Beyond the Shore: Aloha- 1st Month

Aloha, beautiful people!

It's time for my first monthly update! I've been back in Hawaii for a month now. I really can't believe that it's been that long already...

The Big Island of Hawaii is just as I remembered it, but this second-time experience is very unique from what it was my first time here. Hawaii is gorgeous. Really, it never gets old seeing this land. Being back here has only confirmed to me again how much I truly love it here. It doesn't hold the wonder and novelty of newness and discovery, but it's familiar and comforting and it feels like home. I feel so much peace here when I'm driving across the Island or when I'm hiking through its valleys. I don't feel like a tourist anymore now: I feel like a local, like I live here and I can call this place my home, and it's a wonderful, beautiful feeling. I feel belonging here. I know the land and I know some of the prettiest places. I know great places to eat in Kailua-Kona, I've been across the Island, I know some tips and tricks of living here and getting around, and I get the kama'aina resident discount at my favorite coffee shop. I'm not an expert on Hawaii at ALL, but I know enough about this little bit of land in Kailua-Kona to be a decent tour guide to the new Mission Builders and I love it. I love being able to share my little world and my love for this place with others. I take so much pride in it. It's so good to be back in Hawaii. My heart was overjoyed when I stepped off of the airplane onto the soil of this place again. The only thing that made me happier that first night was moving back into my old bedroom. I have no regrets at all about coming back and while certainly I miss my family and my friends and my church family- all of you back in Georgia- I haven't felt homesick once. I'm not ready to come back to Atlanta yet.

That said, there isn't much news to share yet. I can't tell you about the pier or about "my" coffee shop Daylight Mind or about work or the university or going to Pololu Valley or Waipio Valley. Because through my writing last quarter, you all are almost as familiar with this place as I am. But I do have a few particular answered prayers to rejoice in and share!

One answered prayer is my work. I'm back to serving in the kitchen for now. From my first day back, I moved to being the leader in the dish pit. This basically means that I'm in charge of delegating tasks, seeing that everything in dish pit gets finished on time for breaks and serving meals, and training new kitchen volunteers how to work in the dish pit. I was trained very, very well in my first quarter how to run the dish pit so I'm right back in my element. However, the leader also typically assumes the role of spraying all of the dishes before they enter the dishwasher. We can it "working the hose." This is a very fast-paced, (for me) high-pressure job during the mealtimes. It's also very strenuous and very exhausting to me. The pots and pans, kitchen equipment and buckets of water can be very heavy, and in addition to the heat of the Hawaiian summer (we don't have air condition in the kitchen), the hot water sprays you constantly and you work tucked in a corner beside the steaming dish washer for eight hours. It's a difficult job and by my third week, I realized that I couldn't serve in that role every day. So the Lord provided me with a strong, energetic boy in the kitchen who loves spraying the pots and pans. He has been a tremendous blessing! While I'm still the leader in the dish pit, I now have the freedom to move around the kitchen and get some fresh air working the other roles in the dish pit (taking out trash, sweeping, mopping, wiping tables, taking out floor mats, scraping pans, wiping dishes, serving food to the students and staff, etc.). It's been a refreshing change and has brought enjoyment back to my job. My mission as a leader in the kitchen is to bring joy to an environment that can sometimes be wearying with early mornings and thick heat and to make the dish pit a fun place where our teammates are drawn to rather than drawn to avoid. I feel that not being tucked away in the corner helps me better accomplish that. However, the young man who works my water hose for me will be leaving in two weeks. Of course, this concerned me, but in our group of new Mission Builders who arrived last week, the Lord provided me with another young man to willingly fill Ari's role helping me. I'm very thankful for them both! I'm also thankful to be back working with the wonderful chefs I served with last quarter.

The Lord has blesssed me here with lovely roommates. When I first arrived, I had two godly roommates Larissa and Kristin from Washington and Norway, and now He's given me a beautiful, thoughtful, and social Brazilian roommate Danielle. With her being an extrovert, we're opposites in almost every way and we laugh often about the way I hide out in my introvert "cave"- my bedroom- or go off to my favorite coffee shop alone. Just Saturday night, my second roommate also arrived for six weeks. There was a mix-up in her room assignment; however, it makes me only more certain that she was hand-picked by God to be my roommate. She's a girl from France named Johanna whose brother already arrived as a Mission Builder just over a week ago. She's sweet and genuine and more on the quiet side. She served as a volunteer last summer. I like her. I like her a lot and already, I can tell that she's going to be a good fit to our housing arrangement. I enjoy spending time with her and her brother Pierre. They're so uplifting. I'm very glad to have her as my newest roommate.

