The Ultimate Communicator

#59
During discipleship today, Shaun told me a few stories of how God has spoken to him in very clear, strange ways in the past. It was REALLY cool. I love that kind of conversation, because it just goes to show how creative God is, you know? Cuz, being the consistent and faithful God that He is, He never changes the Truth that He communicates and never communicates things that are not aligned with His Word, and yet He spices things up all the time in terms of how He communicates. I love it. So fun.

Time Differences

#58
Tomorrow morning we have another 6:30 meeting, so I really should be going to bed early tonight. Unfortunately, the Oscars are on tonight. Now, that shouldn't be a problem if Hawaii were like the rest of the country and showed the Academy Awards live... but no. It's being shown 4.5 hours late. So it's 9pm right now and the Best Original Song hasn't even been announced. Yikes. Should I go to bed early and be refreshed for our meeting tomorrow morning? Haha. I probably won't.

"Congratulations on your acceptance!"

#57
On Thursday, Jamie and I finally finished putting together our acceptance packet for Project. The welcome letter starts off with "Congratulations on your acceptance!" Seriously, Summer Project is one of the most amazing experiences ever and it's really exciting to get to accept people. Today, we met with three students from Hawaii who are going to be on our team to give them their packets and get them started with their support-raising process. It was so fun to see them realize that this was really happening... I think getting the acceptance packet, reading more specific logistical information, and writing our their support letters made it really sink in- they're going to Japan! :)

Also,
HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE SISTER GIN! Much love.

Could Cry Right Now (probably...)

#56
I have to admit... it's been a rather trying day, emotionally speaking. We had to deal with some difficult topics at staff meeting today, a lot of which had to do with areas of ministry that I lead. I'm already not that great at 3 hour long meetings on Friday afternoons, and so by 5 o'clock, when we finished, I was completely drained. Then I went to FUSE, a young adult service for a local church group, and was thoroughly blessed by the message, which was on true, deep, biblical community. Except that it also made me reaaaally miss my friends back in CA with whom I had the exact kind of community the speaker was talking about.

So yeah, I'm drained, and have a lot of my mind, but I'm joyful. It's been another great week of ministry, and I'm looking forward to resting in the Lord this weekend. :)

TWO Topics

#55
Two thoughts for today...
1) Today's theme was "freedom." Shaun spoke on it tonight (God ROCKED it through him... oh my... such a powerful talk!), there was a women's event that happened after our meeting about it tonight, and earlier today at LCC, I went out sharing and had a spiritual convo with a kid who said he was searching for freedom... I guess I didn't realize just how much people naturally hunger and thirst for freedom. And Jesus offers it in a way no one can! AAH! Such an amazing message we carry!

2) Today was the last deadline for summer project applications to hear back by 3/28. Our project inbox exploded. Which is AWESOME, that there is so much interest... but it's also intense cuz as it stands, we have more applicants than there are spots on the team. Please pray for Jamie and me, that we would have wisdom from the Lord in figuring out who should and shouldn't be on this team. But many praises to Him for putting it on so many students' hearts to apply for summer projects!

Healthy Discussion

#54
Our whole staff team had dinner together tonight, which was pretty sweet, and we spent most of the time at dinner talking about different ministry philosophies and personal ministry preferences. It was such a good and needed discussion. See, we're all fairly new to this place, and so we're all trying to figure out how to run a movement here. Shaun and Karisa are doing such a great job of leading us in it, but they're leading only like half a step ahead of us as they figure things out. It's really humbling to be doing ministry in a place where we're all learners, where we're all somewhat considered "outsiders", and where none of us can rely on past ministry experiences or personal ministry skills, because it's so different here... we have no choice but to completely rely on the Lord's guidance. It's hard. We need prayer. But we are loving it :)

100th Post!

#53
Today was an exhausting day. But it was so blessed. I really enjoy going to Kapiolani Community College once a week. My discipleship time with Dylan and JR is just fun and encouraging every time, the campus is beautiful, the small group there is growing in numbers and consistency... lots to be excited about. But, as silly as it may sound, what made today extra nice was the weather- the high was something like 86 or 87, I think, but when we met under the tree at noon, we were protected by the shade and hugged by the most refreshing, pleasant breeze ever.

