Kayaking to Coconut Bay

We were invited by our friends Bonnie and Lenard Huff to

kayak to Coconut Island. It used to be owned by a billionaire

from the Fleischmann Yeast Company family

years ago that entertained there and even had a small zoo.

Now it is a marine research sight.  It was used to film

the opening scene of Gilligan's Island. 

We went snorkeling in Coconut Bay after we arrived to the island.
 It was magical. Probably the most beautiful coral reef I
 have ever seen. Lots of fish too after we floated over the
shallow reef to the edge of the deeper ocean. The
Hawaiian name for Coconut Island is Moku o Lo'e. It was
about a 2 miles total of kayaking to the island and back
and our arms were sore when we arrived back to our car
at Ben Harper Beach. 

This is Bill's face after two weeks of a skin cream to
remove the top layer of facial skin and the pre-cancerous
lesions. He is supposed to have baby soft skin when
he finally heals.

Our friend, fellow missionary Jean Seiler,  painted this
cute cart at the Hukilau Marketplace. It is a photo
spot. This was taken at our last ticket taker
assignment at the PCC.

We had a going away/post APCC party with Randy and
Carrie Smith in our office. They came as volunteer
missionaries to help with our Asian Pacific Career
Conference, which was, by the way, a huge success.

The Smiths are now off to serve a humanitarian mission
in Zimbabwe.

In the mean time, the rain has finally subsided long enough to
allow Bill's duplexes to make some progress.

Campus Dental Day and Culture Night at BYU-Hawaii

This week we had a campus wide dental day to give
dental kits to all the students. Thanks to a donation
from LDS Academy of Dentists this will be a annual event.

Sister Galloway is showing this student how much sugar is in
common drinks. Students guessed how many sugar cubes were
in the jar to win prizes.

These students are trying to guess how many sugar cubes to win a
Sonicare toothbrush, bleach kit, or other items..

Demonstrating floss technique to Atu.

The Maori haka can be quite intimidating.

Ploy, a girl from our Ward, doing a Thai dance.

China had several dancing dragons.

Angel Wang from China has worked in our office.

Another Chinese dragon.

I didn't know that they wore grass skirts in the Philippines.

This is Ana one of our Ward Relief Society Presidents.
The Filipinos were very colorful.

The Korean dance was beautiful.

Here is Seoyon Kim (Lillia) that works in our office.

She is such a joy to be with.

Here is Samoa.

More of Samoa

Hiva from our office.

She is dancing with the Tongan group, but is from Hawaii.

Sister Uber and Checking Off Items on Our Bucket List

We were excited when one of our student workers, Prince,
received an acceptance to Penn. State's MPA program.
Prince was born in Ghana and was bullied as a young
man leading to a broken arm. He never received proper
treatment for it and so he eventually had to have it amputated.
He ended up in an orphanage run by a Mormon man and
joined the Church. He is such a hard-working, eager and
pleasant young man. He is a pleasure to be around.

This month our office had a huge event, The Asia Pacific Career
Conference. We brought in over 50 employers in addition to
Church Self-Reliant Managers from the Asia Pacific Area.
They learned how hard-working and capable our students are
and about the vision of the University and Polynesian Cultural Center.
They met, interviewed, and were impressed by many of our students.

Keni Kalama from our office arranged for their own personal
Hukilau so they could learn more about the Hawaiian culture.
The APCC was a huge success and hopefully will be an annual
event. One of my duties was to shuttle people to and from the
 airport. That is why they call me Sister Uber.

It was fun to see our nephew Mark Owens. He was here for a photo
shoot and also to lecture to the photography students.

We crossed one thing off our bucket list, visiting
the Bishop Museum. Our time to leave is fast
approaching. We have just a few weekends left
before we leave May 11th. 

We have only 2 more times to serve at the PCC. Here is Bill
with Elders Humphries and Crookston. They were snitching treats
from the luau where we were taking tickets.

Fun Reunion and BYUH Keiki Dental Day

This is Caroline Altom from our old U of Utah YSA Ward.
So fun to see her and catch up.

We held a Keiki (children's) Dental Day on campus. These student
volunteers helped us and the Married Stake RS President
hosted it.

Dr. Woody, a pedodontist, showed parents
and children how to brush.

Sister Galloway (on left) made this great poster. Sister Edgar, a nurse
that visits all newborn babies born to students, helped
teach parents how to take care of baby's teeth.

We helped nearly 30 children.

There are over 70 countries represented on
the BYU-H campus.

Thanks to a $1,500 donation that I received
from the LDS Academy of Dentists we
were able to give all the participants a brush, toothpaste
and floss.

The students from the BYU-H Health Professionals Club had
some cute games for the kids to do.

Coloring teeth was a big hit.

Also watching toothbrushing videos with Elmo were popular.

This boy loved brushing this egg until it
was pearly white after having been soaked
in Coke.

Healthy teeth snacks were provided by the Stake.

Here is the adult crew that made this event happen.
Thanks to Dr. Gary Wiest's recommendation to the
Board of LDS Academy of Dentists, this is going to
be an annual event. I feel very blessed to help
this happen. Thanks for the encouragement from
Sister Crookston third from the right. Also thanks
the Stake RS President Sister Ah Sue on the far right.

Had an inspiring meeting with Michael Ballam who spoke about
his experience with being in a temple film.  He spoke very
highly of Bill's sister Laura.

Our Saturday bike ride had to go through the tall bushes
thanks to all the rain we have had.

Where is a machete when we need it?

Visit With the Cannons

It was fun to see our friends George and Corinne Cannon.
George's great great grandfather was George Q. Cannon.
He is famous in Hawaii as he was one of the first missionaries
here and helped to translate the Book of Mormon in
Hawaiian. The Church called him to preach to the white
settlers but he felt strongly he should teach the Hawaiians.
The BYU-H activities center is named after him.

Bill helped at the PCC Saturday by setting up tables for
the 5,000 extra visitors for USO Day.

Picking up tables with the forklift helped save them time.

Then off to Turtle Bay for Bill to show me the
new trail he discovered with Tom Dunham.

It was muddy but very pretty.

There were some bridges and obstacle courses.
See below for one of them.