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.
Oh Julie, I think you did just the right thing letting that lady share her heart. I would have exploded if I couldn't have talked about my loved ones when they died. I hope someone can come be her friend soon, as she really needs to be able to do that often. So glad Jesus is her friend now! Bless your heart..
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