Lady in wheelchair

Today’s weather had been windy, raining and cold! Yes it is unimaginable in Hawaii! While we were having lunch on the outdoor bench, a small tree branch fell onto my friend’s plate! It had been a rather intense week with constant learning. My mind is saturated with what I’ve learnt which is yet to be processed!Frankly, I tried to write about it but did not know where to start. It's hard expressing experiences in words! Maybe just for me! haha! Last week, one of our community outreach involved going to University of Hawaii and we have to talk to at least one random person and discuss about God. And it is one of my biggest fear! Haha! Lucky that I had an easy one, I saw a lady on a wheelchair who was trying to put her books into the bag and she was struggling due to her deformed joints (rheumatoid arthritis). It is pretty impressive that she is doing Master of fine arts and photography! Basically she said that her lecturer and classmates helped her a lot with everything. I asked if she is religious. She said yes she is a Christian and told me that without God she wouldn’t be here doing what she is doing. I’m just so encouraged and inspired after talking to her; the courage that she had in pursuing her dream, her trust and surrender in God, her gratitude despite being physically handicapped and the hope that she has!

Photos...

Nervous vibe, waiting to find out which country we are going to go in April for our outreach/mission!

Team Philippine! Will be helping out the typhoon victims! Looking forward to it!

Some parts of Hawaii at Manoa Valley, where YWAM Honolulu is situated

The blue building is called the tin cathedral, where we meet for our lectures..praise and worship

River of Life Family Centre

Well well, I have been struggling to wake up in the morning and been pretty tired! Nonetheless, today had been a great day, helping out at the River of Life Family Centre which caters showers and meals for the homeless people at Chinatown. It looks like a quaint little cafe with very welcoming interior design. We had about 300 homeless people come in for their meals and free showers! Basically we help out with the cleaning of the tables and the place! It's so encouraging to hear stories from the people there! One guy told me that he became homeless because of himself. He was once married and he did something that caused his wife leaving him. They got a divorce and he lost his job and had given most of his 'fortune' to his wife. When speaking to the owner of the centre, he shared heaps of stories! His aim is to feed the homeless so that they don't starve and think of doing irrational ways to get food which may involve stealing..robbery. So, the centre aims to decrease the crime rates of the area as well. One day he say a man pacing back and forth outside the door looking intently at the centre. He invited the man to come in and fed him. He was so thankful and admitted that he was about to rob the place! And, initially, the business people around Chinatown hated the centre as they accused it of bringing useless people and crimes to the area. After many years of noticing the positive changes, some of the business people are starting to support the centre. Before we left, we talked to a guy who used to be the 'gangster' of the area. He used to chase people down the streets with a hammer besides selling drugs and meth! One day the owner talked to him and invited him to the centre and he agreed to go through the rehab programmed offered there. Now, he's working at the centre. So some of my team mates and I will be volunteering at the centre every Wednesday for 3 months! It is a good experience as it challenged me to still love, honour and not judge them. Yes some may be stuck in the state of being homeless and not wanting to do anything about it and some got to that state as a consequence of their choices. Whatever it is, every human is precious to God and we have no right to judge and treat them any different. Also, everyone has their own journey to go through and none of us are better than the other. What we can do is do our best in little things everyday such as showing kindness and grace, listening to people, respect people and loving people. And it is a challenge and I know I can't do it without seeking God and be guided by Him. Zzzz....going off to sleep now!!

Feeling it now..

