‘The arms of Jesus’: Responding to Tropical Storm Lala

The roof of Our Savior Lutheran Church and School in Aiea, Oahu, Hawaii, sustained damage from Tropical Storm Lala on Aug. 16. (Courtesy of Mitchell Gowen)

By Mary Henrichs

When the Rev. Mitchell Gowen, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church and School in Aiea, Oahu, Hawaii, went to survey the church and school campus after Tropical Storm Lala went through the area on Sunday, Aug. 16, he saw “a large piece of someone’s roof” in the church’s parking lot. Only after surveying the damage to the church sanctuary — finding “minimal leaking [and] flooding” — did he check on the school building, only to realize that what he had called “someone’s roof” actually “belonged to us.”

A 57-mph wind gust had torn off a third of the school roof, flooding two classrooms and creating a cascading waterfall down two flights of stairs. Although in the grand scheme of things, Gowen calls the damage “a minor inconvenience,” the roof will take an estimated $169,000 to fix.

Initially billed as a hurricane, Lala passed to the south of Hawaii Aug. 14–16, drenching the islands with rain and battering them with wind, even after being downgraded to a tropical storm on the morning of Aug. 16. Although tropical storms and hurricanes are frequent in the Pacific Ocean, landfall in Hawaii is rare: Lala marked the state’s most significant impact from a tropical cyclone “in decades,” according to the Hawaii Climate Data Portal.

The Big Island was hit hardest, receiving over 30 inches of rain in some areas. Many roads were washed out, bridges and homes were damaged, and trees were brought down. On the island of Oahu, where 70% of Hawaiians live, rainfall surpassed 6 inches, and power outages lasted for days. In Aiea, power was restored after two days but then went out again and was only reliably restored on Aug. 22.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) California-Nevada-Hawaii (CNH) District has committed $25,000 to help repair Our Savior’s school building, an amount that LCMS Disaster Response will match.

Additionally, CNH Disaster Relief and LCMS Disaster Response have coordinated to purchase and distribute $28,000 in Lutheran Church Extension Fund gift cards to six LCMS congregations across three islands of Hawaii. CNH District President Rev. Michael Lange explained that the gift cards are intended to help offset the financial burden caused by food spoilage during the extended power outages.

Gowen shared that Our Savior is also seeking ways to help its harder-hit neighbors on the Big Island, reaching out to partner with churches in that area and possibly sending a few members of its Lutheran Early Response Team (LERT) to assist.

Looking toward the next few months, Gowen, who also serves as a chaplain with the Civil Air Patrol, said, “We have the possibility of seven or more storms — based on the Super El Niño model — still to come this year.” He notes that a stronger storm hitting the islands would be “devastating,” especially due to the geographic isolation of Hawaii.

“The church extends the arms of Jesus to the community,” Gowen said. “We do our best to help prepare for the eventuality of a worse storm and do what we can to help … those affected.”

LCMS Chief Mission Officer and Office of National Mission Interim Executive Director Rev. Dan Galchutt said, “We give thanks to God for the blessing of His church working together in His mission to extend Christ’s love and mercy, through LCMS congregations, to the Hawaiian communities of Aiea, Honolulu, Kahului, Kaneohe, Wahiawa and Waikoloa following the disaster created by Tropical Storm Lala.”

Posted Aug. 28, 2026