Beyond the Shore: Aloha!

Aloha, Ohana!

I've been living here in Kona for over three weeks now. It both seems so much longer and so much shorter than that. Has it been another two weeks already since my last update? Time flies by so quickly here.

These past two weeks have been filled with adventures and new experiences. I went to a real luau two Saturdays ago. The leader of our grounds crew at the university, a Samoan man, works at the luau event center and was able to get us all discounted tickets, but even still, it was relatively expensive but worth every penny. We dressed up nicely and walked together down to the hotel by the pier where the luau would be hosted. There was live slack key guitar music by the water. The ocean waves were wildly crashing in the background. Such a beautiful night! Hula and other Polynesian dances were performed in traditional dress. Native Hawaiian food was served. Almost all of the things that I wanted to try while here: poke, poi, kalua pork, haupia, Kona coffee. I tried it all. Some of it I enjoyed; some of it not so much. My heart felt full and content, so happy, that night wholly immersed in the culture that I love so much. That I respect. That I appreciate. I had waited for over two years for a moment like that. I love Hawaii not for its beach lifestyle, but for its people, for its history, for its traditions, for its language, and for the land as the beautiful sacred gift from God that it is to us. As I sat there that night, something dropped into my heart that wherever my family lives someday, I want my children to grow up understanding and appreciating the beautiful Hawaiian culture.

The week that followed was mostly uneventful. Early mornings, three meals a day, evening services, work days, lazy afternoons spent at the pier. Daily life on the island for us here. Then came Friday night.

Friday and Monday evenings are ministry nights in the prayer room at the campus. The times when we can spend a few hours in a roomful of other young people who love the Lord, worshipping, praying, praying for each other, prophesying. The times past, I had been too exhausted from the work hours of transition week (4:00am-1:30pm) to be much engaged in the services. It was all I could do to focus on not falling asleep. But this time was different. It began with my crying in worship and my friend Trine praying for me. I wandered outside for a few minutes. To think, to pray, to reflect, to spend some quiet time alone with the Lord. When I returned, an invitation was being given for prayer if you wanted God to take you deeper into His grace. I raised my hand for prayer and a girl nearby came to pray for me. She prayed and she prophesied and she was very accurate in what she spoke. She encouraged me and uplifted my heart. Then an invitation was given for physical healing. A few months before I left home in Georgia, the spiritual gift of healing was prophesied over me. That maybe God wanted to move through me and use me in that gift. Since being here in Hawaii, I've felt a heightened awareness of phsycial ailements and injuries in people I encounter every day. I believe that God can heal, that He can make the blind see and the lame walk again. But through me? I struggle with faith in that area.

But there was a girl nearby me that Friday night who raised her hand for prayer. So I and a young man named Richard drew to her side and began praying for healing for her. She had a gluten intolerance and after eating something rich in gluten earlier, she described having a heavy knot feeling in her stomach. We prayed and the discomfort disappeared about fifty percent she said. We continued praying. And the feeling went away entirely. "I feel like I could go out and eat a giant cinnamon roll right now and be fine!" she said, laughing with joy. I was astounded. Had God just used our hands to heal someone?

Behind me, my roommate Ida was being prayed for. Ida had struggled with chronic back pain for the past seven years. She used to be athletic, running and being awarded as a child as the best shot putter in her county. But for the past seven years, she hasn't been able to play sports. She couldn't run. She couldn't do sit-ups. Her hips and knees were unaligned. She was prayed for during the ministry night and that Friday, her hips were realigned. She did sit-ups with no pain. We ran home from the campus together that night for the first time she had been able to run in seven years. She joined a group of individuals up front, testifying before the entire roomful of believers that she had been healed. It's been over a week now and she's felt so pain since. Our God is so good! He amazes me every day here from the moment I awake to the time when I lay my head to rest again at night.

The next day, last Saturday, we joined a group from our Kokua Crew on a road trip across the island. From Kailua-Kona to Hilo and back. Coast to coast. We stopped at a valley, at Akaka Falls, at Rainbow Falls, at the Hilo Farmer's Market, and lastly, at a small restaurant to buy malasadas. I had wanted so badly to try malasadas and they were everything I could've imagined! I could eat those warm, golden, sugary fresh doughnuts every day! Sooo ono! The waterfalls and the valley in the midst of the island jungle took my breath away. I could've stayed beside the ocean waters of the valley for hours longer. As I sat on the lava rocks in the shade of swaying palms, looking out across the crashing waves, the Lord's presence came upon me so strongly. I felt Him near. I stood in wonder and awe that He is the Creator of something so magnificent and still cares about the intimate thoughts of my heart. That He cares more about the details of my every waking hour and the times we spend together than He does about the glorious handiwork that He's carved into this land. Even the moments of my sometimes boring and uneventful days. He loves me more.

