Ten Thousand Homes

We’ve now been living with the ministry of Ten Thousand Homes close to White River for two weeks. The base consists of a kitchen, several little cement houses and wooden huts for the volunteers, an outdoor bathroom for everyone, 3 dogs, about 10 full-time volunteers, poinsettia trees (!!) and a lot of red dirt that slowly changes the base color of all of our clothes :). The base of the organization is basically in the middle of nowhere and even though there have been significantly less break-ins in the recent past, we are still advised to have a “bathroom buddy” (one other person in our room) to take with us if we need to go to the potty in the middle of the night… The 6 girls in our team stay in one room that is attached to the main building and therefore stays a little warmer at night than the wooden hut the 3 guys stay at. During the day, the temperatures rise up to mid 70F but at night they drop to about 30F-40F. So far, my favorite personal investment since coming here has been a cheap prissy winter coat, gloves and a hot water bottle!

During the day, our team helps out at the base or within the community. So far, we have helped one of the volunteers finish building their house, prepare food for community dinners and the highly valued African tea time and on Wednesdays and Thursdays we are assisting with orphan feedings within the close communities Dwaleni and Mbonisweni. Several hundred children show up for the feedings – but not only to receive a nourishing meal but even more to soak in love, smiles and piggy-back-rides from the volunteers. This is my favorite time of the week! I have fallen in love with several of the little children with the huge brown African eyes that can melt a heart of stone! I would LOVE to take (at least) one of them home with me…

 

South Africa is such a beautiful country. And while the communities are clothed in simplicity and poverty, the surrounding landscape is painted with the richest colors and stunning beauty. Last Saturday, we were able to rent a blue baki (pick-up truck) to go sightseeing – what an amazing experience! Our trip took us first to God’s Window, a stunning overlook of the entire area where I, believe it or not, met a friend from Calvin College! The world is getting significantly smaller, I believe ;) For lunch, we went to Harry’s Pancakes, where I had some of the best pancakes I have ever tasted (including one filled with juicy beef with almonds and mango chutney and one filled with ice cream and cinnamon). Afterward, we went to the Bourke’s Luck Potholes, some amazing cliff formations and dozens of little waterfalls. And finally, we went to the Blyde River Canyon, the most breath-taking view I have ever seen besides the Grand Canyon and the Hawaiian coral reefs! We all broke out into a sudden yell of amazement when we got to the rim of the canyon… how wonderful when God’s artistic brushstroke of nature catches you by surprise!

Tomorrow, our team is leaving for 5 days in Swaziland. We will be staying with a family with 13 kids, no electricity, no running water and – obviously – no central heating…

Oh, and did I mention that our ENTIRE TEAM is in the middle of KNITTING scarfs for everyone in the Swaziland family? Yeah, we are pretty much the coolest missionaries ever :) 

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer – mine could not be more amazing and meaningful.

Arriving in Joburg, South Africa

At the airport in München

Wow – suddenly we are in South Africa! Well, it actually wasn’t really that “suddenly”…  First, we flew 5 hours to San Francisco, USA, had a 16-hour layover there (where some of us got to explore the city and I almost lost my wallet!), then we flew for 11 hours to Munich, Germany, had some real German cheese cake and Kinderschokolade during our 5-hour layover and finally got on our last leg for almost 11 hours to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. We got picked up from the airport and are staying with the “Joseph Project,” a Christian after school program (part of YWAM) that tries to even
out the shortcomings in education of the public schools in the area. Eungyu (South Korea) and Time (England), who are currently staffing the institution, were wonderful hosts to us from the very beginning! After

In front of the Joseph Project

a good night sleep, we first got to explore the community. Johannesburg is one of the two highest crime rate cities of the world and in our specific neighborhood, pizza does not get delivered anymore after 6pm because it is too dangerous to be outside after sunset… Unfortunately, Joburg shows all of the tragic after effects of the Apartheid: segregation between Whites and Blacks, the gap between rich and poor, and incredibly run-down communities. Since the Apartheid was over, the white people moved out of the cities and created richer and safer communities, while the streets of the cities and many sub-communities are almost exclusively full of black people who are still largely marked by poverty.

Mphu - the guy with the greatest smile!

