Hawaiian Hospitality

Hawaiian Hospitality

It's hard to believe that I've been here a week. My traveling nightmare seems like forever ago. I think that one day of traveling was longer than this whole week in Hawaii.

I've already learned a lot. I've learned that I don't like riding in the back of a pick up truck, I've learned that Spam can be used in more ways than you can imagine, I've learned that sunburns itch, I've learned that seven girls can live in one room and not kill each other (so far), and I've learned that the Hawaiian people are some of the most hospitable people in the world.

We've spent time with six pastors so far. We've visited churches, helped with Bible clubs, and attended training sessions win local pastors. We've gone to them, and they've come to us, and we've eaten a lot. Here's a breakdown of the food we've eaten.

Wednesday night: Pastor Rocky took us to a local Chinese restaurant. We parked in a back alley, and we were the only ones in the restaurant. The place was decorated in a combination Chinese/Christmas style. An adorable friend of the pastor cooked for us. We thought she had made us fried rice, which she had, so we politely gorged ourselves. The fried rice was good, although we're still not sure what was in it, but it wasn't alone. Fried rice was followed by beef and broccoli, chop suey, some tomato dish with a still unidentified meat, and battered shrimp. We thought we'd eaten a ton, but apparently not enough for the old lady, who sent us home with ten boxes of food.

Thursday: Pastor Estrella and his family had us over to play games, talk about camp, and of course, eat. Mrs. Estrella can sure cook, and once again, sent us back with leftovers. 

Over the weekend more pastors brought us dinner, several people took us out for ice cream, and Sunday night we had homemade pizza. You guessed it, there were leftovers.

Monday night we went out for Filipino food. Very local, and yummy. Lots of pork and more pork and a little more pork. And rice and pork.

So food is literally piling up. We've filled  refrigerators and the food keeps coming. Then, one refrigerator broke.

I'm sorry, sweet Chinese lady. Your food was great, but we just couldn't eat it all. 

You may have noticed that  I have 1) fallen behind and 2) skipped Tuesday. I don't really have an excuse for the first, but as for the second, Tuesday was one of those days that deserves a blog post all of it's own.