Toilets still clog in Hawaii

Yes, toilets still clog in Hawaii, and this is what I woke up to today. Thankfully, Dad coached me well, and after a walk to Safeway to buy a plunger, the commode is back in business. Literally.

Yesterday was wonderful and difficult all at the same time. We had our official intern orientation yesterday morning, which included breakfast at a Mexican restaurant and then discussing expectations on the beach for a few hours. Not a bad place for a meeting, I must say. Our mentor coordinators fixed us homemade lasagna and peach cobbler for lunch, and we talked about the intern mentor program. What a blessing we have in these coordinators! They have made us feel so welcomed and loved in the last week by feeding us, letting us watch movies at their houses, and showing us around the island. They truly love us and are excited to have us here and invest in our spiritual growth. We'll be paired with mentors in the next month or so. Really looking forward to that!

After lunch, I met with Christie, former intern for my position, and she showed me a bunch of office protocol. I certainly learned quite a bit, and am glad to have gotten so much done already, but I had hit the exhausted wall. Hard. A nap didn't happen, but resting at home last night helped. I feel better today, but I doubt I'm out of the transition woods yet.

My new roommate, Rachel, and I were both exhausted last night, but we had a great time sharing funny stories and trying to get our ceiling fan to work better without hitting our heads on it. She is from Ventura County, CA, and studied exercise science at Marshall University in West Virginia. She works in our Children's ministry, and has a heart of gold. She loves kids, and loves life, but certainly doesn't take herself too seriously. She's a mix of Mexican, French-Canadian, and something else. Yep, she's super tan already, and I'll never catch up to her. Dang it! She's had lots of roommates before, and this summer, she worked on staff at Hume Lake Christian camps. I think we'll get along well, and so far, she hasn't complained about my snoring. :)

Blessing of the day: Last night some of the interns wanted to have a praise session on the beach and look at the stars. Ended up not happening, but we're gonna try to do so tonight. But as we were gathering on our apartment, Len (young adult intern), suggested we try to have a time of fellowship and encouragement with just us interns on our next day off. He'd like to keep it up weekly, but that may take time to establish. Len had a rough upbringing and is hilarious, but he truly has a heart for leading people to God, and I was blessed to see his concern for our intern group's own bonding and well-being. He's married to Jo (worship intern) for 1 year now- they are great together.

Another blessing happened yesterday at breakfast. Upon hearing our group had just moved to the island and that we're interns at Hope Chapel, her advice for us was this: "Take care of each other. A lot of us don't have family on the island, so we need to take care of each other and form our own family." Wow. I was expecting advice for the best bars or beaches to go to, but nope. I don't know if she's a believer or not, but I feel like that was the Lord speaking through her. I love noticing His truth in surprising ways!

Prayer

I've had some requests to send out a list of things to be praying about, so here we go:

-That I can take some time to myself to rest, get acquainted with the area, and feel centered/focused on why I'm here.
-That I can start and maintain a daily Bible study.
-That I can grow in faith about the importance of prayer.
-Sounds silly, but I need prayers that my snoring at night will be quieted. I was asked to switch rooms/roommates yesterday because of my snoring, and now I'm worried that I will be a problem to the new girl (Rachel). Don't want to be moved around- makes me feel unwanted.
-I have a very loose schedule- meant to give me flexibility for relationship building, but it is quite anxiety producing for this task-oriented wahine (woman in Hawaiian). So prayers for reduced anxiety about this would be great!
-Also prayers for whom I will meet and form relationships with. Meeting people is still overwhelming right now, and I bet it will be for a while longer, but I am looking forward to getting going with actual relationships! Would like the relationships not to seem forced either, just because I feel like I need to fill my schedule.
-To find a chiropractor and time to go see him/her regularly.
-To maintain patience adjusting to everything that's so new here. Don't have my own car, my own room, my own bathroom, my own food, my own internet at home, etc.

