Love Brings Change

Random: This week I was clipping my fingernails and all I was thinking about is when my old roommate Elizabeth Foshee Brannock was cutting her toenails and one of her nails got into her eye. It was like our second week of living together and she came running into my room screaming, "Get it out!!" So I had to get really close to her and find the nail in her eye. Scary. I just finished week 2 of living with these girls, so I was hoping no one would have to come get a nail out of my eye. I miss you, dear :)


Soooo Thursday was a great day! David Hamilton spoke about being hungry and thirsty for God. The more you read His word, the more thirsty you get. Start small, he read 30 minutes a day for 3 months, then another 3 months then another and worked up to an average of 3 hours a day now. That's over like a 30 year span, but you just have to start small in your reading and you'll get thirstier (is that a word?) everyday. He has just published a Bible, called the Source View Bible, where each book of the Bible is written like a script; the narrator is one color, the Lord is another, Jesus is another, and then other speakers are a different color. My roommate got one and it looks so interesting! The Bible was meant to be Spoken, so this format is meant to be read by many, so order one and read it out loud with your friends or family! God wants us to read, speak, and listen to His word so we digest it easier. We get to know our Father better by spending time with Him, through reading His word. I never heard it put so simply. Like the way you get to know your friend better is by spending time with them, so you have to spend time in God's word to get to know Him better. He's your friend, get to know Him :) I had my second small group meeting on Thursday. We gave our testimonies and our expectations for the six months. This was just my group of 7 that's going to both OC and NYC. My leaders are Stephanie and Kristina (she's from Dallas!) and my other group members are Alex, Danielle, Matt, and Donald. I'm the oldest person in my group by at least 2 years. It seems weird to be the oldest because I've always been the youngest person at family gatherings and what not. Time to grow up and act like a big girl being the oldest in my group! Ah! I enjoyed getting to know my group a little bit better, this is going to be a fun and stretching experience. God's placed me with younger people for a reason, so we'll find that reason when it comes! Thursday was our Ohana Gathering which is open to the public. We had worship and then a man from the Philippines spoke about changing his city in the Philippines. People are making such an impact in their city just by praying everyday for the city. It's too much to post, but this city was dedicated to God a few years ago and then when new governmental officials were elected they rededicated the city and it's just amazing to see how prayer can change a negative situation to a positive one. For instance, their city jail can hold 1500 inmates, it currently only has 500. This man made so many jokes, he had us rolling the whole time, but all while telling how his city has changed for the better because of prayer and action.

Friday was our last day of Corporate DTS week. Sean Murphy spoke about leading a DTS in Port Au Prince, Haiti. He included Loren's talk about laying down rights and Darlene's message about grace. He had great stories about the students, the staff, and the native Haitians. But to be honest, the highlight of his talk was the break. Please don't judge me :) We had Junk Food Friday and we made Nutella S'mores. NUTELLA!!!!! Here is a picture of a man describing how to make the s'more (for the non-Americans in the audience) and below that is a picture of my roommates Amber and Gabby with their s'mores.

My day was completely made. I love Nutella.

Friday afternoon was prayer room with my CommTrans group from 1 until 3. That time is always a great time. The first hour is singing and praise, the second hour is directed prayer and intercession. So we first prayed for personal revival, then for revival on the campus and for it's leaders, and then for revival in Kona (the city that I'm in). We pair up a good bit during the prayer room, so when we were asked to pray for Kona, a girl named Chloe was my partner. We didn't pray for Kona. We had hung out on Wednesday, so I don't know her very well, but I can tell she's an amazing woman of faith. So I was slightly intimidated by her, and I told her that! I said, "I just want to let you know, I'm intimidated by you, because you're you and you're amazing." and her reply was, "Ok, let's pray that off." "Do what?" was my reply. She said, "Let's pray off the spirit of intimidation that you have. You aren't inferior to me or anyone else. So you say out loud what you are and how God sees you and I'll agree and pray for you." WOW. Then I felt bad that instead of praying for Kona we were praying for me and I said so, I said it was selfish. She replied, "OK, let's pray that off too. You're important, you deserve time, so let's pray off that as well." I've lost my confidence throughout college, so I'm praying for my confidence and strength in the Lord. I am not an inferior person, I'm a bold, beautiful, important, smart woman of God. Amen. Breakthrough is happening in my spirit and I'm happy with that!

