ALA LANI—Path to Heaven 92020A Monthly Newsletter of Ala Lani UMC

Please join us online for Sunday Service at WWW.ALALANIUMC.ORG

After my last briefing, I received a number of really helpful suggestions and reflections, and I encourage you to continue to send these in. My hope is that we will be flooded with new experiments and innovations, and some of these may turn out to be “game-changers” in creating a new paradigm for our church. As I mentioned previously, during the COVID-19 shutdown, this is our greatest opportunity to experiment and try new things. Everyone has permission to fail, and there will be quite a few failures due to the nature of our experimentation.

As we remember during the restart of Major League Baseball, a top hitter will only be successful 3 out of 10 times at the plate. This means that the best hitters in baseball will make an out 7 of 10 times! If we are successful in a new ministry endeavor with that same success rate, I will take it every time! But we have to start experimenting. How many experiments has your church started since the pandemic? I would like to challenge every church to try a minimum of 10 during this shut-down period.

We also have to learn from each mistake. The U.S. Army does an excellent job when it comes to this learning. They perform an “After-Action-Review” (AAR) after every exercise, mission or performance. It is a rigorous process where they document what went right or wrong and what they need to do differently the next time. They have built a learning culture that continues to get better after every new experiment.

With this in mind, we are creating an online platform where we would like to post every one of your experiments and learnings, both successes and failures. We need everyone to contribute to this learning by posting what you have tried and what you have learned from it. Once again, this means both our successes and failures. We will start with the ones that I have received, but we need many more. Every church needs to start experimenting, and with our sheer numbers, we will find some that will make a huge difference!

Please send your experiments and learnings to James Kang at jkang@calpacumc.org. We will get this online platform up and running, and I look forward to your submissions!

Bishop Hagiya’s Briefing 8/17/2020 Zoom Bible Study: The Epistle to the Hebrews, Monday 6–7:30 pm—If you are interested in joining, please contact Pastor Kim.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above…” James 1:17Please Join us in welcoming our Perfect Gift: Alexander Palu, born on July 24, 2020, weighing five pounds, 14 ounces.

Proud Parents: Ema (Pastor Tau’s daughter) and Elone Palu

Ohana Fund AvailableIf you need financial support due to COVID-19, please contact church office or Pastor Kim for the application form. It will be disbursed to people to pay their utility bills, to purchase food, gas and other necessities. Maximum amount is $300 per request.

Well-Wishes for CarolynOur church pianist, Carolyn Ludwig, got a new job and moved to Lynchburg, VA on August 1, 2020. We wish her all the best and thank her for her years of

dedication and faithfulness. We will miss her.

Bishop Grant J. Hagiya, Los Angeles Area Resident Bishop

ANNOUNCEMENTS

2 | Ala Lani—Path to Heaven

Lawrence was born and lived on Oahu, Betty was born and lived on Kauai. They met at the University of Hawaii and got married, lived a few years in San Francisco while Larry attended

law school and Betty taught in Oakland, CA.

Larry was raised an Episcopalian and Betty attended a Missionary Church on Kauai. The compromise was to be Methodist.

After returning to Hawaii, Lawrence worked in Honolulu for a few years, then we moved to Maui in 1967 where Larry worked for the County Attorney’s office and Betty taught at Wailuku Elementary School.

One of our neighbors in Kahului was Young Wee Chun and his wife, Mitsue and family. They invited us to attend Ala Lani Church where we found a lot of very friendly members and felt very welcomed. At the time the congregation was often busy with fund raising, selling huli huli chicken to raise funds to build our new church.

Over the years we attended Ala Lani periodically. Our children attended Sunday School and summer vacation Bible school, our 3 sons were baptized by Pastor Tony Yim. We attended more regularly when Jaeman Lim became the pastor. Through Ala Lani we were connected with our Christian faith and made many new friends. We officially became members about 8 years ago.

We have 4 children. Jenifer lives on Oahu with her husband, Randy Tamayo and her children Laurel and Christopher. She is a Federal government pharmacist and Randy an architect.

Patrick lives on Maui with his wife Cindy and children Megan, Emma and Evan. Pat is a CPA and Cindy and her sister own and manage the Guri Guri store.

Matthew and his wife Hyewon live on Oahu with their sons Zachery and Aaron. They are both physicians, Matt at Queens Hospital and Hyewon at Kaiser.

