October 25th - Left a Month Ago Today. Starting Week 4

The weeks are starting to speed up. We had a great speaker this week. We usually have one guest speaker per week sharing a new aspect of God. This week was Our Identity in Christ. The speaker was an energetic Puerto Rican New Yorker, Ivan Roman, who has a gift in prophecy. I had never experienced anything like it. First of all he talks a mile a minute and refers to memorized bible verses that are impossible to get to before he started talking about a new one. I felt for the English as a second language (ESL) people in our class. Then he started ‘ministering’ which meant that he would say things like ‘someone here has a sore back’ or ‘a sore knee’ and he would come and speak over them and declare a hundred things about them he would have no way of knowing. Seriously, it is easy to be skeptical about tv evangelist but we know these people and we know that they are not planted in the audience and he just landed on Saturday from Oregon.

He had our attention now and we were on the edge of our seats for the rest of the week. On Wednesday he spent about 2hrs ministering and prophesying over every single one of us. The prophesy he had for me was a bit vague but Jenny’s was crazy. Recently Jenny shared to some people at home and her class that a long time ago she dreamed of doing missionary work, maybe as a midwife in India. I had never heard that she had thought of a career in nursing and midwifery but when Ivan placed his hand on her shoulder that is exactly what he said about her.
So who knows what the future holds? I think we had just better hang on and enjoy the ride.

We did get confirmation that we are going to Vietnam. We will be leaving the third week of December, we will know exact dates when flights are booked, and will be staying in northern Vietnam in Hanoi.

We have a very special birthday coming up. Jemma will be 15 on Tuesday. Happy Birthday Jemma!

Jemma this morning in Kona

Our view from the University of the Nations

The boys in front of the Plaza of Nations

Vietnam on vacation.

Vietnam ministering to people.

Sunday October 18th Week 3

I am behind on the blog. The good news is our homework is done for this week. We have to complete a two page summary of the teaching of the week. This week our topic was 'The Cross and The Blood of Jesus'. The teaching was great, from the heart, and very intense. We also have to read a book of the bible each week. This week we read Acts (last week was John) and our homework is to write a three sentence summary of each chapter. Even though this is quite time consuming it's actually a great way to process the information. We will do pretty much the entire New Testament over the next 10 weeks.

This week we were given our three outreach destinations. If you are following us on Facebook you will be way ahead of the blog. Jen’s been posting more frequent updates. See a link over to the left… The three locations are Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Here is a summary of the projects.

Cambodia

Batanbong - North of capital city

DTS working there sbs

Bought 13 acres and raised it up 9 feet

Teaching English main focus

Established 10 years

University 20000 students teaching English

Water projects

Staying in a hotel 

Hanoi Vietnam

Teaching ESL at universities

Helping at a drug rehab

Children's ministry puppets, crafts, the Jesus film

Lots of ‘unregistered’ churches

7 million people in Hanoi

Staying at rented apartments - could be a bonus

Malaysia

Primarily English language

Penang - a commercial city

Going with Brother Ray - a great guy that we just met this week and who has been in Penang for a few years

Homeless ministry

Population is divided between Malay, Chinese and Indian

Many people who are stuck there without passports- refugees from other countries like Myanmar (Burma)

Street ministry

Fishing village

Teaching

Staying at a YWAM base

Lots of opportunities with children

Will do outreach to a small village three hours south for maybe a week

We had Jemma and Ryan with us and we were given the three locations and we were asked to go away for 20 minutes and pray about which location the Holy Spirit is leading us. Well, Barry (that’s me) chose Cambodia, Jemma chose Malaysia and Ryan chose Vietnam. Jenny wrote all three names. Great! Either the Holy Spirit is not talking to us or we are not hearing Him. 

It sound like we will be going to Vietnam, which is awesome because we all like Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup)! We will find out for sure tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon we went up to Mauna Kea the dormant volcano which is 13,796ft above sea level (and we are staying at sea level). The height of the mountain from the seabed is over 30,000ft which makes it taller than Mount Everest. Unlike Mount Everest we were able to drive to the visitor centre which is at about 9,000ft where everyone is asked to stop for at least thirty minutes to acclimatize. Apparently, driving straight to the top can be quite hazardous to your health and it is not recommended that children 16 and under even go to the top.
So, Jenny, the kids and I stayed at the visitor centre and watched the sun set. It was lovely and cool, probably about 15C, compared to the steady 30C down here at the base. Our Norwegian friends (who drove) did go to the top and said it was spectacular.

Our family photo so we can learn each others names

Ryan helped me with my work duty. Great job Ryan.

A slide from our teaching this week 

Mauna Kea Volcano

Top of the world! Almost.

Ryan is the man!

Week 2 at YWAM. Jenny on the blog again! This one is long!

