Russ & Gaye Bateman

Aloha from Waikiki,

We left St. George early in the morning of the 25^th and drove to Provo. Our oldest son Russ (Jr )and his wife, Julene took us to The "Bombay Restaurant" in Provo for an excellent Dinner. This was followed by seeing the movie "Singles Ward". We stayed that night at our Provo Suite (our Conversion Van which has a full sized Bed, porta-a-potti, TV, Etc). Parked at our Sons home.

The next morning we moved to our Orem Suite (Van Parked at our younger son Randy’s home). Our Daughter-in-law Cheryl Jean, then drove us to the Salt Lake City Air Port. It was a choice time to be able to spend a full hour with her when she was not distracted by one of her six kids and other pressures of a Church active Mother of Six.

We were met there by my cousin Rulon and his wife Margaret Johnson from Mendon, Utah. It took only 15 minutes to get through Security. They had scores of trainees and instructors. Gaye had a little problem with her new knee. They were concerned that she may have had some metal hidden there, of course she really did. They don’t really even look at the card that the Doctor had so nicely given her to show that she had it. Their comment was that even that could be stolen and changed.

We stopped over in San Francisco. When Russ was coming back into the Air Terminal, they caught him with a shifty eye or some thing and he got the full security check including sitting down with legs out and even checking the bottoms of his feet,

We left San Francisco flying in a Boeing 767-400 and got seats 22C & 22E. Other than a beautiful Sunset, the remaining fight to Hawaii was mostly uneventful.

Russ had landed at the Honolulu Air Port in a Boeing 747 back in 1973 when he took some Civil Air Patrol Cadets to Japan for a month on a Cadet Exchange program. However, it was just a "ho hum experience" as landing at any other airport. We had seen movies of tourist coming to Hawaii. People meeting them placing Leis around their necks, etc. We thought, we are real tourist now and wouldn’t it be a nice experience, but, that only happens in movies.

When we came out of the security area at the Honolulu Air Port, there were a group of people to meet us. Two beautiful gals placed Leis around out necks and gave us a big hug & kiss, also there were others such as a baggage handler with a baggage cart for our luggage. Transportation driver, etc. They took us to the baggage unloading area and got our bags and then out to our transportation. We couldn’t believe our eyes. It was a long black Limousine. After they loaded our luggage and we were riding through the streets of Honolulu in that big black Limousine our thoughts were, If our kids could only see us now! They would have thought that we really made the ultimate in life.

However the reality of life came back when the limousine driver helped us with our luggage to our room 1411 in the Waikiki-Banyon Tower II. We were only on the 14^th floor and not in a penthouse on the 38^th floor. So there is still a long ways to go.

Waikiki is located just next to Honolulu on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Our reception was arranged for by Margaret’s sister Laray, who lived here for about 25 years, and her daughter Janet, who lives in Mililani Town, Oahu, Hawaii.

27 October -Sunday

Sunday morning we took the bus to the Maikiki Ward which uses the Old "Honolulu Tabernacle" This is were the early Missionaries came in 1840. Which included Hiram Clark, President. Hiram H. Blackwell, Henry W. Bigler (Russ’s Great Grandmother Hess’ brother) , George Q. Cannon (Brother to David H. & Angus M. Cannon, Gaye’s great grandfathers), William Farrer, James Hawkins, John Dixon, James Kesler, Thomas Morris, Thomas Whittle.

It was the Primary Childrens’ program. The Caucasian people were in the minority with the Native Hawaiians in the majority. It was the first time that we had seen someone in a "Skirt" passing sacrament. But it is not uncommon native dress here. The program put on by the native Hawaiian children with only several white children. Most of the officiating Ward Positions were filled with Native Hawaiian people. It was a very enriching experience. After the closing prayer, they sang the Native Hawaiian Aloha song to a family that was moving from the ward. This also meant that they had to release this family from many jobs and replace them by other people. They were so very active. They will be missed.

