FINAL WEEK

Wow... I apologize for not updating this things in weeks!
So much to update you all on but I figured I would just post a few pictures of the impact your support has made on these kids.

My middle school girls 

Me and the girls

These girls have impacted my life so much. They have grown so much and Im just so proud of them. I got a letter form one of them and wanted to share it with you.

" I just really wanted to thank you for being there for me & the girls, and just helping us to get to know God better, and you've been such a blessing in my life and just thank you for that. You've really helped me to become a better & stonger person, while you were here. And like what me & the girls said last night, you're like our second mom, and we know that you'll always be there for us no matter what. Even though you have been here for only about 1 or 2 months, its seems like we've know you forever. And me & the girls are truely gonna miss you when you leave. And again, thanks for everything Raquel!"

Your support has made such an impact on these girls lives. 

I also have been able to help out at Moanalua High School and have been able to work with the youth there. I have seen such growth and was able to mentor a few of the girls. 

Those guys are amazing and I know that they appreciated your support in sending me here.

God is just doing great things here in Hawaii and I just feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to be a part of it.

some of the youth from Moanalua

so this week is my last week in Hawaii. The internship is over. 

We have graduation this weekend and then we get trained all next week on raising support.

Its been an amazing journey!

Thanks for being a part of the ride!

my single tear moment

driving up the mountain 

more off roading

one of the views from the top

driving on the NE part of the island

Hello everyone!

Hope you all had an amazing weekend... mine was super long but amazing!

Saturday was spent driving all around the island, literally. We went off roading on the west mountains in the morning and then drove to the north east pat and did this thing called the Haunted Lagoon. It was super fun.

Anyways, I wanted to share another cool testimony from my middle school girls if that's ok.
So this past friday the girls invited one of their friends to join us and it was her first time at youth service. 2 of the girls have been having a really hard time with family things and had been talking to me all week asking for prayer and encouragement. Anyways, so we spent about an hour just talking through some things and all of a sudden their friend just completely opens up and starts sharing about some big issues in her life and it quickly turned into this emotional healing session but the craziest thing happened. God was totally there and the girls started to pray for their friend and started encouraging her. Then they requested that we all gather in a circle and one girl prayed for everyone before heading to service. Well, at service their friend ended up giving her life to the Lord and decided to start following Jesus... it was awesome!!!
I just started to cry. I mean this was discipleship at its fullest.
Three girls that I have been mentoring and investing into really growing and stepping up despite personal hardships. Then seeing them reach out to their friend and her friend getting saved.
CRAZZY!!!

God is just way too awesome for words and it is just amazing to see these young girls grow so much and have such a heart for God and for their friends.
Im so proud of them!

On a completely random note, I have been thinking a lot lately about a few of my youth pastors from middle school and early high school that really made a huge impact on my life. Those foundations that they helped build really have come to light in the past couple of weeks. Anyways, I called one of them up out of the blue today and we hadn't talked in years but it was like we just picked up right where we left off. I got to thank her and tell her how much she meant to me and how grateful I am for all the hard work she did years ago but that it was worth it because who knows where I would have been without them. We talked for a while and I just was so happy to have finally gotten a hold of her. Now, I want to call a few others and thank them as well... the end

3 weeks left of the internship!!

Also, Im going to be coming up with a newsletter in the next couple of weeks of so and if you are interested in receiving one, just let me know!

Thanks guys!
Love you

Amazing 22nd Birthday

Me and my two roomies!

So friday was my 22nd birthday.
I love birthdays.
I love the idea of celebrating life with your closest friends and family.
This year, being in Hawaii for this internship, I had a very unique birthday.
Fridays are usually my longest and busiest days of the week. My birthday was no different. We had prophet Jim Laffoon teach our class all day. WOW. Thats really the only word that can describe the 6 hours he taught us. We went through about 75 pages worth of notes and Im still processing everything. After the class he prophesied over our class. For me it was a great birthday present. I got so much confirmation and encouragement about going into youth ministry, leading youth on mission trips, and my musical abilities.
So after Jim Laffoon all day, I got to spend my 2 hours with my middle school girls. As I mentioned in my last blog, this girls have become like family. I love them so much and am so proud of the way they just yearn for more Jesus. It's been great really getting to invest so much into them. They were excited it was my birthday and got me a cake. It was really sweet. Then we just hung out and did our one 2 one discipling before youth service.
After youth service, I was finally able to really celebrate my birthday. My roommates planned a dinner for me and about 25 people showed up at this Japanese restaurant and we all just hung out and had an amazing time!
Someone asked me what I would normally be doing on my birthday back in LA, I kind of laughed. The past 5 years, I have celebrated my birthday in different locations and with different people. I always kind of hated it but on friday night I realized how much of a blessing that is. No matter where God has sent me, he has always provided and surrounded me with so many people.
Saturday I went to my first Luau. It was a show. Basically it was circle of life meets lilo and stitch. haha.
It was pretty amazing to see some of those dances. My favorite part was the drums. Those drums were amazing and brought the level of intensity to this greater level. It was awesome!!
Now that the celebrating is over, I'm excited to finish up these last 4 weeks of the internship. That's right, there are only 4 weeks left!
Thank you for you prayers and support.