He takes my breath away here. As we were driving through the mountains, a vanful of sleeping people I love all around me and worship music playing softly from the front of the van, I choked up with tears looking out the window at His handiwork. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own little bubbles, in our own little worlds with our own little problems that we forget. We don't realize that we are just a small fraction in this big wide world and that He is the Master and Maker of it all. The view through our lens sometimes is so narrow. We forget how great He is.

Saturday night, Nina took me to her special place. A quiet two-story coffee shop in town. Nina is one of our Kokua Crew staff who I've grown pretty close to through prayer together and mutual sharing with one another. We placed our orders and wandered outside with our drinks. The shop has a two-story lanai. When I stepped outside, I caught my breath in surprise. I wasn't expecting the view. We were right on the ocean. Lights from town danced across the water to our left. To the right, waves crashed against the rocks just below us. We sat and talked for hours. I've been there almost every afternoon since. I love stopping by on my way home from work at the campus every day and drinking a hot chocolate on the veranda, spending some quiet restful time alone praying, worshipping, writing, even just thinking and listening to God's voice. It's good for my soul and Daylight Mind Coffee Company has become my special place now too. The baristas know me by name in there now. I also enjoy quiet time at the Banyan Tree Café on the campus and in the prayer room, and I enjoy my time walking alone. I try to walk as much as possible here in contrast to riding in the vans.

Sunday afternoon, I attended a free event at the local Hulihee Palace in town. There was music by a band comprised mostly of elderly people and there were three lovely hula dances. My friend Emilia and I were two of the youngest people there it felt like, but it was a cultural experience and we enjoyed it.

{Hulihee Palace}

Last week kicked into the swing of another work week come Monday morning. It was the same as usual until Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon, our entire Kokua Crew walked down to the pier and we had our quarterly baptism. And I was rebaptized. In front of over a hundred people- staff, volunteers, and onlooking tourists- I made a renewed declaration that I'm living my life surrendered to Christ now. Why? It's a long story, but please, I would love for you to take the time to read my testimony of it here on my blog in my previous post titled "No Turning Back."

{Photo creds to Ida}

{Photo creds to our photographer Igor}

Thursday was a day off of work for me. For those of us volunteers who are staying here for three months, we're given two days off of work to attend a DTS class of our choice. Basically to go and listen to a Christian lecture for four hours and then have the rest of the day to relax and spend our afternoon however we desire. My first class was on Thursday. The topic? Hearing God's Voice. I felt oddly shy and a little intimidated by so many unfamiliar people, but I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the afternoon I spent at Daylight Mind writing and sipping hot chocolate. And I especially enjoyed the extra few hours of sleep in the morning! But I surprisingly missed working in the kitchen. I thought I wouldn't- that I would be overjoyed not to have to work that day- but I wasn't.

I'm loving my job here in the kitchen now. Our work hours are now 7:00am to 3:00pm with breaks in between. However, we always finish our work earlier at 2:00 and therefore, get off work early. I rarely ever feel stressed anymore. I always have fun and I love now the people that I get to work with. We're always being told that they've never had a kitchen crew like us before. The inspector came on Friday for our yearly audit which the kitchen partly failed last time, but this time, we passed 100%. Yeah! I say that we're going to go down in YWAM history as the best kitchen crew. Every day now for meals, I help serve the food. I love it so much. It reminds me of being a host in the dining room at my Chick-fil-A at home. I miss that a lot. I receive so much pleasure and satisfaction in seeing at my smile and cheerful greeting, a smile come over the sleepy or tired faces of the usual students coming through my food line every day. I love making them smile.

{Kitchen Crew!!! Photo creds to Nina}

I'm not very homesick here anymore. When I cry, it's usually now because God overwhelms me with His presence. But in rawness and vulnerability, I admit that some days are still a little difficult. Sundays when I can live-stream the worship service from my church back home is a highlight of my week. I look forward to it every day. Sundays my thoughts are turned home more than usual. I also fight homesickness sometimes throughout the week now. I work at a university, interacting with college boys every day. And college boys will be college boys. Every day, I'm flirted with, I get winked at, I have boys who are just a little overly-friendly toward me. I walk on the streets in town and I've gotten honked at. I've gotten whistled at. I've had a guy stop his car unsolicited and ask if I wanted a ride. I've had guys pass by me walking and greet me and try making conversation with me. I've had a guy wave at me from his car window rolled down and then turn to his friend beside him and call me "beautiful." Some girls would give anything for the attention- some girls do give everything, I know. Some girls want that. But I don't. I've never felt threatened or in danger because I'm never in a deserted place- I stay in well-populated tourist areas by myself- but it's still unwelcomed. At the end of the day, it only makes me homesick. I've never felt such superficial attention before nor have I ever felt more objectified than I do while walking down the street at times. It makes me miss being home. It drives my heart back toward my loved ones in Georgia. It makes me feel lonely in those moments.

