Spring is in the air...literally (ref to kiteboarding)

These pictures are from our spring break adventures. We were treated to a night in a beautiful hotel called the Hapuna Prince (see pics above) that was right on the beach: a beach we do regularly attend, just not as hotel guests. It was quite amusing pulling into this grande hotel in our little beach-mobile that rattles, it drew quite the looks from the valet parking attendants, but it led to some good family laughs. Just picture the modern day Beverly Hillbillies but just in Kona, Hawaii. The other family laugh we had was when we dropped my folks off at the "airport" to catch a Pacific Wings flight to Maui so they could celebrate their 32nd anniversary that was on March 17. Although my dad got a great deal on tickets ($33 each way) little did he know how tiny of a plane they would be flying. Let me just say that the pilot was also the front desk check in person, gate attendant, baggage handler, flight attendant, and again pilot (with a question mark) who looked like he was about Trevor's age. Good deal or not, we were a little unsure if they would even make it to Maui (to get to the "gate" they had to tromp through some bushes...that's how nervous we were). But many laughs later, we can happily report they are enjoying their time on the beautiful sandy beaches of Maui.

It was great to have family here, even for a short time. My folks were able to cheer us to the finish line of my fourth half marathon in less than 2 years (David's 3rd). Although, after mile 8, I struggled with knee issues which I will be getting checked out. Just hours before, my folks were able to see me attempt to kiteboard. In the past week, I've been able to go out 4 times. Practice makes perfect, and I am starting to ride (although yesterday, during low tide, I did smash into a reef and am suffering from minor cuts and bruises). Unfortunately no whale watching due to high winds up to 69mph gusts.

Well, we did get word that we will have the opportunity to rent a house on the West side. However, because it's the west side, it is out of our price range. It's a very beautiful home with stunning ocean views. We are looking to do some work on it in exchange for rent, however our hope is to find a Christian person or couple who would consider being our house-mates and could also do work in exchange for rent. Our two options are: 1) having a person or couple to rent a room for $600 keeping the 3rd bedroom open for visitors/guests or 2) getting two people to rent the 2 other bedrooms at $300/month. The community part would be the living area and kitchen...everything else is private, and being on that side most likely you'll be spending your time working or at the beach:) So if God is tugging on your heart about Hawaii...keep us in mind.

Well more pics are to come. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as a lot of decisions are approaching. Change is the adventure, our desire is to know His desire!

Love,
Kelsey

PS. The title above is reference to kiteboarding. Spring and summer are the best times to kiteboard because the winds are what they called thermals. It's an exciting time for those of us who chase the wind on the big island.

Post tsunami...it seems to be a yearly thing...

In case you can't read this pizza, I surprised David with a delivery from Pizza Hut that was a pep pizza that spelled out I love you with the pepperoni s.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging..." Psalm 46: 1-3

Well the good news is, God is still God despite such a horrific event as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And in fact, horrific events point to the fact that Jesus is coming...soon! So my encouragement is this: Press into Him and allow Him to become your refuge and strength, no matter what situation you are facing.

Well, as I alluded to in the last blog, David has a job. He is officially a "rent-a-cop" (as he came home saying). But really, he is a security guard and works 3 12 hour graveyard shifts (6pm-6am). I know many of us would find that shift to be that of torture, but my husband, being the night owl that he is, seems to be doing well, so far. Because he watches vacant buildings (now you are really confused...) he is allowed to read. Going back to the job description, he patrols around these vacant buildings every so often so nothing out of the ordinary happens (vandalism, mischief, loitering, etc.). Despite a long and treacherous 12 hours, David is attempting to learn Spanish and has read a book a night. In fact, there was one book called UNBROKEN which he spent his whole shift reading. And when I got up that morning, I found him on the couch still reading that same book. You know it must be a good book when one is still reading after a 12 hour night shift. It has the Poole stamp of approval.

As for me, I have no such thing as a routine/schedule any more. Some days I'm in Kona working the boat (which my day begins at 4am), and some days I'm working in the schools, and some days I have off because either bad weather or no student...so each day has me guessing. It's definitely out of my comfort zone, since I'm one that thrives off of a routine.

As for our lives, we have no idea what the future holds. We are planning on staying in Hawaii through the summer- Lord-willing, but have no idea what's after that. Our hearts are to stay here for a little longer, but as always we are holding our desires loosely as we seek His will for our lives. Needless to say, I do feel stuck and direction-less, but hope that all changes quickly.