Second day of classes and I'm feeling it now! It has been exciting and draining at the same time, I guess from learning so much and also adjusting to the routine here! The good thing about here is I don't have to cook! Yay!!And they cook healthy food here! But being a big eater, I have a secret stash hidden somewhere in my room! Oh yeah, some nights, I can hear rats scurrying in the ceiling and my room mate is so scared that it's going to come out between the cracks of the ceiling and drop onto her since she sleeps on the top bunk bed! Personally, I think the rat will be too fat for the tiny cracks! Yesterday had been fun, waking up at 7 am for breakfast and then did our devotions/journalling between 7.30 am to 8.30 am. Then we had lectures on 'how to hear from God' and it's really interesting and mind-renewing! In the afternoon we have work duties from 1.30 pm to 4.30pm. We were all divided into groups to help out in areas of gardening, vehicle maintenance, kitchen-cooking, painting and etc. I'll be helping out at the hospitality department which means I'll get the rooms ready for the guests speakers and clean after they leave. It's a nice unit with 4 rooms and with kitchen, a lounge room, and 3 toilets/bathrooms. If you ever watched the movie 'Maid in Manhattan' I'm sort of like Jennifer Lopez! I'll be doing the laundry, clean the toilet, refill coffee/tea, making the bed, cleaning the house after the guests left or when there are guests coming! I really enjoyed it as I'll be doing it mostly alone or with the help of another staff, it will be 'my' time since I'm with people all the time! I discovered the prayer room! Inside, we can read or play guitar and there's a piano in there too! Wohoo! People sometimes hang out here if they want their 'alone' time! I'm now here with Katrina from Canada jamming (she's playing the guitar) and me on the piano. Will update with pictures soon!

Orientation

Today we had a proper run down about our course and I feel like I'm going back to school again! But it is pretty exciting at the same time because we are not just studying any book but the book of life and getting to know the giver of life! In general, we have breakfast at 7am from Monday to Friday except for the weekends which is 8 am. Then, we have devotion time from 7.30 am to 8.30 am when we read the given passages and journal what we get out of it. Twice a week we are involved in community outreach/evangelism ( homeless ministry, tutoring ministry, soup kitchen, university ministry). We also have lectures everyday, and work duty once a week which involves cleaning, helping to maintain the yard and vehicle, cooking breakfast etc. There are also team time and small groups. So, it's pretty intense but we get Saturday and Sunday free! On Sunday we will have to attend local church in the morning. Looking forward to start all these next week! Tonight, everyone has to go up onto the stage and share their testimony! So many people come for different reasons but mainly to grow in their relationship with the big boss aka Father up there! One of the girls inspire me with her courage and faith. Her father has tumour and is undergoing treatment, but she knows that she has to come here. She felt at peace when she prayed about it. She decided to come anyway even though her dad could die anytime and of course she's worried about him. We gathered around her and prayed for her. It's amazing to see such courage in her and we would not have known because she's such a cheerful and bubbly girl! Anyway, I trust that next week is going to be a great week just downloading what God has in store for us and also applying what we have learnt!

Some pictures..

The first picture shows my bed (red bed sheets), there will be 3 other people sharing the room with me!

2nd picture - lounge area of our house (can house up 20 girls)

3rd picture- part of the hawaii (ala moana beach)

4th picture- some of my intake mates from Canada, United States, Switzerland, Norway and me the only one from Malaysia/Australia (Maustralian???)! There are 3 more students to come! All of them 18-20 years old..oh gosh! I'm a big sister! Haha

First day at Honolulu

I'm still alive!! Flight was good and I pretty much slept the whole way and now I'm still tired..jet lag! Weather is cool around 28 degrees and the whole environment reminds me of Malaysia but less sweaty and less hot which is nice! I'll post pictures soon! Apparently there are 18 students and I'm the only Asian one, I know I'm special! I have met 2 Norwegian students already and learnt that mart means food and vulkan means volcanoes! We went to Wal-mart (aka Kmart/BigW) and I bought my pillows and beddings! We got on the wrong bus and spent 1 hour on the scenic route! Took 2 hours to get back to the base! Guess what guys, highlight of the day: Each of us carried pillows waiting for the bus and a lady overheard us talking and told me, you don't look like it but you sound Australian (Score!!!), wow, she picked that up even though it's tainted with Asian accent! I'm pretty impressed with her and my half-baked Australian English! And there are so many Asians here especially Japanese, some guy at the airport tried to speak Japanese to me! I just shrugged and he apologised for thinking I'm Japanese. Haha! Looking forward to meet the rest of the students tomorrow!! And by the way, I'm the oldest in this intake! -.-!