Hope you all have a blessed week!

a testimony and cake

hey everyone,
its been a while since I updated this here blog so I thought I would share a story of a couple of people I have been reaching out to.
As I have mentioned before, I have been helping out with the middle schools girls each week. In particular 3 young girls who I have grown to love. 2 of the girls just got saved this summer and I have been helping them in their walk by disciplining them and mentoring them. Last friday was their fall break so only one girl was there. We were talking and she shared with me how much she loves our meetings each week. She was saying that she would always have a hard time walking out her faith during the week but she said that it means so much having someone who is walking with her and lifting her up.
It took everything in me not to cry.
I mean, Im not doing anything special. But the fact that I have invested time into these gils lives, valued them as individuals, and encouraged them in their walk is actually making a difference is crazy. I never saw myself being able to relate to Jr. High girls. I hated those years of my life. Yet, its crazy to see what God does when you put yourself out there. Lives can be changed. These girls are yearning to learn more about God. They are so hungry. It blows my mind. It blows my mind to think that God is using me to reach them. I just love those girls so much and Im so proud of the progress thats been made in their lives.
I just wanted to share that with you guys because you all had a part in it too. Those prayers, the financial support, the random texts, whatever support you have given has directly impacted 3 amazing young girls.
Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday.
I think this internship is one of the best gifts ever. I have grown so much this year. God has been able to use this broken vessel to reach people here. It has humbled me so much. To think that this 22nd year of life is really just the beginning to this next phase in life.
I honestly can't wait!!
Thanks you again for all you support.
4 weeks left of the internship.
i think im gonna go have some cake now.
love you guys!

A Runner's Mentality

Hey guys,
So I was running the other day and just had this crazy cool time with Jesus.
Thought I would share with you.
I don't know about any of you guys but I hate running. I mean I love it, but really I hate it. I did cross country and track in high school and haven't done very much until recently. But as I was running the other day I was just thinking about life. There are so many times when I feel like quitting, there are so many times when I actually have quit. When things get too difficult, when I reach the half way point and think that its good enough. But really, what good is that? Why quit?
God has called us to run a race, not just run a race but give it our all. We should persevere through the difficult times cause the reward is worth it. Every time I run in the mornings, I'm so tempted to stop halfway, to just be content with the amount of running I have already done. I mean its better than not running at all right? But really, where does that get us? What kind of growth would happen in our life if we always stopped halfway? Not very much.
Being a little past the half way point of the internship I started to feel that. I'm being completely honest. We have learned and done so much in the past 10 or so weeks its so tempting to just start to get lazy and start to give less than 100% here. NO! I won't let my body win, I can't give into that.
When I ran cross country, I can honestly say I was never the fastest. I don't think I ever won a single race. I can say that I never gave up. I would always push through and run the entire time. While others would begin to walk at certain points, or would start off really fast then barely have enough energy to finish, I would persevere through. That was my secret weapon. See, as that final 200 yards approached, thats when I would push through. I was already super tired, but I always pushed myself to the very edge. What was amazing was that even through I never won the race, there were always people I would pass in that final stretch because I had a goal. I didn't want to finish my race knowing that there was still energy I could have used. I would give it my all.
That's how we should live our life.
Thats what God was telling me to do.
We should live our lives in a way of that runner's mentality.
Instead of just walking through life afraid of going through challenges or quitting when life gets tough, run even harder. When you feel like you are about to fall over, push even further. Then you know what happens? You keep running, you don't die even when you feel like you are. God honors that hard work and gives you the energy and strength and pretty much everything to see it through.
Then, the next time you face something, it's easier.
So I just wanted to encourage you guys and share this. I know it really encouraged me the other day.
Have a great rest of your week.
P.S. Greg Tipton spoke yesterday about fasting, prayer, evangelism, and 10 Days mission. As one of my classmates said, my life is ruined now thanks to him (in a good way.) I think the whole class left feeling a greater compassion for people. I think GOd spoke to us all and gave us all some sort of vision for our life. Greg also prayed over us and prayed for power, and let me tell you, the power came! It was pretty crazy.

Fear

Hey everyone.
Hope you guys have had a great week.
Mine was amazing!
Let me explain...
So some of you may know this, some of you don't but around middle school I struggled with rejection a lot. I guess like any other teen. However, for some reason it grew stronger as I got older and fell into a depression. God was totally able to heal me and bring me out of my depression and has helped me and my insecurities however, I have still struggled with that fear of rejection and that lack of confidence in myself.
This week that battle was conquered.
You know, the past 4 years of my life are a huge testament to God and stepping out in faith. I feel like its always been easy for me to take leaps of faith financially and in other things, but when it comes to people, I always comes short.
Peter Dusan, amazing young pastor from Texas, came and hung out with us for a week and just showed us how to have that fear of the Lord and share with others about Jesus and what he has done in our lives.
This guy was a beast. No fear of man. He had such a huge heart for people it really challenged me.
At first I was feeling really discouraged, I felt like a failure. I wanted to go up to people on campus and build friendships but that fear of rejection kept weighing me down.
Wednesday evening however, I drew the line. I had enough with this constant defeat.
This is really the one area of my life that I felt Satan still really had a hold on and I was through letting him have it.
I prayed for a greater compassion and burden for people.
I prayed for God to truly help me put on the armor from Ephesians 6:10
I prayed for a warriors attitude instead of one of defeat.
Then I started to cry.
I didn't really know why.
I realized that literally all of a sudden God gave me that heart of compassion.
It was almost like the movie The Grinch when his hear grew so much it didn't even fit the screen. I felt my hear grow so much for people that nothing else didn't even matter.
The next day we went out on campus and God blew me away. I was able to talk to 2 people and share with them and love them. One girl was Mormon and told me that she had never really met a christian who was so nice to her and not judgmental. I got to pray with her and she thanked me and invited me to hang out with her next week.
The next day I talked to 4 girls. All of which grew up in the Catholic church and were really hurt by religion. I was able to talk and pray with all 4 of them and 2 are actually gonna try and come to church tonight.
WOW.
Thats all I thought at the end of the week.
Did God really just use me to reach out to others?
3 days ago I had just been complaining to God how impossible and stupid it was for me to try and do something like that.
Here is the main thing I learned.
I love Jesus.
He loves me more.
I need to break down the religious walls.
Give them More Jesus.
Show him how real he is.