Praises:
-being fed lots of free fellowship meals so far! I love food, especially when it's free :)
-getting to watch the sunset last night. and yes, it looks just like the postcards. :)
-getting my prescriptions transferred successfully to a pharmacy close by with nice staff!
-a lovely view from my office and apartment. To the left is the mountain called Haleakala, and to the right is the pacific ocean. Not a bad gig! Reminds me to slow down and breathe every time I look out.
-my cell phone, and internet at the office. Getting to stay connected to people through texts, phone calls, facebook, email, etc. is encouraging!

Thanks for the prayers, and for reading!

P.s. Blessing of the day- Today I get to start my "green time." Each intern is required to volunteer 7 hours a week around the church, and I get to work in the bookstore all year! Tuesdays and Thursdays, in the afternoon. The other interns clean the church :) Our church bookstore is one of 2 Christian bookstores on the island, and our's is the bigger of the 2. Lots of opportunities to meet new people, I'm sure. Looking forward to 7 hours of free a/c! :)

And in case you were wondering, the pineapple here is like candy. Better than I've ever had, and yes, I bought 3 at Costco on Sunday and am polishing off the 1st one as I type.

First Maui Weekend

I've been here about 4 days now and I already feel at home, mostly. Still haven't unpacked all the way, but already have my 1st sunburn and have been to the grocery store once- talk about some sticker shock!! 2 bags of cereal, 1/2 gallon of milk, and 4 servings of yogurt = $18.56.Yikes! The church staff is treating us (intern group) to a trip to Costco this afternoon to fill our houses... no need to explain the excitement.

We've been warmly welcomed here, by the church mostly, but also the community. Yesterday (Saturday), the senior pastor, Craig Englert, took us paddle boarding in the morning. Try to stand up on a surf board and then start paddling... pretty difficult, but worth the effort to see sea turtles in the reef! Very clear water, and yes, it's stunning. :) I wished so badly for a waterproof camera out there, but you'll just have to come experience it for yourselves. It's worth it- I promise. After that, some of the interns and I went to "Big Beach" a few miles down the island to body board, then to a church family's infinity pool for our welcome dinner with the entire church staff. If you're thinking I stayed in my swimsuit all day, you're right. And, yes, I loved it! I put on sunblock all day, but 30 spf ain't gonna cut it here for this white chica.

So far, there are 3 female and 5 male interns. I live with Marissa, and she's from Wisconsin. I'm her 1st roommate, and we're having a good time together! The other 2 girls who will occupy the other room in our apartment will arrive sometime later. Jo and Len are married interns (first married interns for the church!) and they live in their own place. Very sweet couple who fed us the first few mornings. Ryan, Wes, and Jake live in the guys apartment, and the 4th guy intern dropped out last week, so we're looking for another one ASAP. All of us live in the same apartment complex, though, which is nice.

We have free use of 4 vehicles. The girls have a black grand cherokee jeep, and a white camry. The camry doesn't have a/c, and how iconic is it to drive a jeep in Hawaii??? So Marissa and I claimed that bad boy QUICK. :) The boys have 2 minivans- a honda and something else that doesn't work very well. Jason (my boss) says, "That's the joy of owning used cars... continual maintenance." But we also have bikes to use, and our feet, of course, as church is about a 3-5 minute drive away.

No internet, no a/c, and no washer/dryer in our apartments make for a small list of things to adjust to so far. But I like it. Lots of new surroundings to explore and the comfort of the beach to watch whenever I want. I can see it from my office desk right now :)

These posts could be pages long talking about all the things I'm encountering everyday, and as much as I'd love to write it all down, this time change and culture change is shutting down my brain too early every night :) Trying to absorb and be in the moment as much as possible. Feel free to ask questions! That will help focus my writing and avoid pages-long ramblings!

