BYU Hawaii-Cosmopolitan Landing...

All of the students with whom we will be working, go to BYU Hawaii.  They are on scholarship there on the iWork Program.  Any of you that have been to BYU Provo, know that is a VERY big place with some 30,000 students.  BYU Hawaii is a little different.  The school is pushing, I mean pushing, 3000 students.   

Do the math.  Not very big at all.  Nevertheless, they offer a fully accredited program to all that go there.  Of that 3000 student population, however, there are over 70 countries represented, many of them from the Pacific Rim.  It has a completely different feel than that of Provo.

Football team?  Nope, but they have everything else. Music, yep, but they even have a steel band called the Shaka Steel Band.  You can't find that on the Provo Campus!

Plus, I am sure there is not another Church campus that has more Hawaiian wear on it than that campus.

Consider for a moment that this is a big and confusing campus for many of the students that will attend there.  Coming off the islands, they are not really used to that kind of population and requirements to survive in a University setting.  In talking to one of the iWork Missionaries, they said the students have no problem working at the Polynesian Cultural Center, but attending all of their classes is another issue.  I don't know; it does not sound much different than any freshman student in a way!  I look forward to meeting them.

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck

Last year, my wife and I went to Hawaii for a wedding.  Jovita, our good friend, had a daughter getting married there.  Great time!

Well, we took a few more days and stayed in a condo right across the street from the Polynesian Cultural Center and BYU Hawaii, where we happen to be going for our Mission.  It is always fun to try new food while touring around!  We talked to a newly married couple in our cSoongregation that had just honeymooned in Hawaii and they recommended Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.  

They said it was to "die for" and don't miss it.  They have two trucks on the island and one of them is just up the Highway from Laie where we stayed.  Garlic, lemon shrimp which really is to "die for."  Unbelievable and I cannot wait to go there sometime once we get there.   One of the small perks for being in that area...

So, if you decide to come and see us, you probably will go with us to Giovanni's for some awesome shrimp!  Look them up on Google!

The Hawaiian Temple

Very close to BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center is the Hawaiian Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Opened in 1919, the temple is the first one built outside the Continental United States and is the first built in the Polynesia and Hawaiian areas.  It is only a half mile from the Ocean and is surrounded by beautiful flowers and cascading pools.  It is a rather small temple when you consider that it was only around 10,000 square feet in size when built.  It is now around 40,000 square feet in size.  Besides the sessions conducted in English, it also offers ASL (American Sign Language) sessions and ones in Tongan and Samoan.

While being built, the crew ran out of lumber and construction for the temple ceased.  Not knowing quite what to do, prayers were offered to find a solution.  Two days later, a freighter became caught on a coral reef just off the island.  The Captain of the ship offered the people of the island his entire cargo if they helped him unload it enabling him to get off the reef.  The cargo?  Lumber!  in fact, enough that they could complete the temple.

What is the Polynesian Cultural Center?

The Center was started in 1963 and is right next to the BYU Hawaii Campus.  It is comprised of 43 acres of land divided into eight different villages that represent the cultures and customs of Pacific Island peoples.  Represented are Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, Aotearoa (New Zealand),  and the Marquesas Islands.  Over 1,300 students work there from the college.  They call it a "Living Museum"which is very fitting.  It is one of the most visited sites for people coming to the Hawaiian Islands.  They even have a nightly Luau and Show that you can attend.  Last year they opened an area called the Hukilau Marketplace.  

Did I tempt you yet?

The Parade of Boats

Fire Dancing

Layout of the Living Museum