 Friday night, I had dinner with my leader Kristina for my one-on-one. We had a great conversation about the first 2 weeks here and what has been going on in my heart and how I feel about DTS. I really enjoy Kristina. She's sweet and intelligent and has a heart for breakthrough and change. She has an amazing story. I'm really blessed to have her as my one-on-one :) We'll be meeting maybe every week but definitely every other week. So I'm excited to learn from her and share with her my experiences. I met up with some of my roommates at Outback after dinner with Kristina. I ate some of an Awesome Blossom. It had been forever since I had one of those. It was yummy yummy yummy. Then we came back to campus for Open Mic night at the Cafe. There  are sooo many talented people here on campus. My roommate Amy performed a song she wrote that morning. Yes, she performed a song she wrote that morning. It was beautiful. This is a picture of all the roomies :) Amy was definitely the best performer, if I say so. I may be a bit biased though. She has a wonderful voice and can play the guitar very well.

this is from Melissa's phone, sorry it's not perfect!

Today, Saturday, I got to see my friend Emily's beautiful face right when I woke up! We skyped for about an hour and that was a great way to start the day! Melissa and I watched Tangled together. That movie is superb. Racheal, Gabby, Melissa, and I walked down to the beach and laid out for a bit. I put on sunscreen, don't worry. Melissa and I walked back together. I enjoy her company. She's sarcastic, which I like! 

Gabby, Rachael, Melissa, they're real cool.

This week has been a great week. I'm excited about next week being back in the classroom and hearing a new speaker. It's gonna be a good week, like all of them!! I miss you all!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

"You'll Never Know if You Never Try.....

... to forget your past and simply be mine.
So I dare you to let me be your, your one and only
Promise I'm worthy to hold in your arms"
- "One and Only" by Adele

I was listening to that song while reading the book of John last night and it hit me. I have to let go of my past so that God can be all mine and I can be all His. He's worthy. And I'm worthy to be His. No more worrying about rejection because I'm His and that's all that matters.

This post is going to be backwards :) I'm starting with today, then talking about yesterday, then talking about Monday. Sound good? Great. Moving right along......Today was a glorious day :) I got up at 5 AM with my roomie, Melissa (from Nebraska), and worked out. Just did weights and abs because my knee is still messed up. Then I did 2 loads of laundry, made a protein shake and coffee, and read 3 chapters of John. ALL before 8:30 am. WOW. Then went to Ohana Court for lecture. Darlene Cunningham (married to the founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham) spoke to us today. She gave a message that she has given many times around the world entitled "Grace Ticket." Oh man, I wish I had recorded it so everyone could hear her knowledge and belief of what God can do. She talked about what we should do when we are in trouble or in need. We REMIND ourselves of God's character. We REMEMBER (and are thankful for) what He has already done. And we HANG ON to the Word of the Lord. He is an ACTIVE RECONSTRUCTIONIST, He will take your mess and make something beautiful. She told a story of when you are going on a train ride, when do you get your ticket for that train? Right BEFORE you get on the train for the trip. God gives you your Grace ticket right before He sends you through something. He will always be there and will always get you through what you are going through. 1Corinthians 10:13 is what she based her message off of. Such an amazing statement of truth that God will be with you while you are being tempted and he will get you through it. A man who was projected to win the IronMan race this past Saturday is here on campus, Chris Leitto. He was first off the bike and while running fell back to 10th place. He said he is still processing why God didn't let him win for God's glory. Darlene then says in her talk, God didn't promise we'll win every race that we're in, BUT He will be there, right next to us, for every race. I'm thankful for that! She also talked a bit about self-pity. Self-pity is rooted in pride. I never thought of that. "I deserve much better than this!" Compared to who?? Be thankful for what you have and where God has placed you, be thankful you aren't getting what you actually deserve! After lecture, we broke up into our schools (after lunch) and we learned about our electives for this semester. We have 4 options to take: Water, Healthcare, Media, and Prayer Room. Water and Healthcare teach about basic things to help the people where we go. Media will start later in the semester and will be about graphic communication, photography, and technology stuff and how to use those for God's glory. Prayer Room is learning more about prayer and intercession and students will be praying during that time. I picked media because I would like to learn more about technology and how to use it for good. We had community outreach this afternoon. It went well, I sat with one of my leaders, Kristina, and another girl, Chloe. We had a great time learning about one another. We didn't get the chance to reach out to anyone, but it was still a great time. Then the Heavens opened up and it poured on us while we walked home. Have you ever been caught in the rain? For some reason, I love it. I don't mind getting wet. I love the rain. So now I'm sitting here writing another novel for you all :)

Bored yet? no is the correct answer.

