you win some, you lose some

Today, I...

... thanked the Lord that I got my car's air conditioner fixed a few days ago and am cool again

... saw a rat while i was pouring my iced coffee at 7:30am

... wore a shirt from the 90's that i got at a thrift store recently (I don't know why i love the 90's...)

... had three meetings, two of which cancelled last minute (blessed are the flexible)

... ate banana bread

... read from Ezekiel and remembered how thankful I am for Christ's righteousness imputed to me

... restocked my house with toilet paper and trash bags

... wore cowboy boots and red lipstick

... cleaned termite chewings off my sink no less than four times through the course of the day

... typed a lot

... ate a veggie burger for dinner

... hugged people i loved

... realized that yesterday when i bought sunglasses to replace my broken ones, i lost my sunglass case

... heard geckos chirping inside my house and thought how special living in Hawaii really is

... plotted to eat a waffle  (so i'll be going now...)

graduation and everything after

Out with the old

In with the new

Welcome to YWAM Maui-

This is what we do!

I guess Hawaii is a good place for us, since Aloha means  Hello, Love and Goodbye. Thats kind of the pattern of life here, every three to six months.

Another couple teams are home from outreach and debriefed. We had a fun and casual beachside graduation at Launiupoko, and it was great to bedeck the students with flower leis to congratulate them on course completion. Strangers when we first greeted them just six months ago, we have loved them and seen them grow- and now its time to let them go. Even as the weekend is peppered with sad partings and airport runs, our eyes are (rather unbelievably) already on the horizon...

Take a deep breath: without pausing, we are hastening straight into preparation for our next group of students... as they will be here in just two and a half weeks!  

The second level course, the one I am primarily involved with, is expected to be under a dozen students. The moderate enrollment is a blessing and a perfect fit, however, as we have a minimal staff available this quarter. I am already covering more than one position, and i think a heavy enrollment would have compromised the quality of what we could offer with just two full time (and one part time) staff! The entry course will be straining our base's seams though, with over forty students likely. 

Its going to be an exciting Fall, as always- and I am sincerely looking forward to it regardless of the inconveniences of a quick turn around and the substantial workload. I know that at times we will all be stretched a bit thin, but that always reminds us of our dependency on the Lord, and pushes us to lean on His strength rather than our own. Thats a good place to be. Even so, we have to be alert that we don't run ourselves ragged- but I have seen that that risk is greatly minimized as we intentionally and genuinely love and serve one another. 

I am excited to share this season and all its challenges with our whole ohana- staff and students and my far away support partners. Though as a base we are perpetually in transition with life turning over at quarterly intervals, the work God does in people's lives here has a great deal of permanence... impacting them for the rest of their lives. That reality often serves to cultivate patience in me for the constant stop/start of life here:)

A couple of my students at graduation- one of which is joining our staff on the base!

A couple of my students from an outreach team I led in 2010- now both staff on the base that i am SO proud of!

No complaints about the backdrop of life here... :)

Luis

So, when I came back from England, my friend gave me back my spare car key and for some reason i could not find my main key... and with it my normal key chain, a brass bangle. Rummaging through my storage, I came upon a gift a friend brought me from China before I left on this trip... half joke, half serious, it is a fur swab something akin to a rabbits foot. I reluctantly attached it to my spare keys and began hauling it around that afternoon, feeling a great disconnect from the odd fur thing. After all, it had a coziness that seemed unbefitting to Maui. As i walked down the street with a friend, I pulled it out and we just started laughing. "It needs a name," she stated. "Luis," I promptly responded. There was no debate. (I have no idea where I came up with that at the moment.)

I wasn't particularly fond of my new ever present companion, nor his oddly incongruent name, however, my first couple days back were rather solitary ones and i found myself saying (sometimes aloud) "Well, Luis, here we go" every time i got him out to get in my car or go in my house... hahahaha. And its stuck. Even now with my friends more often around, when I leave to drive home and pull my keys out of my bag I tend to comment "Well, its you and me, Luis." Or something after that fashion. Hahaha. Strange to say that now I got my normal key ring back I am not sure whether to go on with Luis, or go back to normal. Maybe normal...but since when have i been normal?! ;) 

Luis.

when you're not cool anymore

What do you do when you aren't cool anymore? You just wake up one day, get in the car and .... you aren't cool? Well, if you are me, you make it to the end of the driveway in reverse and then conclude (rightly) that your air conditioning isn't working. No air/con = (literally) not cool anymore.
My functioning windows are three for four, so I drove around with them down all day- no great burden, just... wilder hair. I haven't been able to get into a mechanic, and don't have loads of time now with our debriefing week about to begin, but I will have to find somewhere to have it looked at soon. Really hoping its not an expensive repair as thats never really in the budget. Expensive repair= not cool either:) Haha. But the Lord knows what I need and I am very thankful its not a more vital function of the car thats impaired! I'm grateful to still be on the go...even if I'm not cool anymore:)

you're officially back in Maui when...

