Thursday, April 18, 2013

Has it been that long?!

Wow, I just realized it's been since March 23rd that I wrote the last update.  Sad.  And I'm sorry to those that look forward to hearing what's been going on!

It's been a transition time and it's been busy and lots of changes as outreach has begun.  First of all, we all moved off campus and into a hotel in town.  Only a few minutes away from YWAM but right in the core of this town of Kona.  It's been a great transition surprisingly to me.  I thought it would be harder moving into a small hotel room with all 5 of us but it's been good.  We downsized, yet again (HAHA) so that all our things would fit without feeling too crowded.  So, really, just brought our essentials over. All part of outreach!  So, we are sharing a room with 2 double beds and have Judah's pack n play set up for him.  Being in the middle of Kona has brought a new light to this place and has allowed us to mingle more with the people.  We will be here for another 2 weeks.  It's already been 2 weeks here.  And then we will be moving on to the other side of the island, Hilo.
We have been doing some Bible distribution - working along a project that is being head up here to attempt to get a Bible into every home in Kona.  We are also involved in a few things with Salvation Army and also did a BBQ this past Saturday which we'll do this coming Saturday again for the people in that neighborhood.  We have seen a handful of people give their lives to Jesus and it's been great to hear the testimonies when we talk about our day.  God is so faithful to willing hearts.

Today was especially fun for us.  Mike lead a small group of us out this morning with prayer and just asking God to give us a word or a picture of something that would direct our path for the morning.  So, the words were simple: a book, plumeria flower, bread, lantern and something wrong with an arm.  Well, as we felt directed to a specific shopping area, we weren't sure what to do next but started walking.  We saw a bakery! So, we went in and bought some bread.  When we walked outside, we noticed the next restaurant over had lanterns hanging outside of it. Cool! So, we felt we were in the right place.  As we were hanging out there for a bit, we noticed a guy sitting, reading a book - so a few from our team walked over to talk to him and as they were headed over, we noticed he was sitting under a plumeria tree!  That was pretty cool!  Well, needless to say, this young man was who God wanted to welcome into His arms today.  He was ready and sincere and wanting all we had to share about Jesus.  As we were wrapping it up with talking to him, we were all over to meet him, Mike asked if anything was wrong with his arm.  He has been a drug addict so had lots of track marks and caloused veins so were able to pray for that too.  That God would set him free from his addictions.  He was so thankful and open.  We'll continue to pray for Aaron. Please join with me! We also exchanged numbers so hope to see him again.

So, it's short and sweet today..but atleast I'm finally present after 3 weeks!
Here are some pictures :) Enjoy


This was from Easter - they had a really fun easter egg hunt at the ywam campus at the preschool that runs there.

This is at the hotel we are staying at.



Also at the hotel we're staying at...Judah has discovered motorcycles and absolutely has found a new love!
This is at the hotel - Judah is in love with this Marlin on the wall.  Every time we walk by it, he has to go and see it up close. Cute...
Here we are helping out at the Salvation Army with food sorting and distributing to the poor.
                                           The board walk in town
Here we are having our community team dinners...at the hotel, downstairs (we take turns cooking - often in several crockpots and bring them down for dinner)
                                       The kids were treated to a shave iced cone by our awesome friends.  Lovin' it!
                                          Just chillin' at the beach
                                   Here is our first day of our evangelism team
                                         Here is the bakery and the lanterns
                               And here is the guy reading a book under a plumeria tree who found Jesus this day
These 4 pictures below are from our 'lovefeast' for our DTS - kinda like a final nice dinner before sending us all out to the nations.

Judah being a complete ham....and his cute little friend Mercy who loves to say, "my Judah". So cute.

The last few pictures are from a camp area that we were checking out for our team to stay at for a couple days at some point.  Lots of fruit trees.  Madison was all for the guavas everywhere.  The kids had a lot of fun!