So when I told people I was going on a mission trip to Hawaii, most of them kind of laughed it off with a "yeah right" kind of smirk, and I have to admit, for a mission trip it was pretty cushy. We stayed in a super nice house on a golf course and had a crew cab z71 to drive around as much as we wanted. Not quite the same digs my friends on the Haiti team (praying for you guys...come home safely!) are staying in this week, but upon getting settled in and getting started, it became evident what a place of need we were in.
Hawaii has a reputation for being this tropical paradise where life is perfect and is nothing more than a getaway for the rich and famous. Nothing could be further than the truth. Somebody has to work at the airports, somebody has to tend the grounds at the golf courses, somebody has to drive the boats, somebody has to work at the resorts, and everything else in between. So, while the tropical paradise reality exists, there is another side that the tourist types never see.
That was the side we got to see.
The island of Lanai is a really small island that used to be a pineapple plantation. Not going to go into a lot of detail about the history of the place, but it's not a pineapple plantation anymore and most of the people that live there work at the resorts. There's a good bit of poverty on the island and seeing as tourism is their main source of income, and the tourism industry is kind of taking a hit because of the economy, people are having to leave the island to find work and things like that. So it's not exactly the tropical paradise a lot of people expect it to be.
I say all of that to kind of set the scene for the incredible week we had. God definitely showed up and did an incredible work there on the island and also in my own life.
So here goes:
What we actually did was a music camp. From 8:30 in the morning until noon I hung out with anywhere between 18 and 25 kids while they learned a bunch of new songs, several of which were nothing more than just Bible verses set to music. Also, let me say this: I hate children's music. But, seeing those kids get so excited about the fact that people were there to invest in their lives and spend time with them, but way more importantly, seeing them get so fired up about the Bible made it completely and totally worth it.
I got to know several of the kids, and they were so much fun to hang out with. One in particular, a kid named Kalei, was so much fun to watch. He started off the week as kind of a troublemaker who was really hyper and didn't really want to do what everyone else did, but throughout the week he got more and more in to what was going on and finally by Friday night, when we did the program for all the kids parents, he was up there singing his heart out and dancing and just going on and having a blast. Same story with several other kids.
We also saw several kids accept Christ. I'm not really sure how it works when kids get saved...I mean honestly I speak from my own experience because when I was 8 or 9 I really didn't understand the concepts of spiritual death and new life and being a new creation and grace and anything like that. BUT - in spite of that, the Gospel was presented and something was obviously going on in those kids lives. On top of that, for the kids who didn't necessarily respond, I have no doubt seeds were planted. It was so cool to see the things God was doing in the kids lives, and then having the chance to see the Gospel proclaimed to their parents.
The other thing that really stood out to me was David Crim and his wife, Cindy. David is the pastor at Lanai Baptist Church, and what God is doing on the island through them is incredible. They are reaching out to people, getting to know them, inviting into their home. I believe, and have for a while, that effective ministry is done relationally, and that's definitely what's happening there. It seemed like they knew everyone.
God moved in me in a big way, too. He started to convict me of some things in my own life, particularly concerning my prayer life. I'm interested to see where this goes.
Outside of the music camp, we got to see some pretty cool sights in Lanai. The beaches were beautiful, the ocean itself is phenomenal. We got to go up on a mountain and saw a wrecked naval ship (they obviously were not in the same place). Just the thought of being able to look out over the ocean and see another island was breathtaking. I mean words really can't describe the sights, and I wish they could. During the process of seeing the sights, I also found a couple of geocaches, which was pretty amazing.
Finally, as an added bonus, I got to spend Saturday with my friend Anella. We worked at Malibu together in 2007 and we have been pretty good at keeping up over the years. It just so happened that were both on Maui at the same time, so I rented a car and drove to her condo and we just spent the day swimming and reading and getting totally sunburned. It was so encouraging and refreshing to get to see her.
This post didn't turn out the way I had hoped, but mostly because I just can't find the words to describe it. Hopefully I can get a hold of the pictures from the trip, which should be able to describe it a little better. But it was an incredible trip and one I will remember forever.
Mahalo (thanks) for reading.
-chanchan
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