In early January I traveled to Hawaiʻi Island for a month of writing, revisiting old friends, speaking and research. By early February I had visited Kailua-Kona, Kaʻū, Miloliʻi, Pahala, Hilo, and North Kohala. Mahalo to Rosemary Miller, Susan Caddell, David “Tiki” McLauren, Ed and Sharon Bernard, Herb Alverez Jeff Rogers, Kahu David de Carvalho, Yolanda Olson, Julia Neal, David Ross, Charles ”Mahina” Kaupiko, Mark and Dayna Blair, Deborah Lee, Kapali Lyon, and other friends for making this trip possible.
Kahu Charles and Mama Kahu Melveen Kaupiko royally hosted me at the Hauʻoli Kamanaʻo Church at Miloliʻi on the South Kona coast. I spoke at the Sunday morning service with a focus on the history of the church illustrated with Hawaiian language letters and vintage congregation photos.
Jeff Rogers producer and filmmaker of the Hawaiʻi Legacy Series of Christian History of Hawaiʻi documentary films and his crew set their cameras on the lawn of the Kahikolu Church parsonage along Kealakekua Bay. Jeff filmed me providing information about the life and times of Thomas Hopu, the close friend of Henry ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia. Hopu lived and served in the mid-1820s as a native minister at Kaʻawaloa sub-mission station directly across the bay from the parsonage.
Herb Alverez pressure washes the grave of renowned Hawaiʻi Great Awakening evangelist Titus Coan in preparation for the upcoming mid-May bicentennial celebration of Haili Church in Hilo, Coan’s home church. The Coan grave is located at the Homelani-Kulamano Cemetery mauka of Haili Church.
Deborah Lee and I reminiscented about her blessed effort in returning to Hawaiʻi the remains of Henry ‘Ōpūkahaʻia from Cornwall, Connecticut in 1993. I am with Debbie at her family home near Hilo.
Pastor Mark and Dayna Blair hosted me at the Kalāhikiola Congregational Church parsonage in North Kohala. I have previously spent time with the Blairs in Kauaʻi and Honolulu so it was fun to visit them at their home too.
The Kalāhikiola Congregational Church lit by a full moon. Pastor Mark Blair invited me to speak about the life of Henry ‘Ōpūkahaʻia during the church’s mid-week Bible study. I gained an understanding of the ministry of American missionary Father Bond in North Kohala through church members and a visit to the historic church grounds. I hope to return to learn more.
Surfer buddy David “Tiki” McLauren catches the sunset at the Old Airport Beach in Kailua-Kona during a YWAM-Ships pot luck birthday party. Tiki, now a Big Island resident, who grew up in Oceanside, California, and I were neighbors in Haleʻiwa Oʻahu in the winter surf session of 1970-71. Mahalo Tiki for loan of a car during my visit – made the visit possible!
Edward and Sharon Bernard from Los Angeles invited me to enjoy a three-night stay in Waikoloa. We caught a majestic sunset each night and I was able to find some significant writing time in the comfort of a well-appointed condo. The well-traveled Bernards did me a big favor when they did pioneer research for me in England, in London and in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, investigating the life of the Rev. William Ellis, the knowledgable London Missionary Society missionary who wrote a journal of his 1823 mission station surveying circuit of Hawaiʻi Island.
Kauaʻi A History from Mutual Publishing is becoming a popular book here in Kauaʻi. Over December I signed copies at Talk Story Bookstore in Hanapepe and interacted with visitors from across the mainland fielding questions about Kauaʻiʻs colorful past. About fifty images of Kauaʻiʻs history appear in the book, which I selected to both be new to kamaʻaina readers and informative to malihini readers are included, many in full color. The cover features an image new to me of Waimea folks sitting on a rock wall in front of either a thatched western style store or home alongside a traditional style thatched hale. Featured in the book are overviews of Kauaʻiʻs sugar plantations, town histories, and a look at WWII on the island.
Here’s the back cover blurb for the book:
Kaua’i A History paints a portrait of Old Kaua‘i in words and images, bringing back to life the rich heritage and independence of an island portrayed as the Separate Kingdom by historian Edward Joesting.
The narrative and images concisely offer informed accounts of Kaua‘i’s history, both island-wide and individual towns.
This image of a Boston engravers impression of missionary adventurer Hiram Binghamʻs drawing of his campsite at Nuʻalolo Kai along the Nā Pali Coast of Kauaʻi. This image is published in Kauaʻi A History for the first time since serving as a frontispiece to a rhetorical Sunday school book titled Conversations on the Sandwich Island Mission, First Edition 1829.
The Bingham engraving of Nuʻalolo camping appeared as a frontispiece to the first edition of Conversations on the Sandwich Island Mission…By A Lady, published in Boston in 1829 for the Massachusetts Sabbath Schools. Only a handful of the first edition of this book are known to exist. Unfortunately this copy of Conversations on the Sandwich Islands lacked its cover and frontispiece. I was able to copy the drawing from another copy. Surprisingly, this question and answer children’s book has a good description of surfing in the Hawaiian Islands taken from the journals of American missionaries to Hawaiʻi.
Here’s a description of surfing from Conversations on the Sandwich Island. The author – Sarah Tuttle – rewrote Hiram Binghamʻs description of surfing at Waimea, Kauaʻi in the company of Kaumualiʻi, the last independant Native Hawaiian ruler of Kauaʻi, excerpted from the journal of the missionaryʻs 1821 tour around the island.
For special Kauaʻi Christmas gift giving Brother Benny Lagmay is offering Hawaiian Christian message printed T-shirts for men and ladies, hats and more – all with unique Hawaiian-English themes. Benny’s Hapa Kine Tracts shop is at the Anahola Center. The shop is open Tuesday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday until 5 p.m. Or shop at Hapa Kine Tracts online.
Benny, who is an associate pastor at Ohana Christian Fellowship in Waipouli, Kauaʻi, and I go back to the early 1980s on Kauaʻi when Benny along with our close friend John Sadler kept a lively Christian brothers home on Omao Road in Lawaʻi. Read a blessed testimony written by Benny’s wife Tonya.
“Maui Fires Burn Site Where Hawaiian Queen First Brought Christianity to the Island”
Christianity Today August 14, 2023
The wooden Wainee Church in late nineteenth century from E. J. Monsarrat Collection, Hawai‘i State Archives. Fires and strong winds have in the past destroyed the Wainee/Waiola churches.
Morgan Lee of Christianity Today wrote an excellent deadline piece on the Christian response on Maui to the tragic, devastating fire which broke out on August 8.
Morgan quoted me: “After Honolulu, ‘Lahaina is home to the second-most complete complex of historic Hawaiian Christian sites in one place to be found in all of Hawaii,’ said Chris Cook, an expert on Hawaiian missionary history. ‘The loss of all but the Lahainaluna sites leaves a major gap in the statewide census of intact Hawaii missionary-era (1820–1863) structures.’”
I was told by Ka‘eo Decoite of Mo‘olelo Kū‘i‘o ministries that Samaritan’s Purse and other off-island disaster-scene ministries are on the ground on Maui providing material and spiritual help.
