BIG NEWS FOR US!

It has been an exciting week here at YWAM Honolulu. On Tuesday at our weekly staff meeting Mike and Vivian Heath announced to our staff that they would be stepping down from leading the ministry of YWAM Honolulu and that Chris and I would step into their roles. We are very honored and humbled by this turn of events. We have loved YWAM Honolulu for many years, it has become our home and our family. We feel God has been preparing us for this role for the last few years and when the opportunity was presented to us it was not a difficult choice to make. I am sure there are many questions people have about this change of leadership so if you are one of those asking questions check out the Q & A below, hopefully I answered your questions. If I did not shoot me an email and I would love to do so. We are very much in need of your prayers and support as we take this new step on our journey. 

How long have you known?

In October Chris’s parents came out for a visit. Around that time Chris’s mom Joy Solima had a prophetic prayer which prompted her to encourage us that we may be offered leadership at YWAM Honolulu. She strongly encouraged us to be prayed up and ready with an answer if that did happen. Thankfully we have learned to take her dreams seriously.

Shortly after that Mike and Vivian started processing the idea of taking a sabbatical. We knew if they did that then they would most likely be coming back to YWAM Honolulu in a different capacity. It has been our hope for a long time to see them released to pursue their passions. 

Last week Nov 26-30 Danny Lehman (the Hawaiian Islands Director) was in Honolulu to share with our DTS students.  As he processed with Mike and Vivian it became obvious to all of them that God was moving Mike and Vivian forward to go into a time of sabbatical. With that decision made they felt led to ask us to take on the responsibility of leading YWAM Honolulu. So the short answer to the question is...we have only known for 1 week. We have however felt the Lord preparing us for awhile and thanks to Chris’s parents we were ready to give an answer when approached with this decision.

What will Mike and Vivian do next?

Mike and Vivian have always carried a heart for long term missions. They have been church planters in Asia and have a passion for frontier missions. It has been their aim the entire time they have been at YWAM Honolulu to work connecting the local body of Christ with frontier missions. I am pleased to tell you that when they return from their 6 month sabbatical that they will be released to do this full time. Our prayer is that during their sabbatical they will find rest and refreshment the Lord as well as get energized with new vision and dreams about what is to come. 

Who will lead the DTS program?

 There is no one whom we feel is the obvious choice at this time to lead the entire program. That being said the DTS is very healthy and strong. We currently have an amazing team of DTS staff! We have experienced school leaders scheduled to lead the next 2 schools and Chris and I will still have the privilege of discipling the staff which has been our primary focus since taking on the DTS director role. Our staff are all very capable of running the day to day events of the school and we will continue to oversee the whole. In looking towards the future we expect God will raise up new permanent leaders for the DTS program.

Are there any new changes that you will implement immediately? 

No we feel it is best to transition any major changes slowly. We truly love the staff and ministry that we are apart of and the last thing we want to do is bring insecurity to anyone as we make this transition into leadership. Of course there are many things we feel God has put on our heart but we want to work with the other staff and our leadership team to pray about the vision for the future and any changes God would call us to make.

How can you pray for us?

#1. Chris and I are coming upon our 3 year anniversary on Dec 16th. If you had told us 3 years ago in that little chapel in Las Vegas that in the next 3 years we would run 2 Bible Core Course, 3 Discipleship Training Schools, become students in the School of Missions and Evangelism and lead an outreach team to Vietnam as well as visit The Philippines, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, China, Mexico and by our 3rd anniversary we would become the new leaders at YWAM Honolulu I would not have believed you. Pray for our young marriage as we are 2 strong personalities that have the potential to compliment each others strengths tremendously and make a great team. We are unfortunately also capable of driving one another totally nuts. Pray for us as we step into this responsibility that we would love and prefer each other, that we would grow and celebrate each others strengths and offer grace for each others weaknesses. Pray that we would walk in wisdom and humility and more than anything that we would have the courage to do what the Lord asks of us because we believe He has great plans for YWAM Honolulu! 

#2. We have stepped into leadership at a time where as a base we have some major challenges ahead. It is our plan to restore 4 of our buildings in 2013. This will of course present housing and financial challenges and require a lot of flexibility and grace on everyone’s part. Housing has for a long time been a major challenge for YWAM Honolulu. We are praying about future growth and know that changes must be made. Pray for us as we seek God for direction, faith and favor for the next chapter.

