On a journey...

Life. What is life anyway? And what does it mean to live life to the full? A little reflection there. One thing I do know is that I am alive and that the days seem to pass by quicker then I would like them to. The month of July has literally flown by... I can’t believe this weekend it’ll already be August. Where did July go? It’s been an eventful month. Last week was my birthday and I felt very loved and valued. Going for a Brazilian BBQ with some friends in a week or so and I am very excited!! I really hope it’s authentic and good, or I think I will most certainly be a tad disappointed. I also got given a car, almost on the day of my birthday. A good friend of mine got given another car and so she gave me her old one. It took a week and a bit for the garage to fix it up and pass it in the inspection, and getting it licensed in my name and getting insurance wasn’t totally straightforward, but I now have it. And it feels so freeing and lovely when I’m driving my own car!!! It’s a golden...

As we sat down with our burgers and drinks it had started to drizzle. We found some seats under the covering of the tent. All around us was a bustle of activity; a queue for free food, children being face painted (or “getting tattoos on their faces” as one little boy informed me), hair being cut to different shapes and styles, people talking, children playing, and lots of connecting being done. It promised to be a great afternoon and evening. After a little while Kevin Prosch and his band strummed their guitars and started to lead us in worship. It was powerful and everyone was just enjoying worshipping and God was being praised in probably one of the darkest places in Kansas City. (A fun side note is that one of the guys in the band called Lambert, actually did his DTS in Fortaleza and was around for about 2 weeks when I moved there January of 2001. And even more surprising was that I remembered him from that long ago. The world is small!) However, the drizzle became rain, and the rai...

I feel like I’m in the middle of a rollercoaster ride that is going so quick the only thing I can do is really sit back and go along for the ride. Forget trying to determine the direction, I just need to trust God. Coming back from my holiday in Hawaii was quite hard. Reality hit, as did the realisation that although I did ask God a lot about what He has for me for the time ahead, the only thing He really said was to trust Him and rest in His peace. I mean, they are important truths and things I should do, but not really the answer I was looking for. Still, He is God and I am not, so I guess resting in His peace is what I need to do. The week after coming back I headed down to the HOPE House of Prayer, the Hope City prayer room. It is stunning! It is a beautiful prayer room. I think the best part about it is the natural brick wall that makes for a backdrop for the stage. The floors are a brown glaze and walking back and forth on them reminds me that we are in the inner city and that I ...

I never got back to writing after my last entry. The rest of my time in Hawaii was great! I spent time at the beach, I walked along the coast, hung out by the pool, had lots of coffee with my friend Elisabeth and got to experience a bit more of what her day-to-day life looks like. On the Friday I flew to Honolulu and visited my friend Si’u and her husband Bernie. I was incredibly well received and it was an lovely few days of getting to know them and learning so much about Hawaiian and Island culture and life. We spent the Saturday at the Polynesian Cultural Centre where I got to see traditional villages from the different islands in the Pacific Ocean, see traditional dances, go to a Luau, watch an amazing show about life....it was great! An on the Sunday I went with them to church and then had a quick tour of Honolulu before boarding the plane back to Kona, Hawaii. All in all it was such a wonderful few weeks. A time of true refreshing!