Well, we were wrong. . .The hot weather is still with us. The palm trees are still but it is beginning to rain a little everyday. They say the tradewinds should be returning by Thursday. Even the locals have been complaining about the heat and humidity. Honolulu was 91 degrees on Thursday. Enough weather reporting.

This was a fairly typical week - work, ticket-taking on Tuesday at the Aloha luau, temple session on Wednesday. Friday was our big outing to Costco and Wal-Mart down in Mililani. We volunteered to go down and buy the food for the branch conference breakfast. Each general conference our branch reserves the Little Theater on campus and we gather at 5:30 AM! to watch the first session of Conference live. We have always done pancakes and eggs (and rice) for those who show up but this time the leaders said to simplify it so we had muffins, fruit and hot chocolate. The first time we did this I was a little skeptical. What YA is going to drag him or herself over to campus from the North Shore to watch Conference? I was happily surprised at the number of kids who come. This time we had around 35 attend. Here are a few pictures of our Saturday morning.

Nayomi (recent convert), Noah, and Sister W preparing breakfast

"Big Screen" TV Church

Zach (boy w/ hat on backwards) just received mission call to Mexico City.

That's about it for this week, except a big Happy Birthday to Elise who turned, never mind, on Friday and got to go to a Lone Peak football game. Better there than Cougar Stadium. That was a sad night in Cougar town. We felt bad for the team. Now we will see what happens this week.

The big news is that the hot and humid days have past!  Rain is here to cool things off.  The bad news is that the rain will be here until May.  But we will be back in the snow before then (December) with a whole other weather system to complain about.  But boy, was it hot.  90 degrees was the record in our cinderblock apartment, with no trade winds to cool us off.  We had big fans and they saved the day. 

Our week has been rather typical in most ways, but interesting a a few others.  My students were interviewing returned missionaries for their survey assignment.  Next week they will be practicing contacting complete strangers and starting up a conversation.  Some are nervous but soon develop skills in this area.  My D&C students just finished sections 88 and 93, the hardest to understand in the revelations.  Now they are on to the Missouri revelations that relate to the period of persecution. 

Kaye and Viti

We were hosts at the Ohana Luau this week.  One of the dancers is a member of our Branch.  Her name is Viti and she is a student at BYUH.  I know it is hard to tell which one is the Hawaiian dancer and which the hostess.  Poor Mom has that problem all the time now that she has a stylish mu mu.

Kaye and Hana

On Friday we drove to Aiea (suburb of Honolulu) to see Hana Akina, a member of our branch, who is a school librarian.  She just finished her master's degree in library science and wanted librarian Kaye to see her room.  This is her first year of being a librarian.  We arrived in the morning during a Scholastic Bookfair.  Mom remembers running hundreds of these, so was right at home.  There were kids everywhere buying their books and other treasures.  Here is a photo of Hana with Mom in the school library. 

Friday night we went to the women's volleyball game which was exciting.  They beat University of Hawaii (Hilo) in three straight games.  I have two students on the team so it was fun to talk with them.  One of them lives next door to us in TVA.  She is a newlywed, a bit nervous about living next door to her professor. 

Saturday we had an adventure with our Indonesian students.  The faculty advisor (Sister Mills) is married to the fellow in charge of the local scout camp.  She arranged for the group to go to the scout camp for a day of adventure.  They used the rifle and archery range and then had a great time in the camp pool.  They had a wonderful time.  The rifle range was fun because guns are illegal in their country.  They had never fired a gun before in their lives.

Indonesian Student Group at Gun Range

They had all these images from movies and so the range officer had to carefully instruct them so that they would not be foolish.  Here are some photos of them on the gun range.

Indonesian students on the firing line

While most of them had problems hitting the targets, they did improve with a few dozen shots.  Of course they were impressed when I hit the small target 8/10 times.  Even the range officer was impressed until he learned that I had grown up with a .22 hunting rabbits in the sagebrush and pheasants in the fields.  But it was fun to be amazing at something. 
The scout camp was located in a highland jungle on the North Shore.  It had parts that were developed with mess halls and cabins and sections for primitive camping.  The day we were there it was full of cub scouts from all over Oahu. In order to get to the gun and archery range we had to walk a trail through the jungle - a real jungle. The trail would excite any scout. I could only imagine if I had the 11- year old scouts here on a hike.


