We’ve just wrapped up 16 days in Kona, HI, and are winging our way home on a red-eye flight, leaving behind beautiful beaches, spectacular sunsets, sunny warm days, and a community of people we dearly love. Our days have been rich and full with planned events fulfilled as well as some delightful surprises along the way.
Our first full day was Nov. 5, marking the end of my year-long 70th birthday celebration. Monthly “surprises” made this a year like no other and I have been extravagantly loved throughout. I’ll treasure the memories of this launch of my 8th decade for a long time to come.
My 71st year started with a surprise breakfast at Kona Village with our dear friend Mike Field. We’ve shared a lot of history at Kona Village over the past 4 years, but this was our first meal there and it was top shelf. What a sweet start to this special day. We worked off our indulgences with a walk down the coast, which is one of our favorite hikes on this island.
Kona Village’s breakfast with Mike Field did not disappoint.
The celebration continued over lunch with our dear friends and AirBnB hosts, Bob and Debi Cary. These are two of the kindest, most generous people of God on the planet and we’ve loved getting to know them over the past 4 years that they’ve been hosting us for our twice-a-year ministry trips. We are so blessed by any time we can spend with them, though we all feel it’s never enough.
Bob and Debi Cary are the best.
The exclamation point on the end of the day was having dinner with Bill (senior pastor of Living Stones Church) and Pine Barley. These two also mean so much to us as ministry partners, hiking buddies, and “in sync with our hearts ohana.” We love every minute we get to spend with them as we share stimulating conversations on spirituality and life.
Bill and Pine joined us for the final event of my birthday and we had a lovely evening.
A true highlight of this trip was discovering an “only God could’ve orchestrated this” intersection of three of our friends who were all attending the YWAM Crossroads DTS. Linda Bartel Dismukes, whom we’ve known since we were colleagues at San Diego State University and Paul was our campus staff minister, is part of the staff for the Crossroads DTS; Stephanie Everson, who we’ve known since the early 80’s when she came to teach music in Avalon schools, is in the Crossroads DTS, as well as Rob and Juliet Pyles, who are dear friends from New Hampshire. Can you imagine our surprise that all of them are in the same course at the same time we’re on the island? What a gift to us to reconnect with these dear friends and to get to spend time with all of them over these past two weeks. Only God . . .
We had Linda up for dinner at our “Tree House” AirBnB and so enjoyed catching up with her.
And then, out of the blue, Betty and Larry Hansen, long ago family campers for many summers, saw my post on social media about being in Kona, and they were too! We had a sweet, though brief, time together. Another gift!
Larry and Betty Hansen spent many summers at family camp back in the 80’s and 90’s.
During our two weeks in Kona, we did about about 40 hours of counseling in addition to numerous events.
One of our clients brought us this beautiful bouquet of Hawaiian tropical flowers which lasted the whole time we were there.
Sunday, the 9th, we had the privilege of teaching at Moku’aikaua Church , which is the first Christian church on Kona, established in 1835. Kahu David de Carvalho has faithfully served this congregation for many years and has become a dear friend. The church has been closed for repairs for the past 6 years, so the previous times we’ve taught there have been on their outdoor patio area. It was a thrill to be inside this storied church for the first time and it felt like the walls echoed and gave witness to the testimonies and worship of the thousands who have praised Jesus within the structure for over 200 years. It was a deeply moving experience.
It was also a joy to have our friends from the Crossroads DTS (Rob, Juliet, Linda, and Stephanie) in attendance, and even greater joy that they brought about a dozen more from their cohort.
We’re here with Rob and Juliet Pyles and Stephanie Everson, inside this historical church.
A view from the balcony.
The second Sunday of our “tour” we taught at the Kona Bible Church. It was the first time we’ve connected with this church and we were so honored that Pastor Brian Keiser invited us, sight unseen, to fill the pulpit. He trusted several close friends who recommended us with high praise, including his 14-year-old son, who had heard us teach at the high school youth group on relationships just days earlier. Fortunately it worked out well. We worked together with him at the service Sunday morning and agreed that our hearts are in sync.
We were so pleased to partner with Pastor Brian Keiser at the Kona Bible Church on Sunday, Nov. 16.
Though there were many highlights of our time, the one we’ll treasure the most was speaking to the high school youth group on relationships. We were amazed by the level of maturity of the packed room of students, who listened attentively and were truly engaged throughout our 40-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of answering their previously submitted questions. They blew us away.
