October 18, 2015
Greetings all from Laie, Hawaii!
I really enjoy convoluted weeks like the past week has been. We never get into a rut over here as there’s always something new or different going on. We seem to be in the betwixt/between weather as well. It can’t decide if it is summer or fall. We’ll have a very hot and humid day followed by a very pleasant day intermixed with cloudy and rainy days.
And speaking of rain … last Monday we had a several hour torrential downpour. The pool in the courtyard where the fountains are filled to overflowing. The sewer system also filled to overflowing. The Polynesian Cultural Center had to close for the afternoon. We had the slowest day since we got here. But, we also had some very fun and interesting visitors that day. They had nowhere else to go, we weren’t very busy, and there was plenty of time to participate in a Hawaiian tradition: talk story.
There are quite a few “pidgin” phrases in Hawaiian. These were invented as the Chinese laborers came over who did not speak Hawaiian nor any English. Some of these phrases we hear very frequently. “Talk story” is one of those. It just means to sit around and visit about anything and everything, kind of like “chewing the fat”. I kind of like “talk story” better.
Because the PCC was closed on Monday, lots of people who couldn’t go on Monday went to the PCC on Tuesday instead. We were very busy at the Center. Monday and Tuesday are preparation days for the sister missionaries. Half of them have Monday as their P-Day and half have Tuesday. That means that we only have one set of sister missionaries at the Center on Monday and Tuesday mornings. When we get really busy on either of those days, we are Really Busy!
The rain on Monday caused other issues as well. As I said, the sewer system backed up. The city brought their truck over and pumped out our holding tank several times and then had us close our bathrooms so that when it overflowed, it would be “clean” water. Fortunately, we didn’t have very many visitors. The other consequence had to do with the Chinese tour busses. Some of them stop at the Visitors’ Center because we have bathrooms and are OK with them using our facilities. When we had to close the bathrooms, these tour busses had to take their people somewhere else, so they didn’t come into the Center, further impacting our visitor count.
Our first family visitors were Stephanie and Randy who spent a week here in Hawaii along with some other Strader family members. We spent some time with Stephanie and Randy on Wednesday (which was our Preparation Day) before they headed back to Utah very early on Thursday morning. We had a very nice visit with them. They had a great time in Hawaii … they went snorkeling, dove with the sharks (in a shark cage), visitred the Polynesian Cultural Center, took an ATV ride at the Kualoa Ranch (where several movies, including Jurassic Park were filmed), and with all that didn’t have time to do the really touristy things in Pearl Harbor. That just means they need to come back…. There’s a reason that the number one money generator for the State of Hawaii is tourism.
This week was also Fall Break for some of the schools in Utah as well as in Japan. The number of families coming to the Visitors’ Center was up …. and the number of school groups at the PCC was amazing. We had our weekly volunteer session taking tickets at the Island Buffet meal venue at the PCC on Saturday afternoon. More than 300 of the people there for dinner were Japanese school groups.
During Sacrament Meeting today the Stake President announced boundary changes that moved a number of families from the Laie 2nd Ward (the largest Ward in the Stake) into our Ward, the Laie 3rd Ward (the smallest Ward in the Stake). That doesn’t affect Sister Smith nor I very much, but it was quite the event for the members of the two Wards. Our Sunday School teacher is a professor at BYU-Hawaii and is an expert on the middle east. He travels there frequently as part of his work. Sunday School here is excellent for several reasons: First, he is very knowledgeable; second, the Ward members participate in the class discussion; and third, these folks also know their scriptures and religion very well. Quite a few members of the Ward are on the faculty at BYU-H and they make a great contribution to the class and lessons.
Laie is also blessed with a number of families whose roots go back a hundred fifty years in this community. Their great grandparents built the town and the Temple. They and their parents were directly involved with the Church College of Hawaii was founded in 1955, when BYU-Hawaii was built in 1962, the Polynesian Cultural Center in 1964, etc. Listening to the stories of these families is quite inspiring. We just came home from another of the heritage firesides being presented as part of the 150th anniversary of Laie’s founding and learned much of the history of the Meatoga family (promounced mee-ah-tongah). Being able to be part of the celebration and hear the stories of these faithful families is very inspiring. We are being truly blessed by being here!
So, mission life is great! Steven heads off to his mission assignment in the California Fresno mission this week … good luck, Steven! Work hard and enjoy the Spirit!
<--Previous Entry | Next Entry -->