Week 10, & 11 - How did the end get here so quickly?

Wow. I'm leaving the country in just a little under 48 hours. Ugh, let's not think about that right now, I'll think about it later in the blog. Adrenaline ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

Cool thing that happened- Road to Hana. This trip takes you along Hana highway, and all around Haleakala (the volcano in the middle of the island). The trip took all day, but it was very much worth it. Even though our trip began and ended with rain. A lot of rain. Now this wouldn't be a problem if we weren't traveling in the back of trucks, as opposed to vans. Our first stop was at this little cave. You jump into the water in it, and you can travel through a few caves, where it very quickly becomes pitch black. The key is to listen to the instructions of the people in front of you. My description hardly does the experience justice, but just know that it was really cool. The next thing we did was went to a place called Bunny Ears. Well, not so much
place, as it is a rock-in-the-middle-of-the-freakin'-ocean. As I'm not much of a swimmer, it was kind of hard to swim from the mainland to the rock, even though it's really not that far. However, once you've reached the rock, you're journey isn't over. You have to watch the waves, and let the waves sweep you close to the rock so that you can grab the rock, and let the waves wash away. Once there you have to scramble up to avoid the next wave. Then you've reached this.

The rock known as "Bunny Ears"

Pretty cool jump from the top. Extremely scary though, as there's only room for one foot at the top. After this we continued to drive to a secret, hidden black sand beach.

Fun at the black sand beach!

From there we continued to drive until we saw an absolutely gorgeous rainbow, and pulled over. So vivid.

Double rainbow... all the way...

Our final stop before finishing our trip was a waterfall which was a little bit off of the highway.

It was incredibly cold, but I'm glad that we were able to see it. Phew, already, enough fun, let's get to the lecture stuff.

Week 10- This week a New Zealander (Kiwi), named Ben talked to us about the Father Heart of God. One of the things he heavily encouraged during this time was having a spirit of sharing. So, God had some revelations throughout the week, including some insecurities that I had for a very long time that were rooted in imperfect grades. These insecurities manifested as feelings of worthlessness, and just being insecure in general. As two of the people that I respected the most prayed for me (my leader Tim, and the SFMI school leader Dennis), Ben had a wonderful scene for me to witness as I opened my eyes.

Everyone in the room was holding up pieces of paper that had 100 written on them. And I just felt God whisper to me that each time I go back to those memories where my insecurities is rooted, I would remember this moment as well. I cried twice this week. Which brings the grand total this year to four times! Maybe there are some emotions in me. Evidence seems inconclusive at this point.

Week 11- Last week of lecture!!! And for this week the pastor of the church I was attending here was the speaker! He's a South African named Shaun Waite, and he talked to us about evangelism. One of the highlights of this week was going to a local mall and doing prayer evangelism. We had a little survey which was an icebreaker/leading point to prayer. As we started, my partner and I got rejected by a few people, but it wasn't as awkward nor weird as I thought it would be. God grew boldness in me to approach a bunch of random strangers, and it was really awesome, and totally not a part of my character, so strange. And as we prayed for people, God grew a heart in me for these people, which in turn emboldened me further. It was really cool seeing how many people were receptive to prayer, listening to people pour out their hearts, and being able to pray for the needs of those people. However, the enemy seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. So he couldn't have us praying for people. So we got kicked out by mall security, who said that we needed to get approval with the mall since it was private property. I mean, yeah, it's true, but seriously, how many people are we bothering at 10am on a Thursday? Party poopers.

Oh man, final thoughts. As the government of Ch!n@ isn't a fan of followers of Christ, I will not be blogging, nor will I have much communication access to the outside world. Anyways, here are my thoughts about the upcoming months, and prayer points and whatnot. 

First thought, I'm kind of sad. I will be leaving the guys here, with whom I've become good friends with, and I won't see much of them after this. 

Second thought, I'm going to be living with seven girls for the next couple of months. Girls have cooties, so my odds of not catching cooties is not looking good. Just kidding, but actually it's going to be a difficult time beyond that which I can know at this time. Prayer here please. 

Third thought, what are the people there going to be like? I've lived in a Korean family for the past 19 years, and the cultures seem similar, but I've rarely talked to a stranger of the same culture. I don't even know if that sentence made sense, but basically I'm nervous about talking to strangers. Goes against everything I am. Whatever happened to stranger danger? Seriously though, prayer for boldness, and sensitivity to the Spirit would be greatly appreciated. Also, pray for the government, and a softening of the hearts of the people. I would go into a rant about the importance, and power of prayer, but that's not what this blog is for. 

Fourth thought, praise report- it came down to the wire, but everyone got there money! The weekend before the deadline, two girls collectively needed $6000! Pretty crazy miracle. 

Fifth thought, sickness has been plaguing our school. My bunkmate, Brennan has pneumonia, and something in his lungs collapsed. I think he said it was a collapsed airway, but that seems way too serious to leave alone for a couple of months. Either way, after outreach he will need to get surgery, and he's bedridden most of the time because of this. Also, a bunch of the DTS staff have been feeling under the weather. As the first team leaves at 1 pm EST, they need to be feeling healthy soon. 

Sixth thought, prayer for each of the teams. Maybe it's kind of hard or weird, but prayer is incredibly powerful, and each of us needs a lot of it. The team going to Bangladesh is going to have to deal with a people who are touchy to the point of which it becomes uncomfortable. 

Decked out in Bangladesh attire

Another team is going to Nepal. The big thing for them is what is called The Trek. They hike for ten days in the Himalayan mountains. I don't have a picture that has the whole team and the leaders, so here's a picture of all the students going to Nepal.

After a sweet-as hike

There will be a surfing team going to Indonesia as well. They need a lot of boldness, and safety, as they take on some of the best waves in the world, and try to penetrate the surfing community.

The surfing team near its natural habitat

And then there's us. The team heading into a really closed off country, trying to do something illegal.

After Megan (green shirt) and I got baptized

Seventh thought, what does the future entail? I've been praying a lot about it, and I think that I will end up doing the secondary school here in Maui, called the School of Biblical Foundations Ministry (SBFM). Should I choose to do this, I won't have the luxury of my mom supplying all the finances, so please pray for me. Also, please pray for a heart for quiet (or Jesus) times, a bigger desire for the Word, and a love for the people I will be ministering to. God has been, is, and will be doing amazing things- I just hope that I can be blessed with witnessing some of it happening. Unless anything else pops up, this is ALL YOU GET. So, have a nice day, and please keep us all in your prayers for the next several months. Thank you so much for following my blog, and I look forward to coming back and sharing more of my travels with all of you.