This is my Hawaii

This is my Hawaii. Some may think oh cool missions trip in Hawaii -- real rough. But let me just tell you a little about my home. I wake up every morning to our neighbors roosters (okay that's not really that bad.. I sorta like it), I fall asleep every night to sirens, my next door neighbors are "Divine Pleasures" (a porn shop) and next to that is a strip club. Our street used to be called Blood Alley for all of it's violence and drugs. It is slowly getting better and a lot of that goes to the work God has done within STN and the love we try to spread to our troubled neighbors. Every morning I get up before my 7 other roommates (6 of them are swedes)and sit outside reading, listening to music, catching up and just having my morning time by myself with my much needed french press. The sunrises are pretty epic, usually it is raining when I wake up but within a few minutes it clears off and the sun peaks through with some vibrant colors, this morning was super pink. But my view is over roof tops and rusty buildings. Life here makes you realize what is truly important in life. Matching dishes, dishes in general, food is hard to come by, air conditioning, and transportation (things that are a def. negative here). You soon realize how not important the things we live with are. Fresh food would be nice but if I want to witness to my neighbors I must live just like they do. We are fed by the food bank so what we are donated is a hit or miss with things that are over due and especially for me things that I can even eat. But with all of this new change one thing still remains and that is the love of Christ and let me tell you it's a necessity here ;) So my Hawaii once was a family vacation in the surf, sun and palm trees with a Corona in hand and now it is the real Hawaii, the real hurt on the island.