May 2019

It's worth getting up every morning just to catch the sunrise. Nice to be on the 2nd floor with no homes in the way. Truly I would like to sleep in but that will never happen with the neighborhood

roosters.

Sunrise at Laie Point, a peninsula jutting into the ocean. I quickly drove here after Zumba for the sunrise. These are actually two different days.

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We decided to visit one more island, the island of Molokai. Molokai doesn't have any great tourist spots or reasons to visit except there is a peninsula on the north side of it called Kalaupapa. This is where the leprosy colony was established back in the 1860s. Leprosy is a disease shrouded in fear and ignorance for many centuries. Hawaiian's of all ages who showed signs of leprosy (Hansens's disease) were exiled to this remote spot to live out the remainder of their lives. In 1969 with the cure of leprosy, the remaining residents were offered the opportunity to move off the island. Many chose to stay because this was the only home they had ever known. There are still 12 individuals in Kalaupapa that have Hansen's disease. They range from ages 77 to 95 years. While these people still live there and are cared for by the state and federal government, the area has been turned into the Kalaupapa National Historical Park. It is dedicated to preserving the memories and experiences of the people forcibly sent there. The park's mission is to provide a well-maintained community that ensures that the present patient/residents of the Kalaupapa settlement may live out their lives peacefully and comfortably. 

To ensure that those with leprosy could not leave nor could anyone ever visit them, the community is at the bottom of these high cliffs. The residents of Molokai Island live 'top-side', while the community of Kalaupapa is at the bottom of the cliffs along-side the ocean. Visitors, such as we were, can only visit through a sponsored tour group.  We left Honolulu at 8 am and flew about 45 minutes to the Molokai Island airport. From there we flew 5 minutes down to the Kalaupapa air strip.Our tour lasted about 4 hours from 10 am to 2pm. Then we flew back to top side, changed planes and were home by 5 pm. No one under 16 can visit and this is a fly-in, fly-out one day tour only. There are no facilities to stay. This is the home of these residents and they are well cared for and protected by the government, to the point that they didn't want any chickens or roosters down there so there is not a single chicken resident!

There is a Catholic Church, a Protestant Church and a LDS church building for the residents. Back in the 1800's Father Damian from the Catholic Church and Jonathan Napela from our church spent the latter part of their lives caring for the residents and building homes and churches for the residents. Jonathan Napela was the first Hawaiian to be baptized by Elder George Q. Cannon in 1830. He was a well educated and a respected judge among the Hawaiians. When his wife contracted leprosy he left everything, including his grown daughter, and accompanied his wife to the island to care for her and help the others. He eventually contracted the disease and also died there. There are 8,000 unmarked graves of past residents. Of the current 12 residents we did not happen to see any of them. There is a nursing home facility for several patients, but some still live on their own in homes built years ago. Back in the days when there were many residents, they had large dorms for men and for women. There are currently several nuns that help in any way needed. There is a grocery store only for the residents but not for visitors. We had a sack lunch and bottle of water that was provided with our tour. When a patient passes away, they bury them immediately because there are no mortuary facilities there. A barge from the mainland comes once a year with any large items that people purchase like a vehicle or a refrigerator. Small planes fly in daily with Amazon-type orders.

The visit to Kalaupapa was so interesting. I've heard about the leprosy colony in Hawaii all my life and I'm grateful to get to visit here. It truly is a spiritual place and a sad story in history.

This is our small 9-seater Mokulele plane from Honolulu. You tell them your weight so they could tell you where to sit.

The cliffs are 1700 feet high. Before the trail was washed out last Christmas, you could hike the 3 miles down (26 switch backs) or take a mule ride. Now the only way down is the 5 minute flight from the top side airport.

This is the dock where the yearly barge comes in.

The water was crystal clear and such a beautiful day. Even in this photo we were high above the water.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints church building built for member residents long ago.

The Catholic Church with many very old graves. You could not read the names on many of the graves. Most graves are unmarked in several large fields.

This mama monk seal and her new pup were on the shore barking at each other.

On our return flight this is Pearl Harbor and the ships in the harbor.

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Portugese Malasadas are cream-filled donuts. We only ordered one to share but the sweet student making them gave us two. One was filled with nutella and the other had a coconut cream filling. They make them when you order so they were hot and fresh, so decadent.

