On the Road

Welcome to Makapala!

Well on the second saturday after starting our DTS here in Kona, the Compassion DTS (my one) moved up to our more permanent home, the Island Breeze Makapala Retreat Center. Makapala is a tiny collection of houses on the north shore of the Big Island, in the area called Kohala. It's a stunningly beautiful area, where they are rumored to have filmed Jurassic Park, etc, as you can see from these photos...

Island Breeze are a YWAM ministry that are dedicated to redeeming the cultures of the world, and bringing them to Jesus, without losing the things that identify that culture. This is their base, from where they go all over the world sharing the gospel through their own island culture. They do the hula, fire eating, and stuff. Very impressive! The site in Makapala is old and decrepit, but stunningly beautiful! It's a mile from the ocean, and is lush with palm trees, bushes, elephant grass, etc etc. You can get an idea of what some of the site looks like from the picture on the right.

I get to stay with Steve Shin, a Korean/Canadian, an over the past few weeks we've had a lot of fun getting to know each other. Our house is full of termites, and we're always trying to keep the dust off things - all part of the Hawaiian experience I suppose!

About 2 miles from our base is the first big valley of the Kohala coastline, called Pololu. You get to it by a road which stops at the top of a cliff, maybe 400 feet up, and then you weave your way down the cliff on a steep path through the jungle, to the black sand beach at the bottom. The sea is totally treacherous, but the first time we went down we had to go in. The water's so warm and the waves are powerful! (Since then we found out another YWAMer drowned there last year, and so we aren't going to swim there anymore out of respect for our school leaders).

Makapala is a wonderful place to have the DTS. There is always a quiet place to be found to spend time with the Lord, and because we're about 3 miles from the n earest town, and we have no transport, there's basically nothing to do except for our scheduled stuff and spending time getting to know each other and God. It really has turned out to be such an amazing blessing that we ended up there! We as a school are so thankful to God for the way he engineered that!

Hope you all like the pitures, click on them if you want them larger.

An Explanation

Dear readers,

I feel some kind of explanation is due as to why I've now been here about 5 weeks and haven't updated this blog too much. I have one word for you:

Makapala

We are so far out in the middle of no-where, that even though we've ordered satellite internet, it just can't get out to us for some reason. There is a rumor that it'll turn up this weekend, but I'm not couting any chickens until the fat lady sings or something like that.

Either way,  I've got about half an hour of computer time today, so I'll endeavor to tell you some of what's been going on!

Welcome to Hawaii!!

Dear All,

After an uneventful trip to the Hawaiian islands, I finally arrived here safe and happy late last Tuesday night (early Wednesday morning for you guys in England). Hawaii is unbelievable! It was dark when we flew in, and the sun was just lighting the last of the sky in the west with beautiful hues of red and orange, over the tops of the Hawaiian peaks. When I walked off the plane the heat hit me with such a blast that I thought I was standing in the jet efflux for a minute, until I realized that no, the jet exhaust can't possibly reach all the way to the terminal building!

Kona is a beautiful place. Situated between the mountain slopes on the east and the volcanic rocks down to the sea on the west, it has a breeze almost 100% of the time, which cools you off during the day and night (though you're still sweaty all of the time). The ocean is beautiful and warm - just cold enough to cool you, but you could stay in for hours, if it wasn't for all the poisinous things you can step on or be stung by. Sea turtles, manta rays, and tropical fish are everywhere! On shore there is lush green foliage, flowers grow just about everywhere, and coconuts fall from the trees on a regular basis.

I had a couple of days to adjust to the heat and jet lag before the start of the DTS, last Thursday, where we registered and met our team members for the first time. The compassion DTS is made up of 69 students, and about 20 staff members, from about 20 different nations. Many of the students are my age, and yet there are 17 year olds and 55 year olds, all of whom are here to do business with God, and seek to bring him glory. Over the weekend we've only had a few introductory classes, because we've been concentrating on sharing with the rest of the group our stories of how God led us to this place. It is totally unreal to hear how God has skillfully crafted all of our lives to this point, and how we can look back together and see the purpose in things which at the time we thought were meaningless. The team is amazing, and we really have a deep sense of belonging and purpose for our time here, even though we've only been together for a few days!

Because the base here in Kona is overbooked, and our DTS is moving next weekend to Makapala, we've been put up in a hotel for the first week here, which is a corporate week together with the other DTS schools running from the YWAM University of the Nations. It's four guys to a room, and all we have is two double beds, so on Thursday night Tim Dyk from Washington and I discussed the relative merits of sleeping bags, sleeping on top of the sheets, under the sheets, and on the floor, and finally decided to just climb under the sheets together! Interesting going to bed with some guy you've only just met but it's worked out well - except for the occasional elbow in the face at 4am. I'm also staying with Louis and Havier, both from Mexico, so I'm trying to pick up a little Espanol!

I've discovered that one good thing about jetlag is that it's not a problem to get up at 5 every morning, so I've been able to have wonderful quiet times with the Lord before the day starts - so important. It's a great way to welcome the day! Dad's been telling me that for years, and I'm now discovering the fruit of that discipline! Thanks Dad.

This morning I went to a little church down by the sea, made out of lava rock and tin. The people were great and they preached the gospel. Afterwards we had coffee and donuts on the beach. Hawaii is great right now.

This week lectures will start in earnest. We all can feel the gravity of what we're about to go through, so could you please all be praying that the Lord will be central in our hearts this week, as we seek to hear his voice and be submissive to his will. Pray that our team will continue to bond well. Thank God for his amazing blessings in getting me here and giving me this opportunity to do this DTS with these people. Thankyou to all of you at home for supporting me in all the ways you have!

It's difficult to find the time to sit and write blog posts simply because I have to find a) a quiet time and b) someone's computer to borrow. I'll try to stay on top of things though, and next time provide you with photos!

If you want to write to me you can do it here: johnny.gillespie@gmail.com

or if you want my mailing address just write me on that address! Love to you all,

Johnny