King Kamehameha

Picture of the day... My MAN!

Finally got some Hawaii apparel :) In my favorite color!

Today is King Kamehameha Day - Hawaiian holiday... going to a parade soon :)

Posts to follow...

One For One - EYES!!

In addition to Toms canvas shoes.... they now have sunglasses! For every pair purchased, they will give sight to a person in need. What a beautiful movement. I have neither shoes nor glasses at this point, but I'll promote TOMS anyway! I'm all about supporting things that touch the nations and bless lives :)

Check them out here.... http://www.toms.com/eyewear/

Silent Awe

"All the nations of the world will stand amazed at what the Lord will do for you. They will be embarrassed at their feeble power. They will cover their mouths in silent awe, deaf to everything around them." - Micah 7:16

I read this verse today in my time with Jesus. I love when the presence and power and love God silences all the voices. Maybe we don't need to talk so much. Imagine if we look to God more and to ourselves and our plans and our predictions and our situations and our opinions much less.

Also spent some time watching world news on BBC and Al Jazeera... it's time for the earth to stand in silent awe. God, come show off in these times of desperation for truth and healing and breakthrough. Rock entire hemispheres with who YOU are! Obviously other religious options are simply not working! There is no other god or idol or movement that can save people and bring peace or compare with the creator of the universe!! This doesn't mean it's time for the church to sit back on their couches and expect the raw supernatural to flash across their screens...... DO SOMETHING about it and lift up a roar of intercession for nothing other than the true Gospel to be revealed.

And don't be fooled... the stories you hear every day about tornadoes, volcanoes, wars, protests, disasters... they are not simply global warming coincidences or political conflicts. The natural is always a reflection of the spiritual. Look through the eyes of your spirit and not the eyes of the media. Chase God for His answers and strategies...

8 weeks

Yesterday was 8 weeks since my husband went back to Sweden! (I've been in Hawaii for 12 weeks) And today I called my airline and cancelled my flight home which was scheduled 2 days from now :( Still no word from the Embassy... BUT we feel like good will happen soon.

This photo was taken in Ethiopia... after a busy morning on the streets. We're both scruffy, tired and sweaty and loving our lives on the mission field! (And I'm really loving THAT bald and bearded man!)

Beach Boys

Hung out at a beach called "Magic Sands" yesterday afternoon. Heard from the guy next to me that it is one of the worst beaches on the island when it comes to spinal injuries because the waves swell enormously, change directions, layer on top of one another and then drop off drastically. (Not to mention there were recently 2 shark attacks and they still haven't found the culprits) Nonetheless, it's a hot spot for boogie boarders(although I have yet to see a girl take on these waves - hence the title "beach boys") and very entertaining...

Double wave

Go under. Always go under. There's no way through it or over top.

Waiting to catch a wave...

Hah! Notice the guy in the background!

Future pro surfer...

Dad facing the waves...

Wipeouts = lungs full of salt and sand and sore scraped skin. Not my favorite but I have had a few...

Cutest little bikini beach babes I've ever seen!

Evangelism Resources

http://www.joshuaproject.net/languages.php

Two Instances

Two eventful instances happened to me this morning. The first was at a cafe. You see, a few years ago while I was finishing up my 3rd year of Bible school and planning my wedding, I worked at a great family-run coffee shop called "Peaberry's". Here's a little lesson for you coffee-lovers -- a peaberry is a special type of coffee bean that develops 2 beans in a single cherry. This only happens in 5% of coffee and can most likely be found in Tanzania and Kona, Hawaii (the city I'm living in right now!) While working at Peaberry's in Youngstown, Ohio, they told me that there was one other "Peaberry's" in the states... in Kona. Well, I went there today! It was so hot outside though... so I sipped on a peppermint iced tea instead of coffee! I loved this cafe mostly because it was run by Japanese women and their food menu especially reflected their culture rather than the same 'ol boring croissants and scones. Next time I'll have to pick something yummy off the menu and drink some of this rare coffee :)

View from my table while reading "Infidel" (I'm reading it as slowly as possible because it's too good to be done with!)

The second instance happened at the bookstore. I've been a real bookie these days... especially when it comes to secular/international/culture/religion pieces. I'm fascinated with understanding the way different cultures swirl themselves into their own religions and try to take on the world. I want to understand the mind of a Muslim Saudi Arabian woman or an athiest guy from Californian or Chinese children raised in Buddhist homes. I don't agree with all the things that I read, but nonetheless I'm still fascinated. I want to be a student of the world. I get so frustrated with [especially] American mindsets which can be so closed and small. People in the West can read the headlines of some news channel and suddenly they think they've got an entire country or people group or religion or hemisphere figured out! Spend time researching and understanding situations before you draw preconceived opinions of your own. I think that the pursuit of understanding individuals will make you a better citizen, better worker, better missionary, and ultimately just a lot smarter! Anyway... here a few good books I've read over the last few months...

3 Cups of Tea - The pursuit of an American man to transform Pakistan/Afghanistan through the education of girls.

Infidel - A Somali refugee who was raised Muslim and fled to Europe in order to escape an arranged marriage. She then began standing up for the rights of women in Islam and because of that, lives under the shadow of death threats simply because she chose to speak the truth.

Always Enough - Supernatural events taking place in our modern day- healings, people being raised from the dead, food multiplying, restored lives - time and time again in the most unlikely of places, rural Mozambique.

Anyway... back to my 2nd instance... I found Lonely Planet - INDIA! Samuel and I have been looking for it in Africa, Sweden and America over the last several months, but we just couldn't find it. Until today! These 1,140 pages will keep us busy for a long time and help us prepare for out first trip later this year! I need to stop accumulating books though. They don't travel well :(

Shark sighted

"SHARK SIGHTED"...

Didn't seem to phase these people...

I'm all for adventures. Give me deserts and rainforests. Give me cultures and languages and whacky food and fields of lost people and airplanes and villages and areas that no one else wants to go to.... but sharkey waters?? No thanks.

Black Sand

Yesterday we took a road trip to the Northern shore of the island. This area is full of enormously lush valleys and one in particular led to a black sand beach.

In the car... reading Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - an incredible book about a Somali girl who had been raised as a Muslim and a refugee on the Horn of Africa and then fled to the Western world to escape an arranged marriage. Now she lives with a death threat over her life as she fights for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament... and listening to My Redeemer Lives by Nicole C. Mullen.

Pololū Valley

Hiking to the bottom...

Black sand. The stacked rocks and stakes are set up as alters and idols as a part of Hawaiian mythology - an animistic worship of the so-called spirits which are found in the waves, the sky, the trees...

Awesome rustic swings and even a teeter-totter made from old ropes...

So after all those miles hiking down and up a mountain and to the edge of a jungle... we hit the road again. Hawaii is stunningly diverse.

Hawaiian graffiti... white coral placed on the black lava rocks! It blankets the landscapes!

Finally we embarked upon a field of old lava which was apparently hollow underneath. There were caves and canyons everywhere, we felt like the ground could disappear beneath us! But about a mile from the road there was one particularly enormous cave with a tree growing up from the bottom... and a movie crew shooting some sort of action/adventure scene down there!

Wish I knew the name of the movie... I think it had something to do with a necklace and the actor down there was running through the cave. If you see it... I was there!