Preparing the Way: A Pictorial History for the Hawaii Mission Bicentennial 1820 - 2020

Preparing the Way presents a concise pictorial account of the first American Protestant mission to arrive in Hawaii as told through the lives of three Polynesian men: Opukahaia (Henry Obookiah) and his close companion Hopu (Thomas Hopoo) were instrumental in requesting the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to send a Protestant missionary company to Hawaii. The untimely death of Opukahaia in 1818 led to the publication of his Memoirs, which in turn drew financial and spiritual support from across the United States for the formation of the pioneer American Protestant missionary company to Hawaii. They departed for Hawaii from Boston in October 1819. Their arrival in Hawaii led to the conversion to Christianity of the majority of the alii nui rulers of Hawaii and their people, and the rapid spread of literacy as the Hawaiian people sought to read Bible scriptures printed in the Hawaiian language. In 1822, the Tahitian Christian alii, Auna, explained the Christian religion in Polynesian terms to the rulers of Hawaii, ensuring the success of the mission to Hawaii. This book's release coincides with the celebration in New England of the Hawaii Mission Bicentennial of the sending of the Pioneer company from Boston in October 1819, and the arrival of the Sandwich Islands Mission in Hawaii in Spring 1820.