Party week and festivals dominate the PCC

This week brought lots of new adventures as spring bloomed with a full week of activities. We celebrated administrative (secretary) day, May Day(Kahuka High School),  Cultural Week (BYU), and a single sisters party over at the ocean beach home of Elder Ron and Sister Nina Jones. I am completely wore out from all the fun and work that has went on this week and I didn't even prepare any of it. Just enjoyed all the activities. This is not just paradise, it is party paradise and May hasn't even started yet. There is a full calendar of things in May including more festivals, devotionals, shows, firesides, etc and with all the fun that is going on here I still get homesick as I missed Addie's first birthday. Thank you to my family for keeping updated on her birthday. With FaceTime and e-mail,videos, and text I felt like I was almost there celebrating with them. Technology and missions do go together. I can share with you and you can share with me. I am thankful for this blog, also as it is part of my journal.

Sunday started out with a walk to the temple. That is the most beautiful, spiritual part of this place is the temple and is the center of all that goes on in Laie. The flowers and plumeria are in full bloom and I can't stop taking pictures of them.
  
Plumeria is in bloom everywhere, in every color and hue that I can imagine.





Ticket taking is even a party at the PCC. This is Cousin T the (best) MC at the Lua's. He has a remarkable story.  I never get tired of watching the show at the Lua.




Secretaries (administrative assistant) was a nice day. We ended up with a nice surprise. About lunch time people came into our office and said we were going to lunch. We were surrounded by people honoring us with leis and a few gifts. 
I received a bag of Chocolate covered macadamia nuts. (They didn't last long) They are one of my favorites. Out the door went the diet for this week. We ended up at Lei Lei's over at Turtle Bay for lunch.
  Dave Duffin, Danno, Pua, Lucy,
Issie, Sister Blodgett, Me, and Jerome Uluave.
Had the best Ahi sandwich ever. This is a place to return to. Delicious ford and fun was had by all!

Friday we had a party with just our crew. Elder Griffeth decided he needed to fatten us up just a wee bit more and we ended up at Pounders for a wonderful meal of Mahi-Mahi.

Friday evening we were off to the PCC for Kahuku High School May Day festival. There was all the pageantry of a real court of the kings and queens of days gone by.
This is Pua's daughter Sandy. She was the princess of the big island of Hawaii. There was a King and Queen of Hawaii and then Princes and Princesses for each of the islands. Then each culture at the or chapter did honor to their countries culture. It was a fantastic evening learning about the different cultures that make Hawaii the place it is today. They were, Fiji, Bollywood, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa and many that I can't remember. It was held in the Pacific Theater at the PCC and added to the ambiance as if we were at the real place hundreds of years ago. Again, they know how to do a festival in Laie.
BYU had a two night festival honoring all the cultures that attend BYU and it was beautiful, also but it didn't quite compare to the festivities of the May Day celebration of the Kahuku High School. There are videos but I couldn't attach them to this file. Oh well. I am not that technology smart.


  
We had a wonderful time on Sat afternoon at the Jone's. They invited all the single missionary sisters to their beach home for and afternoon of beach and dinner. Unfortunately as it sometimes does in Hawaii we have had an abundance of rain for the past few days and it hasn't stopped in days. We ate indoors, visited and laughed. A wonderful time was had by all.  Elder Jones is the only male amongst all us sisters. He was the servant and cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs.

EASTER

On this special Easter when we celebrate the death and life of our Resurrected Savior I just want to say how thankful I am for His sacrifice that we may be forgiven of our sins and shortcomings. I can't wait to see Him again and personally thank Him for His sacrifice. What a day of rejoicing it will be when every knee shall bend and every head shall bow and show Him my gratefulness for the greatest act ever accomplished. In the meantime I will live each day and try to be like Him. Most days I fail terribly but that is why He sacrificed so that I could look for forgiveness for my transgressions. I can rise in the morning like He did and try again like he taught me to do. Everyday is a new beginning and today is the beginning of a new year. I love serving in this part of His vineyard and pray that I might be a good example to some one.

I was taught a very good lesson yesterday and that is that we need to watch everything we do and say. First of all I need to tell a gentleman that I am sorry for taking his parking place. I told him in person but it was a good lesson for me. We were going into a crowded parking lot and there was a long line of cars and they all looked like they were going to turn. I saw a parking place two cars away and no one looked liked they wanted it so I zipped up and took the place. When we got out of the car a gentleman in a truck politely told me he had been waiting for that place. He hadn't shown in any way that he was going to turn into it. I was very sad to have been that unfeeling but truly if he had shown any interest I would have waited. Such a simple thing but I felt guilty the rest of the day.

Now for the part that everyone is watching what we do. We decided to go into a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. It took four of us 20 minutes to decide where we wanted to eat and finally settled on this one. (I know that this doesn't sound familiar to any of you! Four women trying to make a decision.)

We sat down ordered and had an excellent meal. YUM! YUM! Very, very, tasty. We were famished after the parking place incident. We had a cute and very nice waitress. She answered all of our questions because we didn't know exactly where we were. When she brought the check I asked her if she would divide it four ways for us she said she couldn't and I looked at her very surprised. Then she smiled and said that another gentleman had already paid for it and left. Unobservant me had not really noticed much of anything as I entered the restaurant. I did notice a family enjoying their meal but not anyone else. It was a very nice act of kindness for this gentleman to pay for our meal. It reminded me of New Year's Eve when another gentleman paid for our New Year's meal. It is such a kindness and I want to thank these gentlemen, also. They will never know how much it meat to us. It would have been much nicer if we could have thanked him in person. The thing we need to do now is to pay it forward in some way. The lesson learned from these two incidents is that we need to be on our best behavior at all times. Someone is always watching us and how we are reacting to different situations. 