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Native Hawaiian Aloha song:

Ha’aheo e ka u-a I na pa –li

Ke ni-hi a-e la I ka-na-hel–le

E u-hai a-na pa-ha I ka li–ko

Pu-a ‘a-hI-hi le-hu-a o u –ka

A -lo-ha ‘o-e, a-lo-ha ‘o-e

E ke o -na- o-na no-ho I ka li–po

One fond em-brace, a ho -‘I a’e a’u

Until we , meet again

FAREWELL TO THEE (translation)

Proudly sweeps the rain cloud-by the cliffs

As onward it glides thru the trees

It seems to be following the liko,

The ‘ahihilehua of the vale

Farewell to thee, farewell to thee

Thou charming one who dwells among the borwers

One fond embrace before I now depart

Until we meet again.

This is printed in the back of all the Hymn books here.

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After a real Oriental dinner, we walked about the area and returned to Waikiki- Banyon

28 October -Monday

We walked several blocks to the Waikiki Shopping Market and spent the morning and early afternoon walking through the many shops. We ate a Hawaiian dinner in the food mart choosing Hawaii type meal. In the afternoon, we tried to walk off the delicious dinner, walking the Waikiki Beach. We returned to Waikiki-Banyon and had a very light supper. Spending the evening at the swimming pool and Hot tub.

Waikiki-Banyon is a large complex including two 38 floor towers (called tower I and II). On the 6^th floor is the highest floor what covers and space between the two towers and is the recreation center that includes a large swimming pool, two hot tubs, tennis court, a dozen charcoal units and a lot of space for group get-together. The recreation area is open air and you can view the Ocean. Some of Tower I and tower II are long term rental units (starting at $1500/month) All rooms are privately owned. Some are time shares like our room, but in some cases, a private person will purchase all rooms on two floors and rent them out. An example of this is a person that made a lot of money and reinvested it in two floors - about 28 rooms. He and his wife lives in one of the condominiums and rents out the others. This means that he and his wife has to struggle along with some where between $27,000 and $42,000 a month. He would have to pay the maintenance and facilities fee out of that.

The lobby areas is being remodeled and will be very nice when finished.

Our Condominium is one of 17 owned by ORE (A Salt Lake Based Owner Resort) It is managed by Wayne & Mickey Whiting, who have a home in St. George. They were originally from Ogden, Utah. From our 14^th floor, we can look over Honolulu, Diamond Head, and out in the Ocean. We are just over a block from the Ocean. Each unit has a Lanie that you can sit on and look out over the city.

29 October - Tuesday

We picked up our car ( 2002 Chrysler) just after 7 AM and drove North to the "Punch Bowl." We visited the "National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific" This is a Cemetery for the Service men of our country. We walked up to a location where there was a large gun emplacement in WWII and we had a nice view of the surrounding area, including Honolulu and the Ocean. This cemetery is now full and they have opened a new one. We then drove up to the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery and located the grave of Col Gerald H. Clements, Husband of Margaret’s sister, and the one who greeted us with a Limousine and Lai.

After spending some time looking through this cemetery, we drove north along the sea shore stopping at some of the many fruit, nut stands and Orchards. We spent quite a bit of time at the "Tropical Farms" which is Oahu’s only Macadamia Farm Outlet, It was a beautiful area with its tropical setting that you see in the pictures. It has a large sign above the door "We are One Nation under God, in Whom We Trust" They have a large display of Macadamia nuts, and Kona Coffee in their retail store.

We continued along the Shore Line watching large waves come in. There is a large storm near the islands and created these large Waves. We drove by the temple but didn’t stop as we will spend a day here, We continued along the shore line to "Sunset Beach" where we stopped and watched and played in the waves. Due to the high waves, there was no surfing and swimming permitted. The beaches were empty of sun bathers and normal activities. We were playing on the beach taking pictures. Margaret & Rulon got wet up to the knees when they got caught by a wave.

We ate a late lunch at a famous Giovonies Shrimp Stand and drove on down to

Margaret’s Niece Janet ’s home in Mililani. Here we were treated to a large family get- to-gather and feast. There were about 20 family members there. We spent the rest of the day feasting, visiting and watching movies of family members including a recent marriage.

