Konko Mission of Wahiawa 207 Muliwai Avenue, Wahiawa, HI. 96786 & : (808) 621-6667 Cell: (808) 223-3448

ednakazuko@hotmail.com URL: http://konkomissionshawaii.org/WahiawaMain.htm July 2019, Volume 27, No. 307

Konko Daijin’s teachings… Increasing your worries or becoming anxious are signs of losing faith. At times like these, if you practice faith with a grateful heart, it becomes a training period of your faith and your faith will develop. If you do not, you will lose your faith. You will then be overcome by worries and misfortunes, and you will not be able to do anything. (GIII Jinkyu Kyogoroku 10)

Editor’s thoughts: Worries and anxiety paralyze us. They also cause the body to go into a “fight or flight” state, and stress chemicals of adrenaline and cortisol are released into body. It constricts the blood vessels and taxes the body if it’s constantly in the state of stress or anxiety. We must practice faith to let go of our worries and anxiety to Kami-Sama so we can live better lives.

WAHIAWA KONKO MISSION MONTHLY SCHEDULE

July 2019

1 Mon -Monthly Service for Tenchi Kane No Kami-Sama

(7:30 pm) 天地金乃神様 月例祭

*Shingyō Kikan (Intensive Faith Practice Period till 7/31)

4 Thur -Happy Independence Day! Happy 243rd Birthday USA!

6 Sat -Summer Ohana Camp Day 1 (9 am register. 10 am start)

7 Sun -Summer Ohana Camp Day 2 (ends at 2 pm)

*No Sunday Service at Wahiawa

12 Fri -Monthly Volunteer at Wah. Gen. Hosp. LTCF (10 am)

-Church clean-up (2 pm)

13 Sat -Chorus practice at HNL (2-4 pm)

14 Sun -Monthly Svc. for Founder, Ikigami Konko Daijin (9 am)

生神金光大神様 月例祭 Okage sharing till 11 am

-KMH Volunteer Activity at Kuakini Hospital (9:30 am)

*Meet at Honolulu Church (9 am) for short prayer

15 Mon -HCRP Meeting at Palolo Hongwanji Mission (1:30 pm)

20 Sat -Church clean up (9:00 am)

21 Sun -Monthly Memorial Svc 月例霊祭 & 勧学祭

Back-to-School Service (9:00 am)

-Financial report of Camp & Okage sharing till 11 am

23 Tue -KMH CEOC Mtg (1 pm), Joint Conf. Mtg (4 pm) @HNL

27 Sat -Ehimemaru Monument Clean-up (9 am)

-KMH Minister’s Mtg. @HNL Church (10:30 am) (Guest speaker: Rev. Amy Uzunoe-Chin)

28 Sun -KMH Faith Enrichment Mtg at HNL Church (10 am)

*Guest speaker: Rev. Amy Uzunoe-Chin (KCNA CAM)

Lunch will be served. *No Sunday Service at Wahiawa

-Join prayer at Honolulu Church (9 am)

31 Wed -Church clean up (9 am)

August 2018

1 Thur -Monthly Service for Tenchi Kane No Kami-Sama

(7:30 pm) 天地金乃神様 月例祭

Sunday School Oath

I will advance my faith through

understanding the Founder’s teachings

and will strive to become a more useful

person to society.

Sincerity is the essence of my faith, and

its basic principles are courtesy, kindness,

and devotion in everything I do.

BACK TO SCHOOL SERVICE

Date: Sunday, July 21, 2019 Time: 9:00 a.m. Place: Konko Mission of Wahiawa Who: For students and teachers Memo: Please submit your back to school prayer forms to church before the service begins. Sensei will offer your forms and pray for you the whole year.

Konko Mission of Wahiawa 9th Summer Ohana Camp

(Sat-Sun) July 6-7, 2019 @ Camp HR Erdman ABC’s of Konkokyo Part 9: Treating All with Respect

Check in starts at 9:00 am (Eagle’s Lodge) The Camp will begin at 10:00 am.

KMH A Day of Spiritual Growth Sun., July 28th from 10 am-3pm

At Honolulu Church Why Me? Why am I suffering?

