Here we go, after a 6 month unintentional fast, here is a fresh start to blogging.

We are back at the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii for another Crossroads Discipleship Training School. We arrived August 23 and have attended the school leaders and staff training, we welcomed our students on Arrival Day September 28 and now we are past the halfway point of the lecture phase and it is American Thanksgiving!! Happy Thanksgiving all.

When we came back to Kona in August we brought our two oldest grandchildren, Shayla and Malachi, with us for a week. What a blessing!! We had an awesome time with them: introducing them to YWAM; driving them around to see some of the marvels of the Big Island; Mauna Kea, the volcano, Tex Drive-In, Black Sand beach, The Painted Church, turtles, mantas, etc. Due to some restrictions on minors flying we had to hop over to Maui to fly them back with Westjet, so they got a day trip around parts of Maui too.

Back on the Big Island, we have been blessed with another 31 great students all looking to become better disciples of Jesus. It is such a joy and encouragement to be around people who are hungry for everything God wants to give them. We constantly see Isaiah 61 being lived out. Many of the teachers have been here before and you can see summaries of a typical Crossroads DTS here https://andysread.com/category/ywam-kona-cdts-sept-2014/. New to the faculty line up this year was Tom Osterhus, he is base director of the YWAM Maui base, his topic was Worldview, he compared Animistic/Eastern and Secular ideas and views with a Biblical Christian World View. I have to say I find it scary how blurred our thoughts and decision making process frequently blurs with non-Christian ideas and thoughts.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:5 to take all thoughts captive, and  in Romans 12:2 that it is this process that transforms our mind and our life. These are choices we can make because we have free-will.

This year, I, Andy, have had some amazing Quiet Times with God in a kayak on the ocean. Many times with dolphins and clear views to the coral and, once, a rare monk seal. And I got to check out some Hawaiian winter sports…

For the Outreach? We will be heading back to Vietnam, two teams in two cities, Ha Noi and Hai Phong. These are the 2nd and 3rd largest cities in Vietnam, both are in the north located on the Red River delta. They are about 3 hours apart by bus, so it will be interesting to see the logistics unfold. As we knew when we were leaving Canada outreach was not going to look the same this year. We will arrive in Ha Noi ten days after the Love Hanoi Festival where Franklin Graham is speaking in a 40,000 seat soccer stadium December 8-10.

As we head into our last few weeks, preparing for outreach, I/we will try to stay in touch.

Until next time be blessed and be a blessing, A&G

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