Junior Church

Jillian and I have been given the opportunity to teach junior church at Molokai Baptist on Sunday mornings.  We have the children from pre-k to second grade. Thus far, the children have been attentive and well-behaved. More exciting than that, some of these children are from the children's camp we worked a few weeks ago. They remember us, and we are continuing to build the relationships that we started weeks ago.  We only have one week left to teach, making a total of three Sundays. 

 

Please pray for us and this upcoming Sunday. We will be wrapping up the Gospel story. Pray that the children would listen and understand. Pray that seeds would be planted. The Lord is at work in the children's lives here in Molokai. 

-Sarah

Seasons

It has been said that for everything there is a season. Seasons come. Seasons go. Some are good, filled with joy and laughter. Others are filled with sorrow. Some are just different. Here in Molokai, we are entering a different season. Today, we said good-bye to our now dear friends from a college in California. They have been serving alongside us since day one, and now, their time has ended. We go from having a group of ten to a crew of three. It is almost like we are stepping into a new adventure. Life as we have known it for the past month will be different than the next three weeks. We will miss having Jessa around to talk away the rain clouds or having Jessica around to give back massages. The change is not bad, just different. We have made some great friends that we hope to keep in contact with. We have learned so much from each other, and it is my privilege to call them my friends.

Now, it is time for us to readjust to our new lives here. Time to keep on going, in spite of sadness, and finish what we have came here to do...spread God's love to the people of Molokai.

Please pray for:

• Our friends as they travel back home

• Our new ministry opportunities (more to come about this)

• Opportunities to minister to the people here

All God's Children Preschool

Matt having a little too much fun!

Several days over the past few days, we have been helping out with All God's Children Preschool. The preschool is on Molokai Baptist Church property, and they work together. With a new teacher coming in this year, many things have to be done. We have painted, stripped, and waxed a closet. Preparations have also been made to redo the rest of the floors. We may have had a little fun cleaning the toys too! A few of the children are from the Vacation Bible School and I was so excited to see them again. Here are a few pictures from us working!

Jillian and the new preschool teacher!



Just working.

Aloha Mondays

Every Monday night, Kaunakakai Baptist Church, another church in Molokai, throws an event called Aloha Mondays. It is not anything fancy, just good food and fellowship for whoever wants to come from the community. This past Monday was our first opportunity to go, and what a blast we had! I knew the moment we walked through the gate that prayers had been answered. The lawn was crawling with children from camp! While I pushed kids on the swing and taught others the cup-clap game, Jillian and Matt had the opportunity to talk to some of the adults. They were blessed by their conversations with the people and were able to be a blessing to others. We were very glad we went because we got to love some of the people from Molokai!

Please pray for:

• strength to keep on going
• the weekend of Hope in July (a big ministry opportunity)
• continued boldness to share the Gospel

Battle on the Bayou

As most people would assume, we came to Molokai expecting to live in Molokai this summer. Little did we know that we would venture to the bayou of Louisiana. Okay, so maybe we did not actually make it to Louisiana, but at children's camp this week, everyone pretended that we had stepped into the swamps of the South. The theme for the week was the "Battle on the Bayou." Of course, people there equated the bayou with the South, so Matt, Jillian, and I were the poster people for the week. We played the country parts in the skits and put on a real thick accents for the children. They loved it!

Competition Time

Camp started Monday morning and ended Friday. Approximately fifty-one children came out to join the fun ranging from mostly second through seventh grades. The week was packed with early bird, morning, and afternoon swims, Gator Hunter vs. Swamp Logger competitions, skits, songs, cafeteria games, Scripture memorization, missionary stories, and the Word of God. The children and adults alike had a blast! We were reminded before camp ever started that camp was for the campers and not the counselors. Going in with this mindset helped us a lot. We were hanging out with the children from rise and shine to lights out. Some of the children really made connections with us, and I am excited to say that some of those children also asked Jesus into their hearts. About fifteen children made decisions this week! We are so excited! Hopefully, we will still be able to stay connected with some of the children throughout the summer. 

Hanging out at Snack Bar

We had many fun and funny moments in this action packed week, but all that is nothing when compared to the salvation of souls. Some of the children had never heard the Gospel in a real way before. I was overcome with thankfulness for all those people who took time out of their lives to share with me God's love. Now, I am sharing that story of salvation with those who need to hear it. The whole team is beyond thankful for this opportunity to share with the people of Molokai.

Please Pray for:

• Open connections with the children we met this past week
• Continued health for our team members and the people here
• Our upcoming ministry assignments

Reading the Bible

Chilling on the Beach

Kingdom Rock

  Vacation Bible School has been great this past week. As I write this, tonight will be the final night of Kingdom Rock. Over forty children have attended along with twenty to thirty adults. We have been able to connect with many of the local children. 

   God has answered prayers this week. Wednesday night was a rough night at VBS. The children were very rowdy, and no one was for sure how to handle the situation. 

   Thursday, we bathed the situation in prayer and gave it all to God. Sure enough, Thursday night, the same group of children behaved and participated. It was a total turn around! Thank you for all the prayers concerning Vacation Bible School. 

   We have one more night, and God is not finished yet!

