Maleko’s Hale

Lately it seems that the weekends are just full to the max with activities.  Take this past weekend. 

Friday after work was a mad dash home to grab my kids, video camera and Bible for Vacation Bible School.  Luckily I live 5 minutes away from church.  No time to change out of work clothes because my wife tells me that my son’s friend wants to come.  So we drive up the hill, pick up Buddy and then drive back down to church.  We make it in time to still enjoy the great light dinner that the ladies in our church have prepared.  God Bless them! ;)  I also have time to go over the PowerPoint presentation, iTunes, and videos for the VBS rally – yeah, church has become high-tech.  This year the theme is Game Day Central and the verses are from Hebrews12:1,2: Run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.  So anyway the rally goes pretty well except for me playing the wrong tune at one point – oops.

After VBS we walked up the street to the Rissho Kosei Kai (RKK) Buddhist temple for the Bon Dance.  What is a Christian doing at a Buddhist temple you ask?  I’m enjoying the community fellowship, the cultural experience of the festive food and dance.  I do not partake in the worship or incense offering – God would most certainly be displeased with that.  The Apostle Paul who preached to and fellowshipped with both Jews and Gentiles once said:   

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day – things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.  Col. 2:16, 17

And

If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake.  1 Cor. 10:27

My daughter saw her good friend Jamie and the two enjoyed dancing in the circle around the yagura.  I of course made a bold attempt at dancing but alas, I’m quite the novice compared to fellow blogger and sister in Christ, Donna.  It was nice meeting Donna’s friend Shari – she is also very sweet and encouraging to a “dance-challenged” person like me.  Their Okinawan music and dance troupe Ukwanshin Kabudan provided excellent authentic Ryuku music and patient instruction in the finer points of Okinawan bon dance:

Saturday found me packing up my music gear and heading off to Maili (West side of Oahu, Hawaii) to play with my part-time band NoName for a Missionette high tea at Paradise Chapel.  That’s right:  High Tea!  God blessed with great (albeit a tad windy) weather there.  We played while the kupuna (elders) and pre-teens enjoyed their tea and finger sandwiches.  We of course were offered lunch after we had played and we were so touched by the two organizers’ prayer of safe travel for us.  But no rest for the weary; after unpacking back at home I had to head out again to pick up Toyoko from dialysis at Pearl Ridge.  This was followed by a graduation dinner at church and then another evening of Bon Dance at RKK.  Hey, I told you this was a jammin’ weekend, lol!

Sunday:  Up at 7 AM for final Worship Team rehearsal, followed by Sunday School and service.  Finally back at home to work a bit on the church website.  Then finally, a nap!

OK, I feign griping but in all actuality, this past weekend was a blast and the Lord is so good in blessing me and my family.  With Him, all things are possible!  Amen.

Aloha ka kou,

First off, thank you so much Katz for updating the theme graphics here – it totally rocks!  Tonight I’m supposed to be writing an article on how certain strains of micro-algae can ingest CO2 and produce fatty acids which can then be extracted into ethanol and biofuel…  Bleh!  Instead I come here to write this blog, haha!  This must be a record for me – 2 entries in a little over a week.  Here goes:

Last Saturday I hijacked my wife and kids to Wahiawa for the Wahiawa Hongwanji Bon Dance.  Actually they all enjoyed themselves.  My wife and daughter went to the bazaar and bought inexpensive jewelry.  And my son, Mr. “I’m borrrrred – can we go yet?” got a plastic pirate sword out of the deal.  It looked like just about all of

A real treat was the Okinawan Lion Dance put on by one of the Okinawan Dance Clubs: