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Our Hawaii Adventure

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Sunday, July 20, 2003

July
20

Sunday morning was our last chance to have a Harbor Pub breakfast, so we decided to take it. As Lori, our waitress, had recommended biscuits and gravy, Ken ordered that. Stephanie had toast with ham and eggs. She liked the orange marmalade best of the jellies offered and Ken enjoyed the guava. Neither of us tried Lori's recommended Eggs Benedict.

After breakfast, we made our way back to Waikiki Baptist, the church that we had visited last week. Pastor Bill G. Duncan was back from his two week trip and we were able to learn a bit more about him. He has been in the ministry for fifty-four years, having served in churches as far away as Alaska before moving to Waikiki Baptist four years ago. Brother Duncan wasn't the only pastor in attendance yesterday. There were four or five other ministers visiting, one, Reverend Fred Aten, having served the First Baptist Church of Willow Springs Illinois for thirty-five years. We discovered he was a Clear Creek alum and that he knew Bill Whittaker.

As she did last week, Marilyn Miller, the Music Director began the service with a "Gospel Hula". She also included the "Queen's Prayer" among the choral selections. This prayer, written by one of Hawaii's monarchs while under house arrest before the former kingdom became an official territory, was one that was sung last week as well. For special music, Marilyn presented "When He Was on the Cross, We Were on His Mind", a song that, though not as country sounding as last week's "It Doesn't Matter Where You Came From, But It Counts Where You Are Going", still reminded Stephanie of a "gospel" type piece.

Stephanie got a chance to speak with Marilyn after the service. It turns out that, in addition to being Music Director, Marilyn is a teacher at the Reform School. She teaches all subjects for grades six through twelve. Marilyn works with Kim Avery, the wife of Youth Minister Brian Avery, in the music ministry of the church.

We were invited back to Waikiki Baptist for their evening service, but we had tickets to "The Don Ho Dinner Show". Stephanie's still not sure she really knows who Don Ho is, but she ended up having a good time anyway.

The Don Ho show that we saw wasn't exactly a family show. For one thing, Honolulu is located in a wet county and, but for the Polynesian Cultural Center, wine and beer is readily avaliable everywhere, the Show being no exception. For another, some of the jokes were of a political or sexual nature. Despite this, we ended up impressed. We also met some nice people. Cheryl and Bruce were a couple that we met from Pennsylvania. Bruce had retired from teaching sixth grade science after thirty-five years and Cheryl, who has been to Hawaii nine times, teaches fourth grade.

Don Ho first had all the children, then the teenagers come up on the stage. He had them line up with boys on one side and girls on the other. After they exchanged leis and gave each other a hug, Don gave each of them a tape of his "Party Songs". He then had all of the honeymooners stand up. There ended up being two newlywed couples. Stephanie and David, the pair from Arizona sat at our table. Stephanie's father is Hawaiian and she surprised David at their reception by doing a hula to "The Hawaiian Wedding Song". The other couple was from New York and Don had them come up on stage and duet to "New York, New York" before giving them a tape. Poor Nancy, the new bride, looked very nervous at this.

Don also honored our military men. He had all the vetrans stand up and announced that those in the armed forces would receive merchandise at half price. All the vetrans, policemen and firefighters also received a complimentary glass of champagne.

Don Ho explained that one of the Hawaiian kings had over twenty wives. Therefore, many of the Hawaiians are related to each other. They call each other "cousin", "Auntie" or "Uncle". Our shuttle driver on the way to the show also talked about this. He said that the island of Oahu is thirty miles by fifty and that you can't go anywhere without running into a relative. As a result of this, he said, one has to be careful as to how they behave because if one is acting suspiciously, grandmother will hear of it by dinnertime.

Don Ho displayed an affinity for young people. He talked lovingly about his children and showed a video of his daughter Hoku. She sang "Perfect Day", the opening song for the movie -Legally Blonde- and is an up and coming artist in her own right. We also met Hoku's sister. This young lady attends college in California, but was home on break. She and her father sang "I Will Remember", a song that Don informed us was one of Elvis' favorites. He also introduced us to his hula dancer, a girl that Don said had a British accent because she was schooled in New Zealand. Don and this dancer both had on outfits from a boutique run by another one of Don's daughters.

Perhaps the most impressive display we saw was the fourteen year old ukelele player. She performed "Johnny B. Goode" and the theme to The Mickey Mouse Club and her fingers were flying.

Don also taught us some songs to sing along to. "Tiny Bubbles" was done twice and this seemed to be the piece that everyone knew best. We also learned parts of "Pearly Shells", which Don informed us was his first record. He joked about how long ago that was, telling us that all of his "original fans [were] dead." He then turned to his long time band member Benny and asked how many of us remembered Benny. When no one raised their hand, Don joked that all of Benny's fans were dead too. And indeed, the photos lining the walls of Don and various entertainers did contain a fair number of celebrities who are no longer living.

The mood, however, was not a somber one. Stephanie came away feeling as if she had been to a private party with a very charming host. She especially enjoyed a glimpse into the laid back style of Hawaiian entertainers.

Well, we have two days left of this adventure. We've enjoyed everything very much and can't wait to see what our last few hours have in store.

Pictures from July 20, 2003