Mexican Stash D.P + Graduation + Intern day

So Tuesday = either feeding the hungry outreach or property upkeep day. And this week it was my turn to be on property upkeep .. I got stuck on the paint crew with Riayn and we painted windows for five hours. It was actually super entertaining and honestly I can't explain to you enough how crazy it is to be so full of joy when you are serving and serving for free. After our service day it was a dash to get ready for Mexican Stash night. One of our staff member is leaving so we threw and surprise party and we all dressed up like Mexican's. I dressed up like a Mexican soccer player, there were cholos, mariachi bands, bull fighters... everything you could think of. It was super fun. Last night was yet another night on the deck watching the stars.. but the sunrise this morning was so amazing it rocked my morning.

Today we had graduation and Mr. Johnson and Riayn graduated from the internship. Riayn is heading home tomorrow - which is super depressing. We have only had a few weeks together but we connected so fast it's crazy. She is only 17.. I mean now 18 .. and she is a crazy inspiration to all of us to have such passion and knowledge that she has. She is crazy passionate about the middle east and I wish I would have been able to pick her brain some more about life over there.. getting ready for my trip. It sounds like she will be coming back in January but this could be a good chance of being the last time I see her .. boo. I know God has some amazing plans for this woman and I'm stoked to see God's plan work out in these next few pivotal years. Uhg I'm going to miss her. Mr. Johnson will still be around for a few more months so no sad post about missing him. But I'm super stoked for him because as he told us today, this was the first thing he has ever graduated from (he is the one from Sri Lanka).

After graduation, which was full of good treats and fun times it was off to our day. Half of us went to the surf outreach and half of us had intern day. Again with such a big group we have to split our days and since I went last week this week was intern bonding day. Last time we went on our guava hike and this time we set out in the rain to play some games. I was like a little kid in the rain. I was so stoked the second it hit I ran outside and just stood in the rain.. everyone was sorta taken back but than it sparked an idea to go play in it and play in it we did. We went to the fields and played kick ball. The swedes had no idea what to do with this new game.. it was so funny!

Molokai Outreach!

Today we found out what outreach we will be going on for October. Our intern group is so huge that we had to split the team in two and half of us are going to Kauai and half of us are going to Molokai. I had hoped and prayed to be put on the Molokai team and --- woop woop -- I am! So most of this post is just to vent a little of my excitement because I'm not sure what the entire outreach will look like but as far as I know it's gunna be epic. We are gone for 10 days and half of that is spent in the Kalaupapa Leper Colony. I've heard it is closed to the public and you can only go if you are invited. We get to spend time with the occupants and just serve them how ever needed. We will hike down and spend a few nights with them. I'm so stoked for this. I guess the hike down is pretty legit and I'm just honestly stoked to spend time on a different island. I know with out a doubt it's going to be a tough time but a great one too. We will be there over Halloween so that means we will be helping out at some festival thing that I guess about 1/4 of the population attends -- so it's a pretty big hit over there. We will be leaving the 19th or 20th I'm not sure and be back shortly after... I can't express enough how stoked I am for this trip. PTL for another great opportunity to serve. I can't wait to go on this inner island outreach! 

Surfer's Church + Once a month church

I honestly feel like I am forgetting to update you guys on so much stuff but it's impossible to keep up + how much more fun to have stories yet to be told once I come home. So on Saturday night we had another week of Surfer's Church. This week was so good. Earlier on during the day Renee and I escaped again to the beach to have a day of finishing our books we needed to read and just co-exist. We knew other girls would be at the same beach so we opted to lay at the other end.. sneaky sneaky. But luck as it they walked right by us on their way to lunch, we decided to be social and headed out for Acai bowls with them. Than it was back to the beach, running rocks, swimming, and some good ol fashion bonding and great talks with random people on the beach (our own little beach outreach). Than off to Surfer's Church where we had a huge Ohana dinner that was epic and than a service under the stars. Man oh man it is so amazing to worship God outside, under the stars, in a warm place, with family, songs and a message! We had a guest speaker (I can't recall his name) that rocked the house. He is a young man that used to be super involved in YWAM and he was pro at one point in his life, his passion is surfing and his Father is Christ. He has had a drive to use and encourage others to use their passions to be the vehicle in sharing God. It was so great to hear someone who was full blown living out what we at STN are learning to do. But really what better way to reach others, encourage, love on, and just simply live with -- than to do it with the passion God has instilled in your heart. He challenged us to bring the Aloha of heaven, bring the culture of heaven, bring the salvation of heaven to earth -- just as the Lord's prayer says "as earth as it is in heaven". He was so on fire - I can't wait to hear the rest of his teaching next Saturday. 

