I love my staff!

This is the staff I've been working with in Kona!

(A break-down of all the staff in the top photo)
Samuel-from Finland, and one of my good friends from DTS last year
Kelsey-one of my beloved roomies, from Oregon
John (whom I like to call "Juan")-personally, my favorite staff member (but don't tell anyone)
Jenni- straight from San Jose, California
Clint-from Texas (but born in Indonesia!), who often goes on 6 mile runs with Juan
Jo-our other "Brit" and another dearly-loved roommate
Mo-born in Mali, Africa now from Seattle, Washington (and another good buddy from my DTS last fall)
Cliff-Kelsey's big brother and an aspiring entrepreneur
Cynthia-our Native-American-blooded sister from the Western side of the USA (various states including Arizona and California)

Last weekend, the YWAM base had a staff "Love Feast", which was a special dinner held in honor of all the people that work on campus...I think over 300 people were there! It was incredible. Of course, we like to take advantage of any opportunity to get dressed up, gussied up, done up, or decked out...and this night was no exception. For this particular occasion, John and I went for a retro theme, while others chose more modern attire for the evening. We ate delicious food, had thoughtful attention from students (who had volunteered their time to make the evening happen), and also got to do some dancing. Honestly, we could not have asked for a better way to be blessed as a staff. Have fun looking at the pictures!

Love you all so so so very much...

Send me

Tonight was so significant to me. God is definitely calling me to step beyond what I think is possible, and actually mean it when I say "Here am I! Send me," (Isaiah 6:8). We had our Thursday Night gathering tonight, a weekly time when everyone from campus gets together for worship and also to listen to a speaker.

Tonight we had the privilege of hearing from a woman named Susi Childers. Her message to us was so profound, yet so simple, and it really made me think. She challenged us with a story about a group of people being changed by the influence of one person, and reminded us that God is using ordinary people to change the world. There is so much hurt and destruction in the world; am I willing to be sent to those places? Will God be able to use me?

Susi and her husband, Paul, are part of a ministry called Voice for the Voiceless. She has a tremendous gift for photography, and travels around the world to take photos of people. She's got an amazing ability to capture the deepest emotions in her subjects, and she uses the photos to give a voice to those who are voiceless. This is a little blurb from her bio:

"I love people, not just taking their pictures, but spending time with them. I'm not an evangelist but I use my camera to approach people. I'd spend two or three hours with one person and I'd hear their stories and that was the part that changed my life. There are so many people out there who are suffering and nobody knows about it. That's why we call this whole ministry a Voice for the Voiceless. I believe that's what God called me to be, to use my photography to speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves."

If you have a minute, you can explore this website a little bit. I'm trying to track down a more recent site for the Voice for the Voiceless, but haven't found it yet. But go here for now:

http://www.ywamconnect.com/sites/childers/a%20voice%20for%20the%20voiceless

I love you all. Blessings to you!
-j

Waipio Valley on a Quad

Just a couple pictures from an ATV adventure in Waipio Valley. I know you might not believe it, but I went 4-wheeling, along with Johnny, my Aunt Jeanie, Uncle Mike, cousin Scott, and his girlfriend Allie. I pretty much think that if 4-wheeling was an olympic event, I'd be getting the gold medal at the next Olympic Games. Johnny would probably get gold for the men's division, but Uncle Mike would give him some fierce competition. We also swam in a frigidly cold waterfall. Seriously, don't mess with us.

Swing

So, tonight, John and I just took our first dance class together. There is a married couple on base, Rebecca and Gabriel, who are teaching a six-week Swing class. I'll admit, I am a little uncoordinated, but I had such a great time it didn't even matter. Something that was so unusual to me about the class: there were more guys there than girls! That's right...the ladies were totally outnumbered. I guess the class they teach on Monday night has the opposite problem...too many girls and not enough guys. For me, it's fun to have fewer girls because then there's more opporunities for me to dance and get good practice. Instead of Johnny and I dancing together the whole night, everyone in the class rotates so we develop as versatile dancers. Our teachers, Rebecca and Gabriel, are so great and very patient with us. I'll keep you posted on how our Swing-dancing-skills progress.
Goodnight everyone!
Love,
-j

back-to-school

Even though it's my second time around, I'm getting so much out of what's being taught...I feel like I'm a DTS student again. I'm learning so much from our speaker (who was actually a speaker during my DTS last year). David Bryan, who is teaching us about spiritual warfare, has been sharing radical testimonies with the class this week, and backing up what he says with truth from the Bible as well. It has been increasing my faith, but also challenging me to really take a second look at what I believe. Do I really believe that, with God, all things are possible? Really? ALL things? Can people with physical sickness, like cancer or diabetes, be healed in the name of Jesus? Can people be raised from the dead? Are unexplainable miracles happening today? Yep, with God all things are possible. It is so incredible. For so long, I have put my own limitations on God, without realizing it. My concept of God has been so small, and so minimizing. He is capable of all things. He is also loving. I want to keep me eyes open to see His miracles, but I also want to be a part of them. Think about that: God wants to give us a part in His miracles. That blows my mind! I hope those of you that actually read this little Blog are also presently being blown away by the unexplainable power and love that God has. Be blessed as you ponder these back-to-school thoughts I'm having!
Goodnight!

Mile 88

These are some photos from a beach day we had a couple weekends ago. It was such fun day, and one of our first opportunities to start getting to know our students. We discovered that a couple boys, Brad and Jake, have a hidden talent of spear-fishing for eels. Don't worry, we didn't eat Mr. Eel for dinner, though.

IronMan

These are just a few photos from IronMan!
We were on the Security team for the World Championship event in Kona, Hawaii. Our shift started at 4 in the morning, so we left campus at 3:30 am and walked to downtown Kona where the event would start at 6:45 am. Talk about early! There were hundreds of volunteers from YWAM, over 2,000 athletes competing, and thousands more spectators watching. It was unbelievable! I got to sit in the VIP area later in the day, so I was right at the finish line when the first place athlete, Chris McCormack from Australia, came through. Maybe someday I'll be an IronMan too!

Try NOT to have fun in Kona

It was one of those try-to-fit-in-as-much-fun-as-possible type of weekends.

1) We took our class of 42 students, plus 13 staff, and a few extra friends, to see the movie The Seeker on Friday night. The movie was directed by David Cunningham, who also directed the movie The Path to 9/11, (which stirred up a bit of controversy last year). His mom and dad, Loren and Darlene, are actually the founders of YWAM. David came to Kona and shared with us a little bit about his experience making this film. It seemed a little bit more special to go see the movie for its opening night after listening to the director speak about it firsthand. And I've never gone to the theaters with a group of 50 friends.

2) Our class took a trip on Saturday to one of my favorite Kona beaches. We like to call it Mile 88, but the locals refer to it as Kua Bay. It was a beautiful beach day. The boys played football in the soft sand, everyone swam in the ocean, we were constantly reapplying sunscreen, some people decided to snorkel in the salty sea, and some guys even speared an eel. After a full day of sun, we were ready to head home in our merry fleet of 15-passenger-vans. Of course, the day wasn't entirely flawless. As we were on our way back to campus, we realized we'd left two students behind. Uh, woops. But instead of making thm hitchhike home, we turned around and picked them up.

3) After the beach day, there was a Nations Party that night back at campus. We had so much fun learning dances from cultures all over the world. Johnny and I did some salsa dancing, we tried some crazy Brazilian steps, there was some hillarious break- dancing and hip hop (which was a riot because it was mostly white people, pretending like we had rhythm), I learned a traditional Finnish dance, and gave Greek dancing a try as well. Oh the fun you can have on a YWAM base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

4) My lovely roommate, Joanna Mutch, from England, celebrated her birthday on Sunday. We went out for a yummy Thai food lunch, and then later in the evening we celebrated with an AMAZING dessert called Hualalai Pie. It has been a busy weekend! I am most definitely thankful, though, for the way God is teaching me things even in the midst of all the constant activity. I am learning about people from different countries and cultures, there are people pouring into my life and encouraging me in areas that I want to grow, and I am starting to get better at seeing the world with God's perspective.

Hope all of you out there are great, wherever you may be...
And may your coming week be blessed!

Arrival in Kona

The students are here!
On September 27, 2007 (a little less than two weeks ago), our students arrived in Kona, Hawaii. The U of N will be their home away from home for the next few months. It is an exciting time, but also really hectic. I have been go-go-go, but all of it is stuff I love doing. We are having class time, worship nights, aloha welcomes, etc... and we do all this because of the Lord's heart to celebrate the people of the world and live together as a community.
The school I am staffing is called the Community Transformations DTS. Our Outreach teams will leave for New York City, and Capetown, South Africa in mid December. It is such an amazing class to be a part of! I'll have to explain it more in depth later. But basically, all the staff time I put in here is like a full time job (and then some). Pray that I learn how to balance my time, and also pray that I will make connections with our students. I just want to love on them.
Miss you all!
Send me an email if you can!
*The top picture is of our classroom, We're a little bit packed, but that's a good thing. We have 42 students and 13 staff members, so it's real cozy in our classroom.
*The other picture I took at the Aloha Welcome in the Ohana Court. It was a night of hula dances, and a special display of all the nations represented in Kona this quarter.

