Well...it's been a long time since I blogged. Actually, I never blogged because it never seemed that I was around an available computer with enough time to do it. But, enough with excuses... What an amazing trip! The island of Oahu knows us well...they've got to because we seemed to be all over the place. It was such a great experience getting to minister alongside The Gathering Church in Mililani Mauka. I was completely impressed with the church's leadership...the pastor, James, and his wife, Julie...the Children's Minister, Christy Fritts and her entire family...wow! They are each serving God in such a huge way in their community and, in turn, He is blessing the church each and every day.
During our short stay with them we had the opportunity to meet and connect with many people that attend The Gathering. Our opportunity to lead a Disciple Now for their youth connected us with them through some wonderful Bible study and worship times. Kristen, Holly, Christian, and I enjoyed getting to work with them and we heard, experienced or (maybe felt is the best word) their desire to grow in their own walk and faith journey with Christ. I believe that the entire church is on that verge...ready to take the next step in a deeper walk with Christ...it was so exciting to see and experience!
OK...kids crack me up! We had the opportunity to minister to the church through a Parents Day Out program....it took place from 2-7pm last Saturday. Well, that's a lot of time to be around kids for a guy that works with college students. What a trip....games galore with people that are waist high. Laurie did a great job organizing everything....I mean everything! We'd play some games, watch a video, do a craft, eat a snack, play some games, watch a video, do a craft, eat a snack....you get the picture. One of my favorite parts was hearing Steve Davis speak a little gibberish (this was intentional gibberish). Here he is sitting with the youngest ones who were putting strings of letters together on a table. As the little boy finished his string Steve would attempt to pronounce whatever it may be...of course, this happened over and over because the boy kept adding more letters after Steve would spew out the word. Oh the things kids can get us (really Steve) to do!
Wonderful trip! Beautiful island! Amazing ministry! Have got to go again!
Thursday, May 22
Wednesday, May 21
HOW I FELT ABOUT THE TRIP AND HOW GOD WORKED
well the trip was amazing in that the dnow stuff went really good. I think that GOD was really working with us in the weekend. Just the hole being in hawaii doing GOds work was awesome. I had a lot of fun.
Tuesday, May 20
From Lori
Hey this is Lori. I am a little late in reporting in about the parents day out, but it was a huge success. We had a gym full of kids of all ages. There were a wide mix of church and neighborhood families. Churched and unchurched all came. Their kids were great. We shared several great bible truths using a DVD that Aimee shared. We shared the plan of salvation and the kids were very responsive. On Sunday we taught the entire childrens program for the morning. We shared the hope of heaven that is coming. We feel deeeply drawn to the the children and families that we have had the chance to spend time with. The island is beautiful and we have also enjoyed time together as a team as we have been invited to see the sights of Oahu. Some of the sights included snorkeling in Hanauma Bay where we saw the most amazing sights underwater. Nemo fish everywhere and sea turtles hanging out all around. A few of the guys went surfing with the pastor's wife and a family from the church. We also kiked a mountain trail alongside the cliffs next to the ocean. Amazing views straight uphill!!! Today we head to the North Shore and the Dole Plantation just before heading home. We can't wait for our new friends from the Gathering to make their way to the mainland to allow us the oportunity to host them and introduce them to Rolling Hills. Pray for our safety as we board the flight around 8:30 Tuesday night. See you soon!
Sunday, May 18
Luau fun
This morning we went to The Gathering early to help set up, then church was at 9:30. We did all the children's church so that the adults could all worship together. We had lunch at Pastor James' house where church members brought food for a pot luck. Christian tried the raw fish and said it was great!
This evening we went to Paradise Cove for a luau, the pictures will tell you how well we're all getting along. Steve Davis is keeping us entertained with songs-like show tunes and Barbara Streisand!
Tomorrow we are going to take some time to see God's creation here in Hawaii. Steve Campbell, Christian, Matt, and Lori are getting up early to surf. Then we hope to hike Diamond Head and see as much as we can before we head home.
Pastor James & his wife Julie have said how much the church appreciated the Disciple Now and Parent's Day out. We had 9 kids for D Now and around 20 for the Parent's Day Out. That is a large percentage of the church, and a few visitors too. Lori did craft projects like salvation bracelets and God's eyes on Saturday. There were 2 sisters that came, their mom is not a believer, and they wanted to come back today to church. Unfortunately, they didn't make it, but we're praying for them and that their mom will let them come back and have fun and learn about God at church soon.
Pray for safe travels as we fly out Tuesday, we have lots of great things to share about this amazing place!
Saturday=day of no sleep!
We had D Now on Friday night and then finished up on Saturday morning. Then, we hosted a parent's day out from 2-7 Saturday night. After that we went to Wakiki Beach and got home around 11 pm, we were ready for bed by then!
Saturday morning at D Now we met separately as girls and guys first. We did the last session on Philippians and talked about peace that we can get from Christ alone. Then we met all together at the Dell's house and talked about service projects that the youth group could do. Matt lead the discussion as everyone had 2 ideas on index cards and then we picked the top ten. The kids thought of working with the homeless in the area, singing to elderly people, and bringing food to a family in need.
Next we had a special thing planned, Pastor James and his wife Julie washed their feet. They went one at a time and had a special prayer time and explanation of what foot washing represents. The group was upstairs and took turns reading the entire book of Philippians and then wrote a letter of encouragement to someone they know-just like Paul did.
