Aloha!
I attend this really neat church in Bowie called Cornerstone. We’re fortunate to have a young adult group called Doulos. We meet once a week on Mondays to do just about anything together.
To me, the focus seems to remain consistently on Jesus, prayer, togetherness and fun – just the way I like everything. “Jesus first, with a side of everything else (within reason, of course)”.
Today, in true Doulos style, the leaders organized a Luau for us. Our very own piece of Hawaiian heaven, right in the ‘back yard’ of our church.
There was a table full of a variety of different colored, flowery nā lei, and I was lucky enough to get a pink one. Yes!!!
The torches were already lit, perfectly setting the mood for the Luau! Bring it on!
I especially loved the happy, friendly faces all around – some hungry, some simply just gabbing away.
There may have not been any Poi, Kalua Pig, Poke, Lomi Salmon, Opihi, Haupia or Beer. However, there most certainly entertainment and LOTS of it! Also, there was a huge table full of an assortment of foods and deserts.
This was also accompanied with freshly made (non-alcoholic) Pina Colada and Strawberry Daiquiri. All delicious!
Alright, I confess! I may have had two cupcakes. It’s all such a sugary blur right now. Mahalo to you for not judging me.
We were entertained with music by the Hawaiian music giant, Henry Kaleialoha Allen. His voice was simply amazing! He also, expertly, played the Ukulele, while our gorgeous Hula dancer entertained us with different dances.
He also sang “Blue Hawaii”, the song made popular by Elvis Presley. I must say, hearing it sang live by Henry was quite the treat (no offense, Elvis).
His associates taught us a prayer in Hawaiian:
Mahalo ka Haku , no keia nani la o ke ola .
Hoopomaikai ka poe a puni makou – ‘ohana , nā hoaaloha , ko makou aloha keiki , a me ka poe e noho ole maʻaneʻi.
Kakou e pule ma o Iesu inoa
AmeneIn English:
Thank you Lord for this beautiful day of life.
Bless those around us – family, friends, our loved ones and those who are not here.
We pray in Jesus name
Amen
I should quickly point out that I am not that cool (yet). My memory isn’t full proof and I don’t speak Hawaiian, so note that I’ve paraphrased a bit and relied heavily on google translate to recreate the prayer we learned. Mahalo!
They also educated us on Hawaiian history and music, but the real party started when our beautiful Hula dancer decided to teach us all the Traditional Hukilau dance.
Now, I may be biased, but the ladies stepped on up like pros and swayed their hips Hawaiian style. They made me proud.
When it came to the guys turn…oh boy! I have never laughed so hard! I watched a few men, who shall remain nameless for now (*cough* *cough*), struggling desperately to dance as close to the instructions as possible.
They certainly gave my abs a laughing work out, and for that I do thank them very dearly. Mahalo!
Just as I thought the excitement was over, out comes a fire breathing dragon! Okay! Sorry, I may have exaggerated a tiny little bit.
It wasn’t actually a dragon. It was a fire eating human creature! :D Better?
Anyway, the fire dancers truly left me in shock and awe. Now, all I can think of is setting a stick on fire and dancing with it.
Such a cool job, don’t you think?
After the fire breathing…I mean…fiery dancing, we did some of our own ‘American style’ dancing.
We danced to the electric slide, the chacha slide, and another that I had never done before – the wobble. Oh yes folks, I can now do the wobble!
Even the little ones did a bit of wobbling of their own.
While others tried very hard to play it cool, and recover from the Hukilau dance. (ha ha ha)
All in all. A pretty awesome time spent together.
Mahalo!