Polynesian Cultural Center

 Emily and Josh persuaded us to go on a hike in the rain behind our house.  It poured on us the whole time, making the path slippery, but the scenery beautiful.  It was so fun!  When we came down from the mountain, there was no rain.  So we voluntarily left a sunny beach and went up into a rain cloud to bumble around in the mud on the side of a mountain.  But we were glad we did.

 The Polynesian Cultural Center was just as amazing as everyone says.  The villages were incredible.  Samoa did the best job, I thought.  If you want to see their shows, look it up on Youtube.  The Samoans were funny.  And look at their physiques!  This guy scaled a coconut tree, no problem.

 The Maori dancing was amazing.  Some of the girls had the traditional tattooo'd lips.  Their dances were extremely expressive, with exaggerated facial expressions and loud chanting.  What a passionate people!

 The Tongans put on a rowdy show full of drumming and dance.

 They had audience members participate, and one was a famous Japanese game show host named Shingo Yanigasawa.  He was hilarious.

 Tahiti took the cake, with my dad doing a Tahitian dance.  He won the contest, too!  I was impressed with his improv skills!  We were all laughing so hard!  It's all in this short video, and you'll love it!  Here is another video with Bill winning the contest.

 In one of the shops at the PCC, we were looking through this book on Laie when Bill gasped.  There was a photo of his great grandfather, William King!  He is tiny in the photo, but he is standing on the porch of the sugar mill that he was called to oversee.  We bought the book immediately.  I can't wait to read it!  William King served a mission in Laie when he was a young man.  Then he was called to oversee the sugar mill.  My dad's grandfather was born in Hawaii during that mission.  Later, William King was called as a bishop to Laie, leaving behind his wife and 8 children in Utah.  The LDS church is strong in Oahu, especially around Laie, where BYU Hawaii, the temple and the PCC are.  It boggled my mind to see my own heritage transplanted here in the tropics, with a Polynesian flare all its own.  The temple doesn't have any type of dress code, as it would be difficult to accommodate all the island cultures under the same code.  Everyone is welcome, even if you're in a swimsuit.  I love that.  The Laie temple was the 5th temple built by the Mormons, dedicated in 1919.  I find it incredible that this magnificent building was erected when there was literally nothing else around it.  Now it's the second-most busy temple in the world in terms of referrals, after Salt Lake.

And to think that my very own ancestor was in the action when the church was putting down roots in Hawaii.  It makes me long to know more.

 The night show at the PCC was incredible.  Two solid hours of the most intense dancing.  Wow.  Blown away.  What a blessing for the world that the PCC preserves these cultures and makes their stories, their music and their dance, available to the world.  The show is put on my students at BYU-Hawaii, from all over Polynesia.  We were so impressed by the level of energy and the quality.  Those men can dance!  Oh, and play with fire.  Wowzers.  Have you ever seen a man in a skirt walk through fire?  Now that's manly.

 I told the kids I got a tattoo. but they didn't believe me.  Never before have I wanted one, but it Hawaii they make sense, and I wanted to get my kids' signatures tattoo'd around my ankle. :)

Dad with his Tahitian victory crown.  Could his great grandfather have imagined his progeny returning to the far-flung shores of his little island to see and try to imagine where their forefather walked and talked, taught and learned, and returned again and again?  Hey, I'm just thankful he was called to the South Pacific and not the Arctic Circle.