Thursday, April 23, 2015

Hawaii

I can't even begin to describe how blessed I feel for our time here in Hawaii. The second day we were here the new quarter started at YWAM, this meant that we got to witness all the new students arriving in Kona. The campus has a welcome night were they bring people who are native to the land, to dance and sing to welcome the new students to their land. It's such a beautiful event to witness. Hawaii has such a special history and wonderful culture. After they perform, they bring a flags of every country that has a student attending the school. They will say the country and the person holding the flag will run through the crowd. As I was watching and listening to this I got tears in my eyes. I felt so overwhelmed by how many countries had Christians in it. United States was last and for some reason I didn't expect a big cheer, but when the said United States the crowd was so loud. I don't know what it was but I was so happy to be part of the United States. I was glad that everyone no matter what country they were from are proud of their country. I just felt so happy to be part of this global love for the Lord.
We didn't know but the first weekend we were here, they were celebrating 195 years since the first missionaries came the Hawaii. All I can say is wow. I didn't know anything about how the gospel came here to Hawaii. As we went to different celebration, once again I saw how much Hawaiian culture means to the people. They were so happy to be able to share their culture with everyone who had come to visit. I was really inspired by everything I saw during the Saturday celebration.

The reason we had come to Kona was to be part of an African leadership conference. We got the chance to met three other pastors from Africa, who were also part of the conference. I have to say that we were so incredibly blessed  by every person that we met with. I believe that we met with every leader from every department from University of the Nations/YWAM.  We met with Loren and Darlene Cunningham who are the Founders of YWAM. As we met with Loren his dream is to get a Bible into every home. He knows that to make this happen we have to translate the Bible into the Languages that don't have Bibles. We are going to partner with him to help translate as many languages as possible in Africa. The idea that everyone will get a Bible, no matter their language is truly amazing.
We were busy everyday that we were here but we are so inspired but what we heard. We know that we cannot do this ministry ourselves, we are going to need help and ideas. I feel like our time here was to realize that there are so many things that we can do for the Kingdom. I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed by hearing every one's visions and ideas. We heard from people who can teach language and reading in two weeks, the I.T department, education, event planning, media department, Word by Heart, ETC. My mind has been blown by how many ways we can serve the Lord. We have made important partnerships, where people are willing to come to D.R Congo to help us train people in certain areas to improve the community and to bless the ministry. We have been so encouraged by all the people who took time to pray for us or give us encouraging words.

On Monday we will be traveling back to Africa. It feels like we have been gone for so long. We are really excited to get back and start working. As we go back there are some things we do need prayer for:
-safe travels
-more staff
-our new partnerships
-land for our base
-car
-monthly support

Thank you everyone who has blessed us while we were here in the States. It was so nice to see such an outpouring of love. God Bless.