BYU-H finals ended Dec.14 and school doesn't resume until Jan. 10. That's a long school break.We kept working every day staying busy in our respective offices. Many of the missionaries took time off with family or visiting other islands. We decided that once our mission is over we'll probably not come back this way again. So the mission president gave us permission to island hop, at our expense of course, as is everything over here is at our expense, if we get permission from our directors. We took off for Maui on Jan. 2-5 to see the sights. When we made our reservations we didn't know it would be on this little plane that seats 9. They ask your weight so they can balance the plane!
*****
This is the island Molokai which we passed over on the way to Maui. It has the highest seaside cliffs in the world. They are between 3600 and 3900 feet high.
We didn't spend any time on beach activities. We have plenty of that on our island, Oahu. We don't relax on vacations either but we take adventures. We took our rental car on 'The Road to Hana.' This is a 'must see' narrow road on the east side of Maui. It's a narrow 52 mile road that has 617 turns, 56 bridges, 49 are one lane where you take turns crossing the bridge The road is filled with stops to hike to great waterfalls, swim or play in pools, or sightseeing points, local food stands of homemade banana bread, treats, etc. We started at 8 am, took Subway sandwiches, chips and cookies and enjoyed our day. The only way out is the same road in. They recommend you be off the road by sundown. We finally made it home by 6:30, pitch dark
Black sandy beach swimming bay.
Along the road is an interesting lava tube (cave) deep in the earth. These were created by running lava under the earth during volcano eruptions umpteen years ago. It's about 1/3 mile long. The cave is fitted with handrails and plenty of informative signage throughout. They give everyone powerful flashlights to light the way on the self-guided tour. Turning off the flashlights gives an eerily dark, scary feeling.
*****
Our second day in Maui was spent driving 2 hours on more switchback roads up to Haleakala, a dormant volcano. As you can see it was cold and windy, 10,023 feet high, way above the clouds. More adventurous folks take the tours that include being picked up at your hotel by 3 am, driving to the top to view the amazing sunrise and then biking down the switchbacks. The early hour and the $300 didn't agree with us so we took the easy way and drove up. We passed a lot of bikers coming down and even bikers that were going UP the 30 mile drive.
Our pilot said we flew at 6500 feet above sea level. Haleakala is much higher at 10,023 feet.
This is the crater basin where you can hike in as far as you want. Zoom in and you can see the trail. We hiked in about 2 miles, not so hard, but coming out was a killer at that altitude and steep grade. It was so barren and desolate. You can reserve camp sites 6 months in advance about 10 miles in, not sure that sounds very fun to me. Below: the rim of the crater with smaller craters within. Again, if you zoom in you can see the trail. There were even runners passing us...crazy!
*****
We went back out on our dolphin adventure with the free vouchers since we didn't see them previously. This time we saw hundreds of dolphins close to a beautiful bay the captain said had been used for many TV and movie films. Few visitors on the beach because it's not accessible by car.
*****
On the opposite, dry side of the island is Disney Aulani. It's the most amazing family resort you've ever seen. There's a lazy river and many different pools for kids and separate ones for adults. A pool with fish so you can snorkel with them. The beaches at all resorts are public so you have to pay to use a lounge chair or cabana. This is a man-made little bay where you can rent the stand-up paddle board.
*****
Just after 8 am on the above date, a group of 8 of us missionaries were already on the road for our weekly Saturday adventures when we received this message on our phones. We had just passed the Turtle Bay resort so we turned around to head back to that location. We quickly phoned and text our children with the news and told them we loved them. We felt totally calm. A lady in her car behind us stopped and ran up to our car, she was so nervous she jumped in and rode back to Turtle Bay with us. Everyone was on their phones but there was no sign of panic. We were directed to a basement room that looked like an employee lunchroom with no windows. There were several TVs on with national news but no comments on the warning. Someone in the crowd said "the missionaries are here, so we'll be fine." I figured if we die on our mission, we'll get a free pass to Heaven! It was nice to get the 'false alarm' message and we were quickly on our way, no worse for the ware. We heard about the panic in Honolulu, but everyone we spoke with on the North Shore was totally calm about the warning. It's kind of like where are we going to go or hide? Many students slept through the warning or didn't even see or hear about it until it was over.
*****
In the middle of a sugar cane field in central Oahu, you'll find a sacred site - the Kukaniloko ("to withhold the cry from within") Birthing Stones. The sign at this sacred site says that as many as 800 years ago, chiefs and queens came to this site for the birth of their children. A child born here was assured high-ranking status. The rocks were large and flat, some had an angle to them. It didn't seem like a very comfy place to give birth. It has a very peaceful feel to it. You can sence the history of this sacred place. While there we met a couple from Japan that came to this sacred site hoping to soon have a child.
One day after work while waiting for Steve, I walked over to the Polynesian Cultural Center and enjoyed the activities at the Samoan village. Here the student is climbing the coconut tree.
This is the luau where we take tickets a few times a month and then we also get to eat the prime rib dinner. Every morning they cook many whole pigs in the ground and bring them out to show the guests and serve them. In the middle of the day you can smell the wonderful bbq cooking.
*****
Now that we have early Church I have time to finally cook and bake. This is my first try at making rolls. I was thrilled with my first attempt and they were delicious. I don't even own a rolling pin so my water flask worked just fine.
Ha ha! To save time in the morning we make a week's worth of sandwiches and just grab them every morning. Steve makes meat and cheese, I make a pbj, and then we share. It's amazing how good they are when you're hungry.
*****
Almost every Saturday we're out on a new hike with missionary friends. Yesterday we went to Maunawili Falls, 4 miles r/t. When we left home it was sunny and a clear sky. The trail-head was buried in a neighborhood close to Honolulu. It was a muddy, beat-up trail going in and then it started pouring rain coming out. The dirt here is a red slippery mud that does not wash out. The falls were beautiful with lots of teenagers jumping off into the deep pool. The hike out was such a mess in the pouring rain, everyone was slipping and totally covered in mud. When the ruts in the trail were full of 6" of water we would try to walk on the edge of the slippy trail. All of a sudden Steve slipped on that edge and tumbled 6 feet over to the rocky creek below. It was a slow motion full flip going down to the water. Luckily he was totally OK and able to walk out without even a scratch. His glasses didn't even fall off. We are grateful for the prayer we had before the hike and for the Lord's protection.
*****
Mission Tidbits:
It's so fun to learn about the different cultures represented at BYU-Hawaii. The four full time women in the Registrar's office are all from different islands. Our director, Daryl, (female) is from New Zealand and has a beautiful English accent. New Zealand used to be a colony of England, thus the accent. Salote is from Tonga and is really funny. A Tongan custom she has been observing is wearing black for a whole year after a close member of your family passes away. Her 7 month old grandson died last year from some strange virus. Salote's daughter, (mother of the baby and has 3 older children) was working on her PhD at UCLA when this happened. This past week the year of mourning was over and she was so happy to wear bright colors again. Because of their strong beliefs in eternal families, they have been able to get through this very difficult year. Education is very important to these island people. All of Salote's 5 children have graduate degrees and one son got his PhD at Stanford. They all went to Kahuku High School, the local high school that produces a lot of Polynesian football players. Several have gone on to play NFL.High School football is the number one community activity on this side of the island.
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment