Well, I guess this is the last post I have here in Kona! It is hard to imagine that three months just FLEW by and I am out of here in less than two days!
This past weekend our Justice class had a dinner called the Love Feast and our leaders celebrated us graduating from DTS by bring us to a very nice hotel in Kona and had a brunch waiting there for us! So we all dressed up real nice and went there on Saturday morning and had the best meal ever: REAL FOOD! Not the cafeteria food we normally have! It was so much fun and everyone ate until they were stuffed! We even smuggled some cereal for the outreach trip! Afterward we had the entire morning and afternoon to hang out on the hotel's beach, pool, or where ever we wanted! Some girls had fun taking pictures around the hotel and others swam in the pool. It was so much fun and we were spoiled so much, but what an accomplishment to have completed our DTS.
As for this week, we have been just doing outreach preparation: packing, cleaning, stripping down our classroom, and saying final goodbyes! It has actually been really hard because some of these people I am not going to see ever again in my life. Hopefully God is good and we all are able to meet up again in heaven someday! But for now it is sad.
Tomorrow morning at 10am I have to have all my stuff packed that I am keeping in storage here in Kona while I am on outreach, and I'm going to be living out of my outreach bag for the next two days! But we have final dorm cleaning and make sure we have everything for our outreach and finally, say goodbye!
I just wanted to thank you guys for being so faithful and reading my blog. Through the good times and bad, you have been so supportive and I cannot thank you guys enough for all your prayers and support! God has deeply blessed me through you guys! Thank you a million times over! I'll try my hardest to keep up once in a while during my outreach if I have access to an internet cafe, but I can't make any promises! Either way, I'll be seeing you all after June 2!
God Bless you all and HAZAK!
kelsi
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Saying Goodbye
Wow, things are winding down, and this is going to be one of the last posts here in Kona! I'll see what I can do when I'm in Africa, but I'll try my best to keep in contact with you guys!
Let me tell you about this past week to start things off. Monday morning my Justice class went off on a camping trip together to a place called the light house near Pololu'u Valley on the North side of the island. We got there and set up camp and ate lunch. We then ventured off in our outreach groups with 2 tarps and a few ropes. We had to build our tent or home for the night out of those supplies. What an adventure. I'd have to say that our tent was pretty good looking after it was all done! I'm glad because of our team's skills because that means that we will be well off for outreach as well! Once we got our things settled we went off to do some team building games. I felt like they were the kind of games we played at friendship games in middle school. But they really grew our teams together. They got us frustrated with each other, which was a good thing in this case. We pointed out our strengths and weaknesses and those were good things to find out for when we spend two whole months together as a team! What a long afternoon though after playing those games. I laid down in our home before dinner, but I could not stay there for long. Our leaders were building a fire to have a barbecue! It was probably the best meal yet since I have been here, besides in a restaurant! We grilled steaks, chicken, and huge baked potatoes! It was delicious! After dinner we stayed around the fire and walked around to the water. We ended up seeing whales, at least 7 of them in the ocean playing around! How cool! We continued to converse around the fire. Roasting marshmallows, playing games, staying warm by the fire and more. It was true camping because after the sun went down there was not much to do and everyone got really tired. By 9:30 everyone started heading to bed. That night we fought off bugs, huge centipedes, and a predicted flash flood. It only rained in the morning right before we woke up, but we had a great fortress to protect us! That morning we wrapped things up by eating breakfast, playing a few more games, packing up, and heading out!
This week has been a little different because of camping and that it is our last week before we head out. I have been starting to think about packing again, but this time it is going to be different because I have to pack twice; one bag for outreach, and one bag for storing my stuff here. It is so weird to think that I am leaving this place and might not see some of these people again my entire life! Coming here I really did not think that it would be extremely hard to leave this place. Kona has become my home for the past three months and I've made so many great friendships that leaving here is reminding me of how hard it was to leave three months ago!
Please pray for me that I can prepare for outreach in time. Mentally and physically. Also for all the goodbyes we have to say to each other. It is going to be a crazy next week, but I am very anxious to go to Africa!
Thanks for all your prayers and support for my family and I after hearing the news about my Grandma! You guys are awesome and please continue to pray for healing for her. God is the great healer and I have no doubt that he can heal my Grandma too!
I will try to blog one more time before I head out as well! But for now, God Bless!
