Hawai'i Conference Legacy Stories

 Legacy:Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent 36 men and women into mission areas in 1820. Of those 17 went to the Sandwich Islands, now Hawai‘i. The men were described as “men of vigorous and well informed minds in sound bodies, inured to labor—and, of approved civil and Christian character.”

The report acknowledges that it was costly to send missionaries:
Many things are to be done in the preparations, requiring various attentions, and journeyings, and labors, and occasioning numberless contingent expenses. Many articles are comprised in the necessary outfits and provision, for the individuals and families, and establishments. And conveyances by water or by land are expensive. 

For the Sandwich Island missionaries, the cost to the ACBFM was more than $10,000, including costs for travel, transportation of baggage, supplies for the journey, furniture, clothing, mechanical and agricultural implements, a printing press and “mathematical, philosophical, and surgical instruments.” 


The Prudential Committee added that:
To persons not conversant with these matters, these items and the total amount might appear extravagant. And yet, in proportion to the magnitude of the mission the expenditure was small.

The “donations, contributions, and benefactions, from societies, churches, congregations, and individuals” in a year of “stagnation of the circulating medium”— a recession in the country—did not cover expenses. Fortunately, money had been kept in reserve for such a time and other contributions, especially boxes of clothing for the missionaries and the mission were received.

The legacy of the missionaries is known in Hawai‘i. The legacy of funding missionaries through gifts from individuals and churches continues through Our Church’s Wider Mission.

The Prudential Committee expressed “a grateful sense of the liberality of individuals and the Christian public, and with devout thankfulness to the God of all grace,” that the donations were more than in the preceding even in a time of financial stagnation. That legacy of thankfulness continues as well.

Legacy: Three Churches Commemorate Beginning
A church anniversary celebration is always something for which to be thankful. But in the case of three Hawai‘i Conference churches celebrating a 190th anniversary in 2010, it is a celebration for us all.

Mokuaikaua Church on Hawai‘i Island, Waimea UCC on Kaua‘i, and Kawaiaha‘o Church on O‘ahu were all founded in 1820, the year Christian missionaries first arrived to the shores of the Sandwich Islands.

The Missionary Album states those first missionaries aboard the brig Thaddeus sighted Mauna Kea on March 30, 1820, and then sailed around the north side of Hawai‘i at Kawaihae, anchoring at Kailua, Hawai‘i on April 4, 1820. The total voyage from New England lasted 164 days.

These missionaries and missionaries who came on subsequent ships eventually established 17 missionary stations and two schools.

Throughout the years the Hawai‘i Conference and its predecessor, the Hawaiian Evangelical Association (HEA), have lifted up various anniversary milestones signifying the beginning of mission in the Hawaiian Islands.

The June 18, 1870, issue of The Friend remembers the 50th anniversary:
Wednesday was a day long to be remembered in Honolulu and throughout the islands, and its memories will live for many years in other lands, too, as “the Hawaiian Jubilee.” It was the day specially designated on which to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of Christianity on these islands, and the entire native and foreign population of this and the adjacent districts, besides many from other islands, came to the celebration.

Fifty years later, the HEA chose a different way to celebrate the Centennial anniversary. A report from Secretary Norman C. Schenck in the 1920 minutes of the HEA shares the results of an effort to “make the celebration carry a spiritual significance and to get from it spiritual power.” 

A program was inaugurated that year that included teacher training classes, mission study, and organizing young people for training and for service. Through these programs, a goal was set to bring in 1,000 members by the time of the Centennial. 

According to Schenck, the program was a success.
“It is a matter of deepest gratitude to us that according to the best available reports we have not only reached that number but have received into our churches 1,036 people upon confession of faith,” he said. “And we now realize that the number of new members added in the past ten months is greater than the number added in any whole year since the organization of the Hawaiian Board in 1863. We may thank God for the inspiration of the Centennial and for the privilege of working together to make room for the spirit of the men and women who have ‘died for a larger world.’”

At the time of the 150th anniversary, a series of historical newsletters were published. These newsletters, called the “Sesquicentennial Spectator,” were published between October 1968 and October 1970 and featured history and its ties to the present day.
The April 1970 issue featured a “Report to Hiram Bingham,” reflecting on how he would have felt if he had been at Kawaiaha’o Church on April 19, 1970 to witness the crowd of people from all over the world, including the President of the United States, gathered for an anniversary celebration in “the church you planned and planted…whose cornerstone you laid.”

The article continued: “That Sunday morning, April 19, 1970, Kawaiaha’o, your own gift to Hawai‘i’s Christians, gift of your brain and heart and faith, was at the heart of the world’s attention.”

Evidence of the beginning of Christianity in Hawai‘i is seen in the three churches begun in 1820. Celebrating Advocacy: Past, Present and Future, recently published by the State Council of Hawaiian Congregational Churches, reflects on those first churches.

Mokuaikaua Church
“Upon entering this historic sanctuary, one finds oneself standing on dedicated ground, for this is the area upon which the Christian Church in the State of Hawai‘i was built. It was in Kailua-Kona, on April 4, 1820 that the Pioneer Company of the Sandwich Islands Mission arrived on the Brig Thaddeus, and established the first Christian Community in these Hawaiian Islands. King Kamehameha II, Liholiho, authorized the settlement on a probationary arrangement for one year, which was never officially renewed.”

Waimea UCC/Waimea Hawaiian
“The first company of missionaries had been in Honolulu for a little more than two weeks when the brig Thaddeus, which had brought them to Hawai‘i, continued its journey to the West Coast for furs and on its outbound way stopped at Kaua‘i to deposit Prince George “Humehume”, son of King Kaumuali‘i. The King had sent his son to the United States at the tender age of 7 for education and had virtually given him up for loss. Missionary teachers Samuel Whitney and Samuel Ruggles were chosen to escort Humehume and to look at Kaua‘i for mission purposes. Unlike the guarded reception accorded the missionaries by Liholiho at Kailua, Kaumuali‘i, happy and grateful at the return of his son, received Whitney and Ruggles without reservation and asked them to return with their wives to teach his people the pala and the pule and bestowed upon them the honorary title of “aikane.”

Kawaiaha‘o Church
“In 1820 the first missionaries arrived in Hawai‘i and found themselves well-accepted by royalty as well as the general populace. They were granted land at Kawaiaha‘o for the purpose of establishing their residence and thatched houses were erected by local labor on orders of King Kamehameha III. Kawaiaha‘o Church stands as the first Christian church to be built on O‘ahu and today is respected as the Mother Church of Hawai‘i, where God’s work continues and the Hawaiian culture and language is perpetuated.”

 Legacy: 15 Craigside
“At long last the fond hopes and dreams of our Fellowship of having a home worthy of the long struggles and sacrifices of our missionary forebears is coming to fruition,” says the July 30, 1959, article in The Friend, which informed readers that construction on the new Mission Memorial building had begun. At the new site, “old buildings have been torn down, ground has been landscaped, and by the time this Bulletin reaches you, the foundations will have been laid for our new HEA [Hawaiian Evangelical Association] Headquarters. These buildings will be a Memorial to the tremendous contributions of the former missionaries. They will be a thing of beauty and worthy to honor sacred memories.”

The cost for the Mission Memorial building, which became the office for the Hawai‘i Conference United Church of Christ, and the Mary Atherton Richards Memorial Chapel was expected to be $400,000. The two buildings were located at 15 Craigside Place in Honolulu.  

The Cornerstone Ceremony for the two buildings was held September 23, 1959. Two metal boxes containing historical materials “that will appropriately represent the significance of the two buildings” were buried—one in the cornerstone of the Mission Memorial Building and one in the cornerstone of the Richards Chapel.

The service was conducted by HEA Moderator Thomas Crosby, Pastor of Central Union Church. The Woman’s Board of Missions, of which Mary Atherton Richards was President for many years, and the Richards family also took part.

The September article recalls a similar ceremony in the past: “It was on Saturday, July 17, 1915, that the cornerstone was laid for the old Mission Memorial [on King Street; now the city’s Mission Memorial Auditorium]. It cost $90,000 to erect and equip these buildings.”

On February 28, 1960, the new Mission Memorial Congregational Christian Headquarters of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association was dedicated. And, as a continuing care retirement facility is being built in its place today, we continue to remember the legacy of many faithful Christians.

 Legacy: Kahu Hope Leopold Pu`unoni Waia`u 
The first Associate Pastor or “Kahu Hope” in the Hawaiian Evangelical Association (predecessor to the Hawai‘i Conference) was Leopold Pu’unoni Waia’u of Kawaiaha’o Church. This position was created in 1957 for Kahu Hope Leopold and through his ministry the importance of the associate pastor position was established within the church in Hawai’i.

Throughout his life, Leopold Pu`unoni Waia`u dedicated much of his time to actively serving the Lord. Although his life had led him on many different paths, Leopold always sought to serve a greater purpose within the church.

Leopold graduated from Kamehameha School for Boys in 1940 and went on to Oregon State University to further his education. Leopold’s educational goals were put on hold during World War II as he enlisted in the military. He later returned to Oregon State, but then decided to return to Kauai to care for his family after the death of his father. During this time he constantly engaged in church activities and youth work, keeping his dream of becoming a pastor alive.

Through his service at the church, he met his wife Hawea. Immediately after marrying, he made plans to finish his education. Leopold attended Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, and graduated in May 1954. He continued his education at San Francisco Theological Seminary where he received his Masters of Divinity degree in 1957.

Leopold and his family returned to Hawai’i later that year, at which time he met the Rev. Abraham Akaka of Kawaiaha’o Church. Leopold took a variety of assignments working for the church while he prepared to meet with an Ecclesiastical Council for an examination of his educational, theological, and faith statements. After he passed the Ecclesiastical Council, Kahu Akaka asked him to become Associate Pastor of Kawaiha’o Church.

As the Associate Pastor Leopold went to work as a Christian education leader. He also assisted other small churches without regular pastors. Because of his dedication to the church and his service to other churches, he established a sense of community among members of the entire church.

Leopold established the role of “Kahu Hope” as an important role for the Church as well as the community. His legacy lives on today as Associate Pastors of churches in the Hawai‘i Conference continue to contribute to their churches and communities. Whatever the scale Associate Pastors work in, small or large, their contributions reflect the heart of Leopold and the work he poured into the church. His legacy will not be forgotten.
 Legacy: Hawai'i Sugar Planter's Association Gives Birth to Filipino Legacy in Hawai'i
Unlike other Asian immigrants, many immigrants from the Philippine Islands arrived in Hawai‘i as Christians.

In December 1906, the first fifteen Filipino immigrants to Hawai‘i were brought by the Hawai‘i Sugar Planters’ Association. Hawai‘i saw a steady influx of Filipinos throughout the beginning of the 20th century. With the liberalization of immigration law in Hawai‘i in 1965, a wave of Filipinos immigrated.

Where Filipinos settled in the Hawaiian Islands, particularly around sugar and pineapple plantations, the United Church of Christ and its predecessor, the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, gathered worshipers in the Ilocano language. Churches were established on all the islands. Over time, as language became less of an issue, some churches, such as Waialua and Ewa Community churches on O‘ahu and First United Protestant in Hilo, joined with other ethnic churches for ministry together in English.
 

From the 1960s until recently, many pastors were recruited from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Others were raised up from the congregation or recruited in the United States.

Walter Baloaloa credits Hawai‘i Conference Minister Chester Terpstra, his wife Marjorie—and God—with his call to Maui Evangelical Church in Kahului. The Terpstras happened to worship in the church he was serving in the Philippines and knew of the need for a pastor for the Maui church.

When Walter arrived on Maui in 1973, he found greater need. Each Sunday he preached on Maui and then traveled to Moloka‘i and on to Lana‘i for services. "Marriage to Priscila," he said, "put an end to that."

When the Hawai‘i Council for Filipino Ministry celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2006, it included 18 churches among its members. Over 40 ministers, men and women, Ilocano-, Tagalog-, and Visyan-speaking , have served in the Hawai‘i Conference.

 Legacy: Puka'ana Church Music Legacy Offers Gift to All Churches
Preserving Hawaiian religious music is vital to Kahu Nancietta Ha‘alilio’s family and their family’s church, Pukaana Congregational Church.

“Culture and history are preserved through our music, and Puka‘ana Church understands the importance of sharing this legacy with our children,” explains Kahu Nancietta Ha‘alilio. The church is located in Kealia on the Island of Hawai‘i.

Nancietta remembers learning words and notes of Hawaiian music handed down from memory because it was never notated.

Nancietta’s maternal grandmother played an important part in keeping the music alive. Her maternal grandfather called “Tutu Man,” John Lahaina Keala, often visited Rev. Kamakawiwo’ole in Hilo. Living in that home was Nancy Uli’i Awaa, who was hanai by the Kamakawiwo‘ole family.

“As Tutu Man visited, he met Nancy and eventually asked Rev. Kamakawiwo’ole for her hand in marriage,” said Nancietta.

