This week was Family Week, all the DTS students, over 620 of us, were in one class in Ohana Court. WOW! So much good content, supported with real life stories and experiences of Darlene and Loren Cunningham as they shared important Biblical principles that are threaded throughout the foundation of Youth With a Mission and the University of the Nations. The YWAM story is full of miracles, they work in more than 1,100 locations in over 180 countries, with a full-time staff of over 18,000 and not one is paid. They have birthed many ministries and sent Christian missionaries to every country and into many, many workplaces. This week’s takeaway is that washing dishes for God is just as important as raising the dead for God. We received a YWAM Study Bible this week. I really wasn’t aware how big a move of God we were joining. Nor was I expecting the quality and depth of teaching that we have been sitting under while here.

On Thursday afternoon the men of our DTS watched The Ragamuffin, it is the life story of Rich Mullins, the Christian singer/songwriter who wrote Awesome God. The movie is named for Brennan Manning‘s book The Ragamuffin Gospel . The movie illustrates through Rich’s story how much our relationship with our earthly father influences who we think we are. It is definitely worth a watch.

Friday was the Grand Opening of the Aloha Cafeteria, part of the Defender Building, so named for it’s major donor. This is  the new cafeteria that we have been blessed to enjoy since the first day we arrived, having seen the old one when we visited the base in February, we can only thank God for the faithfulness of his followers. What a great celebration day. It was divided into parts, the first session recognized the contributors, the owners of Defender, Scenic Ridge, KJ Walk and Design Team represented all the generous folks. The second part recognized the government workers, the tradesmen, and other local people many of whom volunteered many hours. According to an article seen here in West Hawaii Today newspaper this is the biggest building on the Big Island. To God be the Glory.

We walked lots this weekend, on Saturday we walked to Target and back, about 9 kms round trip. Then on Sunday from Living Stones Church to Disappearing/Magic/White Sands Beach at La’aloa Bay Beach Park and back to University of the Nations, almost 10 kms. Glenda has volunteered to help out in the nursery for the 9am service so we went to the 7:30 service (they have 5 services on Sunday and so far I have been to three of them). The beach visit was my reward for hours of shopping on Saturday :-). I got to use my snorkel, mask and fins for the first time since arriving a month ago. It was not a good snorkelling venue, but I got some exercise and I did see a dozen or so fish and I was able to swim along with a turtle below me which was fun. Another first was wearing swim shorts to church. We stopped on the way back at Da Poke Shack for lunch, it is pronounced po-kay, it is Hawaiian sushi.Footwashing

The reason for the trip to Target was to buy some foot washing supplies for a new ministry. Glenda and Lori from our Crossroads DTS decided to offer foot washing ministry to Jon and Joyce our suite-mates who have their 10 hours/week of Work Duty in the kitchen every Sunday. They were both blessed by the gift.

 

 

Hawaiian sunsets come with more variety than the weather :-), 30C everyday with rare showers that really don’t reduce the air temperature.

Finishing the landscaping and cleaning up around the Aloha Cafeteria was Andy’s Work Duty all week, along with having some fun…

Four whole weeks at “youth camp” and finally, we got our first hot dog on Thursday!!! Then on Friday evening we had steak for dinner as part of the Grand Opening Celebration.

Someone asked me for more wildlife pictures, so here are a couple more. The spider was about 5 cms on the diagonal from toe to toe and the gecko was after our nuts and raisins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our contribution in preparation for our Outreach Project is to research and present to the team information on “Religions, churches, habits and not to dos” in Vietnam. More to come on this, but we also need to avoid jeopardizing not only our ministry but also that of those who are there for the long-term. I have heard from YWAM Turner Valley that they are sending three people to teach in VietNam in January and February so maybe we will get to meet them.

Until next week, be blessed and be a blessing!

A blessing that is not shared becomes a burden.