Come and listen...: Week 10 Summary

Wow! It's amazing that we've finished week 10 already and only have 11 days until we leave for outreach! It's been hard to connect with the reality that we are actually going to Africa this month! But, since Thursday, I have a new excitement and readiness for the next part of our adventure with Jesus!

Week 10 was a full week, with joys and challenges. Our speaker for the week was Jonathon Almanzer, a church planter and missionary from Colorado, who spoke on Identity in Christ. I got a few things out of the week, but not as much as I had hoped. He spoke on a number of things but I didn't have a clear picture by the end of the week about the topic.

My favorite lecture days were Monday and Thursday. Monday, he touched on the Potter and how God is forming us. I could identify with that and the feeling on the wheel when all the molding and shaping is taking place. It's not always so comfortable but it's comforting believing that I'm in the Potter's hand. Thursday was the best day because we had an "unplug" morning at the beach! We went for 1.5 hours to have quiet time with the Lord. No cell phones or ipods allowed! Woo! Hoo! It was glorious! The only other time we've done this exercise was on my birthday in October when we did an exercise on hearing the voice of God. Those two days have been such a blessing in this lecture phase!

Some of my favorite lines from the week are:
- The Potter has complete control. The spinning is for a purpose. He's shaping it and making it into what He wants it to be. (Jonathon)
- There is no dishonorable vessel that the Potter makes. They all have purpose. (Jonathon)
- Jesus' blood purchased the Potter's Field (the place behind the potter's house with all the broken pots). (Jonathon)
- Jesus' death and resurrection are no the Gospel but they are what makes the Gospel possible. (Jonathon)
- "Live in the now. Not in the then, maybe when". (Jonathon)
- Wake up each day saying, "This is Your day God. What do you want me to do today?". (Athol, our school leader)
- "Because we are in a position of dependence on others for finances, we are in the position to share the stories of God's provision. Money forces us to share these stories. " (Sean, a staff member here, leading the leadership meeting I sat in on.)
- "If we lead with character and integrity, people can trust us" (Garth, leads a DTS in Asia, spoke in the leadership meeting)
- "God equips those who He calls and calls those whom He has equipped". (Jonathon)
- We often grow the most when we are placed in a group that isn't like us. (Jonathon)
- "Prayer is a very important part of the Great Commission". (Loren Cunningham, introducing the speaker during Thursday night Ohana Gathering)

Some other things that happened this week:
- Lots of outreach related meetings - how to incorporate the 7 themes of Call2All in outreach, dramas, finance meeting, prayer meeting Tuesdays at 7am (I got to lead it this week), Children's ministry/games workshop, South Africa team meeting, worship practice with South Africa team and we got to see the slide show of the last South Africa team's outreach. It's neat to see some of the places we'll be going to!
- Ohana Gathering - this week the speaker was from Africa and talked about the great turning of the militants in Nigeria! It's awesome what the Lord is doing in Nigeria!
- School of Biblical Studies class on Jonah - always a good time and only 1 week left =(
- A visit to our class from Mark Anderson (the speaker from Week 1 and the leader of Call2All) - discussing opportunities for the future with Call2All

This week was also hard emotionally at times. We continue to deal with Shane's foot. We were pretty sure we were dealing with a broken toe, but a little nervous if it could possibly be a broken foot and wanted to be wise. We had an Occupational Therapist look at it and check it out and called our wonderful medical friend, Roman, back at home for some advice. We started to look into our travel health policy and to make a long story short, they have deemed our policy invalid because of a clause in the small print. Bummer! So, with the favor of the Lord, we got an xray requisition sent for free from a clinic, got an xray with a 65% discount and got the results over the phone for free without having to see a doctor! Woo! Hoo! Indeed, Shane has a broken toe but not a broken foot!

Please pray for the healing of his toe. Right now, he can't walk on it and uses crutches to get around, which is really limiting him. It's a bummer for us in our last few weeks in Hawaii. We have been sitting in the room a lot and not getting off base which makes the weeks on campus long. We need some speedy healing for our upcoming outreach so please pray for healing!

The other aspect that made this week hard was Grandpa's funeral and trying to grieve far away from home. We wrote something for the funeral that was read on our behalf. It was emotional writing it and we cried and smiled when thinking of memories of Grandpa. We were able to read it to our class on the day of the funeral and they gathered around us, prayed for us and hugged us. Please pray for us and our family as we grieve the loss of Grandpa.

So, each week has it's own joys and challenges. We pray that there would be no more death, sickness or injury! Week 11 is all about evangelism which should be a fun time just before outreach!

Here's some pictures of week 10 to enjoy!