Tuesday. Loren Cunningham spoke to us! He is the founder of YWAM. An amazing man and has an amazing story. He truly knows what it means to listen and obey. He spoke about giving up your rights. Your right of freedom (missions may take you to places where you might be put in jail), your family (you may be separated), your finances (God WILL provide), your reputation (you'll lose it eventually because of something you do that people may not agree with), your food (Loren has eaten dog before. gross.), your bed (get out of your comfort zone). Such a great message. Even if you aren't a missionary, giving EVERYTHING to God and knowing it's all going to be ok. He's going to protect you and keep you safe. Be bold and just do what He has called you to do. Loren has been to every nation or territory on Earth. Now that's a goal for me!! I want to visit every place on Earth. I want my passport to look like my dad's! I enjoyed hearing him speak, because I know he's lived what he's talking about. After lecture was lunch, then SMALL GROUPS! We finally learned where we were going for outreach (keep reading, I'll tell you how in a minute) so yesterday was our first time meeting. We went around the circle (just girls, guys were with the guy leader) and we said what we are passionate about and what our expectations are for the DTS. I enjoyed listening to the girls and learning more about some of them! I'm one of the oldest in the group, which is different for me. My leaders are all younger than me by 2 years. (I'm old.) But I'm super excited about being with these people! Ah! Then 4 of my roommates and I hitchhiked toWal-mart and back. (We got picked up by super nice women on the way there and the way back, it was great). Wal-Mart is 1.2 miles away, but I was thankful for the ride home because it started raining as we left AND we had groceries. Not fun to walk home with. Then we just hung out for the night in the room. I love my roomies. I'll do a post about them next. You'll like them too.

MONDAY. This week is Corporate DTS week. All the DTSs are meeting in Ohana court and listening to the Cunningham's and David Hamilton speak. Darlene Cunningham spoke today (Monday) and gave a history of YWAM. This mission was founded on Faith. God just keeps answering prayers and keeps providing for this organization. We read about the history of YWAM in Loren's book, but it was good to hear the actual stories from Darlene, who lived through it as well. After lecture, my school had prayer room. Two hours of prayer for others. I'm really learning to like this intercession stuff. Then we went to the Mahalo (Thank You in Hawaiian) Party for the IronMan race. It was a huge dinner for all the volunteers. Some people have been volunteering for over 20 years there. Crazy. Dedication right there. THEN we (my school) met in our classroom to find out our outreach locations!!!!AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! We have little envelopes on the back wall with our pictures above the envelopes. There was a piece of paper with a part of a map in the envelope. So we had to make a complete map to figure out where we were going and who was on our outreach team. I AM GOING TO THE OC AND NYC!!!!!!!!!! Gah, I can't be more excited. I'll post about my group too. There's only 5 of us (plus 2 leaders) going to both places. We will meet up with a group of 11 that will be in NYC for the whole 12 weeks. It's gonna be awesome. So we are going to be hanging out with the NYC team all this semester preparing for outreach. I do not know what I will be doing on outreach yet. Repeat, I do not know yet. I will fill you in when I find out :) just start praying for the OC and NYC. Thanks.

OK, I'm done. I've updated you on everything.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

It Ends Tonight

Second post today because I thought the other one would be too long. I'm trying to be considerate of your time :)

Friday was good day, like all the rest of them! We spent the morning going over some reading we had done out of a small book (booklet?) called "Salvation Encounter."

I just realized I didn't do my normal read-through and change words to add emphasis on my last post. My apologies, add your own emphasis where you think necessary.

