Well, we picked a good day for a couple of mostly indoor activities. The sky was quite overcast and there were frequent showers. It even rained in Kihei, a town that gets a total of about 10 inches of rain a year.
We left our condo early in the morning and headed across the island to Kahului (the largest town and where the airport is). I had learned earlier that there was a church there that has 8:00 am worship services and, on the last Sunday of the month (today), has a service in Hawaiian. I wanted Hilary to have a chance to see worship in a very different culture and in a different language.
We found the church, Kahului Union Church, without any trouble and, as we headed toward the main doors, I could see the greeters spotting us. I don't think I've ever had such a warm welcome at a church before. They had handmade ribbon leis for us. They gave us each a bookmark made by a 92-year-old member of their church.
We walked to the front of the sanctuary; Hilary wanted to be close enough to see everything. The service began with two young people blowing conch shells from the back and then from the front. Shofars! I know this part!
There were a number of prayers in Hawaiian and the hymnbook was all in Hawaiian. I would like to have had time to read through the hymnbook. Many pages had interesting bits of information regarding Hawaiian life and faith. I was particularly interested in one quote that indicated that, when the first missionaries arrived here, the Hawaiians didn't know how to sing. This I simply can't fathom. How could a people not figure out singing?! Apparently, they chanted, I guess, in a rather monotone fashion. Anyway, the missionaries were the ones to teach the Hawaiians how to make music. I've always felt that traditional Hawaiian music has a sound rather like hymns and early gospel music. Maybe this is why!
Part of the worship service included a gospel hula dance by about five young teen girls. They were clearly learning hula, but it was touching to watch. Later the girls were joined by about 20 women and they signed a song together. There were no hula skirts in sight ... this was a very sedate and worshipful performance.
The message was in English. I'm sure Hilary was relieved at that. The service ended with more conch shell blowing and a bit of oneg outside. All in all, we had a great morning there.
Our afternoon was reserved for our cooking class. Chef Tracy arrived and set up shop in our kitchen. She taught us how to make Parmesan Chicken and Homemade Pasta. As Hilary said, "Homemade Homemade Pasta." That is, from scratch. It was fun to watch Hilary pay such close attention to every detail and grow in confidence as she and Tracy worked on each part of the dish (I mostly watched). And, when it was all finished, Hilary and I ate a DELICIOUS dinner!
We had a great day!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment