Let the Adventure Begin!

  Well I've made it here safely! I've been back in Kona for a little over a week. It's so crazy how a place can feel like home even when you're an ocean away from your family and where you've grown up (and you're living out of a suitcase). But this YWAM base is home. The people I get to work with over the next couple months are becoming my family. I really think that where God calls you it will be and feel so right that it's 'home' no matter where in the world you are. That's why it's so important that we listen and follow His direction.

  This past week has been pretty full, but super good! We jumped in right away with working and serving here on base. Doing anything from building bunk beds, to weeding and raking, to scrubbing, to kitchen duty, to hospitality, to baby-sitting. Not to mention a few trips to the beach on our hours off! Thursday we welcomed around 600 students (not including their families) to the base here. It was so much fun to be apart of Arrival Day and see the faces of the students and help them in any way we could. I can't wait to see what God has for them! Friday I got put in charge of one of the stops for orientation. I had to get the supplies and set up the cafe for break/snack time. It was a bit of a challenge but I learned more about delegating tasks to people.

  Friday we also had orientation and heard the vision for the "Awakening Leadership Track" that we will be doing for the next 3 months. I'm super excited for this! I signed up for more than I thought, but it's so good! I'm going to be stretched in huge ways. We have a very full schedule. We have 4 hours of work duty every morning, about 2 hours of prayer room every afternoon, and some kind of event or community outreach  a couple of evenings. Teachings a few days a week, One-on-ones, small groups, books to read, and verses to memorize. By the end of these 3 months I will have the whole Sermon on the Mount memorized- God help me! Our goal as a track is to serve in anyway we possibly can. So learning to lead by being humble and doing it! It's going to be stretching but that'll be good for me. I am ready.

   I am so happy to have this time to just set aside to chase Christ with all that I am. That's what I really want this time to be. I am feeling my passion and desire for him grow and consume me while everything else fades away. Even just the community here is incredible, I forgot how much I missed it. The team of people I will be staffing with in January are awesome. There are 13 of us, and over the past week we all want to do something together, so instead of watching a movie or going out to eat...we worship. We pray for eachother. We affirm one another. I love the push to pursue Christ.

  Pray for our housing situation. We need off campus housing, because the campus is too full of students(Praise God!). So we are looking like crazy for a place that's cheap and close to base.
  Pray for each member of the team as we pursue Christ. When you follow God on this level the Devil will do anything he can to get us down. Protection over our hearts.


I praise God for each of you reading this. You are such a blessing to me.

This is a picture of the team of us staffing Engage DTS in January.