When a yard is fenced here you don't open the gate and go in. You stand outside and yell "whooie, whooie, mai, mai." If it is alright to go in they will say, "come, come" or no I am busy and you will wait for another time. Wally goes on Wed. nights with the elders, bishopric or high priests and that is the way they always announce themselves. Wall loves it. He does a pretty good impression of it too. The members also like having someone there they know to introduce us. When they talk it is always in pigeon and Wall just loves it, "Hey, brudda I go church already,dakine" can't catch it all but loves it. Brother C. also told us that the Hawaiian people are a very trusting people and have been taken advantage of. In the early days Norwegians named Knudsen came here and built stores. The Hawaiian people would come to trade at the store and put items on credit. If they couldn't pay then the Knudsen's would take their land as payment. Pretty soon the Knudsen's owned and took control of a lot of land that should have been Hawaiian land. Now the people are slow to trust. Hawaiians believe everything has a spirit. They believe in kuliana - taking care of what is given to you (land) it is a stewardship you don't really own it. They took just what they needed from the land and plants, a few leaves, a few feathers, and would always say mahalo nui (thank you very much.) They respected the spirit of everything."
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