You might be wondering why I am writing the blog?  Well, this is what our days look like.  We get up at 6-6:30 and don't have to make our beds.  It is so hot we do not need any blankets or sheets.  We head up to the cafeteria  and get in line for our breakfast.  My first blog entry I feel was critical of the food.  I take that back.  The food is really good, nutritious and portion controlled so you always feel satisfied but never stuffed!  And considering bread cost around $8 a loaf we are eating barely any bread!  It's awesome!  So by 7:15 we are back at our apartment packing up for the day.  The kids love Foundation School and their classmates.  They both have around 12 kids in their class and Ryan has 3 helping teachers.  Both of the kids have made some good friends.  Right across from our second level apartment is the "Ark Park" which is where Ryan is once he has done his homework.  The kids are busy between their "home" school work and Foundation School.  They both have to do 2 book reports as well as learning the same things Barry and I are.  Speaking about us, we head off to "school" at 8am and listen to a guest speaker until noon.  We have one speaker a week!  We eat lunch at noon and then head back to class from 1-2:30.  Barry has just enough time for a 15 minute snooze before he has to go to his work duty which at the moment is cleaning toilets! (I told him today that before he takes his gloves off he might as well do ours!).  He works between 3-5 and at that time my job is helping Ryan with his school work.  I have discovered the 2 air conditioned buildings on campus: the library and the Prayer Room.  Right now, I have to admit I have no idea where Ryan is.  I made a quick glance over at the Ark Park and didn't see him and then I scuttled down to the library to try to update our blog.  So then, at 5pm we eat and then it is time to start our homework which consists of reading the entire New Testament and write a three sentence summary of every verse, reading Loren Cunningham's book (he's the founder of YWAM), or working on our 6 page journal assignment each week.  This week we are starting our weekly goals and record of our quiet time.  So as you can see we are kept hopping here at YWAM.  

My last post was written in a hurry in our first few days here!  We have now been here for 12 days and already it feels like home.  They collected our passports today so we will probably find out where we are being sent in a week or so.  Most of the other classes (DTS classes) already know.  As you saw from some pics on FB, this weekend was all about the Ironman!  Tonight is the "Thank you to the 4000 volunteers" dinner put on by Ironman at the King Kam hotel.  If Barry has the energy to make the 2km hike down the hill, he will go but he just might be too tuckered!  Tonight I will catch a shuttle to Walmart to get a few supplies.  The shuttles go every Monday and Wednesday from 6-8pm.  Ahhh!!  Air conditioning baby! 

I alluded to some amazing God stories last post.  Two families in our DTS are here because of their employer.  The owner of this company (a big multinational company) did Crossroads DTS a few years ago with his family after visiting YWAM Kona for the grand opening of the new cafeteria.  His company was involved in the build.  The experience transformed his family and he went home and said that his goal was to make it possible for 100 employees to do what he had just done.  Take 5 1/2 months off work and learn about God and His calling on their lives.  The company guarantees their jobs back upon their return and makes it financially possible by paying their mortgages and helping out however they can.  The two families that are in our DTS are the 7th and 8th families to take him up on his offer.  The other stories are all similar in the way that coming here to do this was not easy for many people but all of the obstacles or circumstances that made this seem impossible all faded away and here we all are.  There are Danish people, Norwegians, Americans, Koreans, Germans, Italians, Canadians, Hungarians and Chinese people in our group!    There are families, couples and single people both male and female who are all here for a variety of reasons.  We get to spend every day together worshiping, learning, praying and seeking God's will in our lives!  

I want to make a shout out to Carla who was so encouraging when I told her of coming here.  Until I had talked to her I was unsure of the whole thing.  It was also Carla who told me about YWAM in the first place.  She makes me laugh so much (that tight jean jacket en route to Orlando still makes me laugh today!).  And it was Carla who, days before we left, got me on "The Facebook" which has been awesome because we simply do not have time to be coming up with clever and witty things to entertain you on our blog as often as we have in the past!  So thank you Carla!  What is also funny is that I am sure Carla doesn't even read the blog because it is too long!  She likes a pic and a caption!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We miss you all and we will talk to you in a week!  Okay, now I have to find Ryan!!!!  Hee hee!

The Cafeteria

Our apartment block! We are on the second floor in front of the tree.

Ohana Court where we worship and the kids play

Ryan and his necklace trying to keep cool!

The Ironman Security Team! Barry his his arm up.

Monday October 5 6:39am Jenny on the Blog!

It has been 9 days since my last confession….  I mean blog entry!  There is so much to tell you!  I guess I am an early morning blogger- 6:30am seems to be my time!  Breakfast is already being served up at the cafeteria.  The food, I have to say, is not bad - actually I will go so far as to say that it is good!  It is not the all you can eat salad bar that I had envisioned but it is balanced and portion controlled which for my weight loss program I think will be good!  The kids like the milk (big glasses of cold milk from a dispenser).  We have a little inside joke when it comes to food that is, well, not great!  At the Days Inn last March in Anaheim, we had breakfast included in our room rate.  It was completely disgusting and unedible and instead of the kids saying anything negative, all they said was, “The milk is really good!”  So here we are in paradise, dying of the heat and humidity, eating when we are not really hungry food that is not our “favorite”, living in a little rustic cabana-like apartment and LOVING it!