You know, I also realized that by going out there are winning this battle of fear, its helped me also be more confident.
This week I also got to help lead small group and continued helping out with my middle school girls. I realized even with those two things, I was a lot more confident in what I was doing.

So I just want to encourage you guys. Fear is a big thing in life. But, fear can be defeated. I just want to challenge you to keep pushing through knowing that God has your back and you can fight this. Sometimes its hard when we dont know the final result or when God feels far away, but by believing that he is going to take care of you and trusting in Him, he will see you through.

So, that was this week.
It's October, only like 6 weeks left.
Time has been flying by so fast.
Love you guys!
Thanks for the continued prayers.

P.S. I still don't know how to post pictures on here but there are a few pictures on facebook of the middle school group I work with if you guys want to see.

youth transformations

Hey everyone!
Sorry that I have failed in the blog department. It's been a great but super busy couple of weeks.
With the internship taking off, we have all been getting amazing opportunities to start building relationships on different college campuses and I have been loving the time I've been spending the the high school and middle school girls. This past weekend we had this event called youth transformations which was basically a time for the youth to come and learn how to let go of certain areas of their life such as bitterness, loneliness, and any other hurts or wrongs and learn to just surrender and give it to Jesus. We had 14 girls come and all just learned and grew so much. There are a few pictures that I took from the overnight portion of the weekend. You can look on facebook or flickr.
I cant' believe its almost October!! The internship is going by soo fast! Hope you are all doing amazing!
Love you guys

My sister

hey everyone!
Hope you guys have had an amazing week!
Mine was super long but really great, a lot of stretching opportunities.
Just a quick recap...
Starting with the internship. We went on the University of Hawaii on Tuesday and just hung out and walked around then helped out with their International club called Chat Club. It was pretty fun. Then Wednesday we were able to go to a few high school campuses and help out with Victory Clubs which are basically these groups that are student led that are just a way for them and their peers to talk about life together. It was amazing! Probably my favorite day this week. I love the youth and it was soo fun engaging that culture and seeing the love that these kids have for their school.
Thursday was very interesting, we all had the opportunity of sharing a sermon with the class and other leaders of the church. We were rating on a scale of 1-10 in several different categories. It was a great experience.
Friday I had the privilege of meeting with a few middle school girls and mentor them a little and hear their story. These girls are amazing! They all have such big hearts. Im excited to spend more time with them.
Anyways, back to the title of this blog. My sister.
It's really interesting. Since I've been here, I've really just been seeing how much God has slowly been preparing the way for me to be here ever since I was little. Earlier this week I was chatting with my sister and I was just telling her how I couldn't believe that I was here and was training to do ministry. She said something that I probably will never forget. She shared with me that when I was younger probably like in 7th grade I told her that someday I would be a pastor. She said that she remembered hearing that and didn't know that girls could be pastors but knew that her older sister would someday be one and be amazing at it. The funny thing is that I really didn't remember ever telling her that. But I began to remember how much I loved the idea of ministry at such a young age. I remember going on my first missions trip when I was not even 13. I remember always having a heart to help those around me. I remember wanting to do something BIG for God. Even before I really knew what being a Christian was, there was always that desire. In 6th grade, for months, every night I would have dreams of me being in stadiums full of people, telling them about Jesus and his love for them. I remember having dreams about Heaven. I remember having these desires to help at homeless shelters and families of friends in my school. Then, I think when I got older and fell away and got depressed I forgot about those dreams that I would have. But, after talking to my sister I literally started to tear up. Could it really be that even though I thought that it wasn't until recently that God had called me to do ministry that he has been preparing me since I was little? What a thought. Even in my teen years, the clubs I joined in school, the outreaches I did, the missions trips I went on, the fact that I went to Texas, the fact that Jesus decided to place me in a school for 2 years and teach kids and learn how to be around people.
All of it leading up to moving to L.A. and not necessarily finding my calling but confirming it and now being here in Hawaii.
What the heck God??? How awesome are you????
Like I shared a couple of weeks ago. God has set us apart, and he has a special calling for each of us.
I mean, even though I spent many years confused about what I was suppose to be doing with my life, God always knew. He knew before I was even born. And, he had planted that desire in me years before I even knew what he was really doing.
I love that he used my sister to show me all of this.
I love my sister soooooooo much. She is my best friend. I know it's been really hard for her to not have me is her life physically. I know that even when I was around, there were years while I was depressed, that I wasn't really there for her. However, I just love her soo much and to know that she still remembers that little moment we had together years ago and that it encouraged her and that she has always had faith in me, it just brings tears to my eyes.
I'm speechless.
I feel so blessed that I can call my sister my best friend.
I am soo proud of the person that she is growing up to be.
I love that we have soo many memorable moments together.
Thank you Ari for being the most amazing sister anyone could ask for.
Thanks for sharing that story with me the other day, you have no idea how much that really spoke to me (well I guess if you read this then you do now. haha)
Hope everyone has an amazing weekend.
until next time.

tomorrow!