Saturday closed with Mom and her missionary friend, Peggy watching the women's session of conference on TV.  Students are encouraged to watch it at the Aloha center on campus while the boys are watching a re-broadcast of the priesthood session.  This happens Sunday evening and includes a soup and desert meal afterwards for all.  While we watch it live, we will be at those events also this weekend

Hau 'oli La Hanau (how-oh-lee lah hah-now-oo) !! I just finished talking with Sarah and today is her ninth birthday and so I wanted to begin by wishing her a very Happy Birthday! It sounds like she has had a great day, with lots of family love and support.

I didn't write last Sunday because there wasn't anything new to report or say. It had been a fairly typical week but today I have a couple of things to write about. Yippee!

Last Saturday we went with our friends Lynn and Peggy Rowell down to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling. We had tried to go a few weeks ago but by the time we got there at 8:45 am, they had closed the park. Once the parking lot fills up, that is the end, so we ended up doing the "circle island tour" and drove up to Haleiwa where our friends had their first snorkeling experience. We were determined to not be turned away this week and so we left Laie at 6:30 am and were among the first to arrive. Dennis and I had not been there for many years and were surprised at the many improvements that have been made to the area. We had a fun morning with pretty good snorkeling. I even saw a few fish that I had not ever seen before. We had a good time. I hesitate to put in a couple of these pictures, for reasons which will be obvious but oh well, who cares?!

At the top of the hill leading down to Hanauma Bay

Searching for shade at Hanauma Bay

Talking to NM's on the beach

Give that woman a hat! And shirt. . .

Dinner after ticket-taking at the Island Buffet and a serenade

In front of temple

Our Springville neighbors, the Blonquists have a daughter, Maddie, serving a mission in Bermuda. Yvonne is putting together a 'Flat Stanley' type of book for her for Christmas and so we 'took' Maddie to the Laie Hawaii temple last week and also to the PCC. We hope she enjoyed her brief visit!






The big event of the week was last night. We attended our first Polynesian wedding reception! Mel and Masi were married in the morning at the temple and then the reception was in the evening at her home ward in Honolulu. Masi is Tongan and Mel is Samoan, so it was a full out party experience and we loved every minute of it. I think we were two out of seven Howlies there and there were around 500 people in attendance. They began the evening by introducing the wedding party and in they all walked. They gave a little bio on each bridesmaid and groomsman. There were eight bridesmaids and eight groomsmen so this took awhile. One bio was so funny. It was " so and so is 6ft.1 inch and weighs 230. He is a Red Raider forever." (That is the Kahuku football team). Then the bride and groom arrived and everyone stood and they go sit at a raised dais which has a Tongan mat underneath. There is no 'official' receiving line. Next, time for dinner - Poly style!

Where the bride and groom sit with the Maid of Honor and Best Man

Note second table of food

The food was very traditional - taro, tapioca root, fish, prawns with heads on, bananas cooked Samoan style (in a gelatinous coconut milk), beef, chicken, and this really awful stuff called 'squid luau.' Most of you know Dennis will eat anything, but even he cannot take this. But believe me, we were in the minority. Everyone was crazy over this nasty dish of grass, seaweed, onion, and squid all blenderized into some sloppy, green goop. But it was quite a spread!
After eating there was a program with dancing - Father/Daughter, Mother/Son, bridesmaids, groomsmen, children, mother, etc. I really enjoyed the traditional dances. They are beautiful to watch.I tried to get some pictures of Mel dancing. It was beautiful, but they were too far away. Then there was the cutting of the cakes, plural. At this point we left since it was getting late, but it was a great experience and I am so glad we were invited and able to attend.

Some of the cakes - there was also the brides cake, the grooms cake, and a general dessert cake

And a Church gym is still a church gym, worldwide!

Mr. and Mrs. Kauvaka

It is still stifling hot and humid here. We thought we could handle it better than last year but not so. 86 degrees with 86% humidity. Hopefully, the trade winds will return in another week. Our Church is once again on a reduced schedule. Since we can't get into the building for Branch Council, it is no problem. We just hold it in the parking lot. We call it "true tailgating."

