Dear People of Low’s,
While in Hawaii this past September I learned about a remarkable young Hawaiian named Henry Obookiah (Heneri Opukaha’ia as directly translated from the Hawaiian). As a child his parents were killed during one of the many conflicts
for power on the island of Hawaii. The young orphan was taken in by an uncle and began training for the priesthood, to serve as an intermediary between his people and their gods, making the proper sacrifices and chanting the needed
prayers.

But like many other Hawaiians he took an interest in the many Westerners whose ships stopped in the island to trade. In 1809, at the age of 15, seeking adventure, he boarded an American ship anchored in Kealakekua Bay, and with the begrudging permission of his uncle sailed to the United States. He worked as a cabin boy, doing menial tasks on the vessel.

Upon arrival in the United States the orphaned boy felt lost, although he befriended other Hawaiian boys who had also left home. As Henry was surrounded by strangers speaking a different language with different customs and religion, he developed a desire to gain knowledge, and this desire came to the attention of the citizens of New Haven, Connecticut, where Obookiah was staying with a ship’s captain and pondering what his future might be. Young Henry was taken in first by Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College and later lived in the home of the Rev. Samuel Mills. Both of them, as well as students of Yale College, discovered Henry Obookiah to be an intelligent, inquisitive young man. From them he learned English, and developed an interest in Christianity.

Henry knew that the gods he worshipped in Hawaii were only wood and stone, made by humans, but the true God was the
one who created him and all other human beings. Henry began to read the Scriptures, to pray and fast, and study Hebrew and Greek, the original languages of the Bible. Henry became a Christian, publicly professing his faith in Christ, and a great
urgency developed within him to return to Hawaii and share the gospel with his people. He feared many would perish without knowing the forgiveness of sins and the love of the true God he had discovered in Christ. An older minister heard of Obookiah’s desire to go back to his native land, and asked what he wished to do there upon returning. Henry told the minister he wished “To preach the Gospel to my countrymen.” What would his fellow Hawaiians think of this, the minister asked, adding that they might
“tell you that preaching Jesus Christ was blaspheming their gods”, and might decide to “put you to death.” Henry replied, “If that be the will of God, I am ready, I am ready.”

The young Hawaiian’s desire to share Christ with his people resulted in the founding of the first missionary school to train native missionaries in the United States in 1817 in Cornwall, Connecticut. The school’s e enrollment grew to include not only native Hawaiians but Native Americans as well. Unfortunately, Henry’s training as a missionary ended before he was able to return to Hawaii. He developed an illness, and after lingering for some time in poor health died February 17, 1818, at the age
of 26. His gravestone reads that “He died without fear with a heavenly smile on his countenance and glory in his soul.”

Henry’s funeral was attended by many dignitaries, including the well-known minister The Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, who delivered a eulogy. A few months later a small book, The Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, was published, and his story became known across the American church. That book inspired the first American missionaries to set sail for the Hawaiian Islands aboard the Thaddeus from Boston in October, 1819. They produced a written version of the Hawaiian language with the help of native speakers, and translated the Bible into Hawaiian. While everything the missionaries brought to Hawaii wasn’t a positive (their own Western culture often clashed with that of the native Hawaiians, creating tensions and demands which had little to do with the gospel), they nevertheless planted the seed of Christian faith which would eventually flourish in Hawaii. Henry Obookiah’s story demonstrates how a short life of seemingly unfulfilled promise can nevertheless be used by God to bring others to faith in Christ. We could do well to share Henry Obookiah’s desire to share Christ with others, especially as the holidays approach and we are among family and friends who may not know the Lord who loves us and them as well.

Peace in Christ, Pastor John Mark