Branch Activities and Culture Night

We had a busy week with two big branch activities and culture night on Saturday. The rest of the week was pretty typical. The semester is winding down and Dennis is getting ready to give finals. The students are starting to email him for "help!" because they haven't completed assignments or tests or they have missed too many classes. Oh yeah, they need help alright.

Last Monday night the branch rented the Community Center (where we have church) for a special Family Home Evening, or "FHE," as the kids call it. Our Family Home Evening Coordinators planned a "Carnival of Life" where the kids went to various games and activities and earned tokens for participating. There were things like "Name this Hymn" and "Identify the Prophet" and "Book of Mormon Jeopardy." There was a big turnout - many I have never seen before. They weren't actually members of the branch, but had heard there was a carnival and so they came with other family members and even some children. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Here is a picture from this event.

Yesterday (Saturday) the branch held a beach BBQ over at Waimea. It was raining in Laie but by the time we drove down there, the weather was sunny and warm. Dad and I parked up the hill at the Catholic church and walked down, across the beach to the park. We were wearing our missionary tags which is always interesting as you never know what people think when they see you walking by. One lady was on the beach with her two daughters and as I walked by she said, "Hi Missionaries!" I stopped to visit for a minute and she said she had a son who had just returned from serving his mission. Another group of young parents walked by and said, "Hey, are you allowed to come to the beach?" When I said yes, one kid said, "Sweet! I can't wait 'til I'm old!" Nice. Thank you.
Here are some pictures of the event at Waimea.

The big boy on the left is Kaisa and he just received the Melchizedek Priesthood this morning. He is taking our Temple Prep class and hopes to go through the temple in April. Standing next to him is Roman. He is a stalwart in the branch, always friendly and welcoming to everyone. We tease him about getting a girlfriend and he always says there are too many to choose. So at the carnival on Monday, they had a kissing booth and asked Roman to be in charge of it. They made a sign that said, "You can't have ROMANCE" without "ROMAN!" He is a good sport.

 

 The girl in the middle is new to the branch. Her name is Mariah and she was just called to serve in our Primary Presidency. She has 'dreads' pulled back in a bun for today. They are crazy! The others in the picture are friends of friends who may or may not be part of the branch.

This is a picture of Dad with the missionaries in our area. The branch was just assigned two additional elders - the short one third from the left. He is from Tonga and has been here a month. His companion is the tall one wearing glasses. He is from Kayesville, Utah. The girl is Delysia and she joined the group because she just received her mission call to Spanish-speaking Tennessee.

Kaye at Waimea Bay. One of my favorite places.

This is a picture of our Branch Presidency. The man on the left is Beau Nobmann and he is our new counselor. Feki Pou'ha was released in order to have time to devote to his campaign for the state legislature. President Ethan Lee is sitting next to him with David Fullmer, the 1st counselor. Last at the table is Mike Klem, the executive secretary. He is an accounting major and more importantly, a scholarship member of the golf team. Really a nice young man.

This weekend was also Culture Night at the university. All the clubs performed on either Friday or Saturday night. On Friday, it went from 10:30 PM until 12:30 AM! So we chose to only go on Saturday night. It started at 8:30 and went until 10:45. Each country dressed in a more or less native costume and sang and danced. We wanted to watch our Indonesian students. They did a martial arts demonstration and a dance number. I also enjoyed the Filipino number which was very Spanish. The Aerotearo (sp - New Zealand) was very good as well. The countries which have villages over at the PCC really had an advantage, but everyone did a great job and had a good time. Here are some pictures from the event:

Phillipine Stick Dance

Filipino dancers

Indonesian drummer

Samoan dancers

It time for Dennis to do the Blog.  This has been a slow week, but I will see what I can share that may be interesting.  The big thing this week is that Mom had some of her friends visit. Sheryl and Debra

Kaye with Sheryl and Debra

were visiting at the home they own on Hukilau beach. They were truly amazed at our lovely apartment and our mission life.  Mom just enjoyed having some good friends around to visit and go to lunch with.