And the Kingdom rolls forward! We love it!

We are back in school and are returning to the semester routine.  That is the good news...the September heat and humidity is the bad news.  But at least we are better prepared for it and it does not seem as bad as last year. 

This past week started with a Missionary BBQ on the beach.  It was Labor Day so we decided to roast hot dogs over a real fire.  I gathered the wood and built the fire...then we roasted hot dogs and made smores.  It was a BBQ to welcome the Carters and the Christensens to our group of religious education missionaries.  

Here is a photo of us with our friends from Langley BC, the Cardnos.  Never go to the Mexican restaurant in Haleiwa.  Not Cholos, that is great, but the other one by Pizza Bob's.   They are going home next week so we went to dinner with them. They are nice people and we will miss them. We had a nice evenig. It has been good to reconnect with them.

Wrights and Cardno at Sunset Beach

The big event of the week was the Sunset Beach Waiema Bay YSA activity.  It was HUGE!  We had sent invitations all over the island to YSA.  We knew it would be big, but there were almost 500 YSA in attendance.  That is in addition to the members of our branch and 50 non-members who came.  Here are some photos and comment. 

Leveling the Sand for the Slip and Slide

I did not know preparing a beach slip and slide was so much work.  You have to carefully select your sight and then level the sand like you do with cement.  Then you have to have a certain (slippery) kind of plastic, a gas pump and hoses to carry the water to the top of the slide.

It has to be raised a bit for proper drainage and leveled to keep the plastic from tearing.  We had problems with the plastic, the pump, and the hose.  So a 12:00 start became a 2:00 start, right on time for Hawaii.  The kids did not care. 

We had all the YSA come to a sign up tent where they signed an accident waiver.  The non members also indicated if they wanted more information about the Sunset YSA branch.  That gave the missionaries a good start  with some contact information.  We are hoping there are some good referrals.

Kaye and Dennis signing in 500 YSA

Big Kaisa says watch out below as he launches

We were blessed and had no accidents.  I was proud of the kids because there wore more modest bathing suits on the beach than ever before.  The stake president said we set a high water mark for the rest of the stake.  We were at the beach from 9:00 (preparing the slide) to 4:00 when everyone was there.  We met so many people from all over the island and visitors from other places who wanted to try the slide.  It was quite a hit for all ages. 

The Slip and Slide is almost done

The registration tent

The Sunset Beach Primary boys ready to slide

The Sunday after the event we went to the Community Center only to find that the worker assigned to open it for us had not shown up.  We had to make a decision and the President said, "backyard church" at the counselors home.  So off we all went to his backyard and set up church just like in pioneer times.  Here is a photo.

Back Yard church

At this meeting the Stake President was in attendance to change the EQ Presidency and had a great time in this setting.  He returned and challenged all the "normal" wards to step it up and gain the spirit like the Sunset Branch. Our branch is his "baby" and he is so pleased with the progress. 

The new EQP is Chris in the photo below.  The first EQP was Masi, a returned missionary and local parks worker.  He was a great president and helped get the quorum going.  But he is getting married and moving on to a new adventure. 

Masi, Chris and ElderWright

Chris is a wonderful new member of our Branch who became active a couple of months ago.  He is full of faith and is very good with helping others who are less active return to the Church.  Chris is a real Hawaiian cowboy who works for a ranch at Kahuku.  He likes having FHE for the Branch at his huge barn where they can Texas two step and swing dance.  The wonderful blessing of being in the branch is that we have seen so many less active kids return to the church and prepare for the temple.  Chris is now planning a trip to Missouri where his family lives so he can go to the temple with them.  What a great story.  We also have a baptism coming next week of a wonderful waitress that decided that she wanted the Church in her life.  Each Sunday there are less active kids and non-members in Church looking for a better life.  Living the North Shore beach life is great only for awhile.  It becomes old and senseless prompting kids to ask if there is more.  That is where the Branch comes in.  Probably this is the best part of our mission. 

Ah, the Doldrums. . .One year anniversary. . . Happy Birthday Stephen

This is the one year anniversary of serving here in Hawaii. We arrived on August 27, 2013 and after a few days at Ko'olina to rest up in preparation for our new adventure, began our mission on September 1. It has been a good experience for both of us. We have learned a lot about serving, appreciating other cultures, and even ourselves.