For these first couple of days of our time in South Africa, our team decided to spend 72 hours in prayer for the community. Switching out in groups of two and meeting together several times a day as a whole group, we spent 3 days worshiping and praying with people all around the neighborhood – what a powerful and cleansing experience! Within these 72 hours, I made great friends with some of the African youths and we learned from each other the different ways that our cultures worship God – and we even got to exchange some African dance vs. swing dance moves :)  

"The Underground" aka our prayer cave :)

Tomorrow we will leave for White River to work with 10,000 homes – an organization that works with children that have lost their parents at a young age (mostly due to HIV) and are now running their households at the age of 8 or younger… 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue our journey... 

LEAVING KONA!

Alright, my team and I are on the way to the airport to leave for South Africa! We will be traveling for over 50 hours... Including almost a day layover in San Francisco and then a 4-hour stop in München...

Please keep our team in your prayers as we start our looooong journey!

Time to Soak in the Beautiful Island of Hawaii!

Kona Art Walk

Could there be something better than an afternoon stroll through an elaborate open-air art exhibition downtown beautiful Kona? Every second Sunday of the month, local artists exhibit their paintings, sell their handmade jewelry and play their music all over downtown and the cars have to find a different way around :)
This is also where I got my ears gaged... just kidding, they are fakes ;)
But seriously: The Art Walk is a wonderful way to indulge in the Hawaiian culture and get some early Christmas presents for your loved ones... and yourself!!

Swimming with Gille Legacy

Do you remember my friend Gille, the Nosepainter, and his wife, Sandi? Gille loves the water but it is not safe for Sandi to get him into the water all by herself -- and therefore he has not been able to get into the water for 25 years. Until two weekends ago when my friend Travis and I took Sandi and Gille to the pier, put him, carried him into the water, laid him onto a floating mat and we all swam together! It was so incredibly wonderful to see him laugh and smile and I felt so honored to be part of making one of this man's hidden dreams come true. If I may quote my dear friend Gille: "It had to take a young girl all the way from Germany to get me back into the water!"
Sometimes it's good to be stubborn, I guess ;)

Lu'au

If you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii, go to a Lu'Au! It's an amazing cultural event that combines good food, wonderful music and colorful dances in one spectacular night! I got the chance to go with all of my roommates, my dear friends Martitza and Travis and take Gille and Sandi as well - the night could not have been more awesome!! And I even learned how to make a fish out of a palm tree leaf...

Two Wheels to Get Around

Guess what -- This is my new way to get around the island:

Well... that was a joke! I love mopeds way too much and so I rented one for super-cheap together with my friend and outreach-companion Evelyne from Switzerland! Ever since, I've been able to do my morning devotions at the beach - what a great way to start the day!

Hilo Side and Mauna Kea Excursion

Our last excursion for the quarter took us first to see the waterfalls on the Hilo side of the island, swim in one of them and get completely rained out ;) Afterwards, at night, we went swimming in a warm pool right by the ocean (where the water is naturally heated up to bathtub temperature) and swam under the stars and surrounded by palm trees... REALLY late at night, we drove up to the volcano Mauna Kea where it was freezing cold and snowy!! We put on several layers and took awesome starry-sky photos and we also learned how to "paint with light."

My Wonderful Friend Sharon (from Switzerland) and I

Dancers Who Dance Upon Injustice :)

My Dance Partner Josiah and I

I'm back in my element - I am leading a dance club :) For the past weeks, I have been able to teach people here on campus how to dance, together with my awesome new dance partner Josiah. He actually already knew how to Swing Dance and he's super fast at picking up any new dance as well - I seem to always be blessed with dance partners who learn so quickly and I am endlessly thankful for that :)

Last Friday, we've hosted a big Swing Dance Fundraiser and raised money for what I like to call our 'Fishing Pole Fund': My vision is to not only go out into the mission field and only be a blessing to the people in South Africa while we are there (like giving them a fish to eat) but to teach them a skill and leave them with something that will be a continuous blessing to the people (like teaching them to fish and leaving them with a fishing pole... in our case this will be school books, disposable cameras or the like).

And you know what's especially great? Josiah is even in my outreach team so we are planning on teaching orphans in South Africa how to Swing Dance... YES, to me, this is what dancing is meant to be!!! I've finally realized that it fulfills me so much more to bring joy to others through my own dance performances or through teaching them how to dance than to "beat someone else" and win the great price in a competition...