The couple moved to Hookena Makai where the mother Puka’ana Church was established by John D. Paris. It was here and at Lahainaluna Seminary that Tutu Man received his theological education. The couple later moved to Kealia II Mauka and Tutu Man was installed as Puka‘ana’s first full-time ordained Hawaiian minister in 1904, where the current keiki Puka’ana Church is situated.

“Tutu Uli’i was the lead soprano and was instrumental in passing the songs to the next generation,” said Nancietta. “We learned to sing from just the words.”

There was evidence that original composers notated the music, but without the ability to copy and distribute, the notations were lost. It was through teaching by rote that the songs were handed down to each generation.

Lydia Kekuewa, sister of Hawaiian composer Robert J. Nawahine, came on board as choir director for Nancietta’s mother’s generation. After Lydia’s death, Nacietta’s aunt, Nancy Iona, accepted the responsibility of teaching these songs to Nancietta’s generation.

“At one time that choir loft was filled,” said Nancietta.

Nancietta remembers that Aunty Nancy wrote the words on paper. “Sometimes that paper was meat paper from the butcher shop because it held together better,” she said.

“Aunty Nancy taught mostly family members after school because we were always available,” said Nancietta. “Those who knew Aunty Nancy knew that her favorite word was again and her next favorite word was repeat.”

The Rev. John Mulholland and the Rev. Dr. Henry J. Boshard helped the church acquire an old upright piano from Kamehameha Schools in the 1960s. It was the first time there was a musical instrument in the church.

Nancietta accepted the responsibility to continue teaching these songs just as Aunty Nancy Iona did.

“This is what I learned from Aunty Nancy, and I teach as she taught us. They are beautiful songs meant to praise God.”

Now Nancietta and other church leaders are concerned for the future of the music for which the notes are not recorded.

“After I’m gone, there will be no one left to teach the songs, and I can’t let that happen,” said Nancietta.

In a conversation with Nancietta, Sybil Kahaunani Schoenstein, choir director and organist of Kaumakapili Church in Honolulu, came to appreciate Nancietta’s sense of urgency to make sure the songs were not lost to future generations. With the help of a grant from the Association of Hawaiian Evangelical Churches, the “Puka‘ana Project” for notating and copyrighting the music began.

In February, Puka‘ana Church choir recorded the songs with Kahaunai and Roberta Jahrling. Kahaunai then used that recording to begin notating several of the songs.

“This music is going to impact our Christian Church with beautiful music that will not be lost,” said Kahaunani.

“It was beautiful music, and now all of us will have the chance to learn that music,” said Kahu Bill Kaina during remarks at the October 2009 ‘Aha Halawai when the music was shared for the first time with the wider church community.

“All of this music is written and dedicated to the glory of God as remembered by Puka’ana Church and as taught by Aunty Nany Iona and as offered by me,” said Nancietta.


Legacy: Remembering the Beginnings of Community Church of Honolulu
The Beretania Mission and the Fort Street Chinese Church were just two gifts that came from the original mission to the Chinese immigrant community, begun in 1906 by Elijah and Jessie MacKenzie. Another gift that grew from this mission was Community Church of Honolulu (CCH). 

CCH was started when the Young People’s Board of the Beretania Church made the decision to withdraw from the parent church and start their own church. Thirty-one young people started the new church in an old frame building on Keeaumoku and Lunalilo Street. The church was welcomed into the Hawaiian Evangelical Association and in January, 1936 Rev. Stephen Mark was called as the church’s first pastor. A few changes in location and several years later, the congregation decided on a name: Community Church of Honolulu. 

Julia Wong, a member of CCH and the youngest of the three children of Stephen and Rose Mark, said she was too young to remember much about the beginnings of the church but she remembers people. 

“I was one of the ones that ran all over the place,” she said. “My [two] brothers played piano for the church and I ran all over the place. But, we knew what we were supposed to do; we did what we were supposed to do; and went to the classes our parents told us to go to.” 

Julia said that in the early church, many of the gatherings of members happened around shared activities or in common age groups. 

“That’s how they spent the time and every so often they would have one big gathering where they brought everyone together,” she said. 

She remembers how her mother led a group of the women to “be able to do the things the women would normally do for the church like preparing refreshments and making sure mothers had what they needed [to raise their children.]” 

Julia remembers her mother teaching classes. 

“She taught the women how to sew and everything else.” 

The attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent blackouts caused many church activities to be interrupted. Many of the young men in the congregation were called to serve in the armed forces or as civilian workers at Pearl Harbor Naval Base and Hickam Air Field. 

By the fall of 1942, Sunday school returned with the devoted guidance of Mrs. Florence C. Lum and the Rev. Mark began Bible study classes at 10 a.m. on Sundays, after which worship services were held. The young and growing congregation had survived a very difficult period.
 
Julia remembered a strong emphasis placed on these classes to help the young members. She said there were about 10 rooms from the office to the end of the hall and every Sunday morning her father and some school teachers from the congregation taught classes in those rooms to make sure the members learned about Christ.
 
According to the 50th anniversary booklet written in 1984: “The decision to start a new church signified courage and faith and foresight.” 

For Julia the church is a place where you know you belong. 

“The people who are there knew me when I was very very young so they know who I am and who I belong to.“

 Legacy: Decades of Support for OCWM
Our Church’s Wider Mission has undergone many changes since its beginning more than five decades ago. A name change from Our Christian World Mission, retaining the abbreviation OCWM, was just one of those changes. A 1970 article in The Friend, lamenting the fact that OCWM giving to the United Church Board for World Ministries was slipping, gives evidence that at one time the Boards of the United Church of Christ were required to raise funds for OCWM. 

The Friend quotes Jerome Wenner, chair of the UCBWM Budget Committee at the time, chiding UCC congregations for "becoming increasingly a national church, interested mainly in the activities in our own land." 

An August 1957 article in The Friend reminds us that even before the forming of the UCC and the Hawai‘i Conference, churches were coming together to support mission in a number of different ways. The names of the missions that received church contributions have changed, but the work of mission gifts remains essentially the same: "You are reminded that the regular missionary work of the American Board, the Board of Home Missions, the Congregational Service Committee and the Council of Social Action, as well as the important assistance which the Hawaiian Evangelical Association gives in helping the churches with their leadership, are dependent upon the cooperation of the churches." 

And encouragement to be generous in gifts to OCWM has apparently been ongoing. An article in the January 1957 issue of The Friend lists OCWM goals. The article reads, "Goals as accepted by our churches for 1957 to date are running almost 30% ahead of last year for the same churches. This is because a great many churches are trying for the 15% [giving] of their local budget as suggested in our vote at the ‘Aha." 

This call to churches to accept goals for OCWM was emphasized again through a resolution at the 1959 ‘Aha Pae‘aina. The July edition of The Friend reprinted the resolution which read, in part: "That the churches of the HEA be urged to accept goals of our Christian World Mission giving of a minimum of 15% of each church’s current expense budget."

 Legacy: The Path to Reconciliation 
Before the Congregational missionaries ever came to Hawaii, foreign traders, whalers, and adventurers had already brought alien commerce, alcohol, guns, and diseases for which Native Hawaiians had no immunities. When the first 150 missionaries sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) arrived in Hawaii, beginning in 1820, they came with the expectation that they would dedicate the rest of their lives to sharing Christianity in this new place.

By the time of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 all the missionaries who had come to the islands 70 years earlier were dead or retired. However, it was their descendents and their families who were part of the "committee of safety" and "Honolulu Rifles" that, along with troops from the USS Boston, overthrew Queen Lil'uokalani.  

Although the missionaries themselves were not around at the time of the overthrow, the Christian church tradition, and the churches themselves had a role to play in what took place in 1893. 

So, when a resolution supporting the self-governance of native Hawaiians was approved by the 'Aha Pae'aina in 1990 and then brought before the 1991 General Synod, Synod delegates, while recognizing the missionaries' sacrifices and generosity as an inspiration and that their contributions continue to endure, they also recognized the need for an apology. 

The resolution passed by General Synod 18 states, "in recognition of our historic complicities in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 [the General Synod] directs the office of the President of the UCC to offer a public apology to the native Hawaiian people and to initiate a process of reconciliation between the UCC and native Hawaiians."

That apology took place on January 17, 1993, the 100th anniversary of the Overthrow, when UCC President Paul Sherry came to Hawaii and apologized before a large number of native Hawaiians and others gathered at ‘‘Iolani Palace.

Kimo Merseberg, who was one of the people who assisted with that visit, said, "By God's grace, this UCC/HCUCC experience was about accepting the truth of a 100 year old Church injustice; and then, with God's help taking appropriate steps to make things right."

Kimo said when news hit Hawaii that the 18th General Synod had added to the resolution the direction that the President apologize to the native Hawaiian people, it was a shock.

"It shook up our 50 ethnic Hawaiian congregations, fruits of the New England Sandwich Islands Mission which brought the gospel to our kupuna in 1820; and, it also upset Central Union Church, home of the missionary descendants," Kimo said. "Some felt it was wrong for the General Synod to have enacted that Resolution before first consulting us. I struggled with that too." 

Kimo went on to state that when General Synod delegates learned "Hawaiians inside and outside the Church had been hurting for a whole century because of the 1893 illegal overthrow of the Monarchy" and being the peace justice Church, that the UCC is, the delegates felt called by God's Spirit to respond with all its power to atone for this wrong. 

"When the news reached us, it was like a great tsunami/tidal wave had hit the entire Hawaii Conference with stunning force; and, then was followed by many upsetting aftershocks." he said. "Some agreed, others were against, many were undecided." 

Kimo said when some people realized the Resolution was not "bashing the missionaries" as at first thought, but that was actually in support of the work the missionaries had done when they came to Hawaii in 1820, they were able to affirm General Synod’s conclusion that the "offenders of the unjust act were some business minded missionary grandchildren and associates." 

"When the Dr. Paul Sherry, president of the United Church of Christ was introduced, the loud sounds abated,” Kimo said, speaking of January 17, 1993, the day of the Apology. “As he spoke, there was a complete respectful silence. The Hawaiian people and all in attendance carefully listened to his every word. At the end, a brief silence, then, great applause; roaring shouts of approval; people were openly crying, shaking our hands, saying words of aloha." 

In his sharing during the 'Aha Pae'aina in June, Paul remembered that the hope of the delegation that came from the UCC was that the Apology would be an "instrument of healing and transformation."
Paul said everyone involved recognized that the Apology was (and, to some degree, still is) a controversial issue. But, he remembers in particular an exchange with an older native Hawaiian woman who came up to him following a worship service during the 1992 visit, which preceded the 1993 Apology. 

According to Paul, she said something like the following, "Rev. Sherry, I still am not sure that the apology was the right thing to do. I will have to continue to struggle with my feelings about that. But if it helps us to heal the wounds of so many years, if it can help lead us into a more just and loving relationship with each other, it will have been worthwhile." 

And, to those gathered at Community Church for the 187th 'Aha Pae'aina, Paul shared his hopes for moving forward: "First, we will build upon the Apology's foundation as we trust in an utterly trustworthy God. Second, we will build upon that foundation as we love, courageously love, each other. Third, we will build upon that foundation as we pursue justice and mercy for the native Hawaiian people, for all people who need our support and care. Fourth, and finally, we will build upon that foundation as we refuse to submit to despair, as we live in abiding hope." 

 Rich History of ‘Aha Pae‘aina Captured in 1887 Issue of The Friend
In celebration of the 187th ‘Aha Pae‘aina, this issue reprints an article that appeared in the July 1887 issue of The Friend, offering reflections from the June 1887 gathering of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association.

The present Editor being Hawaiian born, has been wont to personally enjoy the annual meeting of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, at whose sessions only the native language is used. These and the semi-annual meetings of the Island Associations have been a school of parliamentary training for the native pastors, and the details of organization and order have come to be conducted in a very becoming and satisfactory manner.

Some fifty pastors and preachers with half as many delegates were this year assembled. These were largely men of grave and dignified aspect, with kindly, intelligent faces—with a manner betokening earnest faith and purpose. No Christian could fail to feel that this was a company of the Lord’s people with whom it was good to be associated.

The details of their work will be found reported in their proper place. The conduct and results of the meeting were highly satisfactory. Some apprehension had been felt respecting some known revolutionary elements tending toward corrupt political affiliations. A slight effort indeed was attempted in that direction, but met no support and came to nothing. The whole tone of the native members was cordial and actively accordant towards their white brethren.

This fraternal warmth was especially manifest at the tea-party of the Woman’s Board, where the ladies entertained the Association, and the social intercourse and speeches were exceptionally cordial and assuring of mutual brotherly love. The Association and its Board entered upon a new year of work, with strong encouragement

 Kailua Christian Church: Birthed from Tragedy and Christian Love
The church tells the story of Irene Kanetake, a real estate agent from Kailua and Makiki Church member. She was at Gladys Kiyota’s beauty shop the morning after a marine was killed by a Kailua youth. They were talking about the tragedy when Gladys asked Irene if she knew where the youth’s family lived and if she would be willing to take her there.