Kaye at the Relief Society Birthday Event

The next photo is of mom at the branch relief society birthday celebration.  I don't know what they are doing with the cookies, but next to mom is Lezlie the wife of our branch president.  They must be having fun.  The celebration started at 9:30 at night so that the girls that work at the PCC could attend.



As you know I walk every morning and thought you may enjoy seeing common sights that characterize Laie. The first shows just how
many cars are parked in front of a typical Laie home.  Every home is multi-family.  They are so expensive that one cannot afford a home without having help paying for it.  Each family member in the home has a car, usually a newer car, making the front look like a parking lot.  Of course they park on the lawn. Why have a lawn if cars could not be parked on it.

The next two shots are of typical yards in Laie.  Overall the town is "interesting" because taking care of your home and yard is not a priority.  This person flaunts those who like neatness by claiming to have the "yard of the year"   Funny thing is that his property is on the beach and worth millions. He just does not have an interest in taking care of it for whatever reason.

This yard is typical non beach home.  It is on the corner of the street that leads to the beautiful BYUH campus.  The contrast is striking.  They are building the new Marriott right across the street from this yard.  Stuff just piles up on these Laie yards and it becomes like the TV show hoarders with all those treasures surrounding each home and the numerous cars that are parked on their lawns.  Funny how they can go to the temple and see how it is cared for and then return home to their "treasures." 

Laie Point

This last picture is at Laie Point.  It is a rocky (lava) point that at one time flowed into the ocean.  The ocean has worn away some of it but it is still the sight of awesome displays of waves.  Today it is calm, but in the winter the waves crash over the island covering it in foam.  If you look carefully you will see two fishermen on the point.  They would not be there in the winter!  The BYUH students jump off the side of the point which makes no sense at all. 

We had a day off school this week so the missionaries played golf at Turtle Bay.  It was a lot of fun with carts and even 18 holes.  We got a discount rate and had a good day.  We missed church this morning so have no branch news.  Mom was sick, but is feeling better this evening.  We have to be in shape for the branch carnival tomorrow night and the branch beach party next week.  It is tough to be a branch mentor to this active bunch. 

We are grateful to be missionaries and enjoy our opportunities for service. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Dennis is a little sad because we won't be having our traditional Irish dinner of corned beef and cabbage with Geoffrey and Leah. I couldn't see fixing a big corned beef for just the two of us and so he is being a good sport and looking forward to a lovely dinner of BLT and soup.

This past week was National Library Week and so the library held various activities all week long, including a spelling bee. On Monday evening they held a library carnival. I went over and helped for awhile. We had Sumo wrestling in those big sumo suits, dart throw, ring toss, and the biggest hit was the dunk tank. The library student workers all took turns being in it and everyone had a great time even though the weather was a little chilly. After participating in each game, they were given a ticket and then they brought it to us for a free hot dog, bag of popcorn, and cotton candy. Unfortunately, the cotton candy machine died and so we had many disappointed students.

This is a picture of the poster they did promoting the event.

This is a photo of Meaka, one of the student helpers who works in Tech Services with me. He is from Papua New Guinea and will graduate in April. He is very excited to go home and hopes to get a job there as a teacher. He has not been home in seven years (counting his two year mission)! His brother is also a student here and he told me they will be the first two from their village to get an education. He is fun to talk to. He loves to try new things. A couple weekends ago, he went on the BYUH bus down to "town" to try out ice skating. He said it was very cold and very hard when he fell and landed on his behind.  This weekend some of his friends are taking him camping over to some island. The library was giving the helpers the leftover hot dogs (ugh!) and some root beer floats last week and in he comes with a cup of warm root beer and ice cream inside a hot dog bun!


This past week the weather has been cold and very windy. The windows in our apartment all have glass louvres that you are supposed to be able to close. Of course they are all corroded into a permanent "open" position. I have been freezing and wrap up in a blanket every night. Dennis thought this was a funny picture but I just think it is sad.

