A few thoughts on making the world a better place...

We were given the assignment in class to write five things that will help our spouse earn more money in their job. Here is my response:

First of all, I feel that this assignment, to describe how to help my future spouse get more money in his future career, is not congruent with the ideas we have been discussing in class. If money were the only focus of things, this may be a good assignment. However, I feel that we have been discussing finding social needs and using entrepreneur skills to satisfy those needs to improve and change the world. I do not feel that I improve the world by making my family rich. To have our needs satisfied is sufficient for me. I feel that riches come to those who are willing to us them to serve others. I don’t think that one way is better than another to serve so I’m not going to pick his career for him. When I say serve, I mean to benefit the life of another person, which doesn't mean it has to be a volunteer activity. I think service can include pay. In that vein, here are the five things that I would want for my husband in his future career that would make my family and the world a better place:

1. A flexible schedule. I feel that being able to choose and manipulate a schedule is a key ingredient to being able to serve the needs of those around you. If someone needs your help or you need a break yourself for rejuvenation, this allows the opportunity that presents itself to be taken.

2. A passion for what he does. If my husband doesn’t enjoy what he does and feel like he is making a difference in the world that suits his unique talents and capabilities, he or I will not be happy and he won’t want to go to work.

3. Maintain balance: Life requires many roles to be played: Father, Church member, employed person, soccer coach, etc. If you get burned out by doing too much of one thing then you are less effective and not good to the world.

4. Collaborate with others. I feel that no one person can do the work they need to get done on their own. There are many people with skills and expertise that need brought in on a project or situation sometimes to benefit another and sometimes for their own benefit. Serve others and improve the world by allowing them to use their skills to their maximum potential.

5. Don’t allow hurdles to stop your progress and don’t leave people behind. Build relationships with people and don’t take the phrase “it has always been done this way” to keep you from trying something new. If others aren’t initially on the band wagon, keep working it until the dream becomes a reality.

Visualizing Christmas

So, this is the first Christmas I've ever had where there isn't snow, cold, and the surrounding abundance of Christmas decorations. Don't worry. This doesn't mean there is no display of Christmas. There are lights on palm trees and houses and BYU has a really grand light display at it's entrance and a great nativities around campus. But the warmer weather and sandy beaches does make it a very different sort of flavor for Christmas. I say warmer weather instead of warm weather because at night it does drop down sometimes to a whopping 70 degrees and I get cold. This may seem ridiculous to all of you who are fighting 30 degrees or less and some frigid winds. But when you've been in the warm weather so long, your body heat regulation gets lazy from lack of extremes and your blood thins so that your cold temperature tolerance scurries away. I still wear flip flops around town but have donned my socks and added a blanket for several cooler nights. That said, it is a wonderful time of year to be here with wonderful people and events going on. Despite the differences in scenery, it is definitely still Christmas and I've made a little Hawaiian style song to commemorate the most important parts. They are, as you know, constant anywhere you go. I hope you like it.

Trick or Treat at Moana Street

Back in the day Trick or Treating was looked forward to with great anticipation because it was not only the the time to see how much candy I could fit inside of my cavernous pillow case, but it was the time to get together with my siblings, dress up in funny clothes, and go show the costumes to the neighbors. There was a street in my neighborhood you may have heard of named Osmond Lane. It was where all of the Osmond brothers at one time lived and is flanked with a gate and lined with imposing large Mansions. Every year this was the street to go to for gathering the best candy. Cars would line up and down the neighboring road as kids in costume popped in and out of their doors. I don't know if every neighborhood has such a street that draws the masses. If you are looking for it, I have found the trick or treating street of all streets and I doubt you could ever meet its equal.
Moana street is a relatively short street, flat, graced with palm trees and one story homes. It's the church-owned affordable housing for BYU Hawaii's faculty. I had heard more than a month before that this was the place to be on Halloween night (Saturday night for the Mormons). So I got dressed up in my outfit as a giant doll, walked a few blocks, and sat outside my friend Ellen's house to join in the festivities as a candy distributor. The street was completely packed with children in amazing costumes. The air was warm and caressing. One house even had Christmas style lights and spunky Hawaiian music as they passed out their candy. Ellen had 800 pieces and it was gone in just over an hour. It's not just for the candy that these people come. It is probably the safest street on the Island and a largely LDS crowd. The children are from all over the world. One Japanese boy who must have been under the age of two but walking was dressed in an adorable Curious George Bunting with a hood. His big brown eyes peeked up at me. After I dropped the candy into his bucket, he looked up and instead of the usual "thank you" with a little prodding from his dad offered me a bow. I bowed back. What a moment! I did find I had a hard time at first saying "Happy Halloween" instead of "Trick or Treat" but got it down eventually. I've never had so much fun passing out candy!

