Wednesday, May 23, 2007

back on oahu



















Sunday, May 6
-Church -Bellows -Surfing/Boogie Boarding -Dinner with Jodi's whole family

i got to go to sunday school with jodi, even though it meant waking up earlier. =) i met her sunday school teacher and found her to be as enthusiastic as jodi described her. i also got to meet quite a few of her college friends...including matt.

i loved going to her church, even though i felt pretty white there. i was definitely the only haole in the sunday school class. her pastor spoke such truth, especially with his hawaiian/southern accent! one of the coolest things i have ever heard.



















after church, we went to jodi's favorite beach: bellows. not only did i get to boogie board, but i attempted surfing! matt was a good teacher, but my lack of coordination seemed to hinder me from performing satisfactorily. =) after my many attempts i did manage to stand up though! even if it was for just a second...

















it was so fun to meet almost of all of jodi's family! how i would love to have all of my family so close. eating so much food and laughing with people who love jodi so much was completely wonderful. so was trying melona bars for the first time! a new favorite...along with guava juice.

Monday, May 7
-Ali & Jodi go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay
-Julianne & Jenny go shopping at Pearlridge, Waikele Shopping Center
-Iolani Palace -Traditional Chinese dinner with Jenny's family

i loved snorkeling. i'm so glad jodi preferred the water to shopping. i was able to be so close to whole schools of fish that i could have touched them if i had been able to stretch out my hand. time seemed to fly when i was in the water. jodi and i had our underwater camera, but had trouble knowing if we were even taking decent pictures with our masks on! the fish were so beautiful. some shimmered, while others had all the colors of the rainbow. i was glad that water prevented me from speaking as i was watching the graceful swimming of these creatures, because i don't think any words could express the pleasure i obtained in being a part of God's creation. even though we spent hours there, i think i could have been there even longer. and yes, i did see several humuhumunukunukuapua'as, and yes, i can say their name. =)

before we went to dinner with jenny's family, we stopped to play tourist a few more times. apparently our trip to hawaii would have been incomplete without pictures in front of the last queen of hawaii, king kamehameha, the only palace in the u.s. and the capitol.



dinner with jenny's family was fun. i discovered where jenny gets her need for cleanliness. i had trouble containing my laughter when jenny's mom reached across the table so as to wipe out each of our cups with napkins. jenny sheepishly explained that chinese restaurants are not always the most clean places. to show his good nature, jodi's dad proceeded to help her clean the plates on our side of the table. i don't think he was worried about the state of his plate, but wanted to prevent jenny's mom from hurting herself from reaching over the table!


i'm not sure i've ever seen so much food. i think there were 9 courses, including the rice. duck, crab, soup, tapioca...i felt like the food just kept coming! and her family kept encouraging us to eat, and eat more. i must say that i was very hungry, so i did not have too much trouble obeying their instructions! yummy.




























2 comments:

.justin said...

bellows is where i got baptized!

a special place, to be sure.


what church did Jodi go to?
was it a Hope Chapel?
Hope Chapel Olomana with Pastor Guy Kapeliala?

if so, what a GREAT church that is being missional and changing lives with jesus!

alicat said...

really? bellows really is special.

jodi goes to first baptist church of pearl city, but hope chapel sounds amazing too. is that where you went?