Please pray for us as we wrap up VBS, and as we continue preparations for Children's Camp next week.

Preparations, Preparations, and More Preparations

Setting up for a dual college graduation party.

The past few days has been filled with preparations. High school and college graduations are huge deals in Hawaii. All of us have been working hard setting up tables, chairs, tents, etc. for theses events.



Matt serving the desserts.



Our team and a few new friends at the graduation party.



   Vacation Bible School starts tonight. The theme statement is "Where kids stand strong for God".  Part of being prepared for the week was going through a VBS training. Molokai Baptist Church (MBC) has partnered with a church in town to pull off the event. MBC loves its children. Everyone is so excited to be working with the VBS tonight.

Drawing out the banner before we painted it.

 We had a few hours before VBS started tonight, so we decided to help Uncle D in a new room the church is building. It should be finished by next week!

Sarah painting the ceiling.

 

What we have been doing over the past few days may not be the most exciting things to a lot of people, but we have all kept the attitude that what we are doing is for the Lord. The hard work is fun, and we have been able to build relationships with the people that we have been helping.

Please pray for:

• God to give us strength to be able to communicate the Gospel clearly and effectively
• Vacation Bible School ~ the kids, the workers, and everything else
• Children's Camp preparation (The camp is next week.)
• Energy to make it through each day as it comes

Down on the Farm

 

This week, we have been helping Aunty V on her farm. Being at a farm reminded us of home, but none of us knew much about farming. In her papaya field, we harvested, washed, and delivered papaya. On the same day, we weeded around the trees and harvested worms. 

  

The next day, we helped on Aunty V's other farm. That day we did anything from helping with horses to cleaning out around banana trees.

It was a few days of hard work, but also a time of fellowship and learning about how the Hawaiians live. We talked about a verse in devotion time that morning before we set out to work.

"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Matthew 9:35-39

Please pray for:

• safety as we continue working on construction projects and farms
• a servant's heart in everything we do
• Vacation Bible School as it starts next week

  

  Jillian holding a baby chick.

  
  
  
  
  
  

Flight Delays

We have made it safely to Molokai! In fact, we started our ministry here before ever arriving on Molokai soil. Upon arriving at the Honolulu airport, we learned that we had a two hour flight delay. This pushed our flight back until nightfall. We were tired and hungry, but there was nothing we could do. Four Hawaiian nationals with matching t-shirts sat a few rows ahead of us. They looked like they were our age. After a while, Jillian became curious, so we decided to go talk to them.  To our surprise, we instantly learn that they were from Molokai. We talked for about two hours just getting to build a relationship with them and learn about the island. We had an instant connection with them. They will be spending their summer at home before heading back to college.

I remember thinking as we were walking out of the doors of orientation that the mission started at that moment; it did not have to wait until we arrived on Molokai. After no one filled the seat between Jillian and I on the first flight, I assumed that it might would wait until we landed on Molokai. But my plans are not His plans.

Thank God for flight delays!

Please pray for:

• Continued opportunities to meet and connect with the locals and share with them God's love
• Us as we start different ministry outreaches this coming week
• Open hearts of the people on Molokai

The Wonders of Creation

   We had the privilege on our day off to spend a few hours at the beach with some locals and another college team. The beauty of it all brought me to a place of worship of how awesome our God is. The same God who created the ocean, cliffs, and sand, created me.

   The experience led to a conversation later that night with a local Hawaiian Christian. We were talking about how amazing creation is and how God's glory shines through it. The local then said that creation is a good thing, but is also a stumbling block for others. I inquired what he meant by that. 

   He explained to us that the traditional locals worship the created, not the Creator. They get so caught up in the beauty of the water, mountains, red clay, and so much more, that they think that the lava rocks must be some kind of god, or that the wind is a god itself. 

   As followers of Christ, we do not believe this, but it is especially hard to explain this to people, who for generations, have been told otherwise. While creation may bring us to a place of worship, oftentimes, it causes others to not understand the truth. 

   Please pray for the natives that they may understand that there is a God who created all and is in control of all. Also, pray for us that we may be able to effectively witness to these people.

Meet Team Molokai

The Molokai Adventure team is strategically partnered with a local church in Molokai, Hawaii. They will help develop and carry out outreach ministries in the community. They will also connect to the locals and build relationships with them in order to show them God's love.

  Meet the Team. 

Meet Matt. Matt is from Bay Springs, Mississippi, and graduated from William Carey University with a B.A. in Biblical Studies. He plans on attending New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He wants to serve as a missionary to the Nepalese.

Meet Jillian. Jillian is from Water Valley, Mississippi. She attends the University of Mississippi and is about to embark on her Junior year. Her major in the fall will be Communication Sciences and Disorders. She loves kids and has an extremely bubbly personality.

Meet Sarah, media leader. Sarah is from Sylvania, Alabama, and attends Northeast Alabama Community College, where she is pursuing a General/Pre-Liberal Arts major. She loves Ultimate Frisbee and ice cream. This is her first time serving with Project 52.

Please pray:

• That the people of Molokai will be open to the Gospel
• For continued team unity throughout the summer
• For strength for all team members