Lecture Phase... DONE!

Lecture Phase is over!  I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly.  Done!
And what an amazing time it has been.  What an amazing thing that we have been a part of.  We feel so privileged to be able to be here.  To be able to soak up all that God has been putting out there for us.  To be in such a 'presence' here on campus.  God is so good to us.

So, a recap of the last few weeks!  Some great speakers of course.  The week that stood out to me the most was a man from South Africa, David Gava.  This man lives a life that I admire.  The relationship that he has with Jesus is something I hunger for.  He imparted faith to all of us and most definitely a hunger to walk in a deeper level with our maker.  He is such a humble and sweet man but comes with a powerful anointing and authority.  Among MANY amazing and incredible stories, this one is one of the coolest... When he was 6 yrs old he had to have a surgery done and as they finished, the doctor came out to tell his mother that he had died during the procedure.  Being a mother, she demanded to see him.  They refused initially but with her persistence finally allowed her.  The doctors had already wrote up a death certificate...but on went his mother to pray.  Not accepting his death, she prayed for 2 1/2 hrs for his life to return.  Then, he began to cough and life returned.  And, here he is today to talk about it.  Not only to tell the story but to tell the story fully restored.  No deficits, no brain damage....absolutely faith inspiring and frankly, a MIRACLE!  God is so good and we are in a time right now where He is ready to use those who are willing to be used....to raise the dead!! To heal the sick.  To perform signs and wonders.  Why?  Because He loves us and because He wants ALL men to know Him.  Don't forget that this is in the Bible.  It says it right in there!  He says in John 14:12-15
 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask^[a] anything in My name, I will do it."
Wow.  I'm not content any longer with the life I've been living.  It is time for awakening in the world.  Time to shake it up a bit!  I liked what David Gava said in response to his questions of what we expected or wanted from God...he simply said, "That's too small of a thing for Him to do, what do you want?"  He is a big God.  Think BIG. 

This week was our last week with a lot of outreach prep and last words of advice.  Really great stuff.  Loved it.  Today we had the amazing privilege of having Loren Cunningham - THE founder of YWAM - speak to us and pray for us.  So great and so full of wisdom.  So blessed.  
Next week, starting Tuesday, we have teams starting to leave for the Nations.  Going throughout the world and United States.  So excited to hear all the will transpire through these next 2 months.  

It was also Judah's birthday! Yay!!  So fun.  And he is getting SO big.  He is also SO heavy!! Love that kid so much.  We had a fun little family time celebrating his birthday.  We've had a lot of birthday celebrations with cake around here so I decided to get some donuts to change it up a bit and the kids loved them.  Judah also had a little 'party' with his friends during the day as Sarah watched him.  Sarah and Judah have found good friends in 3 other little kids that are part of our team that are also being babysat. So cute.  I'll have to ask Sarah is she has any pictures of them all hangin' out :)  They are all so stinkin' cute!

Oh - and just to keep you posted on financials for us...we continue to ask for the Lord to speak to your heart as to if He would have you help in any way.  Again, we are SO thankful for those of you that have sowed into our time here. SO thankful!  I can't say it enough.  
And, if not financially, please take a minute to lift us up in prayer.  We appreciate being covered in prayers so much.  Also, if there is anything we could pray for you, we'd love to hear from you and would love to pray for you.  Let us know!

And here I'll leave you with some more pictures.....
The first 5 pictures were graciously taken by a guy in our school that is an amazing photographer. A Blessing! Credit goes to David Parks.  LOVE them!!!  His photo's are awe inspiring...have a look!
www.davidparksphotography.com

And here are some pics taken over the past few weeks...
Okay, they seem to be only beach pictures...I really need to take more around here.  This is not all we do - lol.  We actually don't get to the beach too often - perhaps that's why the pictures - to savor the moments.

A couple more weeks done! Wow...time is flying.  Today makes 2 months exactly since the start of our school here in Kona.  It has flown by!  I can't believe how quickly time has gone.
The last few weeks have been good - just like the other 6 weeks before that!  We've had some great speakers come in enlightening us more to the word of God.  Amazing the insights we are receiving and it just keeps coming! Yay God for endless amounts of revelation He has to give us for the rest of our lives!!

Firstly - I NEED to say THANK YOU to my wonderful friends that I just love so much for your amazing support prayerfully and financially!  We are so forever thankful for you all.  We pray for your families - that God would bless you guys so much.  Thank you for sewing into us and God :)
We continue to need finances - and like I mentioned before - your prayers.  We value your prayers.  I would love to hear from anyone who's been praying for us.  It just means So much to us - we need it! And thank you!

This week one of my biggest highlights was meeting with my dear friend Kari Adams.  I love her soooo much!  We did our DTS together back in '97 and then a leadership school in '98.  We have been in touch since...mostly by distance with an email here and there throughout the years.   I called her up a few times just before coming here - talking things over about what we were going to be doing and asking her for some insight as she'd been on staff here in Kona for quite a while but was then living in Washington....THEN, a crazy little story of hers, ended her and her husband moving here just this past November before we got here!  God knew I needed her here :)
She met us at the airport when we arrived and we've seen each other here and there throughout the 2 months of being here.  She's been a blessing and has been a great listening ear, encourager and prayer friend.  This week was just extra special.  Just Love her so much.  Thanks Kari for your deep friendship that we were able to pick up as if we'd only been apart a couple weeks rather than 14 years!!! :)

Oh, I also wanted to share this really cool healing story that happened!
One of the girls here was in a pretty bad moped accident (hit by a car/no helmet - no one wears them here for mopeds).  She wasn't able to tell the ambulance guys her name and had a pretty messed up leg. They did a scan which showed her back to be fine and no internal bleeding but that her right leg was broken in several places and needed surgery to place screws/plates. Initially they thought she was bad enough to be flown to the main hospital in Honolulu (different island).
Right away, there was a huge ban of people praying for her all over here and at the hospital with her.  So, then comes the news: - no internal bleeding (they thought she may've had this on arrival)
-they could do surgery here and not have to fly her.
Then, she went into surgery and as she came out of recovery - the Doctors reported she didn't have any broken bones in her leg! Wow - just awesome.
So, she walked away with a leg that is still quite sore and will take a couple weeks to gain full walking on it BUT no broken bones, NO head injury, NO internal injuries!  God is good and what an exciting faith builder for us all!

And here are just a few pictures....I need to be a bit more intentional with the camera! Not that many pics this time....

                                                              After the rain fall

                                 Just came across this one - Madison took it - so sweet.

                                     sisters...I did have to get them to pose for it though. :)

It rained!! It doesn't happen often but it did right at dinner time and Judah had so much fun getting soaked! I took him off guard on this picture...haha