Lauau in Alaska

 The North Anchorage Stake includes four "Island" wards:  three Samoan wards and a Tongan ward.  The Young Single Adults often stay associated with their home wards (rather than attending a YSA ward) which conduct services in their native languages and foster their Island cultures.  In March they sponsored a awesome luau as a regional YSA activity. 

Most of the YSAs in these photos had been up all night the night before decorating the church gym with cardboard palm trees, tapa cloth, strings of lights, and colorful silk-flower arrangements. These girls, wearing typical Samoan dress, presented a graceful dance. (The two on the left--in rust and in white--are in our Pathway Program.) The young men pictured here presented a "Haka." They had fun enacting this traditional ancestral war-cry dance and challenge.  They could have been show-stoppers at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii!

These girls from the Lake Hood Tongan Ward wore tall headdresses as they presented a beautiful dance with such lovely, sensitive hand movements.   It is wonderful to see them so proud of their culture and eager to share it.

The food, of course was amazing; we especially enjoyed the pulled pork, the spiced chicken kabobs, and the mandatory macaroni salad.  The generosity of the members in the Anchorage Stake Island wards is legendary.  Providing mountains of delicious food is the mark of a good host and (over)eating heartily is the mark of an appropriately grateful guest.