Why hello everyone!
Just decided to bake some chocolate chip muffins and thought I would blog while waiting for them do be done. haha
Anyways, we have finally reached the internship part of the school of ministry. Up until now, we have just had class full time and helping out with the church services on the weekend. We have learned sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! Now, it's time to start applying everything we have learned. I'm super excited. We will still have class but only twice or so a week.
This past week was interesting. We spent most of the time talking and reading through the book "Communicating for a Change." This book is amazing. We learned so many great communication skills and how to find your own voice is speaking and engaging the audience.
This week we have to present a sermon in front of the class and other leaders from the church. It shall be interesting.
Well I will report back in the next couple of days to let you know how the internship goes.
Sorry there isn't much to say.
Hope you guys are all doing well.

fun filled weekend

Oh man,
what a fantastic 5 days. For those of you who don't have facebook and spotted my pictures, there are a lot from this past weekend so I'll try and post them on flickr as well so that you can view them too.
Starting with Friday, I woke up and went hiking with 2 awesome people. We went to Koko Head which is on the east part of the island. It was a pretty epic hike. It wasn't super song but it was REALLY steep. It was an old military railroad that we walked on that they used back int he day to carry goods up and into this giant crater on the other side. The hike took less than 2 hours one way but it was intense, BUT the view was amazing! Totally worth the pain. haha. After, they took me out to lunch and drove through town a bit. We had some dessert and then I came home and took like a 3 hour nap. The evening consisted of the youth service. THey have a bus shuttle that goes around and picks up the kids so I got to experience that. It was amazing. The group of kids that I had gotten to know from going to their middle school were there and it was a great feeling seeing the excitement on their face when they saw that I was there.
Saturday we had this college event called cool down. We basically just hung out at this park by the beach all day. Super fun! We played volleyball and a bunch of other team games, ate lots of food, and got really burnt by the sun. haha.
Sunday after the morning service, we had their baptism celebration which was awesome. They had about 5 pools set up along with other giant jumper things with water. I believe over 70 people got baptized! Then after that long afternoon we rested and prepared for the college service which was also pretty great.
Monday was in my opinion one of the highlights of my visit so far. Pearl Harbor!!! I finally got to go visit and see the USS Arizona memorial. I have been wanting to go since I was a little girl. WOW. To be able to finally go and see this place that has such importance in our history, was beyond words. The thing that really amazed me was the fact that there is still oil that leaks from the ship. I've always read about it but to see it, then hear that people refer to it as "tears of blood" was crazy. I mean, there are soo many bodies that are forever trapped there and that just blew me away. Such an amazing experience that I will always remember.
Tuesday we had a class fun day at the beach. We started with shaved ice, I enjoyed it. Then headed to the beach. It was pretty cool. THere were turtles everywhere!!! Plus, for those of you who are LOST fans, it was the same beach that they filmed the show so that was pretty cool. We had so much fun. We also had our own little BBQ there and had some fish, shrimp, and chicken. Delicious! Then on our way back, headed to DOle Plantation and were surrounded by pineapples. We all ended the long day with some spectacular dole whips... soo good.
Now back in class, finishing up the week and getting ready to start he internship part of the school next week!
Hope everyone is doing well!!!

LONG week

hey guys,
sorry its been a while since I've been on here. I have had some super long days the past week. Long but good days.
Last friday I went to my first Middle School outreach. They have these clubs here called Victory Clubs which basically consists of these groups led by the teen helping and just hanging out with their peers but also installing some biblical principles in them. It was neat to see these middle school kids step up and meet the needs of their peers. They showed interest in wanting to know more about relationships and how to deal with gossip, how to deal with family issues, and a bunch of other stuff. It was just a great time bonding with these youth and really seeing how passionate they were for this. I'm excited to see more of them.
The youth service was pretty spectacular as well. The main pastor from church spoke about being stretched and how sometimes it can be painful but we always benefit from it. He had one of the University of Hawaii football player (I think his name was Rodney Bradley) come and speak about an injury he had and how God used that injury to teach him and grow him in ways that wouldn't have happened if that injury didn't take place.
The weekend was very restful and I was able to get some homework dine and relax.
Monday through Wednesday we had the privilege of having Paul Barker come and speak to us. If you haven't heard of him he basically goes around and helps unify teams by using the book Strength Finders to find the main themes of your life that you are good at and how to use them and also know the weaknesses that come with it. We actualy spent the first 2 days learning about the history of the church starting from 0 AD and going all the way to the 20th century. It was really intense but such an amazing thing to see God's hand all throughout history. Yesterday was when we spent the entire day focusing on our themes.
My themes I found out are developer, positivity, belief, learner, and arranger.
Here is a basic summary of each one:
Developer- You see every individual as alive with possibilities, and you are always on the lookout for signs of growth, no matter how small they might be. You see the potential in others and are motivated to challenge them, stretch them, and help them grow. You see people as a work in progress, and your goal is to help them experience success.
Positivity- You lighten people’s spirits with your contagious enthusiasm and elevate the performance of others. You inject drama into every project and find ways to make everything more exciting. You are always on the lookout for the positive in the situation and are rarely dragged down, even after personal setbacks
Belief- Your beliefs motivate and energize you to work hard and to endure difficulty and opposition. You have a clearly defined purpose and strong core values that are the foundation for everything you do. Your work must be meaningful; it must give you a chance to live out your values.
Learner- You love to learn and are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. You are passionate about continuous self-improvement and new learning challenges.
You enjoy short assignments where you are expected to learn a lot about a subject and then move on to the next project.
Arranger- You can manage a complex situation, coordinating all of the variables and aligning them in the most productive configuration possible. You search for the right combination and perfect configuration to get things done the best way. You organize well, but you are flexible enough to confront the unexpected and change plans when a better way appears.
so yeah, it was crazy to see those results and realize that yes, that is totally me. I encourage everyone to take buy the book and take the test. You learn so much about yourself abd how you work with others.
This weekend we get a 5 day break from school. Not sure how that came to be but Im not complaining. Tomorrow Im gonna go hiking so I will definitely be taking some pictures, Saturday is beach day, more pictures for that too, and Tuesday we have a class fun day and we are gonna go to another beach and see turtles and have a BBQ. So, lots of things to look forward to!
Hope everyone had an amazing week!
Love you all sooo much!

When I call on Jesus...