Time is flying by...

We are in the middle of week 9 - I cannot believe it! Everyday is full of new learning experiences, work and adventures. So let me share some of my notes with you to fill you in on what I've learned about in class over the past two weeks.

Week 7 - Speaker: John Leech; Topic: The Father Heart of God

Lu'au Fire Dancer

> In Matthew 3:16, God tells us three things about Jesus: "This is my son (1), whom I love (2) and with him I am well pleased (3)." So what can we learn from this passage about God's heart for His people?1. Know our identity, which is in Christ. (We are all sons and daughters of God.)
2. God is not ashamed of you - even when you are. (He still loves us unconditionally, even when we do things that hurt Him.)
3. Do not live FOR God's smile but FROM God's smile. (He does not love us more or less because of our actions - because perfect love never increases or decreases. However, if you truly love God and know He loves you, you will live from his smile and act out of love because you do not ever want to hurt him).

> SHYNESS IS NOT A PERSONALITY TRAIT. IT'S FEAR OF INSUFFICIENCY. 

> Spiritual teachings and Bible readings are not supposed to make you smarter (you don't want to become an obnoxious argumentative Bible thumper) but they should get you closer to your personal and intimate experience with God (regularly meeting with a friend to get to know him better). Understanding (everything) is not a requirement for believing.

> Stop complaining to God about what's wrong with you/wrong with your life and start praising Him for what's right with Him!

> Condemnation is of the destructive, conviction is constructive. Because condemnation connects your sin to your identity (you are a liar). Conviction shows that you are acting outside of your character (you have lied but it's contrary to your character).

Week 8 - Speaker: John Childers, Topic: Spiritual Authority

Geckos aren't always nice. Somehow the scene fits the topic.

> STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS. You will always loose the comparison game at some point (e.g. 'she is more beautiful than I am' or 'he is more popular than I am') because you are not able to be EXACTLY like somebody else. EVEN WORSE: Every time you win a round in the comparison game because your success comes out of and results in PRIDE. Over time, pride hardens your heart over time and makes God's heart cry every single time. Satan's original sin was PRIDE (believing that he would be more powerful than God). C.S. Lewis writes in his book, Mere Christianity, that a woman is not proud because she thinks she is beautiful (NOTHING wrong with that!) but because she thinks she is MORE beautiful than others. For my German readers :) Galater 6:4 "Dann wird er sich über sine guten Taten freuen können, ohne Grund zur Überheblichkeit zu haben." However, all of this leaves me with a bitter taste or at least a worry of what competitive sports are all about - comparison and being better than others. I would highly appreciate any thoughts and comments on this current struggle of mine.

Downtown Kona

> Sin is often very attractive because it brings instant gratification. Staying away from sin is most often hard because it let's you 'miss out' on the moment but it doesn't only keep your mind and soul healthy but also results into delayed gratification. => The comfort of sin is immediate and the destruction of sin is eternal.

> John 1:10 says that God has given us authority. Therefore, God will not do for us what He has already given us authority over to do ourselves. Therefore, don't sit and wait until God works out your problems for you but get up and be the change you want to see in the world :)

Farmers Market

> The good old question: Why does God allow suffering of the "good people" in His world? Try to change the "why" to "how" and ask: How can I still love You even though I do not understand all your ways?

> I had read the scripture Matthew 7:17 many times: "Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit." But today, for the first time, I have realized the definition of fruit: The fruit is not only the what the tree produces (like a good/bad person does good/bad work) but the fruit also carries SEEDS that will cause more trees of the same kind to grow!!

> The opposite of love? Not hate. FEAR! 1 John 4:18 says that perfect love will cast out fear. However, fear will cast out love.

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Downtown Kona

Wow. I am learning so much here and I feel changed from the inside out. Of course, I do not agree with everything that is being said in the lectures. I sometimes even wholeheartedly disagree. However, that is the reason why God has blessed us with the gift of discernment. And one message might touch one person's heart but not mine. As long as well all agree on the foundations, there is room for disagreement. And I have learned one more important lesson: it's ok to disagree, you can still love each other even if you will always have different opinions on certain things. Loving each other is the solution to the destructive power of disagreement :)

God is good all the time - and all the time, God is good.