Let me tell you about this past week to start things off. Monday morning my Justice class went off on a camping trip together to a place called the light house near Pololu'u Valley on the North side of the island. We got there and set up camp and ate lunch. We then ventured off in our outreach groups with 2 tarps and a few ropes. We had to build our tent or home for the night out of those supplies. What an adventure. I'd have to say that our tent was pretty good looking after it was all done! I'm glad because of our team's skills because that means that we will be well off for outreach as well! Once we got our things settled we went off to do some team building games. I felt like they were the kind of games we played at friendship games in middle school. But they really grew our teams together. They got us frustrated with each other, which was a good thing in this case. We pointed out our strengths and weaknesses and those were good things to find out for when we spend two whole months together as a team! What a long afternoon though after playing those games. I laid down in our home before dinner, but I could not stay there for long. Our leaders were building a fire to have a barbecue! It was probably the best meal yet since I have been here, besides in a restaurant! We grilled steaks, chicken, and huge baked potatoes! It was delicious! After dinner we stayed around the fire and walked around to the water. We ended up seeing whales, at least 7 of them in the ocean playing around! How cool! We continued to converse around the fire. Roasting marshmallows, playing games, staying warm by the fire and more. It was true camping because after the sun went down there was not much to do and everyone got really tired. By 9:30 everyone started heading to bed. That night we fought off bugs, huge centipedes, and a predicted flash flood. It only rained in the morning right before we woke up, but we had a great fortress to protect us! That morning we wrapped things up by eating breakfast, playing a few more games, packing up, and heading out!
This week has been a little different because of camping and that it is our last week before we head out. I have been starting to think about packing again, but this time it is going to be different because I have to pack twice; one bag for outreach, and one bag for storing my stuff here. It is so weird to think that I am leaving this place and might not see some of these people again my entire life! Coming here I really did not think that it would be extremely hard to leave this place. Kona has become my home for the past three months and I've made so many great friendships that leaving here is reminding me of how hard it was to leave three months ago!
Please pray for me that I can prepare for outreach in time. Mentally and physically. Also for all the goodbyes we have to say to each other. It is going to be a crazy next week, but I am very anxious to go to Africa!
Thanks for all your prayers and support for my family and I after hearing the news about my Grandma! You guys are awesome and please continue to pray for healing for her. God is the great healer and I have no doubt that he can heal my Grandma too!
I will try to blog one more time before I head out as well! But for now, God Bless!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Cliff Jumping and birthdays!
I'm so sorry guys, this post is LONG overdue! So much has happened I don't even know where to start! My schedule has been crazy, I've been fighting a sinus infection, families are visiting, my time here is coming to a close, and I've left you hanging! Sorry about everything, but I'll try to highlight my last two weeks here for you!
One event since then that happened was my birthday! It was one of the best days here yet! I spent the day at a beach called Mile 88 with some of my best friends here! It was exactly the way I would have ever dreamed of spending a birthday in Hawai'i. Lying out in the sun at the most beautiful beach in the world! That night, a huge group of people got together and dressed up for dinner and dessert! Being away from home I didn't think that I would have that good of a day but God totally blessed me with such amazing friends to make my birthday away from home the best I could ever imagine!
That same week our school had a speaker come in and speak to the Justice students and staff. His name was Penni Patu and he totally blessed us all and wrote each person in our class a word from God. I thought that I would share it with you guys because it blessed me so much! God has revealed himself to me so much during my time here and one verse that he has blessed me with is Psalm 37:4, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart! Penni prayed for each person before he even met us and asked God to give him a bible verse and a word for each person. Penni had everyone's' all typed up nice before he even got here on Monday morning. I was one of the last people to get theirs on Friday morning, but God gave him a verse for me, and guess what it happened to be:
Psalm 37:3-7
Kelsi my princess and my daughter that I created to look like me. I have called you to be a woman that will walk without fear of man but the fear of me. My daughter, give me your time so that I can continue to tell you what I desire for you and your future. I have a great plan for your future. All you have to do is to ask me for it and believe me to help you fulfill that for you. You are a beautiful daughter of mine, and I am so proud to be your father. I love you my daughter, do you hear me saying that I love you. My daughter do you believe that I really love you? Don't say that you cannot do the things that I will ask of you to do because I have given you the power to do anything in my name and it will be done. My daughter I love you so much that my hands are still open for you to come to any time you need me. Be the light of my will to this world my daughter and not let that light be hidden. I love you my daughter very much. Continue to trust me for your life.
This past weekend was also a story to tell. I went with my school and toured around the island! First we went to a place called south point, which is the most southern part of Hawai'i and America. Here we went cliff jumping! Some of us jumped off of 50 foot cliffs! It was raining the whole trip and chilly, but if I'm only at this place once in my time here, then why not jump! After, we went to a black sands beach and took pictures in the rain. It was a short stop until we drove off again and headed to Hilo. Once we got there we went to the famous, Ken's house of pancakes! They had such great breakfast and all kinds of food. We walked back out of the restaurant there to get back to our cars in a flooded, 5" of water, parking lot. Since the weather was not the nicest so we did not get to do all of the things we wanted to, but it was such a bonding and unifying trip with our class! I had so much fun!