Irene and Gladys visited with the murderer’s mother, Mrs. Akamine, who was overcome by her son’s actions and the death of another of her children earlier that week. Gladys asked if she could pray with Mrs. Akamine. Mrs. Akamine was so moved by what Gladys said and did that she asked to learn more about Christianity. Irene was also moved. With the help of Gladys and other members of Makiki Christian Church, a small Bible study at Irene’s home grew into a mission that met at a local school and eventually became Kailua Christian Church.

“Makiki members were very responsive,” said Paul Nagano, who was Associate Pastor at Makiki Church and coordinated the effort to bring Makiki members to Kailua to help with the new mission. “They leaders had the burden of helping, but it became contagious.”

At the time, Makiki Church members were divided into colonies of four groups. Each group of 50 people had its own leader and each colony had a Senior Deacon. The Senior Deacon and each of the four group leaders were in regular communication with the church administrator so whenever there was a building project or something like the new Kailua Christian Mission, the Senior Deacon would go to talk to each group and challenge them to be part of the project.

“We got a great response for supporting Kailua Christian Church,” said Paul. “The church was one of the great experiences of my ministry in Hawai‘i. KCC was born out of the initiative of the lay people of Makiki and of Kailua.”

Bob and Millie Uyeno were among those Makiki members who supported the new church initiative in Kailua.

“The strategy was to primarily get involved and participate in their worship services and prayer groups,” said Bob. “This meant that many of us worshipped in the morning at Makiki and then drive over to Kailua in the afternoon to join the growing congregation for worship at the public school cafetorium.

When KCC grew to the point that they and Makiki Christian decided it was time to hire a full-time pastor, Paul asked his college classmate Roy Ishihara if he would be willing to come as a missionary pastor.

“I was excited about starting a new church,” said Roy. He remembers the help that the new church received when it decided it was outgrowing the high school band room and needed to find a permanent meeting site. “People who weren’t even members volunteered to help,” said Roy. “People we never knew said, ‘I’m a carpenter, can I help?’ They were all excited and curious, even non-Christians.”

Twenty-five years later, Bob was one of seven Makiki Christian Church members commissioned to start another sister church in Hawai‘i Kai, now known as Hawai‘i Kai United Church of Christ.

Church leaders and lay members reaching out to other communities to support and encourage people in the faith—that is an incredible legacy of Makiki Christian Church to the Hawai‘i Conference.

Remembering the Stories: Singing a New Song from Kalapana to Hilo
Kalapana Mauna Kea Church has had many cherished memories and stories to tell and re-tell.

One that stands above all others is a story about its choir that dates back to 1886. The choir of that time, 60 members strong under the directorship of John Kawili, was to participate in the ‘Aha Mele, a highly competitive song contest, at Haili Church in Hilo. 

The route from Kalapana to Hilo lay along the shores of Puna for a distance of about 30 miles. Choir members walked for three days, practicing along the way. They were fed by people who lived along the trail. John Kawili was so taken by his members’ commitment and dedication that he was inspired to compose a song as they journeyed to Hilo. Within a day, the choir had mastered the new composition, “Leiana o Puna.”
But the song to be sung in the competition was “O Ku‘u Moe.” 

At Leleiwi, they donned their choir dress and with their church banner held high they marched to Haili Church. 

Their rendition of “O Ku‘u Moe,” done to perfection, captured first place. They were awarded “a silver flagon and chalice” (pictured above) and inscribed on it were the words “No Ke Kula Sabati I Lanakila Na Lili‘uokalani, Hilo, August 15, 1886,” a gift from Princess Lili‘uokalani. 

They then sang an encore—John Kawili’s haunting melody composed while walking to Hilo, “Leiana o Puna.” The audience rose to its feet in standing ovation, thrilled and overcome with what they had heard.

Young Couple Shares Passion for God for Mission Work
Dwight and Charlotte Baldwin were early missionaries to these Islands, arriving here with the fourth company of missionaries in 1831. The stained glass window at Makawao Union Church depicts an evangelist carrying the cross and a Bible. The text, from 1Thessalonians, reads; "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love." This symbolizes the missionary couple.

The Scripture text on this window, while certainly not to be reserved only for Dwight and Charlotte Baldwin, is certainly appropriate. It is difficult to recapture the spirit of those times. Though it is only not so long ago, it certainly was a different world. Not only was it a different world as far as ease of travel and communication were concerned; . . . it was a very different climate spiritually. Modern missions were in their infancy. There was a tremendous stirring in the Protestant churches; they had begun to realize the implications of their faith. It struck home with tremendous force, and men and women began to leave the Christian lands to take the message of Christ to the ends of the earth. There was a great response to this challenge among the young people as their latent idealism was fired with St. Paul's desire "to preach the gospel" where Christ was not known.

Dwight Baldwin was one of these. He decided that he wanted to work in Hawai‘i and would go if the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions would send him. He was accepted and then discovered that no unmarried persons were being sent. Although he was 32, he was not married, nor engaged. It was October 1830.

As soon as a ship could be found to take the third group of missionaries, they were to leave, and he did not know any girl to propose to! He applied to a man friend, who in turn asked a woman friend for her help. Emeline Fowler, not only would help, she knew just the right girl—her cousin, Charlotte Fowler, who was a devout girl and wanted to serve God. She took young Baldwin, who was armed with a letter attesting to his character and piety from a Mr. Perrine, a professor of his at Auburn Theological Seminary, to meet Charlotte and her family. Then and there, he poured out his desire to go to Hawai‘i and his need for a devout woman to marry him and accompany him. When he reached this point in his recital Charlotte slipped out of the room and later Emeline found her sobbing. The cause of her tears was that she thought this nice young Mr. Baldwin was going to marry her dear cousin, Emeline, and take her to a far-off country. Emeline had to make her understand that it was she whom Dr. Baldwin wanted for his wife so indirectly had the young man made his proposal!

Charlotte asked for a week to make her decision and was given Mr. Perrine's letter and her week. When she said yes, they were immediately married. Emeline had done some fast talking, but even she could not have brought about such an event so soon except for the fire in the hearts of these young people, the desire to serve God on the mission field. Just think of it: marriage to a man she hardly knew, separation from her home and friends, a long ocean voyage, a strange land, a new language, and no chance to return home any time soon—
or perhaps ever—and a new work, all in a few months time. No wonder these men and women won half a world! And the beautiful thing is both were known to have said that neither had ever regretted their choice. Surely God gave them, in the words of the marriage service, "a new heart fit for their new estate:" Only after twenty-four years of unbroken service, when Dr. Baldwin was plagued by ill health, did they return to their homeland for a visit. And then they returned to Hawaii to finish out their days.

In Hawai‘‘i, Dr. Baldwin moved through a terrific schedule of tasks. There was preaching, not, only at his own station, but at out-stations, as often as he could. He had high standards for converts. They had not only to assent to the Christian beliefs, but they had to show in their lives during the week that they were truly converted. The progress was slow. The church members could be counted on your fingers the first few years. Often it was discouraging, but also there were converts who rejoiced his heart.

Dr. Baldwin taught five days a week. He was anxious to teach sons so they could teach others. He anticipated Dr. Laubach's famous "each one teach one" idea. He believed that religion and education go hand in hand. Indeed, all the missionaries did and one of their early works was establishing Lahainaluna. Dr. Baldwin believed that one must love God with his mind as well as with his soul. And he saw clearly that education was essential for the advancement of the Hawaiian people.

There was medicine. Dr. Baldwin had medical training. His work was often interrupted and his health and vigor drained by answering calls for help, calls which he had to answer on horseback or on foot. . . . Dr. Baldwin felt that the care of bodies was inseparable from the cure of soul, and he never refused his services. But he often regretted that these calls took so much time from his preaching and teaching.

And then there was welfare. He was concerned for the life of the Hawaiians and was often called in to counsel the chiefs. He was concerned for sailors. He was a main mover in the establishing of a rest house and reading room for them in Lahaina. He was concerned for the Islands as a whole in relation with the rest of the world. He felt that too many foreigners were being given positions of responsibility in the government. This attitude was resented, and when the Hawaiians got up a long petition asking the king to dismiss the foreigners and return the power to native Hawaiians, Dr. Baldwin was the subject of an investigation by the government. They felt that it must have been instigated by him, although actually the Hawaiians concealed their activity in this matter from him. He loved this land and felt sorrow at its trials and struggles with outside influences.

The true commemoration of Dwight and Charlotte Baldwin is in the life of this land of their adoption. The window merely serves to remind us of what we owe to them and people like them in the past. In less than fifty years after the missionaries came to these Islands, the king, on a memorable occasion, stated, "The life of the land is maintained in righteousness." Think of what that represents! Think of what it tells of what these men and women built into the life of this land! This window, in its quiet beauty, is a reminder of this devoted service.

Dr. Baldwin's faith and zeal never flagged. At eighty-seven he wrote, "I could well wish that I were young again & could go with others into the deserts of Africa. But such a thing cannot be.”

He lived longer in the Islands than any other missionary, and when he died in 1886, he was the last of those in the first four companies of missionaries.

At a Hawaiian service in the old Kawaiaha’o Mission after his death the speaker said, "The speed and vigor of his steps had diminished. Yet his eyes did not wax dim nor his hearing dull. He did not stoop. His conversation was still vigorous. The Lord took him away gently and speedily without suffering. He lay down and fell asleep among his children lovingly watching. Thus our dear father has taken his final departure. Aloha nui!"

Makawao Union Church is fortunate to have this beautiful window as a reminder of these lives. May its beauty and the lives it commemorates be repeated in our own dedication to God and to these Islands. 

Pastor Touched Many Lives Through Ministry and Prayers
The Rev. Richard Wai Wong was a gifted, multi-talented scholar and writer as well as a beloved pastor. He was born in Honolulu in 1914 and considered becoming a journalist as a college student. He graduated from McKinley High School, studied at the University of Hawaii, Berea College in Kentucky, and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. While at Union Theological Seminary, he studied under 20th century theological greats: H. Richard Niebuhr, Paul Tillich and Seminary President and Homiletics Professor, Henry Sloane Coffin.

Richard was ordained in 1946. He served a Chinese church in Philadelphia while working on a master’s degree in sacred theology at Temple School of Theology. Richard returned to Hawaii and was pastor of the Hilo Chinese Church (now United Community Church), for seven years. He was called to the Community Church of Honolulu in 1954 while the church was still located on Queen Emma Street. The congregation relocated to 2345 Nu`uanu Avenue in 1963 and dedicated their new sanctuary, two classrooms and an office building in November 1965.

Richard left the Community Church of Honolulu in 1968 for further studies. When he left, the Community Church of Honolulu had a mission orientation and worked in the community. The church had a pre-school, outreach ministry to the Hawaii State Hospital, lay leaders deeply involved with the O`ahu Association and the Hawai`i Conference, a good church school enrollment and active youth programs, and improved OCWM contributions.

He returned to Hawaii in 1970 to become pastor of Kaumakapili Church. He helped the congregation regain much of its vitality and mission outreach with the Kalihi and Palama neighborhood. They distributed food, clothing, furniture, and household appliances and began the Kalihi Palama Health and Dental Walk-In Clinics. He helped the congregation develop its Kanoa Street property to generate rental income and was the force behind the building the new parish hall, Hale Kamika (Smith Hall).

A member of Kaumakapili involved in the daily operations of their outreach ministry said, “Kahu Wong said, don’t be afraid to put your foot forward and serve the Lord.”

Richard “retired” in 1979 and went on to serve Waialua United Church of Christ and to help them in their relocation to a new facility on Farrington Highway.

He returned to Kaumakapili Church in 19841986 as interim pastor.

Richard was an avid gardener, raising vegetables, orchids, and a variety of flowers in the yards of churches. His orchids decorated the HCUCC offices many years. He also loved trees and lychee, dragon eye, and gold trees were left wherever he served. Someone said you could almost smell the flowers and see the colors when he wrote about the plants he loved. He felt God’s live creatures were important to help children learn and appreciate their world so sheep, turkeys, jungle fowl, ducks, frogs, and fish were always part of the landscape along with his plants and trees.

He loved music and attended the symphony and opera. He could identify composers just by hearing the musical scores. He preached a series of sermons on the Beatles even before they came to America. He promoted and encouraged church choirs to practice and contribute to the worship experience. He loved the arts and knew many of the great works and artists by sight.

His great love for writing was brought together in his “Prayers from and Island.” Those original compositions were read daily on Hal Lewis’ radio show. He also wrote numerous articles for the Honolulu Advertiser and Star Bulletin on religious matters.

He was a thoughtful and strong leader in our denomination, serving in many capacities on boards and committees. Richard Wong was not afraid to speak his mind or mastermind a coup to bring about change. He loved the church and especially his Hawaiian flock.

He left behind a sizeable endowment to see his dreams carried out beyond his own life.

Young Missionary Experiences Joys and Sorrows of Life
To leave home and travel thousands of miles from friends and family is not an easy thing to do. For a missionary sent from New England to a place called the Sandwich Islands in the early 1800s, with only a husband and little knowledge of what lay ahead, it required an incredible trust in God’s protection.

That is the kind of trust Caroline Diell demonstrated when she left her family in upstate New York and traveled 160 days on a whale ship with her husband of four months, John Diell.