Once a month church rolled around and man was it great. I had yet to be to this adventure and yet to fully understand what it even meant. It was a service at Haleiwa Beach Park. We got there and right off the bat were swung into actions of helping out and setting things up. The STN team was just in charge of making things go as smoothly as possible, whether that meant mingling and talk story with aunties and uncles or it meant serving food. There was worship music, a message, hula dancing, Ms. Hawaii was there (I thought of you sis), dedications... it was great. At one point they asked people to come up if they would like to rededicate their lives, or dedicate their lives to Christ - a whole slew of them walked up to the front and afterwords there were a bit of us with bibles to give if they wanted them and some prayer if they needed it. This woman walked up to me and with tears in her eyes said "hello". She than told me this story of losing her husband in her arms 5 months prior back in Washington. He had become very ill and for the last 5 years was in bed rest. They had been married for 27 years and she was the last person to attempt resuscitation on him. She continued to tell me more about this man that she loved so dearly, she went deeper and deeper into her heart until she could no longer create a sentence. I just held her and talked for awhile, tried to comfort her but there is no comfort I could really give that would take away her tears. She told me that she had just moved to the North Shore just a month or so ago and ever since she got here she has never felt so alone. We talked more about her choice to leave and I truly believe that it would have been the hardest thing to do but she completely followed her heart. I than had the privileged to pray for her and to guide her into a new dedicated life after Christ. I feel like I wanted to be able to do more and just be there for her but there is nothing I could give, she was grieving and my prayers and love was all I could manage to help her with. It was a crazy time with her but one I feel totally blessed to have had. After our prayer time it was time to help serve lunch, eat lunch, clean up and get on out of there. Which took a long time!

Post once a month it was off to the property than to a poetry slam. The SLS team had to go and a few of us interns wanted to join the fun so we hopped in. Robert sang a song he has wrote and Niccole shared a poem. The night was a free open mic night.. so anything goes but a lot of it was focused on the lies of life/sex trafficking. It was intense. Testimonies were spoken, songs were song, poems were shared... it was seriously intense. We watched a flick this girl shared that was apart of a justice program for sex trafficking and prior she warned the audience if any one was under the age of 13 - they might want to leave (I'm 22 and I wished I would have left). But honestly it was epic. We ate Acai bowls, drank way to much coffee and were there for over 4 hours listening to people share their hearts. It was at a bar but on this night they close all  "bar" accents of it and it is filled with God's children sharing their hearts. It was seriously so cool to see all of the transparent hearts up their praising, thanking, breaking chains and barriers in the name of God. 

After it was done we headed to the beach just to dip our feet and breathe.. than back to property and another night sleeping under the stars!

 And I feel like I could continue to update you on more and more stuff but for now it's time for me and Jesus to hang out.

I cheater update.

Okay so I have let so many things go by with out updating them... that I honestly just want to be like -- well life happened and let me pick up from there BUT I shall update you all. :) So last week (Sunday) we had a girls night. Yup you got it.. a girls night. All of us - a few but mostly all of us headed out for frozen yogurt. The self serve ones are as big of a hit over here as they are at home. It was so much fun. We piled in the back and of the truck and headed out. There were three other cars but the truck was obviously the most fun and even Cindy piled in the cab and was rocking out to some music. (I'm sure as time goes on there will be some images of that event posted up) Than it was back to the property for a good ol 80's dance party. It was pretty entertaining!

 

This is Ellen and I .. super stoked on our chance to dance it out! 

Okay so Sunday-- updated (shock n awe, beach, girls night out) Monday -- updated (fasting and ohana dinner) Tuesday -- udpated ( Intern surf day) Wednesday.... hmm what happened Wednesday

Wednesday.... It took me literally ten minutes to figure out what we did on Wednesday. We hit up our surf kids! We took a bunch of kids out surfing and taught them a little about it all. It was funny because I'm used to a scheduled lesson with time to go through all the stuff you really need to know and after Wednesday I had a talk with our "leader" reminding him how dangerous it is for us just to through them on a board with no beach talk or safety talk or anything. But it was super fun to push them anyways. These kids are so amazing and it so humbling to know their homes are stable and their joy is more infectious than most of us could ever obtain. (pictures to come)

Thursday was Feeding the Hungry and since I went last week this week I was supposed to stay and clean on property but with last week they interviewed me.. no reason other than I walked by at the right time and this week they wanted to do some more footage. So I got to go to Feeding the Hungry again. This week I was again in the prayer tent but more so I was just a nomad helping out. This week I had this little boy by my side every given moment. He was either asleep on my shoulder or attached to my leg. He was so cute. He didn't talk much and getting a name out of him was impossible so I called him "man-cub". He oh was so cute. We had a lot of fun playing together.  

