To Know Who I Am & Whose I Am....

Whew! How's that for giving you food for thought? It was a phrase used by our speaker this week that really captures what the 3-month DTS training I am taking is all about. He has been a missionary for over 25 years and I cannot reveal his name or mission location for his safety and for those he is associated with (he had some pretty amazing stories). He gave us much to think about regarding considerations we must have while in another nation, most especially that we honour their culture and that we not impose ours on them by wrongly thinking we have ALL the answers for their lives. I do have a new appreciation and insight for how to respectfully approach new multi-cultural situations. As we countdown to our departure on June 29, this aspect of our training will be ramping up. Although we will be short-term missionaries, we have the potential for making a long-term impression on the lives of those we meet and form relationships with. Funny - that sounds a lot like how we should live our life every day, no matter where we are.

As I've mentioned previously, I do not try to make this a forum for training you or covering all that my teachings here are about. So I try to give you a little overview and will keep the really intense dialogue for when we are next together. Many of you just want to know how and what I'm doing, so the next bit is more newsy/chatty.

Friday, all of the ladies from our class went to a garden park for some bonding time. Here are some photo's. Enjoy!

"The CDTS Girls"

(You won't find me, as I took the photo)

Did you know that bananas flowered? I sure didn't! (photo on left)

What garden is complete without a gazebo?

The photo on the right is an "infinity" pool - you can see the ocean just above it in the distance. The palm trees are on the garden grounds, but just beyond them is the town of Kona in the distant right.

The photo directly below gives you an idea of how high up we were in altitude, which hopefully gives you a perspective of the effect of the pool.

KOKUA - my new favourite word!

Saturday was one of the high spots of my week here in Kona. Acknowledging that Outreach does not just need to happen thousands of miles away, but also locally - sometimes right next door - many of us volunteered for the 70.3 mile (113.1 km) Iron Man Half-Marathon. WHAT A RUSH (oops, no pun intended)!

The "kokua" (which is a Hawaiian word: extending loving, sacrificial help to others for their benefit, not for personal gain) crew I was on was responsible for the athlete's transition from bicycle to running, which meant removing their helmets, socks, cycling shoes and changing into new socks, running shoes, and applying sunscreen (it is 28 degrees Celsius here, after all). But FIRST, we had to locate the bag containing their gear which early in the morning, we had put in numerical order (based on the athlete's identification number).

SORTING GEAR BAGS AT 8:00am

So picture this: about 1500 people who have just 'au'aukai (swum) for 1.2 miles (1.9 kms), then paikikala (cycled) 56 miles (90 kms) getting off their bike, allowing someone (that crew consisted of a whole bunch of young US Marines) to take it and park it for them and feeling almost frantic to locate their gear and change before proceeding to holo holo (run) for 13.1 miles (21 kms). And they came in waves, sometimes 5 at a time, sometimes 25 or more, and of course, they are not arriving in numerical order. Callers are yelling numbers out, pointing them in our general direction, we're digging for their bag with arm raised calling out the number again. I could say more, but the bottom line is that it was totally a blast!

Bike Racks:

BEFORE........

AFTER........

I don't have any photo's of the race or athletes - I was a little too busy to pull out my camera.

Thanks for stopping by.......

Until next time!

Love & Hugs, June