I am serious.  There are so many things that are amazingly God inspired that I will be hard pressed to remember them all.  But that will have to wait as we gotta get up to breaky or our next feeding won’t be til noon!

The kids started in the loft and lasted 10 minutes!

That is just rust on the fridge!  Did I mention the humidity?

Youth With a Mission (YWAM) - Check in day

Rather than post our journal every day I thought we would post once every few days. If you have a short attention span you can flip through the photos and get an idea how things are going. If you are at work and have nothing better to do and you have already checked all your Facebook friends you may want to read all of our musings.

We have taken lots of underwater photos. These are our best so far.

Ryan is doing great!

Our pool at White Sands Village. Ahh we miss it already!

Sunset over Magic Sands beach.

28th September (Monday)

Today we all woke up quite early at 6:30am. I guess we are slipping back into Vancouver time. Jen and I went for an early morning snorkel across the road. People spend thousands on huge aquariums. This is like being inside one. The coral is in great shape and the fish are beautiful. Jen said she saw a big one this morning but doesn’t know what kind it was. Maybe we should get a tropical fish guide book?

After a second snorkelling trip, with Jemma and Ryan this time, we popped over to the U of N campus to take a quick peek and pick up some bedding. We have pretty much everything we need except I need a decent pillow. It’s kinda scary that we will be on campus in just three days.

Our first impression of the U of N. Very nicely manicured grounds with YWAM people doing the maintenance while others pass out drinks and ice cream to the workers.

The Ohana court is very impressive.  A huge, brand new building with an enormous open area for eating and worship. Ralph at the welcome centre marked the ‘Boutique’ on a map. The boutique is the name of the on-site thrift exchange centre which consists a shipping container and a lean-to shelter on one side.

29th September

I don’t want to go to school! We have been on the YWAM campus twice now and I hate to say it but I’m really enjoying all the luxuries of condo living. It’s a constant 83F and about 80% humidity. We have been running the AC at night and have slept really well. We are still on Vancouver time; exhausted at 9:00pm and up at 5:30am. We love the luxury of walking across the road to one of the best beaches in Hawaii.

Starting Thursday we will have no AC, be busy with lectures, school work and acts of service 10hrs a day, no car and miles from a  beach. I should be more excited but I’m just being honest! We popped out to the marina this afternoon and found a hole in the wall bar/fishmarket called ‘Bite Me’. We had marlin fish tacos for $2.50 each! Seriously. They said that when a 800lb marlin is caught they will keep about 400lb of fish and try to use it up as quickly as possible. Happy to help!

Jen had heard from some locals about a beautiful beach nearby where sea turtles rest on the beach at night. It was a beautiful sunset. Ryan hurt his knee today boogie boarding.

1st October

We have arrived. We are registered, checked in and even eaten our first couple of meals. The apartment is VERY basic. Where do I start? There is minimal furniture. A coffee table and four chairs. Two single beds pushed together. No comfy chairs. The bathroom consists a shower and toilet. Our bathroom sink is the kitchen sink. The kids sleep up in the loft. If our apartment is 95F then their 'room' is 105F!

Our ID badges (Ryan doesn't have a card as he is under 12)

I don't want to sound like a complainer or inconsiderate but the apartment block is in very poor state of repair (Ithink it was built in the 60s). Half of one of the concrete steps is broken. A massive hazard. One of the wooden louvres on our window fell apart when Jenny touched it. Oh well. The good thing is we are still in Hawaii just a short drive from some amazing beaches. The people we have met so far are lovely. Bob and Carolyn are very sweet and eager to help any way they can. Thor and the other teacher from Foundations School sat with us and went over the program and some things coming up in the next few weeks. 

It's just so darned hot!! 

I had a shower - nearly slipped and broke my neck - and cooled off a bit but you heat up again in no time. Jen and I have experienced this in India and I know we will get acclimatized soon. No bugs to speak of - thank you Jesus for that! Ryan has a couple of bites on his ankles but so far we haven't seen or heard any dreaded mozzies. Ryan's knee is better today. He has been hobbling around the past couple days after getting a wake board jammed into his knee. It reminded us how Ryan was in a wheelchair last time we were in Hawaii after we were racing to get down the water slide and I accidentally sat on his foot all the way down. Oops.we found that you get priority service at the airport when one of your kids is in a wheelchair so every cloud does have a silver lining!

So what's on the program for the next few days? Tomorrow we have a 7:45am welcome meeting at the flagpoles. This is the official Hawaiian welcome ceremony. Not sure what that entails but will let ya know. After that the kids go off to Foundations school and we spend most of the day in orientation. Then it's the weekend and classes start on Monday. Wait a minute. What are we supposed to do for the weekend? Phone Enterprise and get our car (and mobility) back, go find a pool and some beaches.

I'm sitting in a pool of my own sweat writing this on the iPad listening to a Hawaiian singer named Iz (Isreal Kamakawiwoʻole) a 757lb folk singer who sadly passed away in 1997 aged only 37.

Jemma just came in and said that there are tons of mosquitos outside. Perfect!