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These are the famous Oahu mountains. You can just see where the hot lava flowed down millions of years ago. This is Highway 83 that runs from Kaneohe, the windward side of the Island (our side) and disappears into a tunnel through the mountain. It comes out on the Honolulu side or leeward side of the Island.

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This is the Samoan Village at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Several times a day during their island presentation the students climb the coconut trees for the guests. They climb barefoot. Steve didn't get any further up on this tree. The coconut supplies almost everything the islanders need. The coconut tree provides beams for building houses, boats, bridge building, furniture, drums, canoes, thatched roof, weaving of mats to sleep on and floor covering, the fiber is used for ropes, door mats, potting compost, mattress stuffing, brushes, joint sealer for boats, sacks,  baskets, fuel for cooking, weapons are made from them, coconut milk and oil for cooking, bathing, shampoo, lotion, roots are used to make dyes, toothbrush, mouthwash, medicinal value, leaves used for cooking, wrap rice, storage, used to make toys, brooms, burn into ash to make lyme, make skewers, toothpicks, buffing floors, fuel, handicrafts, drinking vessels, sponges, musical instruments, mosquito repellent, skin exfoliate, coconut oil used for skin softener, moisturizer, prevent skin infection. anti-wrinkle, sunburn, burns, blisters, makeup remover, removes head lice, prevents split ends, flaky scalp. We used the large container of virgin coconut oil from Costco for many of these uses before it ran out.

On a beautiful Saturday morning before the Villages were open to the guests, there was a Devotional in the Samoan Village.  Spiritual music and talks were shared.  It doesn't matter the size of the men or women. They are absolutely graceful when they dance. These students were dressed in traditional cultural clothing and danced a beautiful dance. The children grow up learning the same dances. Everyone was given a plate of Samoan food also. Here we have rice, taro, banana, chicken, Portuguese sausage and noodles. Samoans have grown up on these food and love them. However, we didn't have the same appreciation for it.

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Farrah, the Filipino bride works in our office. Mary, also Filipino and a co-worker, and I were invited to attend their Temple wedding.

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This is Anya and her daughter from India, she is in our married student ward. Sorry I can't remember the baby's name. But she already has the traditional black dot between her eye brows like her mother.

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Equal opportunity. If you want a job on campus, BYUH will find one for you. (She's edging the sidewalk.)

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This is our security screen door. If you touch the screen, it's so rusted it just flakes off like a cracker. Doesn't bother us, just needs to last another 2 weeks.

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The banana trees have to be propped up when they are so laden with fruit.

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We attended the 27th annual Fireknife competition which was held at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The winner of $7,500 was 28 year Chris Penesa. He is a news morning traffic reporter at KHON2, Honolulu's main TV station. Chris is actually a grad of BYUH and worked as a fireknife dancer at the PCC years ago. There were four days of preliminaries held at the Samoa Festival which is Hawaii's largest annual Samoan cultural celebration. There was a children's competition from ages 6-11. Even they are spinning fireknives. Chris is from Samoa. His performance featured an amazing routine that had him spinning the flaming blades at dizzying speeds. He also juggled two fireknives and tossing them 20 feet in the air. He also did a one-handed cartwheel while twirling the fireknives and spun in a circle while lying on his back. Fire-knife dancing is rooted in the Samoan culture. It is a warrior knife dance traditionally performed before battle, using the fire knife, or 'tooth of death'.

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This is group of students on a Saturday morning doing a 'mental health awareness walk' around campus. Through the walking path we stopped at various booths to learn about suicide prevention, eating disorders, Title IX, anxiety and depression. These subjects are spoken about often and openly to educate students.

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Before missionaries go home they give farewell remarks followed by the ukulele orchestra and all the missionaries singing Aloha 'Oe. It brings tears to your eyes every time. After almost 23 months it is our turn.

Before my remarks I took a picture of the missionaries in attendance. This is our Family  Home Evening group.

Nelson Stonehocker from Canada is one of Steve's racquetball buddies. Someone asked who was the best and they both pointed to each other. Let me tell you, they are all excellent at the game. You'd be surprised at how athletic some of these senior missionaries are.