WOW!
so today was just an amazing day. I really can't explain it but basically we spent a lot of time talking about about our testimonies and how to write them and more importantly, how powerful they are.
I couldn't stop smiling. Ask anyone in class, it took a lot in me to not cry actually. I just can't believe how amazing no, how marvelous... no, there are no words to describe God's greatness. We spent the afternoon talking about worship and I was remembering this one time being late at work when I worked at a golf course and seeing the sun set and the clouds and the song "Reedemer" by Nicole C Mullen popped in my head which was random cause I hadn't heard it in a long time (its old school) but I was just looking back on how depressed I use to be and how changed my life was since I fully surrendered my life to God and it just blew my mind.
So tonight our assignment was to write out my testimony and I, again, just couldn't help but smile and tear up. God showed me the verse in Jeremiah 1:5 that "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." It doesn't necessarily mean that Im going to be a prophet, but it does mean that he set me apart... ME! He knows me and loves me so much that he has something so special for me. He has something so special for all of us and he has set each of us apart.
I went and bought the song "Reedemer" and ended up buying another song from Nicole C Mullens called "When I call on Jesus" I'm not sure if you have heard of it but I wanted to share the lyrics with you and if you have time... listen to it. It's super powerful!
I'm so very ordinary
Nothing special on my own
I have never walked on water
I have never calmed a storm
Sometimes I'm hiding away from the madness around me
Like a child who's afraid of the dark

But when I call on Jesus
All things are possible
I can mount on wings like eagles and soar
When I call on Jesus
Mountains are gonna fall
'Cause He'll move heaven and earth to come rescue me when I call

Weary brother
Broken daughter
Widowed, widowed lover
You're not alone
If you're tired and scared of the madness around you
If you can't find the strength to carry on

But when you call on Jesus
All things are possible
You can mount on wings like eagles and soar
When you call on Jesus
Mountains are gonna fall
'Cause He'll move heaven and earth to come rescue you when you call

Call Him in the mornin'
In the afternoon time
Late in the evenin'
He'll be there
When your heart is broken
And you feel discouraged
You can just remember that He said
He'll be there

http://s0.ilike.com/play#Nicole+C.+Mullen:Call+On+Jesus:1060176:s29895563.8800704.2445585.0.1.85%2Cstd_bc2001ad24576dce4e932b8eacac685d

Have a good night everyone!

Steve Murrell

So sorry its been a while since I've updated, it's been a pretty busy week.
First of all Saturday our church was helping out at this family fun day which consisted of a bunch of booths, a petting zoo with a llama!, pony rides, the best kettle corn ever, and some live music. It was pretty fun. I'm not gonna lie though, I was super tired. However, they stuck me in the kitchen and I was able to serve in there and that definitely gave me some energy to make it through.
Sunday's service was pretty amazing. We had our Every Nation president Steve Murrell here sharing about trying to hit the bulls-eye but sometimes when we miss it's because God has something else planned for us. He talked about things that distract us from God sometimes they aren't bad things but they are simple things.
Pastor Steve also taught our class yesterday and today and focused on the idea of discipleship. It was pretty spectacular. He taught us to stick with simplicity when it comes to making disciples. Its the same boring strokes but its effective. We should always and only be focusing on these 4 things engage, establish, equip, and empower. He also gave us a free copy of his book "Accidental Missionary" which I highly recommend for everyone. I started reading it and its so basic but good. Basically everything he taught us is in the book so that kind of helps. haha.
We had our youth executive meeting tonight and went over new strategies with the youth service and discipling them. We also discussed the middle school ministry and I found out more about what I'm specifically going to be doing with my internship. I'm super excited! I don't know the exact details but I will let you guys know as things unravel.
This week marks our 4th week of school. Super crazy to think I've already been here for a month. Over 1/4 of the way done. woot woot!
Well, I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you sooo much for all your prayers and support. KNow that your support is already impacting soo many.
Love you guys!

Evangelism

So, today we continued a discussion about evangelism. It was pretty amazing if I might say so myself.
Most of my life, I hated the idea of evangelism. I thought evangelism meant I had to be that guy on the street trying to convince people that Jesus is the way, when really thats not the case at all. Evangelism is just being able to go out and build relationships with people.
There were a couple of really good points today that I thought I would share with you guys.
FIrst of all, the idea that its not just someone who is called for evangelism. Anyone can do it.
A quote that was in my notes says "The chief agents in the expansion of Christianity appear not to have been those who made it a profession... but men and women who carried on their livelihood in the purely secular manner and spoke their faith to those they met in this natural fashion."
It's a lifestyle.
We also focused on the idea of culture. There are 4 different views of culture.
The first is that people think that Jesus is against culture. This is when we see Christians that stay in their Christian bubble social groups and never engage in society.
The second is Christ in culture. This is when we get so into the world that there is nothing distinct about our lives.
The third is that Christ is above culture meaning that man has 2 lives. The physical one and the spiritual one. This view is somewhat true but it doesn't show the idea that God can use a culture.
Which brings us to the next one... God can use a culture. This is when God uses the culture to reveal our personal depravity and need for salvation. The problem is that there is no room for God to transform culture.
The last view is that GOd transforms culture. This is how we need to think. God created the world good and though sin has corrupted it, it can be redeemed by God's power.
I love this idea. I think a lot of churches and individuals have forgotten about this concept... being in the world not of it and that God can redeem it.
One final thought is the idea that evangelism isn't just one certain way of presenting. There are essential things that need to be said but really you can change it to fit the individuals need. I love this quote that says " Do not bring us the Gospel as a potted plant. Bring us the seed of the Gospel and plant it in our soil."
So I just want to encourage those of you who might be like me, scared of rejection or viewed evangelism as this absurd thing. Really, its just sharing life with someone and building that relationship with someone who may have never had a true friend before.
Anyways, tomorrow we have Greg Mitchell speaking to us about transformations and getting healing. Im excited to hear what he has to say.

