The Long Journeys Home. Nick Bellantoni

he recalled the long days studying with his uncle at Heiau Hikiau; learning the traditions of his people and devotion to the island akuas; beseeching the deities to intervene favorably in the lives of his people; and, honoring his warrior father and priestly uncle. Was he not Hawaiian? Could he commit to this religious conversion and worship the singular God of these British Americans? Or was he simply seeking the approval of these at times arrogant and pious Calvinists by adopting their rhetoric and mores? He did aspire to get religion into his head, intellectually, as a means of learning that much he understood. But ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia remained uncertain about allowing this new belief, this Christianity “into his heart.”³¹ He had felt the same struggle learning the disciplines of Lono and Kū. He studied, memorized, recited, and sought knowledge though coveted little emotional involvement. Having been traumatized in his youth, Henry blocked any passionate responses from his mind. Now, for the first time, he would consider an alterative conviction.

      The revelation in the wood lot was sandwiched between trips to Andover, Massachusetts, attending Bradford Academy where ‘Opūkaha‘ia boarded in the Abbot household, a family he considered as pious as that of Dwight and Mills. His earlier attendance in Andover was marked by his refusal to accept any solemn feelings for the Christian God, however, after the wood lot experience, his second attendance at Bradford marked more resolve in learning Scripture. He now immersed himself in the Gospels, memorizing every story, every miracle. He absorbed his spelling book so he could write and read the Bible more proficiently. He learned and made rapid progress in his religious training, exerting the concentrated work he had shown when schooled by his uncle. He remained inquisitive; his willingness to learn saw no bounds.

      What endeared ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia to the Abbot family was not simply his growing scholarship but also his “excellence of character.”³² Mrs. Abbot confided to a friend that Henry is “always pleasant. I never saw him angry. He used to come into my chamber and kneel down by me and pray. Mr. Mills did not think he was a Christian at that time, but he appeared to be thinking of nothing else but religion. He afterwards told me that there was a time when he wanted to get religion into his head more than into his heart.”³³

      With renewed diligence in his Bible study, Henry began to submit to the devotion of the Christian God. Heartfelt and sincere were his new feelings, no longer simply academic. With the fervor of a convert, he began to see his kahuna knowledge as irrational. He would tell a fellow Hawaiian, “O how foolish we are to worship wood and stone gods; we give them hogs and cocoa nuts and banana but they cannot eat.”³⁴ Once ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia threw off the veil of his youthful training in the polytheistic religious beliefs of Polynesian Hawai‘i, he was free to embrace Christian salvation. We can only imagine how hard it must have been to release the cultural beliefs of his ancestors; disregard what had been taught him during his childhood; denounce the pantheon of akuas instilled into him during his training at the heiau. It required a revelation, but once released, he reformed in both mind and spirit. “In my secret prayer and in serious conversation with others…I thought now with myself that I have met with a change of heart.”³⁵

      While at Bradford, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia learned that another Hawaiian lived in the vicinity of Andover. Seeking out his fellow Kanaka Maoli, Henry stayed a full day and evening in his company. Neither of the boys slept that night. Instead they lay awake, talking in their Native language until dawn. When asked later what he had learned from his companion concerning news from Hawai‘i, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia replied, “I did not think of Hawaii. I had so much to say about Jesus Christ.”³⁶ He had truly been reborn, converting to the “one true God” and setting seeds for his actions and words as a future missionary.

      In the spring of 1812, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) appointed Rev. Samuel Mills, Jr., to travel through the Mississippi Valley, surveying those areas for future missionary efforts among reservation Indians and plantations of African captives.³⁷ Soon after Mills’ departure, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia would spend time in Hollis, New Hampshire, where his newly-won belief would provide its first test of faith through an ordeal of sickness.

      The fever appeared to come on suddenly, leaving ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia frail and bedridden for five weeks. In Hollis he would live within a number of households including that of the Deacon Ephraim Burge where the sickness overcame him. Dr. Benoni Cutter presided over his young patient, praying with him many times. All in Hollis feared that the “Obookiah” they cherished in their thoughts of his complete devotion to God would be taken from them before his salvation could be secured. Mrs. Burge inquired of his willingness to die and leave a world of sin, “Do you remember the goodness and the kindness of God towards you?” ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia answered in the positive, “Yes, for I have neither a father nor a mother, nor a brother nor a sister in this strange country but He. But O! am (sic) I fit to call him my Father?”³⁸ Often ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia felt alone and meaningless, affected by his survivor’s guilt. “Many times I meet with the dark hour.”³⁹

      He was able to fight off the fever and despair, regain his footing, and find a loving and forgiving “Father,” one who truly cared about this “Henry Obookiah” and represented the head of his spiritual and earthly family. Within the short time he was in Hollis, he would go through the conversion for which New England had prayed. It was here that “Henry’s heart was renewed by the Holy Spirit.”⁴⁰ With his physical and spiritual state bettered, Henry would leave Hollis, return to Andover, and eventually go “home” to Torringford,⁴¹ where he would take one further giant step in his transformation to realize the meaning of his journey.

      When Samuel Mills, Jr., returned home from his two-year missionary tour in the early summer of 1814,⁴² he inquired about the state of young ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia’s Christian learning. He was gratified to hear that Henry was giving his life to the Lord and continuing his spiritual and academic training with friends and tutors in Litchfield, but what he found just as gratifying was the acknowledge that Henry was translating Hebrew chapters of the Bible phonetically into the Hawaiian language. In doing so, he compiled a dictionary and a grammar book, and by 1815 maintained a diary of his personal development. Henry wrote and memorized the Bible similar to his kahuna training, so that when Mills arrived home, he found ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia in the midst of an immense emission of creative intellectual energy.

      With his continuing education, Henry’s confidence developed. He began to speak in public, took on the learning of Latin, Hebrew, geometry, and geography while continuing to work on his English. He started to write an increasing number of letters, even beginning a personal memoir telling of his youth in Hawaii and his journey to New England. Now in his twenties, Henry’s heartfelt enthusiasm for all things scriptural provided a personal joy and triumph for the Mills family.

      Henry was also physically maturing into a formable young man. Edwin Dwight describes him as being above the ordinary size of young New England men, standing just less than six feet in height with limbs and body well proportioned and large. At sixteen, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia had been regarded as “awkward and unshapen” (sic.), but now he appeared “erect, graceful and dignified.”⁴³ His skin was described as olive in coloration, a mixture of dark African and “red” Native American complexions. His black hair was cut short and his clothing westernized. His nose was prominent and his chin projected.⁴⁴ There was no questioning his “otherness” when he mingled in the company of British Americans.

      If Henry stood out physically, his personality and character also separated him. “In his disposition, he was amiable and affectionate. His temper was mild. Passion was not easily excited, nor long retained. Revenge or resentment, it is presumed, was never known to be cherished in his heart.”⁴⁵ ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia was considered a good and reliable friend, always grateful for favors bestowed upon him and, most tellingly, he felt an ardent affiliation toward the various Christian families with whom he resided.

      Through Henry’s conversion, intellect, and personality, Samuel Mills, Jr. could now envision the formulation of “The Brethren” plan. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia would be the bridge to the Hawaiian missions—a bridge that would span the oceans; a bridge over which Mills and other missionaries would walk