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When Zumba is over, it's time for the sun to come up. This is our personal beach close to home.

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We finally had a visitor from home, my daughter, Elizabeth. Her mother's day gift was a trip over while daddy Sean took off work and watched 4 kids.

One of our favorite tourist spots is Pearl Harbor, we never grow tired of it. Elizabeth came on Memorial weekend. As we took the boat out to the Arizona Memorial our narrator was an 88 year old Hawaiian gentleman who watched the bombing of the harbor when he was 11 years old as he sat on the nearby railroad tracks across the harbor. He does the tour on Saturdays and we've been lucky enough to get him three different times. The flags attached to the gates all had a name, rank and state of a serviceman who perished in the Pearl Harbor attack.

We visited the PCC villages, the Ha' Night Show, Pearl Harbor, Swap Meet, Sunset Beach, enjoyed the boogie boards in the ocean several times, and Waikiki beach. Elizabeth met up with one of her BYU Provo roommates who lives in Laie with her husband and 4 children. Her friend Emily teaches English at BYU Hawaii.

One last swim in the Waimea Falls. After a walk through the botanical gardens you end up at the icy cold fresh water falls. It's tough getting in but so refreshing.

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Can you see the green gecko buried in this Bird of Paradise flower?

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Two missionary ticket-takers with the Hamana Kalili bronze statute leading into the PCC. The Hawaiian people, as all the Polynesian island people, revere their cultures and past kings and queens.

Mission Tidbits:

*A Mongolian baby was recently blessed in our Ward. The daddy gave the blessing in his native language and 10 Mongolian men joined in the blessing circle. The students from each country are very close and supportive of each other

* I still practice the violin every morning. The neighbors say they don't mind; I just hope it's true. We can hear our landlord's children practice the piano every day. I love hearing them.

*A Cambodian student in our ward, Amreth Phiron, asked me to help him learn the organ. The organ was easy for him since he's proficient on the piano. He said there are no church organs in Cambodia and he wants to be able to play when he goes home. John Lewis, the former mayor of the Town of Gilbert, is the mission president in Cambodia and Amreth knows him. It's amazing the perfect English the foreign students speak when they serve English speaking missions.

*Salote (translation is Charlotte in English) from Tonga is one of the full-time employees in the Registrar's office. All of her six children and grandchildren live on the mainland now. She is absolutely hilarious. A few interesting bits from her life that she has shared. As a non-member child she attended the Latter-day Saint Church school in Tonga called Liahona. Her non-member parents wanted their children to attend this school because it had an honor code for the students to live by. She eventually joined the Church and after she graduated from high school at 17 she went directly on a mission. This was about 40 years ago and that's the age the island kids went on missions. She was called on a Tongan mission and happened to be transferred to the island her parents lived on. Her non-member dad had a taxi business and would always drive Salote and her companion around rather than let them walk. Salote and her companion lived with a family that only had cold running water so they would run over to her parents' home and use their hot water shower. Her parents never did join the Church even though all her siblings did.

*You may be wondering what we are looking forward to when we get home. Besides seeing family and friends and all of you, I'm excited to go grocery shopping!! Everything will be on sale compared to the prices here. I can't wait to buy lots of fruits and vegetables at great prices. I'm already making a mental grocery list.

*President Dallin H. Oaks, an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is giving a fireside this evening, our last Sunday. He will also be speaking at our weekly university devotional this Tuesday on campus. We have enjoyed all the wonderful devotionals held each week.

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One more sunset near our beautiful Temple.

One last sunset on Sunset Beach. I don't like doing these 'last time' events and pictures.

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One last full moon over the ocean.

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It is pretty amazing to think this is our last blog because we will soon be home! This has been a marvelous experience to serve at Brigham Young University and to assist at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We appreciate the inspiration and revelation of Prophets and Apostles to build a Temple here 100 years ago (Nov. 1919) and to create a University where thousands will be educated who will then help share the Gospel and build the Kingdom throughout the world. We have seen and felt the hand of the Lord in the work that goes on here. We feel humbled and grateful to have served here! We are grateful for your prayers, love, and support. Mahalo nui loa, see you soon. All our love, Elder and Sister Kittelson.

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