Seeing Hawaiian culture through God’s eyes and understanding the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
It’s a warm March afternoon in Hawai’i. I sit in shorts and a t-shirt at a sea side café watching speed boats and jet skis play. It’s hard to imagine that in a few months, wrapped up in down jacket and wool hat I’ll be standing on a grassy coastline on a distant shore overlooking … More From Swimsuits to Sweaters
It’s a pearl, rugged beauty emerging as brokenness restored… canon ball holes line the cliffs around the bay, garbage which washed ashore from Japan, Korea, and China, is flung across the rocks lining the shore. A wise Hawaiian elder, with dark weather-worn skin gazes out at the horizon. He is the Protector of these ancestral … More The Pearl
How do I explain the American celebration of Thanksgiving to my international friends? It was a time of gratitude shared between the Native American Indian “hosts” and the European settler “guests”. I hesitate and wonder if I should say more… … More Being Good Guests in the Land
We stood in a circle, possibly the biggest I’ve ever seen, some under shade of the trees, and others perspiring in the hot sun. My left hand linked me to my Hawaiian kahu (pastor) of our indigenous-style church and my right grasped the hand of a gentleman I had never met. How many had gathered … More Raising the Flag
It’s a good day to be visiting royalty. I wear a long flowing dress and lipstick, my hair all curled and fancy hoping I am presentable to the Queen. I gaze upwards at the Palace, honored to be welcomed in. But my heart deflates to find that the Queen is no longer in residence and her home has become a museum. … More A visit with the Queen
Written on July 6, 2017 Today I return to my home in Honolulu, after three and a half months of traveling. That’s 105 days to be exact. I am so ready to go back! July 4 marked 3 years since I made the move across the Pacific and let my heart grow roots in a … More Hawai’i, I’m home.
I’m back after an unplanned 6 month hiatus. Why was I gone so long? I’m not sure… sometimes the journey of crossing oceans and bridging cultures is too raw to put in writing for the world to see. Other times I’m journeying alongside someone else’s story that is simply not mine to tell and I … More I planted a tree.
Aloha friends, I write you from the land of the eternal 75 degrees, beautiful with all it’s bright sunny days, colorful tropical plants, and bird songs. Where fruit hangs low on trees, dropping coconuts, mangoes, guava, pamelo, and papaya upon us. It is a beautiful land where tourists flock to taste and consume its many … More Getting kicked out of our home…
It’s strange how much the environment changes just 10min drive across the city. I spent an hour or so at the Samoan Church parking lot in Palama where a group of young people in a mission school ran a food bank for a more economically insecure community. The crowd gathered was mostly of Polynesian and … More an expensive slice of paradise
Isn’t it like God to use a white self-professing Buddhist to bring reconciliation to the Native Hawaiians’ divided identity–that they can be both Hawaiian and Christian!? Dr. Ron Williams, a professor of Hawaiian Studies at UH Manoa, became an avid student of Hawaiian history while living in Maui. For his doctoral dissertation, he looked more … More Prayer & Oli
crossing oceans bridging cultures 