A Foot Away: Week #1 YWAM Kona

ALOHA!

I think it's safe to say after a week of being here I am now settled in. Here in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

After a 9hr 45min flight from Sydney to Honolulu with a 2hr 30min wait in Honolulu airport before boarding our last flight of 45min to Kailua-Kona I finally made it!

I also think it's safe to say I have the best room i could possibly have, living with nine other girls doesn't seem as bad as it sounds. Already i have made some incredible friends that as cheesy it sounds, i know will be in my life forever.

A brief run down on my first week, the second day of being here we had a hawaiian welcome and orientation day. Saturday was a fun day with our 'Engage DTS' where we all got split into different groups and had a big scavenger hunt around the town where we had to do all sorts of things with locals and tourists. Sunday morning we experienced a hawaiian church which happened to be right on the beach! Sunday night myself and a few of my friends went out for dinner to get burgers where Sarah (one of my new zealand friends) and I had out first American meal experience. It was indeed a perfect way to end the weekend before we got straight into routine the next day.

Breakfast is at 6.15am every morning, although my roomies and myself drag ourselves out of bed at 6.30am and just make it to breakfast before they start to pack it all up! Everyday after breakfast is a time for us to have our individual 'God time' where we generally do our bible studies. Such a great way to wake us up and start the day everyday, i highly recommend it to everyone. First thing in class we usually have something different every morning, whether it be worship, revivalist training or class intercession then we jump straight into our lectures that go till lunch time. This week we had a woman called Donna Jordan to speak to us on the topic of 'Listening to God'. She was such a woman of God and had some great messages to tell us. Was quite eye opening hearing stories she had to share and really put things into perspective on hearing Gods voice and how he talks to us. Donna would be speaking, then would suddenly stop and say "Im just seeing what God wants me to say next." And go from there every time she was speaking to us.

We have all absorbed so much information this past week, and there is still so much more we are yet to learn. I can't wait!

Jump back to Monday night we had Ministry night in the prayer room, where we have a time of worship which might i add was incredible, and pray for people. Over ten people got healed for all sorts of things, whether it be from headaches or a knee that had been injured for years!

Friday night we had a family night where our DTS hung out together and had desert (first time having desert since being here) the night ended up turning into a massive dance party. Had a bit of line dancing, group dancing, dance offs, ballet and breakdancing. I can tell the next six months are definitely going to be fun ones.

Bring on the weekend a group of us all went to 'Kua Bay' which is near mile 88 so you can't exactly walk there as it is quite a distance away from campus. Only solution is to hitchhike! I hitchhiked with three others which we thought was going to be an impossible adventure as we were still walking 8 miles later in the scorching sun, all dripping with sweat. Was quite a site! A lovely man picked us up and took us to the beach. Talking to him he said "Every Saturday I pick up at least three groups of ywamers and take them places as I go to and from work." Arriving at the beach was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen! On the way home it was a lot faster for us to get picked up. A young guy picked us up in his truck, got to sit in the back all the way home with out hair flying in the wind. I felt like I was in a american teenage movie!

All very tired after our first week, and long day in the sun with sunburn to add to it (don't tell mum)

I promise next post will be a bit more in-depth on the teachings, as for now, enjoy some photo's from the week!