Liz patting Kei's powdered hair.


Kei, Ellen, a golfer, and I


I loved the Leprechauns!

Halloween

Halloween is coming up this weekend. The best part about Halloween for me is dressing up in costumes. This year I suggested I could be a tourist but my roommate pointed out to me that I would just be blending in with the masses. So it's not a tourist, but will be revealed on Saturday. I must say, without the cold and change in the leaves, there are only a few reminders that it is that time of year. One would be the smashed vegetation in the roads. Oh wait. I guess smashed coconuts are year round. Two would be the calendar. Lastly, Three would be the spooky music and screams coming from the PCC at night. Since the economy went down new and creative ideas have been found to raise a few more dollars. One of them is the Haunted Lagoon. During October, four nights a week, they turn the canoe tour through the villages into a theme park like ride of costumes, story, and scariness. I'm not really into the scariness part of Halloween. Its dark and can get ugly. But I did go on the ride and found they do a really high quality job and some excellent elements. Most of people in it are volunteers too but you would never guess because it is so high quality. My ward went for FHE and below is pictorial proof of it. Allow me to introduce a few people. You can guess who's who, after all it is the season of disguise. The obvious one is my wonderful bishop and his wife. He's from Fiji. There's the boy who on first meeting me asked "how many cows are you?" I walked in on a conversation where he was talking about his claim to fame being his great-great-grandmother as the old woman on Johnny Lingo after the line "eight cows for Mahana!" She gapes her mouth open wide. There's my surfer buddy. My roommate. A girl who served in my mission leaving only a few months before my arrival. My Malaysian teacher. My cowboy friend. My car oil changing comrade. My "I carry my Uke with me like a teddy bear" friend. And quite a few others but that's enough introduction for today. Aren't they beautiful?

The PCC

Over the river and through the woods, well actually across a very small road and a few palm trees from my house, is this big compound with occasional loud noises of booming drums, strange shouts, and lively singing emanating from its walls. Last week I made an appearance there to see what all of this excitement was really about. I was told that the Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated land in the world and if I was to go jump in the ocean and start swimming it would be over 2,000 miles before I was to reach another shore outside these few Volcanic bumps in the sea. But, despite what they said, you'd be surprised with what you can find here.

Family...

family...












and more family.


Actually, if you count Hawaii as part of Oceana instead of it's usual place in North America (I know it's not but just say if it was), two of these found people have stood with me on five continents in the last two years. I think I need to plan a trip to South America and see if they end up there too. I also met people from Georgia, Ohio, Tonga, and my Comm 252 class. Who knew? :)

All that delightful noise? yes, it is a party.



The canoe show. You may ask, "Do they ever fall in?" Well, I don't know if the dancers do but the canoe pushers on one vessel were pushed in by the dancers.

Tongan drum show. They always make sure and grab one person from Japan to come up and join in on the festivities.


Hawaiian royalty. I decided to play paparazzi from afar.


The Iospa ship: what they used to get around from here before all those metal boats and planes were available.




Another recipe to add to your collection. This Tahitian Coconut bread is GOOD!















I played Tongan shuffleboard. They use cool looking wild beans and homemade mats. I want to learn how to make the mat.

I visited all seven villages, made a rose and a fish out of Pandalas and Coconut leaves, watched the fire dancers, ate like a queen at the Luau, and enjoyed the people both new and known. It's amazing what you find when you make an effort to meet the neighbors!