Just a glimpse

Hey loyal readers of the jenni blog...
It is still kind of a secret that I've been updating this, so I'm really not sure who is looking. But I felt like writing a little something tonight, just to give you a tiny glimpse of what is going on at the YWAM Kona base. It is so exciting to be here as the quarter unfolds. The students all arrived last Thursday. They are from all over the world! Right now I am on staff with a DTS called "Community Transformations." There are 4 other DTS focuses going on at the same time, with their own groups of staff and students...but I'll admit that I am totally biased in thinking that ours is particularly special. Join me in praying that this group of staff and students will be marked by unity and humility. I am really looking forward to the things God wants to do in us and through us, and I am already seeing Him at work in my own heart.
Just so you know, my life in Hawaii isn't quite as glamorous as some of you may think (although there are spectacular benefits to living here!). Let it be known that I share a small room on campus with five other girls. Yes, that makes six of us in a room that I'd guess is about 12 ft. X 20 ft. Yikes-a-wee-wa. That sure is snug. But we are one happy ohana (that's the Hawaiian word for family). Their names are Jo (short for Joanna, she's from England), HaeJin, Anna (both from Korea), Myssi and Kelsey (both from the US). I definitely miss Lora Drive right about now, but this place is also really special...just in different ways.
Well, I could really keep writing for hours but I need to get to bed.
Blessings to you all!
Love,
j

Back in Kona!

Last fall, I did a DTS (Discipleship Training School) here in Kona. My school was called the Impact Pacific focus and there were about 50 students in my class. Now, one year after that school began (and about 7 months after it ended), there are quite a few of us who have returned to Kona (or other areas of YWAM). So, those of us in Hawaii decided to get together the other night for a very tiny reunion. It was so much fun! It kind of felt like no time had passed since we had last been together here. God truly blesses us with the gift of being relational creatures, and it's so wonderful to be reunited with friends. I most likely would have never met any of these people under any other circumstances. Isn't that amazing? YWAM is such a cool missions organization; I will forever have friends around the world.

No Bad Days (as they say in Hawaii)

This place is full of opportunities to connect with awesome people. These are just a few photos of fun things I've gotten to do during staff training. The first one I took of Johnny and our friend Samuel from Finland. I had just painted one toe nail on each of them, and they just couldn't resist striking a model pose for the camera. The other photos are from some crazy times together in the kitchen. Even though we worked hard, we also made sure to have as much fun as we could. Things are going great over here, but I miss you all so much.
Lots of love,
jenni

Hawaiian Birthday

Johnny just had a birthday last weekend so I took him out on a date. We went out to dinner at a little place called the Aloha Angel Cafe (totally lame name for a restaurant, I know). It was such a typical Hawaiian-style place. Everything was very laid back...there were shirtless customers in flip flops and other patrons decked out in funky Hawaiian prints. You just never know what to expect in Hawaii. After some coffee (for Johnny, not me) and a walk on the beach, we went out to a movie. It was a really fun date night. Thanks to Jeff and Beth who let us borrow their car. We had such a great night together!

Mom, you will probably appreciate this the most

Aloha again!
Well, I am back in Kona, Hawaii to staff at YWAM. I know, some people didn't even know I was coming back out here. In August, I made the decision to join DTS Staff, and then headed out here on August 28th...so it all happened pretty fast! I just wanted to get my Blog up and running again, so I wanted to start with a couple pictures and a short little blurb. Actually, though, the pictures are not loading very easily for some reason. I'll have to try to get more pictures up later. This is a picture of most of the staff interns who came to Kona for training at the same time I did. We had a couple weeks of classes all together and became close friends. Especially from working weekend kitchen shifts together! That's right...I spent my first THREE weekends in Kona as a member of the kitchen crew. We'd have to get there at 6 am on Saturday and Sunday! It was always fun to work with these friends, though.
I hope everyone out there is doing great. I will do my best to keep my Blog updated, because some of you may be curious about what I'm up to these days.
Love you all!
jenni

Back from PNG!

Hey, I am back from Papua New Guinea. These are just a couple pictures of things I saw while I was there. I will have to give you a more detailed slide show and descriptions later...but this country is amazing. I can't wait to tell stories!
More to come...
-jenni