Salvation Encounter is a really small book about many different topics. We read about encountering Jesus, asking Him into your heart, what it means to be saved by grace. On Friday, we reviewed all that we had read plus went on reading in groups of 4 or 5. We read about a "Clean Breakup" - when we choose to follow Jesus completely turning away from our old life and those desires. The longer you hold on, the more painful it is to end it later down the road. We read "Clean House" - cleaning out your heart so that Jesus can fill it, giving it all to him and letting him invade your heart. After, we worked through 3 different work pages, about Forgiveness, Rejection, and Anger. That was all great to work through. I've dealt a lot with rejection, not being able to forgive people, not being able to forgive myself, and a little bit of anger. I don't really deal with anger too much, I get irritated easily, but not angry. Reading through those paragraphs and I realized I need to let go of things, people, situations so that I can fully concentrate on Jesus. I also realized that if I can't forgive people or myself, then I can't be forgiven by God. Wow, um I don't know about you, but I want God's forgiveness. If he doesn't forgive me, I go to Hell for eternity. If I don't like the heat in Texas, then I'm probably not going to like the heat in Hell. Thank you, Jesus, for your forgiveness!! Amen!

After lunch, we had 2 hours in the prayer room as a school. In my journal, I wrote 6 pages of Prayer throughout that 2 hours. I had a lot to ask for and a lot to be thankful for. The time of worship was great. Intercession is a powerful thing. I really enjoyed just being able to sing and write and read the bible for 2 hours straight.

Then I had my first work duty assignment from 4 until 6:30 that night setting up the breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Saturday. Since IronMan was Saturday, the campus had no food service because the majority of us were volunteering at IronMan. We had to set up all this food in the Ohana court, basketball court, for people go through lines and pack huge bags of food. Blah, it was slightly unorganized at first, I was super confused as to what the people in charge of set-up wanted, but then once I figured it out, I was the one kind of giving directions and making things clearer for the fellow students. The lines went well, we ran out of breakfast food :( sad day. But it was interesting. We cleaned up and then the IronMan meeting started!! Ah! Watch this video. They showed us this and it almost makes me want to do one! Almost. After the IronMan meeting, my roommates Rachael and Melissa and I went to get Frozen Yogurt. Then we walked home and we went to bed.

I got up at 2:30 am to take a shower and get ready for IronMan. My school left at 3:30 to walk down to the hotel where things we headquartered. I was assigned to checking wristbands at the Pier. I was at the bike compound where the bikes were set up for the racers to get on after they finished swimming. There was millions of dollars worth of bike equipment on that pier. Crazy. Body marking and check-in for athletes started at 4:45 am and I got to see every single athlete come to the pier. Amazing is what I have to say. The body types, 99% muscle, the ages and the different nationalities represented was so neat to see. I was at the checkpoint until my shift ended at 10 am. My forehead got burned a bit :( oops. But it was a fun experience. I didn't go back at night to see the finish line because I was so worn out. I do regret that, but who knows, maybe I'll be able to see the race next year! I came back to campus and did some laundry, ran out of quarters, so had to stop doing laundry. Then I hung out with my roommates and whatnot. Then I had a 2 hour phone conversation that was so encouraging.

This morning I had work duty in the Kitchen. I will be making oatmeal every other Sunday for the rest of the term. Exciting. And I'll be washing dishes (pots and pans) after the oatmeal is made. I have to go back for dinner setup in an hour, so I'm going to sleep for a bit before. I hope you all are enjoying the mainland!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

When I'm Covered in Rain

Have you ever just sat and listened to the rain falling? I fell asleep to rain on Thursday night AND I woke up to the sound of rain. Beautiful. I'm thankful my bed is next to the window. But I'm not happy that I picked the top bunk. I really want my bible and journal right now, but I don't want to get down. Dilemma....

I also really messed up my knee on the wonderful run I went on Tuesday afternoon. See, that's why I don't exercise, I hurt important body parts when I do. Just kidding. But really, pray that my knee fixes it self, because it's a pain to deal with. Ok, I'm done complaining.

