Ink Drop

Today we began a week long celebration here in Kona - YWAM turned 50... We had flags to represent the 209 nations from which we have come, and a time to pray for the nations not yet represented... It was touching to see closed nations represented... from the Middle East, Central Asia, all over, really! But my heart really came alive when the brought it home to the last group - Oceania! We were encouraged to cheer for the nations for which we have a passion, or we are from... and I feel such a LOVE for my Pacific Island family... I was jumping up and cheehoo-ing for Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, because I have been to these nations... but then I was jumping up and cheehoo-ing for the other nations I have not yet visited, because I still have been praying for them!

Then, as we turned to a time of worship and prayer, I felt like God gave me a picture of the Word going from the Pacific to other nations... It was like those cool pictures of Ink drops in water with backlighting... You know the ones... But it was this drop into the ocean surrounding the Islands, and it wasn't long before the color had been mixed in throughout the entire world, but it was still most concentrated in the Pacific, and from there it was coloring the rest of the waters - all the way around the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean... every body of water was stained from this one little ink drop in the Pacific. I know it sounds a little airy-fairy and crazy, but I really feel this picture is from God! I really believe that if Pacific Islanders catch a fresh passion for the Truth of God's Word, it will spread to the rest of the world! Lord, let it be.

And speaking of God's Word... Our books we will be teaching next quarter are out, and I am pleased to share that I will be teaching Zephaniah in February and Esther in March!

Looking forward to being home for Christmas holidays, but I'm also really grateful for the family I have that is called YWAM... Youth With A MISSION!

My love affair with food

I have to confess something...

I have a crush on food. Good food, that is.

I seriously love food so much, you might call it infatuation, but it is L-O-V-E love.

However, living as a missionary, I don't always get to spend quality time with the object of my affection... I eat cafeteria food most days that reminds me of Adam Sandler's SNL song, "Lunch Lady Land." But, since I moved out of dorm living and into a house with a wonderfully large kitchen, I've been indulging a bit! I still try to eat most meals on campus to save money, but my stomach was begging me to make something fresh and semi-healthy at home.

Tonight on campus was leftovers and crap (oops, I mean crab) salad. I don't mean to sound ungrateful... for the amount of people the campus feeds, its amazing the food turns out as good as it does. But, the crab salad is just not one of their specialties... So, I skipped everything from the dinner line except a plateful of lettuce, picked up some chicken breast and a jalapeno from Sack n Save, and home I went.

I had leftovers in the fridge of different things, so I added it all together and came up with these amazing tacos that made my heart skip a beat they were so beautiful. I was so giddy as I browned the chicken meat in glorious butter and chopped leftover tomato and onion up for the pico de gallo...

I have my roommate Bridget to thank for having us over to her parents' coffee farm yesterday where we were loaded up with lemons, oranges, lilikoi, and fresh herbs. I used some lemon and cilantro from the farm in my tasty pico de gallo.

Okay, you might be thinking... "Jill, these are just tacos!" It's true.

They are just plain old chicken tacos that anyone could make.

But, to me,

they are a slice of heaven.

Want the recipe?

Judges

I taught in the Chronological School of Biblical Studies this week on Judges 4-5! I was super nervous, but I think it went well... I guess you'd have to ask the students. Next quarter I will be teaching one or two books, but we haven't divided them up yet. Anyway, here's some photos from my teaching time.

this post is dedicated to my awesome parents!

Stan and Iris Wellman married 32 years ago... love you two!

***

my new kitchen!

our FREE table & chairs (not bad, eh?)

Our FREE lanai (deck) furniture and living room furniture

Sunset from our lanai

I have a new place I'm renting in the community with two other girls. It's awesome. Every day God brings more things to fill up this home... today I found a perfect trash can at the "boutique." The boutique is a place on our campus where everyone gives away all their old stuff they don't want anymore and then other people can come and take whatever they like for free. Its always stocked with so many people coming and going. But in the middle of the quarter, it is usually hard to find good stuff, so a perfectly good flip-top trash can for my shared bathroom was a pleasant surprise and will replace my plastic grocery bag hanging from the door handle quite nicely.

I also was given $70 yesterday from another SBS staff, along with a note that she was glad I was staffing with her... the money meets a very real need, but the encouragement was much more valuable to me. I've been feeling kind of like an outsider because everyone in our staff team have been in school together for 9 months already, they have inside jokes and funny stories from last year's school... and I just was kind of feeling sorry for myself, to be honest. So... the note and the money was a real encouragement that I am not on the outside, and a kick in the pants to stop the pity party!

SO, ANYWAY...

to the point of the post:

Honestly, I say it is only God who provided my new place to live, which is true! However, there are many people who have been God's hands in meeting my needs for years as a missionary. And I would not have been able to pay the first months rent and deposit if my parents had not helped me out. They are seriously such an encouragement and reflection of God's heart to me, and they constantly bless many others also, for that matter. They love the Lord, they love each other, and they love ME! They recently celebrated 32 years of marriage and I am so blessed to be their daughter.

Mom and Dad, I love you SO much!!!

God answers prayer!

Just need to share about God's faithfulness displayed in my life recently!

Prayed for transportation - God blessed me with a car!

Prayed for a home in the community - Just moved in to a house last night!

Prayed for more opportunities to share God's love in the community - this will take bit longer, but he is answering this one in MANY ways!

One opportunity was yesterday when I went to open an account at Central Pacific Bank (we don't have banks from the mainland in Hawaii.) After sorting out the account stuff, I asked the lady who dealt with new accounts where she was from. She shared she was from Thailand, and I said, "I was just in Chiang Rai a few months ago!" Then she said, "I used to live in Chiang Rai!!!" Her name is Pulichan and she has been in Hawaii for many years, got married and raised her children here. She said she loved what the University of the Nations students do around the world, and also here in Hawaii, and asked what I do at the University. I said, "I am a staff teacher in the School of Biblical Studies," and she shared that her brother in law had mailed her and her husband a big New King James Version Bible, but it was hard for her to understand. We then talked about why the UofN students and staff help people around the world.... she said her big concern was young girls in Northern Thailand being trafficked into prostitution, and then also how there are kids going hungry here in Kona. I said, "the Bible has a lot to say about loving God and loving people, so we (in YWAM/UofN) do what we do because God loved us and so we respond in love to him and other people. There's plenty of opportunities to get involved in giving back to the community if you want to know more. I think we would have kept talking for an hour, but there was another new account customer waiting to meet with her, so I said, "Sawadeekah," and bowed to her (wai) and she said, "Its so nice to talk with you, please do come back so we can talk more." I could tell she wanted to talk longer because her face was so lit up and full of excitement, but she changed her expression, shook my hand and said, "If you have any questions about your account, give me a call!"

How's THAT for God answering prayer?! Who would have thought I would have a chance to share God's love during a "tedious" bank session? Pray for Pulichan and her family! I don't know what sort of relationship (if any) they have with God, but it seems God is really reaching out to her.

Also, I asked for prayer for our CSBS students to get a heart for the community in Kona, and this morning we had a time of prayer and intercession for the Hawaiian Islands, and many students felt God wanted them to give out as they receive so much from the Word. So cool!

Conclusion: God answers prayer. I know there might be some "buts" running through your mind and you are right.. sometimes the answer we receive is not what we expect or want... but nonetheless, God is faithful. He hears and answers our prayers.