#3. We are struggling with infertility. I have found out this year that I have PCOS. In short this means in is VERY difficult for us to become parents naturally. I am however making lots of dietary changes and have learned a great deal about health through this process. We are praying about our options which include seeking out  infertility treatment, waiting, or looking into adoption. On a somewhat side note though still related I have felt a major pull towards foster care. We went to an informational meeting and are seeking more information about this. You can pray for wisdom, health and faith in God, we know that He is ever good!

Adventures in Asia

May 4th, 2012, Battambang Cambodia

I have been in Asia for less than 48 hours and there is already so much to write about.  It is currently 5:38 in the morning. I woke up a few minutes ago and though this is not an hour I typically wake up I am pleased to see have slept though the night. It is incredibly hot and humid here and I was afraid I would be too hot and jet lagged to sleep.

Traveling from Bangkok to Battambang turned out to be much easier than I expected. 5 years ago I did the same journey with 3 other girls and it was a scaring experience. The difference of 5 years of experience as well as having a man with you makes is enormous. Travel in Thailand was easy of course. Thailand has amazing public transportation. We were able to get a free shuttle bus from our hotel to the airport and then took a bus directly from the airport to the border for 187 Thai Bath, roughly $7 USD.

The Poipet border crossing is notorious for being the worst border crossing in Asia because of all the scams. We almost got had. As soon as our bus stopped at the border a man got on our bus who we assumed was with the bus company, (hindsight, I think not). He proceeded to be extremely helpful and lead us into a office which said consulate on the window. He handed us visa forms to fill out and asked us for our visa pictures, telling us that we had to purchase our visas before going to the border and then we would only have to get our passport stamped at the border. It seemed like he could have been telling the truth, especially because he was telling us the official price of $20 USD. I had done some reading on travel blogs which warned of many kinds of scams, so thought he mig be lying.. Poor Mandy had to experience Chris and having tension because he thought the guy was telling the truth. I understand why Chris wanted to believe him, it was VERY hot and a long walk to the border crossing. If I had been wrong then it would have been extremely annoying to have to walk back simply because I had a hunch that the place was not legit. Thankfully my hunch was right, it had been a scam. There were signs posted later about not believing scammers that said exactly what he did. That guy would have had our money and our visa pics. I kept thinking I shouldn't  to be mad at him because of course it's expected to get scammed but it took me some time to shake the feeling of being lied to. Thank you Lord for the discernment to not get ripped off. I'm also thankful for a husband who listens to me even when he thinks suspects I'm wrong:)

Being too hot to eat we just wanted to find a taxi and be on our way. Thankfully the first taxi driver offered a fair price and we were quickly on our way to meet the team. I would do the Poipet border crossing again but hopefully always with Chris as I felt much safer this time around.

We are staying at a beautiful rustic orphanage. There are 32 of the cutest most affectionate kids you've ever seen in your life. They made us a delicious dinner of sautéed veggies, beef, noodles and rice. With lychee fruit for dessert. After dinner we had a time of worship, prayer, testimony's and teaching from our DTS students as well as one of the girls who lives at the orphanage. Her story was very sad yet encouraging to hear her hope. Her father left her family when she was a small child and here mother became ill and eventually died leaving the responsibility of her care to her older siblings. Her siblings were given the opportunity to let her live at the orphanage and allow her to go to school. She accepted this as a major blessing. She shared her feelings about wondering why she didn't get to have a normal family and longing for that. However she shared about the hope and joy she has found in Christ. I found her testimony very humbling and encouraging.

Just being in Cambodia makes you realize just how fortunate you are. This is a beautiful country but lacks the basics most of us take for granted everyday, a.c., regular showers and paved roads to name a few. I'm wondering if there is blessing in that too. The children seem to be much better behaved than most in the west, they also have the ability to make just about anything into a toy or create a game in any setting. I am so blessed to be here. 


May 8th, 2012 Bangkok, Thailand

We have made it safely back to Bangkok, Thailand. We're in a
clean and air conditioned hotel room which I am extremely
thankful for. After taking bucket showers with river water
and getting pretty eaten up with jungle bugs we are thrilled
to get a real shower and sleep in a king size bed. Poor
Chris had to sleep on the floor, while I was on a bunk bed
with Mandy.