These last two weeks were very eventful on the emotional side. Lots of tears - but many of them were tears of joy! Let me fill you in on four major things that grabbed my heart:

1. Every Thursday afternoon, we have intercessory prayer time with our entire class. This is something completely new to me and I cannot deny that the first couple of times, I went in quite skeptical. For two hours, we all pray for a certain people group or for a certain change we want to see in the world. But would God really "care" if we were praying or not...? On April 29th, we were praying for the passing of Hawaii's FIRST anti-sex trafficking law. So far, sex trafficked persons have apparently not been protected by the law. For a long time, people had been fighting for it and on Friday we heard that on April 29th, at the time in the afternoon that we had been in the prayer room, the law had FINALLY PASSED. I felt a shiver down my spine - of joy as well as of mystification (just learned that word :) ).

Further info on the matter: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150142551717558&ref=mf and http://www.change.org/petitions/2011-signatures-to-pass-hawaii-anti-human-trafficking-laws-in-2011.

2. Please meet my friend Gille Legacy: He was born in Canada, now lives in Hawaii and is a magnificent painter. The downside: he was born with cerebral palsy and has almost no use of his arms or legs. Until the age of 17, Gille never left the house. However, when he was 8 years old, he found his sister's coloring book on the floor and discovered that he could paint - with his nose! God has blessed Gille with a marvelous talent, a beautiful wife, and a contagious laughter. I have hung out with Gille and his wife Sandi over the past couple of weeks several times at the beach - collecting sea shells, taking pictures of this wonderful couple and learning from them what love is all about. When you meet these two and see the way they love and treat each other, you get peek into the DEPTH of true love. Please check out Gille's website and support him online by purchasing his artwork: http://www.manwhopaints.com/.

3. Two weeks ago, I met Jude and Peterson, two worship leaders from Haiti. Together with YWAM, these two compelling men are devoted to rebuilding Haiti on God's love and truth. One night, I had dinner with Jude and some of my friends. Jude, who always seems to be overflowing with joy and peace, shared that he actually grew up as a slave. He was sold into slavery by his parents to his uncle and was forced to do intense manual labor every day. At some point he was able to buy himself out of his misery. Because of his past, Jude developed an immense heart for getting children out of slavery and providing them with a loving family - the family in Christ. His hope and dream is to rebuild Port au Prince on God's love and truth, and therefore turn the city away from the belief in the gods of voodoo - which has added to the distress and turmoil of the country in the past, according to Jude. Please contact Jude at check out the YWAM Haiti website and consider supporting this wonderful opportunity of rebuilding a city on HOPE. You can contact Jude and Peterson at info@ywamportauprince.com.

Betty - she is not the lady I was writing about
but one of my favorite people at Hope Services!

4. Last but not least is my community outreach experience at Hope Services. Every Tuesday, my group goes to the hang out with, minister to, and teach new skills to the (temporarily) homeless of Kona. Most of the people here are in a transition part of their lives and are looking for hope, peace, and courage to take the next steps. Two weeks ago, my group hosted a "Beauty Night." We were offering haircuts (one girl on our team actually has a license!), manicures and face masks. This night was a big hit and I could see the joy in the people's eyes that came from within. At some point a lady sat down in front of where I was offering the manicures but she did not stretch out her hands. "I am not sure you want to touch me." she said. "I have skin cancer all over my arms and hands." Wow. Immediately I replied that I would not mind at all. Skin cancer is not contagious, so why wouldn't I? But when I started very carefully massaging her scarred arms and hands, barely touching her open wounds, I knew that things are easier said than done. I always said that I wanted to provide shelter for orphans, stand up for the poor and embrace the sick - but for the most part, most of these things have only been a concept to me until now. Actually being in the middle of it took courage and strength - and was rewarded a hundred times by the smile of being valued that can only go out from a person who usually receives rejection instead of embracing. This is the power of giving somebody back their DIGNITY through simple actions. At the end of that night I KNEW that this is exactly what I came for and what I want to do in my life: to be an active missionary wherever I go and speak through my actions, not my words. 


