Last week we left to head to Southpoint, HI. where we spent 5 days of some team building time and some evangelism. It was a great week. We all needed the time there to re-group. I can't say enough how much that week was needed for me. It was so good. We all (40 of us) stayed in a big 5 bedroom house. There were chickens there that greatly entertained the kids and a coffee farm starting that all the men helped with installing irrigation for the plants. One night we had a bonfire. Some of the other nights, we spent in worship, testimony time and a time to receive from God. We went to a coffee festival as one of our evangelism outings. And a day at black sands beach to do a BBQ and reach out to people there - Judah and I stayed behind as he'd been sick.
Now we are in Hilo, HI which is pretty much the other side of the island as to Kona. Kona is a pretty dry climate. It barely rains there and usually always sunny. Here in Hilo, it calls for rain just about every day. The sun shines once in a while. It's still quite warm and humid here. And we have amazingly, beautiful scenery everywhere we go. It's basically a rainforest here. So, so pretty. Lots of waterfalls, tons of greenery everywhere. At night, there are tree frogs that start 'chirpping' and don't stop till about 5am - then the birds takeover the song...It's crazy. I've never heard anything like it. And they're everywhere. No matter where you are in the city, you're guaranteed to hear them!
So, here we have gotten some great connections with a couple churches that have been more than welcoming to having us here. The one church had a typical Hawaiian welcoming for us the day we arrived and fed us all dinner. It was such a blessing. They are looking forward to spending time with us. We will be spending time with youth groups, intercession meetings, doing some church services and continuing on with evangelism and spending time in worship and prayer as a team. We look forward to the weeks to come here and what the Lord has planned for us.
And in case anyone wonders - we are in a bit of a need for a few things if anyone would want to contribute...we are needing to rent a van for 3 weeks while we ship ours back to the mainland and were able to get one that will cost $300 for the 3 weeks. Something we haven't budgeted for. The other cost that we need help with is getting home! We will be driving from Los Angeles to London, ON and are guessing we'll take about a week. So, hotels, gas, and food is what we need covered that could add up pretty quick (Possibly between $600-800) We expected to have the finances for this but didn't realize how expensive things would be in Hawaii. Everything is VERY pricey...so, just living here and buying the necessities has eaten up a lot of our budget over the last 5 months.
Thanks for considering.
And thank you again to those that have given! It has meant a lot to us and has kept us here. We continue to pray God's blessings on you for your generosity.
We love you all and thank you all for your prayers! We look forward to seeing you London folks and family in June and anyone else that we may catch up with while on the road to London :)
