Collective Conversations with Constance

The team has arrived in Hawaii.  They are so ready for an evening of unpacking, settling in and resting up for Church in the morning and a sweet Sunday of togetherness 

We are here and SO ready to serve - tomorrow.  On this Sunday morning, we needed to hear God's Word at our host church, Parker United Methodist Church.  But first, the church served us a yummy breakfast which included fresh fruit, sushi, bagels, bento boxes and pog juice.  SO good. 

Pastor Sione's sermon was on The Fruit of the Spirit and today he talked about Love.  The service was very interactive, very sweet, so much love. 

During the service we were made very welcome, presented with beautiful leis, prayed for and commissioned to come alongside the church ohana to setve in the community during the next week.  Thank You, God for all You are doing.  

After church, the 18 of us loaded up and headed to a Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium.  It is a huge event, like a giant flea market with lots of clothes, toys, food & drink, gadgets and such for sale.  We all enjoyed walking around, buying stuff and relaxing.  

Later, we all met at Zippy's for dinner.  We enjoyed being together, laughing, fellowshipping and discussing our plans for the upcoming week.  We are excited to go where  God sends us and do as He has planned.  

This morning we served at the Susannah Wesley Community Center where we prepared bags of food and packages of diapers to be given out in the community.  This non-profit agency is located in the heart of the community where they work with youth, adults and families, even newcomers to Hawaii, who have great social and economic challenges.  They help them to move toward self-sufficiency and independence.

We worked together, rocking to some good oldie music, laughing and making a good time of it, everyone doing his/her assigned task from the oldest to the youngest of us, filling 250 bags of food and 2500 diaper packages.  Awesome!! 

Thank You, Lord 

The Susannah Wesley Community Center also has a branch that serves those who are at risk and/or being trafficked in Hawai'i. Victoria, one of the Program Managers, shared about the services they provide to victims and survivors and how we can play a role in the fight against human trafficking.

We were all impacted by what she shared. We know the work is hard. Working with those coming out of an exploitative situation is heavy and requires empathy, listening ears, advocacy, tough skin, and so much more. We hope we encouraged Victoria a little while she was with us. We are cheering her and others at the Susannah Wesley Center on as they serve those who need it. 

This afternoon we headed over to First UMC. It's a church situated in the middle of downtown, surrounded by skyscrapers, hotels, and business buildings. We were able to serve them by painting the outside walkway of the church, repainting the yellow caution paint, and painting pews. We want the church to be just as excellent as the buildings around it so that people will be ready and excited to enter the doors to learn about the best news ever! 

We had a blast, of course, singing and dancing while we knocked off every project on the list! 

To Debrief our day, Kisi had us do a talent show. Each group decided on a highlight and made a song to share their joy of the day. We laughed so hard and loved every minute of this activity! 

The ultimate winner was Jesus! 

Today we are working at our host church, Parker UMC. We've been divided into groups to work on various things around the church.

One of those areas is the church's Thrift Store. This is open the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. It's a great resource for the community and a wonderful way for members of the church to share the love of Christ with shoppers. We are helping Ms. Edna get organized, clean the storage shed, and get prices on each item. 

Today we had the honor of serving at our host church, Parker United Methodist.  We were divided into teams to complete various projects.  One team began the project of  painting new yellow lines for parking spaces and  redoing the blue disability markings.  It was really hot out there but the team worked hard anyway.  It is looking awesome!

We gave time, attention and TLC to the physical church building at Parker United Methodist Church today.  Although it already appeared clean and well-cared for, we wanted it to be even better.  The conference room by the pastor's office got a good cleaning and the shelves were wiped and organized.  101% better.

The Sanctuary  was given special care and love today.  We cleaned every pew, took all the cushions out to air in the sun, rubbed all the wooden areas with oil, arranged the Bibles and Hymnals and cleaned every surface.  It was our pleasure, a real honor to help make the church ohana a nicer place to worship God.

Today, working in teams, we cleaned out a large storage room where decorations, flags, dishes and such were stored.  We completely emptied it which completely covering the stage with its contents. We discarded what needed to be then put all the good stuff back in an organized fashion.  Future use of that storage room will be a much nicer experience.

