King's Ridge Christian School

First things first — church service in Honolulu! GSLC is one of our ministry partners this week. We joined them for worship, a message, and communion. We learned about what it looks like to live questionable lives in a way that blesses others!

Here’s a group photo of our girl group!

Day 1 of Ministry:

This organization serves the homeless community all across Oahu through mobile HUB spots, partnering with local churches, ministries, and service providers to love and care for our neighbors. We met the people who give their time to this ministry and learned the practical steps they offer to some groups experiencing and ultimately overcoming brokenness and marginalization!

As we got a tour of their building, we got to check out their very old fashioned elevator which happens to be the oldest one on the island! We took many trips later on in this elevator as we helped reorganize closets and move boxes.

Grace 2 Go (G2G) bags are one type of meal that River of Life Mission provides. When a hot meal is unavailable, a G2G bag is a 2nd chance to share hope and the gospel with someone on the streets. We got a chance to decorate some bags with encouraging messages and then fill them with snacks!

We’ve got some creative girls! Grateful to be part of what River of Life Mission does in their communities!

Got a good 0.5 selfie with some River Life Mission staff and our crew! Excited to see how we can use what we learned throughout the week!

We set up at a nearby park in Chinatown to make lunch sandwiches! Afterwards, we had extra sandwich ingredients and decided to make a bunch to hand out to others around the park. This allowed us to have conversations and even pray for people. What a tangible way to use what we have learned to bless strangers with a meal!

Day 2:

On Tuesday morning we joined Inside Outreach and a friend to pick up trash at Ala Moana Beach and Park! Josue explained what Inside Outreach does and how picking up trash in a highly tourist filled area. Something small makes a huge difference!

15 minutes into walking around to pick up trash — these girls already filled up a bag!

Adding trash picker-upper to our resume of tools to use! Proud of these girls and how they are helping out the community.

On Monday evening, the team visited the Dole Plantation, where they tried the iconic Dole whip and checked out a few things on site. Later, we went up to Haleiwa to try some food trucks for dinner. Food trucks are a huge thing in Hawai‘i. Here’s a pic of us who tried Big Wave Shrimp!

For Tuesday’s dinner, we tried Zippy’s, the place for local comfort food!

We’ve got a voice and can use it to serve! Right when we arrived, Moana (the event coordinator) was looking for a few musically inclined people to lead the group in a few songs before the message and food distribution. 4 of our girls stepped up to find songs to lead! We worshipped to Reckless Love and Goodness of God, and it was an incredible moment to hear our voices echo to praise our Father!

After the service, it was time for the feeding distribution. Most of the people who come live close by but are either considered low-income households or houseless. It was an eye-opening experience to see how the church congregation and Westside Alive serve their community and the residents of Waianae. Some of us stepped out of our comfort zones to pray for strangers, some helped hand out bags of food, some helped organize the clothing distribution, and even helped clean the restrooms!

We split up to help transport some of the food from the church to their cars! It was a simple walk and an act, but it made a huge difference to the distribution's efficiency.

Nothing but bright smiles and teamwork!

We got to serve in so many different ways! Thanks, Waianae Baptist Church!

On Wednesday evening, we joined Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for a community park hangout. There was pizza, games, and just fun vibes with the churchgoers and the local community!

We made new friends, played games, played basketball, and decorated the park with chalk drawings.

We stayed at the park until it got dark. While some local kids brought their speaker with music, we had a friendly dance-off! What a fun way to end our ministry time and love our neighbors with joy and laughter!

That’s a wrap on serving on the islands! The team is on their recreational day, soaking up the sun at the beach and learning about Polynesian culture at the Polynesian Culture Center’s lū‘au.

Rose and I (Mikaylee) had a great week with King’s Ridge Christian School. We believe that the Lord has planted seeds this week that the team can take home and continue to live for Jesus in their own neighborhoods and school!