South Pacific

And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’

Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:19-20

I'm excited to share that I am returning to Fiji for my fourth time and Samoa for my third time! I will be co-leading a School of Biblical Studies Teaching Outreach Team from the 30th of June to the 28th of August. We have three students:

• Catherine - an Indian Fijian from Suva
• Michael - a Messianic Jew from New York City
• and Simon - a Korean American from Seattle

And there is Rachel, our beautiful and talented co-leader, who is from Manitoba, and myself, Jillian, from SW Washington.

I put the photo of the fish up because this seems to be the theme in preparing for outreach.

There is an old saying,

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime."

We have been thinking about what our goals as an SBS outreach should be... and the biggest goal is not preaching and teaching the Bible in the traditional sense. The biggest goal is teaching people HOW to study the Bible for themselves. That is what we can leave with the people. Rachel and I, as the leaders, will therefore facilitate and organize as many opportunities for our three students to teach as possible... but our goals in teaching are not simply experience for our students nor entertainment for our audience. Our goals are that the people we teach are left with a desire to study God's Word for themselves and to apply it, and that there would be changed lives in Fiji and Samoa!

On a personal level, I haven't returned to Samoa in over 4 years. When I left in early 2007, I had plans to return for the South Pacific Games in August that same year. My brother's death on Mother's Day 2007 drastically changed my life, and I was not ready to return to the islands that summer. I needed to stay home with family a bit longer. Now, 4 years down the road, I am fulfilling a promise I made to friends in Samoa, and I am coming back! My friend, Kika, a pregnant 17 year old single girl, decided to name her daughter after me. When I return, Kiki will be 21 and there will be a 4 year old little girl named Jillian running around Savai'i. Oh boy. I feel God has been so faithful to bring me back to this place I love.

I believe I've mentioned this before, but I will be staying behind for 2 extra months in Samoa after the outreach is over. The students will head home August 28th, but I will be staying to serve YWAM Samoa in teaching, cooking, and helping however I can. This was something I felt the Lord put on my heart, and it seems the Samoan Base Directors are as excited about it as I am! This extended outreach is approved by my leadership in Kona, as they feel it is a way SBS Kona can be a blessing to Samoa and it is also an opportunity to seek potential contacts for a future SBS located IN the South Pacific! The Base Directors have already invited me to speak for a week in their Discipleship Training School on the topic of Inductive Bible Study. I'm excited to see what God does in that time!

So please pray for our team. We are starting into the New Testament this quarter, and we will also be doing outreach preparation throughout the quarter... pray our students' lives are transformed through the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, and that they would be able to pass it on not only during their "outreach" but in every day of their lives!

Pray for our finances, too. Simon and Mike and Rachel have their fees - praise God! It is only Catherine (from Fiji) and I who need to see money come in to purchase flights. But we know God is faithful and we have seen him provide so many times before!

My Itinerary will look like this:

Kona - Honolulu - Fiji - Samoa - Portland (via Los Angeles)

It will cost me approximately $2000 for all of these flights - the same cost as if I were returning to Kona. So basically, I am getting a flight home for the holidays thrown into the deal. I will head straight home to Washington from Samoa for November and December then will return to Kona at the beginning of January 2012. Most of my monthly support I receive, okay, all of it, is enough to pay my monthly expenses. Unfortunately, I do not have an outreach savings hiding away somewhere, so I need pretty much $2000 to be able to go on outreach. The ground fees are no worries because my monthly support will take care of these. But the flights are an additional cost. Please pray about giving towards this amount.

Catherine needs her entire 3rd Quarter tuition before she can pay anything towards outreach, so she needs a bit more money! Coming from Fiji, though she was an accountant in Suva, her money just does not go as far as American dollars. Pray that finances don't hinder what God is calling Catherine to do.

Please pray for unity and clear communication within our team and with our hosts in Fiji and Samoa, that God would be glorified through our ministry, not us!

Akua ho'omaika'i oe!!!

