I'm Lion-o...

Today was a great day off. We slept in some, Kels got stuff done around the house while I figured out stuff with college loans, and then we decided to venture off and find a cool snorkeling place near Pahoa town called Kapoho Tide pools. Well, we never found Kapoho. We watched some awesome body-boarding and surfing at one beach area (I saw the name but it was really tricky and I can't remember it now), talked to the life guard and found out how to get to Kapoho but realized that the little white truck that we were borrowing would never make it there. We then decided to go to the Hot Ponds, otherwise known as the Alahenui Beach Park. Here, there is a geo-thermal pond that comes up right in time to meet the ocean. The state put up a bunch of concrete walls to actually separate the Hot Pond, and it was an amazing experience. The water was about 80 degrees in there. It was a lot of fun.

Well, here is where the day took an interesting twist. We knew that we had to head into Hilo to run a couple errands for Joel (the guy whose truck we were borrowing) and found out that our little Focus has unofficially been totaled. We also knew that Joel needed his truck back tomorrow, so we either needed a vehicle or borrow the church van (which we didn't want to at all). So we decided that we would seriously look for another car. We were looking at craigslist, and that lead to looking at a used car dealership at a car that wasn't really a good fit for us. We were talking with our friend and our mechanic Tony about it, and after we decided to leave the dealership he called us back. He had a friend who owned a used car dealership that had a car for us to look at. Michael, the dealer, had the car at PT's and let me know that even though this 2002 Mercury Cougar was listed for $6,000-7,000, he only had about 2700 into it and because he heard about our situation he wanted to help out. I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, but he was going to sell the car to us for $2700. I took it on a test drive and felt God's peace flooding my heart about it. Kels felt the same way and about a half an hour later I was sitting in the drivers seat as the new owner. It was absolutely amazing to see God's hand in this situation. It helped Michael out who really needed to sell a car. And it fulfilled the three requirements that we kept pleading to God about: It was in our price range, it was approved by our mechanic, and it was sold to us by a dealer so we knew that we wouldn't have a hassle with the paper work. God provided for all of us at the perfectly right moment. Twice during the whole situation I heard David Crowder Band's song "How He Loves" on the radio, and I knew that God was confirming everything. It was absolutely amazing!

kelsey gets her driver's license

Aloha

Just a quick update...1)we are still waiting for the final decision from the insurance, it's out of our control now 2) we are still looking for a car (maybe 2, depending on the decision from the insurance) and 3) we are now looking at either renting or buying a house closer to hilo.

Great news! I passed the Hawaii written driving test! I have a Hawaii driver's license in my married name...isn't that crazy?!

Now I'm trying to get everything changed over to my married name, it's so strange not to sign my name Waliszewski. Signing for my driver's license, I almost signed Kelsey Waliszewski...oops!

Prayer requests

I have a job interview tomorrow with TIFFE, a family enhancement center geared toward children with autism. I am currently studying all about autism in hopes to get the job. From what I know, it would be part time and a way to use my education. If I don't get the job, I had two job interviews at the local Starbucks here. I think they went well, I'm just waiting to hear back from them. So it seems like a few hopefuls at the moment, but I'm itching to work.

Finding a car (or 2)

Finding a rental in Hilo, or a house!

Each week HMC youth is getting bigger, which is awesome! Prayers for us, youth leaders, pastors, elders, students, parents!

Praises

Job interviews! Hoping to nail a job by the end of the week

David and I continue to learn the art of communication...trial and error...we are learning! But ultimately I have the best husband in the world, argue if you want, but I do:)

My madre comes out in mid-October! yeah for mommy time:)