To wrap things up, I just want to ask a prayer request of you guys. This week has been extremely hard since Tuesday morning. I found out that my Grandma Wolters has been diagnosed with Leukemia. It has been so hard to be away from home, my family, and especially my mom and grandma after hearing this news. I have been quite distracted since this news and it has been hard for me to get much out of our last corporate week here. I request that you guys pray for my grandma, for healing because I truly believe that God can and will heal her of this cancer. For my family back home, because I can't be there to hold them and pray with them and just be with them. And finally, for me here! The devil is at work in my family and he does not like to see the good that God has done with my time here, in my family, and in our relationships with God. He is scared and is trying everything he can to make the Kingdom of God NOT come to earth and to tear us apart. WRONG! It's not happening, and God has already been growing us stronger. But still, please be in prayers for us all!
Thank you guys so much! I'll try to be better with this blog and updating. But until next time, God Bless!
Kelsi
One event since then that happened was my birthday! It was one of the best days here yet! I spent the day at a beach called Mile 88 with some of my best friends here! It was exactly the way I would have ever dreamed of spending a birthday in Hawai'i. Lying out in the sun at the most beautiful beach in the world! That night, a huge group of people got together and dressed up for dinner and dessert! Being away from home I didn't think that I would have that good of a day but God totally blessed me with such amazing friends to make my birthday away from home the best I could ever imagine!
That same week our school had a speaker come in and speak to the Justice students and staff. His name was Penni Patu and he totally blessed us all and wrote each person in our class a word from God. I thought that I would share it with you guys because it blessed me so much! God has revealed himself to me so much during my time here and one verse that he has blessed me with is Psalm 37:4, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart! Penni prayed for each person before he even met us and asked God to give him a bible verse and a word for each person. Penni had everyone's' all typed up nice before he even got here on Monday morning. I was one of the last people to get theirs on Friday morning, but God gave him a verse for me, and guess what it happened to be:
Psalm 37:3-7
Kelsi my princess and my daughter that I created to look like me. I have called you to be a woman that will walk without fear of man but the fear of me. My daughter, give me your time so that I can continue to tell you what I desire for you and your future. I have a great plan for your future. All you have to do is to ask me for it and believe me to help you fulfill that for you. You are a beautiful daughter of mine, and I am so proud to be your father. I love you my daughter, do you hear me saying that I love you. My daughter do you believe that I really love you? Don't say that you cannot do the things that I will ask of you to do because I have given you the power to do anything in my name and it will be done. My daughter I love you so much that my hands are still open for you to come to any time you need me. Be the light of my will to this world my daughter and not let that light be hidden. I love you my daughter very much. Continue to trust me for your life.
This past weekend was also a story to tell. I went with my school and toured around the island! First we went to a place called south point, which is the most southern part of Hawai'i and America. Here we went cliff jumping! Some of us jumped off of 50 foot cliffs! It was raining the whole trip and chilly, but if I'm only at this place once in my time here, then why not jump! After, we went to a black sands beach and took pictures in the rain. It was a short stop until we drove off again and headed to Hilo. Once we got there we went to the famous, Ken's house of pancakes! They had such great breakfast and all kinds of food. We walked back out of the restaurant there to get back to our cars in a flooded, 5" of water, parking lot. Since the weather was not the nicest so we did not get to do all of the things we wanted to, but it was such a bonding and unifying trip with our class! I had so much fun!
To wrap things up, I just want to ask a prayer request of you guys. This week has been extremely hard since Tuesday morning. I found out that my Grandma Wolters has been diagnosed with Leukemia. It has been so hard to be away from home, my family, and especially my mom and grandma after hearing this news. I have been quite distracted since this news and it has been hard for me to get much out of our last corporate week here. I request that you guys pray for my grandma, for healing because I truly believe that God can and will heal her of this cancer. For my family back home, because I can't be there to hold them and pray with them and just be with them. And finally, for me here! The devil is at work in my family and he does not like to see the good that God has done with my time here, in my family, and in our relationships with God. He is scared and is trying everything he can to make the Kingdom of God NOT come to earth and to tear us apart. WRONG! It's not happening, and God has already been growing us stronger. But still, please be in prayers for us all!
Thank you guys so much! I'll try to be better with this blog and updating. But until next time, God Bless!
Kelsi
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