Laie Hawaii Temple - Miracle

Standing on the front steps of the Laie Hawaii Temple, my eyes followed beautiful landscaping, all the way to the ocean.  I was reminded that the Lord, after his resurrection, visited the America's, and declared that he had other sheep to visit.  It is a reminder to me, that Christ's love is for all.  It reaches across the seas and oceans, to those who live on these and other islands.

Throughout the temple are beautiful paintings.  I wish I could now remember and describe some of them. My mind has been filled with so many beautiful images in recent days, I am relying on some of the pictures I took to remember it all.  I also loved the stairways that reminded me of levels to a waterfall.  We enjoyed attending a session with my sister and her husband.

The building of this temple, like many others, was filled with challenges.  This was the first temple built outside the continental United States.  The following story tells the miracle of how wood was obtained, and why the building was built of materials not ordinarily used on the island.

The remoteness of Hawaii posed challenges in acquiring building materials. Work on the temple was threatened by the scarcity of lumber when ships that ordinarily would go to Hawaii were diverted to Europe as the United States became embroiled in World War I. "Gathering to La'ie" describes how lumber was miraculously delivered after Ralph Woolley, the temple's builder, "found his way to the chapel and went up into the belfry and knelt down and called on the Lord to please help. He needed lumber, for the temple work couldn't go on."

The chapter describes how a lumber ship somehow got off course on its way to Honolulu and became stuck on a reef in Laie Bay. Brother Woolley called the company that owned the lumber. Its owner told him he could have the lumber; he didn't know how they would get the ship off the reef with it on board. Missionaries and men of the community swam to the ship or went by canoes. They tied lumber together to form rafts. "With the waves pushing from the back they got the lumber on shore."

Brothers Wood, Walker and Moffat write: "The entire structure of the temple is made of steel-reinforced, poured concrete, made from crushed lava aggregate, as the lava was ready and plentiful. This included the entire edifice, floors and roofs, as well as the walls."

Brother Moffat, in an e-mail to the Church News, wrote that the Hawaiian workers questioned why the temple had to be built of concrete, since they were quite capable of making a nice wooden one like their chapel, I Hemoele, and that a concrete building was harder to make and had never been attempted around Laie. The answer given them, Brother Moffat wrote, was that the House of the Lord was meant to last long after a wooden building would have deteriorated.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/60146/Building-a-temple-in-Laie-Hawaii.html

Pearl Harbor - Sacrifice

The meaning of real sacrifice, and the fragility of life, became personally significant when we visited Pearl Harbor.  Here, on December 7, 1941, Bill's father arose and was headed to breakfast, when chaos and terror erupted aboard the battleship West Virginia (right next to the place the Missouri Battleship is now mored).  His was located three decks down when the first torpedo hit the side of the ship.  His fight for escape and survival is one he pondered and relived the remainder of his life.  He wondered why he survived such a horrific scene of twisted steel, burning oil and strafing airplanes.  Years later, he shared that the only sense he could make of it, was that he was supposed to get married and have children.

We found a quiet spot, and Bill read aloud his father's story.  As his father jumped from the ship, into water covered with burning oil, he proceeded to swim around two languishing battleships.  He saw another struggling sailor and helped him get to Ford Island.  Many years later, this fellow found and thanked him for saving his life.

His father was a member of the band, on the West Virginia, having been assigned there just three months earlier from off of the Arizona.  And the night before the attack, he had participated in the "Battle of the Bands", with his former shipmates.  Their total loss was devastating to him.  Another friend, who was a diver, found and retrieved his trumpet in the days that followed.  The blackened bell visually reminds us, daily, of the gift of life he was granted.

Bill's father remained on duty, at Pearl Harbor, for the next several years.  Besides his regular duties, he helped clean at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and he continued with the band, welcoming in the submarine crews, and playing with visiting musicians and entertainers that came to entertain the troops, such as Bob Hope.  During his free time, he spent many hours on Waikiki Beach, surfing.

I find it interesting and profoundly meaningful, that both Bill and I have very personal ties to these islands.

Aloha! Mahalo! - Big Island of Hawaii

Orchids

Bill and I took a true vacation in paradise.  One might not think we need a vacation with all the traveling we have done in the past year. But, as I have previously mentioned, those trips have been work related, and I am glad that Bill could get some real R&R.

My sister and her husband invited us to join them for a few days in Hawaii this spring.  They have the good fortune of spending a week there every year, and have invited several family members to join them at various times.