Brad lives on Maui and is Larry’s boss at the Ing Law Firm. Larry claims that he is still working at age 79 to pay off his kids’ schooling.

Ala Lani Kupuna: Lawrence & Betty Ing

How It WorksFrom September 1–30, customers are invited to make donations of up to $249 to participating Hawaii non-profit organizations at checkout. Donations are accepted at any Foodland, Sack N Save or Foodland Farms checkout. Foodland and the Western Union Foundation will match a portion of each donation. Individuals must use their own Maika’i number to make a donation. Donations made without a Maika’i number will not be matched.

How to DonateAt checkout, present your Maika’i card (or provide your number) and inform the cashier that you would like to make a donation to Ala Lani UMC, code number 78139. If you do not have a Maika’i card/number, you may request to establish one. Your

donation will be added to your grocery purchase total. You may donate up to $249 per organization; any portion exceeding $249 will not be matched. The amount you donate and the name of our organization will appear on your receipt. Donations must be payable to Foodland or Sack N Save.

Please consider donating your September tithe or regular giving thru Foodland as this will also enable us to receive extra funds due to the Matching Gifts Program.

PLEASE NOTE!!Foodland does not send us your receipt so please mail, email or drop it off at the chcurch so that we can apply the amount to your giving account. Please call Tina at 808-250-3264 or email at alalaniumc@gmail.com if you have questions.

Ala Lani UMC is participating in Give Aloha, Foodland’s Annual Community Matching Gifts Program.

Give Aloha at Foodland to Help Us Raise Funds!

September 2020 | 3

My name is Miguel De La Cruz. I was born in Mexico, the youngest of 10 children. We immigrated to California in the early 1970’s where I attended school and college in Los Angeles. I have 3 children and 3 grandchildren. In 2007 I moved to Maui. I have worked on several major building sites learning various construction skills and also became qualified to operate heavy equipment. It gives me great joy to be able to bring my work experience to Ala Lani to help in the repair and maintenance of this beautiful property.

• Weeding more flower beds, trimming overgrown bushes and trees.

• Repairs to irrigation system valve that was leaking.

• Lighting around Founder’s Hall.

• Painting the church which is almost completed but still need to address the side toward the gulch that will need a special lift to get us to the top to work on the stained glass windows and complete the painting.

• Addressed the area where the AC’s are located, stucco was cracked and falling off. We redid an area of stucco, painted the metal boxes and painted the wall.

• Also addressed the area around the AC units that were overgrown with grass and bushes and rusted fencing. The area has been totally cleaned out, straightened the fencing that had been damaged and painted the fence.

• We have started much needed repairs on Founder’s Hall addressing roof leaks, damaged screens, and doors. We have painted the front and both sides of the building the same color as the church. We cleaned and repaired some of the gutters around Founder’s Hall which held many surprises.

Meet Our New Staff: Miguel De La Cruz, Custodian

Buildings and Grounds Reports Tina Draper, Property ManagerIt’s been another busy time around Ala Lani during the past couple of months.

BEFORE

AFTER

ALA LANI Path to Heaven

92020

A monthly Newsletter of Ala Lani UMC50 S. Papa Avnue, Kahului, HI 96732

10101723252528

Martha Dean Ester Bertram Jay Dyer Ema Ta’ufo’ou Miguel De La Cruz Lillian Lechler Marissa Calubaquib Katherine Academia 29

CelebrateSeptember Birthdays!

WWW.ALALANIUMC.ORG

Sunday School News Lynn BowersoxWe would like to do a Zoom Sunday school class with the children. If you would like your child to participate, please email or call the church office with the names and contact information. We will then get back to you with a time and Zoom information. We have not seen the children since March, and it would be good to see them via Zoom. This will be a work in progress as we, the teachers, will be learning as we do this.

Please continue to pray for our church children. They are experiencing the stress from the pandemic also.

ALA LANI UNITED METHODIST CHURCH50 S. Papa Ave., Kahului, Hawaii 96732 (808) 877-0388 | alalaniumc@gmail.com

Property & Office Manager/Finance Secretary: Tina Draper alalaniumc@gmail.com | (808) 877-0388In-Charge Pastor: Rev. Sonhye Kim(808) 421-8439 | pastorsonhye@gmail.comAssociate Pastor: Pastor Petueli Ta’ufo’o, (808) 747-7539