Jillian

Long over-due update

Aloha!

It's been a while since I have written, so a lengthy update is due. Sit down with a cuppa and enjoy! This past quarter has been a busy one, to say the least.

I taught two books:

Zephaniah - a Prophet that warns Judah as they are spiraling downward towards exile to repent so they might be hidden on the day of the Lord.

and

Esther - The story of God's providence and sovereignty in a Jewish Queen of Persia who saved the Jews from annihilation. The story also tells of the origins of the Jewish Holiday "Purim."

Here's a photo of my neighbors, Isaac and Lucas who came to visit as I was preparing my teaching for Esther. They came dressed up as action heros... so I decided to put my Queen Esther costume on and play for a while. I of course was shot repeatedly by imaginary pistols.

Not quite the Purim story... But nonetheless, we had fun.

Speaking of Isaac & Lucas, here's a photo of Isaac holding an Anole Lizard.

These boys live in the downstairs home and their parents are also YWAMers and very involved in their church, Living Stones. Their mom, Jane, is Danish and bakes AMAZING treats for my roommates and I all the time... she's really too good to us. And their father, Andrew, is always giving us meat as he hunts wild pigs and sheep around the island. You may have seen him on "Hogs Gone Wild" on the Discovery Channel. He's the Australian bloke leading the Kona, Hawaii team. If you haven't seen it yet, please watch it and show your kokua (support)!!! Andrew and Jane and their boys have been a great family to me and I feel really blessed to know them. I've babysat a few times, and I seriously tell them I can't wait to babysit more. Being around the boys brings such joy and adventure (and mischief) to my life!

Another major event this quarter was the devastating Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. We did have a warning system here in Hawaii that sounded soon after reading the news of Japan, and indeed, we had tsunami surges and risings up to 11 feet higher than what is normal, causing millions of dollars worth of damage to hotels, small businesses, homes, and property. But, thanks to the advanced Tsunami Warning Sirens and Evacuation plans, we had no loss of life in Hawaii, and for that we are very grateful. This is a photo I took of the asphalt by King Kamehameha Hotel and the Kona Pier after the Tsunami.

Lastly, now that I've shared where I've been, let me share where I'm going.

Our students finished their last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, on Saturday and are now studying Matthew. To see their faces light up as they talk about how much Jesus makes sense in light of the Old Testament brings so much joy to my heart. It reminds me of when I first "got it."

We will have a Spring Break for 7 days starting next Thursday, in which I will be preparing some teaching and also taking some time to hopefully do some scuba diving and hiking and other outdoor things... I feel I've been under the fluorescent lights of this office & our classroom far too long... you would never know by my skin tone that I live in HAWAII!!! ;)

I will be teaching 4 books for the New Testament: 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and Philemon. Small letters, but oh-so-powerful!!!

And I am gearing up to co-lead an SBS outreach team to Fiji & Samoa from June 30-August 28, so that's another thing on the horizon that I will tell you more about later.

That's the latest from Jillian - always a little late, but always with lots of love and aloha!!!

Breaching Whales and Jesus

I'm still in awe.

I just witnessed the most magnificent breaching of a humpback whale from my lanai as I was leisurely enjoying my breakfast. I've seen whales quite frequently this season, even saw some yesterday by the pier with one of my students as we were sitting on the sea wall talking. But this one topped it all. And I was the only person to see it from this view.

Afterwards, I ran to get my camera because I thought it would be awesome to catch a whale breaching on camera to brag about how great I have it here in Hawaii. But the whale was finished with the show and did not resurface for an encore. And as I was still waiting with my camera in position, I felt the Lord gently rebuke me. "That was something special between you and me, Jillian," he said. "Why would you want to ruin the moment by running off to get your camera, only so you might boast of your situation?" He was right. The joy and sheer pleasure of witnessing such a beautiful show in God's Creation was cut short the moment I ran for my camera. It became a task rather than a moment to relish the relationship I have with the Creator of both the whale and me! He's been teaching me a lot lately about the preciousness of personal relationship with him. While my heart's desire is to share him with the world, there are times we need just between him and I, just like any human relationship... Simple stuff perhaps, but I guess I needed the reminder today.

