By Guest on Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Category: Marliaan Erasmus

Marliaan - Hawaii

 

Time flies when you are having fun! So, we had an option in Japan to go on an earlier flight to Hawaii and of course, I took it! We spend the whole day on the airport and flew out at 18h30 the evening of the 23 Des 2007.  We arrived at 7.30 am of the 23 Des in Hawaii! It is a great day to have over again.  We arrived in friendly Hawaii with an Aloha and were VERY tired and jetlagged!  

We camped at the YWCA near the waterfront at a bay called Kaneohe Bay. The people there thought we were crazy because it is their rainy season and we were on the rainy side of the island. It rained every couple of minutes for a few minutes and then stopped. You can't walk outside without your rain jacket. The first day (Sunday) we slept until the afternoon and then went to the closest Mall. On the way there we met a wonderful lady who showed us around and invited us to church. She was very kind and helpful and took us to a restaurant were we could eat salad and meat. It was awesome to eat Beef again…and it was a "eat as much as you can" buffet salad bar… We looked around a bit, but were still very tired and went back to the camping ground. The rest of the team arrived the following day and we decided to go to the mall again. Everything in Hawaii is very expensive. A bus ride is 2 dollars and we decided to hitchhike. Kim was the one, I think that looked the most desperate and Sal stopped with his "mini bus". We all squeezed in. He was very friendly and told us that he is a chef at a restaurant and he has the most beautiful little girl of 2 years and her name is Teisa – it means Daisy. He dropped us off at the mall and we did a bit of shopping. I then went to do my laundry and me, Christo, Rihard and Philip caught a ride back with some people. GOD is GOOD!

  We also attended a Christmas eve church meeting.  It was great! We sang Christmas carols and ate Gingerbread, lots of cake and Apple pie. Some other people of our team met a lady who said she will take us to the beach on Christmas morning so we went there at 5h00 at waited for the sun to come out.   It was rainy but we had a great view.  I started to not feel well that morning and felt worse towards the evening. I had a bad flu that started to go to my chest and still "travel gastro". I felt really bad and it was Christmas eve.  

The best part was our letters and presents from family and friends! Thanks allot! It was very special to us.

 

The following day I felt worse and had a terrible fever. I went to the doctor – VERY EXPENSIVE! She gave my anti-biotics and booked me off for another 2 days. I lay in my tent and God answered my prayers. Sal, the guy that picked us up on the first day, came by and said he felt bad for us, camping in the rain and invited us to come and stay at a house. My team, Kim and Sarah and me went there.  They were very hospitable and I felt better just to be in a house and lay down without getting wet.  The following two days the teams had a Luke 10 challenge to go out without money and see how God provides for them. I stayed at home and got to know the people living in the house.  I became friends with Crystal and we had hours of talks. I hope to stay in touch with her. The 30 Des we moved out of the house attended a local church and moved to camp again.  By this time I felt much better and some of us went with a guy the team met, Tom, to visits a friend who exports tropical fish. It was interesting.

 

The following day me, Kim, Sarah and Monica went to visit Pearl Harbor. When we got there the tickets was already sold out the morning at ten. We walked around, prayed and asked for tickets and a woman came out to me and Kim and gave us her two tickets for an movie about Pearl Harbor and boat ride to the shipwreck. We talked to the organizers and they gave tickets to Sarah and Monica as well. It was a miracle – God spoiled us! It was interesting and informative.

 

 

 

Then, it was time to go to Waikiki Beach for Old Year’s Eve Fireworks. We walked around at the streets and did a bit of shopping! This was great. We waited for the rest of the group to join us and had a fun-filled night at the beach in Hawaii! What a way to go into the New Year!  The 1 Jan was a big day in Hawaii. Their College Football team played in some big game. Some of us decided to go to the North coast – to Sunset Beach and Pipeline but we will stop first for the big football game. We ate big hamburgers, learned about the game and met some nice people in Haleiwa then Kim and me drove off to Sunset beach. It was nice but rainy and the waves were not as big and scary but there is a very nice vibe at the coast. I loved it! 

Well, this is enough for today! The next blog will be about the Polynesian Cultural Center.Thank you for reading and praying.Marliaan 

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