May 19th Daily recap

"Deep is the word that has summed up the events of the day; Jumping off a twenty foot tower into deep water, developing painful, painful deep red sunburns, (yes mom, I put on sunscreen,) and most importantly, making deep, deep relationships with the college-aged students of New Hope Hilo Church. Not necessarily deep as in serious, but as in real, caring friendships. We spent roughly seven hours with the students at Coconut Island playing Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball, eating delicious food, even going to the local farmer’s market. We all had a great time and it totally shattered any presuppositions I had about what the locals would think of us. When we first arrived here, I had an encounter with a local that made me a bit that nervous about what the dynamic might be like between us and the people we’d be reaching out to… But the Lord put to rest that fear of mine. He has shown me that through His Spirit, lasting relationships can be built in only hours. Even the student’s Pastor, Chad noted that his student’s were acting differently around us, in a good way. They weren’t sticking to themselves, the Lord was drawing us all together. God took the Island’s “aloha spirit,” (an always welcoming, but shallow dynamic,) and our group dynamic (Suffocating) to create something beautiful and tender, yet it had the power to demolish any wall the enemy might try to build between us. The Lord is moving in powerful, yet subtle ways, bringing together the pasty white kids from Oregon (now lobster red) and the super tan locals of Hawaii in a way that only His Spirit could. I love our times together and cannot wait to see them again tomorrow night! Aloha." ;) -Austin Paul