Community Outreach Update


Steven and Gus digging holes for the fence posts


   As I've written before, I'm leading community outreach for our DTS this quarter.  One of our projects is helping Celeste, a lady from Waipuna chapel (one of the churches YWAM goes to) start a garden to help give the homeless on Maui fresh fruit and vegetables.  Yesterday was our first day working in her "garden".
   
   Amy, Katie and Sophia clearing off part of the garden plot

   When we showed up, the land was cleared off, but still had a lot of rocks, trash and other junk on it.  Our job for the day was to clear as much of it off as possible, and dig post holes and put up posts for a fence.  The garden is in Kula, what the Hawaiians call the "upcountry", which means it's high on the slopes of Haleakala (the volcano here) and so it's a lot cooler than most places here.  Digging post holes is always hard work, but at least it wasn't unbearably hot, and Celeste had drinks and some strange candy called "Li Hing sours" for us.  
   We got everything cleared off and put up our fence posts in the matter of a few hours, and next week, we're planning on finishing the fence and starting to plant seeds.  I'm really excited about this project because it will serve some people in need who are usually overlooked here on Maui, and it's just fun to get out of the office for an afternoon to be outside working in the dirt.
 The crew after we finished working for the day
     
  
   As I'm getting more exposed to the community here, it's good to make new friends, especially with some locals who were born and raised here on the island.  This weekend, I was invited by some people at Waipuna Chapel to go play beach volleyball with them after church, which was really fun and a great chance to get to become more of a part of the larger church community here.  I've also been invited to go goat/boar hunting with Dale Gustavson, the pastor at Waipuna and some local guys that go to our church.  Although, it doesn't feel like my Conyers First Methodist home, Waipuna is quickly becoming a great surrogate home church for me, and an important ministry contact.


A promotional poster I made for YWAM Maui.  That's King Kamehameha, the first Hawaiian king to unite all the islands

1 comments:

  1. Samantha said...:

    i LOVE that poster, and it sounds like you guys are doing some great stuff down there!!!!