Hawaii: Day 6 & 7; Abundent Life & Back to the N. Shore

Unfortunately, because I got home so late last night I did not have the opportunity to blog about my day, so instead I am blogging two days into one.

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to attend Abundent life church, here on Oahu. The people there were so welcoming, I felt just like family. That same night they had two baptized in the Name of Jesus. Praise the LORD. It's awesome to see that God is truely moving everywhere. It has been really hard to be here without my church, but visiting Abundent Life was like a little piece of home.

After church I got to spend some time with some of the youth, Ryan, Noelani, Excel and Tony. Tony reminded me so much of Adam, my sisters boyfriend. Noelani reminded me of Maria, but a Maria from back in the day. Ryan was really nice and Excel with his trust in God really inspired me. They were all really good and Godly people.

Today, Sarah and I went back to the North Shore. We went into some galleries and little boutiques. We even got to meet a photographer. I will admit the guy was kind of a hippie, but very interesting and I really loved his work. That is one of my favorite things about the North Shore, not only getting to see all of the great art but also meeting the artist first hand. After that we met a surfer who coaches some of the pros. Everyone here is so different from back home. Back home everything is so rushed, heyhowyoudoingseeyoulater. Here everyone is hang loose man, no worries and they actually take time out just to have a real conversation with you.

Later we went back to Waikiki and heard some Hawaiian music, singing and saw some hula dancers. And now we heard that there has been an Earthquake near Japan and it has causes a Tsunami warning for the Island. I'm a little worried but I know God will protect me if anything were to happen.

As far as what I have learned over the past few days is that I think we take for granted the people in our lives. Like I said earlier, on the mainland everything is so rushed. We never really take the time to sit down with people and have a good conversation which is something that I actually really love doing. Hopefully when I go back home I will be able to put into action this new found "stop and smell the roses" attitude. Also, the message the other night was about praying for our leadership and authority. It was something that I really needed to hear and I thank God that it came at the right time.