At the time she began the voyage, Caroline was 25 years old and three months pregnant. Despite sea sickness and terrifyingly-rough seas, the couple and two other missionary couples arrived safely in Honolulu in April 1833. Four weeks after arriving, Caroline gave birth to her first daughter.

Honolulu at that time was a small village where whaling vessels frequently stopped. At any given time, 600 to 1,000 sailors, most of them 15- to 18 year-old men, were spending their money on liquor, gambling, and women. John Diell had been sent to Honolulu to serve as the first chaplain of the Seamen’s Bethel, organized as a ministry to and with the sailors who came to Hawai‘i.

Caroline sent many letters to friends in New England, and in those letters she shared details of her life in Honolulu and her ministry alongside her husband. She spoke of the sick and destitute sailors who needed her help. She asked friends and church members to send boxes of cheap clothing, cotton shirts, jackets, and sheets which she would be able to distribute to those in need.

In addition to caring for her child, Caroline took into her home and cared for those who needed help. She took care of a ship captain who became ill and also missionary children when their mothers were in labor. She traveled to others’ homes, like that of Mrs. Parker in Kāne‘ohe, when it was time for them to give birth.

Caroline’s faith remained strong through the creating of the new Seamen’s Bethel mission and caring for the missionary families around her as well as her own family, which would eventually grow in number as Caroline gave birth to three more children.

“The condition of the world looks vast at home, but when our eyes really behold the desolation of the land, the strong hold of sin, we must shrink from ourselves and feel that our sufficiency is of God,” she wrote in a letter.

Although seemingly strong, Caroline was prone to illness, especially during the summer months when it became hot, but her faith never wavered.

“How often does Our Heavenly Father teach us the frail tenure of our earthly hopes, and by depriving us of strength, health, lead us to feel that our strength is alone in him. That we are pilgrims and strangers here.”

Caroline took advantage of the desire of her friends in New England to help and often received care packages filled with specific items she had requested. This included primary books for two-year-olds, primers and primary lesson books to allow the missionary families to educate their children, and loose gingham dresses because the missionary women came with the warm clothing worn in New England in the winter.

King Kamehameha III provided the site on which the Seamen’s Chapel was constructed and then dedicated on November 28, 1833. By 1834, construction on their new home was also finished.

The Bethel Church was formed in 1837 and Caroline talked of how difficult it was to overcome the opposition to the church. Foreign merchants relied on the business of the seamen and the seamen themselves did not want to give up their life of fun as John Diell was expecting of those who worshiped in the new church. Caroline continued to work alongside her husband while caring for her four children and the missionary families who needed her help.

Through it all, Caroline demonstrated her generous and caring spirit as she was always concerned with others and not asking anything that would take away from others. One example is a note she sent to the person who managed the supplies for the missionary families.

“Could I get a yard of gingham to match this without interfering with the rights of others? I should be greatly obliged.”

On October 20, 1837, John Diell preached his last sermon because of pain from consumption (tuberculosis). Caroline took care of him.

“Never before did earth appear like such a dreary pilgrimage whilst I looked on my four little daughters to be left destitute and dependent upon a mother’s care so far from home. My heart sunk. I wept. I sought God, who has carried me through six trials, to support in the seventh and he heard my petition. He has so far spared him although still sick, enfeebled by a disease that will ere long call him home,” she wrote.

In 1839, Caroline traveled with her husband John to China in hopes of finding healing for him. Their children were left in the care of other families. When that trip did not bring the healing hoped for, John then traveled to the United States, and Caroline returned to Hawai‘i to be with their children. A year later, John returned to O‘ahu, but then traveled to the other islands, as recommended by his physician. When he finally came home, Caroline thought he was looking and feeling better than he had in a long time and the family was hopeful.

Despite caring for her family and her sick husband, Caroline still found time to spend two more weeks in Kāne‘ohe helping Mrs. Parker, who gave birth to her fourth child. She named the baby Caroline Diell.

John’s health continued to decline and it was well-known that he would not live much longer. Everyone recommended that he stay in the islands, but he was determined to care for his family as long as he could. His hope was to see them back to New England. On December 3, 1840, Caroline boarded the Ship Lusanne with her four daughters, ages 7, 5, 3 and 2, and a dying husband for an 18,000-mile journey.

“We left Dec. 3, and I could not, if I should attempt, to describe our feelings,” Caroline wrote. “This was our adopted country, our chosen field of labor, indeed a thousand tender recollections clustered around our little cottage, associated as we had been for eight years with our missionary brethren and sisters by whom our joys and sorrows had been known and reciprocated.”

The night before he died, John Diell asked his wife to pray with him.

“I went to his bed and taking my hand, he said, ‘My dear, I now think I must leave you. I am going. I feel confident God will sustain you and be more to you than I could.’ He expressed his desire that he might be absent from his body, that he might be with Christ,” she wrote.

Caroline then shared the peace that came to both of them as the terror of death was taken away through prayer. John Diell died on January 18, 1841, and was buried at sea.

In a letter she wrote to her friends in New England, Caroline said, “You will perceive that I am again crossing the ocean retracing my steps to my native land but also how changed are my prospects, from what they were nearly nine years since when I gave you the parting hand. The companion of toils, my joys and sorrows has been taken from me, and I am left to wander alone with my four little daughters, without a protector save He who directed my steps thither. I am taught that it is not in man that walked to direct his life.”

Caroline and her family returned to Plattsburgh, New York. In 1852 she donated money to build a monument in her husband’s memory to be erected in Nu’uanu Cemetery.

Speaking of her life in Hawai’i, Caroline wrote: “….had not God ordered otherwise, I should have rejoiced to have lived and died there. It has been to us both the happiest because we believe it is the most useful part of our lives---I know I shall have your prayers that grace and wisdom may be granted to me to the discharge of the important trust committed to my hands.”

Caroline died at the age of 94, on January 16, 1901, two days short of the sixtieth anniversary of the death of her husband. 
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Samoan Pastor Remembered as a Quiet, Faithful Man
Pita Malae was appointed by the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa as the shipboard chaplain for the first group of Samoans enlisted in the United States Navy to come to Hawai‘i in 1951. In 1954 he was appointed to be the lay pastor for the renewed Samoan Congregational Church L.M.S. in Moanalua. It was the start of a long and successful ministry to the Samoan community and within the Hawai‘i Conference. He served the church for 32 years.

“He was a man who didn’t say much but when he said something, he meant it,” remembers Nofo Alo, pastor of Bethel of Amazing Grace Church. Nofo came to Hawai’i in 1961 when he was in his early 20s. Pita was already working as lay preacher for the Samoan Congregational Church L.M.S. in Moanalua at the time. Nofo joined the church, the only Samoan church in Hawai’i, and began to volunteer with the youth. This is how he came to know Pita. 

Nofo said as a lay preacher Pita received a lot of advice from people. “He considered it all and if it felt good and right, he followed it,” Nofo said. 

Silafa’i Malae, now 87, married Pita, a widower, in Hawai‘i in 1957. Pita had seven children from his first marriage, and he and Silafa’i together had seven more. 

“They all love each other as if they have one mother and one father,” she said. The oldest son is running for governor of American Samoan. The children are scattered, living in American Samoa, Hawai’i and the mainland. After Pita passed away in 1994 the entire family came together for a family reunion and to support each other the following year. Several more reunions were held in the following years. 

Silafa’i remembers how important it was to her husband that he be able to serve the best he could. When the church in Hawai‘i asked the mother church in Samoa to ordain Pita, the request was refused because he had not attended seminary. Pita, who wanted to learn as much as he could, was willing to go. Then-Conference Minister Teruo Kawata arranged for Pita to attend Pacific School of Religion. In his year and a half absence, church members, such as his wife and Nofo, continued the ministry. When Pita returned, the church in Samoa approved his ordination, and he was ordained in 1965. 

Many of Pita’s family members were missionaries and ministers, but Pita and his father were the only two who were ordained. “Pita was a very quiet man with a strong faith in God,” said Silafa’i. “Every day we would go into the church together to pray. He would ask for knowledge as to how to run the church. I learned a lot from him.” When he was too sick to walk from their home to the church for their early-morning prayer time, they slept in the church office so that early in the morning they could walk the short distance to the sanctuary to pray. He died in 1994.
She said her husband was very good at fundraising but that he didn’t like to play Bingo. Instead, it was important that the members of the church share their gifts with the Lord as they raised money for the church. Every other month the church would have evenings where members would perform and people would give money in response. These evenings, said Silafa’i, would raise $15-20,000. They also signed up members during these events and that is how their registry grew to more than 85 families. 

Nofo and Silafa’i both remember how the youth of their church would often be asked to come to other churches like Kawaiaha’o or Kaumakapili to sing. Pita and Nofo would take the youth to these churches. Silafa’i said at times they would be asked to help with fundraising efforts at the other churches and all the money they raised would go to the church who invited them. 

“Rev. Malae was an honest man and faithful servant of God,” said Nofo. “He was my mentor and set a good example for me. He encouraged me to go into the ministry.” 

But Nofo did not answer the call to ministry right away. He worked for the Federal Government for 30 years, while continuing to volunteer at the church. Then, in 1993, after having retired from government work, he attended Kanana Fou Seminary in American Samoa and after his graduation was eventually called to the ministry, something his mentor had encouraged.

“Rev. Malae was a man of integrity. He loved children and would always go out and help people,” said Nofo. “If families needed help, he would always help. If a member passed away, he would always give something to the family to help them.” 
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Pioneers of Faith: Hawai'i and Andover Newton

However you want to define it, the missionary movement in the United States began with five students from Williams College in Massachusetts, who sought shelter in a haystack during a thunderstorm. Four years later three of those students brought their fervent call to the seminary we know today as Andover Newton Theological School, where they prepared to follow their calling and, supported by their professors, urged fellow students to join them. In the spring of 1810 a group of seven students walked the campus at Andover and knelt for prayer, affirming their passion to spread God's word around the globe and committing to an untiring effort to promote missions.

Their passion led them to make a compelling presentation to a group of leading Congregational pastors and Andover faculty in the home of Professor Moses Stuart in June of 1810. Within a week that gathering led to the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions – the parent organization for all Congregational (now UCC) mission for the next 200 years. Their witness and activism began one of the most storied moments in history of Christian mission – one that in the years ahead would lead hundreds of graduates of Andover to follow in their footsteps.

Then, when a student named Henry Opukaha'ia, who desperately wanted Christians in New England to know about the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, is added to the equation, the result is the birth of the missionary movement to Hawai'i and a legacy that will forever bind Andover Newton and Hawai'i together. Henry so moved the new American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions with his passion and eloquence that they agreed to launch a mission program for the Sandwich Islands. Henry died before he could return to Hawai'i but his friends in Massachusetts saw that his dream was carried out and in 1819 the first missionaries – graduates of Andover inspired by Henry – were sent to Hawai'i aboard the ship Thaddeus. As a reminder of this important legacy, a replica of the ship remains at Mokuaikaua Church on Hawai'i Island, the first church founded by the missionaries who arrived in Hawai'i in 1820. Henry's Memoirs, published in 1819, became the best selling book in New England. It greatly inspired and helped to finance and staff the first Mission Board to native peoples. Up until that time, many people in New England believed that the "heathen" could not be educated and therefore could not accept Christ. By proving to be an exemplary scholar and Christian, this young man shattered both of these misconceptions.

Last year Andover Newton celebrated its 200th anniversary and remembered in particular its long legacy to the mission field. The merger of two schools, Andover Theological Seminary and Newton Theological Institution, Andover Newton has a combined history of sending hundreds of missionaries to places throughout the world. The combined total of missionaries sent out in the 1800s alone was 548. Today Andover Newton continues this tradition of faith leadership that has enabled graduates to courageously witness to their faith. 
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Children of Japanese Immigrants Remember Pastor Okumura's Legacy

He was a man of vision.

This is how Rev. Takie Okumura was described by members of Makiki Christian Church who knew him and his ministry with immigrants from Japan.

Aiko Kobayashi was a student living in a dorm Takie and Katsu Okumura built for college students who needed a place to stay. Aiko was raised on Kaua‘i and her family attended Līhu‘e Christian Church. Having heard wonderful things about Rev. Okumura, the Kobayashi family was happy to send Aiko to live in the Okumura home as she continued her education on O‘ahu.

Aiko remembers how Rev. Okumura challenged the Japanese immigrants who were only focused on earning money in Hawai’i so they could then return to Japan.

“He said we shouldn’t concentrate only on going back. He told us that because this beautiful country has opened its doors to us, we should give something back,” she said.

One way Rev. Okumura gave back to the community was through his work to build a hospital for the Japanese community. This hospital, today, is known as Kuakini Hospital. He also started sports programs for youth to give them something constructive to do.

When Rev. Okumura first came to Hawai‘i from Japan in 1894, he worked for two years at Nu’uanu Congregational Church. After leaving Nu’uanu Church, he wanted to start a new church for Japanese immigrants. Aiko said he did this by walking the streets of Waikīkī and talking to people about the Lord. The first church building for this new congregation was located at Kinau and Pensacola Streets in 1904. The sanctuary quickly became too small for the growng congregation so they moved down Pensacola Street to build their new church. Makiki Christian Church still stands today.

