It's hard to believe, but I have been on staff here for almost 2 months already and it honestly blows my mind how fast time has flown by. You may have been wondering what I have been up to since I arrived here. Well, for the first quarter I've been assigned to work as base staff. I am working in the kitchen helping with meal preparation and serving the missionaries that are living here on base. My schedule each week looks like this:
Monday: 8:30-10:20 - Morning Worship and Intercession
10:30-1:00 - Making and serving lunch
2:30-5:30 - Making and serving Dinner
Tuesday: 8:30-9:45 - Staff Meeting (We usually have the DTS speaker teach us a short lesson, and then we meet in service groups. My service group is event planning and there are 4 events of the quarter (Aloha Day: the students are welcomed to the base; Ohana Night: a fun game night where the whole base gets together in community; Thanksgiving; as well as Commissioning Night: we pray over the students right before they go on outreach
10-12: 3 of the 4 of us on kitchen staff go off to Costco to buy the necessities needed to cook meals for the entire week.
12-1: We cook and serve the lunch
5:45-8:30: Evangelism night: I usually end up going to the University to evangelize to the University students
Wednesday: 10:30-1: Make and serve Lunch
2:30-5:30 - Make and serve Dinner
6:30-8:30 Worship night with the students of the schools on base
Thursday: 10-1 Making lunch and serving it
2:30-5:30 Making and serving dinner
6:30-8 Community Meeting (It's essentially a church service that YWAM puts on each week. We have worship and then a guest speaker. Everyone from the community is invited)
Friday: 10:30-1:30 - Making and serving lunch, and then also clean up
3-5:30 - Making and serving dinner
I then have Saturday and Sundays off, except for Saturday from 4:45-8 where i go to a church called C4. I also do clean up for breakfast every other day during the week.
Since I work in the kitchen and prepare meals for the missionaries here on base, I am unable to volunteer at the different outreaches we do throughout the week. However, one thing that is awesome about being here on staff is I often have several opportunities a month to volunteer during the weekend around the valley and in Honolulu. Here are a few of the opportunities I have had recently and will be having soon!
A couple Fridays ago, (October 21st), I was able to volunteer at this event called Explicit Movement which was held at University of Hawaii. Explicit is an movement that heals and empowers youth and young adults to live out healthy sexuality and relationships as they discover their God-given identity. It was a really cool experience to be apart of. We got to hear a world known porn star give her testimony on how she came to the Lord and left the industry. We also were able to partake in a workshop. The people would put their hands in a bucket of sand and think about how that is representing the grit and dirt of our lives. Once they were ready and got a good amount, they would move their hands over another bucket and I would pour water over their hands representing how Christ cleanses us from our sins. Honestly it was so awesome to see all these college students truly experiencing the Lord and repenting of their sins.
I also had the opportunity to volunteer at a Halloween event on Friday, October 28. I ran a booth where kids threw balls of newspaper into cups to win pet fish and candy. Throughout the entire event, I was able to hang out with the middle school kids from a local school. I don’t have opportunities to volunteer that often, but when I do I really enjoy being able to do something for the community.
We just recently had our Ohana night on base. This is an event that happens once a quarter and the entire base gets together and plays games and just hangs out. This past one we did an event similar to wheel of fortune, except it was with brackets. It was a lot of fun and each of the teams had different themes to dress up as such as fruits, animals, awkward family photo, vegetables, marvel, D.C., bible characters, boy band, cowboy and cowgirls, the 50s, disney, and tourists.
On Sunday, November 13th, I will be volunteering at a church in the morning from 9-12:30. Myself and five others will be leading children in Bible lessons. There are three age groups: kindergarten, 3rd-4th graders, and 5th - 6th graders. The six staff will split into three groups, and myself and another girl will be leading the 3rd and 4th graders in a Bible lesson. It is still to be determined what we will teach. In doing this, we are able to help out the parents of the church as they are going to a meeting that they otherwise would not be able to attend.
Overall my time here has been a hoot. I love being able to serve everyone on base, and I only get annoyed every now and then. God keeps showing me how much I really need Him and I can't lean on others or myself. I cannot do this on my own strength. Thank you so much for both prayer support and financial support, I could not do this without your support back home. Please feel free to email me with questions or prayer and praise requests you might have back home. I would love to add you to my prayer list! My prayer requests would be for good health, no homesickness, and continual joy and patience.
Blessings,
Abby
