Christmas music is now allowed, according to my husband (since thanksgiving is over)

Hello friends, family, and strangers who randomly found this blog

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving; stuffing yourselves full of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and purple sweet potatoes...what? Yes, yes there are such a thing believe it or not. David and I volunteered to bring a thanksgiving dish to Art and Donna’s which was a Sweet Potato Crisp recipe compliments of Cris Walterhouse from last year. Well, I went to the store to pick up the ingredients and found the sweet potatoes. I brought them home to find that Hawaiians like their sweet potatoes purple, yes, purple. Although the dish tasted exactly the same, I was still very bothered by the fact that these potatoes were indeed purple. When the dish came out of the oven David and I both noted all the colors that went into the dish...green apples, red cranberries, brown granola, and purple potatoes...I’m not sure it brought the holiday spirit. But I shall try these purple potatoes yet again when mis familia comes out to visit here in a couple weeks. Mom, Dad, Trevor...be excited?

Well David and I got back from our mini vacation just a bit ago. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into; we went from paupers to princes in just 1 1/2 hours. We stayed at this beautiful resort called the Hapuna Prince Beach Hotel because of their kama aina rate (the Hawaiian drivers liscense rate), this made the Broadmoor look like a little motel (ok, a bit of an exaggeration) but seriously, it was gorgeous. We checked in and I’m not sure if it was because of my good looks, charming smile, or witty tongue but they upgraded us twice to an oceanview room with no charge (credit goes to God of course). David and I enjoyed their huge oceanview pool and beach as well as choke sunshine (reminder that choke means plenty...read blogs past for update on hawaiian/pidgeon vocab); we are just a slight tint of pink:) sidenote: Whenever David and I spend choke time in the sun, and go to church that evening or the next day our students always comment on how red we are. David and I look at each other realizing the truth has been revealed. We always thought that we were tan, but compared to most of our students we are either white or red...there’s really no hope of tan...ok Laura Losada...you win:). Ok back to the vacation. I did spot one sighting of whales, the whale season is approaching. Some came a bit early this year, but according to marine experts and my husband they will arrive Dec 1...like whales have calendars? We ate lots of food this weekend. For those of you who were concerned with us losing weight, no worries, we gained it all back:) But really, we had a wonderful Mainland restaurant dinner and our hotel package included a breakfast buffet, superb! So we are now back in Hilo sitting in our little living room in our apartment completely content. We recognize God’s blessing in allowing us to vacation and to spoil ourselves once in a while, but we also recognize God’s blessing in allowing us to live in an apartment 3 miles from church surrounded by people needing to hear the hope they can have in Jesus Christ and being so blessed to minister/befriend/train/ and teach students at HMC. Wow! God is good.

We hope that you too are content. And in that contentment, you are blessed! Let’s get out there and enjoy this Christmas season.

Praises:

Roof over our heads

Food to eat

We’ve had some great interaction with one particular neighbor family, we just need to get a Bible that’s in their language into their hands

New vision for the YG

both have jobs

Prayer Requests

Paying off school loans, wisdom and insight....it would be great for a miracle:)

the YG, with changes we know some positive things will happen, but we also know it can be hard on some people

training for our next half marathon in March, my hubby can beat my dad

overall health and safety

ministry at church, in Hilo, and specifically our apartment

car #2 maybe? 4x4

a happy thanksgiving from us to you

Aloha,

As we approach this holiday season, it's easy to stop and think about our many blessings. But it's important to take the next step and thank Him who has given us the many blessings. But let's not even stop there, let's take a little deeper and not only thank Him who has blessed us but ask Him how we can be a blessing to others. God uses people to bless people, and I've been on the receiving end many times, but I'm beginning to ask the Lord how I can be a blessing to others. Ya'll, I'll admit that David and I are hardly experts, but it is something we want the Lord to continue to teach us. So as you approach this Holiday season with thanksgiving in your hearts, realize the overflow of your blessing and use it to bless others.