This was a day for shopping and looking around Waikiki. They told us at Church last Sunday, Waikiki is only for the tourists. Local people never go there. But it is known world wide for its beautiful beaches and shopping centers. Everything is so busy that you have a sense of flea market all over. There is a lot of haggling over price and you can get many down on the price, and some you can’t. However, if you want something in a size or color that they don’t have, they will run out to the one that you couldn’t haggle down and get that one. It is really funny to see them running from one store to another to get your item. We have decided that there are a lot of them related.

The huge hotels are all very beautiful. There are so many statues around the town.

In the early mornings, Russ watches the sunrise come up. Needless to say, he is up early here just like in St. George. This Island is known for the beautiful Sunrises and Sunsets. The Japanese thought that the beautiful Sunrise was an Omen on December 7^th 1941.

In the morning was a visit to Honolulu’s China Town. We spent time going through the stores and walking around the streets. We bought a few things. We were told that you only go to China Town in the early morning and early afternoon. Never in the evening and especially after dark.

Hickam Air Force Base, just next to the Pear Harbor Naval Base played another important roll in the Attack on December 7^th. We spent time at Hickam looking around the base and shopping in the Commissary. Food is really expensive in Hawaii, but very reasonable at the commissary.

Halloween is a big time in Waikiki. To some, it is the biggest event of the year. We had been told to bring a costume, but we felt that ours were built in. We had always heard of "Mardi Gras" well I think that this compares to that. Two blocks from our Condo is where the parade is every year and it goes for blocks. Elbow to elbow. Those folk not in costume line up along the way to see the costumes. We were told that there would be some X-rated, but we didn’t see or hear but very little vulgarity. There were all kinds of costumes, old people to the very young. There was singing, Chanting, dancing and all manor of noises. We took in a very nice Stage Show of very high caliber Hawaiian entertainment. Then we struggled through several blocks of Halloweeners. The Waikiki Stores were open late and giving candy to every one. It was certainly all that we had been told and more.

We drove up towards the Temple early in the morning going through the tunnels on the mountain. We wanted to take in an early session at the temple before going to the Polynesian Center. However, due to a major accident (three (3) car pile-up including a head-on collusion, 1 lady killed & 7 badly injured), we had to return to Honolulu and drive up the western side of the island. So, we took the H3 highway through the Wilson Tunnel. It is longer than the other 3 tunnels we have gone through. We were able to attend the eleven o clock session and then rush over to the Polynesian Center.

Here is an interesting story about the Laie Temple:

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In 1865, representatives from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased a 6,000-acre plantation on Laie, Hawaii, as a possible future "place of gathering" for the Church. The Laie Temple was started after, and finished before, the Cardston Alberta Temple, and is a smaller version of the Canadian temple in terms of design. The Laie Temple seems larger than it really is because it is situated in the middle of a large plot of lush, beautifully landscaped ground. At one point during the building of the temple, contractors ran out of wood—a scarce commodity on the islands. They prayed for assistance. Soon a ship was seen just off the shore—an unusual place for a ship to be. The captain indicated he had run aground and needed to get rid of some of his cargo in order to set sail again. His cargo? Lumber. Young LDS men swam to the ship, threw the lumber into the sea and tugged it to shore. It was enough to complete the temple

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The Polynesian Cultural Center is owned by the LDS church and was established to help students earn money for their education. It is now the most popular attraction in the State of Hawaii. The Cultural Center, which features seven Pacific Island villages, an evening show with a cast of over 100, a canoe pageant, an award-winning la’ua, an arts and handicrafts market place and a IMAX theater, is designed to celebrate, the people and culture of the Polynesian islands.

It is one of the most successful cultural theme attractions in the world,. It blends education with entertainment and we get a taste of music, dance, food, clothing, theater, arts and crafts.

We found students from all over the World. We talked to some from Australia, China, Japan, Phillippines, Samoa, Tonga, Spain and Idaho, Logan, & Orem. They told us that they earn enough to support themselves through four years of college. A boy from Spain said that he was majoring in Engineering and minoring in Canoe pushing. He operates one of the canoes that take you around through the villages for a visual before going to each.

The center is well known and they receive awards from many cultures for their efforts to keep the cultures of many islands in the fore. It is expensive with tickets running as high as $100. per person. We sat though a sales pitch for a time share and got our tickets for $130 for the four of us.

