Hello from Hawaii!

As many of you know, i am doing a program with Youth With a Mission in Honolulu, Hawaii for six months. for three months i will be training with other people in the school, learning about missions and studying the Word on a daily basis. after that, everyone at the school will split into different teams and go on a three month mission trip to various countries around the world. many people helped me get here, so i decided i would keep a blog about everything that goes on while i am here. enjoy!

Tuesday was a day to just relax and settle in, we walked around the base and the shopping center in the valley. There's a starbucks, McDonalds, and a other random stores. i ended up going to sleep really early, around 8 due to the fact that i have been really sick and the time change just made me worn out completely.

On Wednesday me and one of the girls in my room, madison who is from washington, went to a local beach and a HUGE mall. to go to every store in the mall, it would prabably take three full days. the beach was gorgeous, the water was soo blue. it looked like a picture. so i was very thankful to be able to walk around and just enjoy the scenery. after the beach madison and i had to walk a good mile or so to the bus stop. we knew we were supposed to take number 6, however we didnt know that there were two of them. so of course we got on the wrong number six, which took us around the whole opposite side of the island. we were on the bus for about two hours when it should have only take 15 minutes. but it was fine because we got to see all the weird shops and people who live on this gorgeous island :D .  again, i went to sleep pretty early after a few skype sessions. 

Thursday was the first day of the actual school, since everyone had been landing in hawaii at different times over the past few weeks. so we woke up at 7, ate breakfast then went to the " tin cathedral " to get introduced and learn about what were going to be doing over the next 3 months while we are here. then we all went to the beach for a cookout. it was nice, but very hot. After dinner a few of us made the long trip to walmart, which ended up being great because i had been CRAVING a dr. pepper since the moment i left dallas. i was completely satisfied for the night. 

On friday we did this scavenger hunt around waikiki beach, i honestly expected it to be really lame, but it was actually fun. there were six teams, and the staff just dropped us off at the beach and left us. we had to find various things, and in the end we had to find our own way back to the hotel. one of the teams actually hitch-hiked back to the base. in the end we had a lot of fun getting to know each other and the area. after we got back to our houses, we just hung out and listened to the director of the base talk about evangelism. because every friday night all the students and  staff go to different parts of the island to talk about God on the streets. so he was just telling us what to expect from the people in this area. after that i just went to sleep!

now its saturday and we are going to some beach, so i will post pictures when i get back!

i do have a few prayer requests. i have been SO homesick its crazy. and i have been getting really distracted thinking about friends and people back home, and it's frustrating because it makes me not be able to focus on the things that are in front of me. so im really asking that everyone will pray for a change of mind for me, that i will be able to focus on the good things God has in store for me, and that i will be able to really open up my heart and my mind to this whole experience. because i am REALLY having a hard time with that. ive been pretty negative while ive been here and its starting to annoy me. haha so please pray for me! 

i love everyone who reads this! and i will be updating it all the time so please keep reading it!

heres the scenery walking to the market

random surfboard fence.

pretty tree

beach pictures (not very tropical )

Pictures of the YWAM base

office building

My house

My bed

Random!