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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, August 19, 2002

ROD OHIRA'S PEOPLE
Big Island man moves forward by going back

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

As a top-salaried computer technician for Universal Studios and owner of an oceanfront home in San Pedro, Calif., Chester "Chett" Maruyama couldn't imagine life getting any better than it was in 1990.

He was wrong.

Through a series of unpredictable events, Maruyama's life has come full circle. Breaking a vow to never return to Hilo, he came back in 1991 to his hometown and discovered new meaning to his life.

"In his search, he has come to grasp what God called him to become," Wayne Cordeiro, senior pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship on O'ahu, said of Maruyama. "He's found that his true home is not only his birthplace but in God."

Today, a month shy of his 60th birthday, Maruyama counsels husbands about their roles in marriage, mentors at-risk youth and serves as a helping hand for church groups and other organization. He speaks from the perspective of someone working on a second marriage who was an undistinguished student from kindergarten through high school and a one-time loner.

Chester "Chett" Maruyama, left, chats with Ed Shafer, pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Hilo. Maruyama returned to his hometown in 1991.

Photo courtesy Chett Maruyama

A good listener, he has learned to deal with his own past by helping others.

"I've been able to get all the pilau stuff out of me," said Maruyama, a retiree living solely on investment income.

The turnaround in his life occurred after a normal 18-hour workday 12 years ago. He got into his car and instead of the familiar 24-hour news programming, Maruyama found himself listening to a Christian radio show.

"Since 1975, I had been looking for something I felt was missing in my life," he said. "It got me thinking."

The next day, Maruyama and co-worker Rick Ellis arrived at the coffee station at the same time.

"We didn't like each other and were always bumping heads," Maruyama recalled. "But I asked him, 'Are you a religious person?' He invited me to his office and told me, 'No, I'm not a religious person but I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.'

"I learned that he had gone to the seminary, had a good family life and all his children were successful," he added. "He ministered to me the Bible and my whole attitude toward him made a flip-flop."

In May 1990, Maruyama sold his San Pedro dream house. In July, he was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Los Angeles. He quit his job.

"I had a calling to move back to Hilo," he said. "But I hated Hilo. I just had so many bad experiences growing up there. So I moved to Kona and built a house on five acres there."

A marathon runner, Maruyama said, "I ended up drinking beer, running and being merry. I stayed in Kona a year, then sold my house and moved to Hilo."

In Hilo, Maruyama started attending church services at the Girls & Boys Club gym, where he met Cordeiro. The two became good friends, sharing interests in running and motorcycle riding.

"After Pastor Wayne left (for O'ahu), a lot of things started happening for me," Maruyama said. "I found my gift and calling."

On the eve of the 1998 "March for Jesus" in Hilo, for example, pastors from different Big Island churches were looking for a place to pray together over the city. Maruyama invited the 30 pastors to his new Pacific Heights house at Ka'anini Place.

It evolved into a weekly session. "For two years, they met at my house every Thursday evening," he said. "Now they meet Thursdays at different churches. Before 1998, they had never gotten together."

Maruyama also recalled sitting in church one day, wondering "what is it I'm supposed to do."

"A voice told me to be an usher," he said. "It scared me to think about standing in front of people. But I did it for a year.

"Then I went to work with toddlers (ages 1-3) every Sunday," Maruyama continued. "The ones who came into the room crying are the ones I'd embraced. I thought to myself, that was me in kindergarten."

In kindergarten at Kapi'olani School, students were served orange or tomato juice, cheese or eggs for snacks, he said. Those were foods Maruyama never had at home.

"I'd gagged when they forced me to eat and teachers thought I was being rebellious and would always lock me in the outhouse in back," he said. "Once in the third grade, my father had to come to school and sit with me in front of the class. The teacher told me, 'Chester, you're going to flunk.'"

Lacking self-esteem, Maruyama became a target for bullies. Those were forgettable years.

The four years he embraced crying toddlers at church allowed him to "release" the unpleasant memories of his school days from his thoughts, Maruyama said.

The bottom line of his volunteer work is counseling men about their role in marriage.

"We need to take our wives into every area of our lives; there can be no area marked private," said Maruyama, who is on his second marriage. "If you can't communicate with your wife, you cannot communicate with God. I've learned to get on my knees to wash my wife's feet and to say I'm sorry. Coming from a samurai mentality, it's not easy to do.

"A wife is like a mirror. Your relationship with her tells you where you are in life. Divorce is a big failure in my life but I use it to help others."

One of Maruyama's current missions is to start a ministry for men in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. "The first time I spoke at church," he noted, "I said we all need more aloha and love. That's my calling."

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.