![\"Lanai](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/07\/800px-Another_view_from_Lahaina_at_sunset_8705195358.jpg\")
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We inadvertently attended a Tongan ward in Lahaina this morning and were thoroughly rewarded for doing so.\u00a0 Almost the entirety of the sacrament meeting was in Tongan, but we had headsets and were able to understand through a very good translator.\u00a0 The talks were very good.\u00a0 And the singing?\u00a0 Spectacular.\u00a0 Magnificent.\u00a0 A cappella<\/em>.\u00a0 (Nobody was accompanying on the organ or the piano.)\u00a0 Plainly, our haole<\/em> wards back in Utah Valley very badly need a transfusion of Polynesians.\u00a0 I would also add that anybody who either fantasizes that the Restoration is about \u201cwhite supremacy,\u201d or wants to claim that it actually is<\/em> about white supremacy, would have found very little to support his or her delusions this morning.\u00a0 Attending that Tongan sacrament meeting was a high point of our visit to Hawaii thus far.\u00a0 Next time \u2014 always assuming that there will be<\/em> a next time, which, at my stage of advanced geezerhood, may not be a foregone conclusion \u2014 I think that we\u2019ll make a point<\/em> of attending the Tongan ward; it\u2019s actually closer to us than the ward that we had thought<\/em> we would attend.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n One of my all-time favorite book purchases came here in Hawaii, specifically in Honolulu, several years ago. \u00a0It was Da Jesus Book<\/em>, a translation (entirely serious, I hasten to add, not a joke) of the New Testament into Hawaiian pidgin, a form of English that is spoken by more than a few of the people who live, move, and have their being beyond the sophisticated urban areas of the Hawaiian Islands.\u00a0 \u00a0Here is a selection from it, a story from Luke 2 with which, I\u2019m guessing, you\u2019re already familiar:<\/p>\n 2<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Dat time, da king fo da Rome peopo, Augustus Cesar, wen make all da peopo sign up fo find out how much peopo get every place.<\/span>\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>Dis da first sign up dey wen make wen Quirinius stay governa fo Syria.<\/span>\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>Everybody wen go back to da town dea ohana come from fo sign up.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 4\u00a0<\/sup>So Joseph wen go from Nazaret town Galilee side, to Betlehem Judea side, King David\u02bcs town, cuz he come from King David\u02bcs ohana.<\/span>\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>He go ova dea fo sign up wit Mary, da wahine da ohana wen promise fo marry him. She stay hapai.<\/span>\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>Wen dey stay dea, da time come fo her fo born her baby.<\/span>\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup>An she wen born her numba one boy, an wrap him up inside some cloths, an lay him down inside one ting fo hold da cows food, cuz no mo room fo dem inside da small hotel.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 8\u00a0<\/sup>Dat nite, ova dea inside da fields, get sheep farmas taking care dea sheeps.<\/span>\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup>Right den an dea one angel messenja guy from da Boss Up Dea Inside Da Sky come by dem. All aroun dem one awesome light wen shine from da Boss. An dey wen come real scared.<\/span>\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>But da angel guy say, \u201cNo scared. I come fo tell you guys Good Stuff From God dat goin make you guys an all da peopo stay good inside.<\/span>\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup>Dis day inside King David\u02bcs town, one boy wen born dat goin take you guys outa da bad kine stuff you stay doing. He da Christ Guy, da Spesho Guy God Wen Send. He da Boss.<\/span>\u00a012\u00a0<\/sup>Dis how you goin know him. You goin find one baby dat stay wrap up inside plenny cloths, lying down inside one ting fo hold da cows food.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 13\u00a0<\/sup>Right den an dea uku paila angel guys from da sky wen show up wit da first angel guy. Dey saying good stuff bout God lidis:<\/span><\/p>\n 14\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cUp inside da sky wea God stay,<\/span> 15\u00a0<\/sup>Den da angel guys wen go way from dem an go back by God inside da sky. Da sheep farmas tell each odda, \u201cEh brahs, we go Betlehem fo see dis ting dat wen happen, dat da Boss Up Dea Inside Da Sky wen tell us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 16\u00a0<\/sup>So dey run an find Mary an Joseph, an da baby stay dea, lying down inside one ting fo hold da cows food.<\/span>\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup>Wen dey see da baby, dey tell everybody wat da angel guys wen say bout dis boy.<\/span>\u00a018\u00a0<\/sup>Everybody dat wen hear dat, stay tinking bout wat da sheep farmas wen tell dem.<\/span>\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup>But Mary wen put all dese tings inside her heart, an tink plenny how spesho dey stay.<\/span>\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup>Da sheep farmas wen go back, an dey tell everybody how God stay plenny good an awesome, cuz all da stuff dey wen hear an see, was jalike da angel guy wen tell dem.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n To my enormous delight, since my discovery of Da Jesus Book<\/em> I\u2019ve found Da Befo Jesus Book<\/em>, which is a translation of nearly 40% of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament into Hawaiian pidgin. \u00a0I don\u2019t know how long it\u2019s been around.\u00a0 \u00a0To give you a taste of how it reads, however, I offer two passages, chosen essentially at random, from the second chapter of \u201cDa Start\u201d (aka \u201cGenesis\u201d):<\/p>\n This is absolutely marvelous stuff. \u00a0Seriously. \u00a0The language is sheer joy. \u00a0And it\u2019s actually a wonderfully fresh way to read familiar biblical passages. \u00a0I love it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I have been remiss in sharing links with you from the unfortunately necessary but generally entertaining Neville-Neville Land<\/em> blog.\u00a0 So here are eleven of the most recent.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n \u201cJonathan Neville takes more swipes at John Sorenson and peer review\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJonathan Neville\u2019s claims eerily similar to those in a famous anti-Mormon book\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJonathan Neville shills for anti-Mormons (again)\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHeartlander David Hocking calls Church-approved artwork \u201cpornography\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDavid Hocking\u2019s claim about temples and steps\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJonathan Neville is unfair and untruthful\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAn open letter to Rian Nelson of the FIRM Foundation\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMy reply to Rian Nelson of the FIRM Foundation\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAnother response to Rian Nelson of the FIRM Foundation\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNeville-Neville Land 2022 year in review\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>He stay awesome!<\/span><\/span>
\nAn ova hea on top da earth,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>If God like wat peopo doing,<\/span><\/span>
\nHe goin make dea heart rest inside.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n