STARS

Tonight I am afraid that I do not possess a vocabulary worthy of telling you about what I saw today. Words truly cannot express. But I will do my very best to describe to you the beauty I caught a glimpse of tonight. 
It's like if you would go outside and sit Indian style and put your arms out straight, pointing to your right with your right arm and to your left with your left arm, until they're shoulder height. Then imagine a blackish/grayish/midnight blueish sheet of paper laid out perfectly in a half sphere from one of your hands to the other. The distance from you straight up to the edge of the sphere is trillions of miles. Someone on the other side of this sheet of paper has taken a needle and poked holes, some big and some little, but there are millions of these holes. The light on the other side of the paper is so bright that it shines through these holes and sometimes they twinkle! We commonly call these holes 'stars' but tonight they seemed like so much more. No other sky of stars I've ever seen even compares to the night sky I saw tonight. The Big Dipper was shining so bright; it was the first time I had seen it vividly in a real night sky. Then we saw the Milky Way- an entire galaxy of stars! I was so overwhelmed by what I could see. Maui may be known for her beaches and trees and wildlife, but I will always remember and love her for her stars!

where we spent Saturday ^

the biggest banyan tree...

As we rode back from Lahaina  tonight in the back of the truck I couldn't help but be amazed at my God. I literally could not stop looking up at the night sky. Did He have to give us stars? No, but He did. And tonight it was like He was saying, "I love Maui. I want her people to see Me!" I kept thinking about Philippians 2:15 and how Paul says to stand out in your generation and shine like stars in the universe. Do you think that if the body of Christ came together, living as we should, that we could be as awe-inspiring as the stars I saw tonight? I think so. 

Friday (my favorite day here so far), we all finished up our work projects and as the rest of the team went into town for our free night to shop and eat dinner, Maggie, Dayne, Ben, and I went with a teacher here at the school and her husband up to Seabury, a local high school, to scrimmage against some of their basketball players. The teacher and her husband we went with are in their first year of a program called Basketball Maui. They choose players from all over the island and go to the mainland for 10 days to play in tournaments and take part in camps. It is a great opportunity for these high school students to see what basketball is like on the west coast and to get exposure to other competition and opportunities. We had a great time playing with these kids; it was so much fun! After we got back to where we're staying the four of us walked into Paia where we ate dinner and gelato then made our way to the beach. We talked about theology, life, God, the future, college, Calvinism, Sun Stand Still, and lots of other random things that have nothing to do with anything. One of the things Dayne mentioned that has been on my mind is what would happen if a revival broke out on this island. From where we are on the north shore to the south shore is only 50 miles- this is a small island. What if Christians came here with a passion to unleash the Holy Spirit on a place such as this? Can you imagine the impact it would have? We talked about holding a camp where we expected hundreds of kids instead of hoping for 30. We talked about Christians coming here and spreading the Word of God like their lives depended on. Because there are thousands of people on this island whose lives DO depend on it. I went to bed last night praying that Dayne will be a part of this revival and that I will see it in my lifetime. I believe God can do it. I believe that my God is bigger than this island, bigger than our timid hearts, bigger than rules and legalities, and bigger than the limited futures we've created for ourselves. I am confident that if the right group of crazy, Bible-believing, Jesus-imitating people come to this island with His plan in mind, we could shine like the stars.

GBCS

God story:
I walk into breakfast this morning wearing an old t-shirt that says GBCS on it. The principal of the school looks at me and asks what that stands for. Passively I reply that it stands for Greater Beckley Christian School, the place I went to high school (and elementary and middle school). She looks at me and says, "In West Virginia?" Unbelievable. She knew the Parvins and another teacher who had taught here at Doris Todd then moved to West Virginia and taught at Greater Beckley. 
I couldn't help but think back to the day I made that t-shirt, I remember it vividly. Kristyn Wilson (Ash) and I were sitting on her couch in her living room and we wanted to make t-shirts to wear to the basketball game for two boys we liked. We were rushed and the t-shirts almost didn't dry before the game. Then we wrote the wrong Bible verse on the front, thankfully the one we accidentally wrote on the shirt still made sense! But making that shirt 4 or 5 years ago I never thought the impact it would have. It would link my journey to Hawaii to the school I grew up in. God never ceases to amaze me.  