Guest Speaker: Rev. Amy Uzunoe-Chin (Chief Administrative Minister of Konko Churches in North America)

Come join us!! Open to the public

Happy Birthday To all the people born in

The month of July

Please continue to receive

Infinite divine blessings from

Tenchi Kane no Kami-Sama &

Ikigami Konko Daijin-Sama

Rev. Yasuhiro Yano Rev. Megumi Yano Rev. Dr. Leon Webber Alan Katsura

Brent Abe Neal Abe Jordan Yamamoto Clayton Matsuoka

Konko Mission of Wahiawa Annual Schedule for 2019 7/6 Sat -9th Ohana Camp at Camp HR Erdman (till 7/7) 7/12 Fri -WGH monthly volunteer activity at 10 a.m. 7/14 Sun -KMH Volunteer Activity at Kuakini Hospital, 9:30 a.m. 7/21 Sun -Monthly Memorial Service/Back-to-School Service 9 a.m. 8/9 Fri -WGH monthly volunteer activity at 10 a.m. 8/10 Sat -KMH Board Meeting at Honolulu Church, 10:30 a.m. 8/24 Sat -Hōtokusai Service for 90th Anniversary at Honolulu 2 p.m. 8/25 Sun -90th Anniversary of Honolulu Church, 10:30 a.m. 9/15 Sun -Honolulu Church Autumn Memorial Service, 10 a.m. 9/20 Fri -WGH monthly volunteer activity at 10 a.m. 9/22 Sun -Wahiawa Church Autumn Memorial Service, 10 a.m. 10/6 Sun -Honolulu Church Autumn Grand Service, 11 a.m. 10/12 Sat -Wahiawa Church Autumn Grand Service, 6:30 p.m. 10/13 Sun -Waipahu Church Autumn Grand Service, 11 a.m. 10/20 Sun -26th HCRP Peace Prayer at Honolulu Church 4 p.m. 10/25 Fri -WGH monthly volunteer activity at 10 a.m. 10/26 Sat -115th Anniversary of Konko Church of Amagi, day 1 10/27 Sun -115th Anniversary of Konko Church of Amagi, day 2 11/3 Sun -90th Anniversary Celebration of Hilo Church, 11a.m. 11/8 Fri -WGH monthly volunteer activity, 10 a.m. 11/9 Sat -Wailuku Church Autumn Grand Service, 11 a.m. 11/15 Fri -160th Anniversary of Konkokyo at Honbu Headquarters 11/23 Sat -KMH Board of Trustees Meeting, 10:30 a.m. 11/24 Sun -22nd Memorial Svc for the Late Rev. Kikue Kodama, 9 a.m. 12/13 Fri -WGH monthly volunteer activity at 10 a.m. 12/22 Sun -47th Memorial Svc. Late Rev. Haruko Takahashi, 10 a.m. 12/26 Thr -Mochi pounding at Hilton Waikiki 12/27 Fri -Mochi pounding at Prince Waikiki 12/29 Sun -End of the Year Service 9 a.m. 12/30 Mon-28th Annual Mochi Pounding 8 a.m.

Konko Church of Kawanishi, Hyogo Japan Clayton and I visited this church to see our friend Mikako

Hiramoto and her Mother Rev. Kiyoko Hiramoto and their dog Hana. On the far right is the Head Minister of the Konko

Church of Itami, Rev. Shinya Shimada. The Head Minister of Kawanishi Church, Rev. Koji Hiramoto passed away just one year ago. The many flowers in his memory. He was Mikako’s brother.

Clayton and I made a visit to the Konko Church of Shishigatani in Kyoto as we unexpectedly spotted the

Gojinmon Konko Crest while walking the famous Philosopher’s Path! Rev. Shinji Matsumura

90th Anniversary of Konko Mission of Honolulu

90th Anniversary Celebration of Konko Mission of Honolulu

Date: Sat & Sun, August 24-25, 2019

Hotokusai Service on 8/24@ 2 pm 90th Anniversary Service on 8/25@ 10:30 am

Guest speaker: Rev. Kiyoji Konko from Honbu Headquarters Place: Konko Mission of Honolulu, 1728 Liliha Street, Honolulu, Hawaii

RSVP By July 7th (Sunday)

Editor’s Note Dear Reader,

Happy July! We are officially past the halfway point of the year. We made it till this day safely, through divine blessings amidst daily unpredictability.

My heart really aches for the 11 people that perished in the small airplane crash at Dillingham Airfield in Mokuleia, Oahu. They were heading off for an evening skydiving flight. And the aircraft plummeted to the ground soon after taking off. Dillingham Airfield is very close to Camp Erdman, where we will be holding our 9th Ohana Camp soon.

Life is so unpredictable. Majority of the people killed in that freak accident were in their 20s and 30s. One of the people that died in that accident was begged by his mother not to go skydiving. It was very unfortunate that he died along with his wife for their 1-year wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii.

I see people jumping off that plane many times when we head to Mokuleia. And from time to time we hear of skydiving accidents happening. It is a risky sport. But there must be some fun in feeling that thrill. Something I am much too scared to attempt. Although accidents may be rare, we would never know when that one in a million flights go bad.

