February 2018

I finally found a way to get in some exercise. I love to power walk but our neighborhood is not safe for that. We have no sidewalks and there's a ton of cars parked haphazardly along the roads and in the yards. In fact you always take a walking stick or golf club when you go out to ward off dogs or wild pigs. The other day as we walked to the beach the neighbor kids were yelling something about a pig in their yard. The yards are deep and have lots of deep growth in the backyards so I wouldn't doubt a pig could be hiding. Our neighbor missionary, Kathy, saw a pig on her walk one day. By pig I mean wild boar! Anyway, I now walk the great sidewalks around the University. It's a mile r/t from the flag circle (maybe you saw it in another post) to the turnoff at Kamehameha Highway. I walk that several times a day when I go in early with Steve or wait for him after I'm done with work. Sometimes I even walk during our lunch time.

Sadly, this is what I came across yesterday during my walk. This is the road between the campus and the back of the PCC.

One of those gross snails I blogged about earlier. He was actually crawling.

Our missionary badge gets us into the PCC any time. I usually walk through there every morning and enjoy the peaceful Polynesian villages, they often have beautiful Hawaiian music playing. All repair work and upkeep is done before noon when the villages open for visitors. The plumbers below are working with their carts and roofers are up high.

 Even the beautiful palm trees get trimmed.

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Sadly there are too many of these cars left on the side of the road. This showed up one morning new to our beach. Apparently there's no money in scrap metal or location to haul them to.

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Monk Seals, Honey Girl (mama) and Ipo (pup) on our beach enjoying the sun and probably a full tummy.

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I finally came across some wild pigs while in the car the other day and just had to turn around and take their picture. They were scrounging around with the roosters and chickens.

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We have a group of missionaries that spend lunch together under some picnic canopies enjoying the beautiful weather. Everyone brown-bags it.

The young man is the background is named Prince. He has one arm and is from the Ghana. The whole school knows him. He is the happiest, most optimistic young man you'll find.

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The PCC has a huge plant nursery where they grow foods to be used in the luaus, and decorative plants for landscaping throughout the villages and on campus.

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We were invited to Lolo and Pasa's Temple wedding. They are both from Tonga. I just love all the different rich cultures  here. If you look closely, Pasa's middle name is "Hollywood". Lolo is an employee in the counseling office and works with Steve.

Look at the beautiful handmade leis. And the men all wear the woven lava lava. They often wear them to church. It is their 'Sunday best'.

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My violin bow broke a while back and the closest violin store I could find was in downtown Honolulu. Who would think it would be in this beautiful high rise. Of course the most difficult part was finding parking. I thought violin stores were always in strip malls. Seems it was the humidity that popped the bow and the owner would need an hour for the repair. We weren't going to give up our parking spot so we walked 1 1/2 miles to the cheesecake factory where we had a gift card and enjoyed lunch. As you can see it was a beautiful day to be in downtown Waikiki.

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Aren't these just the cutest Japanese girls? I love getting to know each one in The Voice program where I work in the afternoons. We do get some good laughs when they can't say their 'R's, L's and V's. Several are piano majors, one said she started to play at age 4. They love to shop (favorite store is Ross), and love the hamburgers, french fries and ice cream served on campus.

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Please meet our dear friends, Kathy and Wes Himle from Utah. They head home tomorrow after serving 18 month. Wes is a plumber at the PCC and Kathy is a computer guru. They literally saved my life on this mission showering us with their love and friendship. They came over the first day we were here and we've played together ever since.  We take turns driving anytime we go to mission meetings, Family Home Evening, beaching, hiking, shopping, adventuring, etc. Just before missionaries go home, they share a few words at FHE and then the Ukulele orchestra plays the farewell song. It brings tears to my eyes every time.

We have spoken on the phone with the new couple moving in next door. Funny thing is they're from Pima, AZ. I know how important it is to have an immediate friend so now we will get to be that great friend to someone new. We're excited to get to know them and show them the sights on our beloved Oahu.

Sometimes I have to remind myself of all we are involved in while serving on this mission. Lest you think we play all the time, let me give you a run down of our schedule.

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Work schedule 8-4:30 M-F.

• Monday: Ukulele lessons at 6:30 pm and Family Home Evening at 7:15. Home before 9 pm.
• Tuesday: Addiction Recovery Program we facilitate on campus at 9-10 pm. Great meeting, we love this assignment.
• Tuesday or Wednesday: Attend the Temple at 5 pm straight from work.
• One night a week we do laundry and ironing. We each do our own ironing!
• Several nights a month we take tickets at the Polynesian Cultural Center at 4:30, then we eat free at the Prime Dining buffet with an assortment of prime rib, chicken, fish, Polynesian food assortments, side dishes, fabulous salad bar and soups and multiple desserts. We love this.
• We grab our limited groceries on the way home from work at the nearby local market and Longs Drug, and we only shop the ads. We go into town (Walmart, Costco, etc.) about once a month to stock up on staples.
• Don't forget to throw in as little cooking and cleaning as possible.
• Daily we listen to our scriptures and the book, 'Jesus the Christ' which our Mission President asked us to read.
• Throw in beach walks, hikes, sightseeing, trips to town, occasional movie (Greatest Showman, Jumanji, The Commuter, Star Wars). Our local theater has two screens and must be 50 years old.

The young people refer to us older women as "auntie". The young children call us that also. This term comes from the islands. I'm not sure what they call the men.

I kept wondering when we'd run into someone we know from home.  It finally happened. Last week at the Temple we saw a couple we met on our summer river cruise, Steve and Susan Neal from Oregon. It was so fun to see them again, later we met for lunch at one of the food trucks in the Hukilau Marketplace at the PCC. He's a plastic surgeon and they have a second home about 45 minutes away in Kaneohe. They get over here several times a year so we plan to see them again.

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An early morning picture of the Laie Temple with the reflecting pond.

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