Aiko said Rev. Okumura wanted to build the new church to look like Kochi Castle in Shikoku, Japan, from where he had originally come. The congregation began their building plans during the Great Depression when others were not building and the economy was hurting. Aiko said that Rev. Okumura wanted to help the local community and said if City Mill wanted to supply the materials for their new building, the church would appreciate the gift.. City Mill did and even today the relationship between the church and the building supply company is still strong.

Tamie Kawashima, also a member of Makiki Christian Church, was very young when Rev. Okumura was the minister. Tamie regularly attended Sunday School each week and occasionally her father would take her to worship services. She remembers one time Rev. Okumura was preaching on Mary and Martha. After the service her father asked her many questions about the sermon and was surprised that she understood so much.

“My father was surprised because he spoke so simply that even I, a child, could understand,” she said.

Tamie said that although Rev. Okumura was a highly education person, he could relate to the people. The Japanese immigrants who came to church were laborers who worked all day and would often be sleepy in the evenings when they came for church services.

“He said it was all right to doze off but really emphasized they should continue to come to church,” Tamie remembers.

Aiko said it was required of all the students who stayed at the Okumura Home to attend Makiki Christian Church.

“That was no problem for me because I grew up in Līhu‘e Christian Church,” she said. “It was wonderful to be part of Makiki Christian Church.”

Aiko doesn’t remember how many students lived in the Okumura Home but she says there were many. A multi story boys’ dorm, a separate girls’ dorm, and a two-story building to house business school students provided room and two meals a day for hundreds of college students over the 90 years Okumura Home was in operation.

Once a week the students attended a session where they would take turns reading the Japanese Bible, which would be followed by a message from Rev. Okumura.

“All of us who had parents from Japan also learned Japanese growing up so we could read,” said Aiko. “To this day I’m still able to read the Japanese Bible when I visit church members in the nursing home.”

Tamie remembers how they often sang Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?

“I never knew why we sang that so often but later as I grew up I realized it was because he was misunderstood by the Japanese in Hawai‘i,” she said. “He fought for young people to be faithful to America during the war. He was the leader of a movement for young people to support America.”

Tamie said she also went to Japanese school and her teacher was angry when he saw a list of names in the paper for United States citizenship that included her name as well as the names of some of her classmates.

“He asked the whole class if we thought we could make our hair go from black to blond and our eyes from black to blue. He said that we were Japanese and couldn’t be anything else,” she said. “He said, ‘Okumura is the culprit.’ He meant that Rev. Okumura was the reason we became citizens. “

Later, after Tamie had served as a missionary in Osaka and returned to Hawai’i, she visited her Japanese teacher. This teacher, who was so angry at Rev. Okumura during the war, proudly stated that he had become both a U.S. citizen and a Christian.

Tamie remembers how Rev. Okumura loved celebrations.

“He would have parties at his home for birthdays and every year on April 4 he had one for the church for Founders Day,” she said.

In addition to gathering his congregation together for celebrations, Rev. Okumura also tried to visit each of his members once a month.

“He didn’t drive but he would have a driver bring him to each church member’s house,” Tamie said. “If he couldn’t come he would send Miss Ikeda, the Bible teacher, or the driver. He said he liked to come to my parents’ house. He would lay his hand on my head and I really liked that.”

Tamie remembers how well Rev. Okumura communicated with his members. He knew who had phones and who could drive so he would get news from the congregation to those people, who would then share them with others.

Rev. Okumura retired in 1937. Tamie said when she left to be a missionary in Japan, Rev. Okumura, although retired, came to the farewell party the church had for her.

“He shook my hand and said shikari yarinasai, which means “do your best.” That was a big encouragement for me.”

Rev. Okumura died in 1951 but not before leaving an incredible legacy to the people of Makiki Christian Church and to the entire Hawai‘i Conference. 

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Iao Congregational Church
By Bill Nakamura

This month’s Legacy Story is written by Iao Congregational Church Member Bill Nakamura based on a 1965 interview with the late Tsumuyo Yatsushiro on the occasion of the church’s 65th anniversary. Mrs. Yatsushiro passed away on July 18, 1985.

The early years of the Wailuku Japanese Christian Church reveal stories of struggle. 

“But, there was humor, too,” Tsumuyo recalled of the early church and its ministry in the small growing community of Wailuku. “Our church started where the people were. The men rolled their own cigarettes, smoked and listened to the minister and his sermon.” 

Tsumuyo said she began going to church with her father in 1895 at the age of five. Her father worked closely with Mr. Egami, an evangelist called by the Hawaiian Board of Missions from Doshisha Theological Seminary in Kyoto, Japan. 

The following year her father and a small group of laymen acquired a plantation home from the Wailuku Sugar Company, moved it and had it reconstructed near the corners of Market and Mill streets.The total cost was $400.00. The building became the “Nihonjin Kurisuto Kyokai” (Wailuku Japanese Christian Church).
She pointed out that other early churches in the community were also founded by racial groupings “because language was hard.” 

“Even our own churches were Chinese, Hawaiian, Japanese and Haole in Wailuku,” she said.

“The sermons were all in Japanese and at my age, I didn’t understand it all. In later years, I grasped that the early preachers spoke the word of God from the Bible, [talked] about Jesus, and righteous living. Christians were not the only ones who came. Many others, like Buddhists, came, too, because they had no church then. It did not matter at all as long as they had a church to go to.”
Other memories she shared included that of over-sized shoes bought to last longer and worn only on special occasions, like attending Sunday services; her father earning $10 a month on the plantation, of which the family, like many others, pledged 25 cents a month to the church; of unpaved streets fronting the church on Market Street, muddy during rain, dusty from passing horses from nearby plantation stables; and protruding splinters on boardwalks in town.

“We had oil lamps hanging along the walls because there was no electricity back then,” she said, describing how people met Sunday evenings for services.

Tsumuyo laughed as she remembered how Mr. Egami discouraged hymn singing but allowed smoking.

“We were teased quite often when we were youngsters for being Christians.”

Tsumuyo began attending church in 1895, but was not baptized until 1915 because the evangelists from Doshisha were not ordained and not licensed to perform
communion or baptism services.

Iao Church went on to establish the Kanda Home, a home primarily for girls who would not be able to go to school because of where they lived. The students lived at the home, went to high school, and even learned Japanese cultural skills. 

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John Mulholland
First impressions can be deceiving.

That is the lesson that three Kahu—William (Bill) Kaina, David Kaupu and James (Kimo) Merseberg—learned as students at Kamehameha Schools (KS) over sixty years ago.

Kimo arrived at KS in 1947, the same year that a new Associate Chaplain, John Mulholland, began working at the school.

“My first impression of Papa Kahu [Mulholland] wasn’t very positive,” said David. “It wasn’t negative either. It was more ‘no impression.’ “

The three Kahu laughed as they sat together recently and remembered how the students at KS gave all their teachers nicknames. The Rev. Mulholland’s first nickname was “Manna Geek.”

“Some of us wanted to sit in the first two rows because the pulpits at KS were huge and he was short, so when he stood in the pulpit you couldn’t see him,” said David.

Bill added, “He had a strange, high voice and you needed to listen carefully to understand what he was saying. I kept thinking, ‘What kind of chaplain do we have here?’ “

So how did someone who made this kind of first impression later come to be known with much affection as “Papa Kahu?”

Kimo and Bill said they got to know him better as part of the KS Deputation Teams, which were made up of two juniors and two seniors who were sent out by the chaplaincy department to preach at churches.

“I got to know Rev. Mulholland as a very serious person,” said Bill. “He wanted us to do the best we could and be as natural as possible.

David said his impression changed during senior year, just before graduation.

“Rev. Mulholland, unbeknownst to me, was keeping up with my growth and learned from my parents that I might entertain ministry as a vocation,” he said. “He approached me and we hit it off conversationally.”

KS had a program for students willing to consider pastoral ministry as a vocation. Kimo and Bill were among those invited to attend a meeting about this new program.

“At the time there were sixty Hawaiian churches in the Hawaiian Evangelical Association (HEA) and only a handful of Hawaiian ministers,” said David. “You were really impacted by the need. We were asked if we could consider addressing that need.”

The school enacted a plan to offer a one-year internship and study experience at KS after graduation followed by a five-year college/seminary curriculum at a college on the mainland. This five-year plan was one being used at the time by Evangelical and Reformed Churches and could offer theological education in less time than the traditional four years of college and three years of seminary.

During the study year at KS, students spent one semester taking a course at the University of Hawai’i while assisting the chaplaincy department at KS. The other semester was spent living and working with pastors on Maui and O‘ahu.

The three Kahu said during that intern year at KS, Kahu Mulholland was instrumental in helping them discern their call and prepare for the learning that was to come. He even changed their classification with the draft board so they would be able to go to college and not be drafted into military service.

The three Kahu said although finances were an issue, whenever Kahu Mulholland asked if they were willing to consider Christian ministry as a vocation and one of them would talk about money he would tell them he just needed to know if they were willing to give it a try. They said yes. Then, at some later time, he would call back to say he had airfare, clothes and tuition money.

David said years later when he was serving as Chaplain at KS, he found out from chaplain office records that Kahu Mulholland went to businesses in the community, told them about the KS students wanting to go to study Christian ministry, and asked for their kōkua.

Even after Kimo, Bill, and David went to Yankton College to begin their formal studies, Kahu Mulholland continued to be present in their lives.

“Not only did he send me away to college but he was also instrumental in keeping me at Yankton,” said David.

David said he became very troubled when some fifth year students attempted to have a teacher thrown out. He couldn’t understand how students had a right to do this to someone who was ordained, and he wrote to Kahu Mulholland for advice, telling him he was going to leave the school.

The reply he received encouraged him to stay through the rest of the year and decide if Yankton was a good “fit” for him. Meanwhile, Kahu Mulholland wrote to Doane College in Nebraska, which had a similar program, to see if David could transfer there if he decided he needed to leave Yankton.

“I stayed the rest of the year and it turned out positive enough for me to be able to remain [at Yankton],” said David. “But if it had not been for that advice from him, I may not be sitting here talking to you.”

Bill had a similar experience. When he went to Yankton as a theological student, he expected that other students would observe the sanctity of the space, but instead found himself surrounded by beer cans and girls in dorm rooms.

“I became disillusioned,” he said. “If this is the ministry, forget it. I can’t.”

He shared his troubles with Kahu Mulholland, who told him to hang on to his belief in God and give himself a month. He also told him he would give Bill names of other seminaries he could contact the following month if he still felt the same way.

“After a month I got used to it,” said Bill. “I came to know students taking courses and serving in churches and raised with them all kinds of questions. By the time I called Rev. Mulholland back at the end of the month he asked me if I wanted to leave and I said I would see it through. He said he would see it through with me.”

“And it doesn’t end there,” said Kimo. “After we came back he came to my ordination service in Hāna. It was a real emotional moment for me because the person who when I first met I didn’t think I’d have anything to do with became a very significant person in my life. The thought that came to me that day was he had become my spiritual father.”

All three Kahu eventually returned to Hawai’i to serve HEA churches, which later became the Hawai’i Conference. Kahu Mulholland attended each of their ordinations and continued to support them in ministry, just as he promised. He and his wife Beulah continued to care for their wives and children as well.

“Not only did we see him as our spiritual father but he saw us as spiritual sons,” said David. “That relationship is what bonded the three of us and our families. My children called him Grandpa. He invited all of us to celebrate Thanksgiving every year together.”

After serving KS for 22 years, Kahu Mulholland retired.

Speaking of the couple, who never had any children of their own, Kimo said, “They really loved each other, but it was a quiet love. They never talked of themselves or tried to put themselves forward.”

When Buelah became ill and later fell into a coma, she was moved to a care home. Kahu Mulholland was then living alone at their apartment at 15 Craigside.

“It was not an easy time for him, but he tried to be independent,” said Kimo. “I wanted to help but he wouldn’t let me. He reached out to help all of us but wouldn’t let us help him. I used to get upset.”

In his later years, when he was no longer able to care for himself, the Chaplain’s Office at KS received power of attorney in order to care for Kahu Mulholland in his final days.

As a Chaplain at KS, David said he was finally able to give back to the man who had given them so much love and support. David said he picked Papa Kahu up every Sunday morning and took him to worship at Bishop Memorial and then out to lunch.

“I wanted him to maintain his dignity,” said David.

“Through him many lives have been touched and changed for the good,” said Kimo.

Bill agreed. “He was the influence behind us.”

And David shared these final words. “His is an important story,” he said. “Our ministries are a legacy to him. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

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Samuel M. Saffery, Sr.
Imagine being a new pastor traveling from Honolulu to Hale‘iwa for Sunday worship at the church to which you have recently been called.

Now imagine the date is December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.

This is what happened to Samuel M. Saffery, Sr., father of Central Union Church member Georgia Kay.

“He couldn’t get through the fires to get to church,” said Georgia. “He told the military people stopping traffic, ‘I have to get to Hale‘iwa. My people are expecting me.’ But he had to come home.”

