Aloha, oy!

Well, it has been an eventful week here in Hawaii.

I arrived on Thursday night last week exhausted from an 8 hour layover in Calgary and ready to fall into my bed, which was the second bunk out of all our 3 layered bunks.  It's pretty sweet.   Look below for a short video tour that I made of where I live! :)

On Saturday night, we found out that we would be going on an "Exodus" expedition.  Before we left, we had a scavenger hunt all throughout the Island and ended our adventure on a volcano in a place called Iao Valley. It is this really awesome place that has representation of all the different ethnicities that are represented on Hawaii. So there are a bunch of houses that are built in the style of each ethnicity. We started our chat in a japanese house with a wonderful hawaiian lady named Momi. (Moe-Mee) She filled us in on Hawaiian culture and how to respect the island. Then we moved to the Philipino house and from there we spread out and spent our first "Quiet Time" with God.  I felt very disconnected during my time.. I have been trying to escape my thoughts because of everything that I left behind when I came here.  It was pretty discouraging, but when we gathered together again to share, the three people who shared spoke right to my heart. I shared about that and officially kicked off our DTS with the first tears. Haha.. I think God just really wanted to speak to me and remind me that He is part of my life.

We went out to the wilderness and camped right beside the ocean.  It was incredible! Each day we had an hour set aside to spend with God, hearing his voice and reading his word. I loved it.  On one of our days, we hiked up a mountain. It was absolutely amazing! On the way back down, I caught my ankle on a root and heard it pop in three places.  I forgot to take a picture of the golf ball sized lump on my foot, but the bruising is still very beautiful.

I finally went to the doctor today (the $300+ bill made me extremely appreciative of Canadian healthcare) and discovered that it could be fractured.  I will have to return in a week and have xrays again to find out if it is fractured.

Today I found out where my outreach is! It's in Asia and I am extremely excited to bond with my team and to actually leave to go there. Anyways, if you really want to know more details, you can always email me:)

So far in my time here, I have really been humbled by everything that has happened in this short week. Through my ankle, I have been forced to allow people to serve me.  It sounds really stupid, but I am really bad at receiving blessings and accepting help.  I don`t like to be vulnerable so it has been a really trying time.

Anyways, I am just so incredibly grateful and blessed by everything and everyone here.  I love every single person here, and I feel like we are a family.  I'm already getting sad thinking about the fact that I will only have 3 months in total with some of them, but I'm making the most of our time together.

Prayer:
My ankle is a huge setback, and as much as I have seen how God can use it to speak, I don't believe that it is what He wants for me right now.  I have been praying, and the girls here have been praying over it with me for a speedy recovery and a complete healing.

I am slightly worried about raising support. I know that God will provide. Pray that I won't allow this small detail to distract me from learning and hearing what God has for me in this time.

I miss you all soo much and I love you even more!
Blessings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Love,
Ehjae