...you have had coffee at Anthony's and have had chicken katsu for lunch:) As tradition would have it, I was at Anthony's within hours of my arrival on island. But just today I got around to grabbing chicken katsu for lunch at the unpretentious Minit Stop. This little styrofoam tray features a serving of rice, a filet of fried chicken cut in strips, and some katsu sauce to top it off... one of the best ways to spend three dollars on this island. It was wonderful. So I think I am officially back in Maui now...

Chicken Katsu= Love

settling in

Not my easiest transition on record, but three days in and i'm getting more settled. I was actually unpacked and settled in that sense within a day's time, but beginning to feel significantly reconnected to life here has taken a couple more. (The base is closed for a vacation week, so almost no one is around- a definite factor in my slow reconnect!) However, through some different aspects of our church service this morning, God really met me and gave me peace... and things continued to comfort me as the day went on. It was my birthday, so a wonderful friend took me to lunch and listened and cared- such a blessing... then this evening I went out for dessert with a handful of friends from the base that are around- several of whom I hadn't seen since coming home. That was helpful for feeling settled in relationally, i think, and I count it a real blessing. After dessert, we walked down to the beach and sat talking as we watched rain clouds roll in from the horizon. Good conversation- until the first rain drops began to fall ...at which point we finally called it a night and headed home.
I'm really grateful for all the ways the Lord met my heart today. He used so many little things to bless me, encourage me, and minister to me... and really, to settle me in. Such a blessing.

unpacking is just the beginning

Safely home in Paia... with sun shining, wind rustling the palms, and both the ocean and good coffee just steps away. I am glad to be home in my familiar space and seeing some familiar faces, but I still admittedly miss some of the faces that become so familiar this summer. Sometimes there is more to transitions than just unpacking...

Blue Lagoon: the geothermal springs

Last stop in Iceland: bathing in the Blue Lagoon geothermal springs out in a lava field. Air temp: 50ºF. Water temp: like a jacuzzi. Loved it. Best dip ever. And gorgeous!

quirky downtown Reykjavik

views of Reykjavik

As soon as the sun was up, I set out walking along the waterfront, then returned to the hostel for breakfast (all locally grown berry jams and fresh baked rustic breads, local fruit and eggs...) which they offered me free of charge as an apology for the mix up with my room. So i didn't end up paying for my accommodation or breakfast, and then they couldn't find my airport shuttle order so they didn't charge me for that either! An inconvenience turned blessing:) 

I walked the streets of downtown, got a pastry at a local bakery, then went up in a church tower and got a terrific view over the city before catching a bus out to the Blue Lagoon geothermal springs. 

Great Atlantic views- too bad the passing rain and clouds obscured Mt. Esja across the bay in this picture... 

Walking in meadows along the waterfront at first light

all nighter: a sleepless start to my stop over in Iceland

So I booked a great hostel (a remodeled industrial factory space on the waterfront) for my one day stop over in Reykjavik, Iceland... and arrived at 2am to find that there was a mix up with my room. They were apologetic and offered me other accommodation, but it was inconvenient and time was running out: i was planning to get up at 6am, shortly after Iceland's crazy early sunrise. I figured it wasn't worth the money to have four hours of sleep or less. So... i joined the handful of local Icelanders sitting up at the bar talking story. It was quite an experience and glimpse into the Icelandic psyche! Haha. The little all nighter crowd dispersed awhile later, and I stayed up writing in my journal until it started getting light at 4:30am, and the receptionist made me coffee:) 

An interesting start to my day in Iceland,  to say the least:)

leaving home away from home

Woodford has become something of a home away from home over the past month plus- and today it was time to leave. Sad day. I hugged a lot of people and wrote a billion (okay, like fifteen) thank you and goodbye cards, but couldn't say enough to all the people I have met and come to really value at All Saints Woodford Wells. They have just been such a great family to fellowship with- they have made this trip.  Seriously, I think I will have to come back to visit for awhile sometime because I feel I got awfully attached to the whole lot of them. If my life had cardigan, I would want to tuck a handful of these folks into the pockets and keep them forever:)

But for now, its goodbye to Woodford. 