Although he never made it to church that day, Samuel had many more Sundays when he traveled the long road to Hale‘iwa to worship with his people at Lili‘uokalani Protestant Church, where he served for over 30 years.

“Back then church members saw gifts in an individual and nurtured them,” said Georgia. At the time ministers were only paid $25 a month, so it was not possible for Samuel, with a wife and 11 children to work as a full-time pastor.

Instead, he worked part-time as a circuit preacher in Wahiawa, then as supply pastor for Kane’ohe Congregational Church and Hau’ula Church, and finally as called pastor of Lili’uokalani Protestant Church. He did this while being employed full-time with the government, first as a railroad employee and later as a post office employee.

Georgia’s father was born in 1889 on Kaua’i and grew up on Maui. He attended Lahainaluna School through the eighth grade and then, like other youth his age, came to Honolulu to finish his education at McKinley High School. Later that year he married Muilan Ahu, Georgia’s mother.

When Samuel was called to be pastor of Lili’uokalani Church, the Hawaiian Evangelical Association required all pastors serving Hawaiian churches to speak the Hawaiian language.

“My father spoke both Hawaiian and English so it was easy for the church to accept him,” she said.

Since the church didn’t have a parsonage, the family lived in a home rented by the church. Before his retirement from his government job, Samuel would travel from his Honolulu home near Kaumakapili Church to Hale’iwa on Friday evening and return to Honolulu Sunday night so he could return to work at the post office on Monday.

There were seven girls and four boys in the Saffery family. Georgia said by the time her father became pastor of Lili’uokalani Church, only a few of the children were still living at home. She and her siblings would spend the weekends with her parents in Hale’iwa.

Georgia, who was in the seventh grade at the time, said she remembers the trip from Honolulu to Hale’iwa because as they came down the road into Waialua they could see the spire of the church.

“We used to argue who could see it first,” she said. “Weekends were fun. It was country, and teenagers love to play in the country and walk through the taro patch,” she said. “We’d go to the movie and get scolded because we were the minister’s children, so we shouldn’t be going to a movie.”

Recently, Georgia found a picture of the old church building and commissioned well-known artist Susan Cardenas to do a watercolor painting of the church she remembered so well.

“The church was so dark inside it was scary,” she said. “The bell tower was interesting. Mrs. Fujinaka always rang the bell to call people to church and I loved that.”

Although Samuel was ordained in 1941, Georgia said it wasn’t until he was retired, at the age of 59, that he was able to spend a year at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine. When he returned to Hawai’i he became full-time pastor of the church. The family moved north to be closer to the congregation and purchased a home in Mokule’ia, which is still owned today by Georgia, her 10 siblings and their families.

Georgia remembers Hale’iwa as a town with a lot of small “mom and pop stores.” In particular, she remembers Matsumoto Store.

“Dad would give us a coin for offering and sometimes we would go across the street to Matsumoto’s for candy or seed,” she laughed. “He probably knew but he never reprimanded us. He gave it to us and it was our responsibility to decide how to use it. Dad always allowed us to be ourselves—do what we wanted as long as it was correct and honorable. Every one of us had the freedom to do and be who we wanted. I try to remember to do the same with my kids. Be patient, love them, encourage them.”

When Lili’uokalani Church called Samuel to be their pastor, they called him “for life.” Georgia remembers this well because someone in the congregation stood up and asked if the members realized what they were asking of their new pastor.

“People use to say this is Saffery’s church, and my Dad said, ‘No, this is not our church, it’s God’s church.’ Churches need to be open to all God’s people,” she said. “People wonder why I’m not in a Hawaiian church, but Dad always said, ‘Where your soul is fed, this is where you go.’ I love Central Union Church. It’s been my home church for years.”

Georgia remembers that her parents spoke Hawaiian to each other, but she and her siblings asked that they speak English to them so they could understand. She said her father believed if Henry Opukaha’ia had lived long enough to bring the Gospel back to Hawai’i, the Hawaiian language would’ve been perpetuated. Instead, it was the English-speaking missionaries who brought the Gospel to the islands and English came to replace Hawaiian.

When he first came to Lili’uokalani Church, he preached only in Hawaiian. Then, during the war, some of the military chaplains from Schofield Barracks brought soldiers to church and asked if he could preach in English. The church allowed it and Samuel began conducting an English service at 9:30 a.m. followed by the regular Hawaiian service.

Georgia remembers her dad as being both compassionate and sensitive to whomever came to him.

“I loved being with him because he was so intelligent,” she said. “He was a man before his time. His responses to me were always through Scripture.”

Georgia said she learned from him that even though people change, God’s message does not and that she must look for truth in Scripture.

Samuel used to tell his children that the verses of Proverbs 31 describe female children who are born on a particular day. For example, Georgia was born on the nineteenth of the month, and she says verse 19, “She puts her hands to the staff, and her hands hold the spindle,” describes her.

“It talks about holding people together and I try to do that.”

She said her father also believed Proverbs 21 describes male children born on a particular day corresponding to each verse.

Remembering her mother, Georgia describes her as “a perfect minister’s wife.” “She took care of all his personal needs.”

Georgia said her mother was the disciplinarian who always kept the children in order.

“I used to tell my Dad he had a good secretary,” she said. “She kept order and I’m sure they talked to each other about their feelings of ministry.”

Georgia said her father would not allow her mother to become a member of any women’s organization, even Hawaiian ones, although he loved the Hawaiian people.

“He was aware of the way our people (Hawaiian people) were living and he held culture and Christianity together,” Georgia said. “He believed they had to give up the worship of things and images and trust in God, worship God. Every culture or generation has its way of asking for protection. He used to say it’s not our descendents but God who gives us protection. We gain strength from descendants, but we worship God.”

Samuel received several honors for his work in the church, including receiving an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Huntington College in Indiana and being named Hawai’i’s “Father of the Year” in 1962.

Having served Lili‘uokalani Church until his death in 1971, Samuel left a great pastoral legacy to the Hawai‘i Conference. Another legacy that people continue to remember is his work on the red Hawaiian language hymnal. He was a part of the committee and the one who suggested Na Himeni Haipule Hawai‘i as its name. A third legacy for which he and Muilan are remembered is their son Samuel Jr., who followed his father as pastor of Lili‘uokalani Church and served there until 2005 when he retired at age 93.

A September 23, 1971, article of the life of Rev. Samuel Saffery, Sr.. written by former Conference Minister Chester Terpstra and printed in The Friend, remembers a time when Samuel talked to him about his great desire to keep all of the churches of the Hawai’i Conference unified. He offered this advice: “Keep the doors of reconciliation open, work for peace, strive for unity, for love among the brethren.”

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Shiro and Shika Sokabe
The Rev. Shiro Sokabe and his wife, Shika, came to Japan in 1894 to minister to the Japanese sugarcane plantation workers. Over the next 48 years, they built a legacy that today continues to be enjoyed and appreciated by the entire Hawai’i Conference, and, in particular, Hilo Coast UCC.

In addition to starting the church, which became the center of both Honomu village and plantation life for decades, Rev. Sokabe and Shika, built a school, an orphanage and a refuge for abused wives.

“I was born into Rev. Sokabe’s church,” said Tsuk Ishii, who lived in the neighborhood and came to church with his parents.

Tsuk said when he was four his parents used to bring him to prayer meetings at the church.

“I slept on the table,” he said.

Hilo Coast member Yuki Fujioka remembers some of Rev. Sokabe’s sermons.
“He used to preach about people doing favors for him and about the things he did around campus,” she said. “And he always preached in Japanese.”
Yuki said her parents belonged to the Buddhist church but the reason she started coming to Rev. Sokabe’s church was a family in her neighborhood who had a model T car, which
was very rare in those days.

“He used to bring his kids to Sunday School and we used to jump in and come to church with him,” said Yuki.

Yuki said she remembers the day Rev. Sokabe baptized her in 1935.

“Thirty-five of us lined up after Sunday School and he baptized each one of us,” she said.
Tsuk remembers a different side of Rev. Sokabe.

“He was a strict guy. He was Samurai,” said Tsuk. “He made kids cry.”

Tsuk then went on to explain. During worship or prayer meetings, parents would bring their young children. If they started to cry, the parents would do all they could to make their children be quiet but Rev. Sokabe would tell the parents to let the children cry.

“He said kids are honest and that’s how they let you know when they are hungry or something so let them cry,” Tsuk remembered.

One of the many legacies the Sokabes left the church and the community was a school for children who were not receiving any schooling at all and whose family lives were troubled. Then he built a dormitory to house all those children who needed to be in school but had no home.

Earlier this year, the last of the original buildings used by Rev. Sokabe for the school and the church, was taken down.

“The demolition of the Women’s Building ends a link with the last physical reminder of the many places on this campus where life was lived and ministry was done a century ago,” said Hilo Coast Pastor Chuck Blaisdell during a sermon in March on Sokabe Sunday, the Sunday each year when church members remember the legacy of Shiro and Shika Sokabe. “It was a poignant thing to watch that building come down. It had, of course, become dangerous, with its termite-ridden and sagging floors endangering both those who loved that building and those who used it to get in from the cold and the rain. It needed to come down for safety’s sake, but with it went so much history, so many memories of so much ministry.”

Tsuk remembers Rev. Sokabe, the teacher. He said two things he specifically remembered about Rev. Sokabe as a teacher is he gave all the kids in the church Bibles and he was very strict about discipline. However, Tsuk only remembers seeing him really angry once or twice and both times it was because a boy was teasing a girl.

“He turned over so many of the people because he wasn’t prejudiced,” Tsuk said.

He also remembered that Rev. Sokabe never worried about money because he believed it would always come through.

“He believed in the Japanese way,” said Tsuk. “ ‘Settle all your debt at the end of the year and start the year with no debt.’ “

During another Sokabe Sunday sermon, Chuck Blaisdell challenged church members to always remember the legacy Rev. and Mrs. Sokabe left to the community, the church and the Conference.

“He has invited us to pick up [the mantle] and put it on. He invites us to take the values and the dedication and the courage and the imagination and the mission-mindedness that is all wrapped up in that mantle and put it on and make it our own garment, make it our own cloak for our journey.”

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Jessie MacKenzie

When asked what people most remember about Jessie MacKenzie, the first answer might be the memory of how she would go to Chinatown and round up children for Sunday School and mothers for Bible study and other classes. The description is of Jessie chasing the boys and girls until she caught them but once caught, they willingly joined her, sharing their problems and learning from her.

Jessie MacKenzie began working with the Chinese immigrants in Chinatown in 1900. Seasons of Light: The History of Chinese Christian Churches in Hawai‘i describes her work this way:

“Jessie walked fearlessly through the district’s notorious Tin Can Alley and other sections,, knocking on doors and visiting with Chinese women confined to their apartments by custom and societal restraints. She shared the story of Christ and the new way of life and invited them to the mission for classes and social events.” (Diane Mei Link Mark, Seasons of Light, University of Hawai‘i Press, 1989, 183)

At the time Jessie arrived in Chinatown in 1900, she faced a District that had been traumatized by the disastrous fires of 1886 and 1900. Thousands of residents lost businesses homes and personal belongings and were living in the Kauluwela Relief Camp and later in a settlement home opened by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association on Liliha Street.

Jewett Yee, a member of United Church of Christ Judd Street, said he was too young to remember Jessie MacKenzie personally but he said his parents talked about her all the time, although he doesn’t remember specific stories.

“She was an ardent mission worker,” Jewett said.

Another UCC Judd Street member, Andrew In described her as a “very motherly person.”

Young children who came to the classes and clubs offered at the Beretania Mission, called Jessie, Ah Po, which means grandmother.

By 1907, focus shifted back to Chinatown and Jessie, who had been living outside of Chinatown, decided to move to Chinatown, recognizing the difficulty of maintaining a connection with the residents while living away from the neighborhood.

To All People by Albertine Loomis describes the activity at the Mission:

“A group of grownup men would come in at the lunch hour to chat with Ah Po and drink a cup of tea. Each club-junior or senior, boys’ or girls’-had its own afternoon or evening. Friday was choir night, when the teenagers flung their eager young voices forth and rejoiced in the harmony they created. The mission, using a playground across Beretania from the settlement house, sponsored outdoor games and practice sessions for the meets in which Beretania’s teams would compete with Kakuluwela or Palama or Kakaako at the Vineyard Street athletic field…Jessie MacKenzie hired a seamstress to teach fine needlework. Women, young and old, began with embroidered pillowcases and went on to dresses.” (Albertine Loomis, To All People, Hawai‘i Conference UCC, 1970, 209)


In 1915, the Mission applied to the Hawaiian Evangelical Association and Second Chinese Congregational Church was founded (now, UCC-Judd Street). Both Andrew and Jewett said their parents were charter members of the church. Andrew even credits Jessie for his parents’ marriage.

“She arranged their marriage. My father was a charter member of the church and my mother’s father was a newspaper editor of the Chinese paper in Chinatown,” Andrew said. “I guess that’s how she knew my mother. She arranged the way and even got all the attendants.”

