Heather and Ty stopped in Hawaii for a couple of days on their way back to Mumbai, India after their annual home leave. Top of their list of things to do was a session at the Laie Hawaii Temple which we took care of the very next morning. After the session we walked through the meditation garden at the back of the temple. Two beautiful banyan trees grace the garden and the relative size is shown in this picture with Heather standing underneath the tree. A lot of students come up to this garden during the school year to get a bit of peace and quiet and to enjoy the sweet spirit on the temple grounds. The gardeners (all four of them) do a world-class job of maintaining the grounds, the flora, and the fauna.

Heather’s time on home leave was more than hectic. So much to do in so little time, including doing the initial planning for Danielle’s Temple Wedding in December. That meant that Heather and Ty were quite content to just sit around for a while and just plain “talk story” (a Hawaiian idiom used very often, meaning to sit around and “chew the fat”). We also did all of the important tourist things as well, including spending Wednesday afternoon at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. The Pearl Harbor stop was number two on Ty’s list. His grandfather Hal Hardy had served during WWII in Honolulu and throughout the Pacific on a Navy LST (landing ship transport).

We took the opportunity to ride the Laie Tram Tour from the Polynesian Cultural Center over to the Temple and back. That gave Heather and Ty a brief overview of the history of Laie as well as a chance to meet and visit with some of the sister missionaries we work with. After we got back from the tram ride, we walked through the Polynesian Cultural Center. All of the islands were closed, which made for a very nice, peaceful walk. No crowds, no noise! Along the way we met up with some folks working on a biology project … catching fish from the PCC canal to use in a hydroponic project (the “fish poop” feeds the plants in the hydroponds). They were being very successful with their fishing using Taro Rolls for bait.

on Saturday, September 3rd, Nina’s sister Pamela arrived for an eight-day visit with us. She’s been working and saving for this trip for the past couple of years and was really psyched up to finally get here and experience Hawaii with us.

On our way back from the airport to the North Shore, we stopped at the Pali Overlook on the Pali Highway going from Honolulu to Kaneohe. This is a Very Popular Tourist Spot … which by itself is an understatement. This highway started out as a very treacherous footpath that was upgraded and expanded over the years to what became a nice 4-lane highway in 1957. Since that time two more highways have been punched through the Kualoa Mountains which bisect Oahu.

We joined the dozens of tourists (it was well after 6pm in the evening) to take pictures on the overlook. The city of Kaneohe is on the background left, the city of Kailua in the background right, and the Marine Corps Base Honolulu directly in the background. There’s a humorous (unless your a victim) sign as one walks up to the overlook warning visitors to beware of bees in the high winds.

About five mornings a week I walk up the hill at the end of the road by our house to the water tank and back (about a half mile) and then continue down the hill and around a cul-de-sac and back home. The whole thing takes just over a half hour and is right at a mile. The climb is very strenuous and takes the most time. Already, though, it’s getting a bit faster each day. However, after all I ate this evening at the monthly Break-the-Fast, I’ve probably regressed significantly. The sun is just peaking over the horizon on the right side of this picture.

Every few weeks we get to witness a marriage proposal at the feet of the Christus in the Visitors’ Center. Today was another of those opportunities made even more interesting because Nina’s sister Pamela was there to see it happen. The young man had arranged for a friend to come to “take some pictures”. He took a couple of pictures, then told the fellow that his shirt wasn’t tucked in correctly, using that as a way to slip the fellow a box with the engagement ring inside.

With the ring in hand, the fellow dropped to a knee and proposed marriage! The girl was stunned, surprised, and although I’m sure she knew the proposal was coming some time, was delightfully dumbfounded by the sudden proposal. He actually had to repeat his proposal so she could be sure she had heard him correctly!

The proposal was accepted, followed by a Very Big Kiss. Lots of applause from people in the know as well as all the other visitors at the Visitors’ Center. They fellow and his now-fiancé took many more pictures, while she hung onto him quite tightly; clearly she wasn’t going to let him get away!

Marriage proposals happen fairly often at the Visitors’ Center, but usually around the end of a term at school. The fall term is only a few weeks underway and this is the first proposal of this school term. The other event that occurs fairly regularly is students opening their mission calls.