Saturday morning at D Now we met separately as girls and guys first. We did the last session on Philippians and talked about peace that we can get from Christ alone. Then we met all together at the Dell's house and talked about service projects that the youth group could do. Matt lead the discussion as everyone had 2 ideas on index cards and then we picked the top ten. The kids thought of working with the homeless in the area, singing to elderly people, and bringing food to a family in need.
Next we had a special thing planned, Pastor James and his wife Julie washed their feet. They went one at a time and had a special prayer time and explanation of what foot washing represents. The group was upstairs and took turns reading the entire book of Philippians and then wrote a letter of encouragement to someone they know-just like Paul did.
Friday, May 16
Disciple Now
Live from Pastor James Shiroma's house- the girls hang out for night!
We are watching a movie. We met tonight with the boys and played a few more games and then had session 2 of our study. We are learning about Philippians's. Kristen brought a good word about relationships, opportunities, blessings, and abilities that all come from God. Arlene and Shelby are great, we are learning more about their lives and struggles. Pray for them about their upcoming choices on boys, school, friends, and family decisions.
We are loving Hawaii, we got a chance to Scuba today and it was AMAZING! I swam with a sea turtle that was huge! God created this beautiful place and I am blessed to be able to explore it. Thanks for your prayers, I hope to stay awake to hang out more with these girls tonight and still function tomorrow :)
We are watching a movie. We met tonight with the boys and played a few more games and then had session 2 of our study. We are learning about Philippians's. Kristen brought a good word about relationships, opportunities, blessings, and abilities that all come from God. Arlene and Shelby are great, we are learning more about their lives and struggles. Pray for them about their upcoming choices on boys, school, friends, and family decisions.
We are loving Hawaii, we got a chance to Scuba today and it was AMAZING! I swam with a sea turtle that was huge! God created this beautiful place and I am blessed to be able to explore it. Thanks for your prayers, I hope to stay awake to hang out more with these girls tonight and still function tomorrow :)
Thursday, May 15
DNow Kick-off, Session 1: Contentment
Today was an amazing day. It's really hard for me to comprehend how one could wake up here and not know that God truly exists! Tonight, we had our kick-off for Disciple Now. The youth are so amazing. We played celebrity as an ice breaker game, which really brought everyone out of their shells. They're so much fun. Session 1 was about contentment, true contentment through Christ. An illustration that I believe completely fits the bill is comparing a lake and an ocean. With the world, we only see a small, confined space. With God, though, his space, what we can find in Him, is endless. We try and try to fill our lives with stuff, constantly looking for the newest stuff to fill the hole we thought the previous stuff would fill. With God, we find true contentment, fullness. He has every puzzle piece, every hole patch we could ever need. It's truly amazing!
Wednesday, May 14
Day 1 Mililani
The flight yesterday was long, we played cards, watched movies, slept, and planned. We were all ready to stretch our legs after a 9 hour flight! In the airport we were welcomed with leis from several in the church. Most of us are a little jet lagged, since we are 5 hours behind Nashville time.
We had a meeting this morning with Pastor James and his wife Julie. They are so welcoming to us, allowing us to stay in their home this week. The church (named The Gathering) is a year old and we are the first missionary group to come alongside them. There is a lot going on spiritually here on the island, lots of cultures, and Christianity is not the major religion. Relationship building is the main way that Pastor James is able to build God's church here in Mililani. We understand that coming from RHCC and it's exciting to share ideas.
Just Walk Across the Room is the evangelism training that Laurie Campbell lead tonight and it's a perfect fit for what is going on in the church. We had 8 adults come to the Shiroma's home where we had the training, which is a good percentage of the church. There are usually 60 adults in the service on Sunday's. There was a lot of time for sharing and a good start for the study.
There are lots of connections of people that we know back on the mainland, that is comforting and we know that it's not an accident either. God has prepared this trip and prepared the youth group to hear the words that we're bringing. I am excited to meet them tomorrow and talk about Philippians. Our theme is "More than Enough" and we are talking about the joy, peace, and purpose that Christ brings to our lives.
This mission trip is better than any vacation I have ever had! God created amazing things for us to discover and we intend on seeing many of those things this week.
We had a meeting this morning with Pastor James and his wife Julie. They are so welcoming to us, allowing us to stay in their home this week. The church (named The Gathering) is a year old and we are the first missionary group to come alongside them. There is a lot going on spiritually here on the island, lots of cultures, and Christianity is not the major religion. Relationship building is the main way that Pastor James is able to build God's church here in Mililani. We understand that coming from RHCC and it's exciting to share ideas.
Just Walk Across the Room is the evangelism training that Laurie Campbell lead tonight and it's a perfect fit for what is going on in the church. We had 8 adults come to the Shiroma's home where we had the training, which is a good percentage of the church. There are usually 60 adults in the service on Sunday's. There was a lot of time for sharing and a good start for the study.
There are lots of connections of people that we know back on the mainland, that is comforting and we know that it's not an accident either. God has prepared this trip and prepared the youth group to hear the words that we're bringing. I am excited to meet them tomorrow and talk about Philippians. Our theme is "More than Enough" and we are talking about the joy, peace, and purpose that Christ brings to our lives.
This mission trip is better than any vacation I have ever had! God created amazing things for us to discover and we intend on seeing many of those things this week.
Monday, May 12
Coming Soon!
Soon...very soon...you will be able to read about our teams ministry adventures in Hawaii! Yes, it sounds breathtaking (which it will be) and we are all excited about the ministry we will be helping with at The Gathering Church in Mililani, HI. There's a lot in the mix...evangelism training, a Disciple Now for their youth, a Parents Day Out, kid watching, and more. We can't wait!
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