Love Covers It All

Thanks again for caring about us all the way over there! What with the Olympics and all! So we've been here about a month and a half and have been so blessed by everyday of it. Last week a guy came and talked to us about inner healing, the healing of our souls from such things as control, fear, passivity, addictions and much more. Jon and I really saw the difference it made not only in our lives individually, but our marriage!! Someone asked a great question, "what's the difference between this and a self help book!?!" The teacher emphasized that we're relying on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to heal us whereas a self-help book is based on you fixing yourself. Also, this type of ministry not only relies on God, but the community of believers for accountability and wise advice. Whereas with a self-help book, there's no real accountability and quite often, no real lasting results.  

Our school leader always mentions how our DTS (discipleship training school) is like a detox where a lot of people, who come from various backgrounds and maybe struggling with various things, get drastically transformed - healed up, restored and brought into more of who they're created to be.  And something that really touched us is the story of one of the younger guys in our class (18 years old).  He'd been involved in the gang life back home and by the grace of God, his dad found out about our school and sent him here. It was a drastic change for him and without getting into the details of his story (to protect him), he fell into some trouble that is usually grounds for dismissal from the school. After the incidence and guidance from leaders, this young man had the courage to stand before our class and in such humility, confessed his wrongs and asked for our forgiveness!!  We didn't know this, but the leaders had already prayed about it and felt like God wanted him to stay. So he stood in front of us like the prodigal son whose guilt and shame was washed away as people stood up to declare their love for him and who he really is...that our sins don't dictate who we are!!  "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8   

Maybe it's cause we know young guys like him, who have amazing potential and if they could just get out of their negative environment and get into one like this, they could freely go after all God has for them. So we're just really encouraged to see love in action like this, where people are standing alongside him, fighting for him, keeping him accountable in grace and truth...this is true community.  Since then, which was just a few weeks ago, he's gained more freedom and healing while being under strict supervision and accountability. He's using his gift of rapping to journal what's happening here and he's hoping to stay for a while to fully get grounded. 

It's just nice to know that when we make mistakes, God is never disappointed or angry with us but wants to help us not make the same mistakes. As I've understood God's love for me more, it's opened my eyes to the truth of how He looks at us and has brought me a lot of relief...and joy! And has made reading the Old Testament a lot more enjoyable! So that's a snapshot of life here and now we're getting ready for community outreach tonight, so love ya and hope to hear from ya!

- tami

Honour to the Holy Spirit

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Apostle Paul’s prayer for us from 2 Corinthians 13:14

I just gotta give a shout out to my buddy the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity. I’ll tell you what the trinity is to me: God the Father is the father I’ve always wanted and always needed but never always had. Jesus is beyond my healer and redeemer, but my lover, husband and friend. And Holy Spirit…He’s the one that makes my relationship with the trinity possible, my peace in a stressful moment, my joy in a broken moment, my friend who walks with me even when I’m not even paying attention to Him.  If God had a bumper sticker on his car, it’d have to say this: to be fearfully followed and yet so sweetly enjoyed.

What we don’t realize sometimes is how the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to follow God! He empowers us, through grace and faith, to get over the potholes of sin and go after and receive the fullness of all God created us to be.  We can even look at the life of Jesus and see how much He needed the Holy Spirit before He could do the amazing things He did, being baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14) and then reaching the lost. Just before Jesus left this earth, He told His disciples - who He’d walked with and done life with for 3 years - that it was better for them that He left (John 16:6-7)!! Jesus Himself preferred us to have the Holy Spirit be with us here on earth instead of Him!! John 14-16 explains the role of the Holy Spirit and our need for Him beautifully.

So when a prayer is answered, He’s the one that brought it from Heaven to earth. When I pray for someone and they're healed, He gets the glory! When we’re asking God where we left our keys, it’s the Holy Spirit that whispers “under there!” When we need wisdom to know how to get through a situation, hello Holy Spirit! When we inhale, it’s His breath that gives us life. He’s that important. (song: “this is the air I breath…your Holy presence…living in me….)

I’m filled with a loving hunger for people to let Him in just a little more and see how much their lives would change! I want to provoke us, even myself, to ask the hard questions. Why is the Holy Spirit so often neglected? Is it because we never know what will happen when He shows up in a crazy worship set? Is it even necessary to understand the Holy Spirit in our walk with God? A book called Forgotten God by Francis Chan (author of Crazy Love) answers these questions. So do the gospels and the whole New Testament. A Christian lyricist, Shai Linne, gives “much respect” to the Holy Spirit in one of his songs, Triune Praise

So, help us Holy Spirit, help us to know how much we need you. Help us to know the incredible force you are in our lives so we can be an incredible force in the lives of others, being filled with more of you – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. Thanks for being you and not who people want you to be.

- tami

Hawaii to Haiti

Hey Everybody,

God is doing some amazing things here. Tami and I have a cool story to share about how we found out we're going to Haiti for outreach (April-June).

Tami and I had originally felt the lord tell us Guam/New Zealand, He showed us where to go and what He wants to do. So we were on that team and helped confirm what they would be doing. They were actually thinking of not going to Guam and in prayer, Tami heard God say, "the place you're going to has mountains and the name of it is (name of mountain)." When she looked up the mountain on google that mountain was in Guam. What are the chances that was awesome.

But then the earthquake happened and instantly I felt the peace of God even more than for Guam. So we prayed and said Lord you need to confirm this. So that night I prayed and said, 'Lord we really need to hear you on this would you speak to me in my dreams with clear interpretation tonight to confirm what I'm already feeling in my heart.' Then i wrote a note next to my bed that said,"thanks for speaking in my dreams tonight Lord because you are just that good." Then the next morning I woke up and I had this dream. I was in a car with Tami and her mom was with us, driving us to our wedding or honeymoon to drop us off and when we were on our way, Tami turns around and says 'you know what Jon I know of someone way better for you to marry and it will mean a lot more in your life if you do it. It's my younger sister.' Which obviously Tami doesn't have a younger sister. Then I agreed and her younger sister pulls up behind us on the road and I get in a mini van with her. When I woke up I pretty quickly knew what it meant. It was that we were married to the idea of Guam for outreach but the Lord actually had a much better place for us to go, I just didn't know about the other place yet cause the earthquake hadn't happened. Then Tami wakes up and she had a dream where someone was praying for her and said,"You're going to Haiti for outreach and three people are going with you." The Lord showed us that those three are: The love and heart of Father God, intimacy with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

We'll be staying at the YWAM base in St.Marc, 60 miles north of Port-Au-Prince, they're already working closely with the government and are helping transport people right now.  We are really excited for this cause we know for sure that God is going before us and I've already heard some amazing miraculous stories that are taking place there from guys from our base who just got back from a week long trip.  We're so excited about how God is going to restore this nation and its people through faith, hope and love.


Be praying for this, that God's plans come together for it all and for our team, we're taking 9 students. We love you guys and are praying for you.  Thank you very much for all your love, prayers and support.

As always the Lord is amazingly good.

Mahalo (Thank you),
  Jon