Even though it was not a very comfortable place to be we are
so happy we got to go there. It is an amazing orphanage with
32 kids. They were honestly some of the most affectionate
and cutest kids I have ever been around. I was ready to take
a few home but I didn't think I could get them through
customs. Chris and I were very pleased with how well our
team is doing there. We got the chance to meet with each
person individually and pray with them. I think our trip was
pretty refreshing for them, it was for us. Taking them out
to eat was pretty fun. We took them to a cute restaurant in
Battambang (a small city an hour by truck, the whole team
sitting in the back), where  we told them their budget
was $5 each. You would have thought we took them to a 5 star
restaurant by their response. It was a lot of fun and
everyone left well feed.

We had some extra DTS money we were able to donate to the
orphanage, $500, so that was pretty fun to do. We heard a
few of the teenagers give their testimony about how they
came to live at the orphanage, it was heart breaking but
also encouraging to hear how thankful they are for simple
things we take for granted like clothes, food and education.
I decided while I was watching the kids walk to school in
the morning in their uniforms that was soon as our nieces
and nephews are old enough I'm taking them on a missions
trip so that they will know how blessed they are.

We have about 24 hours to rest and relax at our hotel before
we head out to India. I'm going to do some laundry by hand,
read and book and go out for great Thai food tonight. I am
so happy to be doing this job and traveling the world with
my husband, Chris and I are a great team. It was fun to see
him in action in Cambodia, I got lots of great pics.

We are off to Asia again! Tomorrow morning we leave for the nations of Cambodia, India & Thailand. We have 29 amazing young people serving the Lord in these nations and we can’t wait to see them! It’s always exciting to get to travel and be reminded of why we do what we do in the day to day tasks. Chris and I have a lot of expectation for what the Lord is going to do in our lives during this trip. We are praying that God will strengthen our relationships with the long term workers in Asia but we are also praying that God will open new doors for us and YWAM Honolulu to expand our ministry. 

Here is a brief outline of our itinerary:

May 2nd-  Honolulu to Bangkok

May 4th- Bangkok to Battambang, Cambodia

May 9th-Battambang, Cambodia to Bangalore, India

May 13th- Bangalore, India to Phuket, Thailand

May 18th- Phuket, Thailand to Chiang Mai, Thailand

May 23rd- Chiang Mai, Thailand to Honolulu

May 24th- Home Sweet Home in Honolulu

Things to Pray for:

1. Wisdom from God to give out to staff and students. That God will bless them during this time.
2. Traveling grace, no sickness or getting lost, great lay overs and fair and safe bus and taxi drivers!
3. That we will be diligent to pray and listen to God during this time, being obedient to His voice.

An added blessing of this trip is that our good friend Mandy Fowler is joining us. Mandy and I were bunk mates in our DTS 12 years ago and the Lord has called her back into YWAM. She will be coming on staff with us in Sept so we thought that a crazy whirl wind trip to Asia would be the perfect thing for her to step back into YWAM. Here is a link to her blog if you want to catch up on what's going on with Mandy .

mandyjoyblogs.wordpress.com

A special THANK YOU for reading this and keeping up with us and to those of you who faithfully support us, THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Baptisms at Sunset
Jan 2012 DTS

23 Students
+
9 Staff
+
6 Months of their lives dedicated to "knowing God and making him known"
= Lives radically changed and God glorified.


Chris and I went on a dinner date to our new favorite Mexican restaurant, (those are hard to find in Hawaii).  Before we left we spent 20 min discussing whether or not it was a wise decision to go spend our money that way. Obviously in the end our taste buds won out and we enjoyed chicken tacos and garlic shrimp. As we drove there I asked him if he ever thought about what it would be like to work a "real" job and get a pay check and be like "normal" people who didn't have to think about if it was financially responsible to go to dinner with their spouse on a Friday night to a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. What followed was one of my favorite conversations we've had lately. Chris said, "Ya I think about it but the payoff we get for doing our job is worth more than what anyone could pay us. We're in the business of changing lives, nothing compares to that."


 He was right, nothing compares to seeing a student who has been dealt a bad deck in life come into DTS believing all sorts of lies about themselves that they've swallowed hook line and sinker and watch the Lord begin to shine light and truth into their hearts and minds. There is nothing better this side of heaven then to see a life radically changed by the truth and light of Jesus and a community of people who are dedicated to them for no other reason then that each individual was created in the image of God. 