This time of year is the hottest on the islands. They have what the sailors used to call the doldrums where there is low pressure and virtually no trade winds. It is just plain hot and sticky. I was going to title this post "sticky buns" and not for the usual reasons we think. This weather usually lasts through September. I miss AC. We are both glad to go to work because the buildings are air-conditioned.

This week our car was finally repaired. It was on the Chevy recall list for a new ignition and this week the problem was solved. We are now 100% - at least for a used car.

Dennis with car all fixed

While the car was being fixed, a 30 minute job which took over three hours, the car dealership people dropped us off at Pearlridge Shopping Mall  where we did a little shopping and had lunch at the funniest restaurant I have been to. It was a little like Village Inn, but had a Swiss motif. The waitress' were all super old - great grandmother old and Japanese and Polynesian, all wearing these little Swiss Miss outfits. I really should have taken a picture.

On our way home we went to see The Giver and stopped at the Farmer's Market at the Kaneohe Mall. It is a huge Farmer's Market and covers most of the Mall. Here is a picture of it:

Kaye at the Farmer's Market

The term ended. Dad got all his grades turned in and the students who graduated all moved out of TVA. Here is a picture of what it looks like at the end of each term when students leave:

Disgusting!!!

Sunday the Relief Society was reorganized.  I really enjoyed working with these great sisters. They were diligent and faithful. They were a little sad at being released but are very happy for the new president. She kept one of the counselors as well as the secretary who hadn't been in too long. It will be fun to get acquainted with the new girls. I am looking forward to working with them as well. I don't actually do that much, just offer an occasional suggestion. Mostly, they decide what needs to be done and make it happen.

"Old" presidency" - Jackie DeMoss, Marvalyn Santeco, Hana Akina

Jackie just got engaged and is getting married in January. Marvalyn graduated last year and is teaching sixth grade in Hauula. Hana finished her Master's Degree last year and is a school librarian!

Marvalyn (outgoing president), Rebecca (new president) and Kaye

I have to stop standing by these cuties in pictures. I always look whiter than usual!

Aubrey Cameron, Becca, and Jackie - our new RS Presidency

We also have two new missionary couples who have arrived and are living in TVA. They are Elder and Sister Jess Christiansen from Hurricane, Utah and Elder and Sister Leonard Carter from Salt Lake. We all had a picnic for Labor Day at the beach. It gave us all a chance to get better acquainted. They will enjoy their time here. I guess dad and I are the next up to go home. The time has flown by in many ways. Of course, we still have three months to go!

Yesterday I forgot to do the blog, so here I am before FHE putting it together.  A rather quiet week so it will be rather brief. Last Monday night we went to the senior missionary FHE because my colleague from BYU, Richard Holzapfel was the speaker.

We are with the Holzapfels and Botts

He did a great job and the seniors loved his stories about his experiences as a mission president in Alabama during the Romney run for president. After the presentation all the BYU colleagues had their photo taken.  We are in the picture with the Holzapfels and the Botts.  They are serving at BYUH in a student assistance program. 

Tuesday we spent the evening at the PCC taking tickets at the Ohana Luau. It is not a big luau so we finished early and while we were waiting to be released so we could eat, I took this photo of Kaye and the canoe. It was much better in real life.  But it did get Kaye all excited about watching Elvis's movies he made at the PCC:  Blue Hawaii and Paradise, Hawaiian Style.  Awful movies but fun when we see so many places we recognize.

Kaye at PCC

The week was rather ordinary with no major happenings.  It was the last full week of the Summer B term so I handed out my finals and we will meet once more. 
Here is a photo of my Summer B Term missionary prep class.  They were a good bunch.  Four international students (China, Korea, Honduras and Bolivia).  Four already have calls to California (2), Halifax and Korea.  I have grown to enjoy this class more than I thought when I volunteered to teach it. 

REL 130 Sum B 2014

On Saturday our Branch President baptized his son so it was interesting to see how that works in Hawaii.  First, the baptismal font is outside under a roof attached to the building (Wailua ward)  Second, everything else is the same (grandma's speak, lots of family, etc.) But the fun thing that is unique is people who come bring candy leis.  Here is a picture of Ashton Lee after this baptism and a photo of mom with him.  I think she still misses primary. 

