Brothers and Sisters, Aloha

We are on vacation in Lai?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢e, Hawai?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢i, this week, and attended church in the Laie 7th Ward. I thought I would share a few things that I thought were interesting.

The meeting with not only prelude music, but a prelude hymn, in which the congregation joined in. We sang ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSpirit of God?¢‚Ǩ¬ù. I have to admit that I thought it was odd, and at first thought it was the opening. After we were done, however, and sang the opening hymn shortly thereafter, I thought how cool it was to sing a prelude hymn. It set the tone for the rest of the meeting.

The bishop started out the meeting with ?¢‚Ǩ?ìBrother and Sisters, Aloha?¢‚Ǩ¬ù. It was Fast and Testimony Meeting today, and before each testimony there was a ?¢‚Ǩ?ìBrother and Sisters, Aloha?¢‚Ǩ¬ù. In fact, they did it at the start of priesthood opening exercises and elders quorum.

A young father blessed his first child, a daughter, today. Part of the blessing paralleled structurally with initiatory ordinance. I thought that was pretty cool.

Another interesting part of the testimony meeting was that there was a constant stream of people bearing the testimony.

There was as simple faith among those I heard speaking. I found myself drawn to that.

There are quite a few mixed families here. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s kind of weird to hear someone say an anglicized name when introducing another person only to find the second person looks polynesian.

All in all, it was a neat experience, and I wish we could stay for more.

8 thoughts on “Brothers and Sisters, Aloha

  1. I concur wholeheartedly. I am going to find it hard to not say Aloha in church on Sunday when someone says hello hehehehe

  2. We just bought our tickets for a vacation to another island paradise – Iceland. Almost the same as Hawaii, except for the great weather, sandy beaches, and amenities. But can you get good putrified shark in Laie? I think not.

  3. They have the world famous Phallic museum, the first openly gay prime minister, and a totally wrecked economy. You can eat puffin, pickled sheep testicles, and the above mentioned shark.

    The question is – who wouldn’t??

    Oh, my in-laws are serving a mission there – but that is just a coincidence :-)

  4. I want to go back to Ireland. But Hawaii was SO much fun! I loved the PCC the most too!

  5. I’m just impressed that you’ve managed to afford a Hawai’ian vacation. Congratulations, and I hope it’s a thoroughly wonderful experience. I hope to see the Polynesian Cultural Center someday.

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