I guess I DO like my job...

So the Hawaii Cru team is mostly based at UH Manoa, but we actually also work on a few different smaller universities/community colleges. I'm specifically assigned to go to Kapiolani Community College every Tuesday with two other staff members, and this past Tuesday was my first day on "KCC". It's a beautiful campus, just above the base of Diamond Head, and there are some really nice views of the ocean. But what was really exciting was that Natalie (Intern with EPIC- the Asian-American movement of CCC) and I showed up a couple of hours early and got to go out "sharing". That's just what we call it when we go out onto campus, meet students we don't know and try to have spiritual conversation with them. So we spent about an hour and a half and got to have some legit spiritual conversations with 3 students.

Today, I did "Talk Story" (Hawaii Cru's weekly version of going out sharing) and got to go with a junior girl named Donna. She had gone out sharing with Karisa (our girl director) before but had never initiated. Well, today was her chance! After having me initiate in a conversation with a buddhist hapa girl from LA, she was ready and I got to accompany her as she initiated conversation by doing a spiritual survey with an agnostic local girl who'd done her undergrad studies at Harvard. It was a fanTAStic conversation, and Donna said she had a lot of fun doing it!

Honestly, a few years ago I never would've imagined myself saying this, but I'd really missed going out sharing. Because of the busy schedule during support raising, I hadn't done it since New Staff Training back in July! And that was just twice- once at Daytona Beach, and once University of Central Florida's campus.

It felt so good to go out onto campus as an ambassador for Christ, meeting and developing relationships with students and helping them along in their spiritual journey. I love that it's part of my job, and I love that I love doing it. Thank You, Lord, for this blessing :)

Just for "kicks"

I've never actually compiled all of my heel-click jump pictures...
The collection has grown quite a bit so I thought I'd post my inventory thus far.
I understand this post has absolutely nothing to do with ministry or being in Hawaii or anything.
It's really just for kicks...

Starting with the Disney Parks (where this all began):

Disneyland- Main Street, U.S.A. 2007.
[The pic that started it all... with my SC friends Molly and Arthur]


Disneyland- Sleeping Beauty Castle. Nov 2008
[Every year around Christmas time I use a festive picture taken at Disneyland for my facebook profile picture. This is the one from 2 years ago.]


Tokyo DisneySea- Port Discovery. Jun 2008
[First one not at Disneyland. Taken while visiting the 2008 Summer Project]


Magic Kingdom- Cinderella Castle. Jan 2009
[During my first visit to Walt Disney World (right after Summer Project directors' training)]


Tokyo Disneyland- Cinderella's Castle. Jun 2009


Disneyland- Main Street, U.S.A. Dec 2009


Disney's Hollywood Studios- The Sorcerer's Hat. Jul 2010
[During and after New Staff Training, I visited each of the four parks at Walt Disney World- all of them for the first time, except for Magic Kingdom.]


Magic Kingdom- Cinderella Castle. Jul 2010


Disney's Animal Kingdom- Everest. Jul 2010


Epcot- Spaceship Earth. Jul 2010
[Considering how exhausted I was after a long, hot day, and trying this picture 15 times before we finally got it right (thanks for your patience, Heather), I'm pleasantly surprised at how it turned out.]

The collection of heel-click jump pics from random places around the country/world is pretty new, so there are only a few. More to come, hopefully!!

Victoria, Australia- The Twelve Apostles. Mar 2009
[The 12 Apostles are a beautiful rock formation off southeastern coast of Australia. I got to see them on our free day during the spring break mission trip to Melbourne.]


Tokyo, Japan- Odaiba. Jun 2009


Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic- Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo. Mar 2010
[The campus where we did ministry during our spring break mission trip to the DR]


Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic- Columbus Park. Mar 2010
[Plaza in the Colonial Zone of the city, dedicated to Christopher Columbus. Behind me is his statue and behind him is the oldest church in the Americas.]


Winter Park, Florida- Rollins College. Jul 2010
[In front of our dorm building at New Staff Training]


Estes Park, Colorado- YMCA of the Rockies. Oct 2010

Yes, I'm weird.

Perks

I know that I talked a lot about how scared I was to move all the way to Hawaii- how ministry was going to be hard, how different the culture was going to be, how far away from everything/everyone I've known I was going to be... And we'll see how those things end up going. But let's be honest- there are some major perks to working here on Oahu.

Case in point, check out some scenes from our Fall Getaway that happened this past weekend on the North Shore (We really did have meetings with biblical teaching and worship and spiritual growth and stuff! But that's not the point of this post. So please realize that the following isn't ALL that happened haha):

Gorgeous green mountains in the background

Students having their morning quiet times right outside their cabins



The beach in front of the campground

Not bad, huh? :)

I love/miss my NST friends

I was in Estes Park, CO, from 10/3-6 with 25 of my New Staff Training friends, going through the west coast version of the support raising training follow-up conference. It was a much smaller group than the one we experienced in Orlando this summer, but it was suuuuuch a good time! I think the smaller, more intimate group, in the more secluded and nature-filled setting made for really good community. I'd forgotten how much I loved and missed these people. It was such a blessing getting to spend 3 and a half days with these people enjoying God's creation, being goofballs and having fun, having one-on-one time with trainers and coaches who gave us pointers in support raising as well as personal financial stewardship, hearing from wise men and women about Spirit-filled living, and just getting away from it all.

Some highlights:

Lots of wildlife! Animals aren't scared of people at the YMCA of the Rockies, apparently

I know it's hard to see but that's a family of deer

There were at least 4 bull elk on the grounds, sometimes even fighting each other with their antlers!

Little bunnies EVERYWHERE!

I was half hoping I would find Aslan in there somewhere...

Training times!



Stephen (new staff with Keynote- CCC's music/arts ministry) and Jenny (new staff from ASU, going to Cal Poly SLO) leading worship for us!

Community time!

Back to dining hall life :)

Ah, how I've missed playing Ninja

Breathtaking views on a hike

Tribute to the YMCA camp. During a hike with my friends Stephen, Jake (new staff to Montana State), and Chris (new staff to our regional office)

Such a good, refreshing, needed time. Except... now my awareness of how much I love and miss my friends from NST has been renewed. :(

Thank You, Lord, for bringing these awesome brothers and sisters in Christ into my life!