Mom reminded me that I did not "do the blog" last week.  So I am doing my bi-weekly duty out of synch.  I apologize to the thousands that read our blog who were holding there breaths last week when I missed doing the blog.  Here it is for this week

Last week we had an interesting missionary outing.  The place is called Hawaiian Plantation and is an historic recreation of a 1860-1900 sugar plantation.  The tour was to be one-hour and ended up being three.  The guide was very knowledgeable and because we were all "university professors" he gave us the full treatment.  The time went by quickly because he was so interesting as he explained

Kaye and Dennis in a Taro Field

that the mosaic of Hawaiian society started with the importation of Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Filipinos to Hawaii to work in the sugar cane industry.  Here are photos with comment.

The first workers were Hawaiian but there were few Hawaiians left in the 1850's due to the effects of white society diseases on their population.  But they left the heritage of taro as a basic protein source.  When the cane industry ran out of Hawaiians they imported Chinese until agreements with the Japanese government made it better to switch to that group.  These Asian groups brought to Hawaii their food and

Plantation house

culture that define the community to this day.  Most Hawaiians have either Chinese or Japanese ancestry.  There are very few descendants of the original Hawaiians. 
The plantation owners wanted absolute control over these immigrant workers so they kept them separated by cultural groups in camps.  They built houses like this for them to live in and paid them hardly enough to live on.  Immigrant workers lived in these houses for about 50 years before the cane industry ended.  The last group to come to Hawaii, the Filipinos also had a dramatic effect on the Hawaiian community because of their large families that intermarried among the Asian-Hawaiian people who were already here.  So you will find many different looks, names, mixed language usage and other features of a society formed from these immigrant workers.  Today the white culture is a minority in Hawaii, far outnumbered in both numbers and influence. While our guide did not mention the latest immigrant group because they arrived after the cane industry, the Samoans and Tongans are also a part of the Hawaiian culture and tend to identify with the original polynesians to form a larger island group.

BYUH Missionaries . 

Jack and Pine o'lanterns

Of course it was Halloween and we had to get in the spirit.  Carving a pineapple for a jack o lantern is difficult but can be done.  So here we have an example of cultural diversity at Halloween.  Mom threw a halloween party before the women's volleyball game Halloween night and here are some photos of that gala event. 

Kaye the Hostess

The Halloween Spread

She served chile and others brought veggies, cornbread and the like. It was a big success. 

Our YSA branch had a halloween party and of course we dressed like senior missionaries and attended.  It was a fun activity. They had dance contests, gave costume prizes and also had chili and cornbread.  They are such an active bunch with endless energy. 

Kaye and Noah

This is Kaye with one of our surfer dudes who is coming back into the Church and preparing for the priesthood.  He is a character and always wanting to be of help.  He does all the ironman races. 

Kaye and Leslie

Below is Kaye in her missionary costume and Leslie Lee, the branch president's wife in her Katie Perry costume.  She was a hit.  Remember that she is Kimberly's age and her husband is younger than Stephen.  This makes us feel old.  Oh, wait, we are old. 




Last night we went to the Utah State vs. Hawaii game at Aloha Stadium.  It was much like a BYU game, even to the point of the home team losing.  Utah State played a 4th string quarterback and still beat Hawaii.  See, it does sound like a BYU game.  Sorry, but I have given up on the cougars, they are all talk and no show. Norm Chow is the coach of Hawaii. Maybe that is why they are like Bronco's boys.

Missionaries at the game 

International Food night is fun.  Each of the clubs (ours is Indonesian) has a booth and cook their native food.  It is a money raiser for the clubs.  We stopped at the Indonesian booth to see the kids who were cooking pancakes that they put nuts and chocolate on...they were good so we bought one.  Then Kaye had to go to the native American club booth to get some

At International Food Night

fry bread so that she would feel at home.  I had fish balls from the Chinese kids. 

So that was the last little while.  Midterm exams are over and we are on the home stretch.  We are packing up boxes and sending them home.  We have five Sunday's left so we can see things coming to a close.  It continues to be a great adventure with a variety of great experiences.  We will certainly have mixed emotions when it really does end. 

In the meantime we are in the rainy season and Hawaii Electric is turning off all the power this coming Friday and Saturday.  That will be another adventure.  Don't open the fridge for any reason they say.  Yeah right....