Tag Archives: hawaii

Back at the Crossroads Again – Spiritual Warfare, The Cross, Evangelism

Another three weeks of school are over, just three weeks until we leave for Hanoi. Time can be such a warped thing. Physically it is measured in constants; but in actuality, the 3 months we have been here at YWAM Kona, frequently flips between feeling like 3 years or 3 days. The 3 weeks until we leave will fly by. Ready or not we will be on the aeroplane, fortunately He equips the called! Here is some breaking news, our team will be returning to Kona without us. as Glenda and I are planning on staying in Vietnam until we return to Alberta on June 20th 2017.

Dave Bryan, and his team from the Church of Glad Tidings in Yuba City, were back teaching on Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance. The teaching really is a vivid reminder of the battle between good and evil both in the world and within our head, and equips the students (and staff) with the tools needed to fight the war. Dave has a lot of experience as a somewhat reluctant participant. You can read of some of his experiences in his book “The Serpent and the Saviour.”

Jean Norment shared her message on Unveiling the Cross, Jean has spent more than 30 years researching the Cross and has many experiences of clinging to the cross. She teaches how the Cross must be the centre of the Christian life.

One of the most amazingly spectacular sunsets we have seen in Hawaii appeared on Sunday November 20th. This photo was taken from a friend’s back yard further up the mountain than the YWAM base. We had been invited for a BBQ and were enjoying an awesome meal with Ken as the sun was setting.

Danny Lehmann, a long time YWAMmer, now part of the Campus Leadership Team here at the Kona base, spoke on Evangelism. He always gives away copies of his book “Beautiful Feet: Steps to a Lifestyle of Evangelism” to all the students. Much of his teaching comes from the Bible, this book and his life experience as an equipping evangelist. As I look over my growing list of book recommendations from YWAM it is obvious that Danny is a prolific reader. The fact that “Readers make Leaders” is a truism evidenced in Danny’s life.

Last Thursday was American Thanksgiving, we had a turkey dinner with over 1000 family at the Aloha Lanai cafeteria, here on campus. The dinner was preceded by a campus wide thanksgiving service, Darlene Cunningham shared the message. It was her first public engagement since August when a bad lung infection almost took her life. Gladly she was back to her old self as she shared the miracle stories that have led YWAM to the place it is today. A huge organism of over 20,000 full-time mission workers, with over 1100 locations in over 170 countries that is involved in huge initiatives world-wide and collaborates with many other organizations for the benefit of the global mission.

I have had a couple of opportunities to go kayaking here in the Kahului Bay, a couple of Saturday mornings. Heading out early we can can paddle a couple of hours and get back to base in time for brunch. A couple of weeks ago, we had about 40 or more dolphins out with us. Last Saturday, no dolphins but the adventure continued as we had some great swells in the ocean with waves breaking over the bow of the kayak on occasion.

Each Tuesday morning we gather in the Prayer Room for family worship and intercession, it has been awesome to have the teens and children involved in leading the worship, great kudos go to Brian and Cristina, two of our students, who have done an amazing job of getting the young’uns involved.

Last week some good friends from Calgary took time to visit us on campus while they were vacationing on the Big Island. We have known Dennis and Dayna since my first mission trip, in Nov 2002, when we served together in Santiago, Chile. A year after our time in Chile, they attended Cursillo weekends in Calgary and so our paths continue to cross. It was great to be able to share a couple of hours with them, to show them around the base, and catch up on all that is happening in their life.

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

Scripture fromEnglish Standard Version (ESV)

Catch up: leaving ‘Nam, summer in Alberta and…

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Not really believing that I haven’t posted anything for 6 months!!! So before I start a new chapter “Back at the Crossroads” Again I should fill in the gap.

After the Tet holiday in Ha Noi we rented a 23 passenger bus with a driver and headed into the mountains NW of the capital city. We visited Sa Pa and some of the surrounding villages. The people were amazingly friendly and very resourceful, some of the villages are quite a distance from the nearest road capable of handling a 4 wheel vehicle. Everything is hauled in and out on the back – the back of a person, the back of a water buffalo or the back of a motorbike. All the materials used in the building in this picture were transported 4 kms (2 1/2 miles) on the back of something. On the day we were there, hundreds of children gathered in traditional dress inside the building.
We were treated to a great display of dancing and singing as we exchanged our traditions and cultures.
Outside the building were many more people, parents and other villagers, observing all that was going on. We had a lot of great experiences among these mountain people. There are so many stories we would love to tell but this page is not long enough. If you didn’t hear the stories while we were home, let us know so we can share with you next time we are back.