Ashton Lee after his Baptism

Kaye with Ashton and Sawyer Lee

 Heave Ho! and Apa Kabar!


This week began last Sunday with our branch meeting in the Little Theater on campus because the Sunset Community center was being used as a 'place of refuge' for hurricane victims. Since it was basically a non-event in our area, it probably wasn't needed but I was happy to meet where we had air conditioning and we had our usual turnout so everything worked out just fine.

Tuesday was a big day for me - I got my hair cut. The girl who was doing it moved to California when her husband got a job writing for an ABC television series. He used to work at the library. So Kaylee works from her home and has two cute little kids. She is just getting going with her salon business and is excited to have a hair washing sink (in her laundry room) and a real salon chair. She did a pretty good job. It is hard to maintain any style here because of the wind, rain, and humidity - usually all in one day.
We also worked at the PCC in the evening and we were surprised and happy to meet a girl who graduated from Lone Peak High School and knows Kayla. I think her name might have been Kylee but I'm not sure. Here is her picture:

Lone Peak graduate 

On Wednesday we went to the temple and saw the third new temple movie. We always try to go to the 4:00 session because it is the handicapped session and they always need additional people.

Thursday we went to Aiea to have my arm checked out. It was no big deal and an excuse to have a fun day. We ran some errands. Dennis bought me a new purse. He also checked on the new part for the car. We are part of a Chevrolet recall and have been waiting for several months for the part to arrive and since we hadn't heard from them, Dennis decided to go check it out for himself. Yes, the part was there and had been for over a month but of course, no one had phoned to let us know or to schedule an appointment to get it replaced.  After that, we went to see the James Brown movie which was interesting even though I wasn't ever a big James Brown fan.

Friday morning we went over to Hukilau Beach to watch the launch of the "Iosepa," the BYUH sailing canoe which they built several years ago. It was last taken out about four years ago. They were supposed to launch between nine and eleven, but when it still was sitting there at 12:30 we left and did laundry. We checked back in the afternoon and it was still sitting on the beach. They decided to wait until Saturday.

Kaye with the "Iosepa" at Hukilau Beach

Putting the mast up

Saturday morning we went over to the flag circle on campus at 8:00 am to help the Indonesians celebrate their Independence Day. They began by singing their national anthem. I love to listen to them sing as they sing loudly and enthusiastically. We could learn from them. Then they had a little quiz and were asked questions about their history. It was interesting for us since we didn't know very much about their history. They could name all seven of their presidents and tell how they came to have independence from the Japanese and the Dutch after WWII. They have only been an independent country since 1945. Then they played silly games and just had fun and ate cheese puffs and Chips Ahoy cookies. For one game they cut slits in a cantaloupe and then shoved coins into it. Then they greased the whole thing with butter and the teams had a race to see who could pull the coins out first with their teeth. In Indonesia they have something similar where they grease a palm tree trunk or just a pole. They have prizes tied at the top and people take turns trying to get to the top to win a prize. I'm thinking family reunion. . .

Preparing the cantalope

Ready, Set, . . .

And the winner is!

Another game was with a pencil tied around your waist and a bottle of water. You had to squat down and try to get the pencil into the pop bottle until it reached the water. They made Dennis and me try this one and they were laughing their heads off at the two of us. By the way, dad won! More reunion fun?

Reminded me of squat toilets in China

After this activity we went back to the beach to see if the ship had been launched. No, but I guess they were waiting for Dennis because they got the flatbed thing stuck in the sand and then they called all the people on the beach to go help push this huge, heavy piece of wood into the water. After several tries, they eventually succeeded. Everyone started to cheer. They are sailing around Oahu and over to Kauai and then it will come back to Haleiwa where it will be taken out of the water and trucked back over to BYUH for another four years. It was cool to see! By the way, it is Monday night and it is still sitting in Laie Bay.

Dennis launching the ship

As you can imagine, Dennis was exhausted after single-handedly pushing the boat into the bay and so we finished off our day with a trip over to Haliewa to enjoy a famous Kua'Aina burger.

Who needs a Big Mac?