PLUS, worship and discussion were both led by students (Dylan and JR again), for the first time ever! And they rocked it! JR did a better job leading the discussion than any one of us staff has! Sigh... Here as I sit at 11:02pm, completely pooped from the day, I look back on the ways God showed up from the moment I woke up to right now, and I smile :)

Three Years...

#52
Had a surprise phone chat with Andrew Grace
today. He's a senior at USC- formerly the VP of TKE. Awesome guy- we knew each other for most of his college career, though never too deeply. Well, he was telling me what he spoke on for his senior talk at Spring Retreat this weekend. USC's Spring Retreat is super laid back, but the one thing that is a programmed tradition is that some of the more influential/mature seniors give ~20min talks on what they learned in college, what they wanna pass on to the underclassmen, etc. It's a really cool tradition, and I had the privilege of being one of the 3 seniors who spoke 3 years ago. This weekend, at USC's 2011 Spring Retreat, there were four speakers- Andrew, Megan, and two guys that I discipled, Nick and Jared. Hearing about that just threw me into a crazy nostalgia mode. I met all four of these kids when they were freshmen and I was a senior... Nick,

Jared

and Megan

each became dear friends of mine, and I had the enormous blessing of baptizing Andrew at a Fall Retreat my final year at USC... I know I'm in Hawaii now, and I do feel like I'm finally getting to the point where I'm fully here, and embracing it. But today, especially with it being a day off without any interaction with our students, I got nostalgic, and marveled at all that God allowed me to enjoy, see, and be a part of at that awesome institution where Cardinal and Gold fight on strong. Time flies, and it's AWESOME, cuz it allows us to get glimpses of the awe-inspiring, mighty works that the Lord does that we can only really catch in hindsight.

Praises to You, Lord, for all that You have done, continue do, and will do, at USC,

in Tokyo,

in Melbourne,

in Santo Domingo,

and here in Hawaii.

Thank You for letting me play the tiniest of parts in the work You're doing in those places...

Jehovah-Jireh

#51
(With three minutes to spare!) I went grocery shopping today. First time in about four weeks. It's always scary because, see, groceries in Hawaii are really expensive. And that's part of why the amount of support we have to raise to be here is a bit higher than most other places in the country. Take milk, for example. At Ralph's in Southern California, a gallon of store-brand nonfat is about $2.99 with a Club Card. At Foodland here, it's a bit more (and please note the non-sale price):

Or another one of my favorites, orange juice. This week at Ralph's, the sale price is $3.99 for the store-brand 100% juice from concentrate. Here (again, PLEASE note the non-sale price):

It's kinda crazy. But what's crazier is that the Lord is always so faithful to provide. He blew my mind by bringing me to 100% of my monthly support goal in such a short time so that I could report to my assignment here, and even since getting here, He's opened so many doors to provide awesome, low-cost housing and a super cheap car in good condition! And even though I can't live an extravagant lifestyle, I haven't once been in need of food/gas/housing (as crazy expensive as they can be out here) without the means to get it. Dunno why I always freak out... I know that God's provision looks different case-by-case, person-by-person, but He's never once failed me in basic provision. Why would He? It's part of who He is to be Provider. Jehovah-jireh...

Happy/Wet Reunion

#50
With only 23 minutes to spare! I can't believe I actually haven't broken the streak of post-a-days for 50 days now! Hope you've been enjoying it...

It POURED rain tonight. Like, seriously cats-and-dogs status. The streets immediately turned into 6-10in deep raging rivers, you couldn't see where you were driving even with the wipers on full-speed... it was intense. Good thing it didn't start til right AFTER I picked up Jamie from the airport. She'd been in SoCal for the week for First Year Field Training. So Natalie and I went to pick her up and we just hung out for a while at McDonald's, enjoying classic treats like their signature fries and yummy soft-serve. It was great to have all three of us in Hawaii again!

But was it worth getting completely drenched cuz when we went out to the car was at the peak of the torrential downpour...? Probably :)

So... What ARE You?

