Ohana Meeting

On Thursday nights we have a corporate meeting for everyone on campus, plus anyone from the community or visitors who wish to join us. It's our Ohana Meeting - "ohana" is "family". It is a time of worship in song and usually we have a speaker that shares. Each week it's very different in both the singing and the message that's given/the way it's presented.

My Small Group

Wednesday nights are for meeting in our small groups. My leaders are Jo (who is also my 1-on-1 girl) and Deb. Our group is probably considered the more "mature" group of ladies (by age, not necessarily wisdom!!). The youngest of us is 26 and it just goes up from there. We meet in different places (the best being Deb's condo that is a stone's throw away from the campus which feels like home, including chocolate chip cookies!). Tonight we walked down the boardwalk (campus is not far from the ocean) and enjoyed ice cream and coffee. We talked about our experiences thus far, being about 1/2 way through the lecture phase. I truly value each one of these ladies and am so very thankful for their impact in my life!

Prayer Needed

If you believe at all in the power of prayer, then I am asking that you say one on behalf of my family. I cannot go into great detail right now, but I know that the devil is not happy with me being out here and trying to deal with different issues in my life (starting with the abuse I received as a child). My sin had not been of issue to him until now when I started to face it, and he is attacking me through my family (and attacking them in the process). I ask you to raise your voice and cry out on my and my family's behalf.

The Butterfly Effect

The butterfly effect is based on chaos theory and basically says that the flapping of a butterfly wings (small atmospheric changes) somewhere in the world causes a chain of events that, theoretically, could be linked to a large scale event such as a tornado. That's very simplified obviously, but the idea is truly complex, even for us 2-legged creatures. Imagine that the simple, little things that we do every day change the grander scale of humanity. That my decisions today, good and bad, affect people around the globe for today and tomorrow. Does that change would I do today? Should it? Just a thought. . .

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my life! First of all to my own Mom - I Love You!! Then to all my relatives and friends that are moms of kids, big and small. Have a great day that hopefully includes some pampering along the way!

Waipio Valley

Our second field trip was to Waipio Valley - about a 1.5 hour from the campus. We hiked for about 2 hours to arrive at this enormous waterfall (pictured behind me), which, in Hawaiian culture, is worshipped because of its size and beauty. It was a HARD CORE hike! We scarfed down our bag lunches and then went for a swim. It was AMAZING! I tried to get close to the waterfall, but couldn't swim that close because of the pressure - it was so hard to breath. It started raining and so we headed back and made good time on our way back. Some of the hike required us to walk through water and at one point we were up to our chins in water (depending on our height, of course!). I am exhausted and heading off to a much deserved sleep!

Finding My Voice

Our topic this week has been an overview of the Bible, while also working on our writing skills. Our speaker, Andrew, from Canada (eh?) is a man of many talents and one of them is writing. Part of the Voice for the Voiceless program includes a 30 day prayer booklet of women's and children's issues around the globe (which I gave some of you as Christmas gifts last year). He wrote many of the personal impact stories in it. He challenged us in a number of different ways over the week, but the 2 that struck the biggest chords with me were: be willing to ask God the really big, hard questions (and you may have to wait a while for the answer); and find your voice and then use it for good. Some people's 'voice' in our program will be their photographs, some their writing, and various other mediums. I'm not quite sure what mine will look like as we venture out, but I'm excited to be able to really use my voice to make a difference.

Jo

I'd like to introduce you to Jo (short for Joanna, just in case you are wondering!). She is my one-on-one person - we meet once a week to catch up and talk about deep, heart issues. She is also a leader in my small group (Bible study group) and she will be part of my outreach team (which is officially going to Panama and Costa Rica - it was kind of up in the air for a while). She hails from Britain and I just really appreciate her encouraging words in my life. I am so excited that she's also coming along on outreach with our group - we were in need of an extra leader. She's not afraid to call me on my garbage (in a kind way) and is such an incredible blessing - I am so very thankful for her!

The Blah's

We are almost at the half-way point of the lecture phase (yikes, how time flies!). We have been told that this is where the blah's kind of set in. People are in routine and everyone is tired - extremely tired! We've got colds and bronchitis traveling around the campus. Thankfully the leaders have been gracious and given us some extra time off this week, including tonight! I am really tired, but healthy as a horse (so far!).

War Dance

Last night, for movie night, we watched the documentary "War Dance". Though it was a 2007 Academy Award Nominee, no one in our class had watched it before. Simply, it took my breath away. I felt despair, seeing the lines of internally displaced refugees in Uganda waiting for food to be unloaded from the UN trucks that deliver once a month. But I also felt hope, as we heard how these children could use music to start the healing in their lives. One little boy, Dominic, was determined to be the best xylophone player in all Uganda! Another girl, Nancy, talked about how excited she was to see peace. Don't you think that's interesting? She didn't want to FEEL peace, she wanted to SEE it! So, check out the website at www.shineglobal.org and then go out and rent this DVD. Seriously, go out. . .right now. . .GO!

The Love of God

The words to the old hymn "The Love of God" by Frederick Lehman have been playing through my mind a lot lately:

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure-
The saints' and angels' song.

When hoary time has passed away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God's love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam's race-
The saints' and angels' song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Captivating

I actually had enough time this weekend to do some reading of my own choosing. I would highly recommend reading the book "Captivating (Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul)" by John & Stasi Eldredge. He also wrote the book "Wild at Heart" (for men). I suggest that you read the one that applies to your gender, but also consider reading the one from the opposite gender - it gives great insight!

Cale to the Rescue!

As some of you may well know, I've had a ton of computer issues since boarding a plane about a month ago (yikes, how time flies!). The motherboard and memory have already been replaced and now it was at a point of changing the hard drive as well. I was told that the drive was to come to me imaged (with the operating system on it already), but that was not the case. Thankfully we have a computer genius in our group - Cale to the rescue! He worked all day today to get this thing working again and we will see if the problems have finally been resolved.

Prayer & Fasting

Today was a day of prayer and fasting throughout the campus. I used the time to go through a booklet called "Fast for Change" put together by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. It certainly reinforces how blessed we really are. I challenge you to get involved in the work that they do and check out their website at www.foodgrainsbank.ca.