Needless to say we were excited they thought of us, and we had no hesitation packing our bags.  Our travel arrangements allowed us to extend our trip a few extra days beyond their invitation, so we decided to first explore the Big Island, and visit the temple in Kona.  After a couple of days snorkeling, viewing volcanoes and getting wet in the beautiful rain forest while standing under giant ferns, we joined up with them on Oahu.

Rainbow Falls

Kilauea Volcano

White Envelope - Poem

White Envelope

White Envelope

Golden Harvest

Crimson Service

By Janice Harten

Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Hannah's Gift - Poem

Hannah’s Gift

With her heart pure and pleading, and seeking God’s blessing

Hannah’s sacred desire, the Lord granted in mercy

From the reaches of Heaven, to her a son came

Dedicated to God’s service, the boy Samuel, she named

While he was yet a small child, Hannah remembered her promise

In the temple she placed him at the feet of the prophet

With gratitude, faith and devotion she went

Her child, returned to the Lord, while still innocent

“Samuel, Samuel,” the Lord called, and searching the boy went

“Listen,” the Prophet Eli counseled, “A voice from Heaven is sent”

Continuous knowledge and instruction came from that time forth

To tutor the young, eager mind, upon the Lord’s course

Prepared to teach, serve and testify, and call to repentance

The children of Israel, and warn of the Lord’s judgements

Did Hannah know the mission and vision to be given her son

When to the temple and prophet, they traveled as one?

Upon a Latter-day journey, travel I and my child

Prepared from infancy to hearken to God’s voice, so mild

Taught and tutored within the sacred walls of home and temple

To prayerfully study and follow, Christ’s loving example

Accepting God’s Priesthood as power in Heaven and Earth

Receiving personal witness of truths taught since birth

Called by a prophet to labor for Gentile and Israelite alike

Inviting all to partake of Christ’s love, truth and light

Oh, Hanna, give us of thy faith and devotion, so pure

That through separation and trials we’ll have strength to endure

And with your gratitude and praise, our hearts be filled

That we joyfully determine to do the Father’s will

By Janice Harten
Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Kona Hawaii Temple - Faith

On the Big Island of Hawaii, lava flows from active volcanoes into the ocean, and the youngest island on this planet continues to be born.  There is evidence everywhere of the birth of this land, as steam continues to seep from underground, and roads, fences, and buildings are built from the jagged volcanic rock.

The Kona temple is no exception.  The fence running behind the temple is constructed of the coarse black lava.  The rest of the grounds are beautifully ornate with tropical orchids and plants.

We visited briefly with a young couple, that attended the same session.  She shared, this trip to the Hawaiian islands was a gift to her and her husband, from some of their friends.  Just recently she discovered she has stage four colon cancer.  So, their friends pulled their money together and gave them tickets and money for this trip.  Her husband was a former police officer in New York, before they moved to Seattle.  They have four children.  When I expressed sympathy for her circumstances, she reassured me and testified of the faith and peace she and her husband felt.  She expressed gratitude for the blessings of the Lord to them.  I was touched by their faith.

I consider my own faith to have been realized, on this island, even before I was born.  The Big Island of Hawaii is where my father served an LDS mission many years ago.  His story is interesting, and is a reflection of the faith he had.  Upon graduating from high school, he joined the Air Force.  World War II was in full swing, and all the young men enlisted.  He served for several years, until the war ended.  Soon after returning home, he proposed to my mother, and they were married in the Manti Temple.  Soon they had a son, and with the assistance of the GI bill, my father began his studies at a university. 

A few years later, his father approached him and asked if he would consider submitting papers to go on a mission for the church.  Because of the war, many young men missed opportunities to serve missions.  His father was serving as a bishop at the time and knew that if his son would accept a calling, then perhaps others would as well.

Dad and Mom discussed and agreed they were willing to serve.  As my father puts it,  he had always wanted to serve a mission, and mother said she wanted to marry a returned missionary.  So, my father was called to serve in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) Mission for the next 2 years, while my mother lived with her in-laws , worked a few hours a week, and raised their son.  During the last month of his mission, my father received special permission for mother to join him in Hawaii, and participate in a 100 year celebration of the church on the island.  My father played the trumpet in a band, and they toured each of the islands to play for programs and dances, and meet with the saints.  These memories lingered with them throughout their lifetime together.