This is a beautiful place, but as the weeks go by, I'm realizing more and more that it also has its share of lurking danger. The waves grow stronger and bigger with each day that passes it seems. Our staff has warned us now to be extremely cautious swimming in the water and has advised us against sitting on the lava rocks far out into the ocean where the waves crash right at our feet. In the past, there was a girl whose spine was broken by the force of a wave and many people have gotten badly cut before on the sharp rocks and reefs. While it's safe in the daylight in touristy areas of town, we girls are ever reminded not to find ourselves walking alone at night and not to take shortcuts where we might find ourselves in the ghettos. We have a lot of homeless people along our streets, and sadly, it's obvious that not all of them are of a sound mind.

We've had a few mishaps happen on our team. My friend Christina got stung by a jellyfish. Then my roommate Amber got pink eye. Then Amber stepped on a sea urchin. Then my other roommate Ida got severely sunburned. Then Ida's sunburned turned out to be something like a sun-stroke. Then Christina developed a severe allergic reaction to the jellyfish poison or to a plant or possibly both and was taken to the Emergency Room. Then our friend Katie sprained her ankle while trying to longboard. One of the elderly women on our team experienced health complications and was taken to a hospital in Hilo where she was on a ventilator and her family was asked to come see her. Very very fortunately she's recovering now. A couple from our team had to return home already because the husband had some kind of injury in his leg. Christina has been experiencing major back pain, people on our team have been fighting common colds, and one of our friends has been having bad dreams. Purely coincidental incidents? Maybe. Something tells me that there's more likely something going on in the spiritual realm instead though. Apparently it hasn't been uncommon in the past for members of the Kokua Crew to begin having bad dreams after about two weeks into serving, so last week we had a quarterly prayer walk around each of the buildings in our Hale Ola dormitory base. Please pray for protection over all of us. Many of us have reached the point of having occasional weariness and fatigue physically from the work that we do throughout the week and this makes us particularly vulnerable mentally and spiritually for attacks from the Enemy. We wave the blood of Jesus as a banner of protection over all of us.

I'm reminded that even in one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth, danger and threat still exists. Even the closest to paradise in this fallen world is not void of the consequences and effects of sin and the fall of man. How I long for the day when all of darkness is wiped away and only the goodness of the Lord's glory remains. Keep us here in your prayers.

Please pray also that I find a home church here. I've visited two churches since being here and while I've enjoyed both and have found their worship styles and sermons to be much like my church at home, I'm struggling to find a place where I feel like I can belong. I'm still so much a part of my church family in Georgia. But it is difficult not having a regular place to attend here and to feel involved in. I'm still trying different churches out. Next week, I've bribed with a Starbucks my friend Pedro to walk three miles uphill with me to visit Hope Chapel Kona if he can't find a van from the university to take us. ;)

Speaking of friends... I've established some amazing friendships here now that are only growing stronger by each week spent together. My guy friends are wonderful. I love how they make me laugh, they make me feel cared for, they make me feel safe. The ways that they show they care are so tender and pure: a pat on my shoulder, a touch on my arm, gentle teasing, stroking the top of my head, touching my curls, holding the door for me, letting me wear their sweater when I'm cold, making sure that I don't walk alone in the dark. They take care of me and watch out for me.

My girlfriends bring such joy to my life. We walk with arms around each other's shoulders. We pray with each other. We listen, we share, we encourage and compliment each other and are always building each other up. We comfort each other and support each other through homesickness and tears. My roommate Ida and I love laying on her bed in the evenings when we're both tired from work and don't want to be around people and reading the Bible, listening to music, laughing together and eating snacks. She makes me so happy. She has a big heart and so much love to give. I'm thankful every day that God has given me such a caring friend in her, as well as in others here. I love it when she and Christina read to me in Danish and I find myself listening to Danish worship music now even when the two of them aren't around.

My friends and I have reached the level in friendship now of inside jokes (mine and Lea's hip-bump and funny smiles at each other while working). Of sharing everything (we buy a drink at Starbucks and literally everyone at the table tastes it). Of nicknames (long story, but Pedro now calls me "Angela"). And of set reputations. I'm known now as the girl with the big smile and big hair (humidity and these curls, ya know?). The girl who's always laughing and is always bubbly and cheerful. The girl who got lost at the airport. And the girl who's the "mother" of my group. I've been so blessed to be surrounded by wonderful godly people who have become like family to me, and I'm ever reminded in light of how worried I was before coming that I'd be alone that I need never be anxious. The Lord is faithful and trustworthy always.