Last night Dennis got out a blanket and wrapped up too. I think I will ask TVA if they can fix the windows. They will probably get to it once the weather turns hot and we are dying of heat and humidity.

This is a picture of Dennis' little garden in front of our apartment. We tried growing some cherry tomatoes but they didn't make it. The geranium and the aloe vera plant like this climate the best. No one else has any plants by their apartments.

The 'highlight' of our week was to attend the groundbreaking of the new Marriott Courtyard. There were protestors out by the road with signs telling people to 'leave country country.' But this is such a good thing for the people in the area. Not only will there be another choice for people when they come to visit besides Turtle Bay but they will also be hiring many town and university students to work there. It will be fun to watch it go up.

Ground breaking big shots

Ground breaking little shot

Last night we met with our Indonesian students. It was our turn to do a presentation and Dennis did a great job. We got information from Patti on the history of the church in Indonesia and then we played a trivia game, asking them questions about the church in their homeland. They actually knew a few things and learned some new information. The church started there in 1962 and was dedicated to the preaching of the gospel by Ezra Taft Benson and Bruce R. McConkie. It has shown steady growth but still most of the people are not even Christian. He ended by talking to them about what it means to be a pioneer. He explained that they are the next generation and will do much to continue building the church in their homeland. I enjoyed learning about Indonesia and seeing how focused and dedicated these kids are. Growing up in the church was surely a very different experience for me than what they are experiencing.

Time for Dennis to contribute to the BLOG.  Sounds like a 1950's horror movie! Certainly not as exciting.  I will try and make the week sound exciting so that our half dozen readers will be informed, inspired and entertained.
The funny outing of the week was our Saturday trip to the famous Aloha Stadium swap meet (the largest in the world).  It is a few shops (t-shirts, aloha wear, trinkets, etc) repeated endlessly around the University of Hawaii football stadium. 

Kaye with her new swap meet purse

You don't actually go in the stadium just around and round.  My only fear was that I would go around and not know when to stop because it all looked the same.  Here is a photo of Kaye with her new purse she bought for $5.00.  What a deal...it should last about a week.  You cannot believe all the tourists dragging their carry-on suitcases to fill with 5/$20 t-shirts that will last one washing.  Oh well, it is all in fun.




 

Kaye outside the Aloha Stadium

I purchased some dried squid that was not bad and some other strange dried fish and is suppose to keep for up to a year in your fridge.  I suppose that is because it is too awful to eat.  But I actually think they are tasty.  When you eat it you really are not hungry any more which is good for my diet.

After walking around and around we dropped by a real mall to walk around.  We found an old fashioned Farrel's ice cream shop.  They were started in Portland, Oregon in 1963 and going big in the 70's when we used to make family trips to Portland to see the Morse's.  They went belly up after about a decade and were recently revived in Honolulu and southern California.  They went from 130 shops to a dozen.  The food was very good and the ice cream delicious.  I broke my diet and had a banana split with Mom.  So good.  They still have the Pig's Trough and other Farrell favorites.  They were the first to sing to birthday kids.  Too bad Bob was not with us, they would have sung to him just like it was the 1970's.

Dennis at Farrells in Honolulu

Our little branch (Sunset Beach) added five new members today.  They are all mainland kids who give us some stability.  The polynesian kids all live locally with their families so sometimes they come to the branch and sometimes they go with their families.  That is understandable but does not help with branch stability. We had our first baptism as a branch this week.  A local kid took the missionary lesson and was baptized.  He bore his testimony after the baptism and that was special.  His surfer friend also bore his testimony and that was interesting.  Both have really good hearts and are important to the Branch.
The new counsellor in the BP has four little boys so we now have 10 little guys under 10 in the branch so we started a primary.  Kaye was happy not to be the Primary president, again.  Things seemed to go well in the first meeting today.