We have been incredibly blessed this quarter by our staff and students. Last thursday morning they all got on one airplane and headed to Asia, their final destinations being; Thailand, Cambodia and India. We've already heard reports of on the spot headings and salvations and it's only been 1 week. I can't wait to hear about all that will take place in the next few months. Please be in prayer for them here are some things to pray for.


1. God's power at work in them
2. Health and Safety
3. Grace and strength for dealing with culture shock 
4. Bridges built with our long term workers and that our teams will be a blessing to the nations 

My pastoral visit trip was amazing! I feel so refreshed after meeting with our students on outreach and seeing how much they were changed through serving God. The nations truly have been blessed by these young people. Check out my video from outreach to see more. Watch it on youtube for the full screen version. I hope you enjoy!

I (Cary) am flying to Asia TOMORROW! I love the nations and I am so excited to be traveling to 4 countries in 15 days! I just wanted to send a quick update out about what's been going on here in Hawaii and what my desires and prayer requests are for this upcoming trip. Here is a rough itinerary

*Feb 1st- The Philippines

*Feb 6th- "South East Asian Nation"

*Feb 9th- Nepal

*Feb 13th- Thailand 

*Feb 15th- Honolulu

Prayer Requests for Cary

*safety and good health

*traveling mercies

*to be a true blessing to our outreach teams

*To build relationship with our long term workers as well to  dream and cast vision with them about how the Lord would have us partner together in the future. 

Chris and I, as well as the base leadership at YWAM Honolulu feel strongly that we are to make strategic partnerships with long term ministries in Asia and the South Pacific. We are in a process of praying about how to choose those ministries as well how we can serve them and partner together for the sake of the Kingdom. Our goal is to have long lasting fruit from our short term outreaches and that can only be accomplished through these vital partnerships. So please be in prayer for me on this trip as I get renewed vision for the goals we believe the Lord has put before us. 

While I will be visiting teams from our Sept DTS Chris will be holding down the fort for our January DTS. We are into our 3rd week in DTS and we are excited about what we see happening with this school as well. 

Prayer Requests for Chris

*wisdom in leadership and decision making

*rest times with the Lord

*continued discipleship with staff

 *that our students will feel loved and challanged to go after God with everything they have

Below are some pics of the outreach teams we will be sending out in March.

Jan DTS 2012 Cambodia Team

Jan DTS 2012 Thailand & SE Asia

Jan DTS 2012 India Team

Aloha Day Jan 2012

DTS Staff Jan 2012

One of our long term workers in the Philippines sent me an email last week raving about how much of a blessing our outreach team was. Below are a few pics of their outreach. They shared the love of Jesus through song and dance in the streets as well as treating over 200 kids for lice. I am so proud of them!

Dancing in the Streets!

Over 200 Kids Treated for Lice!

Sweet Baby Faces

December

December was amazing! We sent 3 outreach teams to Asia. I (Cary) went sailing and swam with dolphins. We celebrated our anniversary, Chris's 29th birthday, Christmas, and New Years in Hawaii. Oh and we painted our house. Below are some pics from December. Chris  also surprised with an awesome camera for Christmas.


I (Cary) have a big trip coming up in February. I will be visiting our outreach teams in the Philippines, Nepal and another country in Asia.  The purpose of my trip is 2 fold. One part to give pastoral care and encouragement to our outreach teams (staff & students), and one part to connect with our long term workers on the field. It is very important to us to connect with our long term workers so that we can build a strong relationships and strengthen our ministries. As a DTS program and the ministry of YWAM Honolulu we have spent a lot of time praying about which ministries we should partner with. Our long term over seas missionaries are vital to the schools we run here at YWAM Honolulu. Our desire is to do our best to serve them as well as communicate our vision and requirements for a DTS outreach. Please be in prayer for myself and a good friend Chelsea who will be on this trip with me. We will have many flights and probably be lacking sleep. Pray that I am at my best and healthy so that I can really be a blessing to our teams and workers. 

See that little head in the water, its MINE!

Christmas Day Beach Time

New Years Day Hike, Manoa Valley 

Christmas Eve Sunset

Before 

After

A Sailing Dream Come True

Chris is such a romantic, notice the coffee!

BBQ at Sunset, Our Favorite Kind of Date!

BBQ Date