Well that's all for now folks

Advancing His Kingdom,

David and Kelsey

car accident

To update you all on what happened...whew...it's been a long 36 hours!
Yesterday David and I were in a car accident. Thankfully, not our faults (we are praying the police report and insurance make the same conclusion) but we were hit from behind by a lady probably going 35-40 mph. I, with protest of course, went to the hospital because I had some neck pain. Diagnosis: major whip lash (I could have told them that:). David is fine and has been a great husband through all of this. It was a 4 car pile up, so we were pushed into the car ahead of us and the car ahead of us was pushed into another car. BIG MESS! We haven't heard the final verdict, but we are pretty sure our car is totalled...but here's another mess in the situation.
We were in the process of trading cars. We realized we couldn't keep up with the gas on the 4Runner and felt that we needed to find a car with better MPG so we could be better steward of our money. The night before David met a guy who had a 2003 Ford Focus with 83000 miles (vs our 93 4Runner with 167000) and he wanted to trade. I had the title at home, so he signed over his title and we were to meet in the AM to sign over our title. That night, driving home in the Focus, we had some concerns about the safety and registration. So we asked to meet up in the morning to get things figured out. However, they did not show up with our 4 Runner which was a concern to us. It ended up being a little sticky (lesson learned) but we figured out the safety and registration was up to date. So we were on our way into town to have our mechanic look at the car when we were hit from behind. We called the "used to be" owners of the Focus and signed over our car to them right away. We wanted to take the hit, not them, so we hope they are blessed with our 4Runner and we are currently back to being car-less. However, the good news of the whole situation is...we are starting to build relationship with the people we traded with. If anything good can come out of the situation, we want to see the family in heaven. We actually were invited to their son's bday on Oct 4...who knows what God has in store. AND, we are so blessed to be a part of this body of Christ. I tell you what, right away a email was sent out to the whole church body to pray...and they did. Our adopted parents in Hilo, Art and Donna, invited us to stay a couple nights with them to help us calm down and figure things out. We had a great night talking story with them last night, they are absolutely wonderful. People have called with names of chiropracters. I have received text messages from students with love and encouragement in them. David and I went for a little walk last night and ran into a church family in the neiborhood who wanted to make sure things were ok. One family offered their car to us until we can find a car again. All this to say, it's been absolutely incredible seeing the body of Christ come around us, love us, and support us.

We don't understand why this is all happening. We were already being stretched in so many ways and then BOOM a car accident. But we hold onto Romans 8:28. I met with 11 of the teen girls from youth group this morning and talked about what i've learned these past few days sharing with them Rom 8:28. I told them that our definition of "good" may be different from God's definition of "good". Sometimes good to us is material things and a comfortable life. Instead God's version of good may be the lost being found, and we getting to be a part of it in a small or big way.
So please pray with us. We know God works things out for the good, and we hope that is in another car, but worse case scenario if it's not...we want the people we've come in contact with the past few day, we want to see them in heaven worshipping our Savior Jesus Christ!

That's the reason we are in Hilo...and that is the reason we will stay in Hilo!

WEDDING PICTURES ARE POSTED!!

HOWDY,
SOME EXCITING NEWS....WEDDING PICS ARE FINALLY HERE.
YOU CAN VIEW AND BUY THEM ONLINE @ www.claypoolphotography.com and then "CLICK HERE" to view them. There are 1000+ pics online

YEAH FOR WEDDING PICS!!

Advancing His Kingdom,
David and Kelsey

all in a day

Aloha family and friends

Just wanted to give you an update on our lives. This weekend was a fairly busy weekend for us. Saturday David went and did a fundraiser with the students which was bagging cinder. About 8 students showed up and they have already earned about 200 dollars. I took the AM off and caught up on housework and phone calls. It was very much needed and I felt very refreshed! I was caught by total surprise when David came back home with...flowers...for me:) I have the bestest husband EVER! We then headed to another youth pastor's home where we watched the Notre Dame vs Michigan game. Trevor, we were rooting hard for ND, we are so sorry for your loss. Sunday, David began a new 3 month series called Boot Camp. He began by giving the State of the Union address. He did great, and I believe his message was well received. Also, that night we had a parent meeting which went well, and I again was very impressed with David and his love and passion for these students.

Monday has been our day off thus far. Today we went to Kona (on the opposite side of the island). We used all our Target gift cards and bought a bedspread, pillows, candles, vacuum, swiffer, chair...etc. We then had an amazing time at the beach!! I took pictures to show you all the drastic climate change on this island. In two hours we witnessed desert, ranch land, forest, and jungle. We live on such a crazy island, but it's amazing and I believe really witnesses to God's creativity.

