The new year got off to a relatively slow start as we remained “grounded” due to Covid. So from our home base, we continued to do a lot of counseling via Zoom as a couple, while Virginia met with a number of her clients “on the bike trail” for a “walk with a dual purpose.” The therapy was mutually beneficial as the fresh air and sunshine renewed both body and soul. We met up with a few friends in “safe” settings and continued to sort and purge various parts of our home. And we blessed as many people as we could with home made meals, breads, cookies, and jam, using recipes from or newest publication, The Family Table Cookbook. The ministry of hospitality continued “on wheels,” which obviously lacks the person-to-person interaction, but is “better than a kick in the head,” to quote my mother.
It was our first January in a long time that we weren’t watching the Patriots in the play-offs and continuing to connect with the couples and women involved in the Bible studies. It was definitely a different start to the new year. (And yes, we were thrilled for Tom Brady when he earned his 7th ring!)
This precious group of women have been meeting together since 1994 and though less frequently this past year, we still make time to connect.
My friend Wendy Turney taught me the skill of baking sourdough bread when she visited in November, and I’ve been going strong ever since.
We were so thankful and delighted to board a plane to Hawaii on January 31, after confirming our non-Covid status, and overnighting on the way in Oakland to spend a few minutes with Kari, Gabe, and our grandkids. Our brief 24 hours in Oakland were short but very sweet. We managed to teach the kids about “sour grass” and more importantly, I taught Kari the fine art of sourdough bread baking. We were quite productive in our short stay!
Nothing like resurrecting childhood antics and passing the torch to the next generation.
Kari’s first of now many sourdough loaves. She was a quick study.
And off to Kona we flew on Feb. 1 for three weeks of partnering with Living Stones Church. It was our third consecutive year of working with this vital, gospel-centered church and it would be an understatement to say how thrilled we were to get “back in the saddle.” Interestingly, our last ministry tour of 2020 included this church. We returned home March 9 after a three-week trip during which we did conferences in San Diego, Kona, Kauai, and Ft Worth, and then the world locked down soon after. We have truly missed our traveling ministry and it has felt so good and right to be able to do what we feel so passionate about doing once again.
Our time on the Big Island included speaking to three different conferences, teaching one Sunday in their three morning services, and counseling 15+ hours each week. It was a “pilot program,” in a sense, to see if it would “fly”—and we’re happy to say it most certainly did.
One of the first sunsets we witnessed soon after arriving in Hawaii.
We counseled about 15 hours in the first four days we were there and ended the week with a marriage seminar on that Saturday, Feb. 6. Because of Covid restrictions, the conference was live streamed and video recorded in addition to being offered in person. It was well attended, and well received by the broad spectrum of people who attended, from young marrieds to long time married, and from happily marrieds looking for encouragement to “on the brink” couples looking for hope. We felt met by God and received a lot of positive feedback from couples who felt God met them as well. Ryan and Sara Burns did a great job of organizing and hosting the event.
Ryan Burns welcomes the marriage conference attendees both inside the church building . . .
. . . and outside.
In between counseling and speaking, we relaxed and recreated. Over the course of the three weeks, we managed to walk over 180 miles (love my Fitbit) and take about 300 photos of breaching or spouting whales, turtles basking in the sun or swimming in the ocean, beautiful landscapes and seascapes, and of course, sunrises and sunsets. We swam, snorkeled, hiked, had some yummy meals, and received great amounts of Vitamin D.
It was the perfect marriage of what we love: ministry and enjoying the great outdoors.
In front of Rainbow Falls in Hilo, minus the rainbow. The rainy day obscured the sun so we just got the falls, but they were beautiful still.
A dear friend treated us to dinner at Merrimans, a very elite restaurant in the town of Waimea, and we enjoyed every bite.
Our evening with Andrew and Jane was inspiring.
Another highlight of our time was hanging out with several of the pastors from Living Stones. Andrew West is the associate pastor at the main campus, and we really enjoyed spending an evening in their home, around the table with their two teen aged sons. Andrew is an Aussie and Jane is from Denmark and we loved hearing the story of God bringing their lives together through YWAM.
Here we are with Ryan and Sara Burns, who lead the Pine Trees Living Stones’ campus and who coordinated our time in Kona. We’ve spent time with them for three years now and have grown to love and appreciate them greatly. They are being used by God in powerful ways on this island.