So my parents told me to stop making them cry while they read my posts, so I can't talk about what I wanted to in this post. This is the end of it. Haha just kidding! Get your tissues out Trina and David!! Thursday morning, John (school leader) talked about the Father's love. He described his father and how everyday he told John how much he loved him, gave him a hug every day, and told him he was a great man (was going to be a great man). He spoke about how his dad was so encouraging and uplifting, just how great of a dad he was for him and his siblings. The dad he described reminded me of my own. Most of you know how great my dad is, he's really the best person I know (up there next to my mommy). He told me he loved me, was proud of me, picked up my broken pieces many times, and still wanted to be my dad after many disappointments. Does that sound like someone you know? Was your dad like that? I thought everyone's dad was like mine, but I have learned, in my 22 years, that not everyone is spoiled like I am. With a great dad, not spoiled how my brothers think I am. God's love is just like! He's proud of me, he loves me, he picks up my broken pieces every day. He has my best interest at heart, just like my daddy. He wants to protect me, just like my daddy. He disciplines me when I need it, just like my daddy does! I'm thankful my dad is a part, and active, in my life and I'm thankful he tries to be Christ-like in whatever he does. I'm also thankful that God loves me 1000 times more than my dad could ever love me. Cause that's how much God loves all of us. After break he continued talking about the Father's love, but now His intimate love for us. I'm going to have to work on this part of the relationship. How He's captivated by us. Most people say that Songs of Solomon is a book between a lover and the beloved, I totally agree, but we read SoS 4:9 "You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of you necklace." and that's how God feels about us. He likes us, like a crush when you're in the 7th grade, he gets giddy when we look at him, he misses us when we aren't around, his heart flip-flops when we look at him. He loves us. Just like a man loves his wife. Ephesians 5:25-31 talks about Christ loving the church and that's how husbands should love their wives. "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word," God washes us of our sins because he loves us. He wants us to be presentable. I'll be working on that relationship while I'm here, just to let you all know. After speaking about this, John had us pray and ask God how he much he loves us and how he has been pursuing us lately. The music came on and this song was played. (this is a youtube video and the song is cut up, but you still hear what I heard.) It's a song by Rick Pino, he is a wonderful songwriter/singer, I'm thankful I know who he is now! But just imagine hearing that song while asking God how much he loves you. He loves you enough to restore your innocence AND enough to let you call him daddy. I'm thankful, are you?

Thursday night was worship for the whole campus. We will have it every Thursday night, so you'll hear more about it over the next 11 weeks. Thursday was our first time night together of the quarter. Loren Cunningham (the Founder of YWAM) spoke about listening to God and basically told the story of how this school came about. He was a great speaker and super funny. We had to read his book over the weekend, so we already knew the story of how YWAM started and how the school was started, but it was cool to hear it from him. Here's a picture of him speaking to us:

After worship we went back to the room and went to sleep. The End.

I'm thankful I'm covered in his love, it's like rain, it washes everything away :)

LOVE to you all!

Don't Stop This Train

Today I got asked if I was the PR person for In-N-Out. No, but I'm that in love with their burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes. I should look into working for In-N-Out.......

So where were we... Oh yes, BEACH DAY!! Monday was a fun day in the water, on the beach, and grilling out with the school. We had corporate worship that morning and it was great to have an hour of complete worship with the WHOLE campus. Beautiful time. The beach. I spent the day with my three other roommates, Amy, Amber, and Staci. Here's a picture of us on the beach:

I didn't get burned!! I put on sunscreen. It's a wonderful thing to not be burned after 2 hours in the sun. I think I'll start putting sunscreen on more often. :) We swam for a bit, laid out, ate lunch, then paired up and went around a HUGE circle to introduce each other to the group. We had to say our partner's name, where they were from, and a funny/crazy fact about them. It was pretty interesting to learn some things about people in our school. We have fun group of kids! Monday night was optional worship with the school. Mind blowing, basically. Its amazing to see the change already taking place in my life and in the lives of those around me.

Tuesday was technically our first day of class. We start off every morning with an hour of worship, so we picked up from where we were on Monday night and kept singing beautiful songs and praising our maker. Then we were introduced to Liturgy. I have never heard of this. Praying an organized, scripted prayer. We will do that everyday, based on this site. (click the word "site"). It is a site of prayer based on the Christian calendar and if you read the verses listed, you will be reading the whole Bible throughout the year. I have really enjoyed this form of prayer. It's different, but very rewarding. After liturgy, John (my school leader) gave his testimony and how he came to know the Lord. I think I am going to really like him and his wife as our my leaders. His has great story and one I can relate to. After break, he shared the Gospel. Starting with Adam and Eve, he basically went through stories of the Bible, old and new testament, showing us how God stepped in and sacrificed something every time someone messed up. It's so great to know that whenever we looked for a way to get to God, HE made the way for us to get to Him. We were assigned work duties and had meetings with our groups after lunch. I got Weekend Kitchen Duty, so I'll work every other weekend in the kitchen. Early mornings :) yay! We had the afternoon off so I decided to go on a run into town. It was 1.2 miles there and 1.2 miles back, so I ran and walked it. It felt good to get some exercise! Then a nice COLD shower after. Refreshing. Then we met again for some more orientation (healthy lifestyles, dating in DTS, living in community) and we took our pictures. My face was still red from running. Embarrassing. I ended the night writing thank you letters, to those who have sent financial gifts, and spending time with my roommates. I LOVE the girls I'm living with. Thank you, God, for blessing me with the opportunity to live with these girls. We have great conversations about everything. Even on clipping our toe nails (gross. gross.)