We are also excited to share that Christina (David's sis) got married today as well. We wished we could have been there, but heard it was a beautiful event! Congrats Christina and Pablo!

PRAISES!

God is truly teaching David and I (esp me) to be content in all things. Everything we have is His!Sometimes we get caught up in the things we don't have, but instead we need to thank Him for the things we have. And we are blessed, very very blessed!!

-Great weekend together, with friends, church family, and students

-My mom is coming out mid-October

PRAYER REQUESTS

-I need a job!! (Please cover us in your prayers as I seek a part-time or full time but flexible) job!!

-We need to trade our car, or buy a new one, that has better MPG

-We would love to move (actually buy a house) closer to Hilo

-We are trying to send David, and maybe me, home for Pablo and Christina's wedding

celebration

-Lanai patio furniture

-

ohana retreat

Hope you all had a fantastic labor day weekend. Here in beautiful, but very very very rainy Hawaii, we had a retreat for the students/families over Labor day weekend. We left Friday afternoon and returned Sunday evening. The retreat was relaxing yet eventful. David gave three messages about the importance of OHANA, and most importantly being in God's OHANA. We gave students time to be with one another, but also challenged them in getting to know people they don't normaly know. Slip n slide, progressive relay, capture the flag, apples to apples, a huge game of mafia, bonfire were some of the cool activities that happened over the weekend. Sunday David gave a message about the importance of service when in OHANA and actually gave us a chance to wash each other's feet. Watching leader and student a like washing one another's feet was really quite amazing.

We hope to continue to challenge the students to go deep in their relationship with God. We understand the importance of having fun, but we want to see some depth too:)

Since I am still learning to drive a manual, I requested that I drive "stuff" not students. Lisa, another youth leader, drove with me. I so much appreciated getting to know her better and having some great conversation. I truly was blessed spending so much time with her.

David and I took Monday off. We caught up with stuff around the house:) yeah! He also got his new church computer...so he had a blast setting up his new toy. I think it will be a huge blessing in what he wants to do with the youth.


Prayer requests
1. Still praying about the possible opportunity to buy a house
needs to be a foreclosure, maybe furnished, and closer to Hilo
2. We are thinking about selling our car and getting a gas efficient vehicle...so we are looking for a trade or making our money back
3. I need a job
4. Lanai furniture
5. We need more youth leaders/volunteers

Praise
1. We got a table and chairs
2. Everyone came back in one piece from retreat
3. Had some great conversation with students
4. David has a computer to use

We want to be able to start skyping people...we'll let you know when we can get on...in the meantime...if you don't have a skype...get one:)


That's all for now folks! Thanks for your love and prayers

Advancing His Kingdom,
David and Kelsey

ps...some of the pics of our now furnished apt, others are from the retreat

Another day in Paradise...

Hi everyone,
Life has been great here in Hawaii. Kels and I are settling in really well. Have been having a great time here at church and learning to really connect with the students and the church family. And while that is the main deal going on with us, we also want to explore and create new memories and hobbies while we are out here. So we decided to go with some of our friends Art and Donna to the other side of the island so that we could enjoy a nice beach, snorkel, and so that I could learn how to spearfish. We had a great time hanging out in God's creation with one another, even though we didn't catch any fish. While snorkeling, we saw about 7 sea turtles chilling around and they were awesome to see. I love underwater life. Part of the way through the day, uncle Mike showed up as he had flown into Kona for work (rough job being a pilot huh?). He joined us and we were all having a great time. After a while, we noticed one turtle that had come way up into the shallows and was swimming around there. It almost looked like he was trying to beach on a couple of rocks right along the shoreline. So we all went over to look at how awesome this creature of God was. While I was snapping photos of the little guy, he suddenly disappeared in the sand that got all kicked up in the water from a bigger wave. Someone mentioned, Where is he? when we couldn't see him for a bit. Then, out of no where, I feel something hit both my legs. Startled, I stammered "he's on me!" and there was the turtle, trying to pass between my legs. It was a crazy experience to have a sea turtle try to tackle you for taking his picture, but one I will never forget.