Work and Play

The tables were set for the opening luncheon on Tuesday for the women's sessions. Marilyn was involved with folding the napkins and preparing the beautiful plumeria flowers.On Saturday we drove about 15 minutes to Makena Beach where we snorkeled.
These were some of the those who snorkeled. What a beautiful day in the sun. And we did see some colourful fish.

Polo Beach. This was up the coast just a few minutes' drive. The snorkeling experience was improved here for Marilyn. She was using improved equipment.

That's it for this week. We've had an extremely busy week with all the regular work plus more than 100 participant arrivals and on-call shifts that proved to be quite busy. New week, new opportunities to develop sore muscles, meet interesting new people and expand our views on many topics that come up in conversations with this international crowd.

See you next week, or whenever this is something to post.

A Day at the Beach

Some of you have asked for beach pictures. On Wednesday afternoon we travelled up the coast past Lahaina and hung out at Fleming Beach for the afternoon. This is it. The waves were powerful and the current was strong. We didn't spend alot of time in the water, but the walk along the beach was great.

Lou's Birthday Week!

It was a fun weekend of celebrating Lou's birthday. On Saturday we travelled with friends to Napili Beach. Our Maui guide book describes Napili in the following way:" it generates more fun per square foot than any other beach in the area." We walked along it before moving on.

We travelled in a northerly direction to the Dragon's Teeth--(the picture of Lou and Marilyn). This is a unique lava formation. Salt spray on the upwind side has etched the lava into thrusting shapes.

The Nakalele blowhole is the final picture. Here the ocean has undercut the shoreline, pounding underneath the lava shelf, where it spits through a man-sized hole in the lava. The blowhole varies tremendously with the tide and size of the surf. (quotes from Maui Revealed)

Of course we have found many ways in which to celebrate Lou and life with him. Yesterday we spent time at the beach, relaxing. At dinner time one of the participants pulled out his guitar, accompanied a chorus of volunteers and in the happy birthday song. In the evening some friends and we walked by the light of the moon at Wailea. The day was complete by enjoying mud pie and coffee.

Travel Highlights--part two

Friday evening Lyle and Lorna McClelland and Ben and Dorothy Bergen and we rented a minivan. We drove to Lahaina--the sunset picture in top left hand corner.

Saturday morning we drove the fifty mile trip (three hours) to Hana. It is an amazing trip. Very beautiful. The road is narrow and has many hairpin turns. Views are breathtaking. The second picture is the Kenae peninsula.

We all loved an amazing hike that began five miles after Hana. It is always a great adventure to begin a hike. Anticipation of what one might encounter or discover is what makes it so interesting. The fragrance of guava provided wonderful ambiance.

After hiking for one mile we entered the bamboo forest. What fun! When the wind was blowing it was like listening to percussion instruments in an orchestra beating out some new song. There was a well built wood walkway through much of the bamboo part of the forest. At the end of the trail was a beautiful waterfall. (top right) Mikahiku falls.

Happy trails!

Travel Highlights--part one

This week besides our usual duties at Haggai we have had the privilege to explore more of our environment here in Maui. Included in our blog are some pictures of those adventures.

upper left picture are fellow volunteers who joined us on our journey to Waihe'e Valley Trail.

The middle picture is of the first of two swinging bridges we crossed.

The flower is white ginger. Its fragrance permeated the air and made our walk oh so pleasant.

when you've been to Africa, you can't get the dust off

Marilyn at her coffee work stationfriends on a field trip in Paia
do you see the gecko?

Lou's area of responsibilities next 9 weeks.

pool and east wing of Haggai

The title of this blog entry was a quote from one of the participants who comes from an African nation. It seemed to us that he was saying that Africa was an amazing continent from which to come and visit, and that you could not easily forget that visit. One of the categorical highlights for us being here is continually meeting leaders from emerging nations. We meet at dinner times or at the pool, in the lobby, in the fitness room. This evening we had dinner with Raj from India who explained to us the challenges of being a parent of a four year old daughter. A discussion on parenting ensued for half an hour.

Exercise is a major part of our day. Our propensity to walk stairs instead of riding the elevator has been reinforced by the administration at Haggai. Hydro bills have been astronomical, therefore it is a cost saving incentive for them. For us it saves time that we need not be working on the stair master in the gym and it helps us to keep our youthful figures. Of course, our daily work duties keep us moving. When our day is done we usually go for a further walk or a swim.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, and several visitors to our blog asked to see more pictures, we are including some of the encounters of the last week and pictures of the pool area. Lou will be in charge of pool duties beginning tomorrow and he is obviously looking forward to that work. Should his perspective change, we'll let you know.

The participants in the current training sessions number about 110 and come from 29 countries. The largest contingents are from India, Brazil and Philippines. Its difficult to estimate the %age of our guests who are engaged in business, industry or one of the professions, compared to those who are in full time vocational christian service. We just know that in discussions with the men, frequently we hear of professional, business, etc, quite often. People also come from govt roles, NGO's and parachurch organizations. It is most fascinating learning many things daily.

Most of you who read this blog also are faced with filling your vehicles with gasoline and just in case you wanted to know, the price for unleaded regular here in Kihei is $4.57 at the lowest.

It may be a Labour Day holiday for many of you but it definitely is not Volunteer Day, so we will be working as normal. We will, however, be earning triple time. . .3 times nothing is still zero. Who's complaining when the forecast for the next 4 days is 90, 90, 89, and 88 degrees. Smile.