We are looking forward to my folks coming out here Saturday for their 5th visit since we've been here (I believe you can call this their second home:). I'm hoping to take them whale watching on Monday. And they'll be here to either cheer us on to the finish line or scraping us off the pavement as we look to complete the Hilo half-marathon this Sunday. Your prayers are appreciated.

Well, today is one of those days off, better go find something to do:)

Love and for those on the mainland (miss you),

Kelsey

Tsunami!

Thanks for the phone calls, emails and facebook messages. We are fine. Tsunami sirens started going off around 11:00 last night. We are out of the tsunami zone, but barely. There was no knock on the door to evacuate, so I figured we'd be fine. David was actually at work...yes...work...he is a security guard and works nights...and was much closer to the beach than me. They didn't send him home, so I figured the wave wasn't going to be as big as they thought. It did some damage to the west side of the islands. I was actually looking at some facebook pictures from the Kona area, and the damage is more significant than thought. I guess Bubba Gump's furniture was seen floating and the Alii Dr. looked a bit disrupted.
Let's all be praying for those in Japan. What a catastrophe!

Update more later!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=91Wh0_yNJhc  to see what it looked like in Kona.

Love,
Kelsey

We love the water...Living Water...we want more

Well as you can tell from the pictures. We have been spending a lot of time on boats. I continue to whale watch and David, today, went on a fishing expedition with some friends. In fact, one of those friends goes by the name, Andrew Staal, and is currently visiting us from Mishawaka, Indiana. He was one of our interns this past summer, and it's been such a joy having him back. Oh, and by the way they caught 2 fish called Ahi or a type of Tuna and their estimated weight is a little less than 20 lbs each. Pretty proud of the boys bringing home the dinner:) As I type this, David's out cutting Ahi steaks. So guess what you have to look forward to Mom and Dad when you all come out here in a couple weeks?:) Poke! (it's a hawaiian dish that is made up of raw chunks of Ahi mixed with soy sauce and garlic/ or other types of seasoning...mmmm...I know your tummy is growling as you read this...haha).

Any news on a job for David, you ask? The answer is unfortunately "no". We need your prayers as he continues this job hunt. It is a scary time for us, but I have to know that God is in control. I continue to work 2 jobs...which I consider a blessing.

I believe God gave me Romans 4:20-21 this week. God is faithful and powerful to stay true to all His promises. Would you believe that with me?

Well, got to get up SUPER early to go whale watching...
Send us a letter, email, anything...we miss hearing from you all, and really truly would love to hear some encouraging words in a discouraging time.

Love you all,
Kelsey

Pictures and videos of God's creation

Yesterday on the boat we saw 3 whales breach over 30 times. We even saw a triple breach (breach is where this massive animal comes out of the water). Also, saw some cool dolphins:)

I'm a whale watcher

Aloha,
I was coming home today, driving from the West side of the island, with the biggest smile on my face. It was one of those smiles that I honestly couldn't wipe off my face, in fact, I couldn't help it. In spite of the tough circumstances that surround us, I was so happy and was feeling so blessed. Things have been tough, I won't lie, but God has truly given me His joy, and honestly I experience it the most being out in his creation and loving on people.

So that part about being in His creation: As most of you know, I have taken another part time job as a crew member for a whale watching and dolphin excursion boat. It's on the other side of the island, and is about 1 1/2 hr drive each direction. But it's so worth the 3 hour car ride. My "training" day we encountered many whales, as well as a pod of spinner dolphins with babies. It was incredible as they swam all around us, jumping and playing. My first real day of work, Valentine's Day, we again saw many more whales and actually were able to hear the whales singing through our boat. The captain, shown in the picture, allowed us (me included) to get into the water (and we are talking like depth of 300+ feet with whales 100 feet away from us) and put our heads under water so we can hear the whales singing. It was incredible. Today, another gorgeous day out on the water, we saw a whale breach 5 times. We believe the whales we were following were a group of males in pursuit of a female. All the activity from the whales was from the males competing for the female's attention. It was like the whale version of The Bachelorette. (ok bad joke, but I know you at least chuckled). The whales have been known to swim under the boat and come right up to the boat in a non-threatening sort of way. They too are curious. A fun fact about whales: The male whales sing but only in the winter birthing/mating months. And each year scientist believe they change their song. Whales from Hawaii, Baja, Mexico, and or Southern California all sing the same song. It's just another cool way to say, "Yep, there is a God and boy is He creative". How else could all the whales be singing the same song in so many different locations, it sure ain't evolution.
**I've posted pics of some of the whale sightings. Some pictures of the fluke (tail). Some are of the side pectoral fin. Some are of the head and some are just of the back of the body. I promise, I'll become a better whale photographer...first day... a little rough. There's also a picture of two puffer fish fighting. I know, they look dead because they are belly up. But we came across them and they were swimming toward each other. Suddenly they locked mouths and began "fighting" I guess? It was so crazy, but fun to watch pufferfish all blown up fighting out in the middle of no where by biting each other on their snouts??? Weird I know.
So what's the work part of my job since I don't just get paid to watch whales? Well we prep the boat in the morning, check guests in, interact with guests, offer them snacks and/or drinks during check in and throughout the 2 1/2 hr. boat ride, and scrub the boat at the end of the day. So yes, I do work too:)

