Hawaii: Day Two

Day two, Mar. 28, in Hawaii started out with Church on the Beach. This is a nondenominational church held by the Hilton Hotel. It was a beautiful day. The students sang after the prayer and the crowd went wild. They were clapping and swaying with the music. It was fun. We giggled a bit seeing all the half naked people laying on the beach during church. The ministers wife did the hula to some Christian music and the minister also sang. I really enjoyed the message and felt the spirit.
After the beach, the LDS kids got dressed and we took two taxis to a beautiful tabernacle. It was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. We only attended sacrament meeting, but it was worth it. I love how everyone begins with "Aloha." One in our group thought it would be funny to go up and say "Howdy." Anyway, one of their young men had just passed away Friday from his two year battle with cancer. Needless to say, it was a tear jerker and the spirit really was strong and testified the truth of families being together forever.


The trees in Hawaii are huge and interesting. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them. Finally, we ended the evening by attending the Paradise Cove Luau. Our tour guide for this Luau was Cousin Pomi. He was a hoot. He warned us the girls were wearing coconut shells, but I was still shocked. It was a blast. We got to watch demonstrations in fishing and the hula. We got to make different things. Lisa and I braided our headdresses. Kylie and all the students got fake tattoos.
And then the show began with the ceremonial entrance of the court and the prayer.
The food was great, but the dinner show was better. We ended the Luau with many students getting on stage and participating in the hula.
However, the fun didn't end. On the bus ride home, Pomi explained bus games and we spent the trip passing other buses and flashing cameras, cell phones, dancing in the isle and laughing so hard I cried. Pomi did the Hakka for us to conclude the night and we went to bed. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries and I didn't get pictures.