he is altogether vanity.

the wind almost swept me away...

two highlights of the past week include: Our leadership retreat to Makapala and girls night out at a local Thai restaurant!

--- The retreat was divine. green grass, tall trees, swinging vines. a tropical paradise. both the rain and the wind were cool and refreshing. the fifty of us spent our days engaging in a wild round of kickball. laying out in the sweet sunshine. hiking down to the beach in Pololu Valley. and getting coffee in the quaint town of Hawi. as a community we grew so much tighter. we worshipped together and played games til the wee hours of the morning. it was sublime. lovely. a rejuvenating weekend spent with family!

- - - a group of us girls got all dolled up and went for Thai food! it was nice to get dressed up and be girly... and eat pad thai.. mmm - i tried oyster, needless to say it was not the most enjoyable experience!

Something that has really been on my heart this week is fear of man. to stop fearing reactions and actions from other people based on what i choose to do. to cease letting it have any hold over me. to care not what anyone may think of me or say about me. i was reading a commentary on blue letter bible by matthew henry and he was commentating on Isaiah 2:22 ("stop regarding man, in whose nostrils is breath, for what account is he?") --- "Wherein then is man to be accounted of? Alas! no reckoning is to be made of him, for he is not what he seems to be, what he pretends to be, what we fancy him to be. Man is like vanity, nay, he is vanity, he is altogether vanity, he is less, he is lighter, than vanity. When weighed in the balance of the sanctuary." --- astonishing? does that not hit home? i just love that matthew henry puts man in his place... we are nothing. we are dust. our life is but a breath. when compared to God and all his infiniteness! 

love you all heaps and heaps. 

as promised...

friends! i promised a weekly update and here i am already slacking... but look on the bright side, at least i'm writing something! - - - so as you've probably already heard or guessed i am back in the tropical land of hawaii. it has been exactly two weeks since i arrived and already it feels as though i never left... i have five lovely new roommates and am part of the leadership track which includes 30 to 40 staff?! already this track feels like family, we worship together, serve the base and community together, pray/intercede and have bbq nights together!

a few highlights so far...

i help out in Mrs. Barker's first grade classroom four mornings a week and one of her students, Scott decided to bring a mouse to school. and when he unzipped his backpack out it scampered into the classroom! oh the joys of teaching!

me and some girls were heading back from the beach and on our hitchhiking adventure we were picked up by a guy named Brian, who happens to stop for many a ywamer! he asked to take a photo with us all, after showing us his collection of pictures from past ywam staff/students! we recognized over half of the people in them :)

we have been memorizing scripture. so by the time July hits, i will have matthew 5, 6 and 7 memorized!

this friday we all take off, up North for a retreat! games, music, the beach and fabulous fellowship await!

we have quite a busy schedule to follow and rare are the moments when i get to pour out my heart to anyone who will listen. but i hope that's what this blog turns into over the next three months! - - - i am truly hoping to discover God's plan in my life for this coming year and what my vision/ dream will look like. this is a season of growing and stretching and much of it will be hard and uncomfortable, but i am psyched that i'm not alone in it! Jesus have your way..  i am overjoyed to be here.

love to you all, sending countless hugs and kisses your way.. xo