lava tubing, laird hamilton, new moon, camp piiholo

Aloha,

Two weekends ago Rise put together an event at Uncle Pat's land Upcountry and it was a blast! Leslie picked up the intern girls and we grabbed Starbucks, and headed up to the mountains with the top down to eat lunch at a park. Leslie introduced us to cardboard sledding. It was so much fun! Some other church families joined us and we spent hours flying down a large hill on old cardboard :) After awhile we decided to head to Uncle Pat's and the adventures continued! We hiked down into a huge hole with trees where cowboys had thrown their coffee in the old days. It was quite a trek just to climb down to the entrance of the lava tube! Basically, you had to squeeze through a tiny entrance which led into a large, pitch black cave. About 20 of us clambered around in the lava rock cave until we reached the end. It would have been impossible without a flashlight. I was reminded of how God works in my life, only giving me enough light to get one step further. While I was struggling up and down sharp lava rock I felt like a dweeb and couldn't figure out why anyone would do something like this for fun. But once we crawled back out of the cave and the sun was setting over the ocean.....it was worth it. The bigger picture is ALWAYS worth it. We ate grilled salmon and steak for dinner and sang some worship songs around the fire. Then Uncle Pat drove us up in his old Bronco back up to the top of the hill and that was probably my favorite part of the day. Talk about Xtreme offroading!! Leslie, Alyssa, and I drove back, chilly from the cool air and sang praises to our King with our eyes on the stars. Best day ever.

Last Thursday, some of the interns drove to Paia to eat at the Flatbread Pizza place. So good! Towards the end of our meal, a man walks up to the table next to us and they are talking loudly about surfing and being boisterous and Jena goes, "Ohmy, that's Laird Hamilton! The pro surfer!" So we got all excited and watched him talking to his friends and I laughed to myself because it was my first famous person sighting! He is a legit surfer. After an eventful dinner, Jessie, Tiffany, and I decided it would be a necessity to see New Moon at the midnight showing. I have never been in a room with more screaming teenage girls! It was out of control! I really enjoyed my time with Jessie and Tiffany though, they are both nannies here and such sweethearts.

Saturday was our Alpha weekend away up at Camp Piiholo, nestled in between some tall trees. The theme of the day was about the Holy Spirit. God did some pretty cool things that day! I was so blessed to fellowship with everyone and we played volleyball and I got to lead evening worship. Pastor Craig shared his testimony and I really appreciated his openness and honesty about the work God has done in his life.

Please continue praying for me to radiate God's character in my time here. There are so many people seeking Truth here. God has been answering my prayers in BIG ways lately and I am feeling so thankful!! I am being stretched daily by trying new things and being challenged in new areas. God knows our needs.

1 Thess 5:23-25 is my prayer this week.

In Him,
Risa

honolulu coffee in wailea

Hello friends,

This morning I met with Janna who is in charge of making sure the interns are set up with mentors. She was fantastic to talk with, very calm and wise. She took me to Honolulu Coffee Company at the Shops at Wailea. It is on my list of favorite coffee places now! Her and her husband have an art store called Dolphin Galleries and Janna was telling me that the King of Morocco had come to their store a couple months ago and bought a ton of paintings! We just chatted about life and she was so encouraging.

This weekend, Rise is going up to a lava tube Upcountry to hike and have a bonfire. I'm stoked! Good fellowship along with adventure will make for a rockin Saturday! Last Sunday, I was so blessed to connect with a freshman girl, Yashaira, who is attending Maui Community College. She was telling me she didn't really know what she was doing in college and how she felt like she was wasting time and money deciding what to do with her life. Just my type :) I am praying I will be able to stick with her and encourage her to seek the Lord in these big life decisions and that school is so great for some people but there are other options as well. She has lived on Big Island and Oahu and now she's on Maui so I loved listening to her stories. She came with us to Big Beach Sunday afternoon and met a lot of people. God is so good. He knows our needs.

This Sunday night is Hope Chapel's Prayer and Praise Night. They will have food, and Steven and I were asked to put a set of 10 to 11 songs together to perform in front of the congregation. I'm a little nervous, since this is a bigger event and I've only been singing for smaller things. But I am really excited to help out and be involved.

Christy's birthday was on Monday and it was a blast! A lot of people came for dessert at Outback, and we all came back and played games at our condo. On our day off yesterday for Veteran's Day, the interns were invited over to the Spencer's for breakfast again. They are such a blessing! Jori and Mark made us banana pancakes, sausage links, starfruit, and french pressed coffee. I covered my pancakes with coconut syrup and it was delicious :) Then some of the interns went and chilled at the beach. It was a perfect beach day!

I'm memorizing 2 Cor 10:3-5 for our bible study this week. It's quality.

All my love,
Risa

God knows.

Hey ya'll!

This week is a blur! We picked up our newest intern, Vanessa, from the airport on Tuesday. She's such a sweetheart! It feels complete now to have all of us here now.

Alpha is still going strong. I'm loving seeing the hand of God so clearly in people's lives. Two weeks ago we focused on prayer and practical ways to pray. At the end of our discussion time, we prayed together, and even though some of the guys didn't pray, they seemed comfortable about the whole situation. Two of the guys were in desperate needs of jobs. The next week we found out that both of them found jobs!! Praise God! He answers prayer. I was inspired to pray for specific things and see God bless me in that. It is so cool!

The girl interns started a bible study together. We are going through "When Godly People do Ungodly Things" by Beth Moore. It is such a great study! All of the girls were feeling like we need to be more intentional with each other and making sure we aren't too involved in our own ministries. These next 6 weeks are going to be filled with growth. I love those girls! The other morning we started a work out called Hip Hop Abs with Shaun T. It is intense! But filled with lots of laughs and good times.

God is really revealing to me my spiritual gifts. Hope is doing a series of classes called Get in the Game and it's all about discovering your spiritual gifts. My singing is something that God has really been pushing me to use. It seems foreign to me that singing could be a way of ministering to people. I've always viewed singing to God as something personal and for myself, like something between me and God. But after Steven and I sang at Friday night's service and the feedback people had for it was very eye opening to me. I never thought I could bless someone in that way. The fact that I am enjoying myself as much as someone listening to me is awesome. God knows.

Tonight, Erin, Jessie, and I are driving out to the Hyatt in Kaanapail Beach to eat a three course meal. We are going to dress up and have girls night. Erin is in culinary school so she always finds good deals (the whole night will only be 20 dollars!). I'm very thankful for these women and I'm looking forward to spending the evening with them and learn about what God has been doing in their lives.

Please pray for:
Smooth transition for Vanessa
Continued prayer for Alpha
These next two months will be incredibly busy for all the interns.

In Him,
Risa