Hawaii. Our 50th state. What comes to mind when you hear that word? Hawaii.
Warm sandy beaches, tall coconut palms swaying in the breeze, clear blue skies, crystal clear water, the sound of the waves rolling in from the ocean. Moisture in the air, afternoon sun-showers, colorful print shirts, flower leis, steel drum music and ukuleles and slack key guitar music. Grass skirts and hula dancers. Waterfalls and lush mountains. Rocky cliffs to jump from into the sea. Fragrant plumeria and vibrant hibiscus. Green sea turtles. Surfboards, paddle-boarding, snorkeling, scuba diving, whale-watching. White foamy wave crests. Black volcanic ash beaches. Fiery sunsets of gold and amber, violet and pink. Tiki huts, tiki torches, and fancy tropical drinks. Hammocks on the beach. Expensive five-star resorts. Booming tourism. Mild weather year-round. Culture. Ohana. "Shaka." The Aloha spirit. Diversity. Poi and poke and Spam musubi and luaus and malsadas. Fresh tropical fruits like coconuts, pineapples, bananas, mangos, guava, and papaya. So many shave ice flavors to choose from on a hot Hawaiian day. Diamond Head, Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Road to Hana, Molokini Crater, Mauna Kea, the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Maybe a picturesque beach-scape of a postcard or a calendar photo. Beautiful scenery to take your breath away.
For most, that's what comes to mind when they hear "Hawaii." It used to be what first came to my mind. And yes, Hawaii is all of that. And yes, I still think of Hawaii as all of that. It's a special and unique place unlike any other state. But when I hear "Hawaii" now, my first thought isn't necessarily a tropical paradise or romantic getaway of rest and relaxation anymore.
Monday morning, May 8th, 2013, I promised the Lord that if He ever called me to move to Hawaii for missions work someday, I would go.
Yet, I found it a strange place that God would call me to missions work in. Hawaii was a hub of tourism. It was "paradise." It was a major vacation destination. That's all I had thought of it as; that was all I had ever heard of it being. I found it difficult to see any real need or opportunity for missions work.
That said, I began to doubt. I began to question if it was really the Lord calling me there. If this was really His idea or another one of my own. So I began research, searching the internet for information about Hawaii and life there on its islands. And what I found both surprised me and stirred in me a burning desire I hadn't expected.
I discovered that in recent years at the time, Hawaii had begun experiencing a major increase in homelessness and poverty. Contrary to what I had thought, there was actually a great need and opportunity to serve and show God's love there. And rather than reluctance, I now longed to go there and put His love to action.
I couldn't believe how many people were in need there. Yet no one ever talked about it. The media and tourism industry never showed that side of the island life. The postcards and calendars never created a picture of anything besides sunny beaches, hula girls, and surf boards.
When I realized that there was, in fact, a need for missions service there in Hawaii, it was all of the confirmation I needed. Without a doubt, I knew then in my heart that I would go to Hawaii someday and serve the Lord among the people living there.
I didn't know when or for how long. Perhaps it would be only for a few years. Perhaps it would be permanently and I would live there and raise my family there. I didn't know. I felt confident however that my work in Hawaii would come in the future after being married, maybe even later in life after my children would be grown and moved out. Regardless of how many years it would be, I planned that it would years before the Lord called me to serve Him in Hawaii. Still, that burden was so strong on my heart, I felt compelled to begin preparing for my time spent there someday.
For personal reasons, I was hesitant to share openly my desire to engage in missions in specifically Hawaii. I feared that my reasons for wanting to serve there would be misinterpreted. But I did share my newly-awakened passion for homeland missions, missions work right there in our United States, and I slowly began trying to accustom myself and my parents to the possibility of my not living in Georgia forever.
Though I never voiced my desire to serve in ministry in Hawaii, my growing love for Hawaii, its culture, and its people became evident. It began showing through to my parents, my best friends, and those closest around me. My parents and my friends were wholly accepting of the sudden change in my interests. They not only tolerated it but supported me in it, my mom perhaps most of all. She understood that it was my new "thing," and having always been my greatest cheerleader, she encouraged my big dreams and my interests.
Hawaii became my passion: it was difficult and even impossible at times to keep it to myself and not talk about it. In the next few years, it slowly became a part of who I was until whenever my family or friends saw anything relating to Hawaii, they came to think of me. It began permeating my life in trivial ways and began touching even the lives of those closest to me.
From the beauty products I used
The foods I ate and drank
("Hawaiian Heartthrob Smoothie")
The prints I wore
The jewelry I collected
How I spent my free time
Even to my first car
(which I named "Leilani," one of my
favorite Hawaiian names)
I began learning as much as I could all about Hawaii and life there. In some ways, the lifestyle was very different from my life in Georgia and from the familiar Hispanic culture on my mother's side of our family. I would stay up late far into the night, reading about the place, its history, and the native culture still rooted there. Unbeknownst to anyone, I downloaded onto my iPhone an app of Native Hawaiian words and, though I knew people in Hawaii spoke English, I began slowly teaching myself the native language, learning the Hawaiian alphabet and several vocabulary words. I also began training my ear to decipher Pidgin, the Hawaiian slang creole dialect.
As the months wore on, I found my will being conformed to the Lord's will more every day. His desires and plans for my future were becoming my desires and my plans for my future. He had planted seeds in my heart of a burden for people in Hawaii and those seeds had begun growing now. I was excited and with the more time I spent learning and preparing for my future time there, the more I grew to love the place and the people and their culture.