Jessie was assisted in her work by her husband Elijah, who was superintendent of buildings and grounds at Punahou School. In 1915, illness forced Elijah to resign his position and the couple moved to the west coast.

However, later, Jessie returned to Honolulu to continue her work among the Chinese community. She was a missionary of the Woman’s Board of Mission and, with the help of Ellen Adams, opened a Chinese mission on School Street. In the late 1930’s, Jessie returned to the Beretania Mission, which was now the Second Congregational Chinese Church, and served as the adviser to the Christian Endeavor group. Jessie died in 1941 at the age of 79

Through her three decades of work among the Chinese, Jessie developed a flourishing Sunday School, a Christian Endeavor group, the largest English night school in Hawai‘i and dozens of boys' and girls' clubs.

Andrew said he remembers his parents telling stories about Jessie Mackenzie but he also knew her personally when he was older and attending the Christian Endeavor group at the church.

“I was in high school when she started the Christian Endeavor Society. I used to go to her place and she used to get us on our knees and prayed with us,” he said. “She was quite a force in our lives.”

Jessie MacKenzie’s legacy to the Hawai‘i Conference is evident today when one visits UCC- Judd Street. Every year, members of the church visit O‘ahu Cemetary where Jessie is buried, for a time of remembrance. The new administrative building, MacKenzie Hall, was named in her honor.

“One of the things we did early when we moved to Mackenzie Hall is we had a pageant at Christmas on the back porch,” Andrew said, remembering that a Christmas pageant was one of the special things Jessie MacKenzie as part of her ministry. “We had a nativity scene and all that and even advertised in the newspaper.”

Jessie MacKenzie continues to be remembered with the same love and warmth that she shared with the people of Chinatown. Her legacy has certainly continued through the lives of those she served.



Click HERE to read a song written by UCC-Judd Street Pastor Phil Mark to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Waialua UCC but inspired by the ministry of Jessie MacKenzie

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John D. Paris

There is something magical about stories that are handed down from generation to generation. When mixed with our own stories and those of our childhood, they become so real to us—as if we had been there ourselves.

That is how it is for William Paris (Billy). He may not have been there to actually see the stories take place first-hand but they are as real to him as if he had been there.

Great-Grandfather John

Billy’s great grandparents, John D Paris and his first wife, Mary Green, arrived in Hawai’i in 1841. They arrived on the same boat as the 9th company of missionaries. They and another couple were had been assigned to the Northwest Territory and were prepared to go on to Oregon on the same ship. The ship stopped in Hawai’i en route. In Hawai’i, they were told that an Indian uprising in Oregon had wiped out the entire mission station. The couples were advised to stay in Hawai’i and were then assigned to the mission field at Ka‘u.

Tragedy struck the family in 1847 when Mary died, leaving John with two daughters, Anna Matilda and Mary Aletta.

In Ka‘u, John built the original Kaua‘aha church. In 1849, he set sail with his daughters to return to live in the United States. This may have been the end of the Paris story in Hawai’i had not a ship’s officer told John about the great need for missionaries in Micronesia. This thought stayed with him as he returned to his family home and eventually married Mary Carpenter, a woman he had known when he was in seminary in Bangor, Maine.

The family sailed to Hawai’i and was assigned to the Kealakekua mission field, where over the course of 15 years, they worked to build a total of ten churches. “The last one they built is the church I go to, Lanakila Church, completed in 1867,” said Billy.

During this time, the couple had two children, John D., II, and Ella Hudson. John D., II, was Billy’s grandfather who later married Hannah Johnson.

Among their accomplishments was the rebuilding of Kahikolu Church which had been badly damaged by earthquakes. John took out a loan for $1,200 to rebuild the church, which was repaid by the members of the church. The ruins of the old church are still visible on the south side.

“It was a tremendous church,” Billy said, remembering the stories of how the members all worked together to rebuild the structure. “A lot of materials used in the church—timber and everything else—came from the forest. It was nothing to see 50 or 100 women and men pulling these logs down the side of the hill. It was a labor of love.”

The stone came from the lowlands at Ke’e and other areas and the lime was made out of the coral from Ke’e. Church members made a kiln and cooked the coral, which was stronger than the uncured lime that had been used in the first building.

“My great-grandfather wrote about Kahikolu that on special times when the bell tolled, up to 1,200 people would assemble,” said Billy. “Just think of how many Hawaiian people we had in the church at that time!”

Although some of the churches have moved from their original locations in the Kealakekua mission field, other churches built during this time include churches known today as Central Kona Union, Helani, Living Stone, Puka’ana and Mauna Ziona churches.

Billy said his great grandfather talked of mission in those days: “I’d save my horse for the longer trips, the shorter ones I’d use shanks mir (meaning, he would walk). He thought nothing of walking from Waiohino to Punalu’u.”

And, John thought nothing of traveling far distances to attend ‘Aha Pae’aina’s, or other gatherings of the churches.

“Sometimes they were held in Waimea,” said Billy. “That wasn’t bad, but when they had to go to Hilo that would take three days. Of course, they would stop along the way and stay with various mission families en route.”

In the late 1870s the Paris family left the mission field in Kona to go to Honolulu and start a theological seminary to educate the youth of Micronesia. However, it became very hard for John to support his family and rather than ask for more money, he chose to return to “my Kona.”

When he left the mission field to live on O’ahu, John gave his original home to John D., II, who was a rancher. On his return to Kona, he built a second home, using the foundation of the old house of the Chiefess Kapi’olani. Both homes remain in the family today.

Remembering Aunt Ella and Aunt Carrie

Billy remembers that his aunt Ella Paris had what we would call a bed and breakfast in the second home. As Billy describes it, the experience for visitors included being met by a limousine with a jump seat in the middle and a tour driver with a coat, tie, breeches and leggings. The tour driver had his own cottage and up to four couples would stay in the house with Aunt Ella.

“It was quite colorful,” Billy said.

Billy said notables who stayed at his Aunt Ella’s house included Jack London and King Kalakaua. The King liked to stay at the home because he, along with Queen Liliu‘okalani, Princess Likelike, and Prince David Lelehoku, had spent a lot of time a children at on this site when it belonged to the Chiefess Kapi‘olani.

Billy describes one such visit, from the Crown Prince of Switzerland, as quite an event “My aunt Carrie Robinson who lived in Honolulu and was kind of the head of the family, took care of details,” he said. “She took a trip to Kona to make sure everything was just right for the Crown Prince. The sheets were ironed with a charcoal iron right on the bed. That’s the way they did things in those days.”
Billy spoke fondly of his Aunt Carrie as well as his ten cousins who remain connected because of her legacy. Aunt Carrie was Caroline Johnson, who married John Robinson on O’ahu. The couple never had children. Upon her death she left all her holdings in a trust, which today, in the form of a limited partnership, is maintained by the heirs of her two sisters, Mary Shipmen and Hannah Paris. The family gets together at least once a year because of the trust and also to remember the legacy of their family.

Another personal memory for Billy in that home is the time he spent there every summer with his grandmother and cousins. “All of us cousins would go there every summer for two weeks and stay with her,” he remembered. “We had a wonderful childhood at Grandma’s learning how to make lei, how to do certain weaving, how to make raw fish, haupia. And we would always make Hawaiian starch, which was quite a tedious process.”

Another fond memory involves a Japanese man named Kanemasu, who helped Billy’s grandmother care for the home. Years earlier Kanemasu had been on a Japanese training ship and when the ship came to Hawai‘i, he jumped.

“He came to my Grandfather Paris and asked if he could take refuge there so Grandpa kept him, and Kanemasu became very loyal,” said Billy. “Grandpa arranged for his immigration papers and he stayed and worked for the family until he died. He was a wonderful cook and gardener and taught us all kinds of mischievous stuff.”

Billy enjoys remembering how Kanemasu made blow guns out of small bamboo for the cousins, and the cousins would then go to the silent movies at night and stand in front of the screen, shooting at the heads of the movie-goers.

Generosity from the Butcher’s Family

Billy also remembers the butcher business his father and uncle had. With no electricity in those days, the cattle were killed in the late afternoon and hung in a screened butcher room. Around 1 or 2 a.m., the men would start cutting the meat, and then all the cousins would get on the back of his uncle’s truck and go up the coffeeland roads to deliver meat.

“They didn’t order t-bone or round, they ordered $1 or 50 cents worth of meat, and father kept a book,” said Billy. “One week they would get meat from forequarter, which is of lesser quality, and the next week they got it form the hindquarter. We took care of them. They got good meat one week and lesser quality meat the next.”

Billy lifted up the importance of taking care of the land as well as caring for and respecting the people around you. He remembered how his aunt Carrie cared for people. She lived in Honolulu but owned cattle in Kona, which Billy’s father tended.

“Every Christmas holiday she would arrange for a shipment of her cattle to Honolulu,” Billy said. “We would ship the cattle there, and when that ship came back we would have cases of oranges and apples and barrels of salt salmon from her. We would deliver this to all her tenants, people who leased the land from her. She’d have my father butcher two animals every year and every one of those people and those in our church (Lanakila Church—her church) would have meat for the holidays. That’s the respect they had for the people to which they were connected. I’m one of the last ones who still butchers two animals every year and gives to the people in our area—members of the church—it’s tradition. It was instilled upon us by our forebears.”

Church Traditions

Billy remembered other gatherings as well, especially, the Sunday School gatherings, or hoikes, where all the children would gather at one church.

“You usually had scriptures you studied for these gatherings and the congregation would compose a hymn that would correspond to these scriptures. When I was a kid all the recitals were given in the Hawaiian language.” said Billy.

This is a tradition Billy believes should continue today. Although not everyone knows Hawaiian, makua’s could say the scripture in Hawaiian and have the opio’s repeat it in English.

“I still try to keep some of that tradition,” he said.

Billy acknowledges that are many hymns composed by the Hawaiian people that are not preserved. He believes it is important to get them written down and copyrighted to share with the rest of the Christian world.

“It’s beautiful stuff,” he said, “We have some beautiful hymns”

Billy’s Aunt Ella Paris was one of the people responsible for the hymns and songs that are part of the Hawaiian tradition today. The pen name she used in translating the hymns was Hualalai, which is the name of the mountain above Kailua-Kona. She took that name because of a visit she made to the mountain once with Billy’s great grandmother, Eliza Johnson. They stayed there for three months, living like nomads off the land and Billy said she fell in love with the mountain.

Aunt Ella served as secretary of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association on Hawai’i Island for many years and worshiped at both Kahikolu Church and Lanakila Church.

“She really taught our people how to write music and everything else,” said Billy. “Aunt Ella is the translator of many hymns in the Na Himeni. She was a devoted Christian, a dear soul. Sometimes I feel our missionaries, to a certain extent, missed the boat. They should’ve incorporated the great Hawaiian love of music, dance and hula and have them portray the biblical stories, a lot like we are doing now.”

Carrying on the legacy handed down from his aunts and grandparents, Billy is very involved in the ministry of Lanakila Church and the Hawai’i Conference. In addition to serving on the Property Management Committee of the Hawai‘i Conference Foundation, Billy is a deacon in his church.

“I do all the Hawaiian ministry in our church (funerals or anything else) because our minister is not well-versed in the Hawaiian language,” said Billy.

He remembered one time going to a funeral with a previous Kahu who commented that there wasn’t even a program. But the Kahu quickly solved the dilemma by telling Billy that he would take the English and Billy could take the Hawaiian and the funeral service would be fine. It was.

Billy said he learned much about Hawaiian ministry from a senior deacon at Lanakila Church, Charlie Aina. “He was a school principal and a wonderful man,” Billy said. “He influenced me and whenever I would have to do a talk in Hawaiian, I’d always go to Charlie for kōkua because he was well-versed and knew how to write properly. I learned so much from him as far as Hawaiian ministry.”

Billy Paris knows the stories of his great-grandparents, his parents and his aunts as if he was there to see it all happen. And these memories, as they’ve been passed down in his family and will continue to be passed down to Billy’s children and grandchildren, will continue to benefit all of us in the Hawai‘i Conference.

“As my cousin always used to say, ‘Billy, aren’t we lucky the Indians were restless in Oregon?’” We all are lucky.

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The Damon Family

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the United Church of Christ and as we launch a new look for The Friend, a feature has been added to The Friend and this website: interviews with members of our Hawai‘i Conference ‘ohana who are descendents of people who made a difference in the Conference throughout history. Our first two-part series will feature the lives of Samuel Chenery Damon and Francis Williams Damon as seen through the eyes of Cyril Francis (Frank) Damon, Jr., great-grandson of Samuel and grandson of Francis. Samuel was the first editor of The Friend.

Part 1: Samuel Chenery Damon: First Editor of The Friend

“I feel quite honored to bear the [Damon] name.”

Cyril Francis Damon, Jr., grandson of Francis Williams Damon and great-grandson of Samuel Chenery Damon, said this about the two men who left a great legacy to both the communities and churches of Hawai‘i. This two-part series will feature the lives of each of these men and their families as seen through the eyes of Cyril Francis (Frank) Damon, Jr., member of Central Union Church and Honolulu attorney.