Isn't he cute!

 

Cold water is nothing to joke about...

 

Rocking the prayer tent. This week most of the woman came to me in need to thank God for all their blessings. It was so cool to see that they first off where so adamant to thank God .. than yes you can pray for this.this and this.

Thursday came and went super fast. Than Friday hit and it was like uhhhh where did the week go. Friday was outreach and it was on the bus we go. We headed to the North Shore and it was an epic day to make connections and relations with the store owners in town. I loved it. We just hopped around and went into any store we felt that we would go to again and would think it was a good call to start up some chit chat. I met a girl from St. Helens, I met a girl who always wanted to move to Oregon, I went into this surf shop Sandy (from back home) told me to check out. It was an epic day to make relationships with the community! Than it was back to property, off to find some "mexican stash" party outfits for our mexi party next week and than off to Mike's (staff member) B-day party down at the beach. 

 

SO much fun on the bus ;) We treated ourselves to a real dinner last night and this was on our way to meander around till we found a place to eat. It was me, Renee, Ellen and Sanna!

 

The surf looked so fun but not having a car means no way to get to the beach.. sad day.  But this is once we go to the B day BBQ and we were all just hanging out watching the surf and sunset. Than it was off for a walk to the Coffee Gallery and back home. I have been feeling like maybe I'm getting sick so I got this drink that is called a ginger tonic.. SICK. Renee got one too - they were so gnarly. Like burn your throat nar nar nasty. And I like ginger. So after we made everyone try it (I know rude but their reactions were priceless) Renee asked if we could trade of a cup of Pineapple juice.. which she so nicely agreed to! 

 

Look how happy we are now that the ginger is gone and we got some yummy fresh juice!

A day to surf and intern bond

So today was a day of quiet time and a quiet time that rocked my socks, it was so great. I tucked myself into this little place that only me and Renee know about ;) I sat their a wrote and wrote and wrote. I love writing and it's been a long time since I have just sat and wrote - not blogged, or updated, not e mailed, or skyped but straight up wrote. After quiet time it was prayer and teaching. Today during prayer it was led by Ellen and she totally nailed it. We had local prayer and at one point we were all praying for each other. You just grabbed someone you felt led to pray for and started praying and there were so many tears shed because of the overwhelming sense of love - so great. :) After teaching we were surprised with an intern day off. Time to surf. I just got my new board (wait for a pic) and I was so stoked to take it out. We all loaded up and headed to the beach. We had a day of surfing, bbq'ing, sunning, and just goofing. It was so great. I love my new board. love love love it - Thanks Uncle D!

 

Sorry this post is less than impressive and totally not detailed but as time goes on here it's harder for me to keep updating not because we are doing the same stuff but because when I'm updating I'm generally missing out on something else. But I know that for me and I want to continue to have something to look back on and for you guys who read it (who knows if you  do) I want you to be able to know what I am up to and how God is rocking my world. 

Be Still.

"Be still and know that I am God." [Psalm 46:10] Be still I told myself, be completely still. Do not move in any wordly way, do not be captured by emotion, take captive all evil thoughts and be still and know that he is Abba Father. These past few days here at STN have completely changed my life. For Psalm 46:10 no longer was a verse I knew but a passage I lived. Last Monday was our sabbath, we fasted and did no work. We had teachings, prayers, giving, worshiping but nothing consumed us that was not in the glory of the Lord. Have I ever fasted? I asked myself this on Sunday night. Have I ever fasted for the true meaning of fasting and not for a JR High activity when we ran around playing games, singing songs and having an all church sleep over? Have I? No I hadn't. And truthfully I was doubting if I even knew the power of fasting. Okay -- ya I get it. You don't eat so you can focus on God and so you aren't distracted by food. Not at all. Sunday night I laid in bed crying out to the Lord that he would purify my heart. I knew that this day was not just a day that meant I couldn't eat but rather it was a day that I shall be filled with the Lord, this is a day I should be filled and fill others. This is a day I should be so fully captivated by God that nothing of this world matters. I prayed that God would strip every single emotion from my heart and that he would give me peace. Morning came and my mind was not on the fact I could not eat rather it was on the fact that I could not wait to see how this day unfolded. We walked into "the bar" and right away it was worship. Worship is my love language, worship is my captivating dance with the Lord. We sang worship songs for so long, we stood in praise with each other - hands lifted high and hearts wide open. During worship God stripped every emotion, every tear was shed and every heart ache felt. Every bit of hurt was released and every single doubt was removed. I sat listening to some of my favorite worship songs, I sat singing out the very words of my heart. I was so full in the Lord, so full of grace and mercy that there was no food, no person, nothing that could possibly fill me up but Abba Father. I never expected that a day of fasting would bring so much clarity, so much peace, so much love. What a day that was so full of the Lord, so full of a moment so sweetly broken at the foot of my Father. This internship is rocking my world, I am daily broken and put back together to follow closer to my Father, to have a deeper relationship with him. From one day I was brought to so much clarity and peace and from one day I fell farther in love with Christ. Be still.

