What was our home before we traveled in February has become our home once again as we moved back in 6 months later and it’s quite the story..
We really enjoyed living in the GO Center (= our campus guest house with 48 rooms) for the year and a half before we traveled, but it wasn’t easy being on call 24/7. In this apartment we “live on the job” with people coming to our door and calling the emergency phone number. We loved working with all the people, but it was a lot to carry. So when we moved out in February we really didn’t think we would be able to move back in and started looking at places off campus. A dear friend was offering to rent us a home he was going to buy, which was an incredible provision. The home would be huge- pool and all, we were thrilled. Then we landed in Kona and were living in a temporary room on the campus where we had one living space for all 5 of us. Despite it being a tight squeeze I started realizing what a blessing it was to live on the campus. I discovered I am such a community person and really enjoy fellowship with other moms on a regular basis as do our children.
Then the Lord asked us to give away our mini-van. WHAT? We wanted to obey the Lord, but didn’t He know we needed a vehicle?
I was asked the question “how did we know this was the Lord?” once so I will just elaborate a little bit; I was talking to a friend who was sharing the need her family had for a car as they were moving soon but their car broke down. A thought entered my mind- give her your van. I said, if that is the Lord then my husband needs to have the same thought. I came home and shared it with Jackson and he said “and we will drive what exactly?” I said, “I don’t know, but it’s what I believe I heard the Lord ask us, but since you don’t feel like this I don’t think it was from the Lord”. The next day Jackson was speaking to the husband and he was talking about something else and when my husband prayed for the husband of the friend I talked to, the Lord put it in his heart to give them our van too. So he came home and asked me- “can you tell me again what you said about giving away our van?” So I shared with him. We then decided we would obey the Lord and pass on the mini-van that had once been a gift to us as well!
In the weeks that followed friends gave us a ride, I rode the campus shuttle once as well. While all this was going on we were trying to discover what the Lord was saying. If we didn’t have a vehicle, we couldn’t move off campus. Was this a sign He wanted us here?
Then I was asked to pray about managing the GO center and to think about some solutions for being on call 24/7. If that burden could be shared with other people, would we consider it? As I was praying about this I felt such a conviction that this was the place the Lord wanted us to be in in this season of our lives. At the same time some dear friends borrowed us their mini-van while they went on outreach for 3 months. It is so fancy, we are really enjoying it.
We gave our yes to the GO Center and there was a practical solution found where 3 staff will be living next door to rotate with being on call 24/7. We moved in two weeks later. We have given a long term commitment and are settling in nicely. On the photo you see the kitchen/living room and on either side of this room is a bedroom- one for the children and one for us.
We are so grateful knowing we are where God wants us to be. It really is just “perfect”!
1st Day of Pre-School
It was REJoyce’s first day of Preschool on August 5th. She was so excited to be able to go where we had dropped Hope off the year before. She had woken up that day and first thing she did was look for her Pre-school shirt to put on without me even saying a word. She was ready. Hope started her first day of Pre-Kindergarten at the same time. They had a lot of fun at school and are looking forward to Monday. “Can I go AGAIN?” REJoyce asked with excitement… :D.
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