Wednesday, we don't have worship in the morning, so I had a slow morning of getting ready. Then we began class with liturgy again. John went over where we stand with God after we've accepted Jesus into our lives. We are at the Right Hand of God, in case you were wondering. Ephesians 2:19. I never knew that. We are citizens of His kingdom, He is going to rescue us whenever we need it, because we are His. Yes and Amen! Thank you!! Then the second half of the morning we talked about hearing the voice of God. Then we practiced :) A word from God on what is for your life. I heard, "You will go into the nations, you will be kind, bold, compassionate, and live with passion." Then we asked God how He sees us, I heard, "You are worthy, beautiful, and a daughter of MINE." Amen. I felt He was proud of me when I heard those words, which made me start crying. (I'm so much like my daddy) Then we got to pray, with a partner, about what God has for them. My roommate Amy and I were sitting next to each other, so we paired up together. That was good to bless someone with words from God. THEN (I'll try to think of more transition words, sorry) we got to pray about OUTREACH places. I'll tell you were I'm going when I find out :) We had community outreach tonight, so I went with the group that was supposed to play with kids and feed people. Well we got to the school and there were no kids. So we played basketball, volleyball, and a great game of kickball! I was 2nd base. I played for both teams. Awesome. Come to find out, there wasn't school today, that's why there wasn't any kids to play with! HA! Dinner was sandwiches, then I came back to my room to write thank you notes and now I'm here writing this novel for you! 2 days of learning have taken place and it's been amazing. Thank you for this opportunity to learn and grow, I'm hungry for more knowledge!!

Oh and this is how me and roommate Madison (she's in the Compassion DTS) eat a mango :) we already love each other! haha

LOVE to you ALL!! Remember, you're at the RIGHT HAND OF GOD!!

Our Love Was Comfortable

Last night's Meet and Greet went well.... Hold that thought..

CLEMSON IS RANKED #8 IN THE NATION!!!

Ok, just had to get that out incase anyone was wondering. As I was saying, the meet and greet was a good time. I enjoyed hanging out with my roommates and some other girls. I'm still feeling really shy, so it was hard for me to just go up and talk to someone. I got to speak with some staff members and play Uno for a bit with my roommates. We also had "Video Confessionals" set up in the bathrooms in the cafe, so we had to go into the bathroom and answer 3 questions. These videos will be given to us at the end of DTS so we can see how we've grown over the 6 months. The 3 questions were: Who is God to you?, What are your expectations for the next 3 months?, and Where are you now spiritually? Those were pretty tough questions, but good questions to reflect on in 3 months. I know my expectations will be surpassed and my spiritual maturity will grow, but I know who God is to me and that will never change. More describing words will be added to the list :)

Today was a beautiful day. The title of this post is "Our Love Was Comfortable" because comfortable is the word that best describes my time here in Hawai'i with the family and friends I made 6 years ago. Here is how I got to church this morning:

It was a 45 minute drive to Kohala, so Kirk Franklin was playing through my iPad the whole time and I enjoyed the sun shining on me. And here is the church I attended today. It is the church that Tom is the pastor of.