Fasting day was intense. It was epic. It was moving. We just were so filled with each other and being focused on what matters that it honestly never crossed my mind that I hadn't eaten all day.  Part of the day we did a giving Monday sorta thing and we all gave something to someone that we felt they needed or that we were so attached to and "needed" that we should give it up. It was so powerful and moving, the things people gave was amazing. And it wasn't out of oh let me give this to you because I don't care for it, or let me give this to you so you can think I'm no nice. It was so just driven from the Lord and such a selfless moment. After the day was done we broke the sabbath together in a Ohana night (ohana means family) so all of us sat down and had a big feast!

Shock n Awe

 

So Andy decided that it was the day to go to "Shock n Awe"... I breakfast place that had a special for only $1.75. I was more about just wanting to see the place, than eating there -- but we did it. Ha. Me, Renee, Phillip and Andy took the shock n awe challenge.. and we're all still alive :) Even though Andy's eggs were BEYOND sunny side up! And they sold hot dogs on a stick sliced up with another part of a pork.. like a pork kabob.

 

Me and Sanna just hanging out at the beach. After breakfast it was time to head to the beach and just spend some time with the interns!

 

Michaela, Me and Ellen.

 

This is Carson. He is still in High School and he basically just lives here and goes to HS ... does some of the intern things -- but not really. Umm could you imagine a better set up as a freaking HS'er.

 

This photo just is funny. It's Ellen - than me - than Michaela. "Michaela where is your finger?" " Here!"

Okay now this is where my day just got topped with more joy than ever. Renee and I had enough beach time so we left early. We headed to get some Acai bowls and pineapple juice (and of course I needed to buy some more coffee). We have so much fun together and we are eerily alike sometimes. Once we were done with out little date it was time to get ready for Surfer's Church. At church we had a guest speaker -Isreal. He is a pastor else where on the island but he was so amazing, his message was crazy convicting and his worship was hands down solid. I could go on and on and on about church last night but I'll save you from that. But honestly this man was epic - he really made you think about things. Once I got home I just hung out with more interns and than Charis and I ended up talking and hashing some deep topics out until 4:00 am. Yup I'm running on 2 1/2 hours of sleep and today is a day where I need to study - Alot. Good work Julie.

Bus Ministry + China Town + Rotic Date

So last week for Friday outreach I was on skate team and this week I helped out with bus outreach. Which okay really? Why? I don't think .. other than my sister.. their is someone who hates riding the bus more than I do. But it's our one mode of transportation and it's a great way to outreach to people, so I just accepted this change and went for it. We rode to China town.. 40 min away (ralph!). But on the way their I sat next to this gal that I talked to for the entire time. We talked about everything, where she was from (Alaska), what brought her here, how she is staying, where she is staying... than she asked about me and she was super curious about STN -- and she might even head over to surfer's church tonight. How fun! It was a really good talk, totally encouraging and completely challenging. She seemed really interested in what STN was all about and had more than just a head nod in agreement to say, she was totally stoked on the conversation. There were 5 of us on the outreach and the way there I was the only one that got to really talk to someone. 

Once we got to China town we walked around and had some goodies. It was such a weird thing .. I had never been to any sort of China town before and it's totally like a new world. The markets had more chicken and animal parts than I knew existed let alone that were edible. The people didn't just not want to talk to you , they totally wouldn't even make eye contact. It was the oddest thing. Nikki was super thrown off by it and was determined to get someone to talk to her and not even the store owners wanted to talk.. just sell you things. It was odd. We got these won-ton honey twist things and we tried bubble tea. Both good but both a horrible idea! I was so sick on the bus ride home. Eww! But all in all it was a pretty stretching experience - so I guess that would be a mission accomplished. It's crazy how the very things I despise are the very things the Lord is forcing me into. It's great. 

