Aloha Community Church and Tropical Farms!!

I got a great night's sleep last night! A noisy bird woke me up several times, but I always went back to sleep. This morning we drove to Ewa Beach to go to Aloha Community Church. They meet at a golf club, and for some reason it reminded me of the church in Vail, where I served as a summer missionary a billion years ago. Very laid back and intimate. Aaron preached on Jonah, and how if we think about it, we really shouldn't want God to be fair. It was good.

From there we drove about an hour through the. most. amazing. scenery--Lush, green mountains--just spectacular--to Tropical Farms Macadamia Nut Farm Outlet. We were an hour early for the tour, so we had time to look through the gift shop, taste all the different macadamia nuts (YUM) and coffee, and something I've wanted to do since college: drank and ate green coconut! I have wanted to do that ever since I roomed with Angie Lechner at OBU and she told me about having them when she lived in St. Vincent. I liked the coconut water, but not enough to drink it all! And the meat part was...interesting. I didn't eat much of it, either. But I was literally talking to God the other day and told Him that if possible that was something I'd really like to do in Hawaii. He's so sweet to me!

We finally got on the bus for the tour, and we got the BEST driver. Really, we did! He was the main speaker when the busses stopped at "Coconut Village," where he started fire with sticks and danced with it, made a headband with coconut fronds and showed us all the things islanders do with coconut. When he broke one open he let me drink the water and when he started shaving it he called me up to catch the shavings and be the first to taste it...and it was delicious!!! I like ripe coconut much better than green.

He's rubbing a ti leaf on Jesse's head that is supposed to cure his headache!

 

Starting fire

Still starting a fire

Taking the husk off the coconut

Coconut frond shelter--all ready for Survivor!

 The tour also showed us all the different plants, flowers, trees, and fruits grown in Hawaii, and places where different movies and TV shows were filmed, like Fantasy Island, Gilligan's Island, Jurassic Park, Lost, etc. We even got to go out in a boat on what he called the oldest man-made fish pond. It was made 800 years ago!

The dock where the submarine was in Lost

After the tour we drove back to camp, but on the way we stopped at the beach to watch the waves for a while. Of course we got a little wet, too.

At the camp we ate a delicious supper with some examples of local food--chicken thighs, sticky rice, green beans, and rolls made from taro. They were PURPLE!

Our room

After supper we drove to the very end of the coastal road to play on the beach. Holy cow those waves are huge! And the undertow is strong!!! We ran out into the water...and then ran back the other way! We laughed so hard. Some of our students went pretty far out and got picked way up in the air and tossed over. It was crazy. But the water is so clear and beautiful, and the beach so clean and uncrowded. It made me happy. It was a really good day.