As I write this last blog update of our incredible mission trip, I can't help but reflect on what an amazing tour this has been. However, none of this would have been possible without the love, support, and the prayers of our friends and family here in Hawaii and on the mainland.

During this trip: We didn't have any major road mishaps - despite the fact that we traveled over 3,000 miles, often on too little sleep and Ethel driving without her contacts (it only happened once but we were sure to ask before she got behind the wheel!). No one got sick - despite the fact that we didn't sleep or eat regularly - we did become experts at souvenir eating, eating all the regional foods - all the time, resulting in all our muumuus feeling a little tighter by the end of the trip! And we all got along - though there were times when it was a bit dicey since everyone was telling everyone else that they should shower first; or that they would wash the other's muumuu or ... you get the picture.

We have so many people to thank, but in particular - Jim and Shirley Taliaferro who provided our entire group a home away from home, Grace Efurd and her Mililani bakers, everyone who donated for our visit to Otter Creek, the individuals who helped coordinate the concerts, all the churches who welcomed us with open hearts, and all of you, who have upheld us in your prayers. We know that it was your prayers that kept us safe and allowed us to minister to all we met.

As we learned in Kentucky ... "MAHALO Y'ALL!!!"

Some Fun Photos

OK, just so you don't think that all we did was dance and drive ... here are some fun photos:

Unfortunately, not all the cookies so lovingly baked by Grace and gang made it whole to Louisville. So, thanks to Shirley's creativity, we began the tradition of toasting our members who were leaving for home - with an ice cream topped with the cookie crumbs ... so here we are toasting Liane, the first to leave; and then Audrey. Sadly, all 9 members of Master's Touch were never in Kentucky all together - but hey, that's the way the cookie crumbles ;-)



After our trip to Otter Creek, Shirley did convince us that we couldn't have come all the way to Kentucky and NOT take a slight detour on our way back to Louisville - to see the Natural Bridge. It was worth the scary lift ride to the top for the beautiful view. But since we got there so late, we had to WALK down ... some of it was a bit of a squeeze (and in one of the pictures, it looks like Gay might be a bit worried that Randy will get stuck), but we all sucked it in and got safely down.




How could we come to Kentucky without a visit to Churchill Downs ... we even tried our legs at coming out of the gates.


We also set sail on the Belle of Louisville, enjoying the breeze and the view of Louisville from the Ohio River. If you click on the photo of the Belle of Louisville, you'll see us on the upper deck waving.



And let's not forget that Kentucky is the home of the Louisville Slugger factory!



And of course, we ate our way through Kentucky - to name just a few: at Krispy Kreme, the Beach House where Ethel ate her catfish clean to the bone, and Tumbleweeds - where we had an uplifting experience. Hae's favorite was White Castle, since it brought back memories of her first U.S. fast food experiences. Of course, in those days, those little square hamburgers were only 10¢!






And everywhere we went, Ethel was sure to find her man ...

[Ethel with the Colonol - Sanders that is; Ethel with Charles Farnsley, mayor of Louisville from 1948-1953]


[Ethel with the king of the Mall]

Edgewood Baptist Church

After our performance at Shakertown Baptist Church, we all piled into our van for a drive over to the Blankenship's home in nearby Nicholasville. Not only are the Blankenships long time friends of both Danette and the Hongos, but Susan's sister Janice and her daughter Darlene made us feel instantly at home. Randy and Bob stayed up way past their bedtime catching up on news about all their classmates.


[Pastor Steve, Bob & Susan, Kathy, Danette and Gay & Randy; Bob and Susan with our group]

We participated during the special music section of the morning service and then a concert in the evening. In the morning service, when Kathy (Blankenship - no relation to Bob & Susan) Gilliland appeared - it was a joyous reunion! We thank Pastor Steven Sholar for allowing us this opportunity.

Our evening service was full of poignant moments! Not only was this our last concert - but Lavell and Maryann Mayo drove down once again from Indianapolis - and gave us DVDs of our St. Matthews and Shelbyville concerts. They had visited Olivet this past February and wanted to thank us for having made their visit to our church so welcoming. Well you know, if Roger Honda is the first one you see, he will definitely make you feel you're at the right place (Roger - the Mayos send their appreciation). We also had a chance to visit with new friends Arhlene Sturm and her 3 children, Rachel, Elijah and Michaela. Arhlene is originally from Makaha, but her career has kept her on the mainland. Since Ahrlene knew Kanaka Waiwai - after the program was over and most of the people had gone home, we danced while Ahrlene sang with Randy and Gay.

[Randy & Gay with Maryann & Lavell; Randy & Gay with Arhlene & her children]

After another round of tearful goodbyes - as we were about to leave, Earl Ogata shows up - and what does he have? Homemade bentos (rice, ume, nori, shoyu chicken, teri beef, fish, spam, chicken long rice and taegu - all homemade) for our 2.5 hour ride back to Louisville. I guess you can take Earl and Darlene out of Hawaii, but you can't take Hawaii out of them! Thank you Earl and Darlene! And we're happy to say that Bob's directions got us safely back to Louisville!

[our group with our Nicholasville hosts: Susan, Bob, Janice & Darlene; the Ogata Bento]

Shakertown Baptist Church

[Danette & Riverson with members of Shakertown Baptist Chuch - who were there when Dan was pastor; Britney - one of the last people Dan baptized]

This was such a special time for all of us - returning to the first church where our dear friend and pastor, Dan Kong started his ministry. Before each performance, we would gather to pray. When Gay got to the part about how special this performance was due to Dan's hand in this church, she had a catch in her throat and we all thought we'd start crying and have to redo our makeup! This was a wonderful evening, starting with a church wide potluck where Danette caught up with old family friends, to the program where members of the church when Dan was there were recognized, and ending with more visits from old friends. Everyone was so happy to see Danette and Riverson!