The Lu’au dinner was very good. It presented the old time customs of roasting the pig and other food that was in the athletic custom. There was all you could eat and very good and very well provided.

The "Swap meet" at the Aloha Bowl" started early in the morning but overriding made it so that we had to be out prior to 2 PM when they closed to get ready for the Football Game. The Swap meet covers a large area and we were only able to see a small part of it. We purchased a few items such as Hawaiian shirts, etc.

In the Saturday late afternoon we went down to take pictures of the sunset on the Waikiki Beach and Russ got some really fine shots and after we went to the large "Sunset on the Beach" party on the Waikiki Beach celebrating the reopening of Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. It was spread out to other locations. One of them had a 30 ft screen . Russ and Gaye lucked out and got a front row and was close to the performers. The one side of the roped off stage was full, but there weren’t any people along by the other side. A couple went up and stood by that side so we went over and ask if it was ok for just anyone to stand there. The man said well, we are just anybody and we are here. Later we learned that he is one of the managers of one of the Aston Hotels. He had his mother with him. He said that he was born here, but that he had spent about 2 years managing a lodge at Grand Canyon North Rim. He said it was exciting for about 2 months, then it got cold, and then he got a bit bored. He went home to Hawaii. Needless to say, his heart is in Hawaii.

One of the dignitaries they introduced (mayor, Senator, etc) the man that held the world record for surfing 17 miles all at one time. What a wave he caught. Can we ever imagine how large this wave might be? Watching surfers on the beach where they would catch a wave and go on a wave for 5 minutes seems large, but 17 miles, WOW.

They presented live entertainment of the early history of that spot where the Hotel now sets. They re-enacted the coming to the Islands of the queen by the party in native dress and canoes arriving from the Ocean and meeting with the King and followed by several native performances of dances.

This spot on the Island was where the Kings & Queens all lived. They at one time cut a channel up around that they could use, then they filled it back in and put horse racing in its space. (Can you imagine digging a large channel by hand, and then filling it back in by hand?)

The remaining hours were spent at the Swimming pool and hot tubs.

3 November - Sunday.

Due to the very limited parking space of Autos, we took the bus to church. It was Fast Sunday, and there were many beautiful testimonies. This is a really great ward. The Tabernacle is such a historic place and so beautiful. The people do a great job in almost filling the large chapel. This ward covers the West half of Waikiki.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed a restful afternoon of reading and resting.

We went to Visit the USS Arizona Battleship memorial. It is a joint effort between the National Parks Service and the Navy. There is no cost for visiting the facilities. It starts out with a visit to the Remembrance Exhibit and is followed by a Movie. After the movie, you board Navy Boats for the trip out to the Sunken USS Arizona and Memorial. You can see spots of oil still seeping out of the Arizona constantly.

This Memorial has such a reverential feeling. While we were there they raised a flag up the pole and left it there for a few minutes then brought it down. Anyone can order and have a flag run up to fly over the Memorial so that they can then have it fly over their home. We met a couple that told us how it works, that anyone can go on the internet and get one of the flags that has flown over the memorial, and that all the flags that have flown over their home and those of their family have also flown over the Memorial.

Across the parking lot from the Arizona Memorial is the Bowfin Submarine and Museum. The submarine is a WWI typical submarine and was successful in its effort in sinking many ships.

This evening we took our usual exercise. We walked the Streets of Waikiki. Stores and shops remain open until nine and ten. When we walked the streets in the past, we thought that it was because of a special event like Halloween or a hotel opening. But it seems that there are always a lot of people on the streets of the shopping area of Waikiki. There are many artists drawing and painting their pictures or in some are doing pictures or caricatures of people. There are those playing their own musical instruments, and selling their tapes and cd’s. Mime’s trying to get you to have a picture taken with them. Some are playing music in a group and offering their CD’s for sale. There are all kinds of shops, many carrying the same type of things with the prices of the same identical item varying several hundred percent. Tonight we listened to a couple that are using the Steel Drums for Hawaiian and Classical music instead of Caribbean music. They do a great job. It was really beautiful.

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