Kenilworth Union Church

The team arrived on Saturday and got to experience the beauty of the Island of Oahu. We arrived at our host church and began to set up for the night amazed but the mountains around us. Everyone is in good spirits hanging out and spending time together in worship! Ready to get some rest tonight.

Teams Hoke Poke and Soul Surfer got to stay at our hosting church to participate in worship. The team was introduced to the congregation at Parker UMC Church in this special way. We were given leis, a symbol of love and being welcomed to Hawaii. We loved our time here today and look forward to getting to know the people throughout the week.

Team Lokahi got to visit another church across the Island. We had a great time sharing life together. After the service, we got to eat sandwiches on the beach amazed at the beauty of God's creation. We are looking forward to seeing what God will do in this place this week.

We got to visit Waikiki Beach and meet a wonderful new friend who played the ukelele for us. He even taught some of us how how to play. We got to sing and enjoy the beach together. What a great way to prepare for the work to be done this week!

This morning while we were doing our send off prayer, God gave us a beautiful rainbow to remind us of His promises. We were so blessed to begin the day in this way. We are now even more eager to work hard for our first service day of the week.

Team Alohomies are in good spirits as we cram into our bathroom demolition project. We removed sinks and toilets, powerwashed, and prepared for painting tomorrow. We're excited to be a part of the make over.

Team Hoke Poke spent today working on cleaning and scraping the walls of the church's thrift store that serves the community's. The next step will be to paint the walls and shelves before we move everything back in. We can't wait to see the end result of this project!

Team Uke-lei-leis split groups and Squire's team went out to work with Harvest Family Life. We stayed busy sorting clothes, cleaning, and organizing a free store. The store is open to foster families and adults who were in the foster system. It goes to bless so many people in the community! 

Another great day of service coming. We gathered together for another prayer this morning as we celebrated Anna's birthday. After a great night of sleep we are all ready to get back into the community and shine the light of Jesus wherever we go.

Team Hoke Poke is taking a break from work to enjoy lunch in a beautiful location! After a good morning of work, we were able to enjoy the rest in the shade.

Team Uke-lei-lei is working hard on day 2! We continue to sort clothing and have started prepping bags for new mothers in crisis with clothing, burp cloths, blankets, etc. So grateful to practice being the hands and feet of Jesus!

Team Alohomies cooled off after our service day with some Waiola Shave Ice. We enjoyed the famous Hawaiian dessert for the hard work for LIFE Christian Church!

We ended our second service day with another time of worship. It is a refreshing way to wind down and focus on Jesus. We even had a "guest" worship leader come help Team Uke-lei-lei sing Million Little Miracles. Ella did a great job, and even followed up by singing Moana for the group.

The week is flying by. We started our 3rd day of service with prayer and stretches. We definitely want to work hard today as we begin fishing up our last couple of service days. 

Team Alohomies spent some time this morning packing gifts for community outreach for LIFE Christian Church. The painting is still underway, but we are happy to have another way to help out. We got to hear a little more about the culture in Hawaii and heart of the church from our friend David!

Team Uke-lei-lei group 2 has been working hard to serve an adoptive family who has a mother healing from cancer treatment and a father coming home soon after a long term illness. We are deep cleaning and organizing the families apartment and encouraging them as we spend time together. 

Team Hoke Poke is moving through our project of cleaning and painting the thrift store! We knocked out putting together the household items room and are moving on to the clothing room. We're so close to being able to show off our final product! 

On Wednesday Team Uke-lei-lei wears pink! We're still hard at work cleaning an apartment for a family in Kaneohe with one team. The second team has moved on to helping another family with projects around their house including a little demolition. We are so thankful to be representing Life Christian Church and spending time with these families.

The teams all gather back together to prepare for the Pot Luck tonight with the church. We played hacky sack, threw frisbees, and talked with some new friends. We are really looking forward to sharing a meal with members of our host church. 

We woke up today ready for our last service day this week. In addition, we also have the amazing opportunity to celebrate Silvi. This is her last mission trip with KUC so we all wore matching "Silvi" shirts as a way to say thanks for all her hard work. We love you, Silvi!

Team Lokahi and half of team Alohomies are finishing up some paint projects and cleaning for next week, and the church trustee brough lunch from up the street! We had a great time sharing a meal together.

Team Hoke Poke worked very hard this week to give the church's thrift store a facelift! We cleared everything out of two different rooms, painted, then moved everything back in. We sorted, condensed, and cleaned items before organizing them onto the shelves. It was a big job, but we worked together as a team to get the job done! 

This is one of the before pictures.....

Some of our group got to wake up a little early this morning and hike the pillbox trail to see the sunrise. It was a beautiful time to see God's amazing creation and give him glory!

After a beautiful day at the beach, the team got to participate in an ice cream social with LIFE Christian Church. What a great way to end our week together! We learned to say "a hui hou" as a way to say "until we meet again" instead of goodbye. We thank God for the friends we made this week.

Pastor Kisi sat some of us down yesterday and shared about the impact we have made in the community and with him. 

He also gave us gifts from the church as a sign of appreciation and love. His joy is contagious, we will miss him so much!

We got to experience a few beach baptisms during our recreation day. Going to the beach and shopping was nice, but it was cool to see God working in the lives of our students and friends.

We cleaned up the church this morning and said our goodbyes. We met so many amazing people this week, and our lives have been impacted for the better. We are sad to leave our new friends and the beauty of this place, but we are eager to get back home to share our experiences with our families. God has been so good to us! Hope to see you soon, Hawaii!