Why it's great to have a Korean mother-in-law
Lynnette's oma dropped off some incredible Korean food...including side dishes!
dj unplugged
reflections while traveling or whatever...
A Detour in Our Calling to Plant a Church
Over and over again I discover that following Jesus isn’t so much about what you do for him, but the heart behind what you do.
Recently Lynnette and I had been praying and thinking about our decision to help Nolan and Jay plant their exciting new church in Manila, Hope Metro. The both of us felt strongly that we were called to the Philippines and when we saw that they were going to plant the church, it seemed to make sense to join them. We felt like God was giving us the blessing to be a part of their team.
However, the difficulty in following Jesus, for me anyway, is always knowing the difference between what God is calling me to do and what simply gets me excited. The problem with simply being excited is that mixed in those emotions can be prideful and selfish motivations. Jeremiah 17:9-10 tell us about this: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
Because the Lord can see in our heart things we can’t recognize, it compelled us to seek Him more about this decision we had made to go with Nolan and Jay. What we discovered was that although there was excitement for the church plant, the calling to be on the pioneering team wasn’t quite as clear. What we also discovered was that when we first felt like God was calling us to the mission field 2 years ago, there was an emphasis on helping children affected by abject poverty and abuse - and we had taken our focus us off of that.
So in light of these discoveries, we shared with Nolan that we would have to humbly step down from the church planting team and in this season we’ve decided to press more into God and have him search our hearts and examine our minds, and give us some insight to what he is calling us to do in the Philippines. We are not yet saying that we will for sure do this or do that, all we know is that when we do make that decision it will not only be with great excitement, but more importantly, great faith.
NEXT STEPS FOR US
Since this decision God has been faithful in revealing many opportunities to explore His calling for us. If God provides the finances, Lynnette and I will be traveling to the Philippines this July to visit and serve in some orphanages. We are still planning on moving to the Philippines next May 2011 and we are confident that God will reveal more of his plans to us as long as we are open and faithful to what He has in store for us.
THANK YOU NOLAN & JAY!
Lynnette and I are very grateful to Nolan and Jay for being so understanding and open. I have no doubt that God will use their great faith to reach many in the Philippines. We are thankful to God for bringing them into our lives and using them to grow us in our faith. God is so good!
Spending Easter afternoon at the Isidro's
Overeating and a mad rush for Easter eggs at Eric and Grace's house.
Check out the website for our future church plant in the Philippines - www.HopeMetro.com
In 2011 Lynnette and I are going to go help Nolan Galido and his wife Jay, as they plant a church in Manilia called Hope Metro. Check out the website which already includes some online sermons, blogs and pics!
http://www.hopemetro.com
Hanging out in Maui with some church, bad Kihei food and Korean cooking
Lynnette and I are spending the week in Maui. For the first day we checked out Hope Chapel Kihei's Sunday service...great message but it made us miss HCWO. After we found a little restaurant called Kihei Caffe, it looked crowded and cheap so we ordered some burgers. Unfortunately they were overcooked and dry, there won't be a second visit to this joint.
We ended the day by attempting to cook a delicious Korean dish called Kalbi Chim, for the first time.The 1lb burger at The Counter
Lynnette and I had a chance to eat some delicious burgers at The Counter with David Song, Nolan and Jay Galido. David devoured the 1lb burger that just looked ridiculous. The crazy thing is that he has eaten bigger burgers. Time for a colon cleanse.
After 17 years of living in Hawaii I finally visited Pearl Harbor on Saturday
Lynnette lived in Hawaii all her life and this was the first time she's been here too! We had to visit it before we leave for the Philippines in 2011.
Seeing off Tim, Tara & Matt as they head out to Haiti
Through the generous support of Hope Chapel West Oahu, the team is heading out for 10 days to provide medical relief wherever it's needed as they partner with YWAM. Please keep them in prayer, especially when they land. They will be on their own from the airport to the Dominican Republic YWAM base. Then it is a 10 hr ride to the base in Haiti.
My dad shot this crazy surf photo out at Jaws & they used it in the Maui Newspaper...
The surfer is Archie Kalepa and he injured his knee after the giant wave wiped him out. Check out the article here:
Praise God! the boxes of books we brought to the Philippines were delivered to some schools in need...
My wife, Lynnette, always has a heart to help kids in need and especially for schools in need because she is also a teacher. She was able to coordinate with the Manoa Elementary librarian, where she used to work, and they generously donated boxes of books! In addition to that, she got her fellow teachers to get their classes to make bookmarks and postcards for the kids in the Philippines. Thanks so much to Pastor Jesse, and his wife Rose, for graciously delivering the books to the schools.
Lynnette's hope is that one day her school (August Ahrens Elementary) can adopt a school in need in the Philippines, providing books and connect children in two different countries.