Throughout this mission trip, we have grown a true comraderie, kept our sense of humor and bonded as a team.  Today, we did all those things and more.  

We had our morning circle to discuss the day, plan who would do what...It was good.

While assigning teams, when the "Water Blasting" Team was mentioned, hands raised.  Those volunteers were undaunted when learning that this meant "pressure washing, outside, in the heat...  They worked hard cleaning sidewalks, concrete and interior hallways.  Those Water Blasters did an awesome job.

When asked who would be on a team who would clean a supply shed which needed cleaning,  may have geckos, gecko poop and other critters - hands went up.  This team is truly here to serve, no matter what.  Geckos were encountered but no pictures are available.  Just know this team worked hard and left that shed in neater, cleaner, better condition.

When asked to serve, we are ready and willing to do as God has planned - no matter what...

Words can't describe the beauty, nor can a picture capture it.  Today after our tasks were completed, Pastor Sione lead us on a little sight-seeing visit to Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens.  We were truly amazed at the mountains, greenery and flowers that surrounded us. What a blessing!

Who can possibly witness such beauty and not know that God exists...

This morning we served at a reservation for the houseless. Auntie Blanch established this camp 5 years ago in order to bring homeless people off the streets. The camp provides housing, showers, bathrooms, and a kitchen for those who qualify for the program. While there, each person has a job and an important role to play. They currently can house 100 people. The dream is to be able to provide a safe place for 300 people. 

We helped in the garden today, weeding. It was a hot and hard job. The garden is used for additional fruit, flowers, and vegetables for the camp. 

This morning we had a wonderful Mahalo and Aloha breakfast with the Pastor Sione and most of the people, our Hawaiian ohana, who had worked alongside us this week.  It was a sweet time of sharing memories and praises of the week, exchanging gifts, hugs, kind words and Mahalos and the most "broke da mouth" food.  We enjoyed fresh papaya, pineapple, macadamia nuts, sweet Hawaiian breads, jam & jelly and juice.  It was "ono." 

Mahalo and Aloha Parker United Methodist Church. 

Hana Hou! 

Today we traveled to Kahuku United Methodist Church to see how we could help Pastor Nuka.  He told us a little of his story and a little about the church.  He asked that we paint the church pews  (about 2 dozens of them) and do some cleaning.  With the Good Lord's help, good team work and good music, we completed all the requested tasks in a few hours.  We are blessed to have helped the Pastor and Kahuku UMC.  Pastor Nuka told us he appreciated all we did and he is looking forward to Sunday when the congregation will see all the improvements.  

After finishing up at Kahuku UMC, we went to eat at food trucks.  Everyone got to chose whatever he/she wanted to eat.  Yummy & fun!

Then, on to Waimea Wawaterfall.  It was about a 3/4 mile trek to the falls - but so worth it.  The walk is on a paved path through beautiful gardens and the waterfall itself is beautiful.  Some braved a swim in the cold water and all enjoyed the beauty of Waimea.    

Next, we went to Dole Plantation.  We barely made it before they closed for the day.  We were glad we got there in time to enjoy yummy pineapple ice cream. 

We were on the road a good bit and we worked and played hard today.  It was all good.

Friday is rec day to do the fun, interesting, touristy activities that were planned in advance.  Since one cannot visit the island of Oahu without seeing Diamond Head, that's what we did.  It  was pretty hot but we made the best of it.  Some of us hiked up part of the way up, some all the way to the summit and all enjoyed just being outside, enjoying the beauty created by God.  It was a good start to our last full day in Hawaii.

After Diamond Head and a yummy lunch at a local restaurant, we had our debrief meeting.  It was a time to reflect on the week, tell about our "take-aways" from the mission trip, talk about our  experiences and share our thoughts.

Some of the take-aways mentioned were:

Team unity

Caring for others

Caring for one's self

Thanking each other in person, not in a text

As we closed in prayer, future plans and missions were mentioned but not decided yet.  We will see what God plans and where He leads.

Aloha for now.