Dennis' students on cover of school magazine

At work, the school newspaper did an article about prospective missionaries. They featured my missionary prep class on the cover and an article inside.  This photo is of the cover and the three girls are in my mission prep class (which is mostly girls due to the new mission age)   They asked me what I thought missionaries should be prepared to do and I said "work".  Then I said, "A missionary needs to know how to work and must learn to do hard things...missionary work is very difficult, it is full of disappointment, it is physically demanding, it is emotionally demanding and it requires the best effor a missionary can give."  Maybe too negative but maybe balance to the circus like atmosphere that surrounds a mission call.  They then interviewed some of my students (who are a very good bunch).  It was a good article but who knows how the administration will feel about it. 

We continue to enjoy our adventure and are waiting for the trade winds to return so we don't have 90% humidity.  I bought a weather station so I could track weather.  Right now at 7:00 pm it is 75 inside, 74 outside and 88% humidity.  It will rain big time tonight.  But soon it will change and the heat and sunshine will return.  Hopefully in time for the visit of Elise's family.
A senior mission is a once in a life-time adventure.  Well worth the effort for the opportunity to complain about things that one is really enjoying.  

This has been a rather ordinary week. It is challenging to make this blog seem like a missionary journal and not just a travel journal but as service missionaries, we really do the same things each week. It is like reporting on a job and so our readers will have to excuse the lack of spiritual experiences, but know that we are enjoying our time here and the opportunity we have been given to help and serve.

Last Monday was the last basketball game of the season and our team won with over 100 points and so it was time for more ice cream. One senior was also honored and so it was a fun evening with lots of missionaries and students in attendance. One nice tradition they have here is that the retiring player makes his 'one last shot' as a Seasider. Everyone cheers and buries him in tons of leis.

This is a picture of Dennis with three of his students who are cheerleaders. I made sure they all knew that he had been a "rally-man" as a student at the University of Idaho. He only did it to get a free trip to Hawaii and when they decided not to take the cheerleaders, he quit.
Hmmm... I always thought we weren't really a cheerleading family and wondered about Kimberly but now I see - It was genetic!



Yesterday we went to 'town' with another missionary couple and visited the Bishop Museum, Hawaii's largest and most comprehensive museum. It was started by Charles Bishop as a way of honoring his wife, Bernice, who was the last descendant of King Kamehameha the Great. It houses much of Hawaii's history and culture. They have the feathered cape worn by King K. himself and other interesting objects. It was remodeled a few years ago and is a very interesting place to visit. It is actually a complex of buildings some on the same property and others scattered about the island. Here are a couple of pictures from there.

Here I am standing in the rain in front of the Science Adventure Center with the museum in the background.

Dennis and Kaye in doorway to Bishop Museum

After visiting the museum we went down to Chinatown and had lunch - Dim Sum - with the Rowells. They had never been there before and had never had lunch like that, so it was fun. We walked around a little after and I felt like I was back in China - sorry Bob. This time I didn't see the tubs of raw chicken feet, but did see a pig's head they were butchering as well as a tub of pork intestines. Home to a dinner of cheese and crackers.

DimSum with the Rowells

And finally, the other big event to happen this week is that the Laie McDonalds closed!! Those of you planning on visiting here will no longer have this fine dining option. (See picture) Not to worry, a new one is supposed to built in just two short months. Good luck with that plan. HAHA.

In addition to getting a new McDonalds, the new Marriott is actually going to happen. They are having a groundbreaking the middle of March so that is very exciting news. It will be a Marriott Courtyard, three stories, and will employ approx. 150 students. Some people in the area do not want any new business' to come in. They have big signs around that say "Leave Country Country" but this is sorely needed as the only place to stay around here is Turtle Bay. We think it will be a great addition to the area.

We are off to the monthly "Break-the-Fast" with the other missionaries. I am taking chili as it is cold and rainy - again. I will be happy when the rainy season is over. Then I will complain about heat and humidity! Aloha!