Week 1- Welcome to Maui

Alright, the next day I wake up and meet some new people, and see a guy sitting in the back of a truck. After a little bit of talking, I find out his name is Brennan, and they're going to run some errands in town. With nothing else to do, I hop into the back of the truck, and spend the day going around to the different YWAM properties to take care of things, and then we filled up some propane tanks, and did a few other small things. As unique as I thought riding in the bed of a truck was, I'd be doing it many more times, and it's always fun. The next day we went to the beach, and the last of the students arrived. That evening was an event called Opening Night. The staff introduced themselves during this time, and then we had a time of worship. Afterwards, the staff introduced a 'camping trip' that they call Exodus.

Exodus. I have good memories of camping from when I was younger, as my family used to go all the time. But this was not your ordinary camping trip. Far from it. We could only bring one t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a few other pieces of clothing. Also, we didn't have the comfort of bathrooms, good food, among other things. But before Exodus, we started with a scavenger hunt. We were split into teams of four and then needed to take pictures of things in several towns. Our source of transportation? Hitch-hiking. Ooooooooh boy. We trekked for awhile in Paia, asking strangers to take pictures of us in front of things, and whatnot

Human pyramid with a stranger (lower right)!

After an hour or so of taking these pictures and asking strangers for help, we started to make our way to Kahalui, pretty far on foot, so we started sticking our thumbs out. After 15-20 minutes, a nice Indian family pulled over and offered us a ride! The rest of the group decided to sit in the trunk, so I sat in the backseat with the kids of the family and tried to make conversation. The antisocial, introverted, awkward guy trying to make conversation. The family really helped me out though, by asking us questions and giving long answers to the few questions that I tossed in. They dropped us off in Kahalui, and our group set off for the next couple of hours trying to find what we needed. 

Then, it was time for us to head to the meeting point of all the groups. When we asked a stranger how far it was, he said that it was 3-4 miles, and it really wasn't walkable. Not really seeing much of a choice, we started walking in the direction he pointed us in, and stuck our thumbs out whenever cars passed us by. We were tired, hungry, thirsty, and tired. I sent up a short prayer to God, praying for a miracle. I looked up, and saw what looked like a white bird fluttering down from one tree to another (a dove? doubtful, but maybe). Not really thinking much of it, I turned around, saw a white van, and stuck my thumb out. As the van came closer, I saw that it was actually one of the YWAM vans! God answering my prayer, literally moments after I prayed it. Crazy.

Anyways, we were driven to a place called Iau Valley. Beautiful place with two huge mountains rising to each side. We spent a little bit of time there for lunch and some quiet time. Afterwards we were taken to a place in the shade of trees, but also with a view of the ocean, and the waves. We set up some tents, dug some toilets, and then gathered around a campfire. We were given one red SOLO-wannabe cup, and one pair of chopsticks. We were told that we would not be getting more of either if we lost anything. I lost my pair of chopsticks on the second day, so I resorted to two sticks that my friend was kind enough to whittle down a bit for me. Also, without a large surplus of water, it was hard to clean out your cup. So, ramen/coffee-flavored oatmeal, and bits of oatmeal in your ramen was not uncommon. However, the point of this trip was not to make us suffer.

Each day we had a combination of quiet times (during which God revealed how I had not risen to The Great Commission, and my bitterness towards my mom), and times where we would share our testimonies. Going in, I wasn't sure how I was going to get to know people. Apparently we would be sharing some of our deepest and darkest secrets to strangers to kick this whole thing off. Not exactly what I expected.

At this point of writing this post, I realized that I didn't really get to talk about the people much. So I'll take some time to write it here instead of inserting it more smoothly above. I hope it's fine with you, because it ain't changing. So, there are 28 students, 21 of which are girls, and seven are guys. Close enough to a one-one ratio I'd say. Of these students, I'd say close to half are from Canada, around five are from Norway, one from Sweden, three are from Switzerland, one from Australia, and the rest are from 'merica.

Moving along, after everyone had shared (a bunch of days later), we packed up camp, and headed to a church where we were told that we would be serving the church in whatever way possible. What actually ended up happening was a big surprise party thrown by the base staff and mission-builders! 'Twas a time that they called Love Feast. There was steak... and other food... that I can't remember right now. And probably never will. But the steak was the important part. Steak. Moving on, this feast marked the end of our Exodus, and the beginning of our Discipleship Training School (DTS). The staff proceeded to wash our feet, give us notes that they wrote, and pray for us. Vinny (the same guy with the awesome mustache, and who picked me up from the airport) washed my feet, gave me a note, and prayed for me. It was so powerful that someone loved me enough to wash my nasty feet (and man, were they nasty. It's what happens when you go around barefoot most of the time for several days without a shower), and write a personal note for me, when he didn't even know me. I felt something in the back of my head (I'd realize it's God later)- there are great things waiting for you here. He brought me here to break me, melt me, and then remold me into a person that will do the Father's will, show the love of the Son, and be a tool for the Holy Spirit.

Sorry this took so long to come out. I can't make any promises about the next post coming out super quick, but I think the posts should be shorter from here on out. For the worse, or the better. Also, putting that picture in took a significant amount of effort (so, not that much), so I wouldn't expect too many more pictures. Most/all of them can be found on my Facebook. SO. That's what I got right now.

"God said to Moses, "I am who I am." - Exodus 3:!4