"Uh-huh....okay, sounds good!" Grayson hung up the phone and told us about John*, a man who was formerly SDA and now wants to study again.

John used to attend a local SDA church, but has since stopped attending. However, he has lately been feeling a need and desire to re-kindle his relationship with God. Grayson & April studied with him yesterday, and they spent over two hours answering his many questions, ranging from the Mark of the Beast to God's love in prophecy. Before they left, John asked for Grayson's email. "I want to be able to send you my questions!" He also asked for a ride to our weekly prayer meetings, as well as to the upcoming evangelistic series.

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I love studying with Aunty Savannah*--she has such a love and fervor for the Lord! Each time I go to study with her, another member of her family joins us. It is such a blessing--there are currently three of us studying, and I pray it will grow to a larger group!

We were studying Daniel 2 when her son came to drop off his son. He heard us studying, and sat down so he could listen. When he left, he said that he didn't have time to eat before work. "But it's okay," he said, "because my soul has been spiritually fed."

I am so thankful that God has allowed us to be co-workers with Him. I have realized more and more that I am simply "one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread." It reminds me of this quote that I read this morning: 

"Our work has been marked out for us by our heavenly Father. We are to take our Bibles, and go forth to warn the world. We are to be God's helping hands in saving souls,--channels through which His love is day by day to flow to the perishing."--Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 150. 

--Danielle


*names changed

Intro to the Pastor

We just wanted to introduce you to our pastor, Tim Nelson. He is a dynamic public speaker, as well as a husband and father of two girls. Pray for him, as he is going to be preaching our evangelistic series starting on Feb. 25--his first time preaching a series.

He is a blessing to work with, and we are thankful for such a mission-minded pastor to work with! 

Beach Day!

Yesterday, Monday, was our first day off since we've been here in Hawaii. All of the Bible Workers (Kevin, Maverick, Carlos, Angel, Cassie, and the four of us) came to Waianae, where we went to the beach for the day.

It was a blessing to talk to the others and see what God has been doing in their individual areas. Cassie and Angel are working with a church in Waianae, and they have been experiencing tremendous success. Before they arrived there, the church members already had over 100 study contacts!

Kevin and Maverick have also been experiencing success, but in different ways. They are working in Ha'ula, an area that is predominately Mormon. Despite this fact, they have been finding people who want to study the Bible, and who want something different in their lives.

Carlos is working in Waipahu, where he has been studying with several people who want to know the Lord better.

The four of us were definitely blessed by the fellowship, stories, and time spent in nature.

While we were driving back from the beach, we were talking about the nature God has given us. April thought of the text in Job, where God says, "Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" --Job 38:8-11

It was a beautiful illustration of the power, majesty, and order of our God.

Today is back to the mission field. We are excited to go out, knowing that the same God who said, "hiterto shalt thou come, but no further" can work in powerful ways to keep sin and selfishness from our lives.

May you be blessed in Him today!

A Friday's memoir...

We are currently on the road to Honolulu (yes, I’m typing in the car!) to visit missing church members. It will be a blessing to spend time with them and encourage them in their daily walks with the Lord.
Before we do so, however, we want to spend some time reflecting on the many blessings from this week.
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When I met Joy*, she was looking down at me from her balcony. After 30-40 minutes of talking to her, she told me that she would like for me to come visit her later in the week—not to study the Bible, but simply to talk. I agreed.

When April and I came back to her house a few days later, she opened the door with a shocked look on her face. “This is so crazy!” she kept repeating to herself. She invited us inside and told us that she had just been debating with God whether or not she should call us or if she should clean her house. She finally said, “Okay, God…I’ll let you take care of it.” At that exact moment, we knocked on the door.

Throughout our visit, April & I sensed that she had a lot of spiritual hunger. We silently prayed that God would show Joy her need of a spiritual reformation. God answered that prayer. By the time we left, we had given Joy a Bible study on God’s transforming power, and she signed up for personal Bible studies.

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Grayson teaching a man how to navigate his Bible

“Sure, Bible studies sound cool.” She was a marine—the toughest of the tough. As we talked with her, her roommate laughed at us. “Religious things? Ha—I can’t believe you’re falling for that stuff.” 

When we stopped by their house this week, she was gone. Her roommate had kicked her out and seemed to be in an upset frame of mind. Undeterred, we began to talk to her (the roommate). We spent a lot of time just getting to know her, avoiding religious things and simply talking about her and her family. Also in the marines, she felt very lonely here in Hawaii—all of her family lives in the mainland, and it is hard for her to keep contact with them.

