Flooding in Kailua Kona August 2015

The weather in Kona lately has been crazy! People who have lived here a long time report that this has been the wettest period they recall. A series of Tropical storms and Hurricanes that have surrounded the Hawaiian Islands in recent weeks have caused high surf, extreme humidity, heavy rain and numerous flash flood warnings. You’ll be glad to hear that despite all of this, we are all doing fine! Apart from struggling with the higher than usual level of humidity, for the most part, we have been enjoying the rain, and it’s fun to see the big waves roll in! Although, Austin’s small car washing business has been taking a hit, with some cancellations of late – go figure!

In addition to a crazy season of weather, September will be a busy month of training for Paul. On Thursday, he will be training our Fall school leaders on understanding/stewarding their school finances. Then on Friday, he will train the departing Summer DTS outreach teams on accounting for their finances on outreach. Then, next week, it’s Corporate staff training for the Fall quarter, and Paul will train roughly 100 staff on budgeting for outreach teams that will depart around Christmas time, and then another session specifically for the school finance person. That’s about 6 hours of training in the next 2 weeks, and many more hours than that go into preparing for these training times. It’s a job that Paul doesn’t take lightly. His goal is to maximize the resources we have been given as a University, so that our discipleship programs can continue to flourish, as we are faithful to the Lord.

The Fall quarter, which begins October 1st, is typically the biggest of the year. We have 9 separate DTS’s running this coming quarter, with an estimated 325 students arriving in Kona, to be trained, equipped and then sent out to the nations as ambassadors for the gospel.

We are humbled to be involved in this place, serving in various ministries, and as a part of the overall missionary training program. We are so grateful to our supporters that partner with us financially, allowing us to do this work for the Kingdom.

Speaking of supporters; due to some policy changes at the University this year, we are now making all our meals at home. Previously, we were provided meals for free on the campus. This, combined with the fact our kids are getting older, is having a large financial impact on our family! We have now used up the savings account that we came to Kona with, after receiving one-off donations as we left Washington, in addition to funds raised at our garage sales, etc.

We are in a season of needing to increase our monthly financial support. Our goal is an additional $1,000 per month. This will take us from a place of barely surviving, to thriving. We would like to have the necessary funding to visit Washington every 2-3 years. Currently, we don’t have the budget for travel like that. As an update on this support initiative, we have one new supporter who has pledged $100/month, so we are on our way! If you would like to become a partner of our ministry, please call Paul at 360-393-8662. To find out more information on partnering with us, visit our website at http://www.RandersonOhana.com/partner.

Here are some recent pics of our family:

Josiah at his high-school track. He is on the Cross Country team, and has been selected for the varsity team.

Riding a horse at a birthday party!