Blessings of this weekend: After paddle boarding, the interns and Craig Englert sat around a picnic table and shared our testimonies of our lives and how we got here. Took 2 hours, and was not extensive by any means, but my goodness, what a blessing to hear each story and bond in that way. Also, last night was our welcome dinner with the entire staff and some elders, plus spouses and kids. No, I don't remember all their names and positions, but how excited they all are to get to know us interns, support us, and watch us grow. I keep thinking, "Certainly after 12 years of interns (I'm in the 13th class) they'd be burned out on meeting new kids, and thinking there's nothing new about us." But no, they are eager to meet us and realize how unique we each are. They prayed over us last night, and I've gotten 3-4 real flower, handmade leis from them so far. How special I feel!

Mahalo and aloha- JM

Here we go!

So much to think about and want to remember today! Today’s the big day- I’m flying to Maui to start my yearlong internship. It’s exciting to be living in Maui for a year! Of 500 applicants, I’m the one walking off the plane today. That’s just insane. But I’m thankful and joyful, to say the least!

I’m also anxious. Worried to be leaving close relationships behind and “on-hold”- don’t want them to disintegrate or die out because I love them all so much. This is where I need to learn how to let go and let things be. To trust that this, too, is part of God’s perfect timing/plan.

Blessing of today: getting bumped up to 1^st class! This morning I said to my family that I hoped I’d get a little blanket on my 2^nd flight from Sacramento to Maui so I could sleep most of the way… now I’ll get that luxury for sure, plus more! Here’s the story:

When I bought my plane ticket originally, the only flights left were mostly 2 stop flights from LAX to Maui. Ridiculous. So I bought the only 1 stop flight left- LAX to Sacramento, a 4 hour layover, and then to Maui. Still crazy, but the cheapest and the least hassle of the options. When I got to LAX this morning, I thought I was on Alaska Airlines, but that wasn’t true. 1^st flight was with Delta Airlines, and then the 2^nd flight was with Alaska Airlines. I didn’t have a seat on either flight, and I’d have to re-check in with Alaska Airlines in Sacramento, and give them my luggage claim checks so they could find my luggage and transfer it. Nightmare? I think it would’ve been. But I went through security anyway and waited. The Delta flight attendant at my gate- “Lisa”- called me up and said, “Are you going to Maui today?” “Yes,” I replied. “Via Sacramento?” “Yes.” “Why?” “That was all that was left when I bought the ticket.” “Well that’s just crazy. I’ve never heard of anything like that! Your first flight is overbooked and I’m looking for volunteers to take a later fight. We’ll give you a $300 flight voucher and some meal tickets while you wait. But if you do that, you’ll only be able to use the vouchers on the same flight pattern. And since you’re going to Maui today, can I put you on a non-stop flight from here to there later today? We’ll find your luggage before it leaves and save it for that flight. You’ll go straight from here to Maui, and get there only 5 minutes later than your original itinerary. Oh, and it’s in first class. Is that ok?” After gasping for a minute and then exclaiming, “Absolutely!!!” we worked out the details and I’ll have my first 1^st class experience on my trip to Maui. It means a 7 hour wait in LAX, but DEFINITELY worth it!!! Thankful for a friend’s mail package with a new mix CD to listen to, and another friend’s advice to carry on my laptop and a few movies. :)

I hope to figure out how to post pictures soon.  Aloha and mahalo! –JM (Aloha means hello/goodbye and Mahalo means thank you/you’re welcome)

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! 

I named it “Watching the Lord Work” because that is the title of my ever-growing Word document of a prayer journal. Of course, the posts here will be primarily about my time in Maui, but I enjoy writing, and will probably throw in some previously written pieces from my journal as they fit.  The more I write, the larger my faith grows, as it is easy to look back and see what He has done, especially in the big events I’ve mostly written about. But I want to see God more in my life… in the everyday events.  So my plan is to include a section in each post about a blessing I noticed that day.  I’ll need some accountability on this, I’m sure! 

This blog may take on different purposes, as I hope to get back into a regular exercise routine, and I’ve heard blogging can help keep you quite accountable! 

But thanks for checking in periodically and reading. If you have any questions for me, you can comment below, email me, or find me on facebook!