There is an interesting epilog to this story.  My father planned to receive a doctorate degree in the field he was studying.  Upon his return from Hawaii, he decided to apply directly for the doctorate program at a prestigious school on the East coast.  It was unheard of, for someone to be accepted into the doctorate program without a master’s degree.  However, my father persisted, and he was accepted. 

He considered this a direct blessing from the Lord.  In the time that would have normally taken someone to get their bachelor, master and doctorate degrees, he received his bachelor, mission and doctorate degrees.

This act of missionary service, by my parents, set the stage for the rest of their lives, and I was fortunate to become a direct beneficiary of their faith.

Children of Light - Poem

Children of Light

Heavenly beings of light and truth

Born of Father of Lights, Omnipotent

To earth, tangible form and function bestowed

On each untried divinity in embryo

And as breath blowing gently upon glowing embers

Gives birth to brighter flames

So the Lord’s gentle whisper

Coaxes spiritual flames of light to flicker

With remembrance of the realm of brilliance

From which children of light first came

Perfect love redeems and hearts penetrate

Illuminating with unspeakable joy

Those who choose to follow him

Back into bright eternal glory

By Janice Harten

April 8, 2002

Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Dream A Little

The journey my husband and I have been on this year has been most amazing.  I realize we would not have traveled and experienced all we have, without first allowing ourselves to dream a little and then develop a plan to accomplish it.  In the beginning I didn't know how we would find a way to visit so many different places with our busy schedules, plus pay for accommodations for each trip.  I did not know, at the time, that my husband's work would take him on so many trips across the nation.  We have watched for and taken advantage of every opportunity.

Paying for my expenses was a question I took to the Lord.  The idea came to ask my husband's small business, to pay for my expenses when I am with him on his business trips.  Through the years, I have helped our growing company by doing the bookkeeping, without compensation.  It's been both challenging and rewarding, to experience together the financial ups and downs.   Now, I felt there was a way provided for me to enjoy our travel.

I have discovered, the power of faith provides a way forward.  If I dare to dream and plan, a way will be found to accomplish that dream.  No doubt, I am following the Lord's example in this.  In the Pearl of Great Price, Moses 3: 4-7 we learn, first the Lord developed a plan for creating the world, then he set about building it.  First there was a spiritual creation and then a physical one.  It makes perfect sense.

4 And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were ^acreated, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the ^bheaven and the earth,

 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God,^acreated all things, of which I have spoken, ^bspiritually, before they were ^cnaturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had ^dcreated all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ^eground; for in ^fheaven ^gcreated I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air;

 6 But I, the Lord God, spake, and there went up a ^amist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

 7 And I, the Lord God, formed man from the ^adust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the ^bbreath of life; and ^cman became a living ^dsoul, the ^efirst flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.

The same principle of faith is necessary when choosing to marry or have children.  Some argue that they can't afford to have a family, or they are frightened by the thought of bringing innocent children into this evil world.  But, like in the movie "Indiana Jones, The Last Crusade", the pathway is often not seen by us, until we take the first step.  But, those who are afraid to step, will never find what lies ahead and experience the miracles available to them.

The way and the means become available along the journey.  To our mortal eyes, not everything is seen in the beginning.  We take a step and walk by faith.

2 Corinthians 5:7 reads,

(For we walk by ^afaith, not by ^bsight:)

Sonnets - Poem

Sonnets

Let knight slay dragon for his young maiden fair

Let prince climb tower to rescue damsel in despare

Let Romeo hear Juliet from yonder balcony call

My husband's endearments are more tender than them all

First, sweet nothings he whispered in my ear

Now nighttime sonnets fill our bedroom air

Evidence of his love and exhausting daily labor

Every thought and effort for my comfort and care

Sing on, sweet sonnets, beneath the moonlit sky

Remind me of my loved one still laying by my side

Janice Harten

Mar 17, 2009

Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Zip-Line

A swirl of activity pulls me from sitting beside my father's hospital bed, to witnessing the naming and blessing of a granddaughter.  The thread of life touches one generation to the next.  Like riding a zip-line, I slide from one area of the tree-topped canopy to the other.  It takes my breath away.

A Chosen Occupation

How is it possible for me to sit in my warm, comfortable home, while others have their homes lifted and dashed to pieces, evidence of the power of nature to determine destiny.  It is a reminder that I am here at the discretion and mercy of an all powerful being.  Yet, perhaps I can exercise power given to me to bless and comfort.  The gift of a few dollars or extra items, a prayer raised to heaven, and a feeling of sympathy and compassion; charity, humility and gratitude is a chosen occupation.