The Damon family has published two books in recent years. The first, Seamen’s Chaplain: Reflections on the Life of Samuel C. Damon, was published in 1992. The second book, All Men Are Brothers: The Life and Times of Francis Williams Damon, was published in 2005. 

As one of the members of the editorial comittee who created the first book and the person in charge of putting together the second book, Frank says many of his remembrances and the stories he has heard are detailed in these books.

Samuel Chenery Damon was born in Massachusetts in 1815. After graduating from Amherst and Theological Seminary at Andover in Massachusetts, he was sent to Honolulu in 1842 by the American Seamen’s Friend Society in the company of his wife, Julia Mills Damon.

Julia was the niece of Samuel J. Mills, well known as one of the participants in the Haystack Meeting, which was the primary catalyst of the American missionary movement. He was also instrumental in founding the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM), a predecessor body to the Common Global Ministries Board, from which UCC missionaries are sent all over the world today.

However, it was not the ABCFM that sent Samuel Damon to Hawai‘i in 1842 but the American Seamen’s Friend Society founded in 1828. His original hope was to be sent to India as an ABCFM missionary, but former missionary Hiram Bingham urged him to come to Hawai‘i through the Seamen’s Friend Society instead.

“This is interesting, the whole story of the missionaries here,” Frank says. “You think in terms of today when you fly here, but in those days you went around Cape Horn and it took five to six months,” said Frank. “The Congregational Church had a rule, a smart one. Any new missionary to Hawai‘i had to be married before coming out here. And, needless to say, there were a lot of pregnant women who arrived here.”

Samuel and Julia Damon had five sons. The oldest son, Samuel Mills Damon, died as an infant. Because it was a custom in those days that when a child died, the next child born of the same sex was given the same name, the Damon’s second son was also named Samuel Mills. This son went on to become a noted financier who founded what is now First Hawaiian Bank. He was the business partner of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s husband, and as a result, upon her death Princess Bernice bequeathed to him in her will a large tract of land in Moanalua Valley.

“He was very akamai in the financial field,” said Frank of his Uncle Samuel.

The third son was Edward Chenery Damon. Francis, the subject of the book All Men Are Brothers, was Frank’s grandfather and the fourth son born to Samuel and Julia. The fifth son, William Frederick Damon died at the age of 23 from typhoid fever.

“It was very typical in those days, lots of children, lots of deaths,” said Frank.

Although Samuel Damon was not the only person to serve as a seamen’s chaplain, from the day he arrived in Hawai‘i until his death in 1885, he was known by everyone as the “Seamen’s Chaplain.”

In the mid-1800s whaling was a huge American industry. Frank said his great-grandfather had a church on Bethel Street. He would meet every whaling ship that came in and would encourage the captain to come to his church, which was located at Bethel and King Streets, for a Sunday service.

“You can imagine these sailors, many of whom had been at sea for months,” said Frank. “They were only interested in two things, in either order when they arrived here—women and liquor. How many of them he got to his church I don’t know, but obviously when their inner fever waned, some did come to church and there was a lovely little story there.”

Frank went on to describe how during the sermon, Samuel would invite the sailors to come to the writing room after worship. His wife was in charge of the room and would see to it that each sailor received pen, ink and paper.

“She then told them to write a letter home to their mothers, which [the Damons] would mail,” Seamen's Chapel, Honolulu, 1843.
said Frank. “It would take six months for the letters to arrive back East, if at all, but at least they had written.”

Samuel Damon’s Bethel Church is one of the fifteen congregations that later merged to become, today, Central Union Church. The Seamen’s Chaplain reports that two years before his death, Samuel said this about his ministry:

During the period of my ministry I have officiated at 334 marriages, 181 baptisms of infants, 227 have united with the Bethel church, while I have been called upon to officiate at the burial of over 1200 of my fellow beings.

The book then continues: “When laid to his final rest, it was said of the Seamen’s Chaplain that he had performed the last rights…for nearly every person buried in O‘ahu Cemetery, the large cemetery in Nu‘uanu Valley where he was interred” (Seamen’s Chaplain, page 22).

Samuel Damon was the first editor of The Friend, a newspaper that serves the Hawai‘i Conference United Church of Christ today and is identified as “the oldest newspaper west of the Rockies.” Originally named The Temperance Advocate, Samuel Damon was the paper’s sole writer and editor. The newspaper was created for the sailors and included news from both American and English newspapers as well as announcements of upcoming events, reprints of sermons (both Samuel’s sermons and those of other pastors), poetry, local news, editorials, ship arrivals and departures and a listing of marriages and deaths.

The introduction to the Seamen’s Chaplain states that Samuel Damon “published between a half million and a million copies of The Friend, most of which he personally distributed.”

“How did he do that for 40 years?” said Frank. “How did he get things printed?”

Frank said he continues to be amazed that his great-grandfather was also able to receive and print letters written by his son, Francis, when, as an adult, Francis began to travel the world. It is recorded in the Seamen’s Chaplain that between 1876 and 1882, The Friend published sixty-one of his travel letters under the title “Rambles in the Old World.”

Frank knows first hand that his great-grandfather was a prolific writer as he has read some of his publications such as the accounts of his travels to Oregon and California to observe the new settlements taking place and the excitement of the Gold Rush, all of which he published in The Friend. In 1882, Samuel Damon completed a detailed family history and genealogy entitled Damon Memorial, which is included in Seamen’s Chaplain.


Frank tells about how famous people would sometimes visit Hawai‘i and the Damon family became friends with them.

“Two American writers—heroes of mine—Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson both spent time in Hawai‘i and wrote about Hawai‘i,” said Frank. “They were both eloquent writers.”

Frank said that when in Hawai‘i, Mark Twain lived next door to the Damon home, which is the reason the two families became close friends.

Another famous person Samuel Damon had become friends with was Manjiro Nakahama. This man was a Japanese fisherman who had been shipwrecked and then found and educated by Captain Whitfield in America. At that time, because the country of Japan was closed to outside influence, it was said that any Japanese who left Japan and lived in a foreign country would be executed if they tried to return to Japan.

Despite this, when Manjiro expressed a desire to see his mother again, Samuel Damon, who had befriended Manjiro, not only encouraged him to do so, but was instrumental in seeing that he returned.

Manjiro was not executed upon his return to Japan. In fact, his return came at just the right time as Japan was realizing the need to open up to foreign countries, and Manjiro was the only man who could understand both Japanese and English.

Frank remembers a story about him.

“When Commodore Perry went [to Japan] in 1854, the Emperor of Japan met him and behind a closed, black curtain was Manjiro taking notes,” said Frank. “I am told that is just a story, I don’t know.”

Samuel Damon is described as someone who deeply believed in the importance of helping:

the friendless, and downtrodden, emancipator of the enslaved, and the genuine apostle of human freedom and equality among the nations of the earth…His attitudes toward blacks and other ethnic minorities, and toward the status of women and the welfare of working people, were all far ahead of this time (Seamen’s Chaplain, page 74).


The Damon family had a strong connection to Punahou School, founded in 1841, a year after Samuel came to Honolulu. All of Samuel’s and Julia’s surviving children attended Punahou. In addition, Samuel, Francis, Cyril Francis (Frank’s father), and Frank were all trustees of Punahou.

“The mathematical chances of that happening are practically incredible,” said Frank, speaking of the fact that four generations of the Damon family have served as trustees of Punahou. “Among the four of us Damons we have over 100 years of connection to Punahou.”

A former library in the elementary school was named the Damon Library and now there is a Damon Multimedia Room in the Julia Ing Learning Center. Several Damon family members taught at Punahou as well.

The life and legacy of Samuel Damon are forever captured in the words of Seamen’s Chaplain as well as in the hearts of family members like Frank Damon, who realize the importance of the gifts his life and ministry left to the church in Hawai‘i.

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Part 2: Francis and Mary Damon

“Tackle the dread.”

Frank Damon remembers this as one of his grandfather’s favorite sayings.

“I love that motto,” he said. “Tackle and Dread are both strong words.”

Frank Damon’s grandfather, Francis Williams. Damon, was the son of Julia Mills and Samuel C. Damon, Seamen’s Chaplain and first editor of The Friend. He grew up in Honolulu watching his parents care for sailors who came to Hawai’i. Through his parents’ acquaintances, Francis grew up around members of the royal family as well as famous Americans such as Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson.

But the story of Francis Damon was very much his own in that he lived by his motto and was never afraid to seek out new adventures.

His adventures took him around the world and always wrote remarkable reports that were published in The Friend. These were some of the first glimpses recorded about life in Europe and Asia in the late 19th century.

Frank said his grandfather was a linguist who could speak Chinese, English, German and French. Because of his language skills, he was appointed by King Kalakaua in 1878 to serve with the Hawaiian Legation in Berlin.

It was in China that he met and later married his wife, Mary Rebecca Happer, whose father was Rev. Dr. Andrew P. Happer, who served as a medical missionary in China. Honolulu became their home.

“My grandmother was beloved here,” said Frank. “An attractive woman with blond hair and blue eyes—she was just loved by everyone. I can remember her singing Chinese lullabies to her grandchildren.”

Frank shared a family story about his grandmother. She boarded a street car one day with two young Chinese men.

“One of them said to the other in Chinese as she passed them, something to the effect of, ‘Wow! Look at that babe,’ or something like that,“ said Frank.

The story continues that she sat three or four seats in back of them and could hear them talking. As she left the street car, she gave them a dazzling smile and said in Chinese, “Work hard and be diligent and there are more like me out there.”

Frank said he has shared this story with others, including a co-worker at the law firm where he is a partner. Two weeks later, this co-worker gave him a package. Inside was artwork bearing the Chinese characters for “work hard” and “be diligent”. She explained that after she heard Frank’s story, she called her parents in San Francisco and asked them to have a Chinese calligrapher write out the characters. The framed artwork now hangs in his office.

“To me it’s an important family possession,” said Frank.

Francis and Mary moved to Hawai‘i and raised their children during the troubled times of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i and the transformation from kingdom to republic to territory.

Through it all, he lived and carried out another motto of his life: “Within the Four Seas, All Men are Brothers.” In fact, when his grandson, Frank and other family members decided to write a book about Francis’ life, this was the title they decided upon.

Francis and Mary lived much of their lives ministering to the Chinese immigrants who were coming to Hawai‘i. Several members of the Chinese community approached Francis and Mary asking for education for their children. The couple took the children into their home and began to educate them.

This led, in the late 1800s, to the founding of the Samuel J. Mills Institute for Oriental Boys with 15 boys living in a refurbished barn behind the family home on Chaplain Lane. By 1900, the Institute was accommodating 140 students. Eventually, Mills Institute merged with several other Honolulu boarding schools to become today’s Mid-Pacific Institute.

Frank said one of the most notable among his grandfather’s friends was Sun Yat Sen, the first President of the Republic of China. Sun came to live in Hawai’i at the request of his older brother who was a farmer on Maui. His brother eventually gave Sun some land and told him to make his own living.

Francis and Sun Yat Sen met through the Honolulu Chinese community.

“Both men were tenacious about pursuing what they saw as necessary for others; hence, they found a natural common bond.” (All Men are Brothers, pp. 35, Cyril Press, 2006)

At one point, Francis, who had seen the oppression of the Manchus, who were the leaders in China at the time, allowed Sun to use the grounds of Mills Institute to march troops in preparation for a rebellion in China.

In 1911, finally the Manchus were overthrown and SunYat Sen became the first president of the Republic of China.

“We have a letter in the family written by him to my grandfather thanking him for his support,” said Frank. “We have this letter in a vault in San Francisco. Sun Yat Sen is one of the great men of the last century and he and my grandfather were friends.”

In 1892, Francis Damon approached the Board of the Hawai’i Evangelical Association (the predecessor to the Hawai’i Conference) about establishing a kindergarten at the Chinese Church on Fort Street. He had learned about the importance of early education while working in Germany and wanted to bring that model of education to Hawai’i. (Kindergarten translated from German is Children’s Garden.)

This kindergarten opened that same year as the first free kindergarten in Honolulu and, as Francis observed, “the first Chinese kindergarten on earth.” Just 10 years after its opening, the kindergarten would have an enrollment of 167 Portuguese, 124 Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians, 106 Chinese, 87 Japanese and 15 of other nationalities.

Today, Francis’ grandson, Frank, continues to serve as a member of the board of the Kindergarten Children’s Aid Association (KCAA), which continues to provide education and aid to 900 children ages eighteen months to five years, following the tradition that Francis and Mary began with the Fort Street Kindergarten in 1892.

“Tackle the Dread” and “Within the Four Seas, All Men are Brothers.”

“Yes,” said Frank. “I think both of these mottos typify my grandfather.”

The reason Frank worked with other family members to see Seamen’s Chaplain and All Men Are Brothers come out in print?

“A strong aspect of Christianity is about giving to the community and that is what this heritage is,” said Frank pointing to the books that tell the stories of his grandfather and great grandfather. “I strongly believe in this.”

Francis and Mary lived out his mottoes "Tackle the Dread," and "Within the Four Seas, All Men are Brothers." Along with the Damon family, Hawai‘i today has inherited this legacy.

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