At 5:50 in the morning, June 28, 2017, a queasiness of unknown expectations of General Synod stirred within me. It immediately changed when at 2 in the afternoon we were greeted by warm welcoming happy faces of volunteers steering us to the registration table. The General Synod atmosphere was on “fire.”From Registration, to Worship Services, to Committees on Resolutions, to Plenarys, to Vendors for God, to Regional tables of delegates, and to Speak Outs, each event sent a message that“God is Still Speaking!” In splendor, Hawaii Conference delegates and staff outdid themselves, transforming the audience to witness that we are a family of God and that we speak through God when on the final day of Speak Out, we honored Conference Minister Kahu Charles Buck in our traditional sendoff of chants, laying of healing hands upon Kahu, andfinally “Lei-ing” him.

- Pualani Muraki, Hawai‘i Island