Monthly Archives: April 2010

With the return of our students safely to Honolulu, debriefing, graduation, and seeing them off to the airport, i have now completed my commitment to Ywam Honolulu.
I took about two weeks off and just relaxed and prepared myself for the next step in this crazy journey of life. There was an odd clash of emotions. From saying goodbye to my team i had just spent the last 5 months of my life getting close to and the staff i had worked alongside for 3 schools- to being excited and nervous and anxious all in one for this wacky new thing of pioneering in Kauai. Everything seemed surreal.

And so, here i am.
I have been in Kauai for a month now and I can honestly say God is so faithful to my heart.

We live in the ghetto, get donations from the food bank and drive a crappy mini van that runs soley on a prayer. We volunteer in food kitchens, perform skits at the highschool, bake cookies for our neighbour, and pick up trash on the beach. There are 9 of us here, all in our 20’s with no clue what pioneering really looks like, with a goal of running our first school in September.

This is crazy. And I love it to pieces!

From my bedroom i can hear the sound of waves crashing along the shore. In my free time i walk thirty seconds across the street and go boogie board the waves or read on the beach.
Last week Raquel and I used our landlords kayaks on this amazing river down the street.
I practiced cartwheels with my 11 year old friend at our churchs beach bbq on friday night.
Our friend Art Collins came and blessed us with encouragment, donuts, and the use of his hotel waterslide.

I love that this is all about Jesus. Its all about the plans he has for Kauai. For the youth here. For us individually as staff. For the nations He will bring justice to through future outreach teams.

Day to day looks like worship, prayer, lecture, meetings, admin stuff, planning meals and grocery shopping. We are constantly busy, yet it feels slow paced. We just need to stay focused on our ultimate goals here and realize that mundane tasks are always a part of the process.
Day to day would be impossible without knowing this is exactly where God has called us to for this time.

It is easy.
It is hard.
It is emotional and draining.
It is enjoyable and fulfilling.
I love Kauai!

 
    The Team: Will, Blair, CJ, Raquel, Lauren, Justin, Amy, Josh, and moi.

 Team bonding time!

Kayaking.

Day 57

Today we got to speak in our friend Eva’s Religious Philosophy class at the university. We felt incredibly honored to get to go share about our faith and answer the questions her buddhist professor and the students had to ask. God has been so faithful opening up oppertunities for us here!

Day 63
Valentines Day! And for our team in Thailand that means its time to ride elephants! Sam and i rode on baby Maddie. It was a ton of fun and i was just astounded how faithful God is to the desires of my heart,
 as i had wanted to do this for years!

Day 66
Had a prayer walk at Duitsep temple. Was sad watching all these people bow down before meaningless idols, but i also had to evalauate myself and confess what idols I bow down to in Canada/America- such as materialsim. Missionaries come here and pray that these people would stop worshipping false gods.With an outside perspective we can see it so clearly, but if a Christian from one of these countries came to Honolulu they would spot our material worship just as obviously! Perhaps our gods are even worse then these golden images, for we base our own value (and the value of others) in them. It is ridiculous really! Yet so appealing and somehow I am completely happy living in this mud hole of materialism myself. It’s what I grew up with, bred into me through society, it’s all ive ever known. I am so comfortable in it.
How do i breakthrough? Lord help me see the sin that I am in. help me not love the things of this world. May I be more focused on the Kingdom of heaven and its advancement than the kingdom of men and my advancement in it! May i see things the way you see them. Its so easy to judge these people but if i was born here chances i would be ringing that same bell….

(A child worshiping at Duitsep.)