*****
There was no school on Labor Day so the BYU-H missionaries had the day off also. This group took an 8 mile round trip hike to Laie Falls. This hike was rated for 'expert' hikers which may have described one or two of the group, certainly not me. Steve was off playing racquetball that morning and didn't want to hike, so I took off with the group. We hiked through the Kahuku Forest Reserve above our little community of Laie. The trail was steep and followed a rugged ridge trail to the Ko'olau summit. Along the ridge you could look over both sides of the mountain. It took about a half hour per mile and we were all huffing and puffing. When we reached the Laie falls it started pouring and rained most of the way back. Wet, slippery, muddy trails made the hike even more difficult. We thought we might swim at the falls but it was muddy water and not very inviting.
Can you see the ocean out under the clouds?
My hiking shoes have been muddied and scrubbed after so many hikes. They will not be coming home with me.
*****
One of the neighbors in our cul-d-sac gave us this HUGE avocado straight from his tree. After it ripened, we ate on it for days.
*****
Here's a little info from Tahiti. If you zoom in you can probably read the info.
Here we have students and employees of the Tahiti Village at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The various villages put on a Saturday morning devotional with the most beautiful music, inspirational messages, and history of their countries. The Polynesian students have beautiful voices and often sing and chant a cappella.
*****
Just before the start of the new school year, BYU-H has an 'Ohana Meeting'. This is the faculty/employee/missionaries family meeting. The theme this year is,'The Whole University Educating the Whole Student'. Steve joined in on the Hiki Mai chant. Many of the Polynesian countries have beautiful chants in their native tongue. These chants have such a beautiful meaning to them. Most are very spiritual and refer to their ancestors and posterity.
Hiki mai e na pua I ka la'ie Come forward precious flowers arise in this calm and special day.
Ke pi'i a'e la ka mauna ki'eki'e Accept the challenge to climb the highest, majestic mountain
He'a mai na kama me ka makua Come forward, children of your Heavenly Father
He Wehi pulama a'o ke kupuna You children are precious adornments around the necks of your ancestors
E Ka'i mai ana Ka'i mai ana Come forward, there are many roads for you to choose
E Hahai I ka leo o ka haku e Follow the voice of the Good Shepherd, He will protect you and show you the way.
*****
This is Rimpy, her husband Vinay and son Ryan, They are from India and wonderful members of our Ward.
Since the cost of living is sky high in Hawaii, occasionally the students will sell their home-made native food for $10/plate to students through Facebook to make a few bucks. This is Chicken Biryani, a basmiti rice and chicken based dish with Indian spices and homemade Naan bread. I can't even tell you how delicious it was, so much flavor. The students bring their spices from their homeland to use.
*****
We made it through Hurricane Olivia. Most of the school doors had sandbags ready to keep the water out. We had a day or two of strong winds, and a few short torrential downpours. But really nothing to worry about. Interesting note to the students: "come to the Hukilau Beach to help fill sand bags, bags provided, plenty of sand."
*****
You might have to turn this sideways to read. We've needed a mat in front of our kitchen sink for a long time. And this one fit the bill. It's also wipe-able. It says "Kitchen Rules- Cook with Love, help set the table, Bless the food, try one bite of everything, Be Thankful, Kiss the Cook, Talk about your day" What great rules for any family.
*****
I can't believe this is my hair. It's been growing for about 20 months from the short style I've worn so long. The electrical power went out towards the end of one school day when Hurricane Olivia was blowing around. I left my office and walked over to Steve's counseling office to wait for him. The interns that work with him couldn't work without power so they were braiding each other's hair. They are all from Tonga and said when they attended their Tongan grade school through high school days they had to braid their hair fresh every morning. They couldn't even leave it in from the day before. Of course they also wore uniforms of skirts and tops, no pants. They have big bushy, curly hair that looks great in 1 or 2 braids. I was so excited to get my hair braided also. It felt like a head massage and only took a few minutes. When I took it out later I had great waves.
*****
Susan Tanner, wife of the University President, John Tanner was our Devotional speaker last week. We always have a wonderful speaker every Tuesday at 11 am. At that hour there are no classes and the school offices close so students and employees can attend. The title of her Devotional was 'Expect Miracles'. We all receive miracles in our lives, we just have to recognize them and be grateful for them. We need to live in an ERA of miracles:
Expect miracles
Recognize them
Appreciate and show
gratitude for them.
The Lord's hand is in all of our lives. Miracles may not always come as we hope or expect but they do come. Sometimes a miracle may be as simple as your day going better than you had expected.
*****
Most Friday nights we pick out a free movie or two from the University video library to veg with over the weekend. This film won a documentary award at the Sundance Film Festival. It is truly amazing. Doctors and psychologists gave ear phones and i-pods to elderly folks suffering with Alzheimers and dementia. The i-pod had music from their early adult era. As the doctors said, these folks all in nursing homes were literally dead in a living body. In less than a minute they had all raised their heads, opened their eyes, waved their arms, some actually started singing and one started dancing. This is music therapy to the max. The MD said it's amazing how insurance companies will fork out $1,000/month in meds for these people but they see no purpose in purchasing ear phones for $40 for music. Through donations they purchased hundreds of i-pods and ear phones for thousands of nursing home residents. They also recruited students to load the music, etc. Please find this video and watch it with your families.
