Old Home Day

Whenever she is in Hawaii, my mom goes to church in the ward she was in the entire time she was growing up. Despite having lived elsewhere for more than fifty years, the Auwaiolimu Ward is still home turf for her and there are still people there that she knows. In fact, my Auntie Lissa, my mom’s older sister, my uncle Allan, and one of their daughters and her family all live in that ward. When my grandfather passed away, my auntie inherited the land on Pacific Heights where they grew up and they recently built a beautiful new home up there with an upstairs/downstairs duplex plan, the downstairs home being where my cousin and her family live. It is a plan to provide them with the care they need as they age, and since they already owned the land, the $1.2 million price tag for the new home was doable. And the view is spectacular. Seriously. 

After attending sacrament meeting, we were invited to have lunch with my Auntie and Uncle. We were able to enjoy the afore mentioned views and chat with family. I heard some stories about my grandfather and my mom’s childhood that I haven’t heard before about how the money was raised for the Auwaiolimu church building. This was one of those situations where the members of the ward were responsible for raising the money for the building. Auntie Lissa told me that the members would hold carnivals and luau dinners to raise money for the church. My grandfather was highly involved in those fundraising efforts. He was the one responsible for collecting the money at the end of the event and since it was late at night, my mom and her two sisters would sleep in his car while he was doing so. He built a platform to cover the gap in the footwells of the back seat so they could lie down as in those days, car seats didn’t recline. 

I remember attending church in the Auwaiolimu Ward from my last visit to Hawaii, but that was almost thirty years ago, and some things have changed since then. The chapel is an open-air chapel with panels that can be opened instead of solid walls on the sides of the chapel. I remember all the panels being open to allow the breeze to help cool the building when I was there last, but since then air conditioning units have been installed to help keep the temperature in the building more comfortable. While the building has definitely been updated over the years, it still houses only the one ward, unlike the multiple ward buildings we have now. So, this is one of those much loved, historical buildings and it was neat to be able to attend meetings there again. And it was so fun to see hymnbooks in both English and Hawaiian!

After a spell back at the hotel for a Sunday afternoon nap, we enjoyed dinner with some other family members. My mom’s half-sister, my Auntie Pat, has two sons and a daughter. We met Stewart when we visited with her a few days ago. This evening, we were invited to dinner with Bryan, her other son, and his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. Auntie Pat’s daughter Brenda also joined us. I know it might be more concise to call all these folks cousins, but I’m trying to make sure I know where everyone fits in the family so bear with me. Anyway, it was a pleasant meal and we had a nice visit. It has been a long day for my mom though, and as she got fatigued, we cut our visit short and headed back to get some sleep. 

It has been nice to meet some of these relatives and put faces with some names. We don’t see these relatives of my mom’s often, so it has been good to spend some time sorting out her family tree in my mind. I know that visiting with family is the reason my mom longs for Hawaii so much. She is very close to her family due to being raised in a multi-generational Chinese home, and living far away for so many years has done nothing to dampen the relationships. So while Kevin and I have taken time to play tourist, my mom has been focused on spending time with loved ones.