Church, Honoring Family Graves, and Legit Chinese Food

My brother's ward meets for church at the "Tab." It's a beautiful building.  I love how there's open air hallways and courtyards instead of foyers.  They also had a huge mosaic mural of Jesus, an outdoor water feature in front of the presidents offices, and giant banyan trees on site.

The look of the place was only one of the sweet things of attending church there.  The congregation was welcoming and they gave me a lei in Relief Society with a big hug.  

I loved the upliftment from the meetings.  In sacrament meeting a youth speaker spoke on forgiving others who hurt her.  A sister who got up after her spoke of her testimony that God sees us through hard times as she was wrongly imprisoned and went through great trials because of it.

In our Relief Society class, I loved that we learned of a man who help carry Christ's cross.  It hit me hard that it's important to step up and help others.  "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

family pic under the gigantic banyan tree.

And us a little closer to the camera.

Me and my brother, Joe.

The courtyard at the Tab that connects all the classrooms, offices, chapel, and gym

Visiting the Cemeteries

I loved that Uncle Joe and Aunty Kathy were able to come with us to visit the gravesites of our family.  We went to 3 separate cemeteries and left flower arrangements at the grave sites.  Aunty Kathy and Uncle Joe had picked up a bunch of flowers at the swap meet earlier that day.

My Grandpa's grave, Vicente Ramiro Guting

Agapito Pascua was a 1/2 brother to my grandpa.  They called him Pete.

The Gees, my mom's godparents.  I was named after Elizabeth Gee, and she passed away on my 14th birthday.  She was very special to my mom.  She loved her dearly.

I keep taking tree pics.  Smile tree! Hawaii has cool trees, what can I say?  

I heard about this island.  It's where my grandpa Guting used to work construction overseas.

Our crew getting a pic at the Punchbowl Cemetery.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but that place is stunningly beautiful.

The cemetery overlooks Honolulu

Pali Highway Scenic Lookout

I'm so glad we stopped at this amazing lookout off the Pali Highway.  It was amazing to get such a grand view of the island and the ocean.  We took some pics before we headed on to the other gravesites.

Uncle Joe and Aunty Kathy

Hawaiian Memorial Cemetery

What a treasure of beauty this place was.  It was absolutely serene, garden-of-eden-like.  This is where my Grandma Linda, my mom's mom, is buried.  She was a beauty in life and this was a fitting place for her to be laid to rest.

Maizie helping Aunty Kathy create an arrangement for grandma Linda's grave.

Our crew at Grandma Linda's grave

Leaving the Hawaiian Memorial Cemetery.  The views are spectacular.

Valley of the Temples

The grave of my great-grandpa

The grave of my great-grandma

Brother and sister to my grandpa.  These two lived together many years at the end of their lives at their childhood home in Honolulu on Prospect Street.

Chinese Restaurant in Kaneohe

This place was really good Chinese food.  Everything we ordered was delicious. Everyone loved the charsiu pork with the steamed buns.  I also loved the cold ginger chicken, cashew vegetables with noodles, and spicy eggplant.  The kids also had orange chicken, beef broccoli, and a second order of charsiu with the steam buns.  I know I'm missing other dishes we ordered, but I just remember that everyone loved everything.  It was also fun that there were giant lazy Susans in the middle of the table for people to pass food around.

The kids table at the Chinese Restaurant.

The adults table.  Sorry for the distorted image.  I was trying hard to get everyone in the pic using my wide angle and it really does a number to those on the edges of the photo.

Yum!  Everything was delicious!