onakao

Special guests at Monthly Service this Sunday!

No special reason, but the Bishop’s wife, Mrs. Masayo Hamada, and the Sakagami family (live-ins at Mission HQ) will be attending our monthly service this Sunday, September 9th, 2012, 10am.

Bishop and Mrs. Hamada has worked tirelessly for the Hawaii mission and if you noticed, Mrs. Hamada, plays a vital role in the bazaar, coordinating manpower and supplies in meeting the needs of the many booths, food prep teams, and the bazaar as a whole. She is also the chairwomen of the Tenrikyo Hawaii Women’s Association.

A we want to welcome her with as many people as possible, please make every effort to attend!

Sincerely,
Rev. Owen Nakao

Bazaar Mahalo & the All Tenrikyo Nioigake Day

Due to God the Parent‘s blessings, Oyasama‘s guidance, the support of Bishop and Mrs. Hamada, and the sincere hinokishin efforts of everyone we were able to conduct the 42nd Annual Bazaar with joy, gratitude and unity of mind in good weather with a few occasional showers. Thankfully there were no major accidents or injuries.

I would like to thank all of you for your sincere hinokishin!

The financials are not out yet, but judging by the crowd, I’m sure we did very well!

The “bazaar mahalo party” will be held after the Mission Headquarters monthly service during the luncheon on Sunday, September 16th at about 11:45. Please join us.

Next up is our annual All Tenrikyo Nioigake Day which will be the 80th year to be held at Moiliili Old Stadium Park on Monday, Labor Day, September 3rd, 9am – 11am. Refreshments served at 11am. Those who wish to do nioigake will canvass the neighborhood and those who wish to do hinokishin will clean the park! Please dress appropriately (recommend hinokishin t-shirt if cleaning the park and bring rakes and dust pans).

Rev. Owen Nakao

Bazaar Hinokishin 2012

Thank you to you all for your support of the bazaar and church activities.
The bazaar is coming up on August 26th and we need hands to help with preparations: the more hands we have, the easier it is for everyone. Mahalo!

Sat 8/18, 9am-11am General cleaning:

Weed whacking, hedge and some tree trimming, roof & gutter cleaning,
bathroom, windows, screens and doors cleaning.

Sun 8/19 1:00pm (After MHQ monthly service

Setup canopies: Library-Judo, Games, BBQ Chicken, Vegetables, Cut flowers (need windbreaker), Plants
Need canopy over back of storage shed.
Construct: Bazaar booths, scrip booths, sushi rack, cut flowers shelving, build more barricades if necessary, check on signs.

Owen Nakao
Bazaar chair

Monthly Service Prayer July 2012

Before God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, I, Owen Osamu Nakao, Pastor of Tenrikyo Pearl Church, pray with reverence:

God the Parent, as we receive Your overflowing grace and blessings, which grants us the free use of our bodies, we advance toward the realization of the joyous life world as you guide us in our spiritual development. We are forever grateful for these blessings and we express our gratitude day and night as we apply our effort in sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings and salvation work.

Today is the day we are granted to conduct the July monthly service at Pearl Church. Taking to heart the teaching: “If the mind is sincere, the performance of any kind of Service will all bring salvation,” (Ofudesaki VIII: 3) the service performers will now unite their hearts to perform the seated service and Teodori joyously and in high spirits. As you observe the brothers and sisters of the path who have looked forward to this day singing the songs of the service in unison with hearts filled with gratitude for Your parental love, we hope that You can be spirited as well.

Through your blessing, twenty-four persons from Pearl Church, attended the Annual Tenrikyo Picnic on July 4th. We continue with the community yard service helping the elderly maintain their yards and neglected sidewalks.

Later this month, the pastor of this church will lead a group of twenty persons participating in this year’s Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba as the chairman of the Hawaii Boys & Girls Association. From July 18-24, twenty-five members of the Hawaii Young Men’s Association including three from Pearl Church will be participating in the Young Men’s Association International Hinokishin Corps in Jiba. Also one member from Pearl Church will be a lecturer at the Oyasato Seminar, serve as counselor in the Overseas Boys and Girls Hinokishin Corps and volunteer for the relief effort in the earthquake/tsunami damaged Eastern region of Japan.

We give thanks that members of this church are taking active roles in church activities bringing substance and spiritual growth to the church. We thank you deeply for these blessings as we strive to convey the teachings to as many people as possible.

As we help those in suffering, we pray for the victims and survivors of conflicts and disasters in the world; that they may have faith and resolve to overcome their grief and suffering.

In this 7th month of the 175th Year of Tenrikyo we vow to continue to work together engaging in hinokishin and salvation work with a unity of mind and encourage as much people as possible to return to Jiba.

With the Shinbashira as the core we vow to make sincere efforts in our daily lives to truly follow the Divine Model of Oyasama.

We pray that Your guidance will strengthen us into worthy Yoboku, striving with a single heart for the salvation of others. We hope that our efforts will bring joy to You and peace in this world where we all help one another as brothers and sisters. With our minds in unity towards the Truth of the Jiba, we would like to spiritedly perform the July Monthly Service.

In union with the congregation, I pray for these blessings.

Spring Memorial Service 2012

I would like to thank those of you who helped at the recent BGA Spring Camp and General Meeting. Mahalo!

Please join us in remembering those who laid the path for us at the Pearl Church Spring Memorial Service this Saturday, March 31st at 8am. We will be performing the 12 Songs Teodori and a short ritual paying our respects to our ancestors and predecessors of the Path.