I pray for the people that died in the accident, as well as the many family and friends who were connected to each precious individual.

Just recently, I went to work and my co-worker was really struggling with her shift primarily because of one difficult patient. She was so distressed that she was dreading coming to work the next day because she will be assigned the same difficult patient again. I also had the opportunity to help out with the patient that day, and she was difficult indeed, and to add to it, she made racially charged comments to me.

I offered to take that difficult patient for my work assignment the next day, so my co-worker will not be so stressed out.

The next day arrived. I was concerned that the difficult patient was going to give me a hard time. But then, I faced the altar and gave that worry to Kami-Sama and asked for our shift to be smooth sailing.

Lo and behold, the whole shift went smoothly. All my co-workers were able to complete their shift tasks and have their dinner breaks. And the difficult patient gave me no problems.

At the end of the shift, my co-worker said to me, “Oh my God, Edna, why didn’t she didn’t give you any problems today? I was waiting for her to call you many times and stress you out.” She seemed fascinated. I laughed, and told her that I always say a little prayer of positive affirmations and divine guidance before going to work. It’s true.

Many of my co-workers tend to pre-determine their fate of the shift. They say such negative things like, “Oh man, I know today is going to be a crazy day. My patients will drive me nuts. I won’t be able to have my dinner break. I won’t be able to chart on time. I will clock out overtime.” The shift did not even start yet, and they are already saying these things. When I get the chance to, I remind my co-workers that our thoughts play a big role in how our day pans out. Negative thoughts attract negative situations. Worrying is a prayer for negative things to happen. And it works very effectively. On the contrary, when we think

positive and expect the day to be great, it turns out that way. I have no control over what my shift will turn out to be like.

But I do pray that the patients will be ok, that we will be able to do our work properly, and that I can have my dinner break and leave on-time. Ever since doing this prayer before work, I must say, 95% of my work days in a year are great. The 5% of craziness and mayhem comes with the job, but that’s totally fine with me. Too many co-workers are having 95% crazy mayhem in their year, and only 5% of good smooth shifts. Now, that used to be me. Work always gave me anxiety in the past. But now I truly sense that Kami-Sama comes with me to work and helps me out big time. When I come home, I make sure to go straight to the altar and give thanks for a smooth shift and safe return home. That’s my prayer routine for work. I highly encourage you to try it. It works miracles for me.

Here’s a teaching from Konko Daijin that is relevant to the topic of worrying: “Since we are human, we think about our future and have many worries. Worries, however, can become divine blessings through your practice of faith, and you can be free from worries. If you practice faith, your worries will become divine blessings. Worries are poisons to your body and are irreverences toward Kami. From now on, you should entrust Kami with your worries and practice faith. Then your

worries will turn into divine blessings.” (GIII Jinkyu Kyogoroku 42).

I’m not saying it’s bad to worry. I worry about things myself. But when our worries are

taking up 90% of our daily thoughts, that’s when it becomes a problem.

We are the sole creators of our situations, whether they are good or bad. When we worry

about one thing, it becomes like a snowball effect, and we begin worrying about other

things. And the energy that we radiate will become dark. As we radiate dark energy, we attract

dark situations. In a sense, worries are good only if they help guide us to reach out to Kami-Sama for help

and guidance. Majority of life factors are beyond our control. So it becomes necessary to ask for divine guidance.

What should we do when we worry? What I do is say “Konko Sama, please help me.” I give my worries to Kami-Sama through prayer and Toritsugi Mediation.

On Sunday, July 28th from 10:00 am-3:00 pm, the Rev. Amy Uzunoe-Chin (Chief Administrative Minister of Konko Churches in North America) will be presenting a workshop on suffering. The title is: “Why Me? Why Am I Suffering?” This workshop is open to the public, and I highly recommend you to attend. It will be held at the Konko Mission of Honolulu.

This month, we will start off by holding our 9th Summer Ohana Camp at Camp HR Erdman in Mokuleia from July 6-7. We will begin check-in at 9 am and begin the camp program promptly at 10 am. Please be there on time to attend Rev. Dr. Todd Takahashi’s workshop on “Treating all with respect” this year. We are very much looking forward to this event. I will update you on our camp experience in the August Children’s Newsletter.

Our Back to School Service will be held on Sunday, July 21 at 9:00 am. It’s almost time to go back to school! Let’s pray for a safe and blessed new school year for all teachers and students. Have a wonderful 4th of July and Star Festival July 7th. Sincerely, Edna