family." A quote from our Stake President at Stake Conference last week.  We decided to use our rolling luggage as our 'go bags'.  We filled it with extra clothing, canned food (and a can opener), water, water purifier, mosquito nets, etc. 

In this mission there are about 136 missionaries, 30 couples at the PCC and 30 couples at the university, and 16 single sisters at the PCC.  Missionaries serve in everything from building contractors, plumbers, Ukulele instructors, seamstresses (sew costumes for those who work at the PCC), professors, religion instructors, therapist, office support, Hale parents (dorm parents), etc.

If the missionaries want a car here, they must provide their own.  Several folks shipped their cars from home.  Most missionaries buy and sell from a couple that is leaving their mission, usually called an 'island car' and not in the best condition.  We sold my car at home and bought a Hyundai Accent from a couple that left before we came.  They bought it brand new, so it was only two years old and still under warranty and has only 15K miles.  We hope to avoid repairs with something so new. We love this little car and we're so glad it's little. Kamehameha highway that circles the island is only a two-lane "highway" and the speed limit is 35 mph.  Parking spaces are narrow and also at a premium.

We wash our car weekly to ward off the ocean salt air.  The best part of our apartment is that we have a garage space!! Our landlords built their home only three years ago which includes two missionary apartments.  This is a great way to supplement a family's income.  They have a 3-car garage, one for their family and each missionary couple also has a space. 

Missionaries are not given Ward callings.  We are asked to be mentors.  These students are so amazing and competent, most of them are returned missionaries.  Our married student ward is hurting for a pianist, so the Bishop asked me to play the organ for church, I also play for our very small Primary (children's group) and Relief Society (woman's organization)  They both meet on Sunday also.

Steve plays racquetball twice a week at 6 am at the school RB courts with other missionaries and some local Hawaiians.  So this drives our laundry schedule.  We have a coin-operated W/D that we share with our next door neighbor senior couple.

Every morning Steve has to decide which shirt to wear to work.:):) Of course he wears a white shirt and tie every day and I'm in a skirt and sandals.  Whenever we're out and about and on preparation day, you'll find us in shorts and capris wearing our missionary badge. He irons his own white shirts while we stream something to watch on our computer.  

We have opted not to have a TV.  The monthly service would be another $100/month, and we'd probably watch it too much.  Our evenings are already pretty filled anyway.  We subscribed to streaming CBS shows without commercials for $10/month.  This is great because we can still watch NCIS, Blue Bloods and Madam Secretary, ha ha.  [Note: Madam Secretary is not Steve's favorite.] Our favorites from home.  We can also catch the BYU station on the computer.  

Knock on wood, we've only seen 2 cockroaches in our apartment.  I was home alone when I found a really big one.  With no one to hear me, I couldn't even scream and had to kill him myself.  Other missionaries say they are inundated with roaches in their older apartments.  We spray every month to keep them at bay.

We don't have AC either.  Our second floor apartment gives us wonderful trade winds and we have several floor fans and 2 ceiling fans.  The humidity doesn't even bother us anymore.  Of course the hair is a problem.  But I don't worry about it anymore, it is what it is!  I am Steve's barber and he's looking good.  We love to be frugal and save where we can.  This is not a cheap mission so every where we can save helps.

Roosters and chickens are everywhere on this island. They start crowing about 4:30 in the morning and crow all day long.  We have to hit the sack by 9:30 pm just to get a good night's sleep before
they wake us.

Lots of rain and huge waves lately.  We heard a local drowned this past week while surfing on the North shore and yesterday our neighbors went out in the storm to watch the waves and saw the lifeguards rescue a man.  This ocean is so strong and dangerous.  Even playing on the beach you can never turn your back to it.

Every day we pinch ourselves so we don't forget where we get to live.  This was taken from our
front door early one morning this week.