Two centuries later, a new generation discovers the story of Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia. 

With the postponement of the 200th anniversary events in Kona due to the mandated limits to gather, we invite you to watch this 22-minute documentary on the life of Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia online beginning Saturday, April 4th. 
The $5 online rental or $15 DVD purchase (and all donations) will help us produce  more Hawaiʻi Legacy Series documentaries. To order or donate today, please click on this link: https://www.lifenetmedia.org/hawaii-legacy-seriesFor more information please contact:[email protected]

Preparing the Way, my new 160-page full-color, hardcover, pictorial book for the Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial is available online through the Logos Bookstore in Honolulu. Preparing the Way retails for $22.95. I have about three dozen copies at their store, all the rest are in a Honolulu warehouse and I live on Kaua‘i. Here’s the details provided by Logos…

Logos Bookstore of Hawaii is our local supplier of books.  Please order by email:  [email protected] or call 808-596-8890 for local calls or 1-800-303-1533 for Neighbor Island or Mainland calls.
“Preparing the Way”, retail price is $22.95; with Hawaii sales tax, total per book is $24.03.
Shipping Fees:  • if the purchase amount is under $25, $6 fee for Neighbor Islands; $10 fee for Mainland • if the purchase amount is $25 – $50,  $4 fee for Neighbor Islands; $8 fee for Mainland • if the purchase amount is $50 – $75,  $3 fee for Neighbor Islands;  $7 fee for Mainland •  if the purchase amount is over $75, shipping is free for Neighbor Islands;  $4 fee for Mainland.

Moses Goods as King Kaumuali‘i of Kaua‘i following the premiere performance of his solo portrayal performed at the Kaua‘i Museum on Sunday, December 15, 2019. Here Moses holds up a prop Bible used in tell the story of the arrival of American missionaries at Waimea, Kaua‘i on May 3, 1820. The name Taumualii appears in gold leaf on the cover of the Bible. The actual Bible given to Kaumuali‘i that day was a gift from the American Bible Society in New York City. A similar Bible was sent to Kamehameha. The sending of the Taumualii Bible came about at the request of George Prince Kaumuali‘i [Humehume] the son of Kaumuali‘i. From the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut in late summer 1819 George sent a request to the American Bible Society for a Bible of equal status as the Kamehameha Bible, a Bible that would bear his father’s name. In 2003 I spoke at the Hawaiian Islands Ministries annual event in Honolulu on how the Bible came to Hawai‘i. To prepare I contacted the American Bible Society archives and library. They discovered a folder of Foreign Mission School schoolwork sent by George to the Bible society to prove his worth in requesting the Bible. In 2016-2017 Kaua‘i Museum Director Chucky Boy Chock and I worked with artist Evelyn Rittner on designing a painting based on the Kaumuali‘i Bible account. Today the painting hangs in the main gallery at the museum. Moses incorporated the Kaumuali‘i Bible as a prop. Upon seeing Moses use the prop Kaumuali‘i Bible at the premiere performance Chucky Boy and I glanced at each other and smiled, happy to see how Moses perpetuated this intriguing story of the Kaumuali‘i Bible. Photo by Chris Cook

King Kaumuali‘i is a key figure in the introduction of Christianity in Hawai‘i, especially to the windward Hawaiian islands of Kaua‘i and nearby Ni‘ihau.

On May 3, 1820 Kaumuali‘i greeted American Board missionary teachers Samuel Ruggles and Samuel Whitney at his kauhale, his compound, just east of Pa‘ula‘ula-Fort Elizabeth at Waimea, Kaua‘i. The Samuels were returning to Kaumuali‘i his son George Prince Kaumuali‘i and landed from the brig Thaddeus, Captain Blanchard. Kaua‘i was the last stop for the Thaddeus in Hawai‘i on the way to the fur trading ground George was sent away as a young boy to New England aboard the American merchant vessel Harzard, Captain Rowan. Over about fifteen eventful years George had lost the ability to speak the Hawaiian language, and forgot his Hawaiian name, Humehume.

Kaumuali‘i and Humehume had a tearful reunion that May day. Ruggles and Whitney might have surprised the Kaua‘i king by greeting him not with a handshake, but by rubbing noses in the traditional Native Hawaiian form of greeting, of sharing their breaths of life, a-lo-ha.

Fast forward to December 2019 and notable Hawai‘i actor Moses Goods enters the gallery of the Kaua‘i Museum dressed in a kihei garment, taking on the role of Kaumuali‘i. Moses sits down and pulls up a wooden portable writing desk c. 1800 and begins to pen a letter back to New England. In the letter he describes the emotional return of his son Humehume and much more. The performance was sponsored by the Hawaiian Mission Houses in Honolulu, the Kaua‘i Museum and the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities.

To experience Moses’ full one-man drama based on this significant event in the life of Kaumuali‘i, join us in Waimea the weekend of May 2-3, 2020 when we commemorate the bicentennial of the arrival of the Hawai‘i Mission, and the beginnings of the spread of Christianity on Kaua‘i, Moses is scheduled to return with Mission House actors portraying his Native Hawaiian Foreign Mission School student William Kanui, who departed from Kaua‘i in 1809 for New England, and Kaua‘i Queen Deborah Kapule, the wife of Kaumuali‘i and a propoent of Christianity on Kaua‘i. The trio will be part of the Mission Houses’ Ali‘i Letters series of dramatic costumed performances during the Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial events set for April and early May in Hawai‘i.

Go to missionhouses.org to access a complete schedule of events, and a look back at the Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial events held in New England in fall 2019.

My new book Preparing the Way is now at the printer, and being worked on in pre-press. The release date will be announced soon. That date should precede by about a month events being planned in Hawai‘i to mark the bicentennial of the arrival of the pioneer American Protestant mission company sent to the Hawaiian Islands. The brig Thaddeus arrived in Kailua, Kona on April 4th, 1820. Go to missionhouses.org for more information. The book is full color throughout and being published under my imprint Pa‘a Studios through Mutual Publishing in Honolulu.

I am preparing for release before the end of 2019 a special free digital publication to compliment Preparing the Way which features a guided photo tour of sites in New England. The booklet presents highlights of the Christian history of Hawai‘i sites that are key to the narrative of Preparing the Way. This publication will also feature photographs of Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial events held in Boston, Cornwall, Conn. and across New England from late September to late October. If you would like to receive an email notice of the release date of this special free publication, and of the print verison of Preparing the Way please sign up here.

The Research Institute of Hawai‘i for USA supported my effort in creating Preparing the Way.

The subtitles of Preparing the Way explain the title: A Pictorial History for the Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial 1820-2020 Featuring Images of Events Held in New England in 2019, and How Native Hawaiians Joined with American Protestant Missionaries in New England and Together Brought the Bible and Christianity to Hawai‘i.

Here is a copy of the front cover of Preparing the Way, which will have a casement cover, that is a thick paper hardbound cover.