Imelita and Lili are two of my coworkers that I interact with everyday on the internet and was able to meet them as I was visiting Food Services this week. Now I know who I am talking to when I am on the phone asking them questions. Two very nice ladies.

Watched them prepare the pig, again. That just fascinates me.


Friday we were invited to the Journey Theater at the PCC to preview a new independent movie made in Samoa. It was pretty corny, had a good message and the students were fun to listen to as they made a few comments. I don't know if you will see it worldwide very soon but who knows look what happened to Napoleon Dynamite.


Flowers of the week. A few repeats but the bird of paradise was sitting there so perfectly waiting for me to take his picture. I also saw some white bird of paradise that I have never seen before.

 

                                                 





































 
                            


         

P-days and holidays are always the best.

On the holiday, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day (say that fast 3 times or even once), Polly and I took a partial tour of Kualoa Ranch. This ranch has a very interesting history. This is the part I listened to---
"Sometime after 1795 when Kamehameha I became the overall ruler of all the Hawaiian islands, he gave the lands of Kualoa to his favorite wife, Ka’ahumanu, after which they became part of the royal lands."

 





The first part of the tour was get on a bus that transported us to a canoe where we traveled to the "Secret Island." It looked like a jungle on the ocean shore. We boarded a catamaran and went out to the Chinaman's hat. We saw a few sea turtles but they were to fast to take pictures of.
           

We arrived back at the ranch and boarded a jeep like vehicle and went on a jungle tour.
 We visited places where the filmed parts of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. We drove further up the mountain, took a short hike to the top of a mountain and saw spectacular views of the island.    

                                        

                                                                       

                                          P-Day, again:)

Friday night started off as a surprise. We decided to go to the outdoor movie at the PCC-Hukilau Market place. There is a green area, they put up a white canvas and there we have a sit in, outdoor movie theater. We saw "Moana."  What could be a more perfect evening? Cool sea breezes, stars, nice company, yes, we had popcorn and a great movie.

SATURDAY: Tender Mercies, even when we are "bad" girls, happen. Two sistah's decide not to go to the Settlement Devotional on Sat.(there were good reasons) and take off early  to go to Kaneohe and accomplish some things we can't do on any other day. We arrived at the turn off to Kaneohe, the engine light came on and the car started puttering and sputtering. Polly hurried and pulled over the first place we could and here we are at the "Hygienic Store." It has a large parking lot so we glided right into it. We said a prayer and then decided to call roadside assistance. While we were waiting we visited a small lagoon that was behind the store.     Again, it was so beautiful. There was a 7-11 across the street so we walked across for a drink  and up pulled up the tow truck as we were paying for our drinks. Our next dilemma was how to get back to Laie. The traffic was so horrendous that we hated to have anyone come get us. We asked the roadside assistance if we could ride back with the car and they said "no" because of insurance purposes. "Oh dear!"  The Lord took charge and gave me courage to ask the tow truck driver if we could ride with him to the "Organic Mechanic" where they were taking the car and about 5 min. from home. He said "sure" but it would be crowded. Well the traffic was good going north but south there were cars about 1 mile backed up. When we got to the "Organic Mechanic" our friend Sally O picked us up and transported us the rest of the way home. Again, miracles never cease. All this before noon. What to do the rest of the day? Why of course! Go to the beach. Off we went for lunch at Seven Brothers and got a to go box and ended up at:                                    

We had an enjoyable afternoon of lunch and relaxation at the beach, except, Cecily put her lunch down to take a walk and came back and the ants were devouring her goodies. My lunch was really good. I devoured it before the ants got it. I had garlic shrimp with rice and salad. 

I will close now. It is getting to be time for church and my battery is running low. Just want to bear my testimony of the Lord's love for me and for each of us. He blesses us each and every day in ways that we don't even think about. God is love!

Feeding the guests at the PCC

This was a fun day. Which day isn't fun? Today I toured the kitchens at the PCC with Misi and met some of the people we place orders for. I was slacking in picture taking but these are a few that I did.



    
This little piggy went to market. This little piggy should have stayed home. This little piggy went to the pit to feed the guests at the Lua.  YUM! YUM!

Pineapple is my favorite. I might turn into one before I come home.
                              

Preparing luscious papaya and coconut drinks for the guests.

God is love

Oahu is still beautiful to me. People say that I will become accustomed to this place and the beauty of it but every time I go outside and see the majestic mountains, the green plants, gorgeous flowers and the magnificent ocean I stand in awe at the beauty of it. I still think this is what the Garden of Eden must have looked like. I can see the hand of God in every particle of sand. Here are some of my favorite sights in the past few weeks.
 Again, flowers and trees of every variety.







          

        
          


           Love these periwinkle bushes.
I also love to look at the heliconia in all their varieties. I happened to run on to some red one and was totally amazed at their uniqueness and beauty.
    


I also saw friends and family from Utah this week. I am so glad that they come to the PCC and I happen to run into them.
 Linda Wyatt


 Corey Schultz and family

and best of all my Bro and Sis-in-law, Don and Dian with whom I spent a fun day visiting the island of Oahu. First we took a walk on the beach and we saw----

 a very large and lazy sea turtle. The picture of me was just to show I was really there.

Then we visited the PCC and ate lunch. We had a very blue visitor.  We decided to take a tour of the island and saw some very exotic vistas:The day ended bad at their very beautiful beach house with some R&R and a very good dinner and a fine sunset.


  A view of their backyard.



Behind Don is their very unusual outdoor shower. This was just off their bathroom. The others had indoor showers.
. It was a beautiful sunset.
I was sad to see them go for I would love to bring all of my family (everyone) over and stay forever. I think heaven will be a little like this.