lørdag 17. mars 2012

What´s so special about YWAM Kona Hawaii?!

So... it´s been 18 days since I came home from Hawaii, exhausted and jetlagged after 50 hours traveling, 3 intense weeks and then, 40 hours traveling again. Back in Norway, 6 hours sleep and then heading straight off to work as a teacher in Junior High (Tryggheim ungdomsskule). Puh!

I´m just now starting to function again, a normal daily rhythm and normal thoughts in my mind:-) And I´m wondering why this month has left such an impression on me, what took me so long to digest and process. What was so special about this place in Kona, Hawaii, so far from my own little bubble world in Bryne, Norway? Why do I want to tell everyone about it? Why do I feel like everyone should go there and experience it?

Well, one little Norwegian boy at the age of ten, traveling with my parents there this Christmas, put it in words for me: "This must be like heaven!"

And that´s one of my feelings too, that YWAM Kona (Ungdom i Oppdrag) - the campus - was a little piece of heaven, here on Earth. An oasis in the dessert. God´s kingdom come.


http://settnordfra.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/kona-50th-group-photo1.jpg?w=500&h=340

On one side it was all the awesome things I saw and heard of - teams going into n Korea, meetings where people believing in ONE unified Korea gathered, other teams fighting against human trafficking, making a film to wake people up and traveling with it to universities in every state in the US, film producers making different movies, believing that Hawaii could be the place Hollywood would shoot films in the future - and so much more.

I saw a university campus with its own natural farm, and talked to a scientist that just had his own program on Discovery launched, where he said: "They give me the script, but I choose what I want to say and what not to say!" I bumped into my nephew Kaleb´s class one morning, going on a prayer walk, learning to pray in school at the age of 7. I heard of a new written language they are using so that thousands of people that neither have the Bible or a written language of their own will in the future. And of course it was the warm and always welcoming Banyan tree café in the middle of the campus, tying all this together, where staff and students and visitors daily met - connecting, reading, dreaming and living.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2653/3767852148_a725ace198_z.jpg
On the other hand - it was just the atmosphere, the joy, the energy, the buzzling and huzzling of a daily life, people living in community - helping the family clean the room that was attacked by bedbugs or getting together to cook dinners two whole weeks for the Mom that just had another baby.

Truly all this and so much more captured my heart and mind, and is the reason why I would recommend anyone to go there for a season in their lives, just to experience heaven on Earth for a little while!

4 kommentarer:

  1. Fytti grisen Renate!! Dette var sååååå utrolig bra skrevet. Jeg er imponert. Jeg er berørt. Jeg får lyst til å reise dit :) Takk.

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  2. Å så kjekt å lese, takk skal du ha!!! Har prøvd å fange hva det er med plassen som virkelig rørte meg. Dere er heldige som får bo der, selv om jeg vet at det koster også!

    PS! La til et lite avsnitt. Følte det var noe som manglet:-)

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  3. Hei Renate, ja jeg husker jo deg. Du er søstera til Kristine, er du ikke. Vi snakka mye med de etter hvert. Selfølgelig kan du bruke påskehistorien. Det hører med til historien at Nea Simion var en vanskelig mann med mange fiender, han hadde en sønn bl annet som var på Sinnsykehus, i følge naboene fordi Simion ikke hadde vært god mot han, heller tvert om. Men han ble en kristen rett før han døde og ble helt forandret. Da vi renska opp huset hans etter hans død fant vi et brev fra noen fjerne slektninger der det stod: Kjære Simion, vi ber for deg at du skal få møte din Gud og skaper og finne hans frelse (Brevet var sendt på 60 tallet) Det var ganske sterkt for oss å lese det. For det var jo nettopp det som skjedde, han fikk møte Jesus de "siste hundre meterene" av sitt liv.

    klem fra Åsne

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  4. Hei Åsne!! Så ikke meldingen din før i dag! Tusen takk, for en utrolig fin historie det var!!!

    Jo, jeg er søstera til Christina. Hun fortalte at hun hadde snakka en del med dere!

    Håper du har en fantastisk fin og meningsfylt påske:-)


    Klem Renate

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