When we finally turned the conversation to spiritual things, we found out that she grew up in a Christian family, but has turned away from believing in God. We eventually asked her if she would like to study the Bible with us, and she agreed!

It was truly a miracle to see the same woman who first scorned us sign up for personal Bible studies. Something so drastic can only come through the same God who changed a prejudiced Samaritan woman into one of the greatest evangelists of her time. Praise Him for His working here in Kane’ohe!

*names changed 

January 10, 2012

The view from Makapu'u on a Sabbath afternoon hike

This morning, we went to the Bank of Hawaii to open an account. The first thing the teller said when she saw us was, “I’ve never put four people on one account before!” We all laughed, and began the process. However, as she was filling out our information, she began to tell us parts of her personal testimony. She is the only Christian in her family, and has been struggling with her spirituality. In addition to a spiritual struggle, her grandma passed away just a few days ago. We offered to study the Bible with her, but she declined. Nevertheless, we prayed with her and gave her a GLOW tract on the State of the Dead.  

            We ask you to pray for Sarah* and her family—they desperately need your intercession before our Heavenly Father.

After cleaning the secretary's office--a good place to put canvassing books!

           So far, we have worked 7 days. Over these days, God has given us 16 precious souls to study with. All four of us have been working out of one car, so some of us canvass when the others are giving studies.

 

             One of these studies is a woman named Aunty Makayla*. Grayson recounts the story of meeting her as follows: "I met Aunty Joyce at her house while canvassing. I showed her some of our books, and she invited me inside. As we talked, she told me that she is a former Seventh-Day Adventist. I knew God had placed me there, because she said that she was interested in going back to church. Before I left her home, she emphatically said, 'You are a God-send!'" 

            This experience reminds us of the prayer of Nehemiah, where he quoted God in saying, "But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there."--Neh. 1:9 

            God is desiring to gather His lost children back into His fold, and is doing so as we speak. Praise God that His work is almost "pau" (or "finished")!  

The four of us on Sabbath afternoon (L to R--Danielle, April, Donato, Grayson)

            We have also started implementing some activities in the church, such as Wednesday night Bible study and Friday evening vespers. The church members are excited about ministry, and we look forward to sharing spiritual blessings with them. Pray for us as we continue to reach out to the community of Kane’ohe! 

*names changed

Intro to the Team

"...and in the Kaneoh'e  church, we have Danielle, Grayson, Donato, and April!" 

As Westney White, Literature Ministries director for the Hawai'i Conference, announced our team for the Bible Work term, we knew that God was about to do something special. 


For the next three months, we are blessed to be working with the Kane'ohe church in the beautiful island of Oa'hu, Hawai'i. Each of us are excited to see what He will do through and for us in the surrounding community. Grayson, Danielle, and Donato are currently attending SOULSWest, a two-year evangelism and outreach school in Arizona. April graduated from SOULSWest in 2009, and has worked as a Bible Worker since then. 

Grayson was enrolled in the Exercise Physiology program at the University of Hawaii when God called him to a life of ministry. Over the past few years, God has taken him from a meaningless, empty life to one filled with joy and purpose. He finds true happiness in working for God and leading people to the One who can forever change lives. 

Born and raised in Colorado, Danielle was attending Southern Adventist University when God called her to work as a literature evangelist--a call that would forever change her life. For the past two years, God has lead her into a deep, fulfilling relationship with Him. In working for others, God has helped her to keep her own soul alive. She now has dedicated her life to sharing this same experience with others.

Born into a non-religious home, Donato Candia was involved in a life of drugs, crime, and sin. In 2008, his Adventist brother began to study the Bible with him, and he was eventually baptized into the family of God. He finds his greatest fulfillment in pointing people to the same Savior who plucked him as "a brand from the fire." 

April was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she was running from God. After a series of events, she began her quest for something different. Following her junior year of highschool, she decided to join the YouthRush canvassing program. Through God's providential leading, she had realized that she needed God in her life in order to serve others better. "Seeking to learn, and learning to follow" is her motto. 





Like many others, we each have unique experiences that vary widely.  It is our prayer that, by bringing our own experiences and life stories together during this Bible Work term, we will be able to come (and bring others) to a deeper understanding of the "unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13).