The town of Sa Pa is at 1500m above sea level and it is nestled under Phan Xi Păng mountain the highest point in Viet Nam, at 3143 metres. It is the south eastern end of the Himalayas, and while it is in the tropics, at these elevations snow is not very unusual, while we were there it was just rain and cold, around 4C.

Our outreach team was able to purchase some items which we left with community leaders to distribute to those in need. 240kgs of dried fish; 3 grocery carts of dried milk products, & diapers; 8 bunk beds for a drug rehab house; and hundreds of pairs of socks and gloves were among the practical items that we were able to give.

After Viet Nam we headed back to Kona with our team for a few days of debrief, staying at Uncle Billy’s. We said ‘goodbye’ to the many new friends who had shared the journey with us then flew into Vancouver. We stayed a few days there visiting with our son, Bryan and his family before arriving back in Okotoks March 1st to very warm and dry spring.

We contacted YWAM Turner Valley and Andy spent many days throughout the spring and summer working in support of their training programs (School of Biblical Studies and Discipleship Training School) by assisting with maintenance and construction at the base.

Renovating a bathroom; a stairwell; exterior painting; removing a 20cm (8″) thick concrete pathway; building a large deck using tree trunks for the posts and beam were some of the bigger projects.

Glenda was really blessed to be able to spend many days helping our daughters at Vicky’s Place Dayhome and with the many children in Joanna’s house.

During the first week of August we were able to participate in an Ellel School of Restoring the Healing Ministry at their retreat centre in Didsbury, Alberta. This was an intense week of training with many topics covered, it was excellent but in many ways just an introduction to healing ministry. We are sure that the future will bring opportunities to go deeper.

We both celebrated 60 years on this planet this year and were amazingly blessed to be able to gather together the whole family for a photo, oh and a party.

We are now back in Hawaii, at University of the Nations, Kona where we are staffing the next YWAM Crossroads DTS for 6 months, after that… ????

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

Back at the Crossroads – The Arrival

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Okotoks, AB

Leaving Okotoks felt much harder this year. When we came to Crossroads Discipleship Training School at YWAM Kona as students, last year, it was an adventure that was about our own pilgrimage. It was a time of exploring our life/lives and choosing a direction from the crossroads we found ourselves at, we were seeking a ministry direction where we could both travel together. The theme verse for the Crossroads school is taken from Jeremiah 6:16

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Selling the house and buying a condo apartment, shedding clutter, moving, taking early retirement from a secure and meaningful job and setting off into the unknown (all within 12 months) should have been very stressful and yet there had been an inexplicable peace about the steps we were taking.We really didn’t experience a lot of difficulty. Saying farewell to family and friends after reconnecting through the summer was harder.

In many ways we are heading into the unknown again. Yes, we know the YWAM base, we know what the excellent teachings are, we know people here, we know the prayer room is air-conditioned yet as staff our responsibilities have changed, this is not about our journey, although we will see growth and transformation ourselves, it is now all about serving others.

This time we saw evil trying to overcome good, times when our peace was being stolen. We had spent a few weeks after returning from our DTS to allow the emotional attachments we had made in Kona and Hanoi to cool before considering the next steps. We knew that teaching english was to be an important part of “next” so we did get TESL certificates quickly. After the “cooling off” period we prayerfully considered the options before us. We felt led to return to Kona as staff, so here we are.

Our first Hawaiian sunset occurred while still 40 minutes out of Kona, we saw it from the plane window and it was quite amazing, even the pilot commented and told passengers to look. We were above the clouds which helped, the two nights we have been on the ground we haven’t seen the sun go down due to rain clouds but it is brighter during the day. This morning we have clear blue skies to start the day and we heard that the trade winds are due to return which will help lower the humidity. That will be a relief!! The rain does cool things down a bit but we don’t want to see any more Flash Flood Warnings showing up on our phones.

Our room is very nice, we are feeling very blessed and praying in faith that we don’t have to move when the students arrive in a couple of weeks. Queen size bed, kitchenette and our own bathroom. As you can see there is no propane tank outside the window for those who recall our “room with a view” last year.

We begin our staff training on Monday. We have the schedule now; it looks full and some of it will be quite intense. We appreciate your prayers. I, Andy, have received 2 words from different places that seem to affirm each other. The first commanding me to “Step into it!” and the second equally direct “Don’t resist!”, pray that when the time comes to step into it without resistance that I will be bold and faithful. Thanks.

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

Andy and Glenda Read

Exploring our life purpose, our pilgrimage

Tag Archives: hawaii

Back at the Crossroads Again – Spiritual Warfare, The Cross, Evangelism

Catch up: leaving ‘Nam, summer in Alberta and…

Back at the Crossroads – The Arrival

	theschiebers on On the Move Again, Still.
	DON BRYANT on On the Move Again, Still.
	Kelly Johnson on On the Move Again, Still.