Ok, there's my 2 cents. So let's get on to the adventure of David and Kelsey *drum roll please*

First, David and I have discovered the wonderful, new, technologically advanced form of communication called Skype. Yes, it is a wonderful and refreshing way to talk to people despite distance. So if you too have discovered this great invention, email us and we'll skype (yes, that is a verb just like 'google' is a verb as well as 'facebook'. I can't wait to get the new and improved dictionary and see what exactly their definitions will be)

David and I are doing well here in Hilo. But let me tell you, it rains A LOT here in Hilo. We went through about an entire week of rain. Sometimes it is just a drizzle but most of the time it is a down pour. David and I decided to go out running when it was "drizzling". Half way through our run, you guessed it, down pour. We were absolutely soaked. It took 3 days for our clothes to completely dry. So as we start training for the half marathon...it should be interesting...

Well yesterday we went to a Hoolaulea (which means celebration in Hawaiian) it was a thanksgiving celebration. And my goodness, was there an abundance of food! Along with food we were blessed with worship-ful hula, music, and drama. At the end they had these tables piled with local fruits and vegetables and we were all given a bag to fill up. So these pictures are pics of longons (grape looking things david is holding) bread fruit (very interesting fruit, it's the one that I'm gnawing on) and star fruit (the one pic that I look somewhat normal in). The breadfruit, once it is soft, you scoop out like an avocado and mash it and mix it with coconut milk and brown sugar. It makes for a wonderful dessert. The one thing about the Hoolaulea that I have not mentioned is that we were able to invite our neighbor, Masa, to come and fellowship with us. The problem: he doesn't speak much English. But God is teaching us a lot how to communicate the love of Jesus despite the language barrier. We were able to send him home with 2 boxes of food and a full bag of fruit. We continue to pray that Jesus will reveal Himself to him, and we are hoping to get a Bible which is translated into a micronesian language to him one of these days.

Some of you may be wondering our plans for Thanksgiving. After finding out Art and Donna's kids were not coming home for Thanksgiving, David and I volunteered to be their kids this holiday season and they so graciously accepted our offer :) We are very much looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with them and mamasita (Donna's mom). I think that Art mentioned in his joking way that Mongoose curry was on the menu (for those who don't know what a mongoose is, it's the Hilo version of a squirrel but carnivorous). We of course very much miss family and friends, especially in the holiday season. We wish we could be in Colorado with you all! I'm so grateful that my folks and Trevor are coming out for Christmas however!!!

Oh, and by the way, I'll be home Feb 15-21 too! I booked my ticket this week!

After Thursday, David and I are going to the Kona side where we are going to take a one night, two day mini-vacation in the sunshine. We are looking forward to some rest and relaxation and spending time just the two of us.

We'll that's all for now folks. I hope these blogs are insightful and fun! We continue to ask for your prayers and we want to pray for you too. Email us or call us or skype us...we would love to hear from you

808-217-7551 or kelsey.poole09@yahoo.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

pictures from Monday

Here are pics of the success from David's last fishing trip. Don't ask what those fish are called, they are odd looking I know, but David was pretty pumped. Seth and Tim, this is what you have to look for when you come here in Feb/March.

The rest of the pics are from our trip on Monday. David and I are really trying to take a Sabbath day off. Not only is it Biblical but we need it in order to avoid burn out. Art and Donna, asked us a while ago to set aside a Monday where we would go over to Kona and hike into a beautiful beach. So we did! Boy, was it gorgeous. We are so blessed to enjoy the company of another couple and glean from their life's wisdom and love for Jesus.

Enjoy the pics...oh, and we bought a bed today. So all you who are coming to visit, you now have a bed to sleep on with an option of a futon as well.

more pics of the new apt and view...

what do you think?

promised pictures

These pictures are of the Harvest Festival that HMC did as an alternative to Halloween, David and I dressed up as an "old married couple" getting him back for a comment he made to a member at HMC that we were an old married couple. Many people didn't even recognize him first glance, it was pretty funny.

Also, a couple of the pics are from when my mom was out here mid October. I mentioned in an earlier blog that we went to a Kona hotel and watched people swim with the dolphins. It was awesome. So the gray thing in the water...that's a dolphin. Compliments of David's iphone

And another pic of my handsome husband on the beach...on a white sand beach mind you. They only have those in Kona.