So... no photos of the whale, but that's okay because I know you can have your own special moment between you and Jesus, and it will be much more special than seeing a second-hand one from a proud and boastful Jillian who is still learning the art of humility and simple enjoyment of moments such as these (and isn't a gifted photographer, anyway!)

My prayer is that we would all be able to recognize those special moments with our Creator for what they are - moments to be in awe of who he is and to receive the love he has for us. May we never cheapen them to anything less.

Jillian

PROPHETS

Here's a quick update!

The C-SBS is going great in their 2nd quarter. They are studying the Prophetic Books this Quarter and learning all about how to correctly interpret these books based on the historical context and what we know of history since the books were written. Awesome stuff.

I'll be teaching ZEPHANIAH on February 7th, so please keep me in your prayers as I prepare for this 2.5 hour lecture time.

I'll also be teaching ESTHER later this quarter (during the "Exile") so stay tuned. This quarter is going to be a challenging and fulfilling time.

Lastly, preparations are underway for OUTREACH at the end of June to August. I am co-leading a team to SAMOA and perhaps FIJI as well. Our team is just excited to teach the WORD OF GOD and I'm excited to see how God uses us to serve and bless these South Pacific Islands.

Okay, that's all for now!

Akua ho'omaika'i oe!

Jillian

Mele Kalikimaka

This past weekend we received a wonderful gift from the Lord in Hawaii: SNOWWW!!!! The summit of Mauna Kea is 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level. However, when measured from the base of the dormant volcano, it is over 10,000 m (33,000 ft) tall. (Significantly taller than Mount Everest, I might point out.) From Mauna Kea you can clearly see the rest of the Big Island, neighboring Maui, and at night you can see stars and planets more clearly than anywhere else in the world. (Which is why there's all those funky telescope things at the summit.) Anyway, when it snows on Mauna Kea, Hawaiians go a bit crazy! Everyone who has a 4x4 is heading to the mountain to play in the snow, borrowing jackets, beanies, gloves, shoes... and everyone who doesn't have a 4x4 is asking around if they can get a ride!

My roommate Bridget is an awesome photographer (all photos by Bridget Kaleki Butler, gotta give credit where its due!) and being from Moku Nui (the Big Island), she wanted to capture the uniqueness of her island home by bringing snow from Mauna Kea to Sea Level where the temperature is an average of 82 Fahrenheit. So we loaded up 5 coolers into her parents' Ford Explorer and headed out at about 4am so we could pick up her friend Kelsi from Waimea at the base of Saddle Road and get up to the Summit before sunrise. We made it! With a bit of headaches from the rapid change of altitude, but we made it! We packed the coolers full of snow and headed down to Hapuna Beach State Park by 9am as the tourists and locals were slowly trickling in.

We found a spot that wasn't too crowded and began building. Then we realized we needed to build faster! We ended up with Aunty Frostina and attracted numerous tourists asking where we got the snow, could they take pictures with it for their christmas cards, etc... It was so much fun, but by the end of the project we were pretty exhausted and the sun was hot... so we jumped in the water to cool off (so crazy!!!) Then we said goodbye to Frostina and went home and promptly took long naps!

So, with all these pictures, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas from Hawaii! I'll be in Washington in a few days where the snow doesn't exactly go hand in hand with swimming in the ocean, but these photos I hope give you a sense of joy and wonder which are emotions I think Christmas naturally evokes...

Thanks to all of my family, friends, and supporters for all of your love and support throughout this year and I pray that you would be so blessed during this Christmastime and in the New Year to come.

Mele Kalikimaka & Akua Ho'omaika'i oe!!! Merry Christmas and God bless you,

Love,

Jillian

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?