School Break

 We had a great week this week. BYU Hawaii finished their semester and many students have gone home.  We are taking a 3-week break from teaching but meeting with the kids on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  

 Janice got to meet with the knee surgeon on Tuesday and found out that she definitely needs replacements.  He wanted to schedule something on the spot but Janice wanted to think about it.  After talking to a few people including our children, she is convinced she needs to at least start with one knee.  She is waiting to here back from the scheduler.  Our mission president is all for it.  

Meanwhile, we are keeping a core group of Institute students going and have had fun this week meeting with them.  We have another couple of weeks without lessons but we have treats and games available for them.  We had 4 students come over for Easter Dinner last Sunday and really enjoyed feeding them a lot of food.  They loved Janice's home-cooked Ham and Cheesy Potatoes.  We talked, played the guitar and sang, laughed, and just had a great time.

We went out to eat at Pounders Restaurant and had pizza on Friday for our date.  We went to the north shore and watched a glorious sunset afterward.  It was really overcast here but the sky cleared up and we saw the sun pop out through the clouds.

On Thursday after Institute, one of our students volunteered to demonstrate his fire dancing.  He moved here just to compete and has been practicing very hard.  This is a routine with flaming poi balls that was pretty impressive.

We are thrilled that three of our grandsons are coming to visit us on Monday.  We were just expecting Isaac to come before his mission but just this morning, his other two brothers (Noah & Henry) hopped on because the airplane tickets were so inexpensive.  We are scurrying to make some adjustments and have a great time.  This is a great bonus situation!

Some of our students have asked if I could put on a painting workshop so I am trying to put together a composition that they could do in one setting.  This is my first attempt.  It is China Hat Island just across from Kualoa ranch on the east side of Oahu.

Maui

 We flew back Wednesday from Maui after taking the Wights to the airport to fly home on Tuesday morning.  We had a great time with them.  It was good to be with them after not seeing them for a couple of years.  Monday, we did take a drive to the top of the volcano in Maui with them.  It seemed like we were on the top of the world.  You really could see the curvature of the earth as you looked at the ocean horizon in every direction.

It was my first good look into the caldera of a shield volcano.

    My favorite part was finding volcanic bombs that had flown into the air and cooled before landing back on the volcano.  After the Wights left, Janice and I took the infamous road to Hana on Maui.  It is a single lane in many areas and twists and winds around lush jungle and waterfalls.  Many of the trees have vines hanging down and we half-suspected to see Tarzan swinging by on one of them at any time.  The waterfalls were beautiful but we did not bring our swimming clothes or it would have been tempting to get into the Hanawai waterfall that I stopped to take a picture of.

My container garden is going bananas here!

The beaches were beautiful and the food was excellent but by Wednesday, we were really missing our assignment on Oahu in Laie.  We were happy to get right back into the swing of things by attending a sealing session with the missionaries in our mission, teaching a seminary lesson the next day and then preparing then teaching a Sunday School lesson for this Sunday for the 15-18-year-olds.  We just really love our mission and our assignments here.

Maui Beach near Lahaina

Mountain Canyon above the house we stayed in

Here Today Gone to Maui

 We have been having a wonderful time with the Wights.  We have carved out time to be out and about seeing some of the sights here including Sea Life Park.  We really enjoyed putting an ice cream social together for the Institute Class.  It was so fun serving all the brownies, ice cream, toppings and whip cream they can eat.  What a happy group.  We love serving them.

On Friday, we flew over to Maui to do a house swap with Elder & Sister Horton, the Institute Senior Couple here on Maui.  We have had a blast with Ron & Ann snorkeling and going on a whale-watching cruise.  We will leave Maui on Wednesday in time for our Institute class.  

We watched all of the sessions of General Conference.  We found answers to our problems and concerns.  Our hearts rejoiced to here President Nelson use the words that we heard in our youth that every worthy young man should serve a mission.

Sea Life Park

State Park in Maui

My Favorite Person Under the Banyan Tree

Sunset on the Beach at Maui

Okay, not one that I took but we did see one this close

Reunions

 We are winding down our semester here and will have the closing social for our Institute class this coming week.  We will start up again in early May.  Tuesday night, we had a short interview with our Mission President, President Bassett. After a brief exchange he asked what he could do for us.  We told him that we were strongly considering asking for an extension already for our mission next January but we are tentative because of Janice's need for knee replacement.  He then something that we were not expecting and without any hesitation he said, "Why wait!  Do it now!"  We were shocked.  Janice is exploring that possibility.  This is a great place to get the surgery because our apartment is all on one level.  The facilities here for our insurance are quite large.  Who knows, this may be an answer to our prayers.  

In the meantime, we are having a superb time teaching Institute and helping with Seminary.  The young people are energizing and we feel like we are making a difference here.

Friday night, we attended our mission reunion at President and Sister Ho Ching's home.  It was so good

to see them.  We had a wonderful visit with them and it put some closure to our Samoan mission that was abruptly ended at the start of the pandemic.  

As if that were not enough, the following day, we picked up our friends the Wights from the airport to stay with us for the next ten days.  It is so good to have them here.  We look forward to sharing our mission life here with them.  We have arranged for a house swap with the Institute couple in Maui at the end of this coming with and will have a great adventure with Ron and Ann there.

We were quick to share with them one of our favorite desserts here, Angel's Halo.  It is a generous scoop of ice cream of our choice, covered with shave ice and flavorings, a generous covering of sweetened condensed milk, and finally topped with whip cream.  Janice and I split a small size.  Here is a picture of Ron and Ann with a small portion

of this yummy dessert.