Hawaii Part I

Walking around BYUH

Hawaii is wonderful, but really different to how I imagined it.

We left Provo on Saturday afternoon with Rachel, my old roommate, who kindly took us to the airport. Fortunately the boys were all napping when I left because if they were crying, I would have cried too. My heart hurt to leave them behind. We then flew to Los Angeles (about 90 mins) and then onto Honolulu (about 5.5 hours). The flights weren't bad at all and went by fairly quickly. I read an entire book on the plane and I think that helped. We arrived in Honolulu (which is 4 hours behind Mountain Time) at 7:30pm. We got off the plane and it was hot and humid. I so badly wanted to be with my three babies.

It rained a bit - as it does most days

Honolulu is at the south end of the Island and we needed to make our way to the North East part: Laie, where we would be staying with President and Sister Wheelwright. He is the President of BYU-Hawaii and was my second mission president in the England London Mission. I had printed out explicit directions on how to get to the bus stop, which included a map, but the airport was huge and confusing. We asked some Hawaiian guy for help and he looked at the map we had and said, "Oh that is far. It would take you 15 minutes to walk there. Let me call my buddy to see if he hasn't left yet so he can give you a ride." Well, his friend had left and we told him we didn't mind walking that distance, we just need to be pointed in the right direction. We couldn't believe how friendly he was. We eventually got to the bus stop and we waited. Bus 42 came and went. Then bus 19 came and the bus driver called out to us asking where we were going. I said, "Laie." She said she could take us to bus 55 which would take us up there, but we figured it was probably better to stick with our original plans just in case we get lost somewhere in the middle of Honolulu. I was then studying the map and Rob was sitting next to me. He looked up and noticed that our bus, bus 40, just passed by without stopping. That was frustrating. I figured it was a bit early still (not quite 8:27pm) and so perhaps another one would come then. Well, it did not. After another 40 minutes or so bus 40 came. The bus driver told us where to get off to get the next bus and so we went and waited. There was a phone number on the bus stop sign so I called it to ask when the next bus might be coming. The lady said that we had missed the last one. So, we decided to ask the next bus driver who came by to give us some direction. He told us to hop on and he would take us downtown to the right bus stop. He was so nice. Rob talked to him the whole time and he acted like Rob was a long lost friend. We then had to wait an hour for the next bus to come. It was late and I was exhausted! Eventually the right bus came and took us on the 40 minute journey to Laie. It was dark so we couldn't see anything along the way. We then got off and the Wheelwrights came to pick us up at the bus stop. It was now 11:30pm. I felt really bad for inconveniencing them but I did not mind at all. We then went straight to bed.

The Laie Hawaii Temple

Laie is 97% LDS with 75% activity rate. This is why there is a temple in this tiny town! The church owns most of the land here. It is also along the North Shore of Oahu, which is renowned for its surfing.

The next day I spoke with Rob's mom on the phone and she let me speak with Luke and Thomas. I loved hearing their voices. It made me feel so happy. I missed them but felt ok about leaving them with her because I could hear they were happy. We then went to Church with the Wheelwrights at 10am (Laie 2nd Ward). The building was old and looked like it had been built in the 1970s. The ward consisted of mostly native Hawaiian families. Whenever someone went up to speak they would say, "Aloha!" to the congregation and the congregation would respond, "Aloha!" We thought that was a little weird and we didn't quite get used to it. We met some really friendly people at church. We then went back to the Wheelwrights and enjoyed a delicious meal. After some rest, Rob and I went walking to the temple (a 10 minute walk) and took some photographs. It was pretty windy. The  temple grounds are phenomenal. They are a lot larger than I expected and so beautiful. The lawns are immaculate and the flowers spectacular. They have a visitor's center there too. The temple is smaller than I anticipated. As you look down from the temple, you can see the beach. So we walked down there.

A typical street in Laie

Standing in the Temple Gardens overlooking Temple Beach - very windy!

Wild chicken hanging out with some cats

In Hawaii there are wild chickens which run about everywhere. At one point Rob and I were looking at the unusual fruit on a tree and drew in close. Suddenly we hear this loud squawk by our heads and a large chicken flew out of the tree and ran off. We nearly jumped out of our skins we got such a fright. We then walked around the (small) campus before heading back. It was beginning to get dark.

BYUH

BYUH