General Conference for me

Last week we had General Conference with the rest of thew World Wide Church. I rolled out of bed at 5:30am on Saturday and 5:15am on Sunday to throw on a dress and go out the door and a short distance down the road to the local Stake Center where it was broadcast from 6-8 and 10-12. It was wonderful to watch it at the same time as so many people I know all over the place! I love conference. I love hearing from Prophets and Apostles. This time around I made an effort to write more personalized notes specific to me along with things that were said I want to remember. The last few minutes of the morning sessions we had an interesting phenomenon where the signal is blocked by the sun and so we got black screened. But I was able to catch up online. During the Saturday afternoon session I had to go to Honolulu for a school assignment for Ghandi's birthday and a celebration of non-violence outside the local zoo. I was sad that I didn't get to sustain the prophets with you all but I came back and watched it online and in the privacy of my own room, raised my hand to support them. Some of the messages that I loved included President Eyring's talk on Trusting God and His word through prophets, music and the spirit. That when we do we can be happy despite our trials. I loved President Monson's talk on Gratitude. President Uchdorf's talk on slowing down and refocusing our lives on the basics gave me another reason to be grateful that I have this time in Hawaii where the pace is slower and time to adjust is abundant. He didn't say be lazy, just slow down the crazy pace. I was sad when conference was over, not only because it's another six months before we have it again, but, like one speaker said, when we gather we feel the Holy Ghost and it was abundant as I felt I gathered with my family and friends to enjoy hearing the words of the prophets. It was definitely worth waking up and watching at 6am and despite a few yawns, I was delighted to be there and grateful that I could watch and listen to it live. I'm excited to get my Conference Ensign.

Here on the Rock

I've been on what the locals call "this rock" now for a month. Here's a collection of some things I've experienced:

The Words:

The Rock- the Island. A very large rock it is.
Slippers- what I grew up calling flip flops.
Ha - The breath of life. When ancient Hawaiians would greet each other they would be close enough to feel each others breath, their Ha.
Hauli - a white person. Its original meaning is a person with no 'Ha' as white people wouldn't get close to a Hawaiian in greetings and thus wouldn't feel their 'Ha".
Aloha - Bishop Burton explained it well:

"Aloha means displaying warmth and affection without obligation in return. It means acknowledging the importance of each person for the collective existence of the community. It also means “to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.” The Aloha Spirit encompasses beautiful gospel principles—principles of faith, principles surrounding “judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). It stresses the importance of the individual and compassion." CES Fireside May 2, 2010 David Burton

The Weather:

Hawaii is a humid place, especially on my side of the Island. It rains everyday. It is also hot. Today, the first day of Fall, is as summery as ever. The air is so wet when I try to use makeup only the waterproof kind will do. Otherwise it just melts off. The workout room on campus requires that you have a towel because you will surely sweat a lot here. Sometimes it is so hot that the only solution is to walk out of the house and down to the beach to catch some ocean breezes and enjoy a few buggly-eyed crabs for company.

The Culture:

There is no majority here. Today the word 'foreigner' came up in class and it came out as an odd concept because here we are all from all over. At the front of BYUH campus is a ring of flags. I like to run around them (when I run which I do for exercise and not because I love running). I tell myself "hey, today I ran around the world a few times". BYUH is known as a very multicultural place. I didn't realize the degree to which that would infiltrate my life. It breathes culture here. Last week my teacher starts a story with "as to not offend a person in the room, the Eastern European country will not be named..." Today I sat between a boy from Japan and a girl from Hong Kong. Where else do you walk out of class to some drums ringing over the fence of the Polynesian Cultural Center? Sunday dinner was at a friends house. We had Chicken Adobo from the Philippines made by a girl from the Philippines. We also had Chicken Masala from India and Curry and wraps from Thailand. After the meal we sat around and played the "talking drums" from Nigeria that are used for communication between tribes and among tribes. We used authentic Nigerian drumsticks too made with rubber from rubber tree sap. The conversation was literally jumping all around the world. David O. Mckay prophesied of BYUH “From this school will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally." This was one of the main reasons I came here. Where else do you get to mingle with people who are as interested collectively in such a mission? I was talking to one girl about a project I'd heard an alumni student was involved in and she said "Oh yeah, just like everybody else." I think there are a lot of people in this world interested in what happens internationally. I've lived in some pretty ambitious places. But I don't think it is as common as she thinks, certainly not to the concentration and degree to which I've seen it here. It is really quite remarkable.