#49
Today I met up with Matt, with whom I've had the privilege of developing quite the friendship. He's a sophomore and is completely on fire for the Lord. While he's a total goofball with a TON of energy, he's also serious about his faith and aside from having fun and just being dork with me, he also loves to engage me in deep conversations about what God is doing in his life. Matt's just one example of an interesting demographic here- "local haoles"... in other words, white people who were born and raised here in Hawaii. Physically, he looks just like your all-American boy-next-door you'd find in Boise. But culturally, Matt (and many other local haoles like him) most closely identify with the majority local culture (Asian-American fusion food, Asian-American fusion culture, talkin' pidgeon, etc). It's fascinating to experience island life where these hybrid cultures all live side by side... I mean, take Savannah (pictured below with Matt), for example. She also looks haole, but she's from Maui which gives her a slightly different culture, AND she's quarter asian (which most people wouldn't suspect). More so than in any other place where I've lived, you really cannot tell what a person is like just by looking at them here. You have to get a bit of their back story to understand even the basics of what kind of culture they grew up with. Fascinating, I tell you.

Actually Savannah's Asian-ness shows more in this picture than it does in real life...

Passing the Baton

#48
I've been either co-emceeing or solo-emceeing our weekly meetings since back in October. The staff really wanted me to set an example of what effective emceeing is supposed to be, and then once we find someone willing/able to do it, to coach them in the role. Well, today, I finally got to pass it off. Skyy is a local girl who's been involved with Cru for a few years now- she's seen staff come and go and has stuck with us the whole time. Wonderful girl with a great heart for the Lord- and she did a GREAT job tonight! Very clear, articulate, excited, welcoming (especially because she's super local). Made me smile a lot :)

Success?

#47
The small group I help lead on Wednesday afternoons is great. Of course, the small group I help lead on Wednesday afternoons looks different every week. In fact, other than Donna and me (my co-leader), not a single person has shown up to more than one of our four meetings that we've had since we started in January. Sure, we're tempted to be bummed, but it seems like God brings the exact right person/people every single time and we end up having a super blessed time. I admire Donna for her positive attitude/outlook when the situation can be discouraging- especially comparing ourselves to some other small groups that are averaging a consistent 10-15 consistent faces (yes, I'm aware that I said consistent twice- each time meant something different). It's been inspiring leading with her and seeing how God shows up and moves, even when, on paper, the small group doesn't feel too successful.

Paul's My Hero

#46
I wish everyone could take Gary Stanley's New Testament Survey class. It's part of our training as CCC staff, and it's just SO good. Tonight I listened to his lecture on 2 Timothy. What a powerful, beautiful, inspiring farewell letter from a special man of God to his dearest disciple. All I can say is, whether God decides my life is to end in a few minutes or 70 years from now, I hope that I can say at the end that I fought the good fight, that I finished the race and that I kept the faith. Lord, I want to finish strong in Your love, with Your grace, by Your strength and for Your glory.
Amen.

Speaking the Truth in Love

#45
I love having people who will speak truth into my life. It's never comfortable, but it's so good. And I love it when those same people are also open to having truth spoken into their lives. Which is why I so enjoy meeting with my director Shaun. Whenever we meet for discipleship, I come away refreshed and challenged in some way, and I feel the freedom to bring things up about him that I might see. Today's d-time was really uncomfortable... in a really good way. Not that the convo was uncomfortable, but that what God brought up about me was somewhat painful to realize.

It's a good thing that the theme passage for today has been Ephesians 2. It's where I am in my quiet times (it was awesome to read about God's grace and love for me on Valentine's Day), and it's the verse Shaun had for me for discipleship today too! So yeah, I love that God is bringing stuff up in my life, but also framing it with reminders of His awesome love and mind-blowing grace.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Who's Coming With??

