Azusa Pacific University Center for Student Action

We landed in Maui and immediately loaded up and drove to our first ministry site. We partnered with Hope Chapel in Lihue for their Hope for Christmas event to bless families impacted by the Maui fires in August. We were able to hang out and fellowship with families and keiki doing crafts, serving Christmas treats and food, and distributing gifts donated to those families for Christmas! 

We had a blast and were so blessed to be a part of the joy and hope that the event created for the families! 

We worshiped with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Waipuna Chapel this morning! Pastor Kaipo spoke about Jesus Emmanuel and how he is with us in the storm and the valley and the wilderness and in our sin! A sweet reminder of the hope and grace we have because Jesus came as flesh to dwell with us! 

Pastor Kaipo will also be leading our ministry with the Kula Watershed Alliance in the Kula district to help reinforce the land there to prevent mudslides and create natural firebreaks in the land to prevent future fire disasters. 

We fellowshipped after church at a pot luck provided by the church and how sweet it is to be united as people from across an ocean and worship the same God. 

After church, part of our group were able to serve alongside Nā Keiki O Emalia as they also hosted a keiki christmas event. Families affected by Maui fires were able to enjoy Christmas gifts for kids of all ages, food, face painting, music, crafts and other games. Our group was in charge of family registration as well as taking the kids “Christmas shopping” where they got to pick out gifts for Christmas. 

We were again so encouraged by how the community poured out to bring some Christmas cheer to the families affected by the fires. Over 200 FAMILIES registered and all the kids got gifts and many families were able to get extra financial assistance! 

On Monday, our group partnered with Kula Watershed Alliance and we helped clear brush from trees that fell from the wind on the day of the fires. We chipped the tree branches into some dump trucks and hauled it to Tim’s farmland. Tim is a member of the community whose house burned down 7 years ago and his current ministry is acquiring used vehicles and donating them to people who are in need. He shared with us how he helped distribute coffee to the medical personnel and others who were serving the survivors of the fire because no one slept and just needed help staying awake. He shared with us about how we are always in Christ but we have a choice whether we want to live in the goodness and joy that provides for us now or if we want to choose to be unengaged. We can always be joyous, happy and free! 

He and his wife Cassandra shared fruit from their garden/farm/orchard with us and it was such a joy to spend time with them. 

On Sunday, a small part of our group worked in Lihue with an organization called Kako'o/Makai Foundation to help prepare housing for Lahaina and Kula fire victims. We cleaned the houses, built furniture, cleaned up the yard and staged the house for the incoming residents. We even formed some landscaping boundaries in the backyard! It was a huge task and our team worked diligently with so much joy! We pray that these spaces would bring hope and peace and joy to the families moving in. 

After our service projects on Sunday, we made our way to the beach and the water was much warmer and calmer than Cali!

We worked with Kaipo again and did some more tree felling, chipping and land reinforcement. So many logs and branches carried and wood chips raked over the land!! Everyone’s smart watches were cheering them on for all their hard work! 🤣

In this photo, you can see the burned ground around our team and a house left untouched up on the hill. As we drove around, we saw so many examples of this - land burned all around and houses still standing. The houses still have smoke and ash remnants, but the structures didn’t get burned. We praise God for that!!

On Wednesday morning, we head into the rainforest where Miss Lisa. She was recently widowed and needed some help with her yard. One of the projects we worked on was clearing out a massive raised bed and the good news - Ted was taking it home with him to reinstall it in his yard! The unexpected news to us at the time - we were in a rainforest…

We had an absolute blast and were completely soaked and covered in dirt and mud after shoveling and carrying buckets of dirt to Ted’s dump truck to transport back to his house. 

We got to pray with Lisa afterword and we were all so thankful for how God brings people into our lives to share the tenderness and comfort that He wants to give us. She shared how encouraging it was to have us come and work, but also talk story with her. 

We finally got to dry out and then… we decided to jump in the water, some of us twice! We enjoyed a relaxing day hiking and exploring waterfalls and then going to the beach.