Miracles in Hawaii

Mike & I felt grateful to go to Hawaii a few months ago. It was a “Dream Come True” for both of us in some interesting ways. I was able to go to Hawaii 3 previous times:

1)  In 1981, I toured with the BYU Folkdancers as their Fiddler, after performances in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, & Hawaii. Experiences from that amazing experience may be forthcoming, because of a seeming disaster that took place right before I was to play on National Television. 

2) My sisters and I, our brother Ben & his wife, Heather, went to the Philippines to pick up my parents after they served a mission there from 1995-1997. That was an blessing from heaven at the time, and a sacrifice, just previous to a great upheaval in my life. Of course, I didn't know that this upheaval would set me on a course to bring me to greater desires of my heart. One of those was my marriage to Mike, who had been a dear friend of my close sister and her husband for over 15 years. In fact, my Thai restaurant was just a few blocks below where they lived for 5 years, and I now get to live 5 houses away from that dear sister and her family now.

3) My mother turned 88 this past October. 16. In Oct. 2007 for her birthday, she wanted to take all of her 11 living children & spouses on a Cruise to the Hawaiian Islands. Our oldest sister had passed away a couple of years earlier. A sister-in-law had special travel-agent privileges, so we all went, in spite of a huge incident that one of my sons had just experienced, which almost killed the trip for me.I went in faith, because there was nothing I could do to help if I had stayed home. I got to room with my mother, and I will always treasure memories of her praying out loud when she thought I was asleep. I know she has the Lord's ear!

Back to Hawaii 2016: This trip represented a Leap-of-Faith type adventure, through several adversities & lots of unknowns. We both knew that many miracles manifest themselves because we just went ahead on some fumes of faith, just as happened with our trip to Ireland and Israel several years ago. This pattern has given us more courage to just bull forward when we both have a witness that we are to do something important, (but doesn’t seem so important at the time). What ensued were a lot of little miracles, that became huge to us!

I have always loved the Spirit of the Polynesian People, as well as all indigenous peoples. My great-grandparents were some of the first LDS Missionaries in Samoa in 1898, just a month or so after being married. It was a huge ordeal to travel half-way around the world on a train to San Francisco, then to the Hawaiian Islands, and to Samoa, among other stops. Our family had a Family Reunion up in Afton, Wyoming last summer where these Great-Grandparents had lived and left from to go to Samoa. My, were they hardy folk. Perhaps I will tell some tales of their escapades with Butch Cassidy, and some other bank robbers in later blogs.

We didn't get to visit all the major islands this last trip, as I had with some of my best friends in the whole world: brothers and sisters in all ways. We stayed in Oahu. It just so happened that my brother and his wife just happened to fly in the very same day, without even knowing until just days before. More miracles followed with our time together, and it was a blessing in so many ways.

Every trip though whets the appetite for more….more of the Aloha Spirit! I have studied and read many books and sacred teachings about ancient Hawaiian spirituality and history. I love the word "Aloha" and how "Ha" represents "the breath of life." But as in many things, I knew there was much more!

When we went to Hawaii, I hadn’t yet read a book by what turned out to be, the husband of a friend of mine! He spent a good deal of time there on a Mormon (LDS) Mission, and is a more insightful introduction to things that my heart had learned over the years about Hawaii and what “Aloha” and the Breath of Life means. The book is called “The Way of Aloha: Lana’i.” See it here: https://smile.amazon.com/Way-Aloha-Lanai-Cameron-Taylor-ebook/dp/B0182N223E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495644312&sr=8-1&keywords=the+way+of+aloha

I will share more about some of my own miracles experienced in Hawaii in my next blog or two. We just recently moved some of our business and operations to another state, and it was so interesting that we met up with the author Cameron Taylor and his wife, because we didn’t even know they had moved to the same area a few years ago! I raised my boys literally 3 houses away from them, and it was a heart-felt reunion of friendship…and so much more. We were gifted "The Way of Aloha: Lana’i ," and the gift is so much more than the book! I wondered why just the Island of Lana’i was named in Cameron’s first book title. That was the beginning of his real learning the ancient ways and spiritual truths that will help restore many sacred things in our future. His teacher there was a kindly, wise “Kahuna” (Hawaiian Elder and carrier of the ancient stories and sacred ways of Zion, unity with our Creator, Nature, and respect for all life).

The good news, is that Cameron is working on other books, one for each island! Once you have read his first book, the others will probably beckon you the same way most people have felt beckoned by the Hawaiian Islands. Why else would it be the #1 destination to visit or vacation in all of the United States, year after year? There is a “deep magic” there, as C.S. Lewis called those soul-inspiring truths that keep calling after our spirits and hearts over and over again. Does your curiosity call to you to explore those things like they do to me? What I like about my journey in life, is that every country and culture has treasures to be cherished and discovered. Each strand, each thread of beauty will one day be woven into the beautiful tapestry this Earth School was designed to be. If there is a design, there is a Designer. I know it. I marvel at the never-ending “MORE” available, the ever-expanding adventure we all call “Life.”