And this is what I hope and pray for you this week: May you be like a cup that God pours His LOVE into until it overflows - so first all the "bad stuff" spills out and then, continuously, His love will spill out from your cup to others :)

Lots of heavy stuff on my mind...

Our Monday morning worship in the Ohana Court

This weekend I took it slow and tried to process some of the heavy subjects we have dealt with in these past three weeks. As I mentioned earlier, week 1 was all about hearing God's voice. And this is still a struggle for me because even though I can feel God's hand guiding my path in many situations throughout my life, I am still having a hard time "talking" to Him (and get an immediate response) or receiving clear guidance on certain subjects that I have been praying about for years. I know God wants me to be here right now - but where does He really want me to go in my life? I know He gave me a great passion for caring for others - but will that be in Germany, the USA or in the mission field? And it is dawning on me that maybe He does not need to speak more clearly but that I might just have to listen more closely...

The topic of week 2 was "Kingdom Sexuality." A very interesting topic - but also very difficult to address for some of the people in our class. And I believe that this second week has changed some of my thoughts as well as strengthened some of my views in mighty ways. Here are two major points that stuck with me:

1. Pornography
I had often heard about this topic but since I personally never struggled with pornography it was simply "not my problem." But it is. It is a problem of our society. It is not only that EVERY TIME people go on the internet to watch pornography, they support the pornography industry that robs the prostitutes and playboy actors of their self-worth, their dignity. But the people who seek out pornography also do massive damage to their own souls. By watching a one-dimensional virtual fantasy, they are affecting their own worldview of what sex is like. Over time, this changes people's expectations of sex and of love itself. As a result, people cannot help but carry some of these skewed values into their own relationships. Thus, many relationships and marriages of "normal people" today fail because the two individuals in the relationship have a wrong view of either a) how one should act and therefore "deliver" or b) what one can expect and therefore request of the other person. It makes me sick to realize that unrealistic ideas that are skewed by the media have caused God's heavenly gift of "making love" to be degraded to "casual sex."

2. ... And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
This is the "pathway to freedom," as our speaker, Kenny Jackson, put it. God has a very hard time getting through to us if we carry bitterness in our hearts. Forgiving another person often does even a greater good in the person who forgives than the person who is forgiven. Important: DO NOT dig up things from the past and hold them against a person if you have already forgiven him/her for it. And here is what struck me:
Several times in my life I have felt wrongly treated and have hoped to be asked for forgiveness by the one who hurt me. BUT Kenny Jackson highlighted that often the victim also needs to ask for forgiveness because he/she LET the other person hurt him/her. That means, by not speaking up in a situation that I could have, I ALLOWED the other person to take advantage of me and thus to sin. I have never looked at it that way and need to meditate more on it. It looks like I will have to ask some people for forgiveness...

Week 3 was Corporate Week. The founders of YWAM, Loren and Darlene Cunningham together with their friend David Hamilton, were the speakers for the week to the entire campus. Once again, I want to mention two points that stuck out to me.

1. You Cannot Steer a Parked Car
I have often heard the term "waiting on the Lord."And I have encountered people who have been sitting back and waited to hear from God about what to do in their lives before they would get up and do anything. And because they "do not hear anything," they remain seated. But God IS calling us already. He would like to give us directions but if we do not move forward, eager to hear His voice, He cannot guide our path. Just as you cannot steer a parked car.

2. Love Is a Choice
We often hear people talk about "falling in and OUT of love." Why is it then that some couples stay together even after the "butterflies" are gone? Or are they simply super-humans and the lovey-dovey feeling just never left them? The answer to this hit me like a hammer because of its simplicity:
Imagine a train. In a healthy relationship, your WILL is the LOCOMOTIVE, your MIND is the COAL WAGON and your FEELINGS are the CARS. If you choose to love someone for who he/she is (steering locomotive) and you devote your time, your life to this person (empowering source), then feelings of true love will follow (cars). However, if you try to let your lovey-dovey feelings rule your decisions (thus, you are letting your cars steer your locomotive), then you will most likely end up with a train-wreck.
Therefore: Guys, go and buy your girls flowers for no reason. Ladies, invite your husbands to go watch his favorite sports game. Because it's the little things and the constant practice of loving each other that make your love last. 

My wonderful roommate Grace took this series for a class assignment