the last supper: a garden barbeque

A couple friends invited us over to barbeque for my last evening meal here- we roasted chicken, peppers and sausages out in their lovely garden (british for yard), and followed the whole affair up with tea, cake, and games. An all around enjoyable evening in good company:)

tea parting

As a parting gift, I took the girls out for a "red lipstick and polka dots" afternoon tea at a favored local cafe. A little bit of girl time was definitely in order:) 

In less than twenty four hours i will be in Iceland- where I am taking a day layover. (No complaints about breaking up the transatlantic flight: hot springs here i come... )

finishing well

These are my last few days in England. Yesterday was my last official ministry day downtown with the team- they will hit the streets again after my Tuesday departure. Today was laundry, farewell coffee gatherings, and dinner at the vicar's house. Tomorrow is church and quality time with a family from the church and then an evening service. Monday is odds and ends, thank you cards, budget balancing, and packing. Tuesday is scheduled out as processing and evaluation time with my team as I am leaving and they will have another week here to finish out... and I want them to finish well.  Its amazing to me how there needs to be several days for me to tie up loose ends, bring closure to relationships built at All Saints, and get the team all set up to self govern. I want to be sure to not leave everything hanging- and it feels like momentum is hurtling me toward departure. But I am determined to finish well; to keep investing strongly in the church and my team until I am quite gone. No fading out- instead going full on to the last hour. I wish I could be downtown in the streets another day or two, but with these varied areas of responsibility, it would be a serious strain and would leave some important relational things undone. So I trust the Lord to continue using His broad array of servants to reach the nations while I finish well here where He headquartered me- with my team in dear old Woodford. 

It was a challenging few days of ministry on the streets- highs and lows, glories and frustrations. We've all learned, grown, and been blessed to find ourselves used of God in the lives He brought across our paths. I'm so thankful for this team and the opportunity to lead this outreach- its been an awesome month and a half. 

Thank you for your prayers as I seek to be diligent in the relationships and responsibilities entrusted to me... and to finish well.

conversations with the nations

Yesterday we took the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral, then proceeded to walk across the Millennium Bridge, took a right at the Tate Modern and walked along the River Thames. While one of my students stopped to try talking to some fishermen on a pier, I looked around the tiny square where we were waiting and began to ask the Lord if there was anyone I should pray for. I noticed a young woman of asian ethnicity sitting alone with a backpack, and had a nudge in my heart to go speak with her. I walked over and started up a conversation, and found out she was from Taiwan and was just about to catch a train to Paris. Soon we were sitting side by side, laughing and talking- and I was able to share much about Jesus with her, pray for and encourage her, and give her a copy of the Gospel of Mark. I got to talk to a Taiwanese girl about the gospel and i didn't even have to go to Taiwan- praise the Lord! 

Conversations like that one are exactly what we had in mind when we were impressed to take advantage of the opportunity to do outreach in an Olympic city. It is truly a privilege and a joy to represent and articulate Christ to the nations gathered here this summer. 

Please pray for "CeeCee" the young woman I spoke to, that she will have understanding of the Scripture and that the Holy Spirit will continue drawing her to Christ. 

Also, please pray for "Tim", a young British man going into the Marines, who I spoke to for a bit. Please pray that God reveals Himself as Personal and gives this earnest young man understanding of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement- your partnership in this outreach is a blessing!

marketplace of ideas

My team spent the day just outside of the Stratford tube station- which is the stop for the Olympic Park. A great deal of our time was spent in the place pictured- just outside the station entrance where a pedestrian bridge from Olympic Park (and the shiny new Westfield mall) spills out literally tens of thousands of people down these steps into what i termed a marketplace of ideas. Christians are not the only ones representing their faith here at the Games. The base of these steps today hosted several very evangelistic islamic groups, Jehovah's Witnesses, a group of rather militant vegans, and some doomsday folks. There were some parties making unwise choices and getting involved in heated debates- others (us, other ywamers, some folks passing out bibles to anyone interested) were quietly talking to/praying for passersby around the edges. It was a hotbed of conversation, pamphlets and ideas- heaving with people for hours on end. We prayed with a handful of people, talked to some muslim men for a half hour, and ministered to some other believers who were in dire need of refreshment. It was a harder day but still good. Thank you for your continued prayers as we continue to engage the people of London- and the people of the nations.

praying for London

Details on this later, but just a glimpse into one way we are making ourselves available to engage visitors to London this summer... 

We got to pray for an array of people, and talk to children, adults, muslims and Christians- a great day of ministry to this nation.