Sincerely,
Rev. Owen Nakao

All Tenri Cultural Center Cleanup Hinokishin – February 20

I would like to call on our congregation and friends to join us in the all TCC Hinokishin Day on:

Monday, February 20, 2012 (President’s Day)
from 9am – 11am
lunch is served at 11am

Other churches and organizations will be participating as well: BGA, YMA, WA, YWC, Hawaii Tenri Judo, Saturday School, and Tenri Bunko. Please make every effort to dedicate time to beautifying the Tenri Cultural Center, one of our greatest assets under our stewardship. We will be wiping windows, doors, raking leaves, weeding, weed whacking, hedge trimming, cleaning screens and bathrooms.

Sincerely,
Rev. Owen Nakao
Pastor, Tenrikyo Pearl Church

January Grand Service 2012

Happy New Year Everyone!

Taeko and I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your dedicated hinokishin efforts and sincere offerings in support of Pearl Church during this past year. Mahalo nui loa!

We will be conducting the January Grand Service this Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 10am. The January Grand Service is to commemorate Oyasama’s withdrawal from physical life on January 26, 1887, when she “stepped out” (of her body) to “level the ground (for world salvation).”

2011 Report

Our monthly service attendance average was 20.8 in 2011, down from 24.5 in 2010.
The sazuke was administered 435 times. Up 7 times from 418 times in 2010.
The highlights of 2011 were: Boy’s & Girl’s Association Spring Camp in March (4 adult volunteers, no children attendees), the Hawaii Convention (11 attendees), the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba (6 attendees); the annual Tenrikyo Bazaar (16 volunteers) and the completion of a rain barrel system utilizing rain water for plants and car washing. Numbers are based on attendees from Pearl Church only.The Hawaii Convention held on May 28-30 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village provided opportunities for members to share their faith with followers from around the world and learn different aspects of the teachings. Members from Pearl Church held key positions in conducting and contributing to the success of the Convention.
We are now in the second year of the three-year, one thousand days before the mission headquarters 60th Anniversary on May 17, 2014 and the Pearl Church 80th Anniversay in the same year (date to be set). We would like to set goals for spiritual growth in order that we may commemorate the anniversary in a manner befitting our maturity and the number of years since establishment.
In looking forward to 2012 we would like to again resolve to administer the sazuke this year is at least 500 times to remain focused on our mission as yoboku (useful timber: those who are using the sazuke) in buidling the joyous life world. Please send me an email everytime you administer the sazuke so that we may record the event.
Also, in addition we would like to schedule service (hand dance & narimono) practices every 4th Sunday at 10am. Please make every effort to attend as we work toward our 80th Anniversary in 2014.

Sincerely,
Rev. Owen Nakao

あけましておめでとうございます。　ことしもどうぞうよろしくおねがいいたします！
パール教会１月大祭
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住所：1634 10th Avenue
Tel: 734-1449

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December 2011 Prayer & Sermon

Thank you everyone for your support during the past year! We are thankful for the many blessings shown by God the Parent and by the congregation!

For many who attended the service it was a time to experience the joy of communion with God and share in the experiences of people who went through and survived very difficult times. Thank you to the speakers Carl Nakao and Yasue Uegawachi and all who contributed to making the service possible. Mahalo!

Wishing you all a happy holiday season!
Rev. Owen and Taeko Nakao

Please read “Saved from Cancer” by Carl Nakao and “Surviving the Atomic Blast in Hiroshima” by Yasue Uegawachi. And this month’s prayer.

Guest Speakers: “Saved from Cancer” and “Surviving the Atomic Blast in Hiroshima”

Two guest speakers have spoke for this month’s sermon:

“Saved from Cancer” by Carl Nakao
“Surviving the Atomic Blast in Hiroshima” by Yasue Uegawachi

Continue reading Guest Speakers: “Saved from Cancer” and “Surviving the Atomic Blast in Hiroshima”

Monthly Service Prayer December 2011

Before God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, I, Owen Osamu Nakao, Pastor of Tenrikyo Pearl Church, pray with reverence:

God the Parent, we are grateful for Your constant protection and gradual instruction that guides us on the path to spiritual growth. In this last month of this 174th year of Tenrikyo we are all striving for the sake of single-hearted salvation while leaning on the ever-living Oyasama and we give thanks for the many and continuous blessings we have received throughout the year.

Today, for this December monthly service at Pearl Church, the service performers will now unite their hearts to perform the seated service and Teodori joyfully and in high spirits. Please accept our prayers as we brothers and sisters of this Path have looked forward to this day and have gathered before You to sing the Mikagura-uta.

Through your blessing the rain barrel project was completed in November thereby reducing the need for pure water from the city’s water supply. Twelve persons attended the thanksgiving dinner held on November 24 and also, two junior leaders and two adult leaders from Pearl Church participated in the Boy’s and Girl’s Association Leaders Fun camp held at the mission HQ on November 25 through 26. In addition, an average of two persons helped with the weekly yard work on neglected sidewalks and various private yards as well as the Tenri Cultural Center throughout the year. The Sazuke was administered a total of 31 times for the month of November and a blessing service was conducted for a place of business on October 8th. We thank you deeply for these blessings.

In the remaining days of this year we vow to work together engaging in hinokishin and salvation work with a unity of mind and continue to encourage as many people as possible to return to Jiba.

We pray that Your guidance will strengthen us into worthy Yoboku, striving with a single heart for the salvation of others. We hope that our efforts will bring joy to You and peace in this world where all people help one another as brothers and sisters. With our minds in unity toward the Truth of the Jiba, we would like to spiritedly perform the last monthly service of the 174th Year of Tenrikyo.

In union with the congregation, I pray for these blessings.