Good night everyone!

3 day update

Hey guys!
Sorry its been a couple of days since I've updated this thing... I'll just briefly update you guys on the past 3 days.
So, Friday night we had our youth service campus rally. It was pretty sweet. We had all the high schools and middle schools in the area represented with their school colors and had a great time. The worship team did an amazing job and Pastor Kei had a great message about hearing God's voice. I've definitely been learning a lot already about great way to reach out.
Saturday morning we had a 3 hour class led by Steven Mansfield and it was sooo good. We learned about changing your mindset about the Kingdom of God. Most people thing that the Kingdom of God is in the church and we as Christians have to step out of the kingdom, when really the Kingdom is everywhere and the church is just a unit in it. It was a good reminder of how we shouldn't just think that we should aspire to be ministers in the church but we should have the mindset that whatever we do, we are in God's will.
Sunday we had church in the morning and at night Steven Mansfield talked about being free from fear. It was super powerful!
Today, Im just enjoying my sabbath by relaxing and watching some movies!
This week our guest speaker is Steve Murell who is the president of Every Nation Ministries so he will be speaking for 3 or so days.
So hope you are all doing well.
Love you guys!
For those of you don't don't know who Steven Mansfield is, or just want to know more... here is his website.
http://mansfieldgroup.com/

Steven Mansfield

Hello everyone,
so its been a couple of days since I've been on here but I've had some crazy long days. The past couple of days our class has had the privilege of having Steven Mansfield speak to our class about apologetics and the approach to different religions. Its been amazing! We have just been learning a ton of things about so many religions; hinduism, buddhism, Mormonism, Christian Science, Islam, and this sort of new age thinking of picking and choosing a bunch of different religions. I also was able to sit in on his wife's class this evening on song writing and the power of worship.
I'm excited that tomorrow is Friday though. We are having a campus rally for our youth service tomorrow night and so Ill definitely update everyone on how it goes.
Alrighty gang, sorry this is a short one but I'm super tired.
Love you guys!

snorkeling, A bugs life, and an epic day!

So I feel like there are so many little things to update you on starting with yesterday.
Just to update some fun things from yesterday. I think most of you saw the pictures but just in case you didn't, 2 of my classmates took me to North Shore which is the northwest point of the island. We got to a certain point where most people stop but we went off roading slash 4 wheeling. It was sooo much fun, I had never done that before. We got to the point and we literally were able to see all of the west shore of the island and the north shore... it was gorgeous. Then as we were driving back, we stopped at this little cove and the water was sooo clear we ended up going snorkeling. My first time snorkeling thank you very much and it was super fun. So that was yesterday.
Now today was filled with really great classes on small groups and sharing the gospel. We learned a lot of great methods to small group and how a healthy group should look like. Part of our assignment was to pick a movie and relate it to our human desire for something more. I was super excited about the assignment cause if you know me, I love movie references and relating it to what Jesus is teaching me... especially Disney references.
So I thought it would be fun to share what I came up with on here.
Naturally I picked a Disney movie... A Bugs Life to be exact.

In A Bug’s Life, Flick is part of an ant colony who have been brought up thinking that there whole world is only within ant island and whatever they perceive is only what they can see. They want more in life but don’t think its possible. They are controlled by an evil force (the grasshoppers) who are making sure that they are distracted from their full potential and purpose in life. We also have a group of "circus" bugs who are being controlled by their boss who happens to be a flea. Both groups are searching for something more in life. They don't seem happy and satisfied in life. Its not until Flick goes out of his comfort zone and finds warrior bugs (who are really the circus bugs) that help him and his colony fight evil and realize what they were made to do. Its like that with God. He has given us a purpose in life and we may not be able to see it at first and we may have other forces distracting us, but there really is a purpose for each and every one of us and its not until we take that leap of faith and go out of our comfort zone that God will open our eyes to what he has planned for us.

Anyways, Im excitd about tomorrow. We have an amazing speaker coming to speak for the net couple of days. Steven Mansfield will be here from Nashville so hopefully Ill have some good things to report tomorrow.
Have a great evening everyone!

on fire

ok this is gonna be a short one cause Im up WAYYY past my bedtime but I couldn't go to sleep without posting this.
So first of all, we had another great day learning about missions and people's worldview. It was really intriguing. I'm excited to read and learn more about it! We also had a good time reflecting on the week. I'm really just started to love our group of 9 in the class. Its just amazing to see 9 completely different people all come together.
Anyways, tonight I went to youth service. I went last week but honestly didn't pay that much attention cause I went right after landing and was super tired. This week though was just amazing. The youth at this church are truly on fire! Not just within the 4 walls of the building but in their schools and homes. Its amazing to hear this young kids being persistent and praying for their generation. Also, looking out and seeing hundreds of high schoolers and middle school teens jumping up and down, throwing their hands in the air, and completely worshipping Jesus... man, I was just in awe of how amazing God truly is. Tomorrow I have the day off so im gonna work out, do a little homework, and maybe hang with some friends. Im excited to rest a little though. Its definitely been a long but GRAND week.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support. Like, I said before, God has already been doing amazing things since I've been here and it wouldn't have happened without you guys!
Love you and good night!
P.S. here is my random food comment that seem to be more of a regular thing. haha
One of the guys Shawn Silva... oh man, his mama made the most heavenly cornbread my mouth has ever tasted. I think the clouds parted when I bit into it. I was joking that I could preach on the amazing taste of this cornbread but Billy said I should just write it on here so I did. haha
ok, I'm officially done now. Hope you all have an amazing weekend.

