Aloha! Kona week 1
Aloha dear friends from one of the most beautiful places on earth. I don't mean to make you jealous, but seriously.. this place! I feel so blessed and privileged every day when I wake up, that I get to be here. It is everything that you could imagine and more: our balcony overlooks the mountain; you can sit in the open air dining hall watching the sun setting over the ocean every day; 10 mins walk or so, and you get to the beach; there are birds chirping and palm trees everywhere you look; the plumeria trees have the most beautiful flowers growing on them (see picture); it is hot but not too hot (mostly 25-30 degrees).
And that's just Hawaii! The University of the Nations is something else altogether - people gathered from nations all across the earth, of all ages, cultures and stories and yet who all love Jesus and love each other! It's the most incredible thing: every meal time I get to sit down with different people from different countries and hear amazing stories of God's faithfulness and of how He's brought them to this place. Many of them speak all sorts of languages and have travelled around the world themselves so have vision, expectation and passion for God, for people and for life!
I feel incredibly favoured and blessed to be here. God has provided me with wonderful roommates too - there are 4 of us: two from the US, one from Vietnam and myself. It is such a joy to spend time with them and I am excited to see what God will do amongst us as a whole class but particularly within our little group. We're already having so much fun together, and this is only week 1!!
The Crossroads class is made up of people of many ages from many nations. I am definitely one of the youngest, a considerable number have children in their 20s and there are quite a lot of grandparents in the group too! It's great though, because there is so much life experience in the group so I have many many amazing godly men and women to learn from and be inspired by! I never want to be the wisest or most experienced person in the room. "If you're the wisest person in the room, you're in the wrong room!" Trust me, this will never happen here - these people are incredible and I want to posture myself to sit at God's feet and learn from Him and from all He has to teach me through them.
So what do I do on a day-to-day level? Well our timetable starts at 8am with prayer/worship/intercession. We then have class from 9am-2.30pm with a break for lunch. I am free from then on, except for corporate gatherings a couple of evenings per week. My work duty is in the coffee shop on-site, which is a full weekend every other weekend. This is great because it means that I have free time every afternoon and I get to meet people throughout the campus through making coffee for them. We have a fun team from our class on shift at the same time so I'll get to know and serve alongside a different group of people. During free time so far, I have: walked down to the local beach and gone snorkelling; read by the pool; spent time in the prayer room; walked ocean-side to watch the sunset; hung out with my roomies and other friends from my school; sat on the balcony to read/journal/pray. I am living in a dream. This is it!!
Things to pray for:
- Thankfulness for God's provision to me and His goodness and kindness.
- My course leaders (Tim and Wanda Madden). They are amazing and have been doing this for as long as I have been alive! Please cover them in prayer as they seek God on our behalf and serve us so tirelessly.
- Me and my roomies (Abby, Lisa and Thuy) that our room would be a haven of God's presence and that we would continue to have a great time doing life together.
- Continued good health
- That my spirit would be humble and teachable, that as I sit at my Father's feet I wouldn't miss anything He has to say to me.
- That I would bless, strengthen and encourage all those I come into contact with.
Thank you for your prayer and the incredible way you all continue to uphold me. I am so grateful for all of you. You are the best! Please keep sending me messages - the 10 hour time difference means that every morning when I wake up, I often get to read messages from you, which I love!
Have a wonderful Friday and weekend.
So much love,
Hannah xxx
