Inspiring Stories - Aloha is Forever

Our son, John Reece, left on Thanksgiving Day 1999 to hike across the valleys of the Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii - alone. The following Monday we received a phone call from his boss at the US Geological Survey telling us he had not returned from his hike.

Thus began a journey of faith that would change our lives forever. We passionately wanted to share our journey with as many people as possible. It has taken us almost 9 years, but our book, Aloha is Forever is now available as a christian e-book. We plan to soon have it available in print as well. We share it with you in hopes that our journey will help you with yours - that it will inspire you - encourage you - challenge you - and maybe even change your life forever.

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Aloha is Forever

The Hawaiian Dictionary translates Aloha as: love, affection, compassion, mercy, sympathy, pity, kindness, grace, charity and beloved.

That sounds like a whole lot more than just hello and goodbye, don't you agree?

In fact, Daniel Kikawa, author of "Perpetuated in Righteousness" and "God of Light, God of Darkness" states in his book "Perpetuated in Righteousness" that, "Aloha is the Hawaiian word for God's unconditional love; what the Greek Bible calls Agape." In addition he says, "Aloha means literally, 'The spirit of the Son of God.'"

Is it any wonder that when we went to Hawaii to look for our missing son, we experienced "Aloha" first hand expressed not only by the Hawaiians but by the whole community of the Islands.

Here are some examples of Aloha:

David Okita, our helicopter pilot not only donated many hours of flying to searching for our son, but also gave us a discount on the private searching he did for us.

The whole community took us in providing food, lodging, phone, transportation in such a generous way that we left Hawaii after a month with no debt for anything. And yes, there were many outside of Hawaii who contributed to meeting those needs as well. So we know Aloha isn't limited to the Polynesians or the Hawaiians!

Many people we never even met spent countless hours and physical effort hiking and searching the valleys for any sign of our son. To all we are forever grateful.

The meaning of Aloha affected us deeply and although we already knew the God of Aloha, we did not know that He had endowed the people of the islands with such a special gift - the spirit of Aloha.

To find out more about the true meaning and origin of Aloha, you can order Daniel Kikawa's books here or click on the link below to order from Amazon.com.

Our book can be ordered here:
Aloha is Forever

Our son John left us the best legacy any child could ever give his parents and siblings. He began writing a journal when he started college in 1995. Originally it was an assignment for one of his classes.

But he continued that journal throughout his college years unbeknownst to us. His last entry was dated 6 days before he left on his hike across the Kohala.

We had no idea it existed!

We returned from Hawaii on December 30, 1999 after finding no trace of him and we of course brought his personal effects back with us. That consisted of his backpack with clothes, a few books, etc and his mountain bike.

We rushed back to Brazil in January, then back to Texas and life was pretty hectic for a few months. And in March we took the time to go through John's stuff. There in a plain spiral notebook was part of his journal (the other part we found years later).

He had penned this poignant entry on November 19th:
"Well, since Thanksgiving is coming up, I'm going to work on counting my blessings, which, says Mom, are many. First off, I'm living in Hawaii right near HI Volcanoes National Park. It would be hard to imagine a more unique spot on the planet..."

As of December 3rd, our book is at the printer and we're anxiously awaiting its arrival next week, a little over 11 years since John left on his hike.