Grace upon grace, we’ve received such positive feedback from many high schoolers AND their parents. We’ve had multiple conversations with parents who have told us their high schooler came home very pumped and told them many things we had said. One parent of a 15-year-old girl wrote:
“She loved it! She came home very excited and eager to tell us about it. When we asked what she liked about it, she said you guys were funny, energetic, and authentic. She summed it up with 'You can just tell they’re wise and want the best for young people.’ “
We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the way God moved through that evening and pray that the Biblical truth spoken will bear fruit in the lives of these beloved young people.
Kaina and Brandee Lee are in their second year of leading the youth groups and they’re doing a great job.
Kaina prayed over us before we spoke.
The night following youth group, we spoke for a parenting workshop and felt it was a very good night. The group of about 30 were very engaged as we shared Biblical principles and wisdom related to raising our children. One parent wrote in after the event: “We loved last night so much. I brought a coffee since we had had a very long, full day and I was worried I might have trouble staying awake…and I did not want to commit the mortal sin of falling asleep during your teaching. But you guys keep it so relevant, hilarious, and practical that I was 100% alert the whole time. It was honestly a delight.”
Another wrote, “Thank You for such a wonderfully encouraging evening! I took copious note and have sent them along to others as well.”
All praise is His!!
Standing with us and Pastor Bill is his daughter Erin and her husband, Roger. They were very supportive of the parenting evening.
Rob and Juliet brought their Crossroads DTS ‘“posse” to the parenting evening, which was a great encouragement to us.
The grand finale of our ministry events during this trip was a two-night, two hours each night, mini-version of “Engagement Matters.” We actually had low expectations regarding how many would come based on the pre-event sign-ups, so we were amazed when we quickly outgrew the room set up for 40 and moved into the sanctuary at Pine Trees Church. When all was said and done, over 70 singles attended the seminar and we couldn’t have been more surprised or thankful. What a great opportunity to challenge the cultural narrative regarding relationships and sexuality! We had great interaction with the crowd and left with hearts full of hope.
This is part of the group which gathered for the “Engagement Matters” seminar.
After most of the Engagement Matters attendees had left, I managed to get this photo of “the remnant."
Besides all of these very fulfilling ministry events, we were able to mix it up with many dear friends we’ve made over the years, and were fortunate to have “dates” with some of them. Though I didn’t get photos of all of our meet-ups, here we are pictured with a handful of them. We treasure this time of going deeper in these special relationships.
Bill and Jeanne Fountain are dedicated saints and servants of the Lord who work tirelessly as volunteers for Living Stones Church. We always enjoy having a lunch date with them.
We were so happy to have Rob and Juliet Pyles up for dinner to catch up on the past 4 years.
Wayne and Liz Kukita have become “chosen family” over the years and we had a delightful lunch with them and their grandson Chevy.
We were able to catch a meal with Stephanie Everson as well. We had years to catch up with her!
We spent a delightful evening with newlyweds, Matt and Jacey (Coetzee) Wells, enjoying their homemade dinner and talking about marriage.
A true highlight of our time was celebrating Alessandra Pyles’ “Quinceanera”—her 15th birthday, Latina style. As you can see, she was thrilled to receive an autographed copy of Paul’s “Letters to my Daughters."
I will never stop being mesmerized by beautiful sunsets . . .
Though we managed to walk our daily 5 miles (usually around 5:30 am, in the cool of the day and before any events/counseling started), our hiking efforts were quite reduced during these two weeks. The few we got were rewarded with beautiful scenes.
We hiked south of Kekaha Kai State Park and saw this monk seal taking a snooze.
We took a refreshing dip in this brackish soaking pool during that hike.
One of our favorite hikes is to “the end of the world,” which we did on one (of many) beautiful days.
Paul practiced rock climbing once we arrived at the “end of the world”. :) Not really! But these crazy college-aged boys did, and I held my breath as they made their way across the mouth of the cave. Hanging on by their fingertips.
We left even more of our hearts in Kona as we departed late on the 19th, arriving back in Northern Virginia this afternoon, Nov. 20. These days have been so full of “only God” moments. The beauty of this place and the beauty of His people have filled our hearts with awe and wonder.
This has been a perfect on-ramp for celebrating Thanksgiving with our family, in our home. We managed to sneak in about 5 hours ahead of the Garcias today, and Lisa will complete the circle tomorrow night. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for God’s amazing grace and generosity.
All praise is His!