I'm now an official driver for our Kokua Crew! Sure, being a driver has the perks of no longer being assigned house chores on Mondays, but what's more, it's a tremendous blessing to me in the fact that I LOVE to drive. It's an entirely new experience for me driving a big boxy white YWAM fourteen-passenger van full of volunteers, but I enjoy it and I feel like my driving it and my comfort in driving it is improving with each time that I'm behind the wheel.

In my four weekends here, I've been able to spend all four of them in great company. My first weekend back, I joined a group going to Waipio Valley, a post-card place that I had wanted to visit last time when I was here. However, at the time, there had been a major outbreak of Dengue Fever from mosquitos on the Island and Waipio Valley had sadly been one of the places that had been temporarily closed because of it. So this time I went. I joined a very intense hike to a breath-taking waterfall, walked on a black-sand beach again, and hiked down and up Waipio Valley Road, the steepest road of its length in the United States. ...and immediately began regretting it. Lol. It was worth it for a once-a-lifetime experience though, but one time taking that hike was enough for me. The day-trip pushed my physical capabilities, I stayed safe apart from bruises, and I learned that as ever, God has His hand upon me.

My second weekend was spent going to the local theater with Amanda and Josiah Palusky, a wonderful sister and brother from my social circle back home. I'm grateful to have them here at YWAM with me and to bring with their presence a piece of home with them through my serving line in the kitchen every day.

My third weekend, I rented a car with a group of four of my closest girlfriends here for now and drove them to my favorite place I've discovered on the face of this earth so far. Pololu Valley. I don't think I had ever enjoyed Hawaii as much as I did when viewing it from behind a steering wheel, and Pololu Valley is such a magical place. There's a short twenty-minute hike down the mountain and then a beautiful black-sand beach and lush valley in which to camp or to picnic. It isn't a place that inspires you to explore; it's a place that's so peaceful and strikes you with such overwhelming awe at God's greatness that you only want to sit and soak in how strongly you feel the Lord's presence there and how much it overflows your heart with gratitude to Him. That's what it does to me and it brought me joy to watch as my friends fell under its same spell there. We took pictures, we waded in the ocean, and we picniced, praying for each other, sharing dreams, and talking about Jesus. We topped the day off with shave ice and ice cream and a beautiful hour-and-a-half drive back home through the Hawaiian countryside. What a glorious day! My heart couldn't have been more full.

And last weekend, I stayed close to home and spent a lot of time with Jesus. Praying, talking to Him and trying to listen.

Monday after work, I dressed with pride in my red, white, and blue and went downtown for a small-town local Independence Day parade, a dance party in the street with my fellow Mission Builders, and fireworks over Kailua Bay.

I'm in perfect health here. Hawaii is hot and humid this time of year, and Kona is now very touristy for the summer, which my patience struggled with at first. I've gotten no sunburn to speak of, the green geckos are my housepets again (especially the baby one who visits our kitchen), and I've only had to kill one Kona Cruiser (giant cockroach) for my housemate so far. All in all, I'm very blessed to be back here in Kona again. But there are a few key things that you all can join me in prayer for.

For direction. In my short time being here in Hawaii again for my second time, the Lord has already confirmed to my spirit that this is where He wants me to be. That ministry with the Hawaiian people- particularly those living beneath the poverty level- is what He wants me to dedicate my work to for at least a portion of my life. How long? Until He tells me to move on to something else. What that looks like, I don't know yet, nor what my next step toward that goal is. I question almost daily whether to stay as a Mission Builder for the next five months or whether it's time now to get a well-paying, full-time job and to move out on my own nearby into a studio apartment or a condo to put down permanent roots and to become more familliar with the local society and lifestyle before the Lord moves me into a direction of local ministry. I'm praying. But I haven't received His answers. And sometimes it causes me to feel restless. Please join me in praying for clear direction, for greater faith, for rest, and for peace for my soul in the waiting.

For YWAM Kona. This summer, the University of the Nations is in need. Both of volunteers and also of students. The number of volunteers and the number of DTS (Discipleship Training School) students are very low this season and students unfortunately equals income for the campus. Please keep the university's finances and God's provision for it in your prayers.

For opportunities. The staff at the University of the Nations has expressed to our Kokua Crew director a desire to become more involved in serving the local churches and the Hawaiian people, and in their plans, we Mission Builders are to forerun that ministry. This is something that I'm very excited about! My heart is for local ministry, but also, seeing YWAM Kona's lack of missions involvement in our own community while focusing on foreign missions is something that's burdened my heart for months. I would love to see this ministry launch and thrive and to help it in any way that I can. Please pray for the right connections and opportunities and for a continued passion for this on the hearts of the university staff.