*****
Remember, this blog is to remind me of our many mission memories. Not everything is spectacular or beautiful. Every morning I make myself a small salad of chopped apple, celery, macadamia nuts and a few teaspoons of yogurt. (one apple gets me through 3 days). It's so refreshing, crunchy and healthy, favorites to me.
*****
This is a bronze statue on campus of Elder George Q. Cannon and Jonathan Hawaii Napela. Elder Cannon was the first missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Sandwich Islands back in rhe 1850s. Jonathan was the first Hawaiian to be baptized. Their story is told in the book 'Belonging to Heaven'. It is a marvelous historical book of the Hawaiians and the Church. Jonathan's wife, Kitty eventually contracted the dreaded disease of leprosy (Hansen's disease). Back in the 1860s, men, women and children with leprosy were forcefully removed from their island homes and taken to the island of Molokai where they lived together with only the care of a few Catholic priests and Jonathan Napela. He was strong and healthy but he wouldn't send his wife to the island alone. He took her and cared for her and was the religious leader for many suffering from the disease. They built homes, churches, and meeting houses. He watched over the children that had been pulled from their families and had to live with the colony. If the ocean was too wild at the time of docking on the new island, the ship would take the ill and push them over and tell them to swim to their new island home. It is truly a tragic story. Over the years, more than 8,000 exiles would die there, many disfigured, crippled and blinded by the sickness. At its peak, the settlement had more than 1,200 residents; men, women and children at a time. Jonathan eventually contracted leprosy also and died two weeks before his wife. Today, only a handful of exiles remain, all in their late 70s to 90s, along with federal and state workers who manage what is now designated the Kalaupapa National Historical Park.
*****
On Sept. 21, many national museums across the country were open free of charge. Free always works for us. Along with missionary friends we went back to Pearl Harbor to revisit this sacred site. The Arizona memorial is under repair so you cannot walk through it but the tour boat gives a great tour and narration about that fateful day. Usually it's a canned narration but this time it was given by an 88 year old Hawaiian man who witnessed the whole event as a young boy. It was extremely interesting and powerful. He was a little boy of 11 years old and lived with his family on a farm one mile inland from Pearl Harbor. He was feeding the pigs when he heard the Japanese planes overhead and witnessed the dropping of bombs, explosions and black smoke. He ran and sat on the train tracks to get a better view of the horrible events. One of his most vivid memories was watching the small boats going around the harbor amid all the confusion picking up survivors and bodies lost in the devastation.
The Arizona Memorial and the Missouri battleship are the bookends of World War II in the Pacific. The AZ Memorial was the beginning of the war with the Pearl Harbor bombing and the Mighty Mo, as they call it, was where the treaty was signed with the Japanese to end the war.
This is the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island. If you look closely at the windows you can see where they were strafed with bullets shot during the bombing. They never replaced the window panes in memory of that fateful day.
Lunchtime is an event. We always spread our purple tablecloth (former sheet - very washable), chicken sandwich w/celery, dried cranberries and cucumbers and peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches to share. Also applesauce, cheese sticks, some crunchy and salty chips, and always a few cookies. Mary in my office who is from the Philippines gave my water flask the hula skirt.
*****
Early every morning I brush my teeth on our second floor front door porch. This gives me a few minutes to enjoy the beauties of the sky before the sun even comes up. I could tell this was going to be an amazing sunrise. So I quickly dressed, grabbed my phone and walking stick.
Is this just amazing? One of my neighbors also joined me at the beach. I saw several tourists out on their nearby vacation rental balconies. I keep thinking it can't get any better and then there's a miracle like this. Our beach is on the sunrise side of the island. If we drive up and around the north shore to Sunset Beach one-half hour away you can always catch a beautiful sunset.
*****
Mission Tidbits:
*I'm still practicing my violin every morning for 10-15 minutes. Not much improvement but at least I haven't forgotten what I learned in mu two years of lessons.
*We finally found a secret to drown out the roosters. We moved one of our noisy fans into our bedroom and turned it on high. It's great white noise. We're still up by 5 am, but at least it's not 4 am with the roosters.
*We gave a 5th Sunday presentation today about the Addiction Recovery Program and Spouse and Family Support Group which we facilitate every Tuesday at 9 pm. This is an inspired program. We have wonderful students that attend. Three of them gave wonderful testimonies about the program.
* Who knew going to Walmart could be so fun, it's an event! We try to go only once a month to 'town' (Honolulu) for shopping. Since we're up early we're usually on the road by 8 am and it takes an hour to get there. We hit Walmart first and then on to Costco at 10 am. After shopping and a quick lunch we drive another hour home. In Gilbert we have several Walmart's and Costco's within a 5-mile radius for any need. The North shore is adamant about keeping the country country. They don't want any kind of development.
*If anyone is coming this way for a vacation, we can get you tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Night Show at really discounted prices...a missionary perk.
*I have to remind myself we live on this beautiful island seeing the ocean every day. I don't want to take it for granted.
I love reading your experiences and seeing your pictures. Those sunsets are absolutely stunning. I'm going to tell Heather you're still practicing your violin -- that's awesome! Wishing you and Steve the best. :)
ReplyDelete