Aloha! We have now been here two weeks on the island and have so much to share with you! Lots of challenges, some very difficult ones for me personally and just challenges overall due to all the changes in our lives. So let me get started and share with you the latest...
We live in Kaneohe on Oahu (ah, still so surreal to say, "we live here"!!) and this town sits is in a valley surrounded by the Pali mountains. So it's very muggy and very cloudy and it RAINS a lot! It was like breathing HEAVY air and it was hard to even walk in it without feeling fatigued! But we are starting to get used to it and not as aware of it so that's good. LOVELY area! The Pali mountains are magnificent! The closer you get to them, the more tropical jungly they are! Anxious to get out and hike on some trails to really discover them up close.
God has been meeting us on every level - He has been SO faithful to His promises! We are really learning how to wait on Him and it's strengthening our faith by leaps and bounds. Let me give you a few examples of the details He continues to take care of for us...
We couldn't get our rental car the first day - our usual first reaction would be to make it happen somehow! But instead, we prayed and asked God to show us if He is doing something else that would be better and within 1/2 hour we had a car for no cost!! (Our son Chris's girlfriend Melanie was leaving the next day for a hiking trip and she offered to let us use her car!) Then we had about 3 days between the time she got back before ours arrived (we shipped it here from Seattle) and we prayed that morning before picking up the rental and God told us to call the shipping yard to see if it came early and guess what??!! It arrived that day! So smooth and wonderful and no add'l costs!
In addition, I had lost my phone right after getting off the plane and found it would be $200.00 for us to get another phone from Verizon (we had no upgrades so phones are full cost), and our old selves would have just done it, but our new selves just prayed and asked God to work something out for us...we waited 13 days and we now have a phone someone gave to us at no cost!! He is really blessing us in the area of finances as we depend upon Him for provision. He also gave Michael some work with our landlord...we are thankful!
We have been out exploring and getting to know our neighborhood/city and the surrounding cities. I even ventured out on my own with the car yesterday and it felt great! Feeling like we are getting familiar with the main roads and highways to get where we need to go and also using google map like crazy! I went to the local Kaneohe library here in town and if you know me at all, you know that I am a book freak! So had to check that out on my first day out on my own! It was fun to explore and they do have on line ordering, so there's more to choose from than just the local library. It gave me an opportunity to meet some locals there and learn more about the history of this island. I want to learn all I can so I can understand their history.
Our new home couldn't be more perfect for us...good neighborhood, very cozy inside, just the right spot for Michael and I. We have the lovely trade winds that come in all the windows that keeps things cool inside and our landlords are very nice, good people. Yaaaay! We even have little lizards and doves to keep us company! I don't believe that either one of us have felt "out of place" here at all. It has just felt homey from the first night and the only real adjustments is living underneath another home and hearing all the footsteps, etc.
Me, being such a VISUAL person, I am loving all the different varieties of God's creations! TREE galore here! I am in heaven! Here are just a few pics of the many types of trees and foliage/flowers here on the island:
We live in Kaneohe on Oahu (ah, still so surreal to say, "we live here"!!) and this town sits is in a valley surrounded by the Pali mountains. So it's very muggy and very cloudy and it RAINS a lot! It was like breathing HEAVY air and it was hard to even walk in it without feeling fatigued! But we are starting to get used to it and not as aware of it so that's good. LOVELY area! The Pali mountains are magnificent! The closer you get to them, the more tropical jungly they are! Anxious to get out and hike on some trails to really discover them up close.
God has been meeting us on every level - He has been SO faithful to His promises! We are really learning how to wait on Him and it's strengthening our faith by leaps and bounds. Let me give you a few examples of the details He continues to take care of for us...
We couldn't get our rental car the first day - our usual first reaction would be to make it happen somehow! But instead, we prayed and asked God to show us if He is doing something else that would be better and within 1/2 hour we had a car for no cost!! (Our son Chris's girlfriend Melanie was leaving the next day for a hiking trip and she offered to let us use her car!) Then we had about 3 days between the time she got back before ours arrived (we shipped it here from Seattle) and we prayed that morning before picking up the rental and God told us to call the shipping yard to see if it came early and guess what??!! It arrived that day! So smooth and wonderful and no add'l costs!
In addition, I had lost my phone right after getting off the plane and found it would be $200.00 for us to get another phone from Verizon (we had no upgrades so phones are full cost), and our old selves would have just done it, but our new selves just prayed and asked God to work something out for us...we waited 13 days and we now have a phone someone gave to us at no cost!! He is really blessing us in the area of finances as we depend upon Him for provision. He also gave Michael some work with our landlord...we are thankful!
We have been out exploring and getting to know our neighborhood/city and the surrounding cities. I even ventured out on my own with the car yesterday and it felt great! Feeling like we are getting familiar with the main roads and highways to get where we need to go and also using google map like crazy! I went to the local Kaneohe library here in town and if you know me at all, you know that I am a book freak! So had to check that out on my first day out on my own! It was fun to explore and they do have on line ordering, so there's more to choose from than just the local library. It gave me an opportunity to meet some locals there and learn more about the history of this island. I want to learn all I can so I can understand their history.
Our new home couldn't be more perfect for us...good neighborhood, very cozy inside, just the right spot for Michael and I. We have the lovely trade winds that come in all the windows that keeps things cool inside and our landlords are very nice, good people. Yaaaay! We even have little lizards and doves to keep us company! I don't believe that either one of us have felt "out of place" here at all. It has just felt homey from the first night and the only real adjustments is living underneath another home and hearing all the footsteps, etc.
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| Window view from our little living room! |
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| Banyan Tree - AMAZING! |
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| Bougainvillea |
All so inspiring to see...
Michael has been working on getting connected with the men at New Hope church - he went to a men's breakfast/bible study last Saturday and will keep on with that - there's also a surf group that he's been working on getting connected with...hopefully that will pan out because that's his main personal goal here on the island...to learn how to surf!! He and our son Chris have been going out at the end of the day and hitting the waves practicing. They are both just loving it! Knowing Michael and his athletic skills, he will have it down in no time!
I hope to get more connected with others at the church as well, but I am going through some health challenges... I will share that in my next post (this is the "personal challenges" that I mentioned at the beginning of this post! : )
Well, that's a taste of what's been happening since arriving here two weeks ago. Just taking each day at a time and being obedient to whatever God tells us to do that day! What a wonderful way to live. So thankful for these changes, hard in so many ways, even to the point of excruciating, but oh so beneficial. I encourage each one of you to challenge yourself to take one step out of your comfort zone - do something that you are afraid of, that you NEED God's help to do and do it. Be it contacting someone that's been on your heart who needs your forgiveness or making a job change...it's not about what it is, it's about doing it, period. It may seem little to someone else (like me stepping out and walking every day when I was feeling so sick - to someone else that may not have been a big deal, but it was MY BIG step in a direction that led to a bigger deal! Being here in Oahu!)
It's life-changing. I say JUST DO IT. God will be there with you. Oh how He will!!!! Praise Him!
"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." Psalm 143:8
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10
Mahalo to all who have helped us get here and are helping us to stay here, by prayer, and financial giving. You are a blessing to us!
With much love,
Sue & Michael
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