For strength. The Lord has surrounded me with amazing people for my time here. He's given me great friends here, great people to serve with in the kitchen. He's given me wonderful roommates. He's given me friends on campus. And He's given me all of you, loving me, believing in me, praying for me back home, on the home-front. But this time coming back to Hawaii as a Mission Builder for my second time around is much harder than I expected it to be. It's a very different experience. The people are different and until coming back, I hadn't realized how much I had changed since the first time that my feet touched on this Island. I'm different. God's doing a lot of work in my heart, different work this time, preparing me for the next step in ministry He has for me, and that growing isn't easy. It's difficult and it hurts sometimes and it causes some discomfort and some tears. But it's good. Still, pray for strength for me please. Strength and grace and patience with myself in the growing process as I'm challenged and stretched mentally and emotionally and spiritually in ways that I never have been before.

For my finances. I'll be transparent. I'm not doing well in finances. My bank account is running out of money. Very quickly. Even trying to be conscious and frugal, with the cost of living in Hawaii, trips to the grocery store are very depleting for what savings I had brought with me here. As you know, my logic in coming here was to volunteer full-time on the YWAM base throughout the week and to work a part-time job in town on my weekends. However, before that plan was birthed as security for my financial fears, I sensed that God wanted to bring me here back to Hawaii to learn to trust Him to provide for me. Trusting the Lord with my finances is a considerable weak area in my faith. Since arriving, I haven't felt peace in my spirit about searching for a weekend job in town yet. I keep remembering that ingling I had at first that God wanted to teach me in these few months how to trust Him with my finances. Still, my logic tells me that I need to do "my part" first and be responsible and get a job to provide for myself before He'll provide for me elsewise. Even if that means burning myself out socially and physically. I don't have direction or peace about either perspective. Not a spiritual peace about working on my weekends; not a peace of finanical security about taking my hands off completely and trusting God to provide for me. This is something I've been wrestling with since my first full day here. So I work hard at the campus, I spend a lot of time in prayer, and I try not to stress too much about it while I watch my bank account running dry as I wait for His guidance. Please pray for me for peace in the midst of the financial stress and for very clear, precise direction from Him on what path He wants me to take in this journey.

And lastly, a really really big request. You see, Hawaii is a beautiful place. Even as a writer, I can't describe what comes over my spirit when I'm off exploring this land. I've never been anywhere where I'm consistently so overwhelmed by God's goodness and His love and His majesty than I am when I see the vastness of this Island that He's called me to. But don't be fooled by the beautiful pictures that I have to show, because the truth is, I rarely see anything besides the three miles of downtown Kailua-Kona. And Kailua-Kona is beautiful too- we have stunning sunsets here and breathtaking places to watch the ocean. But I rarely see anything else of the Island. Mission Builder day trips cost money that eventually add up and generally, rental cars aren't even an option for my bank account to consider. So here's my last big prayer request- a big dream. Would you join me in praying for a car for me for my five months here? I really desire a car. Not because I want the convenience of it: in actuality, I would hardly use it throughout the week: I would still walk as many places around town as I could to save money on gas. I also don't have the money for car insurance on a vehicle here so it is a difficult thing to ask the Lord for. But I love driving. Back home, I have a nice little red Nissan Altima sedan that I call my own and take everywhere, and when I need to clear my mind and talk to God, my favorite thing is to get in my car and drive. Just drive. Just take the open back roads and talk to Him. It helps me let go of my stress and my cares and lay them in His hands again, and it helps focus my mind so that I can hear His voice more clearly without the distraction of other thoughts. With everything on my mind daily, I struggle with that these days. I feel God's presence so strongly when it's just me and Him driving through the countryside and never more than when I'm driving through this place- Hawaii- where He's called me to be and He reminds me of my purpose here and the promises and dreams He's put there in my heart. It restores my soul. It's my special way of connecting with Him. So I would really really love to have the freedom to go out driving on the weekends and have that special time again with Jesus that I love. I really miss it. Until I had driven that car with my friends to Pololu Valley, I hadn't realized how much I missed it, but it left me in tears leaving that car at its owner's office because the time I had had driving it had been so peaceful and refreshing. Apart from my family, being able to drive is the thing that I miss most about home. Many people here make it sound so simple: "*shrug* So you need a car." I don't know if my financial faith is as strong as theirs yet- my logic and practicality and the reality of my present finances trips me up a lot- but while I know it's a big request and the least of my cares right now, I've seen God do bigger things here so I figure, why not ask? If He wants to give me a car for my time here, I believe that He'll give me a car for the next five months. And if He doesn't, He's still good and He's still faithful and He still loves me like crazy.

Thank you for all of your love and prayer support you're investing in me. You all are much loved and appreciated more than you know. You make a difference to me. A huge difference. Each and every one of you. I thank God for you every day. I don't have a large amount of time for communication because Mission Building is a very intense program, even more so with few volunteers this season, however, if you would like to contact me, I would love to hear from you!

Email: 2countrychic@gmail.com

Mailing address:

Julia Glover

Kokua Crew #247

75-5851 Kuakini Hwy

Kailua Kona, HI 96740-2136

United States