 

He gave a great sermon today about Rosh Hashanah (click on that, it's a link about what RH is) and how where you are that day is how your next year will be. On Thursday, I was checking into DTS, so I have a feeling this year will be a year of growing, learning, and serving however God wants me to. After church we went to Makapala (basically a YWAM base where I was 6 years ago) to have lunch and a surprise birthday party for Liz. I can't describe the feelings of being back in that place and with those people. Six years is too long to be away from them. Such a loving group of people and a fun group of people. The New Zealand vs. Canada rugby game had been recorded, so we watched some of that. That's an interesting sport, very entertaining to watch the strategy that takes place. We drove back to Kona, I was in the cab of the truck this time, and the Fernandez's (Tom and Becky) dropped me off at the university. I had a building meeting and then read for a bit, now I'm here. Since I'm done typing now, I'll go read some more, I'm almost done with the book! Tomorrow is a beach day for our school!!! PARTY!!! I'll try to hide my dislike of sand while I'm ON the beach.....

love love love. be comfortable :)

How Sweet the Sound

So yesterday, Friday, was orientation day. An amazing day, to say the least.

We started off with the protocol, for the Hawaiian's to invite us in to their land. If you have never heard the Hawaiian language, go try to find it on youtube or somewhere. It's gorgeous. Especially when sung (sang?) or chanted. That's when my guac was given to the staff members of Island Breeze who did the protocol for us. (Mom, Becky said everyone loved it and that you have to continue the tradition when you come) At the University they run a preschool and those kids sang a prayer for us in Hawaiian, it was beautiful! Then we had all the different nations stand up so a person could be selected to carry their flag at a ceremony later last night. I'm truly at the University of the Nations. There are 43 different nationalities represented here on campus. Amazing. After protocol we split up into our schools and went to our classrooms, where we'll be meeting everyday for the next 3 months. My Community Transformation school is staffed by amazing people. The leaders of the school introduced themselves and each staff member introduced themselves. The leaders, John & Jenni and Steve & Diane, then went down the line of staff members and affirmed them (gave compliments and told us a little bit about them and the gifts God has given them). Steve then prayed for the school and we ended with singing "Amazing Grace." Ummmm WOW is really all I can say about that. 104 voices lifted but all you could hear was a beautiful melody. Then we broke for lunch....

We came back to the ComTrans room after lunch to have more orientation. John started off by saying, "Well apparently, the requirements to be in this school are to have amazing voices and look ridiculously good looking and you guys all meet those. Great job." Guess we'll be doing a lot of singing together :) I don't mind! John and Jenni went through campus "rules" and guidelines. Then we received our schedule for the 3 months. Meow. I won't be able to see straight for a while. We will be reading 3 chapters a day from the book of John so that we read it 6 times, then we will be reading 4 chapters a day from the book of Acts so that we read it 6 times, as well. We have to read Is That Really You, God? by Loren Cunningham by Monday night, so I've been busy reading that today. Its great so far! And we will read 2 other books by the end of the lecture phase. It's gonna go by fast!! We are volunteering for the Ironman race at the starting line next Saturday. Let me say that again. Volunteering at the starting line. Our shift is from 4 am to 10 am. (Don't worry, I haven't really told anyone expect my roommates that I'm not a morning person). But seriously, I'm super excited about seeing that race and the athletes that are participating in it. Its gonna be fun!! After orientation we had a short break until dinner, which was traditional Hawaiian food (yum, basically) then at 6 we had a worship service that introduced all the countries (one person ran down the isle with a flag from their county, very fun) then we had a time of singing. I was worn out after that. Such great songs to sing and so much fun worshiping freely, because we are free in Him. This quarter is a bilingual quarter because there are 2 Korean schools going on on campus. So there was a girl on stage who got to sing some of the songs in Korean, that was very cool to hear. Worship in every language is worship. I'm happy to be apart of such a diverse group of students and staff, just wish I was from a cool country. haha I'm kidding. I like being an American.

We got back to our rooms and the 7 other girls I live with decided to make a chore list so our room stays clean. Then we went through the room with prayer requests and everyone prayed. Its the 2nd night and we're already praying together and praying for each other.. what??? I was blown away. These girls are going to be fun :)

Today has been a day of reading and internet. I tried to watch the Clemson game, but no luck :( thank you to Allan for keeping me updated :) I'm gonna miss not watching football! Weird? I don't think so. I got to speak to Preston, Allan, Adrianne, Uncle Steve, and Kelly this morning after breakfast. Couldn't have asked for a better way to start my day! I love my family and hearing their voices. Tonight we have a ComTrans Meet and Greet at the campus cafe. Tomorrow I will be going to church with Tom and Becky! Yay!!

As promised, here is a picture of my corner in the room :) Sorry this post was so long! You guys know I talk a lot, so I guess you're used to lengthy conversations.

Love to you ALL!