Today was such an encouraging day. I received many emails and messages from the body of Christ and today the enemy is defeated, not me. I was able to focus on the small, meaningless tasks we were assigned (thank you Joey for reminding me about Matthew 25:21) and today was a lot more fun! God continually showed Himself throughout the day and I am so in awe of Him. We saw a beautiful full rainbow as we were leaving the beach this evening and we were also able to see a moonbow tonight! Don't know what that is? Check it out here:   http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/moonbow.htm.

the bright moon...perfect for a moonbow!

moonbows are really faint and hard to get a picture of. 

so here are some of us in awe of it. 

the white dots you see are rain.

Defeated

Today was my hardest day, mentally and emotionally. It was hard for me to focus on the task at hand from our morning theology lesson all the way to dinner. I was checked out. I can't exactly say why but today was definitely rough from a mental perspective. These are a few of the things that occupied my thoughts today:


Home. I'm not one to get homesick but I can't help but miss my parents and really good friends that I was hanging out with before I left like Kara, Clayton, KC, Brandon, Craig, etc. I also really miss Blue Ridge, my church back home. I love this place and the opportunity I've been given. If I had the choice to go back home I would definitely pass it up and stay here. But being at home, playing volleyball, going to the pool, running every evening, laughing with friends...it's all predictable and fun. I miss that. And most of all I miss those people who understand me. 


Uselessness. Maggie and I were assigned to paint a little overhang today. I spent the morning and afternoon on a ladder painting the tops of rafters...places no one will ever see. I felt useless, to say the least. I was dripping paint on the ground and the ladder was blowing with the wind. All I could think was why in the world am I doing this? No one would ever know if I painted that stuff up there or not. And all I have to show for it is paint in my hair that I still can't get out. It was extremely frustrating, but Maggie graciously reminded me that we had to remember that we came to do work for the Lord, not for man. After explaining (complaining) to Dayne the situation of painting stuff that no one will see a little later on he straight up asked me, "Who are you doing this for anyways, Jill?" I was (and still am) incredibly thankful for these two and their encouragement in that moment. If not for them, today would have felt completely useless.


Relationships. Two of our team members are dating, two others are dating people back home. It just seems like everyone around me has someone to brighten their day. I would love to have someone to call to gain strength from, someone who can tell me they care and they're praying for me. I know a lot of people are praying for me, and it means the world. I usually don't struggle with not having a someone but it's just another way the enemy has tried to defeat me today. 


Guatemala. A little over a year ago I went to Guatemala with my brother and 8 other people. It was physically challenging and I thought I'd never go on another missions trip after I got bit by 439085427498 bugs and had to take Benadryl around the clock. Even though it was hard physically, I was surrounded by encouragers and people who I knew extremely well. Here it seems opposite- it's easy physically but mentally it's tough. So throughout the day my mind often wanders to the Waddell family and the rest of the team members from last year. It's true that you really don't know what you've got til it's gone...

As much as I hate feeling defeated, it is freeing. I can truly do nothing on my own. I've been praying for ways for God to show Himself powerful and how could He do that with me in the way?
I'm too weak, emotionally, to even get out of bed in the morning. So if you hear anything from me tomorrow please know this...the joy of the Lord truly is my strength, my only strength.

POSTCARDS!

Send me your addresses and I'll send you a postcard! They have really pretty ones here (see below) and I love writing little notes on them! Plus, they're from Maui...how cool is that?!?! You can send it to me in a facebook message or by leaving a comment on here! DO IT!!! :)

A day in Hawaii: photos

we picked up our last two team members up at the airport. 

and while we waited....what better to do than take pictures??

this picture and the ones following were all at the Needle. I loved this place! So many beautiful mountains and a flowing river, reminded me of the Wild and Wonderful. But as always, there's no place like home. 

the founder of the Republic of China

unicorn-lions from Korea

Monica- she's beautiful right?!

this is where i want to have my wedding reception!

the Needle!

silly bandz

Yesterday was a blast! We are so excited that all of our team is finally here and today is work day #1, WOOHOO! Keep praying that we'll be productive and that lots of kids will be at our first youth night tomorrow. 

My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God cannot do...

