April 13 Honolulu

I woke up early and pulled the blinds to look out at the beach and saw policemen blocking traffic on the street 40 floors below.  Then I saw a few runners coming down the road and turning the corner.  I watched as the numbers grew and grew and then later when I looked they were coming back the other direction. 

We tried to get a cab about 8:30 AM to go to church but we were a bit later because of the marathon.  We were taken over to Honolulu to the McCully Ward, Honolulu Hawaii Stake.  What a treat that was.  It was raining and we dashed from the cab into an entrance of an open courtyard.  All of the classrooms seemed to branch off from the open area.  We followed the crowd into one of the most amazing chapels that I have ever visited. 

This building was dedicated  August 16, 1941 by then Second Counselor in the First Presidency, David O. McKay .  It was huge with side alcoves off from the main rectangle and enough choir seats for 4 times the typical choir. We didn't see the gym but apparently they are going to turn it into another chapel and add new gyms.  The church owns the property to the north of it so will put parking (which is at a premium in the area) there.   The person conducting referred to it as the tabernacle.  Some members shared a bit of the story with us.  According to their story, it was finished the year before the Pearl Harbor attacks.  At the dedication, before the bombing started, then Elder McKay,  promised them that not a shell would land on that property.  Four months later Japanese planes flew over it and shells from ships shooting at the planes landed all around it but not one hit the building. 

The outside of the building was as impressive as the inside.  There was a beautiful pool with lovely landscaping and a beautiful mosaic of Christ above the door.  The steeple looked almost like it could be a temple. 

It was raining hard when we left the chapel but we wanted to go to China Town to pick up some little dishes and possibly have lunch.  It was a very crummy area, the poorest China Town we have ever been in.  We did have a fair lunch and did get the dishes, though. 

The sun was shining soon after we got back and I got another lovely rainbow shot.  We decided to go over to the Waikiki beach at the Hilton Towers.  It was very commercial but very pretty. 

After grabbing something to eat we went back to the penthouse and packed because our bus was picking us up at 8 am and we weren't going to be home until 11 pm that night and our taxi was picking us up for the airport at 5:15 am the next morning.