Debrief with lead pastor, Bill Barley, and his wife Pine, and with Ryan and Sara Burns. Bill launched Living Stones Church in the late 1990s and has faithfully preached the gospel since. After being widowed for several years, he married Pine five years ago and they are partnering together at the church very effectively and fruitfully. We feel very privileged to be working with both of these couples.
During our second weekend, we spoke for “Equip,” a new program recently launched by Ryan and Sara. This very intense 10-week training program has been designed to prepare the students for engagement in the world mission. We spoke to the “school” both Friday night and Sunday afternoon and were so impressed by the eagerness and commitment of those enrolled. Our focus was on how to be effective both in your marriage and family and to the Kingdom call without sacrificing one for the other. They were very engaged and responsive. It was a delight to be with them.
The “Equip” school in session, listening as Ryan introduces us.
Kaina and Brandee, their twins, and Miho are all enrolled in the Equip School.
We explored some fascinating places during the “dashes” and on this Saturday, Feb. 13, we did a 7-mile round trip hike to “Pu’uwa’awa’a Cone” (aka: the “Jello Mold”). It’s the largest cone on the island at just under 4,000 feet in elevation and on a clear day, you can see . . . almost forever. It was a great hike and we did have a clear day. This geological wonder was nicknamed “Jello Mold” by non-Hawaiian speaking folks who thought the name described the cone's appearance rather well.
We made it to the top!!
Natural wonders take our breath away so we were breath-less at many points during our three weeks.
This breaching humpback whale put on quite a show for us which we found mesmerizing.
We watched this green turtle “honu” nibble at the algae growing on the float line.
The island hosts lots of goats and we spotted these guys as we hiked down to Capt Cook’s to snorkel in the pristine, aquarium-esque water.
This photo of the school of bright yellow Butterfly fish is taken from land!!
The endangered Monk Seal made an appearance for us when we hiked to Makalawena Beach. That was pretty thrilling!!
The sun sets on this resting “honu,” making a rather idyllic composition of three of our favorite things . . . turtles, ocean, and the sunset.
Our last weekend, the church hosted a parenting seminar and due to Covid restrictions, they were not able to provide childcare, but there were over 200 viewers on the live stream!! We did have a surprising number of folks who were able to attend in person and we had some great interaction with them. (The videos of both the marriage and parenting seminars are available at the links highlighted above, or you can visit the Living Stones Church’s video page.)
Bill, Pine, and Ryan stand with us at the end of the parenting seminar. All of these have such serving hearts and did all of the grunt work that made these seminars happen.
We taught at all three morning services on Sunday, Feb. 21, as the grand finale of our three weeks. The pastors are currently teaching through the book of 1 Corinthians, so they asked us to teach out of 1 Corinthians 7 since that chapter deals with marriage and marriage issues. We were challenged as we prepared to handle the passage honestly and sensitively and felt God really met us. You can listen to the sermon here.
Worship prior to our teaching.
The outside area holds far more people than the inside of the church, and wisely, the chairs are facing away from the ocean, which laps on the shore a mere 20’ behind the chairs. A pretty cool way to attend church!!
And so the sun set on our three weeks and we boarded a plane for Oakland, California, on Monday morning, Feb. 22, with hearts full of gratitude and contentment. We loved being back in the saddle of ministry and we loved having moments for personal renewal. It was the perfect combination.
The sun sets over “A-Bay,” captivating all within eye’s reach.
We landed in Oakland Monday afternoon and drove straight to Roseville (suburb of Sacramento) to spend much of Tuesday filming a segment for Bayside Church for a marriage series they’re putting together. We had a blast being “interviewed” by Curt and Kelly Harlow (Bayside co-pastor) and were amazed by how smoothly it all went.
Did I mention how thankful we are to be back in the saddle??
Happily our calendar is filling back up as the grip of Covid loosens and life begins to move toward the new normal. Though there were many silver linings of this past year and the lessons learned will continue to teach us in the years to come, we are beyond grateful that the we are picking up where we left off almost a year ago.
After all, saddles were meant for the ride, not for the shelf.
Filming on the set with Curt and Kelly Harlow.
Leslie Johnston, Bayside Church staff, organized our being part of the marriage series and it was so good to work with her.
Still smiling at the end of the filming.