today's random thoughts

so my first week is almost over and I am just filled with every time of emotion you can think of.
I have feelings of relief, overwhelming feelings, grateful ones, scared ones... and probably more. haha.
Today class was an amazing one, we focused on relationships and leadership. How to we maintain boundaries, how to handle healthy confrontations with people, and how to have people in your life that will truly mirror who you are (basically meaning someone who will tell you the truth and not sugar coat who you are). We had some great discussions and I learned so much. God definitely used today to truly shed light on a lot of my insecurities, fear of rejection, and people pleasing. I also realized that I have a tendency of not finishing everything that I start and if I do finish things... sometimes I don't finish strong. I made a commitment today to change that. I truly want to spend this net season of my life disciplining my body physically and spiritually. I want to run this race with no regrets. And with all that Im going to be learning, I want to be able to truly take it and apply it to my life without any weak areas preventing me from doing so.
So I'm counting on all of you to keep me accountable. haha.
Also, we spent time in our discussion talking about the one person that had the most influence in bringing us to this school of ministry. I wanted to take a moment and honor my person on here.
I actually couldn't just pick one cause there were 2 names that instantly popped out. Kim Ortiz and Blanca Ma. Since the first day I met both of these women I have had so much respect for them. They made my move to L.A. so easy. They are woman of grace and patience and wisdom. Both of these women have helped me in my entire journey/ adventure I've taken this past year and when my youth pastor (Kim's husband) approached me about coming to Hawaii, both of these women gave me such encouragement and wisdom to go. I look up to them so much and I just feel so honored to be able to call them my best friends.
So thank you Kim and Blanca for all that you do!
thats all folks! Until next time.
P.S. I posted a few pictures from my run on facebook. I didn't bring my camera cause I was an idiot but I attempted to capture the beauty from my phone. Seriously though, its just like the stories you hear about a hard journey but the reward being worth it. Well let me tell you, running 30 min up a steep hill is torture but the view is probably the most breathtaking views Ive ever seen. Totally worth every pain I experienced getting there.
Love you guys!

sushi and mountain conquering

Day 2 completed and man was it filled with a lot of information.
First of all, I will proudly say that I woke up early and conquered the hill I live on during my workout... the view at the top was gorgeous and I think i might bring my camera one of these days. I also conquered my first sushi experience. I had salmon and some other sort of raw fish but it actually wasn't that bad. I finished 3 out of 5 different kinds so go me. hahaha...
but anyways, back to todays class.
Today we spent the entire day talking about the fundamentals of Leadership; the foundations of character, the task and challenge of leadership, executing the leadership process, and teamwork. I really loved every aspect of it. It was definitely a challenging topic cause it broke every worldly idea of leadership in the sense that whatever position we are in, its Gods. And in order to grow to a higher place you need to focus on your foundations. Part of breaking and making foundations is shedding light on our weaknesses. One of my favorite quotes from today is that God will privately process our soul before he publicly platforms our gifts. I was definitely aware of mine and loved how we were able to process and start working through some of the areas.
We also focused on the idea of servanthood. I love this idea. I think its so true how a leader should serve not be serve. We shouldn't have the mindset of entitlement, leadership is rooted in servanthood.

First day

so today was our official first day of the school of ministry.
Man, God did soooo much already in just one day. We basically just jumped right in after a quick orientation of what the semester will look like. We started with an appropriate topic; time management skills. Definitely something I need improving on but the class actually helps. We learned how to prioritize everything and organize all our obligations in a manner that actually works. We also spent a good chunk of time talking about setting goals. I was pretty excited about this part. I have been really praying lately for God to give me a specific goal of what he wants me to do with the passions that I have and today, we took the time to write out 3 long term goals and 3 short term goal with each long term one. It was actually pretty amazing how quickly and clearly God showed me what specific areas he wanted me to focus on.
Next, we talked about missions, more specifically we talked about reaching a certain people group. I really enjoyed this section. We learned about how each of us, depending on what we want to do, have a different area of focus in reaching a certain people group. I, for example, realized that I want to focus more on lower income hispanic youth. Obviously, I wont only reach that group of people but since that has been my background growing up and since most of the Los Angeles area is made up of hispanics, I'm thinking that might be where I should focus.
Tomorrow is another long day and Im excited to just continue diving in on every opportunity that will be presented here.
Off to sleep.
Thanks again for all your support and prayers!
P.S. So, apparently there are a ton of foods Ive never eaten before so the guys are making a list of foods I have to try before I leave. Tomorrow is sushi day so for all my Morning Star people who have been judging me with my lack of sushi experience... tomorrow is the day! haha. Ill try and update the different foods Ive eaten on here too. Hey! YA! That would be kind of fun I think.
ok. Good night again.

Welcome Party

so tonight was the welcome party and it was pretty spectacular. We had some good Hawaiian BBQ, played wii, and just hung out. It was great getting to fellowship with everyone and spending time with my classmates. I posted a few pictures on facebook if you want to check them out.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=237830&id=515516054&saved#!/album.php?aid=237830&id=515516054&ref=mf

a random blog...

soo, i decided that my blog will and can be whatever I want it to be and since there is nothing too big to update for today, I found this old facebook questionnaire thingy about myself that I did several years ago that I thought would be fun for you to read. Some things on here haven't changed... actually most haven't.
But, just a little update first... yesterday I attended the morning service and evening college service. It was pretty spectacular. I also was able to meet the other students that will be in my class. Apparently its like all guys and just one other girl so that will be interesting. haha. Tonight is the welcome party/ get together then class officially starts tomorrow.