BTW (I'm using that a lot lately...it takes a while for these to post)

wow, God is good ...*your response*all the time...*your response*

Well another aloha from Kawika and I (if you don't know who Kawika is please read the blog below, if you can't remember then read the blog below:)
I am sitting here writing on a very rainy Hilo day. I've actually been cold here. Yes, I know it is Hawaii, David makes me very aware of that on a daily basis, but I'm still cold. Ok, ok I'm getting spoiled with all this nice weather, I'll admit it. I was actually sitting on the beach talking to some of you all yesterday. It was a beautiful day, just enough breeze to make it cool but just enough sun to get a tan:) Wow, we are so spoiled to live here. I'm trying to never take this place for granted. Just remember if you are sitting there in cold snowy weather on the mainland, that we love visitors:)
Well God is good. And He is good all the time! Amen?!
David and I continue to be amazed in how He answers prayer. One of our most consistent prayer requests has been, "Lord please help us meet friends our age". We are so thankful for our friends younger and older than us, but our desire is to have some friends our age. Well a gal from work invited me almost a month ago to come to their young adult Bible study hosted by a Nazarene Church here in Hawaii. It was on a Tuesday and all our Tuesdays in Oct were pretty booked. So I told here we'd be there the first Tuesday in November. I'll be honest, I may be the only one like this out there, but Tuesday rolled around and I began trying to talk myself out of going. I was giving excuses like "It'd be nice to be home tonight, I have a lot to do" or "We don't have many free nights open this week" or "What happens if we don't fit in" or "Maybe this is a cult (ok a little extreme)". But really truly I was trying to give every excuse not to go. When we pulled up to the house I then started thinking, "What's our escape plan if it doesn't go well" and "Should we set a time limit, because I want to get home fast". Well thankfully, I just kept those thoughts to myself and we proceeded into the house. And ya'll can I just tell you a peace flooded our hearts within the first 2 minutes being there. There are Colorado connections galore (sp?), the guys there love to do guy things just like David. David actually went out surfing with them the next AM at 5:30! One of the gals, the one who invited us to begin with, loves to run and was looking for someone to run the half marathon with in March (I too was looking for a running buddy since my husband and father are now competing to see which one out of the 2 can win a 13.1 mile race). We just had such a peace and were so excited to be a part of college/young married couples small group who share our loves and passions but most importantly are committed to Jesus Christ and following Him! So yay, praise the Lord for an answered prayer!
David and I are finding that our free time when we are home at night is filled with reading books. He has been reading ThusSaith the Lord by John Bevere and I've been reading Mark Batterson's Wild Goose Chase (great book) and A Calling of a Generation by Evangeline Werner (I think it is a must read for everyone). Wow, God has been challenging us so much! There is a bigger and better life for us to live. Not financially or materially, but what God wants to do in our lives when we completely surrender to Him. David and I are finally beginnng that journey. We want the fullness that God has in store and we are trying to do everything we can to not settle for less. Easier said than done btw. So if you need a bit of a kickstart or a refreshing...I highly recommend those books!
We love our place in Hilo. We'll post pics soon.
Our mentors are really encouraging us to take a Sabbath. The Bible stresses the importance of taking a Sabbath. Sheree said, "God doesn't need you to work an extra day" it is not like He needs us to get the job done. He'll use us yes, but taking a Sabbath is another way of trusting the Lord that He's the author and completer or all the work begun and is still to do.
They have also encouraged us to read together. So we are starting a book called Chasing the Dragon and we are reading it together. I feel like such a little kid asking David, "what does this word mean?" because it has been so long since I've had to focus on ALL the words instead of just skimming the ones I don't know. But boy am I married to a smart man, he seems to have a definition for every word I stumble over. Gosh, did he study the dictionary when he was little or something?!?

Ok, got to go pick up pizza for a leader's meeting. Oh yea, we are trying to recruit leaders. Interested? Let us know! Training starts Nov 17... you can always follow the Wild Goose and move to Hawaii :)

We'll post pics soon, promise! And I'll post some prayer requests too!
BTW, thanks for all the comments people have sent through emails and facebook either as encouragement or questioning some things I say. I don't claim to have all the right answers or say the right things...I'll just always point to the One who does and hope that together we can go before Him and He can reveal the Truth to us. So keep it coming! kelsey.poole09@yahoo.com

All Pau!