#44
Just had another guy that I accepted to Tokyo Project confirm that he will be joining us! We're still at the very beginning stages of forming our team, but Jamie and I have been super encouraged by/excited about the amount of interest there has been in our Project. Please pray that God would give us the wisdom to put together the team that He desires for us to have this summer :)

Rest in Him

#43
Today was the first fully relaxing day I've had in a while. It's great that it also happened to be on the old school Sabbath :) Most of my day was spent at the beach with Jesus- enjoying His creation, talking with Him, worshiping Him with my iPod... it was fantastic. And then I spent a good while just camped out in Galatians 6, soaking up whatever wisdom God would give me. AND I got to take two little naps. MAN today was needed.

PLUS, I got to start it all off having breakfast at the Hilton Hawaiian Village with Roseann (a very dear supporter of my ministry, who is also the mother of my friend/fraternity brother/guy-I-used-to-disciple-at-SC Eric) and her husband Randy, who were in town just for a couple of days! It was a gorgeous day today- the sun was so bright it completely washed out the background of Waikiki beach behind us. Wish you could've seen it in the shot :)

I Need Sleep

#42
It's been a fantastic week, just full of blessings in ministry. There were plenty of difficulties too, but God totally shows up in those moments as well, and it all comes together to create the full experience of full-time mission work. Today was a another blessed work day that started at 9 and just ended about half an hour ago. I'm TIRED from a full week. Praying that I find some true, deep, sweet rest in the Lord tonight and tomorrow.

I Love Coaching

#41
Jamie and I got to go to Leeward Community College for another coaching trip, which included talking to a couple of the students with leadership potential there about us discipling them and helping them lead the brand new LCC Cru. It was SUCH a fun day- we started the day by using Soularium to talk about spiritual things with a couple of students on campus, then met with some of the potential leaders, then joined about 15 students at the LCC Cru meeting (which was AWESOME- authentic worship and deep discussion... with what really was a motley crew!),

after which we got to do a little bit of coaching for the leader-y students and their faculty advisor. SO FUN. I love coaching and helping students that are passionate about reaching their campus do so in God's power. It was pretty exhausting though, especially since we then went back to UH and had another 4 hours of ministry there haha.

Beauty

#40
I don't know how much I've talked about it on my blog... but if you've asked me in person at all how much I love Hawaii, you probably heard some version of my "You'd be surprised how not easy it is living here" response. The two main reasons for this (for me) are 1) the radically different culture/mindset/lifestyle of the locals here and 2) the "sucky" weather (I don't like heat or humidity and this place is all about both! haha). It is getting better- I'm getting used to both the culture and the weather little by little, and am really starting to settle in. But even beyond that, there always is the perk of how ridiculous pretty it is here. Take, for example, the view Josh, Steven and I had during our discipleship group today :)

My Job Can Be Heartbreaking

#39
Soularium is a reaaaaally cool tool made by CCC that uses photos to start spiritual conversations. The images and questions about them (e.g., which 3 pictures would you choose to describe what you want your life to be like) really get people thinking, and often, a really good conversation happens.

Today, Jamie and I used Soularium to have a conversation with two students (a guy and a girl) from China. There was definitely a language barrier, but we fought through it (good practice for this summer in Tokyo). But something happened with the third question that I won't soon forget. Question 3 is "Which picture would you choose to describe your idea of God?" The girl chose this picture:

In my years of using Soularium, I have NEVER, EVER had anyone choose this picture for their idea of God. She quickly described that she doesn't believe in God and that it is a completely closed door (in the photo, the gate is chained and locked shut). I've had quite a few conversations with strangers in my time, but for some reason, this answer really jarred me. To think that she's that closed off to even the idea of there being a Higher Power (one that, incidentally, happens to love her more than she'll ever be able to know)... it just broke my heart. I guess it was a good refresher in having a broken heart for the lost, but still, it sucks. Please pray for her, and that her much more spiritually open guy friend might be used by the Lord to soften her.