About the loving people: First, we have had some cool opportunities just to get to hang with the students. David finishes his job at the end of February, but our hope is that the students will continue to know that we love them and will be there for them if they ever need us. Again, we had about 20 students over last Friday for Open House with a couple of first time faces. We had such a blast playing games, especially an intense round of Spoons. Just yesterday, we had two of our students come hang out with us late in the evening just to talk about life, get in the Word, and be encouraged. Praise God! We are realizing we don't need a "profession" to love on students. But we are continuing to pray God provides a solid job for David (we are looking into the idea of moving to Kona for the summer and pursuing some of the tourist jobs . Also I can pick up more hours on the boat and hopefully get really good at kite boarding).

Oh...and another cool thing. My boss, is a kiteboarder too (probably got that from the last blog) but he has invited the other 2 girls and their other halfs and a lot of the kiteboarding folks and their spouses on the boat this Friday for a sunset cruise and a evening/night whale watching experience. Can you watch whales at night? We'll see, but he has this cool light that illuminates the water all around us...it will be pretty coolio. God seems to be expanding our circle of influence on the other side of the island. My prayer is that one day all these folks will come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, and we'll be doing what we do (kiteboarding, whale watching)...for Jesus!.
Ok...back to loving people...Another cool people opportunity is getting to know a lot of the different types of people from all over the world. In my three days of working on the boat I've met people from China, Turkey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Florida, Washington, California, and Arizona.

And what did we do for Valentine's Day? Well we used a gift card that was given to us back in November to go out to a very nice restaurant...I mean the dress up kine...where David claims he ate the best steak he has ever eaten in his life....:)

Well come one, come all! We have no idea how long we'll be here, but while we are here...come visit!

Aloha ke Akua,
Kelsey

To do or not to do...that is the question...

Whew! It's been busy folks. But for those who are at the edge of their seats waiting for our next blog, I didn't want to keep you waiting. And there are pictures. The fish you see, that was a Tuesday Night Bible Study dinner. Not too bad...biggest fish David has caught so far. Random fact: This particular fish eats coral and poops sand...weird!

Ok here's the update: Today I went to Kona to apply for jobs. I didn't realize that with hotel opportunities a cover letter and resume just dont cut it. So despite the many hours that I've spent on resumes and cover letters, I had to re-type all the information into their computer system to make it an "official legal document". In the end I made it to 2 hotels, 3 restaurants, and 4 retail stores. But here's the kicker. On my way over I was praying, "God would you just open doors and shut doors, this application process seems so unstable and tedious, would you just help". Well I decided between hotels and restaurants I'd stop by the beach and see if my kiteboarding buddies were there. Well after finding no one there, I was getting into my car when one of the kb guys came walking toward me. Well, I was in my interview get up (collar shirt, nice pants, heels...definately not something you go to the beach wearing) and began explaining the reasoning for my trip to Kona. Right away he said that he'd hire me for his boat crew, he was looking for his third crewman for his whale watching and dolphin trip excursion boat trips. Wow, this opportunity just literally fell into my lap! So now it's just praying and seeking the Lord.

So here's a little call out: Anyone who feels like taking a risk in this adventure called LIFE...give me a ring or email: kelsey.poole09@yahoo.com. David and I are praying about finding another couple or a couple of individuals...christians...who would love to move to Kona (either from Hilo or the mainland) and literally become missional beach bums. What does that mean? Well, we'd live cheap (splitting rent, sharing cars) but our purpose would be to connect with the Kona/Waikaloa community through recreation, jobs, and whatever else and share Jesus...interested...call us.

Please be praying that David would find a job! We need a job with health benefits and full time in Kona! Would you agree with us in prayer?