1) According to my sister I have an overly dramatic laugh and no matter how funny something is, I laugh my dramatic laugh and freak some people out.
2) I am like freakishly scared of certain types of doorknobs. Like sometimes, I have to leave doors open or have someone else open hem for me cause I'm scared they might shatter or be extremely hot.
3) Whenever I can, I still try to watch Arthur everyday at 4:00 on PBS. By far one of the best shows ever! Everyday when your walking down the street.... oh man, good times with that aardvark!
4) When I was little I was told that I was singing songs (mostly Raffi) before I could talk. I think thats why I love music and musicals so much.
5) I took ballet for like 5 min but when I found out that I would have to be a reindeer I got scared and ran away.
6) When I was little me and my friend would pretend to switch siblings because she had a brother and I had a sister and I always wanted to have a brother and she always wanted to have a sister.
7) I have never been able to finish the movie Fantasia, that last segment freaks me out.
8) I've been to 14 different states and 2 different countries
9) One of my favorite things to do is go into random places, like bathrooms, with friends and eavesdrop on their spanish conversations and listen to most of them making fun of other people.
10) I love to cook. Ever since I was little I wanted to be a chef and even though I'm teaching now, I would still like to go to culinary school and be a chef on the weekends or something.
11) When I was in sixth grade I was in a acting/modeling school and was discovered by someone and was asked if I wanted to move to L.A. I politely replied "no", and that was the end of my acting career... it was so random.
12) I am in love with all things Disney and I don't care what anyone says, Disneyland truly is the happiest place on Earth. Oh man, just thinking about it makes me happy.
13) When it comes to music and movies, I am a pretty easy person to please. I pretty much like anything and sometimes that annoys people.
14) When I was in like 4th grade I won a goldfish from the fair and didn't have a fish bowl to put it in so I placed it in a cup and my mom accidently drank it.
15) The song "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" when sung by Judy Garland is by far the best christmas song ever! I listen to it year round and every time it gives me goosebumps.
16) One night in like forever ago a had the most random dream ever. I dreamt the song "There's a Hole in my Bucket" and I was liza and I had suspenders on and this other random guy was henry and we were in like some hut in a jungle talking southern and singing this ridiculously boring song to each other.

ALOHA, I'm finally here!!!

Im officially in Hawaii!!!!!!!
Its been a crazy 24 hours, but Im finally here and all settled in. I landed yesterday around 3:30 and was picked up by one of the girls in the college ministry with the church I will be interning with. Her name is Nikki and she and her younger brother Chris were basically my tour guides yesterday. First we came to my new home for the next 4 months. ITS AMAZING! Its this cute little townhouse up on this hill that overlooks Pearl Harbor and downtown, how cool is that?!?! Then we went to the mall and just looked around and got something to eat before heading to their Friday night youth service. I was soooooooo exhausted... i don't know what I was thinking keeping myself so busy when I could have just slept but I just wanted to see everything. It was totally worth it. The youth service was amazing. The kids had just gotten back from camp and some had gotten back from this world conference in the Philippines and it was really neat seeing everyone extremely excited and on fire! I met a few of the people that I will be working with as well and everyone was just super friendly. I basically have the next couple of days to myself cause the internship doesn't officially start till Tuesday. Soooo, Ill try and update this as much as I can and post pictures as well. I took a few pictures this morning, they aren't that great but it was just basically around the house. Hopefully the next couple of days I can take some around town. For some reason its not letting me upload them here but Im gonna also be putting up pictures on Flickr so you can see them on there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/costarican_15/
Thanks for your continued prayer and support. I love you guys so much!

Blind Man's Walk

So, I shared part of this tonight at youth group but I thought I would post it here.

This past weekend marked exactly one year of God bringing me to L.A. Its really crazy to see how far I've come. I literally came to L.A. on complete blind faith that God was gonna provide everything... and he DID! I came with no job, enough money to get by 2 months or so, no church family, no security in anything really. But it allowed me to completely trust and rely in Him... and Im so glad he did. I have grown so much in the past year and have been blessed by God on countless occasions. From the people I have met, to my job, to finding an amazing church, it just blows my mind.

I remember right before moving down here, God gave me this image of my relationship with him being like a blind man's walk and I was reminded of it the other night. I grew up in Northern CA and up there we had some awesome redwood trees. One thing you can do in the redwood forest in take this one path that has a guided rope. You can choose to close your eyes and follow the rope through the forest. I remember when I was young, I would always open my eyes and peak to make sure I wasn't gonna trip over anything. Sometimes we go on these journeys with God that requires complete faith and most times its so much easier to just open your eyes and try and take control ourselves. Sometimes, we may have bumps along the way and might fell like we are never gonna reach the end, but when you make it to your destination knowing that it was completely God who guided you along the way is the greatest feeling ever!

So here I am, 3 days and counting to my departure and once again am going on this blind path, but this time, instead of being completely blind to my destination... he has given me some light to help make my path more clear. Im sooo thankful for everything that he has done for me in the past year and Im just even more excited for Hawaii. I just love Jesus so much!!!!!!!!!

Ill end with this... In jeremiah 29:11 God said "for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." I love that he know the plans he has for me. Even when I can't see them completely or they seem impossible or scary, I can trust that they are plans to prosper me and not harm me... to give me a hope and a future.

Aloha!

Hey everyone!

Well about 2 weeks left till I leave for Hawaii. Im pretty excited! Thank you all who have been supporting me in prayer and financially. You have no idea how much it means to me knowing that I have so many people in support of what God is having me do.

My goal is to update this blog once a week with updates on everything and maybe Ill surprise you with pictures and videos.

Also Im hoping that the more I explore this blog thingy I can add fun gadgets and stuff, you know, make it look spiffy.

Just a few updates...

-God has provided about $4,000 so far!

-My host home is all set and ready to go!

-God totally provided a way for me to go home briefly before leaving to Hawaii, it was cheaper to fly out of Portland than LAX.

Also for those of you interested who may not have seen the link for Every Nations Ministries, here is the link for both Every Nations Ministry and the actual church that I will be interning with in Hawaii.

http://everynation.org/

http://gbchawaii.org/ministry1.php