Argh Gecko

#38
Little known fact: I have a fear of geckos. Weird, right? Well, I do, and last night I came into my room, ready to go to bed, when I saw it- a gecko on the wall behind my desk. Needless to say, I did not sleep well. Throw in the fact that we had a 630 meeting this morning so I had to wake up at 5, and you get a near-zombie state for Gen. BUT, God's power is made perfect in weakness and He sure showed me that today. Even though I had next to no energy whatsoever, I got to enjoy a rich day of sweet times meeting with our student leaders, spending time in the Word with the staff team, listening to a beautiful lecture on Philippians and Philemon for my New Testament Survey class, discipleship with Shaun, and the highlight- a super fun, totally Spirit-led conversation about Jesus with two guys from California who were sitting on a bench. God definitely is tugging at those guys' hearts- one of them to embrace that, because of his faith in Christ, he can rest assured that he is loved and is secure; the other one to recognize that there is only one truth, and that truth is Jesus.

Productivity...

#37
I've been super tired so I woke up as late as possible this morning with just enough time to have some time in the Word, jump in the shower, and get to church. And after church (at One Love again, which was awesome again) I cooked lunch for my friend and myself and then had a mini Super Bowl part with him, Uncle John (whom I live with) and his 11 year-old son Josh.

ALL THAT TO SAY... I haven't really gotten much done in terms of productivity, so here I am, while it rains cats and dogs outside, sitting in a Starbucks getting some work done for Summer Project prep, discipleship/small group, prep, etc, before going to the gym and calling it a night!

Finally Did It!

#36
Very first social event for our Kapiolani Community College Cru! Only six of us showed up, but we had a grand time hiking to the top of Diamond Head (which I'd been wanting to do for months!). God has put it on our hearts to make community and fellowship a priority with Hawaii Cru, but it's hard to feel very connected to other students when you attend a community college, so we want to have more of this kind of event where a few people from KCC Cru can get to know each other better through doing fun stuff outside of school.


Just when we thought the hike was done, a not-so-pleasant surprise awaited us... STAIRS


Pretty beat by the time we got to the t0p


But the views were pretty awesome, and Waikiki was lookin mighty fine!

Great Day... ish.

#35
6 hours of meetings. A tough phone call from the regional office regarding my summer placement. Approximately 4 hours of sleep last night.

And yet, I'd call it a great day. These are the days I find myself most aware of my need to rely on the Lord... and these are the days I find myself most aware of the Lord's total reliability, faithfulness, and goodness.

LCC Woot

#34
So I got to spend a few hours today with a Canadian guys vagabond-ing it up for a few weeks in Hawaii. Full-on sleeping on roofs, scrounging for food behind markets, walking everywhere, etc. Fascinating guy, great conversations about his relationship with God and his desire to grow in it.

But I have to say the most exciting thing today happened just a few minutes ago when I got back after work and sat down to catch up on admin- Jessica, the professor at Leeward Community College who is the advisor to the brand-new Cru movement that I coach there, called me and let me know about their first full, scheduled meeting- apparently more than 30 people showed up and had an amazing discussion about assurance, using the story of the prodigal son as Bible study! She said there was so much excitement and commitment. SOOOO EXCITING!!

Smelling the [Jesus] Roses

#33
One of the best Campus Crusade for Christ policies is the monthly half-day with the Lord. Every staff person is to take one half-day off of campus/work a month to slow down and spend a few hours with Jesus to just be intimate with Him and process through life and ministry. Today was our team's half-day... and it was amazing. Jamie and I just went to the beach and then separately had some sweet times in the Word and in prayer, then we got to verbally process a lot of things about our calling/ministry with each other. SO needed. The rest of the day was great too with small group and discipleship, but starting the day off with a few hours with Jesus on a hot February day in Honolulu was just awesome. And I love that our leadership values our personal spiritual health and intimacy with Christ!

Mmmm Pizza (actually I had pasta...)

#32
Had my very first discipleship appt in Hawaii today! GREAT time meeting with JR and Dylan at KCC for our first d-group time. Then a fun weekly meeting/small group with like 9 students at KCC. Then Jamie and I worked on Summer Project stuff, and accepted our very first student!

So it was a great day full of ministry... and it ended great too! Jamie's going on a mission trip to India with her church in a few weeks and they were doing a fundraiser at CPK where a chunk of the bill for people going for the fundraiser would go toward the trip. So Jamie, Nat, Ed, Lynee and I (as well as Nat's church friend David) had a sweet time at dinner... just five of us staff (plus a friend) hanging out as friends in a refreshing and encouraging time.