Than after our outreach (which took a few hours) we headed back and I met up with Emelie, Riayn, and Nikki. We decided it was a night to go out. The three of them had planned already to jet for a little dinner + movie and they invited me to crash it. We opted for not a movie but a good dinner and some time at Walmart. Dinner was so fun. We ended up at Chili's and I had a much needed salad. We had so much fun together -- honestly laughing the whole time. These girls are just so fun and it sucks because they got here earlier than I did so they will be leaving earlier than me :( I'm honestly in denial of my Riayn leaving me... who will make real food with me? Who will laugh at things no one else would laugh at? We were out to eat to celebrate Emelie and Riayn's birthday's which it just turned into an excuse to love on each other and have fun. Our waiter at Chile's was over the top hitting on us and we could not stop laughing, he was totally bent on showing us a pic of him surfing that was hung up on the wall and made sure he walked us over to it before we left. Bah ha! 

Than after dinner it was over to WalMart - which was just funny. Em had never been there so it was an adventure and I needed to get a few things that are just not found in our ghetto little town. We sorta went a little nutty in the store but we all came out with some fun finds. I just have so much fun with these girls! It still amazes me how close we are already just within a few weeks.. :) Than it was time to take photos of all of us at the bus stop - :) man we had so much fun. At one point em jumped out of her dress she got so scared of being hit by the car that wasn't even on her side of the road. It was a hoot! I could go over all the things we thought were funny but non of them would relay into a laugh. 

All in all the day was just epic. God stretched me in ways I didn't know I needed to be stretched (like the bus.. or China town) God pushed me to trust him in the plans for the day, though I absolutely didn't want to go on this outreach - God presented one of the best days I've had here. Last night I was laying in bed with Em and giving her some epic worship music and we both fell asleep listening to some solid tunes. 

Feeding The Hungry #2

Okay so I thought the feeding the hungry last week was a trip, let me try again. This week we were in a different down and I totally different crowd. This week the number tripled and this week I prayed for more people than I ever have in my life! It was nutty. When we got there we were split into teams again and again I was put on the prayer team. It has always been a struggle of mine to pray out loud and def. for sure a struggle to pray for a complete stranger and man is the Lord stretching that comfort zone - it's so great. Most of the people couldn't speak English and a lot of them really didn't want to be prayed for but for that did, I can't begin to explain how amazing it is to be able to lay your hands on a stranger and lift them up to our Father. After praying for people for more than two hours we slowly dispersed among the crowd to "talk story" and just get to know them.

 

 This is Ellen and Sanna in the prayer tent with me =) 

It was super hard because a lot of people honestly don't care about much but being in line for their food. I also had the job to hand out sushi to the crowd as they waited for their turn and it was so humbling and hard to see the greed among them. Some people were so amazing with everything and were so great-full and so amazed we were there -- but it's crazy how some people really don't care.

 

Ellen and this tiny little baby she was babysitting most of the day. Ellen was a nanny in Conneticut for a bit one year (she is from Sweden) so she was all over this "job".

We were in the blazing heat for hours, serving, loving, praying, talking, boxing, feeding, playing, and simply being there for them. It sounds like a job, it sounds like absolutely no fun but let me tell you it's an experience I can't wait to have next week. It's crazy how much fun you can have serving people that don't care if you pray for them as long as they get their food, it's crazy how humbled you can be when you have ten tiny Chinese woman grabbing at your shirt because they want another piece of sushi--yelling at you in a language you don't understand. It's crazy what the Lord can do. After we were done serving it was time to clean. We cleaned up the area for a good long time, nothing left behind, nothing! Than it was time to hop in the car with Cindy and run some errands.. than we were back! Sanna and I had the dinner of champs, Renee and I got some laundry done (first time since I've gotten here) and now Ellen and are just co-existing on her bed :)

Okay now for some photo uploads!

 

Me and Emelie sharing our jack in the box smoothie... on our "lunch" break

 

Again at Jack in The Box.. Emelie kept making a heart on either side of our heads with her hand... and I believe this was the moment where we just accepted that it looked more like ears than half of a heart. 

I just straight up LOVE this photo. Honestly this girl freaking blows my mind. She is just so radiantly beautiful =)

 

Us just cleaning up the property .. getting ready to go home!

(keep your eye out for more photos of the event/people/and things we were doing...)