Hawaii: Day 6 (07 June 2009)

I've slacked quite a bit on my blogging lately. Things have been busy. Anyway, I plan to get caught up with Hawaii this week so I can get to more recent adventures. Day 6 in Hawaii found us waking early to a beautiful Sabbath morning. We all got dressed up in our Sunday best and attended church with Amy and Juan at their ward. I love to attend church in different places around the world. It always helps strengthen my testimony to know that is does not matter where I am in the world; I can always find the truth.

After church we made our way to Waimea Valley Park. Here was another testimony builder just perfect for a Sunday afternoon. The flowers were beautiful and came in so many shapes, sizes and colors.

Everything from the multi-colored Hibiscus,

to the Cannonball Tree (don't let one of these hit you on the head... talk about a bad day, probably your last!)

the Pitcher plant... hard to guess why they call it that... just in case you were wondering the pitchers are full of water too.

And the hangly-dangly thingy as well. I don't remember what this one was called but as I said before every shape, size, and color.

We also learned about Hawaiian culture and traditions from Auntie Paula-Paula. She taught us about the sacredness of the gardens and everyday life of the ancient Hawaiian peoples.

Auntie Paula-Paula taught us and the kids some simple dances using sticks. As you can see these guys were entranced!

Sera and Evan had fun too.

At the end of the trail through the gardens we come to the Waimea Falls. The kids weren't too happy about not being able to swim on Sunday but it was beautiful just the same.

After leaving the park we decided to go to campus to have dinner at the cafeteria. I'm not sure whose idea this was in the first place but had we not been so late as to get just the leftovers it may not have been such a bad idea. On the other hand it was fast Sunday so the food tasted great anyway. Juan helped scrape together every last scrap and we all had plenty to eat so all in all everything was fine.
After dinner we fond ourselves on the beach in Haliawa watching the sunset and waiting to see some sea turtles.

We didn't have to worry about finding a sunset but as for the turtles there were none to be seen.

Just as the last rays of the sun were disapearing we had one sea-going visitor. The big turtle spent just a few minutes there letting us get some pictures and then he was back off into the ocean.

What a beautiful place, what a wonderful Sabbath day! God lives, he made this place, this Earth for us all!