Listening and Living

I wish I could look each of you in the eyes and tell you what this place is really like. I'm glad that I can write about it and you guys can read this...it's a lot better than nothing. But I would love to hear your responses and watch your faces as I tell you the beauty here and how much these people need to realize that they are in need of a Savior. And even more than telling you about this with my mouth, I would love it if you guys could be here. How much better would it be if you could experience this firsthand with me?! 


As I was having my quiet time this morning I kept thinking about how God must feel that way about us. He has given us His written Word, it tells us of a life we could live. It is full of examples and advice to help us live a life saturated by Him and His Spirit, a life that is truly satisfying. But how much more would He love for us to sit there and listen to Him tell us firsthand? His Word is very important...but what good is the Word if we are not willing to sit down and listen to the very Writer of it?! He longs to whisper in our ears the goodness of the life He offers, and He loves to see how we respond. And not only does He want to tell us about this life Himself, He wants us to step into it and live it out. It's not something unattainable or something we can hope for later on. It's for today, for now. You can experience the life you read about and the life He tells you about! In doing so, you will be able to "take hold of life that is real" (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

I'm not sure if I ever talked about where we're staying. So here's a little info: we're on the island of Maui. We flew into Kahului and we are staying in the town of Paia. We are sleeping in classrooms at the Doris Todd Memorial Christian School and this is where we will be doing projects and youth nights for the next week or so. Yesterday was our free day so we drove to Makena beach, passing lots of resorts and seeing 'typical' Hawaii, as you can see in the picture I took above. It was full of beautiful trees, flowers, and birds! And the beach was amazing! A couple people in our group went snorkeling around those rocks you see in the picture and followed a sea turtle around the reef. We ended the day by doing some shopping and eating dinner at a pizza place.

This morning we're getting ready for church. Then we're having lunch, picking up the last two members of our team at the airport then going to the Needle. We've been canvasing some streets and handing out flyers, preparing for our first youth night on Tuesday. And as much as our team has loved going to the beach and seeing this beautiful island, we are all very ready to start work on Monday!

today: living with eternity in mind

I wasn't planning on writing anything today. Our team members are starting to come in and we've just been hanging out and cleaning. I'm falling more in love with this island and the everlasting God each day. But the Lord has really given me a new perspective and I can't help but share it. 


I've been re-reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan over the last couple of days and God has really been working in my heart about how my response to His crazy love for me should look like. As the Lord is pointing out things like pride and selfishness in my heart, I can't help but notice that it's a problem for all of us. I occasionally get on my phone and read through facebook status's and twitter updates and all we talk about is ourselves. We go to work every day, or take classes, or we do whatever we want, then we tell people about it. It's always about us. It's what we've done today and how we feel about it. I do this all the time! But all of these things are so temporary. Good for you if you go to work every day and get everything done that you need to, when you die...that won't matter one bit. I'm glad you're enjoying your summer by hanging out with friends, going to the beach, eating lots of ice cream (oh wait, that's me)...all of that matters only for the moment. I imagine God is begging us to do something that will outlive us, yet we are too busy with our own lives to hear His voice. He asks that we do something, anything, that will actually matter. What have you done today for someone else...someone who doesn't have as much as you or someone who needs His love? Did you know that the world will know we're His disciples simply by the way we love one another (John 13:35)?? Who are you intentionally loving today in a way for someone else to say, "Wow, i want that kind of love"? 


And this is no easy task. I'm just writing about this because God has laid it heavily upon my heart for ME to learn. I am spending this morning asking myself these very questions, not having sufficient answers. There are times when I think that if I didn't believe in Christ my life would look no different. People would think I was just a nice college girl who doesn't drink or chew, or run with the guys who do (gotta throw in some west virginia goodness there!). But really, if I am living a comfortable life that I can tell others about without mentioning the Holy Spirit then something is wrong. I want every day to have to live by faith. From God's perspective, I can't imagine He would want it any other way. He loves when we depend on Him. By ourselves we cannot accomplish anything; we are mere mortals. But He takes what we are willing to give, small moments of faithfulness, and He transfers them through His power into something that is way bigger than ourselves and able to withstand all of time. 
this song by Lecrae has been running through my head since I woke up (hello 4:45am). good thing it's an awesome song!