Good Shepherd Catholic Mission Church in Honomu town

This past Thursday, the Deacon at Good Shepherd Mission asked me to accompany them at their Easter Service Mass this evening. Being fairly new to the island, I have no idea where the church is located and how to get there. He gave me specific directions and mentioned that it's in the small town of Honomu past Peepeekeo on the way to Akaka Falls. I have some idea of how to get to Akaka Falls but still not too confident about where the church is. So, I googled "Good Shepherd Mission Honomu" and among all the listings listed on the first few pages, I couldn't even find an address! Next place to search? The phone book. So I checked out the yellow pages under "Churches-Catholic." It wasn't even listed there! I'm thinking, "Boy, this must be a really small church!" Sure enough it was!

It's a really small and cute Catholic church at the end of Honomu Village Road in the community of 3 or 4 other churches. To describe how small it is, you could probably fit about 50 people max inside, and they don't even have a parking lot. Parking is alongside the road.

Well, my husband and I went inside the church and met up with the Deacon and the Priest. They were very hospitable to me: got the piano all set up for me for the service, provided me with all the music I needed, set up a lamp for when it gets dark, set up the fan for me, and the Priest even gave me bottled water in case my "pipes get dry."

After the service, the church patrons were so thankful that I came over all the way from Hilo to play for them. One even asked me kindly, "Beautiful music! Will you be coming every Saturday to play for us?" I felt bad that I had to tell her "no" because I could see how happy the people were to have music during the service. From my knowledge, Good Shepherd Mission is in dire need of a regular musician. If only I lived nearby, I wouldn't mind being their accompanist.

The people in the community of Honomu are very friendly. It seemed like everyone in the church knew everyone. Thus, if you were new to the church, they all would know. After the service last night, I discovered that I enjoy playing for churches in small towns because everyone is so friendly and appreciative of you. It's a very humbling experience.