[Randy, Gay & Danette with Earl & Darlene Ogatas who are originally from Maui;
group with Pastor Joe Smith and his wife Jeannie]


[group with fellow classmates Shelley and Bruce - in fact, Randy introduced Bruce to Shelley and Danette was standing there when introductions were made!]

Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill

Before our concert at Shakertown Baptist Church, we spent 2 hours visiting nearby Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. At its peak, Pleasant Hill was one of the largest Shaker communities with more than 500 Shakers. (for more information about Shakertown, visit http://www.shakervillageky.org). What makes this Shaker Village (formerly known as Shakertown) so special for our group is because this was Dan Kong's (Danette's Dad) first church. By the time Pastor Dan was the paster, holding service in the former Shaker Meeting House, Shakertown had closed and the Meeting House was owned by a local farmer. Upon his death, his widow purchased the property and gave it to the Shakertown Baptist Church. In 1961, when a group of concerned citizen began restoring the village, the National Park Service purchased property and built the current Shakertown Baptist Church.


[group photo with Georgie; Phillip singing one of the Shaker songs]

We took a tour of the Meeting House, guided by Georgia, a volunteer at Shaker Village. The workmanship of the building and the acoustics in the Meeting House was amazing. We could all just imagine the resonant voice of Dan filling the room. We also heard the wonderful voice of Phillip, who introduced us to Shaker music in the Meeting Hall. Phillip is also a volunteer - who's an accounting in his real life.


[How Great Thou Art; Riverson & Danette on the steps of the Meeting House]

After the presentations, we did an impromptu song and dance of How Great Thou Art, in honor of Dan's great ministry. It was a very moving moment - to be walking where Dan walked.

Seminary Days

[Don & Ruth Hustad, Danette with Sweetie - the Hustad's dog & Bryce & Doris Finch; the Hustads with Gay & Randy]

It was wonderful for Danette, Gay and Randy to have time for an evening catching up with their former professor. They got together at the home of Dr. Don and Ruth Hustad. Don was the former long time organist for the Billy Graham Crusade and a favorite professor of both Danette and Randy. Also present was Bryce and Doris Finch. Bryce was the former photographer for the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board and Doris was a long time secretary for the School of Church Music at Southern. If Doris looks vaguely familiar to some of us Hawaii folk, it might be because she is sister to Lurie, Dr. Edmond Walker's wife!

Bement, Illinois

After Chie, Etsuko and Noriko left, the rest of us (Gay, Randy, Ethel, Danette, Liliko and Hae) packed up the van and headed for Bement (rhymes with cement) Illinois. I know, you're wondering why Bement? Let me tell you a story to introduce you to this very special place. But it starts a while back... to the time when (as Randy would say) he had more hair and was a tad thinner. He met a young woman (no, I'm not going to tell you the story of how he met Gay, you'll have to ask him yourself for that one yourself) who was a teacher from Illinois, spending her summer in Hawaii taking some education courses to improve her teaching skills. Well, this young woman loved Hawaiian music - and so Randy would take Donna Sharp and her friends around to the various clubs. This became an annual event ... she especially like our Ilikai member, Noly Paa!

Now fast forward a number of years and Andrew is going off to college. As a mother, when your child goes off to college, you look forward to winter break as it means they're coming home. Well, Andrew announces to Gay and Randy that he isn't coming home. Instead, he has planned on attending a Christian conference in Champagne-Urbana. Now as parents in ministry - Gay and Randy are used to traveling - so they decide that if Andrew isn't coming home - they'd go to Illinois and spend some time with him there! Time to call their long time friend Donna. And wouldn't you know it, Bement is only a stone's throw away from Champagne-Urbana. They could stay at her house and would they consider singing at her church, First Presbyterian Church? Thus, the Hongos met Pastor Marsha Frederick and sang for their Christmas Eve service. Despite the freezing cold (only a mother's love prevented Gay from getting back on that plane when she got outside and saw her breath!), they had a wonderful time with Donna, spent the holidays with Andrew, and fell in love with the church. Gay says that it was so beautiful singing on Christmas Eve, with the snow falling gently outside - picture postcard perfect!


[Randy & Gay with Donna and friends Barbara and Nancy; dinner celebrating Pastor Marsha's birthday (in blue), Carl her husband is on her left, and Joyce & Chuck are on her right]

Now fast forward to 2007 - Louisville is only a 5.5 hour drive away ... so how could we come all this way and not stop in to see this great community! We started our Bement segment with a delicious dinner at the Beach House - celebrating Pastor Marsha's birthday (don't worry, your age is safe with us), then some singing and dancing at the Pastor's house. The next day, we started with a visit to Barbara's mother, Adra, in an assisted living facility. There one of the residents told us, I've always wanted to go to Hawaii and now Hawaii has come to me. Then a concert at the church. And here again, we were blessed by old friends Lawrence and Helen Mercades, former residents of Maui - who drove all the way from Chicago to see us. Not only did they drive 4 hours, but Helen thought we'd be missing rice by now and so made rice, chicken stew and dessert; and even crocheted leis for all of us! So after the concert, everyone enjoyed Helen's food and the ono pizzas provided by the church. As you can imagined, we thoroughly loved our time in Bement and are so thankful for the members of First Presbyterian Church for their warmth and hospitality!


[Lawrence & Helen Mercades; some of the women of First Presbyterian preparing our after concert food]


[group picture time ... notice the leis that we are wearing, compliments of Helen]